(Transted/Edited/Slight Proofread: Snow) ( Let me know of any mistakes!)

  Mornings come early for the members of the disciplinary committee.

  Ayane had come to school before the other students and stood in front of the school gate, waiting.

  Her job is simple: ensure students are neatly dressed from head to toe and make sure no one is te.

  Today was no different.

  As usual, Ayane’s senior on the disciplinary committee, Sakurako, tossed her bag into the cssroom before heading straight to the disciplinary committee room.

  That’s when she saw Ayane, fidgeting restlessly, her voice filled with panic.

  “What should I do? What should I do? What should I do, what should I do!”

  Sakurako raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing, Ayane?.”

  “Senior! You came at the perfect time! What should I do, Senior!?”

  The moment Ayane noticed Sakurako, she rushed toward her, grabbing both of her hands in desperation.

  Sakurako feigned surprise, but what caught her attention more than Ayane’s panic was the fact that her usual first-person pronoun had slipped.

  So that was the concept.

  She blinked, slowly realizing a little secret about her junior.

  ‘Look at those innocent eyes. What a foxy girl…’

  A small sense of betrayal passed through her, but she brushed it off with the grace of a senior.

  After all, as a senior, she had to maintain her dignity.

  But instead of calming Ayane down, Sakurako found herself gripping the girl’s shoulders like a human massager, shaking them vigorously.

  Brrrr!

  Both of them vibrated in unison.

  "..."

  Sakurako had tried to present herself as a composed and cool senior, but it seemed she had failed spectacurly.

  With another deep breath, she resigned herself to reality, once again acknowledging her own physical shortcomings.

  She pced a hand on Ayane’s shoulder and spoke with forced composure.

  “Calm down. Let’s take a deep breath first. Follow me. Inhale.”

  “Swoop.”

  “Exhale.”

  “Phew.”

  As they repeated the breathing exercise, Sakurako instinctively rose onto her toes, lifting her heels up and down.

  And yet… she still wasn’t as tall as Ayane.

  No matter.

  At least her method seemed to be working—Ayane’s trembling gradually subsided.

  “I… I think I’ve calmed down a bit now.”

  “Hm?.”

  Once Ayane had calmed down, Sakurako leaned in slightly and asked about what had happened earlier.

  She did so as nonchantly and chicly as possible—because, of course, she wasn’t particurly interested. It just felt like she had no choice but to listen since Ayane was practically vibrating with impatience.

  “So. What’s going on? Is guarding the school gate suddenly that difficult today?”

  “It’s… it’s not that…”

  Ayane avoided a direct answer, instead shrugging her shoulders and fidgeting with her index fingers.

  Her gaze was unfocused, unable to meet Sakurako’s eyes, and her face—red all the way to her ears—looked like it might burn if touched.

  Sigh. Sakurako had seen this kind of reaction before.

  ‘Ah, I think I get it. This is it, huh?.’

  She let out a small sigh at the sight of a textbook case of a girl in love.

  Ayane’s crush was practically an open secret among the disciplinary committee.

  In fact, Sakurako knew exactly who the target was.

  He used to be oddly wary of the disciplinary committee but would still show up to pick Ayane up. That habit had faded recently, but the signs were all still there.

  “So, what happened? Did some guy ask you out on a date.?”

  “H-Heeeek!”

  Ayane practically jumped in terror.

  That reaction? That was as good as a confession.

  “Oh? Really? That Korean guy managed to pull it off?.”

  “Not ‘Korean’! And not ‘Shin-something’—his name is Shin Tae-il! And don’t just shorten Shin-chan’s name however you want! That’s Ayane’s privilege!”

  Ayane puffed up indignantly, spitting out her words.

  A few stray droplets of her anger nded right on Sakurako’s face.

  ‘Calmness. Calmness. I am a senior. A compassionate and mature senior.’

  Since ancient times, it has been said that seniors should be tolerant of their juniors' little tantrums.

  Instead of snapping, Sakurako calmly took out a handkerchief and wiped her face.

  “Alright, alright. My bad. So? Did he ask you out or not?”

  “Th-that’s…”

  Flustered, Ayane recited the suggestion Taeil had made on their way to school.

  Sakurako crossed her arms, listening.

  They say love knows no age or borders.

  International romance was so romantic.

