"Ah, here they come."
On the streets of Shimokitazawa, Nijika Ijichi saw Shin walking toward them, along with Tohru behind him who had returned to human form and was wearing a maid outfit.
"Tohru-san came too? Did Tohru-san bring Shin here?"
Since Kessoku Band had visited Shin's house before, they naturally knew Tohru—Nijika Ijichi just didn't expect Tohru to follow Shin here as well.
So she guessed whether Tohru had driven Shin here, since Tohru had shown herself to be quite capable at home last time, so Nijika Ijichi naturally assumed she should also know how to drive.
"She indeed brought me here... but the method might be a bit different from what you're imagining."
Shin heard Nijika Ijichi's thoughts and couldn't help laughing—Tohru had brought him here by transforming into dragon form and flying, not by driving a vehicle.
Actually, when Tohru brought Shin and landed nearby just now, Nijika Ijichi should have been able to see the spectacular sight of a giant dragon landing.
However, the cognitive confusion magic on Tohru obviously worked on Nijika Ijichi, so she didn't notice that a legendary creature had just landed nearby.
"?"
Nijika Ijichi naturally couldn't guess what Shin meant, but as a considerate character, she didn't press the matter. Instead, she looked toward Tohru and invited her with a smile:
"Would Tohru-san like to come to the LiveHouse and take a look? There are famous local bands performing inside."
Actually, after visiting Shin's house last time, Nijika Ijichi had invited Tohru to come see the LiveHouse, but Tohru didn't seem very interested.
At that time, Tohru had said something strange like "the voices of inferior species only make me want to vomit" and left without accepting Nijika Ijichi's invitation.
Although the words were quite rude, because of the term "inferior species," Nijika Ijichi just assumed Tohru was a hidden chuunibyou patient and didn't think Tohru was insulting people.
"I told you before, I'm not interested in performances by inferior spe..."
Tohru pursed her lips and instinctively answered this way—after all, her view of humans had never really changed, considering them inferior species who couldn't even control their own bodies properly.
Although because of Shin, her attitude toward people around Shin was still decent, and she didn't show a superior attitude outside, she still occasionally referred to humans as inferior species in her speech.
"Go take a look. You're just repeatedly cleaning places at home that are already clean anyway."
But before Tohru could finish speaking, Shin also said to Tohru—although the house was big, giving Tohru plenty to do, having Tohru's daily routine consist only of cleaning the house was too monotonous.
He also wanted to see if he could find Tohru some other hobbies. Tohru came from another place similar to a fantasy world, so maybe she'd be interested in some things from modern society.
Originally, Shin had also considered teaching Tohru to play online games, but he was really worried about turning Tohru into an online gaming waste person like Gabriel, so this option was ranked last.
Now that Nijika Ijichi had invited her, why not let Tohru listen to the band performance inside? Maybe Tohru would come to like modern music.
"Okay!"
Tohru, who was originally going to refuse, immediately changed her tune and agreed to Nijika Ijichi's invitation after hearing Shin's words, even her expression did a complete 180-degree change.
The speed of that change left Nijika Ijichi stunned, and she couldn't help but laugh and say:
"Tohru-san really likes Shin very much. When I invited you before, Tohru-san was completely uninterested."
"Of course, I love Shin the most!"
Tohru seemed to have no concept of shame at all. After hearing Nijika Ijichi's words, Tohru acted as if some kind of honor had been acknowledged, immediately hugging Shin and saying so.
Perhaps dragons' sense of shame and humans' sense of shame were two different things—even when doing those kinds of things at home, Tohru was the most open one.
After all, she didn't even mind doing those things in space, and that level of play was quite difficult.
"...I'm a bit envious of Tohru-san."
Seeing how Tohru could so directly express her love for Shin, Nijika Ijichi suddenly couldn't help but sigh quietly.
Tohru's behavior probably looked quite shameless to others, but to Nijika Ijichi, it was a kind of openness where she could express her feelings without hiding them.
Don't look at how Nijika Ijichi usually got along well with people and had quite an outgoing personality, but when it came to romance, she really had no experience and couldn't be as direct as Tohru in expressing her feelings.
"Are you planning to add a keyboardist?"
In the LiveHouse's break room, Seika Ijichi was somewhat surprised to hear Kessoku Band's request.
She looked at Megumi Kato standing among the Kessoku Band members—she had quite a good impression of this girl who always acted together with Kessoku Band.
So hearing that Megumi Kato wanted to join Kessoku Band and become a keyboardist, Seika Ijichi had no intention of objecting:
"Your band's affairs are for you to decide... but the electronic piano needed for a keyboardist isn't cheap."
"I'll handle the money issue."
Shin stood nearby and took over the conversation with a smile—the purpose of him coming along was to play a role at times like this.
Compared to other members of Kessoku Band saying "just use Shin's money," it was more convincing when he said it himself.
"You..."
Seika Ijichi looked at Shin with a somewhat depressed expression—she also knew that Shin seemed quite wealthy, treating Kessoku Band to afternoon tea every day.
Thanks to his sponsorship, even Nijika Ijichi seemed to have gained some weight recently. Seika Ijichi often saw Nijika Ijichi at home looking melancholy while standing on the scale.
"Fine, since you've even solved the funding problem, I'll recommend suitable instruments for you."
Seika Ijichi sighed—after all, Kessoku Band was their own band, and Seika Ijichi would at most give some advice without interfering with their decisions.
However, since Shin was also here, Seika Ijichi took the opportunity to say:
"But I also have something I want to talk to Shin about..."
To be continued…