Momoi Taro wants to form a "don" brother duo, but it's a music anime.

Page 34

Su Shi simply wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, wiping away the tears, and was finally able to see the message clearly.

Mom: "I have to work overtime at the company. Most of the work needs to be finished before Golden Week, so I won't be able to come home for the next few days. Take good care of yourself, Su Shi! Mom will also have a few days off during Golden Week, let's go out and have fun together then!"

Right... I still have my mother, I can't do that. As if waking from a dream, Su Shi rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her head a little.

Su Shi: "It's okay, I'll wait for you to come back."

Mom: "Su Shi is the best. Mom has to go to work now, Su Shi should rest early too."

Su Shi: "Keep up the good work!"

After ending her chat with her mother, Su Shi looked at the two people on the chat app: Xiao Xiang and Mr. Taro...

I guess I should apologize to them...

Awakened by her mother, Su Shi looked at Momoi Taro's LINE profile picture and felt a vague unease. Compared to this, there was someone else she should apologize to... As for Mr. Taro, she'd deal with that later.

How could she face Xiao Mu now? Su Shi picked up the picture book her father had given her from the ground and hugged it to her chest, as if this would give her enough courage. After making full preparations, she took a deep breath and used the courage given by the picture book to click on Xiao Mu's profile picture.

"I've been very sorry all this time."

She thought for a moment, then pressed the backspace key to delete the entire line and retyped, "Xiao Mu, I want to apologize to you in person."

Then she pressed the backspace key and deleted everything she wanted to say... but none of it seemed quite right.

Su Shi naturally tightened her grip, pulling the picture book closer to her chest. She looked at the last chat message with Xiao Mu.

"Su Shi, I have more classes lately, so I might not be able to come."

So the last time I texted her was before Ku Lai Xi Ku was even more desperately waiting for her... Back then, I was still waiting in the Ku Lai Xi Ku practice room.

Even though only Xiao Mu and I would go to that practice room, after seeing that Xiao Mu didn't go that day, I gave up waiting... Also, because I kept seeing Xiao Mu at school, I didn't check Xiao Mu's Line messages.

She laughed self-deprecatingly... Perhaps at that time, she had already accepted the fact that Ku Lai Xi Ku had disbanded, accepted that Xiao Mu would never come again, and didn't even have the thought of asking Xiao Mu why she didn't come.

After arriving at school, I didn't dare ask Xiao Mu why she wasn't going... Now that I think about it, could it be that during that time, after finishing her ballet class, Xiao Mu went to the practice room...

Thinking about it this way... makes me seem even more hateful. Xiao Mu clearly said that she had never felt happy playing in a band. But she still stayed with me and waited for everyone to arrive for so long.

And I... just waited patiently in the practice room for everyone to arrive, just waiting for them to change their minds.

Mr. Taro is right. He just lacks enough willpower. He could have practiced with Mumi while everyone was away, but he hasn't touched the bass since the day Xiangzi announced her departure.

If I could have talked to the rest of them properly back then, could the remaining four of us have stayed together... waiting for Xiangzi to come back?

Su Shi looked at the last message in Xiao Mu's chat box and typed out her many thoughts and apologies to Xiao Mu. However, no matter how she organized her words, she could not satisfy herself. She could only press the backspace key again and again to delete all her thoughts.

"You're always thinking about yourself."

Xiangzi's words echoed in her mind once more; Xiangzi was like a whip, torturing Su Shi's heart...

Xiangzi is right. Nagasaki Motoyo only ever thinks about herself, which is why the band disbanded like this. She did nothing... she was unwilling to give anything... and now that she's willing to give, it's already too late.

Despite not being a night owl, Su Shi unusually stayed up all night today. She spent countless hours in Xiao Mu's Line chat window, revising and editing her apology repeatedly, only to delete it each time. She just couldn't come up with a satisfactory apology.

You must sincerely apologize to Xiaomu...

With this determination, Su Shi kept fiddling with the input field. Finally, amidst all the repeated deletions and revisions, Su Shi unknowingly fell asleep, holding her father's picture book in one hand and her phone in the other.

When I woke up the next day, it was already close to evening.

After opening her eyes, Su Shi habitually turned on her phone screen, intending to clear all the background messages before getting ready. After all, no matter how bad her mood was, she couldn't stay like this forever...

But when she saw the news pushed by Twitter on her phone screen, her pupils couldn't help but shrink.

"It seems the lead singer of the band I used to promote has formed a new band. I'm so happy. #crychic"

With a trembling thumb, she opened the message, which redirected to a live street video recorded by the user.

Click to watch the video... The familiar melody reached Su Shi's ears. In the video, Gao Songdeng, the lead singer of her former band, was singing "Spring Shadow" with great passion. Although she seemed to have forgotten the lyrics at the beginning, her dedication was dazzling.

The drummer, Shiina Tatsuki, who was also the drummer in the previous band... she looked very happy, her attention was entirely on Takamatsu Akari, accompanying Akari's song "Haruhi Kage".

The keyboardist was someone I knew very well, Mr. Momoi Taro... He was playing the keyboard with a solemn expression. His keyboard skills were the best I had ever seen, even better than Toyokawa Shoko's back then.

The guitarist was wearing an old-fashioned sweatshirt, head down, pink bangs naturally obscuring her face. But this guitarist had pink hair, and was next to Mr. Taro; it must be Chihaya Aine.