  No matter the reality, female students obsessed with the Korean Wave always had certain fantasies about Korean men.

  Of course, most people eventually outgrew those illusions.

  Setting aside the question of whether Ayane’s retionship with Shin-whatever—her childhood friend, no less—could even be considered international, Sakurako had to admit…

  She was very interested in other people’s retionships.

  Since she has no interest in dating herself, Sakurako finds vicarious satisfaction in watching other people's romantic life.

  And now that her adorable junior’s love life was finally becoming a reality, she couldn’t hold back.

  Gone was the mature, composed Sakurako—she threw off any pretense of adulthood and raised her voice in excitement.

  Well, she was still a teenage girl, after all.

  “He said, ‘Do you like bands? If you don’t mind, do you want to go see a show this weekend?’ Oh my god!”

  ‘Oh my, oh my. Oh my!.’

  Sakurako’s nguage circuits short-circuited as she cpped her hands like a wind-up toy, repeating the same phrase over and over.

  “So! So what did you say?!.”

  “I-I said I’d think about it…”

  “Hey, you idiot! I told you from the start—when something like this happens, you have to push forward! No hesitation!”

  “B-but I couldn’t help it! My brain just turned white, and I was like—Whaaaaah! Whoaaaaah!”

  Ayane clutched her head, letting out an inhuman scream that no high school girl should be capable of producing.

  Her thin legs stomped against the floor, thrashing in frustration, as if throwing a tantrum on behalf of her mentally overwhelmed self.

  If there were people in the cssroom below, they would definitely have come up to compin.

  Seeing her junior in such a state, Sakurako took a deep breath, calmed herself, and finally returned to her usual cool and composed self.

  She shook her head with a sigh.

  “Ugh. How is our little one ever going to manage a retionship…?”

  “W-well, Senior, you’re still a virgin too!”

  “Oh.”

  Ayane’s sudden outburst made Sakurako click her tongue. She raised a single finger and wagged it side to side in disapproval.

  Her pink twin-tails swayed with the motion, as if scolding Ayane alongside her.

  “What’s this? Are you secretly dating someone without telling me?”

  Sakurako gave Ayane a pitying look before dramatically pointing at herself.

  “I’m not dating.”

  Then, she pointed at Ayane.

  “You can date.”

  ‘Understand?.’

  With that, she puffed out her chest proudly, fshing a victorious smile.

  Unfortunately, reality was cruel—her chest, smaller than Ayane’s, did little to reinforce her authority.

  And what did Ayane think of her senior’s bold, provocative statement?

  “… Huh.”

  She abruptly turned her head away.

  “Ugh!”

  But her effort to seem indifferent was wasted—her shoulders trembled violently, betraying her true emotions.

  It was an obvious mockery.

  "Ugh!"

  Sakurako’s face turned as red as a tomato, burning with embarrassment.

  "I’m sorry, senior. What did you just say?."

  "Hey, take your hand off me."

  Despite Sakurako’s command, Ayane frantically shook her head, pressing her hands over her mouth as if sealing away her ughter.

  Her eyes, curved into mischievous crescent moons, only fueled Sakurako’s growing rage.

  "Ah, come on! Why can’t you just let this go?!"

  "S-Senior! Besides, shouldn’t we hurry to the school gate? The chairman is waiting for us!"

  "I’m not leaving until I see the corners of your mouth, you little brat!."

  "Whoaaa!"

  In a swift motion, Sakurako managed to pry Ayane’s hands away—only to freeze.

  "S-Senior…?."

  The corners of Ayane’s lips twitched.

  A smug little smirk.

  Her cheeks trembled slightly as she fought to contain it.

  Sakurako’s twin tails practically shot up like a pair of antennae detecting maximum offense.

  "You… you! You fresh-faced junior! You dare mock your senior like this?! I won’t let this slide!"

  "Gyaaaaah! Senior, I’m against violence! I’m totally against it! And violence is against the school code! Gyaaaaah!"

  Sakurako lunged as Ayane bolted.

  The supposedly dignified student council members—the very ones students looked up to—were nowhere to be seen.

  Just as things reached peak chaos, the disciplinary committee chairman, Hayate, arrived at the door.

  "Hey guys, I’m here— Huh?"

  He stopped mid-step, eyes widening at the scene inside.

  From the slight crack in the door, Ayane’s desperate wail echoed:

  "I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make fun of you!."

