The station was already busy, but Konrad expected as much.
It was the weekend, after all. The day of their big debut.
Duel of the Bands.
Or whatever they named the stupid event.
He didn't care. Win or lose, as long as they played well enough to fill his mana reserves, the road back to Kasserlane would open up.
Impress even a small part of their audience, and they'd all go home.
He and Kaede, at least.
Konrad was still on the fence about Maou Midori. But that was for his future self. For now, a big battle awaited, and while their last practice didn't give him too much confidence—
He brought his adamantite blade and all the conductive parts of his armor.
You know, in case his magic would overflow.
Too much optimism?
He knew, even if they weren't complete beginners, two weeks to get a band started was not enough. A miracle might still happen—by some, Kaede sorted her rhythm out yesterday, too.
But he didn't get his hopes too high.
It was only that, since Sorakumo-san gave him a huge guitar case for the Franken-ES-335—
Why not squeeze his bastard sword in, too?
Fine, he might have been a little excited.
Wasn't looking forward to playing for an audience, but he arrived thirty minutes early.
And to his biggest surprise, he wasn't the only one.
"Kon-chan," an eager voice greeted him right as he was about to run someone over.
"Who?" he asked, flabbergasted. "Yuki-chan?! What the hell? If you don't call out, I wouldn't have recognized you. And what's with the name? Another week and you'll reduce me to a K."
The emo girl squeezed his hand with a grin. She was even more emo-y than usual.
"We're about to win big, Kon-chan," she said, repeating it on purpose. "Gotta look the part."
And that she did.
Her raccoon eyes almost covered her entire face today, though she still hid one under her bangs. Her hair was fluffier than usual, too, teased until it almost outgrew the whole universe.
She got herself a rainbow streak as well, her lip piercings gleaming in the morning sun.
Only then did he notice her clothing, and—
"Yeah, you definitely look the part."
She wore all black, except for a studded belt and sneakers with a painted-on rainbow pattern.
"Like a rockstar," Konrad said, because calling her a clown would have been a bit harsh.
He sure had ambivalent feelings about it, though.
To think that underneath all the fluff was a cute girl he had almost fallen for?
Well, no, he did. But that was because of the person she reminded him of.
All dolled up like this, not even Lucifer's machinations would have been enough.
Like, he knew she was pretty and sweet, but—she hid it all too well today.
"And where's your costume, Kon-chan?" she asked, looking at his only outfit. As if. He was glad he had something other than his school uniform to bring along today. "You've no other bags?"
"No? We never talked about this," he noted to the girl's greatest dismay.
"You're kidding," she pouted, boxing into his arm. "I wrote it in our group chat after practice."
Ah. Right. They had one now, because of course.
And the first thing Konrad did was to mute it.
He told her about his origins, but he didn't feel like letting her in on all the little details. Not the dangerous ones, at least, and especially not when Midori-kun was also part of that group.
Hold on. Would those two show up like this as well?!
"You'll stick out like a sore thumb," she teased.
A near-two-foot-tall girl dressed as a dark rainbow clown was the last person he expected to hear this from. But the annoying part was that she might have been right.
"If the others play dress up, I've a few tricks in my sleeve as well."
When nobody looked their way, he cast a simple illusion.
His hoodie changed color. Twice. And then, he added a random pattern on top.
"Costs me almost nothing," he said with a smirk. "Adding extra details is a bit harder, but—"
"Sasuga, Kohai-sama," Yuki-san yelled, even clapping for him.
That girl. He had to dispel the magic before someone else noticed it, too.
"Well, should we go then?" she asked, hauling two guitar cases up on her back. "We're so early, might as well check the place out before the party. I'll send the others the coordinates."
"Huh? Sure. Why not?" All he could do was nod along.
When he tried to help with the load, Yuki swatted his hand away.
"It's not heavy," she lied, trembling under the weight. She also had a backpack on the other shoulder. "I don't want anyone to think you're my roadie or something. Hold your head high."
Konrad blinked.
Was she trying to hide something under all that gear, too?
"Stage fright?" he asked, forcing a grin. But saying the word out loud made his stomach somersault as well. "I don't care what anyone thinks. Let's have a fun jam today, and that's it."
Yeah, no. He couldn't lie to himself, and the girl wasn't buying it either.
"Big words from someone who's still a virgin."
"What? I'm not," Konrad protested a little too fast, before understanding her meaning.
"Hai, hai, Kohai-sama. I wasn't talking about your wife. I meant the stage, Hentai-san."
Figures. But he might have been on the edge, too.
After all, he never liked crowds or being in the center of attention. Especially not both.
But he was the freaking Duke of Halaima. It was about time to man up.
"This way," Yuki led him into another surprise. "The Underground Club's around the corner."
No, it wasn't the fact that the place was actually underground. But it came as a slap in the face.
The crowd. It was huge.
"The hell?!" Konrad whispered, jumping behind a corner to hide.
Yuki's eyes widened, too.
"Wow, making a social media profile was the right call," she muttered.
"A what?!"
Why was he even surprised? Of course, they needed to put their band out there if they wanted an audience. Common sense, and he didn't even think of that. But this many people?!
"Here, look," the girl shoved her phone in his face.
Oh. Well, Konrad was no expert, but what she posted looked bare-bones.
A few photos from practice that he didn't know existed, the name itself, and posts of their upcoming event. He couldn't help but notice the views and likes on those posts.
"Three followers?" he asked. "No, no, no, that's not it."
Besides, the long line snaking in front of the stairs to the club didn't feel emo at all.
Some wore black, sure. But rather than the rainbow theme Yuki and her old band had, almost everyone had a pink star on their jackets. If not, there was a pink scarf or a cap, and yeah—
Ninety-nine percent of them were girls.
"Do they have another event here today, too?" Konrad mumbled, grabbing the phone and following the links to the Underground Club. And then to her old band. "Oh, fuck."
They had a few thousand followers, but that wasn't what caught his eye.
It was their latest post.
"Hoshi-sama returns. Tickets to an event with his new band are available in limited numbers—"
Right. That pink-haired ex-idol guy that Yuki fangirled around last week.
Hoshi-whatever-san. Those pink stars all made sense now.
The club might've sold out, but this crowd wasn't here for them.