The warm sunlight streamed into the van, making the back seat even a little hot.
Kurusu Akira rolled down the window.
Iseri Nina was probably tired from crying, huddled in her seat, staring blankly at the scenery outside the window.
Kawaragi Momoka, whom she had just met, was driving in the front. The fresh spring breeze blew into the car, making her hair flutter as if singing in the wind.
"What a coincidence, my last delivery order today is to take the goods to that Livehouse called Starry."
Kawaragi Momoka looked at Kurusu Akira and Iseri Nina through the rearview mirror, smiling somewhat helplessly, "You two must be in a band, right?"
"Yes, it took a lot of trouble to find our runaway vocalist." Kurusu Akira held his guitar and looked at Iseri Nina, who was sitting next to him, with an amused expression.
Iseri Nina's cheeks were slightly flushed. She defiantly turned her face to look at the rapidly passing trees outside the window, but she couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal.
After a brief silence, Kawaragi Momoka showed a heartfelt smile, "How very rock and roll."
Kurusu Akira, holding his guitar, was now idly poking the thickest string with a pick, making soft thumping sounds.
The van drove onto the elevated bridge, where no lush and intricate shadows of green belts could be found. Only sunlight shimmered between the rearview mirror and the windshield, rippling like a lake surface.
After driving on the elevated bridge for a while, the car's speed became slower and slower, until it finally stopped slowly in the middle of the road.
Kawaragi Momoka looked at the heavily congested road ahead, hearing the deafening car horns from a distance.
She could only sigh and shake her head, "It seems there was a car accident at the entrance of the elevated bridge. We'll have to wait for a while."
In the fast-paced city of Tokyo, the Police Department is an absolute anomaly.
It is slow in every sense: slow to respond, slow to connect calls, slow to handle cases... perfectly embodying the principle that "justice is always late, and sometimes may not even arrive."
Kawaragi Momoka, being the driver, didn't dare to play on her phone even with the traffic jam, so she had to chat with her hitchhiking passengers.
"You two must still be in high school, right?"
"Same high school, same class, same club, same guardian, and neighbors." Kurusu Akira stopped playing the guitar and pointed at Iseri Nina with the hand holding the pick, saying, "If it weren't for that, I wouldn't bother with her anymore."
Iseri Nina covered her ears, shrinking into the corner of the back seat as if giving up, refusing to listen to Kurusu Akira.
"That's nice, are you two dating?"
"It seems everyone I meet asks this question... Do we look like a couple?"
Kurusu Akira found it a bit hard to imagine himself dating Iseri Nina.
Kawaragi Momoka looked at the two in the rearview mirror, with a hint of envy in her voice, "If you two aren't a couple, it would actually be a shame."
When she was still in school, she often dreamed that whenever she was in danger or encountered various unpleasant things, a Prince Charming would always overcome countless difficulties to extend a helping hand to her.
That was truly a dream-like development.
Her gaze lingered on Iseri Nina, who was huddled in the corner. Being blessed without knowing it, that's probably the meaning, right?
Thinking about it carefully, if Nana and the others met such a steady, reliable, guitar-playing super handsome guy with whom they could form a band, they would probably stick to him every weekend and not let him get out of bed, right?
Mentioning her former companions, Kawaragi Momoka couldn't help but continue thinking. But now they had all transitioned into idols, so there was no chance for a passionate romance; at most, it would develop into a so-called "underground relationship."
Kurusu Akira, as the person in question, waved his hand with a look of disdain, "Where does youth have so much time for regrets? Just getting into college and living life takes all your effort. Bands and relationships are just extracurricular activities."
"Five, ten, twenty years from now, when you look back on your high school life, perhaps these 'extracurricular activities' will make you sincerely grateful for your past self."
Kurusu Akira looked at Kawaragi Momoka's young and beautiful face through the rearview mirror, wanting to say that in his previous life, he was already nearing the age where he'd have a scraggly beard, and he certainly wouldn't stoop to being lectured by a young girl like her... Thousands of words were stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered. Finally, he glumly hugged his guitar and strummed it haphazardly a couple of times.
"A youth without regrets, that's a bit too idealistic."
Kawaragi Momoka was not satisfied with this answer, "Have you ever been in love?"
'I have a soulmate who will accompany me for life.'
Kurusu Akira thought of Lavenza in the Velvet Room, and felt confident, so he repeated Kawaragi Momoka's original words in a similar tone, "Have you ever been in love?"
Kawaragi Momoka immediately fell silent.
Kawaragi Momoka, twenty years old this year, dropped out of high school in Hokkaido with a few friends at seventeen to fully dedicate herself to band activities. To this day, her romantic experience remains zero.
Kurusu Akira pressed his advantage, "Someone who's been in love wouldn't lecture their juniors in such a 'been there, done that' tone."
"...I'm sorry." Kawaragi Momoka weakly assented.
Kurusu Akira was still not appeased, so he looked at Iseri Nina beside him, trying to drag his little follower into the battle to employ the tactic of kicking someone while they're down.
But Iseri Nina, who had been covering her ears and pretending not to hear, was now in a pathetic and disheveled state.
Her fair face was flushed, and her lake-blue eyes were misty, showing unprecedented agitation.
