Twin Star Concerto || BanG Dream!

Ch9: When a Fleeting Mistake Ruins Everything

No, Hina couldn't let that happen.

While Sayo was watching another music video, Hina checked what circulated on the video-sharing platform. There were a bunch of videos that covered Pastel✽Palettes' debut. She read the titles of the top videos: "We've Been Punked by This Idol Band", "Shame on You, Pastel✽Fails!", "Chisato Shirasagi Can't Tell the Difference Between Acting in Dramas and Performing Music Onstage", and "Lip-syncing is too Mainstream! Here's Arm-syncing Bunch!".

The view count of each video had exceeded one million in less than 24 hours. Pastel✽Palettes had become viral, indeed.

Hina then peeked at thousands of notifications on her phone. It came from her Twitter and Instagram. The girl cleared them all. The abnormal flood of notifications must be connected to the epic fail debut. Hina didn't need to open them to know what kind of comments and mentions were addressed to her. She was ten billion percent sure that all of them were negative comments.

It was common how netizens loved to bully people who made a blunder. They felt no remorse from typing nasty words because the victims were strangers to them. Besides, the bullies felt protected by the so-called anonymity of the internet.

Hina turned off all notifications from her social media apps. No use reading hateful comments from people she didn't even know.

»↠ ≈☆≈ ↞«

Hina Hikawa loved Monday, as opposed to everyone else. Haneoka Girls' High School was a fun place, so she couldn't relate with some of her friends who dreaded returning to school after two days off.

Besides, she wanted to meet her friends and talked about the sorry state of her band and social media accounts.

The high-schooler walked through the streets of her neighborhood. The sky was cloudy and the road was soaked. A light rain had engulfed the surrounding areas earlier this morning, leaving dampness in the air. She glanced at a row of sakura trees along the river; at least the pink petals brightened the area.

Hina approached a bridge and spotted a friend of hers. The classmate leaned her back to the fence, completely unaware of Hina's presence.

"Hey, Kao—"

The teal-haired girl didn't finish her morning greeting. It turned out that her friend was talking over the phone.

"... Of course, it's an honor to be able to comfort a damsel in distress!" Kaoru Seta exclaimed. "Allow me to read a passage from the great bard—hello?" The tall girl looked at the phone screen and chuckled. "What a timid princess."

"Morning, Kaoru-kun!"

Kaoru put the phone into her grey blazer's pocket. "Greetings, little kitten." She waved her hands and spoke with a dramatic tone. "Aah, it must be God's will that allows us to meet here again!"

Hina averted her gaze to the other side of the river. "Hey, you're right!" She pointed at an area beside a three-story building. "That's the spot where I fished for rainbow trouts the other day."

"Ah, yes." Kaoru nodded. "I can still taste the extravagant flavor of your signature roasted rainbow trout."

Hina's eyes were sparkling with excitement. "Ooh, so you really liked it?"

"I'd say your approach to cooking is quite daring." Kaoru smiled. "In fact, it is eye-opening. Now I realize that the wonders of the culinary world are truly endless."

A smug smile was formed on Hina's lips. "Imma make even more revolutionary dishes, then!" The girl raised her fist in enthusiasm. "Be my food taster, Kaoru-kun!"