(Transted/Edited/Proofread: Snow)

  Time passed, and Monday came around once again.

  The day that brought the dreaded Monday blues, loathed by everyone except the unemployed.

  Taeil yawned, his face crumpling with exhaustion.

  "Hwaaam..."

  "Shin-chan, did you stay up all night again?.”

  "No, I slept."

  "Really?."

  He looked far too tired for someone ciming to have slept well.

  Ayane’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  Taeil scrambled to defend himself.

  "It’s true! I fell asleep around 4 in the morning."

  "Aren’t we supposed to leave the house at seven!?"

  Ayane, being on the disciplinary committee, had to arrive at school earlier than most students.

  Technically, all students were required to be at school by 7:30 at the test.

  Their house was a 15-minute walk from school.

  Even by the simplest calcution, they had to leave by 7:15.

  Ayane instinctively touched her forehead.

  ‘This idiot probably slept less than two hours.’

  He acted all cool and mature, but his actual behavior was... breathtakingly reckless.

  Ayane gred at him.

  "Shin-chan. You didn’t really fall asleep at 4, did you?"

  "...Yes?.”

  The st time he could remember clearly was around 4 a.m., when he had been so sleepy he could barely think.

  Now that she mentioned it… he wasn’t even sure if he’d slept an hour.

  Ayane let out a long sigh as she pieced it together.

  "Shin-chan. They said on a TV program yesterday that the recommended amount of sleep for people is six hours."

  "Ayane," Taeil countered, raising a finger, "a person can survive on just four hours of sleep a day."

  He spoke with the conviction of someone who had done it.

  In his previous life, during college, he’d end up drinking, creating music, composing, and studying, and twenty-four hours never felt like enough.

  Since time was limited, he had no choice but to divide it up.

  The first thing to go was sleep.

  Modern people often treat sleep strangely when dividing up their time, and Taeil was no exception.

  During exam season, he wouldn't sleep for days. Sometimes he’d sleep less than ten hours a week.

  There had been times he was so exhausted he got nosebleeds. And even now, Taeil had zero awareness that he was overdoing it again.

  Besides?

  Sure, he knew he wasn’t getting enough.

  But, school breaks and weekends could make up for it.

  Of course, Ayane, who valued discipline and sincerity, would never tolerate such a reckless lifestyle.

  "You’re ruining your health living like this, Shin-chan! Your back’s hunched, sometimes you can’t even walk straight because it hurts! And those freckles in your eyes that never fade? That’s from not sleeping properly!"

  "But don’t you think it gives me character? Like… a strong impression. A kind of subtle rock-style look, maybe?"

  "Not at all! I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but when I look at you, you just look old!"

  Kookung!

  Taeil’s shoulders slumped.

  "Do I really look that old...? I do take care of myself..."

  For Taeil, “taking care of himself” meant applying lotion, washing his face regurly, and diligently using soap.

  That was it.

  "I don’t believe you. Not when someone with your free time can’t even manage to sleep properly."

  "I… I see."

  Ayane pinched his cheek.

  "Look at this."

  "Huh?"

  "Feel it? Your skin is rough. Someone who takes care of their skin doesn’t feel like this. And also..."

  Her gaze drifted up to his head.

  She reached up and began running her fingers through Taeil’s slightly curly, unkempt hair, which immediately caught in tangles.

  If a bird flew in and built a nest, she’d have no argument to stop it.

  Ayane frowned and started trying to straighten it.

  "Agh…ah! AAH!"

  Taeil yelped as Ayane tugged at the stubborn knots.

  "Shin-chan, are you an idiot? I told you, you have to brush your hair regurly!"

  "You don’t even have long hair! What are you doing?"

  "Oh my god! Combing isn't just for long hair! Reflect on yourself!"

  Ayane, fired up, forcibly pulled the tangled strands free from her fingers.

  Taeil’s scalp screamed in agony.

  "Ack! That hurts! If you keep doing that, I’m going to go bald!"

  "If Shin-chan’s hair falls out, it’s his own fault for not drying it properly after showers."

  "What? You lose hair from not drying it?"

  "You didn’t know that, Shin-chan?"

  Her tone was scarily calm, like she was pointing out the sky was blue.

  Taeil’s eyes trembled.

