Chapter 91: Yamada Ryo: An Interesting Man~ (Patreon)

STARRY's venue wasn't very big, and Bocchi-chan's entrance had been so outrageous that the audience had no idea what to say.

So Kamuro's voice cut through the silence rather sharply.

In Daniel's eyes, at least, the two hands sticking out of the cardboard box were trembling, clearly out of embarrassment.

"Thump, thump-thump, thump!"

Sensing the awkward mood in the room, Nijika took the lead and launched into a drum beat to save the situation, skipping the introductions entirely.

Ryo Yamada reacted quickly too, falling in with Nijika's rhythm.

Inside the box, Hitori Gotoh forced herself to play on muscle memory alone.

But the three of them only managed to mesh at the very beginning. Then they started attacking each other on the beat.

Bass, guitar and drums each did their own thing, and for a while it was pure chaos, a dance of demons.

Sakayanagi Arisu and Masumi Kamuro winced and turned to look at Daniel. He seemed to be having a great time.

Still, knowing him, he had definitely ignored the music altogether and was purely admiring the two beauties on stage and the cardboard box.

"I regret this. Can I get a refund?" Masumi Kamuro shouted over to PA-san.

It wasn't that she was particularly angry. She just had to shout, or the other woman wouldn't hear her over all that noise.

"Nope. Here are your drinks. Have some and calm down. Don't worry, there's a proper band after this. Newbies are like this, so please be patient."

PA-san turned down the refund request. She drew three colas with ice from the drink machine behind her and passed them over.

Masumi Kamuro rolled her eyes, took the colas with a sigh, and endured the noise from the stage while trying to find some rhythm in it that was actually listenable.

Honestly, human adaptability is impressive.

When the song finally ended, everyone was a little thrown by the sudden quiet.

There was no applause, of course. The audience sat in dead silence. Nobody booing was already a win.

"A-ah, I-I blew it. I knew I shouldn't have gone on stage. The audience must all be laughing at me. What if the band falls apart because of me? And I finally had people willing to start a band with me..."

Inside the box, Hitori Gotoh trembled all over, on the verge of tears, muttering to herself.

Nijika knew the performance had flopped too, but she'd heard Hitori's mumbling. She grabbed Ryo Yamada and the girl in the box, ready to head offstage and comfort her.

But just then, Daniel, sitting at the bar, began to clap softly. In the dead silence, it sounded especially loud.

The girls on stage froze mid-step and instinctively looked toward the one applauding.

He wore a blissful look on his face as he said, "This is real music~"

The audience and Sakayanagi Arisu's group put on pained, can't-even-keep-a-straight-face expressions.

What the hell are you talking about?

Ryo Yamada's eyes lit up, though. She seemed to be drawn in by Daniel's words.

Daniel, as if no one else were there, went right on with his review.

"Nobody coordinates with anybody. Everyone shows off her own skills, as if you were bared fangs at each other through the music, tearing into each other like you want the other dead."

"Subarashii~"

"It was so moving! Keep it up! From today on, I'm your fan!"

Nijika's mouth twitched. Was this guy being sarcastic at their expense?

The others came to their senses too. Daniel was saying the opposite of what he meant.

But Hitori Gotoh, still in the box, thought Daniel was actually praising them. Her social anxiety eased a little, and she even sounded a bit pleased with herself. "Eh-heh-heh, I'm not as good as you say..."

So cute, Hitori-chan.

"Pfft..."

"Hahaha, the guitarist in the box is too cute!"

"What is this, even? Keep working hard, girls."

Hitori Gotoh's interruption softened the audience, and they forgave the girls for the racket they'd raised. Taking it as entertainment wasn't so bad, after all.

Even so, Nijika had gone a bit red in the face by now. She bowed to the crowd, then dragged the still-floating Hitori Gotoh off to the practice room.

Ryo Yamada didn't follow them. Instead she set down her bass, hopped off the stage at a spot where few people were standing, and headed straight toward Daniel.

"Uh, she's not going to punch that guy out because she's embarrassed and angry, is she?"

"Could be. They're a band, so nothing they do would surprise me."

As the crowd murmured, Ryo Yamada came to a stop in front of Daniel, her golden eyes, almost devoid of emotion, fixed on his face.

Sakayanagi Arisu looked like she was watching a show. She didn't believe Daniel could lose to an ordinary person, and even if it came to a fight, he wouldn't come off worse.

Masumi Kamuro, on the other hand, got down from her stool and stepped up beside Daniel, warning Ryo Yamada, "Even if he said something nasty, it doesn't call for a fight."

But Ryo Yamada didn't answer her. She ignored Masumi Kamuro completely and asked Daniel in a flat voice, "What kind of woman do you like?"

???

The crowd froze. They'd already got their popcorn ready, and this was what they got?

Daniel was taken aback too. What was this? This wasn't Jujutsu Kaisen, either.

Still, after a moment's thought, he answered.

"Mature onee-sans, moe little sisters, young wives, young girls, JKs, legal lolis, beast-ear girls, elves. I like them all."

"If I had to narrow it down, as long as she's a girl and she's pretty, that's enough."

Hearing his answer, Ryo Yamada's expressionless, beautiful face finally shifted.

Masumi Kamuro had braced herself for Ryo Yamada to curse him out. Instead she watched Ryo reach out, take Daniel's hand, and say with a hint of anticipation:

"Just as I thought, I wasn't wrong about you."

"Be my boyfriend."

Daniel wasn't very surprised. That was simply her personality. She considered herself a weirdo, played it up to show her individuality, and liked to say whatever was on her mind.

And Ryo Yamada saw something similar to herself in Daniel.

After all, anyone who would break the mood and say all that while the room was frozen had to be a fellow weirdo with the same tastes as her.

Most importantly, Daniel was handsome!

He was practically planted right in the depths of Ryo Yamada's heart. If he'd been some ugly bastard, she probably would have settled for being friends.

But if it was a handsome guy who caught her eye, she went straight on the offensive.

"No problem, I accept. That makes you my seventeenth girlfriend."

"I'm Daniel. Are you free tonight?"

Daniel felt he understood Ryo Yamada's personality pretty well, so he naturally said the things that would draw her in.

"Ryo Yamada. I'm free tonight. By the way, seventeenth girlfriend, not seventeenth in a line of exes, right?"

The corners of Ryo Yamada's mouth curled up slightly as she asked him.

"Of course. You're all my wings. I'm not one of those scumbags who dump a girl and go find someone new. Relationships are meant to last. Oh, and these are your two older sisters."

"Then I'm relieved. Nice to meet you."

Ryo Yamada seemed to let out a breath of relief, stroking her rather flat chest with her free hand, and only then greeted the two girls beside Daniel.

Behind the bar, PA-san, Sakayanagi Arisu and Masumi Kamuro were all staring, dumbstruck. Was this girl even human?