Although Aoki was a little confused about what she was thanking him for, he didn't overthink it.
He simply assumed Kita was expressing gratitude because he had answered her question sincerely, instead of brushing it off.
So, with a slight hint of puzzlement in his voice, Aoki replied, "Well... you're welcome?"
Then, with that, he gave a casual goodbye and left the library.
Though it was already autumn, the midday sun still carried the heat of late summer.
He grabbed lunch at a local diner under the glaring sun, then took the train back to his apartment.
There, he settled in to watch a variety show called "What's For Lunch Today?"
The show's premise was simple: the host would randomly stop a passerby on the street, ask what they wanted to eat most, and then take them to get exactly that.
Aoki watched until around 1 p.m.
He originally planned to take a short nap, but just as he was about to lie down, something crossed his mind—
He hadn't checked the response to the song he posted last night.
Abandoning his nap, he opened Yutube and went straight to his creator dashboard.
The private message inbox was overflowing, red dots flashing everywhere.
He ignored them.
Far too many people had been messaging him lately—some kind, some odd, and plenty openly hostile.
Ever since the drama had flared up in the past few days, hate messages and personal attacks had been flooding in.
Tired of the negativity, Aoki had simply stopped reading private messages altogether.
Instead, he opened the analytics page for his latest song, "She Really Lived."
After a short loading time, the stats came up:
Even though the video had only been uploaded last night, it had already reached 400,000 views.
All that within less than 20 hours.
But Aoki wasn't particularly surprised.
The recent media storm had kept him trending for quite some time.
It made sense that a lot of people were watching him closely.
These numbers? Expected.
He scrolled down to the comments section.
The first comment that caught his eye was also the one with the most likes.
It was from a user named "Amano Ryu," whose profile picture was... a clown wearing a straw hat. (Strange choice.)
———————————————————————
"As beautiful as always. I'm so glad you didn't let all the rumors bring you down.
This kind of innovative, precedent-setting songwriting is exactly the kind of work that'll silence the gossip.
Looking forward to more from you, Suki-sensei."
———————————————————————
The comment had tons of likes and many replies, but it didn't contain much substance beyond praise.
Aoki gave it a like and moved on.
Still, the odd clown icon stuck in his mind just a little.
He kept scrolling.
Most of the comments were positive—words of encouragement, admiration, emotional support.
To his surprise, there weren't any hate comments or rumor-mongering in sight.
He hadn't expected the video to be this effective.
With a slight breath of relief, he scrolled a bit further before preparing to close the comment section.
But just before he did— One comment caught his attention:
———————————————————————
"Ghost Elements just apologized! But their apology seems kind of half-hearted…
Not only that, but their fans don't seem to be buying it either.
But PVC Records, Director Yusuke Niijima, and a bunch of other musicians have all tweeted their support for Suki-san.
Looks like Ghost Elements is going to take a serious hit from this!"
———————————————————————
Ghost Elements... apologized?
That stopped Aoki cold.
He hadn't expected them to fold so quickly.
Weren't they the ones who started all this by calling him a fraud?
And now they were suddenly backing down?
Curious, he exited the video and opened Twitter on his phone.
He searched for "Ghost Elements" and sorted by popularity.
The very first tweet was their official apology statement.
He clicked it open and read through the post carefully.
The statement was long—plenty of formal wording, full of apologies and expressions of regret.
They admitted to spreading false information and acknowledged their responsibilities as public figures.
But something stood out.
While they apologized for accusing Aoki of plagiarism and calling him a "corporate puppet," they didn't say a single word about their remarks regarding Kessoku Band's collaboration with Fireworks.
That part? Completely ignored.
By the end of the post, Aoki was frowning.
They hadn't apologized when the rumors hurt Kessoku Band— And now, when they finally did, it came off like they were still looking down on everyone.
Selective remorse, laced with arrogance.
There was no way he could accept that.
But how to respond?
Suki-san didn't have a Twitter account.
Even if he commented something like "Not accepted," it's likely the band wouldn't even see it.
Maybe...
Maybe this was the right time to finally create an official Kessoku Band Twitter account?
The thought lingered.
As he debated how to respond, Aoki closed the tweet.
He remembered that the earlier commenter had also mentioned responses from Niijima Yusuke and PVC Records.
The director's support didn't surprise him too much, but the fact that PVC Records had also spoken up— that was unexpected.
He quickly searched for PVC Records and again sorted by popularity.
Just like before, the top tweet was PVC's official response—
———————————————————————
Daily Uploads!
Unlock bonus chapters by reaching specific milestones with [300 Power Stone] votes!
Go to p-atreon.com/InsomniaTL to access more than 100+ advanced chapters and other works.