  Suddenly, a memory from his past life hit him, his father’s thinning hair.

  His hands instinctively flew up to his scalp.

  ‘No way…’

  ‘Am I next!?’

  "I'm sorry. I'll be more careful in the future..."

  "Yoshi-yosh." (T/L: caressing sound)

  Taeil, crushed by the fear of his genetics, readily admitted his mistake.

  Ayane stroked her own hair.

  Taeil shed tears.

  Hair loss is absolutely unacceptable!

  "But you still washed up even though you were sleepy, Shin-chan? You're amazing."

  "If I don’t, you’ll say something."

  "Yeah! Students should be neat and tidy. That’s just common sense, right?"

  "I guess it won’t matter much since we have physical education anyway."

  "You study hard in other csses, but you weirdly go all out in PE? Shin-chan, I thought you hated moving your body?"

  "The reason I don’t skip gym is... because of my homeroom teacher..."

  "Ah, that kind of thing?"

  "Yeah... something like that."

  Taeil avoided giving a proper answer.

  Maybe it was because of Yuuma High School’s retively liberal school culture, but no one really made a fuss if a student skipped css.

  At the entrance ceremony, the chairman had said this onstage in front of the entire student body:

  "Remember, if you skip css, you’re the one who suffers, not us."

  In other words, “We’re not responsible for your lives. Figure it out yourself.”

  Taeil had wondered at the time if that was really something a school official should say, but then reminded himself, this was a manga world. Most bizarre things could be hand-waved away.

  Of course, not all teachers agreed with this.

  Taeil’s own homeroom teacher, for one, definitely didn’t.

  A passionate type, he absolutely could not tolerate students skipping his css.

  "By the way... is it PE today?"

  Taeil’s face immediately soured at the reminder.

  Even though he was sleepy and distracted, Taeil was already thinking about how to organize his band while dealing with Ayane’s chatter.

  Forming a band was all well and good, the real problem was how to find the members.

  What came to mind then was the original lineup.

  Taeil gnced at Ayane, who was still busily badmouthing her uppercssman...

  "Huh? What, Shin-chan?"

  "Nothing."

  "Oh? Are you saying I’m so pretty you can’t take your eyes off me?"

  Ayane boasted proudly, acting like she understood everything.

  "..."

  Instead of answering, Taeil widened his stride and walked ahead to put distance between them.

  "Ah! Shin-chan! Wait for me! Ayane was wrong! Don’t leave me, Shin-chan!"

  ***************************************

  In the original story, the members of ‘Burning Bze’ were as follows:

  Arisugawa Iris — main vocalist and guitarist.

  Katsuragi Ayane — sub-vocalist and bassist.

  Sakuraba Sakuya — lead guitarist.

  Honjo Rena — keyboard and drums.

  There was one member Taeil could never leave out, no matter how the others shifted.

  Arisugawa Iris.

  A charismatic main vocalist with a voice so captivating even Taeil had fallen for it.

  The most qualified person to lead a band full of stubborn and eccentric personalities.

  "Compared to the others, she’s also the most easygoing."

  Iris's dream was to form a band like BARD.

  Why else would she have bckmailed Ayane the moment she found her notebook full of self-composed songs? And if Taeil could recruit Iris, her close friend Rena would likely come as a package deal—1+1.

  "Then the problem... is Sakuya."

  If he was going to do this, he wanted to recreate the original.

  It was greedy, but Taeil was a true fan. He wanted to see the full lineup with his own eyes.

  Sakuraba Sakuya.

  To Taeil, she was a woman better described as “handsome” than “beautiful.” She looked better in gym clothes than most guys.

  In both his previous and current lives, Taeil had seen plenty of attractive women—but all of them seemed a step below Sakuya.

  And she was tall.

  Not just average-tall. She was tall enough that even Taeil had to look up to her.

  With her impeccable proportions, she looked even taller from a distance.

  Standing at a striking 182 cm, she had both the physique and the athleticism to back it up. In middle school, she dominated the intermediate competitions.

  Her talent was so widely known that even the prestigious and snobby Yuuma High School had extended her a recruitment offer.

  "Shin-chan."

  "Huh? What is it, Ayane?"

  Taeil snapped out of his thoughts at her voice.

