Comfortable

BENEATH THE SURFACE - Ami w/ Nimura

There is more beneath the surface than one thinks at first glance.
The Founding Four dig under the surface. The Fresher Four start their development.
Nijito undergoes its initial revival.

Prologue: Ai, Ami, Nimura, and Yuto are backstage (as is Hina, who hands them their costumes and is on standby). They note that Nao is missing, so the show will need to go on with only Nimura on drums throughout. They all go get changed, and Ai is not back when the set starts. This is normal; she needs to get into the zone. Ami and Nimura start on stage. Though Ami is clearly somewhat uneasy, their practice hides her feelings. Yuto then comes on stage, joining as an observer of sorts. The last to come on stage is Ami, who steals the show. Nijito’s first live performance is a resounding success. 

Part 1: In Tokyo, Ami is living a normal life alone, working on social reality. She visits her mother out of a sense of duty. When she gets home that day, she sees Nimura at her door. She pushes past him and goes inside, but when she checks later he is still sitting out there. She offers to take a walk with him, and she feels like he is more withdrawn than he used to me. They talk in a park, and they each express their regrets. Nimura reveals that he lives quite far away, and travelled all the way to see her. He stays the night on the floor, and leaves the next morning. As they now live far apart, they decide to start meeting online to practice. They find that the old jam server that Ai made is still active. When they go, Nao is there all alone. Nao expresses his wishes that they restart the band; the other two commit to only jamming from time to time, until Ami sees Yuto at her workplace as a new intern. They eventually convince Yuto to come back; the culminating song is his first jam back with Ami, Nimura, and Nao.

Part 2: Hina re-enters the picture at the very start as she wants to continue designing their costumes despite Ai not being there. Takemi is in the periphery, thanks to Hina’s presence, and it turns out that a girl from his band named Chii has a special interest in Nijito. There are problems with their band composition, due to there being two drummers. Chii joins Nijito by force and takes her “rightful place” as their new lead guitarist. (Chii and Nao's conflict remains unresolved in this first installment.) Nimura accepts that temporarily focusing on band management is better for Nijito. However, Ami tells him he should still come play with them from time to time.

Part 3: They find out where Ai is. When they visit, they are turned away. Ami takes Yuto into her memory world to experience her past. Ami, Nimura, and Yuto decide to take time away from Nijito for a bit. Hina and Takemi come in to help. Hina, Chii, Nao, and Takemi are the lineup, while Ami, Yuto, and Nimura try to get Ai back. Chii enjoys making music enough that she decides to put off her revenge. The new lineup is performing on a virtual stage as the new revival of Nijito while the other four --- the Founding Four --- play on the server Ai made. Ai promises to be back after she finds her own success, and the others promise to wait for her.

MUSICAL CONNECTIONS - Chii w/ Yuto & Ami  [ft. Takemi w/ Hina]

Music is a universal language spoken by each of the billions of lonely hearts.
With music, the characters connect to each other, to their situations, and to their emotions.
The seven members of Nijito develop as musicians together, while Ai discovers herself alone.

Part 4: The members of Nijito (except Nao) are living together in a place in Tokyo; they are training to practice live, so Nao has stepped out temporarily, staying as adviser. Yuto's past becomes a big deal. Chii refuses to trust him or take his advice, because they know nothing about him. With Nimura's and Ami’s help, Yuto has to learn to communicate his actual feelings and believe in the value of his own story. He manages to show his feelings through a song. Chii tells Yuto that she can rely on him when she is ready. Throughout this part, Ai is undergoing her rise as a social reality solo artist.

Part 5: Takemi's artistic complex becomes a big issue following Yuto's smash hit song, as he believes that its execution was unskilled. He has a disagreement with Ami, another lifelong musician. His band, angered by his perfectionism, sabotages a performance to get at him. Hina confides in Ami that her family always looked down on Takemi for being half-white, which is why he believes in perfectionism. In order to encourage Takemi, Hina says that she will finally sing after being scared for so long. She writes a song and approaches Nijito for a drummer and a rhythm guitarist for an anonymous live concept, but Ami refuses to perform as the rhythm guitarist, instead sending in Chii to do it as a way to torment Takemi. Driven by Hina’s new conviction and seeing the prim and proper girl willing to embarrass herself, Takemi lets himself loose in a super fast-and-loose piece by the end of the part and realizes that beautiful music is about not only the notes, but also both the players and the audience. Hina stops putting Ai on a pedestal and can finally practice singing in earnest. Not even Chii playing like a maniac on rhythm guitar ruins his fun. (Cue the Beethoven quote) He then joins Nijito as an official member after he and Ami make up.