The girl covered her burning cheeks, murmuring like in a dream.
"Dating... romance... me and Amamiya-san..."
This child is hopeless.
With such poor composure, you won't achieve anything great in the future, Iseri!
Kurusu Akira thought, frustrated at his club's only member's pathetic performance at this moment.
In the distance, police sirens could be faintly heard.
He looked at the young, beautiful driver in front, "But now I'm actually more concerned about another question. Kawaragi, why did you leave Diamond Dust?"
Kawaragi Momoka mumbled a few Hokkaido slang words indistinctly before answering Kurusu Akira's question, "I just felt it wasn't a good fit anymore, so I left."
"But you were clearly the vocalist and leader, right? And you composed this song." Kurusu Akira picked up his guitar and casually played the intro to "VOID."
"Those questions are a bit out of line, kid." Kawaragi Momoka's tone became unfriendly.
Kurusu Akira, however, smiled, a rather handsome smile that inexplicably prevented Kawaragi Momoka from getting angry at him.
He glanced at Iseri Nina, who at some point had sat up straight, adopting a serious listening posture beside him, and then continued, "This girl named Iseri is your fan, and she's always particularly loved your songs—"
"There are too many specific reasons, but in short, right here, please, lovely Kawaragi, agree to go out with me. It was love at first sight for me."
"Ah...?" Kawaragi Momoka was so surprised she bit her tongue, almost stepping on the accelerator and sending all three of them in the car to their graves.
Is there any connection between your two sentences?!
She glared at Kurusu Akira, somewhat annoyed, "Please spare me such lewd jokes!"
"Oh, sorry, it was indeed a joke," Kurusu Akira's attitude was surprisingly cold about it. "Seriously, I want to invite you to join our band."
"I refuse." The answer was almost immediate.
Kawaragi Momoka's mood became a bit irritable. "You're the guitarist, she's the vocalist. What can I do if I join your band?"
"We need a lead guitarist."
"...You're holding a 500,000 Big G50s, and you want to be the rhythm guitarist for the band?!" Kawaragi Momoka looked even more shocked and confused than when she faced the sudden confession just now.
Kurusu Akira smiled disingenuously, "Because I like watching Kawaragi play."
Kawaragi Momoka suddenly shivered. "Thank you for your 'liking'... but can you hide your murderous intent a bit? I really can't think of how my joining could help your band."
She finally understood now. Kurusu Akira was intentionally speaking like this to provoke the crying girl he had picked up.
Kurusu Akira's smile, now stripped of its pretense, gradually turned sinister, "Haha, about this, we really must ask our Miss Vocalist, who stammered into the microphone for ages without a single lyric, then inexplicably said she wanted to focus on her studies, and finally ran off two or three kilometers on her own. Isn't that right, Iseri?"
The last bit of romantic and ambiguous atmosphere in the car vanished completely. Iseri Nina tremblingly bowed her head to Kurusu Akira with clasped hands; if conditions allowed, she probably would have performed a dogeza on the spot.
Kawaragi Momoka watched their interaction, and her mood unexpectedly brightened. "I see, so you hope I can guide her to become a qualified vocalist?"
"Of course, there's also the reason that my guitar skills are insufficient." Kurusu Akira ultimately chose to save Iseri Nina a little face.
Kawaragi Momoka lightly bit her lip, her gaze wandering for a moment. "I agree."
"You've agreed to the dating part?" Kurusu Akira casually uttered a nonsensical remark.
"It's the band! The band!"
Before Kawaragi Momoka could retort, a trembling voice urgently came from the back seat of the car.
Iseri Nina suddenly became anxious.
Kurusu Akira looked at the city sky outside the car window, finally breaking into a hearty smile.
Kawaragi Momoka, seeing that smile through the rearview mirror, couldn't help but shiver.
What a terrifying boy.
The road ahead gradually cleared.
The van continued to drive shakily on the elevated bridge.
----------------
Finally, they returned to Starry.
Kawaragi Momoka opened the trunk and, with some effort, picked up a box of beer, heading towards the underground Livehouse.
Kurusu Akira also picked up a box of beer and followed behind her, "Kawaragi, you composed such a popular song as 'VOID,' why are you living so frugally now?"
Iseri Nina, holding a beer bottle in each hand, quickly perked up her ears to eavesdrop.
"Diamond Dust" was her favorite band, and "VOID" was her favorite song.
She was also curious why, upon meeting her idol for the first time, the idol was wearing an ugly work uniform and driving a cheap van to deliver goods.
"Oh, 'VOID'... I left the copyright to my former band members." Kawaragi Momoka chuckled lightly, appearing open-minded and relieved.
The Livehouse door was open, and familiar voices could be heard discussing topics about "hourly wages and working hours."
Kurusu Akira walked through the main door, holding a beer box, and saw the daughter of the big creditor holding a part-time contract with multiple revisions, bowing respectfully to Ijichi Seika to express her gratitude.
At this moment, Togawa Sakiko noticed the footsteps in the stairwell, and her expression immediately became quite surprised.
"Amamiya… Amamiya-san?"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To Read Advanced Chapters, and support this novel, please join me on [email protected]/geats2000