(Transted/Edited/Full Proofread: Snow)

  ???~

  The bell rang, its sharp chime signaling the end of css.

  The teacher, who had been diligently writing across the bckboard—paused, setting the chalk down.

  Then, the css president’s gaze swept the room before standing up.

  "Rise."

  As the css fell silent, all eyes turned to the css president. He gave a firm nod before dismissing them with a quiet, “Thank you.”

  A chorus of voices replied, “YES!.”

  The white-haired Japanese history teacher, who had received their polite farewell, left with a broad smile. As soon as he was outside the cssroom, the tension dissolved like a popped bubble and it erupted into lively chatter.

  “Hey, where are you going after this?.”

  “Who’s up for karaoke?.”

  “I heard there’s a new parfait shop near the station!.”

  “I’m hitting the cosmetics store ter. Wanna come?.”

  “Don't forget about club activities!.”

  It was like a scene straight out of a manga—an idealized, loud atmosphere capturing youth.

  But to Taeil, it all felt alien.

  For instance, in a vilge of one-eyed people, he was someone with two-eyes.

  “Css Prez! Are you free today?.”

  “Me…? Uh…yeah, I have no pns.”

  “Then let’s go karaoke!.”

  “Yeah, come on!.”

  “Oh..sure.”

  “Hell yeah! I’ve successfully seduced the prez!.”

  Even the css president—the epitome of a model student—was swarmed by friends, ughing without a care. To Taeil, who remembered his past life, the sight was jarring.

  ‘Then again…’

  Maybe it made sense. Back in Korea, css president elections were just popurity contests.

  The boisterous noise only died when the homeroom teacher barged in and smmed the attendance book onto the desk.

  Taeil’s homeroom teacher was a sort of cliche guy, a ‘Golden Sun’—a gym teacher with the face of a guy who’d steal your girlfriend in a drama.

  However, in reality? A young, overzealous instructor desperate for his students’ approval.

  And to Taeil? Annoying as hell.

  As soon as the cssroom fell silent, the homeroom teacher announced the start of the closing ceremony in his characteristically deep voice.

  "Attention. There's nothing special to convey today, so all of you are free to go."

  What?

  The ceremony ended as abruptly as it began.

  For a brief moment, the entire css remained frozen in disbelief. Then, as if on cue, a collective cheer erupted.

  The teacher gnced at the noisy cssroom and smiled in satisfaction.

  "But make sure you don’t cause any trouble outside of school."

  "Yes!"

  In perfect unison, the students shouted their reply, their voices blending into one.

  With a pleased smile, the homeroom teacher turned and left the cssroom.

  For students in pursuit of youth, time was more precious than gold.

  In the blink of an eye, all but the student on duty had vanished from the cssroom.

  Left alone, Taeil muttered to himself.

  "Now… what should I do next?."

  He let out a sigh, unable to share in the youthful excitement around him.

  He wanted to leave, too, but unfortunately, he was stuck at school, waiting for Ayane’s disciplinary committee meeting to end.

  If he left her alone and let her come back on her own, she’d undoubtedly throw a fit ter. Worse, once Ayane got upset, her mood would linger for ages.

  Taeil had long since concluded that her fragile mentality was the reason she had so many anti-fans.

  Fans called Ayane’s emotional breakdowns her "dark mode."

  The nickname? Kurone.

  The story of Band Show revolved around Iris’s reckless, runaway-crazy personality and Ayane’s fragile mentality, which exploded at random times.

  Everyone else just got swept up in the massive storm these two main characters created.

  "Anyway… avoiding anything that could make Ayane angry is the best option."

  Taeil left the cssroom and wandered down the hallway.

  Spending time alone didn’t feel lonely.

  If anything, he was grateful for the quiet moment to gather his thoughts.

  Lately, he’d been troubled by a particur thought.

  Would Ayane—who had changed from the original—still end up forming a band with Iris?

  Since he had pyed such a big role in changing her trajectory, he felt an equally heavy sense of responsibility.

  ‘What if I cut off Ayane’s path to what might have been her happiest future?.’

  Despite all the twists and turns in the original, Ayane was happy.

  And in the end, after all her struggles, she was rewarded with a future filled with joy.

