I don't know why—

kiss it goodbye—

As though Senpai's melodious voice had been sucked into darkness, all that was left were the sounds of the guitars constantly streaming out. One of the guitars sketched out the finale of the song, while the melody of the other flew away into the faraway skies.

I took another look at the other side of the stage. It really wasn't my hallucination—Mafuyu was right there, plucking the strings of her Stratocaster with her slender, fair and mirage-like right hand. The cymbals behind her clashed, and the sea of people beneath us erupted into a roar.

I could hardly remember what happened after that.

The clash between Mafuyu's and Senpai's guitar solos continued on for five minutes, and might've gone on longer if I hadn't stopped them. There was no time for us to rest after we finished . The audience below us was already impatiently urging us on by stomping on the floor.

We didn't talk much on stage, as each and every second up there was precious to us. The many things that had slowly gathered in us over the last two months, were hurled beneath the stage in one go, in thirty minutes. Some of the audience might've drowned from that.

When we were done digesting all our songs, we were cheered as we walked off the stage. Our bodies were drenched in sweat. Chiaki could no longer stand, so thank G.o.d Senpai got to her before she fell on the floor.

Hiroshi and his band members, and the other band that consisted of middle-aged members, all had smiles on their faces. The only person with a grumpy expression was none other than Furukawa. However, that grumpy person then spoke.

"Oi. You guys are the opening act, but for some reason, some people down there are demanding an encore."

He pointed at the stage rather unwillingly—it's just as he said! The rhythmic sounds of clapping and stomping from the audience reached us, and it sounded as though the ground was rumbling. I had already planned to succ.u.mb myself to the rather comfortable fatigue, so I showed an apologetic smile and replied,

"Urm...... but the amount of time for the concert is limited......"

"Quit complaining! Get on the stage now, or else the building will collapse on us."

Furukawa kicked me in the back. It seemed like the staff had no intention of moving the instruments on the stage either; they all just looked in our direction. I guess we have no choice but to comply.

I then shot a glance at Senpai. She had allowed the exhausted Chiaki to sit on her thighs, so she said to me,

"Looks like we'll have to allow Comrade Chiaki to rest. You two can take the stage!"

Us two...... both of us? That means—

I looked at Mafuyu. There was a red hue to her fair skin, and the color of her eyes was the same as the color of the summer sky.

"See, this is the name of our band!"

Senpai patted Chiaki's chest. The logo of feketerigó was printed there on her T-shirt.

"So there can only be one song for our encore."

Mafuyu had already nodded her head in agreement before I could react. She stepped onstage without any hint of hesitation. The orderly sounds of clapping and stomping then shattered into waves of applause. It was when I saw Mafuyu carrying her guitar on her shoulder without fear, that I realized—despite the difference in genre, Mafuyu was still a professional musician, so she was already used to all these things.

The only problem was, that didn't apply to me. As I was hesitating, Mafuyu briefly looked me in the eyes. She then used her thumb and index finger to play that song—.

With that, I was forced to go onstage as well.

The spotlights and Mafuyu's face were all so dazzling—I didn't pay any attention to whether I had sung well or not.