Guitarist?
Asakura subconsciously looked at his Employee No. 2.
She didn't have that newly bought guitar on her.
But on weekends, Kita Ikuyo would indeed bring the guitar to the shop so Kawaragi Momoka could give her pointers on guitar techniques.
Thinking about it this way, she probably felt that bringing a guitar to someone else's celebratory banquet wasn't quite right, so she left it at the Point Rabbit House.
Then the question arose: how did Ichiji Nijika know she had a guitar?
"Oh, isn't this Kita-chan?"
Yamada Ryo said while chewing on a chicken nugget, "Because you suddenly lost contact, I thought something had happened to you. I've been burning incense for you every day lately."
"No, no, no, don't just go and kill someone off like that..." Ichiji Nijika, who was originally deeply shocked by the appearance of Kita Ikuyo, looked helplessly at her childhood friend and said.
Kita Ikuyo suddenly turned around, wanting to escape.
A sharp glint flashed in Asakura's eyes.
"Momoka, Hitori, don't let her get away!" he shouted.
Gotoh Hitori, who was closest to the door and had likely been planning to sneak out and "fish in troubled waters" at some point, subconsciously grabbed Kita Ikuyo's hand, cutting off her movement.
Subsequently, Kawaragi Momoka directly applied a chokehold, completely ending Kita Ikuyo's wild ambition of escaping.
Asakura looked at the expressions of several people present and suddenly realized something.
"Could it be that you all know Kita?"
"Yeah, before Bocchi-chan joined, our band actually had a guitarist. It's just that later, she suddenly disappeared right before our first performance at a warm-up show..." Ichiji Nijika said. She looked at Kita Ikuyo and sighed somewhat helplessly. "Regardless, as long as you're okay and nothing happened, that's good. Since I couldn't contact you no matter what, I've been very worried."
To the side, Ichiji Seika suddenly had an aura and expression that screamed "So she's the 'guitarist who almost caused Nijika to be unable to take the stage.'" She wanted to stand up, but Hiroi Kikuri, who had drunk more than half a bottle of sake at some unknown time and was dead drunk, was hanging onto her body, making it impossible for her to stand up.
"But... a runaway guitarist, that feels very Rock 'n' Roll..." Yamada Ryo said with a cool smile and a somewhat indifferent tone.
In fact, the whole person looked like a broken repeater, twitching non-stop. The expression on her face was complex to the extreme, giving people an impression that was completely unlike what a normal girl should have. Strange noises also came from her mouth, causing Gotoh Hitori to show a "this state feels so familiar" expression. Kita Ikuyo suddenly broke down in tears.
With a "tiger pounce" landing, she performed a dogeza toward the two members of Kessoku Band on the izakaya's tatami.
"I'm sorry! You can do anything to me, it's fine even if you trample me into a mess, please forgive my desertion that day!"
"Oh..." Asakura rubbed his chin. "Interpersonal relationships are so chaotic, it's truly too Rock 'n' Roll!"
"There's no such thing! Rather, how exactly do you view Rock 'n' Roll, Asakura!" Ichiji Nijika complained loudly. "Also Kita-chan, don't say things that are so easy to misunderstand!"
"Speaking of which, Kita, why exactly did you run away back then?" Yamada Ryo chose to press the issue.
"Surely there must have been some unavoidable circumstances..." Ichiji Nijika said considerately.
"...That, actually, at the beginning, I didn't know how to play the guitar at all. It was only because I admired Ryo-senpai and wanted to join the band that I said I could play."
As things stood, Kita Ikuyo could only honestly reveal her past mistakes in order to seek leniency. "If at that time, no matter how I practiced, I still couldn't play the guitar, and seeing that the day of the performance was coming soon, so I..."
"Pfft..."
Kawaragi Momoka suddenly burst out laughing.
Asakura also held his cheek, his face wearing a "I'm a professional, I've been trained not to laugh" expression, but he couldn't keep a straight face.
"What's wrong?" Ichiji Nijika looked at them in confusion. "Is there something wrong with what Kita said?"
"She indeed wouldn't be able to learn the guitar..." Kawaragi Momoka said. "Because at that time, what Kita bought wasn't a guitar at all, but a bass."
Asakura also suppressed his smile. After seeking Kita Ikuyo's consent, he told the others about the previous discovery that Kita Ikuyo had mistakenly bought a six-string bass as a guitar.
"So that's how it was. No wonder you were so unwilling to attend practice back then, Kita..."
Ichiji Nijika showed an expression of understanding.
Yamada Ryo, on the other hand, was crunching on french fries, seemingly not taking it to heart at all.
"Don't the senpais feel angry?" Kita Ikuyo asked cautiously, peeking at the expressions of the two senior members of Kessoku Band. "Even though I almost ruined the senpais' performance."
"No, it's fine..." Gotoh Hitori likely thought she was also one of the senpais, so she stuttered out words of comfort to the other party. "You only almost ruined it, I... I actually did ruin our first performance..."
Kita looked blankly at the other party: "..."
There's an even greater master here?!
"It was my oversight for not noticing Kita's problem in time. Although I was a bit angry at first, I was mostly worried about you, Kita. Later, because of Bocchi-chan, we managed to pull through the performance, so I don't really mind that much. As for Ryo, she's basically a 'grand master' among grand masters."
Ichiji Nijika replied with a gentle expression on her face. "Moreover, Kessoku Band is developing quite well now. Look, today is the celebratory banquet after a successful live! So you don't need to take it to heart... Saying it like that feels a bit wrong too. In short, Kita, you can relax a little more. Just don't run away again if you encounter this kind of thing in the future. If we discuss it together, there will surely be other better ways."
"Heavens, an angel!" Kita Ikuyo was deeply moved, squinting her eyes as if she had been blinded by a flashbang, and Gotoh Hitori beside her also nodded desperately.
"If you pay me a friendship fee, we can continue to associate as friends..." Yamada Ryo said.
"Don't go collecting strange money randomly!" Ichiji Nijika complained.
"I'll pay! Is three thousand yen a month okay?" Kita Ikuyo took out her wallet.
"Kita, don't actually take out money either!"
"It's a bit on the low side."
"Is five thousand yen okay?!"
"You two, that's enough!"
The celebratory banquet for Kessoku Band became subtly chaotic.
By the way, at this moment, Ichiji Seika seemed to have already shifted her anger onto Hiroi Kikuri, who was hanging onto her, and was trying to use a throw on this drunken fellow.