  Ayane smiled broadly and asked, "So, how are you going to recruit band members? You don’t have a single one yet, right?"

  "Yeah... It’s just me for now. I’ve been thinking about starting a light music club, but..."

  Taeil scratched his cheek, recalling the conditions for forming an official club at Yuuma High.

  "I doubt there’s a teacher willing to be our advisor."

  "True. Most of the teachers are already assigned to clubs."

  Yuuma High had so many extracurricurs it was overwhelming, but the number of teachers was limited. Some temporary clubs operated without advisors, but they rarely sted.

  And that wasn’t the only issue.

  "Besides... I have a reputation problem. My evaluation among the teachers is the worst. If I try to start a club, I think I’ll be penalized instead."

  "You reap what you sow."

  The delinquent had no words to defend himself.

  "Didn’t Ayane warn you?"

  "I know..."

  Taeil scratched his head again, messing up the hair Ayane had just fixed.

  In the beginning, he hadn’t been like this.

  He just happened to fall asleep at school after a long night composing. No one woke him up until it was time to go home.

  When it happened not once or twice, but repeatedly, and eventually every day, he realized, no one cared.

  If school wasn’t going to care about him, he decided he wouldn’t care about school.

  He used his nights for music, when his creativity peaked, and caught up on sleep during css.

  And even though he lived like that, when his midterm scores turned out decent, his behavior grew even bolder.

  He started skipping css entirely, hanging out on the rooftop, jotting down ideas, dozing off, or scrolling through his phone.

  He became a delinquent in name, someone who showed up but didn’t participate.

  "No teacher would volunteer to be our advisor."

  "What if Shin-chan is the manager?"

  "Forget even being a member. I’d be lucky if anyone speaks to me."

  The teacher network at Yuuma High was infamously tight.

  Information spread quickly, including students’ reputations. Among the faculty, Shin Taeil’s name was probably dead st.

  Changing that image during his first year was practically impossible.

  "In times like this... I’ll need someone with such amazing specs they overshadow my notoriety."

  "Does someone like that even exist?"

  "Sakuraba Sakuya."

  Taeil named one of the protagonists, who, unlike the original story, was now in the same css as him.

  "You know her too, right?"

  "Who doesn’t? She’s the most famous person in school."

  If you were aiming for Interhigh, then yeah, there was no one who didn’t know her.

  "Right. I’m going to recruit Sakuraba. That way, even the teachers won’t dare interfere."

  "You’re really going for it?"

  Ayane raised an eyebrow.

  "I don’t know where your confidence is coming from, but let’s say you do manage to persuade her."

  "I’m kind of close with her..."

  "How can you be close when you haven’t talked to her!.”

  Taeil fell silent, mouth slightly agape.

  "Think logically, Shin-chan. Do you think the school will just let her go?"

  "Uh..."

  Taeil couldn’t answer. His logic was based on the original story.

  And in the original, that’s what happened.

  The school did let Sakuya join the band.

  Sure, there were complications, and Ayane, standing in front of him now, had been the biggest victim of that arc.

  "You know Sakuraba-san got into this school on recommendation, right?"

  "More or less."

  "Which means full tuition waiver and a schorship, but strict conditions."

  "She has to deliver results at Interhigh, right?"

  "Exactly. And probably even stricter than the average athlete."

  The recommendation had come thanks to Sakuya’s absurd performance record in junior competitions.

  She didn’t have to officially join a sports club. Just being active boosted the school’s prestige.

  Yuuma High recruited her with those numbers in mind.

  Ayane added that even the disciplinary committee had been briefed:If Sakuya won at any event, her schorship would be secured.

  However—

  "Let’s say, by some miracle, you manage to convince her. The moment she joins you, every teacher in charge of sports will be breathing down your neck."

  "Hmm..."

  Taeil sighed. He had no counterargument.

  A problem student with the worst teacher evaluations stealing the school’s ace athlete?

  The backsh would be immediate, and intense.

  In the original, Iris's recruitment of Sakuya caused a major uproar.

  The only reason she got away with it was because Iris’s background was so powerful that no one could oppose her.

  Instead, Ayane suffered all the consequences.

  Taeil swallowed hard.

