Chapter 205 – Future Plans, A New Song

The request was so outrageous that Aoki froze for a few seconds—then rejected it on LINE without hesitation.

Unfortunately, while she could be reasonable with others, when it came to Aoki, Yamada Ryo was far too willful.

Once she had made up her mind, she clearly wasn’t about to let his reply stop her.

So—

Even after Aoki sent a firm [No], her response came right back:

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[Ryo]: Suki-san… are you really heartless enough to watch me starve to death at home just because I can’t afford food…?

[Ryo]: Please, just this once.

[Ryo]:

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“…”

Aoki stared at the three messages, his lips twitching.

This wasn’t a matter of heartlessness!

Honestly speaking, Aoki had no shortage of money right now.

Covering Ryo’s meals for a week wouldn’t even make a dent—hell, even if he paid all her living expenses from now on, his savings could easily sustain that for over a year.

But that wasn’t the point.

Aoki understood perfectly well—

Whether Ryo was simply oblivious about the implications between men and women, or whether she just wanted to be closer to him… it didn’t matter.

The fact was, a young man and woman living under the same roof for a week was… risky.

Even if nothing happened, Aoki couldn’t, as a normal adult man, make some noble declaration like “I guarantee absolutely nothing will happen.”

Taking a deep breath, he prepared to stand firm and refuse again.

But once again, Ryo beat him to it:

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[Ryo]: I’ll be at school during the day. At most, we’d only see each other at night.

[Ryo]: So really, there’s nothing to worry about.

[Ryo]: It’s just temporary lodging.

[Ryo]: If you say no, I’ll just eat grass all week.

[Ryo]: But if you refuse, I understand. It’s only natural…

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She was playing hard-to-get, backing off to lure him in.

Aoki stared at the messages in silence, hesitation flickering in his eyes.

He could see exactly what she was doing… and that was what made it harder to refuse.

Begging had a way of softening people. And unfortunately, Aoki was especially weak to it.

After a long sigh, he finally typed back:

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[Aoki]: Just this once.

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…

In the end, he lost to her persistence.

Having agreed, Aoki set his phone aside.

Ryo wouldn’t actually be coming over until tomorrow, so for now he needed to deal with more pressing matters.

The mood for a walk had already been ruined by her sudden interruption, so he shifted his focus back to music.

He decided to redeem the new song he’d been planning to get from the points store and practice it a bit.

Later in the afternoon, he’d also need to head out shopping.

Since he lived alone, he’d have to buy bedding, blankets, pillows, and other necessities if Ryo was going to stay over.

After that, he had to stop by STARRY and let the rest of the band know about the new song.

Things were about to get busy again.

Not physically exhausting, but with so many trivial tasks piling up, Aoki had the nagging feeling he’d soon have no free time left at all.

NH Music had been relentless.

After forcing Kessoku Band’s songs off their app, they had now moved on to actively suppressing the band.

Aoki wasn’t worried their tactics would do any real harm, but he couldn’t deny the whole thing was irritating.

Most online music platforms in Japan didn’t have large user bases.

NH Music, however, stood out far above the rest.

He’d originally never bothered with copyright issues for online distribution, just wanting as many people as possible to hear their music.

But that good faith had now become a weapon for NH Music to twist against them.

Thanks to their maneuvering, aside from official videos on YouTube, anyone wanting to hear Kessoku Band’s original tracks without buying albums had no choice but to resort to pirated copies.

Of course, Aoki had considered working with other platforms.

But at the time, he hadn’t been focused on expanding their reach, so the plan never moved forward.

Now, though…

With no manager, all of Kessoku Band’s external affairs fell squarely on his shoulders.

Which meant he had to juggle two things at once: preparing new songs for their upcoming concert, and negotiating with music platforms to get their tracks officially released again.

On top of that—

Since he’d decided to push the band’s popularity even further, there was no longer any reason to hold back on commercialization.

Commercialization wasn’t inherently bad.

As long as the band retained full creative control, making money off their passion was nothing to be ashamed of.

And the first step to growing their name…

Aoki sat back on the sofa, lost in thought.

Until now, he hadn’t considered overseas markets at all.

One reason was that Kessoku Band hadn’t been big enough to warrant it.

Another was that without trustworthy partners abroad, he couldn’t risk making rash decisions.

But things were different now.

He still didn’t have a good solution for the second problem, but as for the first…

At this point, even if they weren’t as established as veteran artists with massive fanbases, Kessoku Band had already carved out a recognizable name in the global music scene.

The thought stirred in his chest.

Expanding internationally could wait.

For now, he needed to focus on what was right in front of him.

Taking a deep breath, Aoki opened his interface.

With a silent command, the points store appeared.

His balance was more than enough.

Without hesitation, he selected the song he had already decided on—

One of King Gnu’s most iconic works.

A song hailed as one of the most rebellious and defiant in 21st-century pop.

A track that boldly declared to the world: “We’re already standing at the top.”

“Hikoutei” (Flight Boat)!