  Although it wasn’t a fairytale ending where they lived happily ever after, for the first time, Ayane chose her own future. She took responsibility for her actions.

  Everyone was moved by her growth. Some even shed tears. As a fan of the original work, Taeil had been one of them.

  "Still, I wonder… is Ayane happy like this?."

  As the original came closer to its starting point, Taeil felt increasingly uncertain about what y ahead.

  He genuinely loved the four main characters of Show Band. It wasn’t a rational love but more of a fanboy’s admiration for his idols. That was just the way it was.

  Taeil wanted them all to be happy.

  Wouldn’t anyone?.

  That’s why, even if it wasn’t always what he wanted, he tried to consider the future of all four main characters.

  But at the end of the day, Taeil was only human. And a musician.

  Sometimes, emotions overpowered reason. It had happened before, and it was happening again now.

  He couldn't ignore the weight of responsibility he felt toward Ayane—the person he had been with for so long.

  'Ayane's personal happiness… or the collective happiness of all four main characters?'

  An impossibly arrogant and difficult choice.

  Taeil smirked at his own reflection in the window.

  "Pathetic. You think you've grown, Shin Tae-il?"

  It was ughable.

  Someone who couldn’t even take care of his own happiness was now trying to judge someone else’s?

  Who did he think he was?

  Living as a failure with nothing to boast about, yet presuming to weigh the happiness of others.

  But there was one reason he allowed himself to act so shamelessly.

  'Ayane’s positive changes.'

  The original Ayane had been a loner with no friends, drowning out her loneliness with music.

  Why she chose the bass of all instruments, Taeil didn’t know. But she would sit alone in her room, pying her bass while immersing herself in music.

  And, like anyone deeply involved in music, she eventually felt the pull of creation.

  Ayane began composing.

  She filled notebook after notebook with her self-written songs—songs she never intended to show anyone. Her imagination ran wild within those pages.

  Those composition notebooks were both her treasure and her darkest secret.

  She never took them out of the house.

  But fate had other pns.

  One day, by sheer mistake, she grabbed the wrong notebook and turned it in as homework.

  The teacher, realizing the mix-up, handed the notebook to Iris, who had happened to stop by the teacher’s office.

  A sensible, well-mannered person would have simply returned the notebook without peeking inside.

  But Iris was neither of those things.

  Iris had a relentless curiosity, the kind that wouldn’t let her ignore something once it caught her attention.

  Without hesitation, she flipped open the notebook and began to read.

  "You are the talent I’ve been looking for!"

  Ayane, however, was in a full-blown panic. The moment she realized she had turned in the wrong notebook, her heart dropped. Meanwhile, Iris's eyes sparkled with excitement, as if she had just uncovered a hidden treasure.

  The next day, Iris stormed up to Ayane, notebook in hand, and with a grin that spelled trouble, she decred:

  "You copied my notes!?."

  Ayane flinched. "Huh? What are you talking about!?."

  "Of course! I’m thinking about telling the css president!.”

  "Nooo! I don’t want to die yet!"

  A ridiculous threat—completely unbecoming of a protagonist.

  Ayane protested, desperately trying to take the notebook back. But in the end, she crumbled under Iris’s overwhelming pressure.

  "Alright, alright! Just stop!"

  "Good! Starting today, the Supernova Band Club, destined to take Yuuma High School by storm, is officially formed!"

  "If I had to get caught… why did it have to be by someone like this?" Ayane muttered in defeat.

  From that moment on, Iris ran through the school like a madwoman, rounding up the minimum number of members needed to start the band.

  And, naturally, Ayane—completely unwilling—was dragged along for the ride.

  "Come to think of it… has Ayane ever shown any interest in music?."

  Taeil found it strange.

  He had always been open about his love for music, strumming his guitar at home every day, yet Ayane never once showed any curiosity. She simply ignored him.

  Her indifference toward music bothered him more than he cared to admit.

  Even before her original songs came into py, they had a connection.

  The signed album.

  Tenma Izumi.

  The lead vocalist of BARD, Japan’s most popur band at the moment.

  In the original story, both Iris and Ayane admired him deeply.

