"Kita, Kita!"
In the practice room, Ikuyo Kita was spacing out, while Nijika Ichiji beside her was trying to snap her out of it.
After calling her several times, Ikuyo Kita finally seemed to come back to her senses, wearing an awkward expression. She quickly tightened her grip on her guitar and apologized to everyone:
"Sorry... I was a bit distracted just now and didn't hear you calling me."
"Seriously, Kita, this won't do. Your guitar skills had improved so much recently, but today it feels like you've regressed."
Seeing that Ikuyo Kita had finally snapped out of it, Nijika Ichiji looked at her with concern—today, during practice, Kita had messed up several notes.
"Did something happen recently? Do you need our help with anything?"
"Rather than regressing... it feels more like Kita has something on her mind, doesn't it?"
As the most skilled guitarist among them, Hitori Gotou noticed that Ikuyo Kita's issue wasn't a decline in skill but rather that she seemed distracted while playing.
She had experienced this herself when she first started practicing the guitar, so she could easily identify the problem.
She also looked at Ikuyo Kita with concern—for Hitori Gotou, there were only three places where she felt truly at ease: home, by Shin's side, and with Kessoku Band.
So, if possible, she didn't want any issues to arise within Kessoku Band. She genuinely wanted to help Ikuyo Kita resolve whatever was troubling her.
"Are you tired from practicing? How about we go grab some snacks to lighten the mood?"
Katou Megumi was also in the practice room. Recently, she had been spending a lot of time with Kessoku Band after school, helping out with small tasks here and there.
Even the owner of the LiveHouse, Nijika Ichiji's older sister—Ijichi Seika—had praised Katou Megumi for being great at taking care of others, saying she'd make a good wife in the future.
So, seeing that Ikuyo Kita seemed off, she suggested they all go out for a bite to eat—after all, Shin would cover the bill.
"Sure, I'm in."
As usual, whenever Katou Megumi made this suggestion, Ryo Yamada was the first to agree.
It seemed Yamada Ryou had really spent all her money on buying Ikuyo Kita's bass last time, so during recent Kessoku Band gatherings, Yamada Ryou had been the one eating the most.
While the others just snacked to fill their stomachs or taste the food, Yamada Ryou was genuinely eating to get full, which made everyone feel a bit embarrassed.
Fortunately, Shin didn't seem to mind the small expenses, or else everyone would probably have to force Yamada Ryou to apologize to him.
"Alright, sorry for worrying everyone."
After hesitating for a moment, Ikuyo Kita put on her usual social butterfly smile and apologized to everyone.
However, as she said this, she glanced at Katou Megumi—the reason she had been distracted was because she had overheard some strange noises between Shin and Katou Megumi earlier.
But there was no way she could tell the others about that. No matter how outgoing Ikuyo Kita was, she was still a girl, and such private matters couldn't be discussed openly.
Thinking about this, Ikuyo Kita recalled that during lunch today, whenever she glanced at Shin, she occasionally caught him looking back at her.
She was starting to suspect that Shin might have already guessed something, which made her wonder if she should just bring it up with him.
Although telling a boy about something like this was still embarrassing... Shin was involved, and Ikuyo Kita did have a bit of a crush on him.
...
"So that's how it is. You sensed the fight between me and Shin-Kun..."
Back at Shin's house, Tohru had learned from Kanna how she had discovered Tohru and Shin's location.
It turned out that when Shin and Tohru had gone to fight outside the atmosphere, the magical energy from Tohru's attacks had caught Kanna's attention.
Later, when Tohru and Shin returned home, Kanna had used that opportunity to figure out their location and had come looking for them.
If it hadn't been for that spontaneous fight with Tohru that day, Kanna probably still wouldn't know where Shin and Tohru were.
Kanna's situation was left to Tohru to handle, as Kanna and Tohru were dragons from the same world. Tohru would take care of her.
Meanwhile, Shin saw Gabriel out—today, Gabriel had also been wearing a maid outfit while lazing around at Shin's house. It was impressive that she came over in a maid outfit every day.
However, as Gabriel was leaving, she seemed to remember something and suddenly leaned in close to Shin's ear, whispering:
"Zuke, are you into girls who cosplay as dragons?"
"...Huh? How did you come to that conclusion?"
Shin was stunned, clearly not expecting Gabriel to bring up such an unrelated topic.
He had thought Gabriel would ask about her salary or games, but it turned out she had other interests besides those two?
"Because your head maid is cosplaying as a dragon girl, isn't she?"
Gabriel seemed to still think Tohru was just cosplaying and not an actual dragon girl.
After all, Tohru hadn't revealed her magical powers in front of Gabriel, and with Gabriel's carefree attitude, it was no surprise she hadn't noticed.
"And today you brought back a little girl cosplaying as a dragon girl... I don't want to judge your preferences, but isn't that a bit too... much?"
"...Kanna is Tohru's acquaintance. I'm not depraved enough to go after a child."
Shin's lips twitched. What could he even say—did he really look like a pervert who wouldn't even spare a child?
He had been quite confident in his appearance, but now, after being questioned by both Irisviel and Gabriel, he was starting to doubt himself.
Watching Shin's dejected figure as he walked back into the house after seeing her off, Gabriel fell silent for a moment, then reached up to tug at her hair:
"...Would I look good with dragon horns?"
Gabriel had never done cosplay before, especially not as a dragon girl—after all, she was an angel, and dragons were often portrayed as fierce creatures in mythology, which didn't align with an angel's image.
But this time, Gabriel couldn't help but imagine what she'd look like with dragon horns.
To be continued…
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