  ‘If I try to recruit Sakuya… I’ll end up in the same position Ayane was.’

  Maybe worse.

  The original Ayane was fragile. Just poking her made her cry. Anyone would feel guilty bullying a girl like that.

  But what if the one doing it is a guy?

  ‘A Korean? A loner with no friends?.’

  ‘Oh god, is this karma for living a solitary life?.’

  Maybe he was overthinking it.

  But considering how much the school valued Sakuya, he couldn’t be certain.

  To be honest, if Iris hadn’t pushed, Sakuya would’ve never stayed with the band.

  That’s how much the school cherished her.

  Cold sweat broke out across Taeil’s back.

  ‘At this point... I need to win over Iris first.’

  If he could persuade Iris to join the band, then maybe, just maybe, he’d have a shot at recruiting Sakuya too.

  ‘But can I even pull it off?.’

  Ayane had changed dramatically through Taeil’s influence.

  But Iris… she likely wasn’t so different from her original self. Not quite a misandrist, but definitely indifferent to guys.

  ‘And our first meeting? I probably didn’t leave a very good impression…’

  He remembered the nonsense he had spewed, caught up in the emotion of meeting a real-life character.

  ‘God, I want to go back in time and smack myself.’

  "Shin-chan? What’s wrong? You look pale."

  "Huh? Oh, nothing..."

  He was terrified.

  Still, whatever happened, he had to try.

  You never know.

  Maybe his connection with BARD would help when he faced Iris again.

  Same with Sakuya.

  If you never try, you’ll lose for sure.

  And Taeil was confident, no one knew more about Sakuraba Sakuya than he did.

  If he could get Iris, and Rena came with her, then recruiting Sakuya would be much easier.

  It might look impossible, but that’s only because others didn’t know what he knew.

  ‘It’s possible. I know the original—it’s definitely possible.’

  Taeil calmed his racing heart.

  Ayane stared at him, her gaze turning cold.

  "Shin-chan, no matter how I look at it, you’re definitely pnning to seduce Sakuraba-san."

  "..."

  Taeil didn’t respond.

  In a way, she was right.

  Ayane stopped walking.

  "Ayane?."

  Taeil looked back, confused.

  Ayane’s expression was strange.

  Discontent, frustrated, and sad.

  A storm of negative emotions gathered on her face.

  She spoke, her voice low and ft.

  "Ayane doesn’t know what Shin-chan is thinking anymore."

  "You don’t?"

  "Your goal is to catch up to BARD, right?"

  "...I guess so?"

  Taeil hadn’t originally pnned this dream. It just... happened.

  He hadn’t wanted to throw everything away. From the past to now, he’d been running. But he hadn’t always known where he was running.

  His dream had always been vague, like chasing starlight through a fog.

  But now, he had direction. A reckless but exciting destination. A path worth taking.

  But—

  Ayane, who didn’t know Taeil’s past life, only saw the surface.

  "The dream Shin-chan’s chasing… it’s going to be hard, even with talent and luck, right?"

  "...Yeah?"

  "Then why are you recruiting someone who might not even care about music? Just because Sakuraba-san’s influential? That won’t mean anything outside of school."

  "Uh, that’s..."

  Taeil faltered. He hadn’t expected Ayane to press him like this.

  There were lots of reasons he wanted Sakuya.

  In Show Band, she was the stabilizer—the rational core of the band.

  If Iris was the engine, Sakuya was the brake.

  More than that, contrary to Ayane’s assumption, Sakuya’s popurity would absolutely help the band gain traction.

  Even Iris had cited it in the original as a reason to recruit her.

  And then there was the unspoken truth Taeil had guessed: Sakuya wasn’t just athletic, she was smart.

  Talented people had 24 hours just like everyone else. But they used those hours better.

  The difference is who can utilize equally given values more richly and meaningfully.

  Having been exposed to various sports and aimed for the top, she had a sense and absorption ability that is better than anyone else.

  A prospective musical genius who could help him grow faster than anyone else.

  ‘But how could I expin that to Ayane...?.’

  Even if he tried, convincing her was another matter.

  Taeil gnced at her again.

  "Shin-chan."

  Ayane was still staring.

  Taeil stayed in pce.

  ‘How did it come to this...?’

  This was all his own fault.