I don't really get the reason for Hibiki giving up the slot. Sure, taking the slot disappoints two people, but giving it up altogether also disappoints two people, with these two people being her bandmates.
So, this is probably the first post of it's kind for me here.
There is, I think an assumption here that Hibiki's objective here, internally, is to find a way to make
everyone not-disappointed . That might
be her intent, but then again
it might not be, especially if you considered what happened to Hibiki in the past 24 hours. There are possible narrative reasons why Hibiki might walk away, if this issue isn't seen as a low-stakes trolley problem (it could be made into one, but it doesn't have to be).
1. Tokyo is a
big place. Much bigger, much denser than what Hibiki is used to. Hibiki already knows
other Live Houses exist - she just went to Dub yesterday to put things into perspective. There are other Live Houses around, and there are ways to figure it out - Marina might know (and if Hibiki's read that Marina feels bad about the whole situation is right, then it's likely that Marina might suggest alternatives) , the internet might tell her, heck, for all she knows, there's a Live House at the mall that Hibiki's mother works in. Who knows? But Tokyo is big, and this is the Indie band Capital in the region. IC, she has no reason to be particularly attached to Circle as a Live House after all, and hence the only reason to hold on to the slot is because her band might be disappointed.
Might. This argument in front of her might not be a hill worth dying on.
2. Which brings me to another point: Maybe Hibiki thinks that her
band has already given her an out by an alternate Sunday slot - no such out exist for RImi (who might have her
own reasons why she has to finalize her song at the studio)- Hibiki doesn't know whether Rimi really has an out with Popipa, except via Chou's assumptions. If her band is going to be disappointed in her for taking Plan B after arranging a contingency not five minutes before, well that's probably just a sign that she'd have to know them better? Maybe her band might be disappointed in her, maybe the band laugh it off, maybe it doesn't matter? Who knows. At least, she knows her band is willing to travel all the way to Shinjuku.
On the other hand, Hibiki's reasoning for holding on to her slot and ruling in favor of Chou over Rimirin could come from another place other than averting disappointment too!
3. As Mountain himself has pointed out, perhaps Hibiki herself might know what it's like to be stressed out - and Hibiki might be empathetic enough, that she considers Chou's own frustrations (as poor an impression as Chou made on her initially) more valid than Rimi, because they resonate with Hibiki more than RImi's issues do.
4. It's possible that Hibiki's goal isn't actually to broker a compromise, but to terminate the argument in front of her as fast as possible. Perhaps from Hibiki's
own perspective, Rimi's own story sounds really odd - why would you need more time in the studio, if your goal is to touch up a song? Unless Rimi can play all the parts of the song she composed, additional practice to bring the song to completion doesn't really make sense (from Hibiki's perspective, remember, this is a Hibiki who had to dash back home to pick up forms that she forgot to take with her on the first day of school, so she's not a totally rigorous person). Rimi is wavering, Hibiki can see a way to get Rimi to back down - and she can't see a way to make Chou back down. It might not sound like a pleasant read of Hibiki's character, but remember this has been a long day.
Or perhaps, Hibiki already identifies a theoretical resolution (which Ursa Major identifies) - ideally, Rimi get's access to the studio, and Chou get's her desire to play for the week, by inviitng her to jam together with her group, with perhaps, with a longer run eye to securing her fifth member after the bass, depending on how things play out. The QM has ruled Ursa's compromise write-in as valid, and has also explicitly stated that Hibiki offering something she doesn't have yet is dicey- it stands to reason logically then, that Hibiki would invite Chou to jam after receiving the
resource the Star Point would give her (hence rendering the conflict in front of her irrelevant, and making it so that Hibiki doesn't have to rule in anyone's favor, by offering Chou an out with the resource she now has). In other words, don't worry about the logistics of the compromise once a Star Point is put into play (the logistics of the Star Point itself is completely distinct, hence why it's a separate vote).
Now, as to whether
you should burn a shiny right now or save the shiny for later, it depends on what kind of "more story" you want to see. Obviously, the Star Point alters the narrative opportunities that are going to stem from its execution - so if you want to see the kind of fun and unique stories that could emerge if a band has access to a
personal/private studio to work out from, as opposed to having to rely on Live Houses, feel free to vote for it (but relying on Live Houses also produce their own set of narrative plotlines too!). Remember, Star Points are limited, but they also emerge from doing interesting things
as well as resolving character and story arcs, so they aren't just expenditure, but also potential investments. Also - one final note: Hibiki is also a member of her band too.
I hope I've given a reasonably neutral take on both options that are currently deadlocked.
