BARD
The Morals Committee's mornings came early.
They had to arrive at school before the other students and stand guard at the front gate.
Their job was to check if the students' appearances—from head to toe—were neat and proper, and to make sure no one was late.
Today was no different.
Ayane's Morals Committee senior, Hiiragi Sakurako, tossed her bag carelessly into the classroom like always and headed straight for the committee room.
There, she found Ayane pacing back and forth, muttering "What do I do?" over and over.
"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!"
"What are you doing, Ayane?"
"Senior! You came at the perfect time! What should Ayane do, Senior!?"
Ayane noticed Sakurako and rushed over, grabbing both her hands.
Sakurako put on a deliberately surprised face. But more than anything, she zeroed in on the fact that Ayane had dropped her usual third-person self-reference.
So that was just an act, huh.
Suddenly realizing her junior's little secret, Sakurako stared at Ayane with a blank look.
Look at those innocent eyes. What a sly little fox...
A twinge of betrayal brushed her chest, but she brushed it off like water off a duck's back, acting the mature adult.
I'm the senior. Time to show some senior dignity.
Sakurako grabbed Ayane's shoulders with both hands and pressed down firmly to steady her. The girl was still shaking like a massager on high.
Tremble tremble tremble!
Sakurako's own body vibrated along with Ayane's.
"... "
Her cool senior move to calm things down had failed spectacularly.
Once more, Sakurako maturely acknowledged her physical shortcomings and tried to soothe Ayane.
"Calm down. Let's take some deep breaths first. Come on, follow your senior quietly. Breathe in."
"Suuuup."
"Breathe out."
"Fuuuuh."
She repeated the breaths while subtly rising onto her tiptoes and back down.
But even then, her height still didn't quite match Ayane's...
Anyway, whether it was Sakurako's method or not, Ayane's trembling finally stopped before long.
"Ayane... Ayane thinks she's calmed down a bit now..."
"Good?"
With Ayane settled, Sakurako asked nonchalantly about what had happened.
As cool and aloof as possible. I'm not that interested, but I'll listen since you're freaking out—like a proper adult.
"So. What's the big deal? Something that bad you can't do gate duty today?"
"N-not quite that serious..."
Ayane didn't give a straight answer. Instead, she hunched her shoulders and fidgeted with her index fingers pressed together.
Her gaze avoided Sakurako's, unfocused, and her face was flushed red all the way to her ears—like it might burn your hand if you touched it.
Ah, I get it. This is that, right?
Sakurako sighed at the classic look of a girl in love.
The fact that Ayane had a crush was practically an open secret among the Morals Committee girls.
They even knew who it was.
He didn't show up as much lately, but in the past, he'd eye the committee warily while coming to pick her up.
"S-so, um, here's what happened..."
Ayane couldn't continue from sheer embarrassment, so Sakurako cut straight to it.
"Did that Shin whatshisname ask you out on a date or something?"
"Hieeek!"
Ayane yelped in shock.
It was as good as a confession.
"For real? What's gotten into him? Guess that Korean guy's got game when he wants to."
"Not Korean—he's Japanese! And not Shin whatshisname—Shin Tae-il! Don't you dare shorten Shin-cheon's name like that! That's Ayane's privilege!"
Ayane bristled.
Her spittle flecked Sakurako's face.
Stay calm. Stay calm. I'm the senior. A merciful, mature senior.
A true senior could handle a junior's tantrum with ease.
Instead of snapping, Sakurako wiped her face with a handkerchief.
"Ah, right. Sorry. So? Did he ask you out?"
"W-well, here's the thing..."
Ayane recounted Tae-il's offer from their walk to school, word for word.
Love knows no borders of age or nationality, or so they say.
International romance had a certain romantic allure.
Regardless of reality, girls influenced by K-pop or Korean dramas often idealized Korean guys.
Of course, most wised up as they grew into adults.
Whether Ayane and her childhood friend Shin whatshisname counted as "international" was debatable, but Sakurako was plenty interested in other people's love lives.
She didn't want her own, so she lived vicariously through others.
And when her cute junior's romance started looking real, even Sakurako shed her adult facade and raised her voice in excitement.
Well, she was still a teenager in the prime of her youth, after all.
"He said, 'You like bands? Wanna go see a live show this weekend if you're free?' Seesh!"
Oh my oh my. Oh my my!
Sakurako's language circuits shorted out as she clapped and kept exclaiming.
"So! So what'd you say back?"
"I-I said I'd think about it..."
"You idiot! I've been telling you forever—forget playing hard to get, just go full throttle!"
"B-but Ayane couldn't help it! My mind just went blank, so like, uwaaaah! Uwaaaaaah!"
Ayane let out a scream no high school girl should utter, clutching her head.
Her slender legs thrashed in mental anguish, kicking the innocent floor instead.
If anyone was in the classroom below, they'd definitely complain.
Ayane's meltdown had the reverse effect—Sakurako calmed down. Regaining her composure, she shook her head with feigned maturity.
"Sigh. How's our little kid ever gonna manage romance..."
"S-says the single senior who's never dated!"
"Hey now."
Sakurako clicked her tongue and wagged her finger side to side at Ayane's outburst.
Her pink twintails shook visibly along with it.
