Seishun Complex

A Star

For Nijika, it was never a surprise when Bocchi showed up to band practice looking as though she was partway through her transformation into a ghost. Whether she stayed up late writing lyrics or worrying about something she'd done that day, or just plain insomnia, a dark-eyed Bocchi was never a rare sight.

A dark-eyed Kita, however...

"Are you ok, Kita? You look like you haven't seen the sun in weeks."

Indeed, to say that Kita was tired would be a bit of an understatement. As a responsible high school girl who always stayed on top of things, Kita hadn't slept late a day in her life. Unfortunately, that meant that her body was entirely unused to the sensation of having pulled an all-nighter, and as such, the usual Kit-aura that permeated through every practice had faded to a flicker.

"Ah, I'm mostly fine, Ijichi-senpai."

The other 2 elected not to question Kita's current state. Ryo simply turned to Bocchi, mostly unconcerned.

"Anyways, how's progress looking on your song?"

"I got a rough draft already. I should be done editing in a day or two."

"That's good."

"Oh, right!"

The other 3 turned to look at Kita, watching as she rummaged through her bag before pulling out a few pages of sheet music.

"I've actually finished a song of my own!"

Not a word was uttered inside of the room for the next few seconds, every member remaining silent as the information sunk in.

"What?"

Ryo was the first to break this silence before Kita began nodding along.

"Yeah! I suddenly had a burst of information last night, so I tried to get started and before I knew it, it was morning. D'you guys want to hear it? It's called 'Stars in the sky'."

The 3 of them look at each other before giving their own statements of approval.

"I don't see why not."

"I'm interested in Ikuyo's writing."

"I-I was wondering why you were asking me about songwriting yesterday..."

And with a smile, Kita plugged in her guitar and began to strum.

###

"Wow... That was certainly, uh..."

Nijika struggled to find the right words to fully express what she was thinking.

"You see, uh, it's creative, just-"

"It sucks."

Nijika turned to Ryo with a look of horror as the life drained out of Kita's face. Kita slowly lowered herself down into the fetal position, nearly dropping her guitar as she did.

"Ah... Well, that's only natural, isn't it? I mean, it's my first time writing, so it would obviously suck, ehehehe..."

"Hm... Actually..."

Now, everyone turned to look at Bocchi who immediately shriveled up under their gaze.

"A-ah, nevermind."

"Wait, I want to hear what you were going to say!"

Bocchi was slightly startled at this statement by Nijika, but cleared her throat and started.

"Well, it could definitely use a bit of work, but the general feel of the guitar and the melody are both things we could work with. Maybe work with Ryo-san to touch it up a little?"