Part 6: Chii is finally ready to rely on Yuto, and is ready to tell him her secret now that Nao is in a hospital after a heart attack. Yuto and Chii go to see Nao, but find Ai there too, having figured out on her own that Nao is not who he claims to be. Nao and Chii reflect on the past. Remembering what he saw in Ami's own past, Yuto confides in her for advice on what to do. Through being helped by Ami through Yuto, Chii's opinion of Ami improves dramatically and she starts thinking of her as an onee-san. She also can finally appreciate Ai more, realizing that she has grown as both a musician and as a person (as she has finally managed to learn how to take care of someone simply because she wants to). Ami and Yuto become an item, while Chii is on better terms with her father after she appreciates his struggle and he takes ownership of it for himself. At the end of the story, while watching Nijito (Ami, Nimura, Hina, Takemi) from Nao’s hospital room, Ai invites Nao, Chii, and Yuto to leave Nijito to form a band with her. Nao and Chii agree immediately, and Yuto goes along with it, seeing it as his chance to put himself out there.

ROLES - Hina w/ Nao

Everyone is destined to have their role in society. It is only a matter of acceptance or of rebellion.
The members of the cast each negotiate their place in the world and the duties that they hold.
After forming two separate bands, the cast all come together to create another united Nijito.

Part 7: Nijito is rivaled by Ai's new band, which has abandoned the switching mechanic in favor of set roles. In response, Nijito has changed their style so that all of them must switch to every single other instrument, resulting in Hina struggling to keep up on lead guitar and drums. The eight main characters are still on friendly terms; as Ami says, their rivalry is an extremely good marketing tool. At first, the only two who take the rivalry especially seriously are Nimura and Ai, who are fixated on one-upping each other. The other members of Nijito start caring more when Ai’s band ends up surpassing them in popularity for the first time on the social reality billboards; they must admit that Nijito’s members are not as hype as the ones in Ai’s band. Though Nimura and Ami are happy for Ai and Yuto, they do feel somewhat bitter. The one advantage maintained by Nijito is that they can perform live, while Ai’s band is for now confined to online because of Nao’s condition and identity. Ami and Yuto have been getting along well as usual, but they go through a rough patch in their relationship when he misses a date for a last-minute rehearsal called by Ai. Ami is surprised by her “feminine” and jealous behavior. Ami's own feelings toward her sister are examined further. By the end, she accepts that different parts of each person belong to different people; she finally gets over Nimura’s love of Ai. Meanwhile, Nimura commits to meeting Ai as an equal.

Part 8: Hina has to make the choice of fully taking on her role as heiress of a powerful family, or of  continuing with music. Chii and Nao finish off their character arcs when Chii's biological father comes into the picture. Nao at first feels that it is not his place to interfere, then decides that there is nothing wrong with him deciding to be Chii’s guardian. Hina manages to help Nao protect Chii from her bio dad when he tries manipulating her for money; this is when Hina fully realizes the privileges of her status. She chooses to leave behind music soon, deciding that maybe everyone has only one set role after all. Meanwhile, Yuto misses being able to perform as a singer, not having done so since joining Ai’s group. Nao also decides that he is ready to perform live as he really is.

Part 9: Nimura sees the end of Nijito on the horizon now that Hina is set to quit. He makes a challenge to Ai: Nijito and her band will have a live play-off, and if he wins, Ai must rejoin Nijito; otherwise, Nijito will disband. Trying her best to secure her replacement, Hina tries to make the most of her last days as a musician. Secretly, Nao and Chii help her improve on lead guitar, drums, and hype, despite them being part of Ai's band. Ai is aware, but lets it happen, as she wants Nimura to win. Behind the scenes, Yuto, Ami, and Takemi prepare a surprise for Hina: on the day of the playoff, the two bands play an eight-person song together, where switching is optional for everyone. Now outed, Nao notes that one can pick as many or as few roles as they want in life; Hina realizes that she wants both music and her family obligations. Finally, Nijito is united as eight. Nimura and Ai share their second kiss.