"What? Did you secretly start dating someone without telling me?"
Annoyed, Ayane got a pitying look from Sakurako, who pointed at herself dramatically.
"I don't date."
Then she pointed at Ayane.
"You can't date."
Gotcha?
Sakurako puffed out her chest proudly and grinned smugly.
For the record, her chest was even smaller than Ayane's—positively pitiful.
Ayane's reaction to her senior's provocative jab?
"...Pfft."
Ayane whipped her head away in a hurry.
"Khk!"
But the effort was wasted—her shoulders shook vigorously.
Clear as day, she was snickering.
"Eghk!"
Sakurako's face turned tomato red from embarrassment.
"S-sorry, Senior! So, um, what'd you say just now?"
"Hey, wipe that hand off your mouth."
Even as Sakurako ordered her, Ayane shook her head furiously, desperately covering her mouth.
The crescent-moon curve of her eyes only stoked Sakurako's rage.
"Ugh, come on! Why can't you just wipe it?!"
"Se-Senior! More importantly, shouldn't we hurry to the gate? The president's waiting!"
"Not until that smirk's gone, you brat!"
"Kyaaah!"
Sakurako finally pried Ayane's hand away—and froze like stone.
"Se-Senior...?"
A faintly upturned lip corner.
Twitching cheeks.
Sakurako's fury hit critical mass—her twintails practically shot straight up.
"You, youuuu! How dare a green junior openly mock her senior like this! I'm not letting this slide!"
"Kyaaaaah! Senior, no violence! Absolutely against it! And violence violates morals anyway! Kyaaaaah!"
Sakurako chased after the fleeing Ayane.
The Morals Committee girls admired by students? Nowhere in sight.
"Guys, I'm he—huh?"
Morals Committee President Hayate opened the door and froze in confusion.
Ayane's screams echoed through the crack.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to laugh!"
"Shut it! Think big tits make you all that? You're flat as gum anyway!"
"Ayane's the type that looks slim in clothes! And mine have curves—you don't!"
"Who you calling a concrete slab?!"
"Kyaa! Ayane didn't say it that bad!"
Hayate quietly closed the door again.
Haha. Total mess.
She wiped under her nose.
"No helping it! Guess I'll handle gate duty solo today."
Haha.
Hayate grinned refreshingly.
A bit too saintly for the main villain of The Band ~Girls Do Band~.
"Ah, so you can't tell me directly after all?"
Tae-il looked visibly disappointed, and the canteen lady apologized with a sorry expression.
"Sorry, kid. It's against the rules to reveal the sales rotation."
"Can't argue with rules. Thanks anyway for telling me today's bread lineup. Have a good one!"
"Thanks, dearie. Study hard now."
Tae-il's bright smile twisted the moment he stepped out of the canteen.
He tsked softly.
"Tch! So this is the end of ways to pinpoint the original story's start date..."
On the day the original story began, Ayane had bought a melon bread from the canteen and eaten it alone in the bathroom.
It was such a pitiful scene that Tae-il remembered it clearly. He'd rushed to the canteen first thing upon arriving at school today. Yuuma High rotated unpopular items and pricey popular breads weekly. Melon bread was one of them.
Nailing this down might let him zero in on the original timeline.
But the world wasn't that accommodating.
"Ugh!"
Tae-il vented by kicking a stray pebble.
He'd figured an unpopular item like melon bread would be easy to get info on, but the canteen lady was firm.
"Whatever. Even if I figured out the timeline, it wouldn't change much."
The Band ~Girls Do Band~ world was peaceful.
Speculating when Izumi died would be more productive anyway.
Since it might save a life.
On his way back to class, Tae-il mentally reorganized his plan.
Normally, seeing a BARD live show right now was impossible. It wasn't concert season.
But what if it was a TV broadcast schedule?
Especially a music program.
"This is a gift from the gods."
Tae-il patted the ticket in his pocket.
Studio audience spots were usually drawn randomly from applicants. Tae-il hadn't made the cut.
But a friend who'd gotten one suddenly had plans and handed it off to him.
If security was tight, no dice—but this show was lax enough. Thanks to that, he could take Ayane to see BARD live. He sent fervent praise to the sloppy Japanese broadcaster.
If it featured the full BARD lineup, he'd have bowed dogeza-style toward their building. Pity it didn't.
Just vocalist Izumi and bassist Yahiro.
Still, beggars can't be choosers.
Tae-il was satisfied. Bass was the instrument original Ayane played, after all.
Even if her choice back then wasn't voluntary, he felt fate in this perfect lineup.
"First, get her face-to-face with BARD somehow and gauge her reaction."
All problems in The Band ~Girls Do Band~ stemmed from BARD's Izumi—and were resolved by her too.
So this time, he trusted BARD's vocalist—Arisugawa Iris's idol and the story's origin point, Tenma Izumi—to fix everything.
The so-called "Izumi, save me" operation.
"Haven't seen 'em in ages."
He could already hardly wait for the weekend.
A full five years since his last live BARD sighting.
They'd shaken souls back then—what would they do now?
Tae-il's heart raced at the thought of soon witnessing the live show that would one day crown BARD as the ultimate bosses of the The Band ~Girls Do Band~ world.