  At the same time, he was a tragic figure—a man whose untimely death became the catalyst for their growth.

  'It can't be helped since the person who inspired him is a real human…'

  Now, Taeil wondered—did Ayane even know about Izumi in this timeline?

  With the presence of a childhood friend who hadn’t existed in the original, Ayane seemed much more lively than before.

  Of course, that wasn’t just by chance. Taeil had been subtly guiding her, working behind the scenes to keep her from slipping into isotion.

  But that didn’t mean the events that could break her had disappeared entirely.

  Taeil had already seen Ayane become Kurone multiple times.

  Like st year.

  She had failed an important exam due to poor health.

  And the moment she realized she wouldn’t be able to get into the high school she had aimed for with Taeil, she snapped.

  Ayane—mentally shattered—curled up in the corner of her house, refusing to come out, looking like a ghost straight out of a horror movie.

  Not even her parents could get through to her. Taeil's attempts at persuasion were completely ignored.

  With no other options, her parents turned to Taeil, practically begging for help.

  After agonizing over it, he made his decision.

  He gave up his preferred high school and chose the one Ayane could attend.

  After searching aimlessly, Taeil found himself back at Yuuma High School.

  No matter how much he tried to avoid it—tried to resist the pull of the original story—he always ended up right where he started.

  "I tried so hard to stay away…" he muttered.

  He stopped roaming the halls and instead turned to look out the window.

  The setting sun bathed the school grounds in a golden glow, painting a scene that was almost too picturesque.

  On the field, members of the baseball and soccer clubs poured their energy into their training, their youth drenched in sweat and passion. Nearby, the track and field team pushed through their drills, stretching and sprinting in steady rhythm.

  A familiar, everyday scene at Yuuma High School.

  Yuuma High.

  The school that served as the heart of the original story. While its students were surprisingly well-behaved compared to other schools, its extracurricur programs were on another level.

  The school’s baseball team was a regur at Koshien. Other sports teams consistently pced high in regional tournaments.

  And then, there was the arts.

  Yuuma High School attracted students with natural talent—young musicians who had already won competitions or, at the very least, showed promise as future stars.

  "The school had three light music clubs…" Taeil recalled.

  One female-only. One mixed-gender. And one male-only.

  Of course, the male vocal group never got any real attention in the original story. Show Band was a stage for dazzling girls, a "zoo of pretty faces," as the fans called it. The male group was only ever mentioned briefly in the extra setting notes on the book cover.

  In fact in the anime, men were barely given faces at all. Unless they were recurring figures, like teachers, they were nothing more than nameless background extras—faceless, voiceless, insignificant.

  But not anymore.

  Now, every person had a face, a name, a voice.

  For Taeil, Show Band was no longer just a story.

  It was reality.

  "No point in worrying about it."

  Everything—every single thread of fate—was in the hands of one person.

  Iris Arisugawa.

  All of Show Band’s stories begin with her.

  And they all end with her.

  But why?

  As Taeil watched the students singing and ughing about their youth, his mind drifted to distant memories.

  Memories from a past life, now blurred and fragmented.

  "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Taeil… I’m sorry for being a bad brother…"

  "A kid like me shouldn’t even dream."

  "I should’ve never stepped into this world in the first pce. Don’t you think so, too?"

  Taeil shut his eyes.

  And when he opened them again—

  He was here.

  So, it wasn’t really a reincarnation.

  At least, not in the way the manga had always described it.

  Taeil had no memory of death. His family was the same. His retives were the same. Life carried on as if nothing had changed.

  The only real difference?

  The protagonist of Show Band, Ayane, was now his childhood friend. And instead of Korea, his family lived in Japan.

  "Yeah. That’s all there is to it."

  His cousin—once full of dreams—had fallen into despair, his wings clipped, his efforts crushed by betrayal.

  Time may have turned back a little, but nothing else has changed.

  The same world. The same pain.

  Even now, the st memories from his previous life resurfaced, wrapping around him like chains, refusing to let go.

  Even in a world pulled from the pages of a manga, reality remained as harsh as ever.

  In the corner of his room, proof of that truth still remained—

  A broken bass, untouched, abandoned.

  Taeil swallowed the bitterness that settled on his tongue.