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Twang!
The absolute second the first note rang out, Hitori Gotoh knew.
She was completely screwed.
When she was trembling so violently she could barely hold the pick, how could she possibly play the guitar well? She forced herself to grit her teeth and power through the rest of the song. Unsurprisingly, not a single note landed in tune.
"Ha... haha..."
By the ti the song rcifully ended, Hitori was completely paralyzed by sheer embarrassnt. 'What do I do? I just want to die.'
"That..."
As a friend, this was the exact mont where one was supposed to tell a white lie. But given Yukino Yukinoshita's personality, she was fundantally incapable of doing such a thing. After deliberately weighing her words for a long mont, Yukino hesitantly spoke up.
"It's fine. You probably just started learning how to play recently. With a bit more ti and practice, you'll definitely improve. We can practice together here in the Service Club from now on."
Even though she had never played the guitar herself, Yukino was incredibly confident in her own learning capabilities.
"..." After making such a fool of herself, Hitori didn't dare admit that she had actually been practicing relentlessly for years. She could only offer a numb, hollow nod.
"I-I understand."
"U-Um, I have sothing I need to do, so I'll be going now!"
Abandoning all pretenses, the sheer social death she had just experienced left Hitori with only one thought: escape.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The second Hitori bolted through the door, Kai burst out laughing.
"Mocking your friends isn't exactly a good trait." Yukino felt that her own blunt words had caused Hitori's embarrassnt. Seeing Kai laughing so hard, she couldn't help but furrow her brows in disapproval.
"No, that's not it!"
He smiled and waved his hand dismissively. Knowing exactly how Yukino's mind worked, he cut straight to the chase.
"Have you ever heard of 'Guitar Hero'?"
"Guitar Hero?"
Clearly, Yukino, who rarely paid attention to internet culture, had never heard the na before.
Kai didn't mind. He pulled out his phone and quickly pulled up a video.
The person in the video didn't show their face, but the guitar in their hands and the pink track jacket they were wearing were absolutely identical to Hitori Gotoh's. The only difference was the guitar playing in the video. Even to Yukino's untrained ear, it was undeniably professional-tier, perhaps even far surpassing the average professional guitarist.
"This is Hitori?"
It was completely night and day compared to her performance just now.
"I told you before, didn't I? Bocchi-chan has crippling social anxiety!" Kai chuckled, putting his phone away. "She has zero experience playing the guitar in front of other people."
"So, you guessed this would happen from the very beginning?"
"More or less!" Kai didn't bother denying it. "Your Service Club is a place dedicated to helping others, right?"
"Hmm?"
Under Yukino's surprised gaze, Kai spoke with complete sincerity.
"In that case, how about making the Service Club's very first official request helping Hitori Gotoh overco her social anxiety?"
"..."
She almost couldn't believe those words had co out of Kai's mouth. But thinking about it carefully, it actually made perfect sense.
As expected. She wasn't wrong about him. Kai really is an incredibly gentle person.
"On behalf of the Service Club, I accept this request."
————————————————————
Even though she had officially accepted the request...
Over the next few days, Yukino completely failed to co up with any effective thods to actually help Hitori.
The only thing that had noticeably changed was their lunch venue—they moved from the windy rooftop to the quiet Service Club room.
"This place isn't bad at all. It's the perfect spot to eat lunch."
"..."
Hearing Kai's blatant disregard for the club's actual purpose, Yukino shot him an exasperated glare.
"Is no one coming to submit any requests?"
Hitori, who was hovering right next to Kai, asked in sheer confusion. Were high school students nowadays really so capable that they could solve all their own problems?
"It's just quiet right now. Once we've been established for a while, people will definitely start showing up."
At this mont, Yukino was still brimming with confidence.
She cast a sidelong glance at Hitori, who was practically glued to Kai's side. She knew perfectly well that Hitori's crippling social anxiety made her instinctively cling to the person she was most comfortable with.
Originally, Yukino hadn't cared in the slightest.
But lately, for so inexplicable reason, seeing Hitori stick so closely to Kai sent a faint, highly uncomfortable twinge of irritation through her chest.
Ring!
Just as Yukino was about to say sothing, Kai's phone suddenly started ringing.
"Hmm?"
Glancing at the unfamiliar number flashing on the screen, Kai didn't think much of it and casually swiped to answer.
"Hello, who is this?"
"..."
The line was dead silent for several seconds. Then, a highly resentful, lancholic female voice drifted through the speaker.
"So, you never bothered to save my number, did you?"
"?"
That incredibly bitter, grievance-filled tone made both Yukino and Hitori instantly snap their heads toward Kai.
Why does that voice sound exactly like a woman who was just ruthlessly abandoned by her lover?
A ssy love triangle confrontation?
Sorry, but that simply wasn't going to happen.
Acting completely oblivious to the sudden shift in the two girls' expressions, Kai spoke with genuine surprise.
"Editor Machida?"
Editor?
That single word instantly defused the tension on the girls' faces, replacing it with burning curiosity. Exactly what kind of editor would be calling Kai?
"Is there a specific reason you're calling at this hour?" Kai genuinely hadn't expected Sonoko Machida to call him during the school day.
"Wait, Kai-sensei... have you seriously not been paying attention to your own novel??"
"My novel? Has it been published already?"
"It's been officially out for three entire days!"
Any other rookie author debuting their first book would be anxiously calling her several tis a day for updates. Yet with Kai, if she hadn't called him herself, he clearly wouldn't have cared in the slightest. It was almost as if he had completely forgotten he even wrote the damn thing.
"Oh, really? Haha, I've been a bit busy lately. By the way, how are the sales numbers looking? Are they doing okay?"
"WHAT DO YOU AN, 'DOING OKAY'?? THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY PHENONAL!"
Speaking of the sales, Machida's tone skyrocketed with uncontainable excitent. "In just three short days, you've already sold twenty-seven thousand copies! If we maintain this montum, we're highly likely to smash past five hundred thousand copies in the very first month. You are guaranteed a spot at the Golden Novel Awards at the end of the year!"
"Since the founding of Fujikawa Fantastic Bunko, we've rarely seen a debut perform this exceptionally well. The internet is literally flooding with rave reviews."
"The publisher is already prepping an ergency reprint of another one hundred thousand copies. Your second royalty check will be hitting your bank account very soon, Kai-sensei."
The more she spoke, the more ecstatic she beca.
After all, Kai was an author she had personally signed. The better his book perford, the higher her own performance bonuses skyrocketed. Having a literal god-tier author under her wing made every single one of her fellow editors green with absolute envy. For the past few days, Sonoko Machida had been walking on air.
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