"We have to work twice as hard to gather 60 people if we want to fill the live house, not just 30!"

Harsh words from Kyoko echoed through the room.

Though nobody was being scolded, everyone sat attentively. "...Yes, sorry," they replied.

First, they aimed to finish three songs. Harmonizing would be a goal for later.

"From now on, before street performances, we'll be handing out flyers!" Kyoko declared, slamming a thick stack of flyers onto the table.

"How many... flyers are these?"

"1000 of them!" The faces of everyone twisted in surprise.

"Also, from now on, you'll all be getting part-time jobs!"

"But part-time jobs are against the rules...?"

"I got permission from the teacher! Going to perform at a live house costs money, you know? To sell tickets, you'll need to work. Any unsold tickets will come out of your own pockets. So, you'll all be working part-time jobs as insurance for that time!"

Ah, so that's the system. They hadn't realized before because they'd only done street performances. Live houses were a business.

"It's going to get tougher from now on, but let's do our best ♡."

"Kyoko-chan!" Gaya shouted.

They practiced in the club room, distributed flyers on the streets, worked part-time after their live performances, and practiced on their own when they got home. They convinced people they knew to take flyers and asked stores to display them. They even asked cabaret club hostesses to stop by before their shifts.

Their past efforts spoke volumes, and everyone was cooperative, quickly distributing the 1000 flyers. As they breathed a sigh of relief, Kyoko brought in another 1000. She's relentless.

Christmas Eve arrived, the day of the live performance.

The four not-so-popular guys (except Tooru, who was being invited by girls left and right) didn't care about that. The streets were filled with happy couples.

There were about ten bands at the live house, and The Youth Band had an early slot. Backstage, as the previous band was getting the audience hyped, they tried to calm their nerves.

"Hey, relax," Ryousuke said.

"Aren't you the most nervous?" Gaya asked.

"M-my hands are shaking," Tooru said.

"......" Kouji.

Their turn came! They rushed out!

"Huh?"

There were fewer people in the audience. Not even ten.

After distributing so many flyers? Why?

Lost in thought, they started playing.

The performance went well, but performing in front of such a small audience was disheartening.

Reality hit hard, and they felt down. Then Arai and Kyoko arrived.

"You did great!" Arai cheered.

"It feels more disappointing than the school festival," Kyoko said.

"I understand how you feel," Arai added.

"We worked hard on distributing the flyers, but..."

"Just keep doing your best starting from tomorrow!"

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Everyone gathered at Ryousuke's house in silence.

"Hmm, maybe we need to come up with a better way to distribute the flyers..."

"I think we need to make them more attention-grabbing."

"We also need to improve our musical skills."

As they discussed, their enthusiasm grew.

"All right, let's dig in! You can't perform well on an empty stomach!" Ryousuke's dad brought sushi.

"Wow! Thank you!"

And they began eating.

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"Even though we worked so hard to distribute flyers, the world can be harsh..."

"At that time, I resented society... Well, now I understand how the adults felt."

"What did you do after that?"

"We showcased the true colors of the four troublemakers..."

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In the club room.

I guess everyone had the same idea...

Their neatly washed and ironed school uniforms were buttoned all the way up. Hair neatly trimmed, parted 7:3, black-rimmed glasses - the so-called "model student style."

Everyone: "What's with your outfit?"

"Shut up! You're all dressed the same way!"

As they bickered, the door creaked open.

"You guys... who are you?" It was Arai.

"Oh, sensei, it's us! Us!"

"What's going on? You can't suddenly have a change of heart!"

"We're going to distribute flyers and do street performances with this look."

"It'll make us stand out, right?"

"Sure, but... what if we get into trouble?"

"We'll handle it! And then they'll become our allies!"

"Some things never change, huh..."

"Oh, by the way, sensei! What does 'harmonize' mean?"

They practiced repeatedly, and increased their workload with part-time jobs. During their street performances, they attracted attention as serious-looking high schoolers playing hard rock, and more people started to gather.

We became high school seniors. While most had to take over family businesses, Kouji had to study law at university to inherit his family's real estate business.

Practice time decreased. Naturally, the number of street performances decreased too. Gradually, they stopped altogether.

Except for Kouji, no one maintained the model student style, and they visited the music room less often.

It was then that Kyoko spoke up.

"What's wrong with you guys?"

"It's because Kouji's not here."

"Are you guys idiots?"

"What did you say!"

"My brother practices at home every day! He said he'll do it again once he gets into university! Don't you understand? How many years have you been friends?"

"Huh!" Suddenly realizing, the three of them picked up their instruments.

"What about the tempo?"

"We have a metronome, right? Let's use that."

"If the guitar volume is lower, we can hear it better."

"All right, let's do it."

They formed a circle in the middle of the music room, with the metronome in the center, and began to practice.

They resumed street performances. Without drums, their music lacked power.

"Tooru suggested doing just harmonies."

"Didn't the live house guy tell us to harmonize more? It's good practice, and we can get feedback from the audience who follows us, right?"

So, they started doing "harmony-only street performances."

Surprisingly, it went over well, and even attracted TV attention...

And the audience grew...

But things didn't go smoothly. People get bored quickly. Even the crowded audiences started to dwindle.

When the audience started to leave, they suddenly played a rock-style melody far from harmony, with bass and guitar solos to keep them there.

After the performance, they crashed other street performances as guests and advertised with megaphones in Susukino and in front of Sapporo Station. They even got warned by the police for this.

But this act drew attention and labeled them as the weird ones on TV.

And when Kouji safely got into university, Ryousuke said:

"Hey, why don't we have a farewell concert?"

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"What's going on? We finally got all the members together!" The voice of a middle-aged salaryman grew louder, probably fueled by alcohol.

"Sir, you've had enough to drink! Here, have some water!"

Another salaryman in his thirties asked eagerly, "So? What happened next?"

"Well, there was a reason for it," the shopkeeper said, lighting a cigarette.

The purple smoke rose slowly as he continued his story.

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There was a reason why Ryousuke suggested disbanding.

Firstly, we named ourselves The Youth Band because we wanted to immortalize our youthful days. But once high school ended, we knew our paths would diverge, and we wouldn't be able to meet every day like before. All the members had to accept this reality.

"Where should we have the farewell concert?" Gaya asked.

"There's the biggest live house in Sapporo," Ryousuke replied.

"Of course, you know what that means, right?" Ryousuke gave a meaningful look.

"Yeah!"

"Hey, hey, tell me too!"

"It's a solo concert!"

"What's the capacity?"

"450 people!"

It was an enormous number. But Kyoko didn't say anything.

"Now that it's decided, we need to give it our all!"

"Let's go all out from tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow!"

With that, everyone went their separate ways.