  "Shut up! So what if your boobs are a little bigger?! You’re just a piece of gum anyway!"

  "I-I’m just the type that looks skinny in clothes! But you—you don’t even have curves to pretend you do!"

  "Who said I’m ft!?"

  "Whoaaa! I didn’t say that!"

  Hayate quietly… shut the door again.

  He let out a deep sigh, rubbing his temples.

  ‘What a mess.’

  With a slight shrug, he wiped his nose and muttered to himself:

  "Welp. Guess I’ll be guarding the school gate by myself today."

  And with that, he put on a refreshingly bright smile.

  It was a strangely kind expression for the supposed main vilin of Show Band.

  ****************

  "Oh, so it’s difficult to tell me directly?."

  Taeil’s face visibly falls with disappointment, prompting the store owner to offer a regretful smile.

  "I’m sorry, student. In principle, we’re not allowed to disclose details about sales rotations."

  "Rules are rules—I get it. Still, I appreciate you letting me know about the bread avaible today. Thanks for your hard work!"

  "Thank you. And you, study hard."

  Taeil’s bright smile barely sts past the shop’s exit. The moment he stepped outside, his expression twisted in frustration.

  "Tch! So this is as far as I can go in figuring out the exact start date of the original story...?"

  In the original timeline, on the day everything began, Ayane sat alone in a bathroom stall, eating the melon bread she had bought from this very store.

  It was a painfully vivid scene—one that had stayed with Taeil ever since.

  That’s why he came here today.

  Yuuma High School rotates its less popur and premium-priced bread products on a weekly basis. Since melon bread was part of this rotation, Taeil had hoped to use that pattern to pinpoint the exact time period of the original story.

  But of course, things weren’t that easy.

  “Tsk”

  He kicked a small rock down the pavement in irritation.

  Since melon bread wasn’t a best-seller, he had assumed he could get the information he needed without much resistance. Unfortunately, the store owner was unyielding.

  "Fine. No point in wasting more time trying to confirm the start of the original story."

  Show Band was still peaceful.

  Rather than figuring out when everything began, it would be far more useful to determine when Izumi would die.

  Because that was something he could still prevent.

  Taeil mulled over his pns on his way back to css.

  Normally, there was no way to see BARD perform at this time of year—it wasn’t their concert season.

  But what if it wasn’t a concert?

  What if it was a broadcasted event?

  Especially if it was part of a music program...

  "This is a godsend."

  Taeil absently ran his fingers over the concert ticket in his pocket.

  Audience members were typically chosen through a lottery system, and he hadn’t been lucky enough to get in.

  But as fate would have it, someone who had secured a ticket suddenly had other pns and passed it along to Taeil.

  If this had been a tightly restricted, high-security event, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.

  But luck was on his side, the security this time was surprisingly x.

  And thanks to that, he could bring Ayane to see BARD perform live.

  As he thought about it, Taeil found himself offering silent gratitude to the incompetence of Japanese television networks.

  Even if all the members of BARD had been present for this shoot, they probably wouldn’t have hesitated to bow in a full dogeza to the broadcasting station.

  But unfortunately, only two members were appearing: BARD’s vocalist, Izumi, and their bassist, Yahiro.

  "Wait… that's it?"

  Taeil frowned for a moment, then quickly shrugged it off.

  It wasn’t a bad outcome. After all, bass was the very instrument Ayane used to py.

  In the original story, Ayane hadn’t chosen the bass deliberately—it was more of a coincidence. But still, Taeil couldn't help but feel there was some kind of fate at work in this lineup.

  "First, I need to find a way to contact BARD and get a reaction from Ayane."

  Everything in Show Band—every conflict, every tragedy—stemmed from Izumi. And only Izumi could put an end to it.

  So, this time too, Taeil pced his hopes on one person.

  Izumi Tenma, BARD’s lead vocalist, Ayane’s idol, and the original inspiration for Iris is the key to everything.

  This was the so-called "Izumi, please" operation.

  "It’s been a while."

  The anticipation was already building.

  It had been five years since Taeil st saw BARD perform live.

  Even back then, their performances had the power to move people.

  But now? They were legends.

  His heart pounded at the thought.

  Very soon, he would witness the raw, electrifying energy of BARD, the kings of Show Band, live on stage.