In the video, although there was a subtle feeling of disharmony in her chest, her guitar playing was no less impressive than Xiao Mu's at that time, and even slightly better. It wasn't like this when I listened to her practice that day. How could she have improved so quickly in just a few days...?

Finally, there's the band's bassist.

The bassist transformed into a rock-and-roll-style girl she didn't recognize. She had medium-length black hair, wore a leather jacket, a black bodycon skirt with a striking red lining, a black choker, and platform boots.

Her bass was also incredibly powerful, supporting the soul of the entire performance. Although ordinary people can't see the soul, as a fellow bassist, she naturally could... and her bass playing was far superior to her own.

While playing, she kept glancing at Riki. Was this the new bassist...?

"Oh, I see... I don't need it."

Su Shi watched the video, which wasn't very professionally shot, in silence. She thought she had run out of tears, but somehow they quietly returned to her face.

That's great... Xiao Xiang looks like he's going to move forward again. Xiao Mu and Xiao Xiang are such good friends, Xiao Xiang definitely won't leave her behind.

Xiaodeng and Xiaolixi seem to have decided to move forward again... Mr. Taro and that Aine are probably just there to provide temporary support, since she doesn't seem to be able to imagine Taro joining someone else's band.

And that bassist plays much better than me. It's so great that Xiaodeng and Xiaolixi have found such reliable teammates…

Everyone can move forward now, but...

What about me…?

She curled up, trying to hide herself as much as possible on the sofa. Everyone had decided to move forward, so leaving behind what she didn't need was understandable...

After all, it's been a long time since I've practiced bass.

but……

"Why play 'Spring Shadow'..." Su Shi's voice was very weak, but the sadness in it was easy for anyone to feel: "That was clearly an important memory for our band..."

Indeed, was she the only one who truly cared about that experience...? Su Shi's heart grew increasingly bitter.

"This...is not the kind of bitter spring shadow that belongs to me." She murmured to herself, her finger lightly touching the screen to turn off the video.

The room, which had been filled with the sounds of street live videos, became empty once again.

"The bitterness is gone, it can never be revived."

Only now did Su Shicai truly grasp the meaning of Xiangzi's words. She closed her eyes, letting her thoughts churn within her mind.

Thankfully... these two days are the weekend, so I don't have to go to school. It's so great to be able to deal with others like this...

Su Shi felt fortunate thinking about this, then opened her eyes, used her phone to open the live video she had saved from the past, and pressed play.

She watched their live performances again and again, seemingly trying to forget the harsh reality of the present. After playing it countless times, the exhausted Su Shi fell into a deep sleep once more.

This time, she had a dream.

In her dream, Nagasaki Motoyo was surrounded by Takamatsu Akari, Shiina Tatsuki, Wakaba Mutsumi, and Toyokawa Shoko. The five of them were together once again, playing music that belonged to their band.

There weren't many standing audience members below their stage, but both the band members and the audience were laughing happily, as if they had become one.

Finally, at the end of the live performance, it was Mr. Taro's band who handed them over. He didn't say anything, but gave himself a thumbs up. The enthusiastic Chihaya Aine hugged herself.

"I was so touched! Your performance was amazing. I look forward to our performance next."

Finally, Su Shi stood to the side of the stage, watching the Dong Brothers prepare to begin their performance... Her consciousness gradually faded away, as if she were sinking into an endless, chaotic space...

Chapter Thirty-Three: Being Controlled (8/8)

"Is the lamp already going back?"

After Taro came out, Riki stood at the door of the practice room corridor, waiting for the person she knew very well to come out.

As expected, the person who came out after Taro was Takamatsu Akari, whom she knew very well.

Gao Songdeng's eyes widened slightly, clearly not expecting that Li Xi would still be there at this hour.

"Little Lixi...isn't she off work yet?"

Li Xi shook her head, denying what she said: "No, it's already time to leave work."

Deng looked at Lixi with some confusion, seemingly wondering why she was still there after get off work. Lixi blushed slightly, touched her head awkwardly, and said, "I picked Deng up and dropped her off at home before, and I was a little worried about her safety, so..."

The little lamp's brain worked quickly, trying to extract useful information from Lixi's words. Finally, her eyes lit up, and she looked at Lixi with gratitude: "Little Lixi, are you going to take me home? Thank you."

"Um... it's nothing to be thanked for," Lixi said, looking a little flustered, her voice trembling with nervousness. "Instead, I'm just happy to be able to go home with Deng."

"Oh, right, Mu went in too," Li Xi said, her eyes cautiously glancing at Deng. "Did Deng see her too?"

“Yes! She’s also here to see Mr. Taro.” Akari nodded vigorously, hesitated for a moment, and said softly, “Mumi… has changed a lot.”

"Huh? I think my answer is pretty much the same as before." Li Xi didn't quite understand what Gao Songdeng meant.

"Hmm? No," Gao Songdeng shook his head, his voice very low and somewhat cautious, and said, "The old Mu wouldn't let you play pranks on her."

"Huh?" Upon hearing Takamatsu's words, Riki's brain went blank for a moment: "Wait? A prank? That Mu?"

Prank, Mutsumi Wakaba—it was incredibly difficult for Ritsuki to connect these two words in his mind. Takamatsu Akari's strange words made Ritsuki think he was still dreaming.

"Hmm... but it really is true..." Akari carefully recounted what had just happened to Mutsu: "Mutsu left a folder at the door of the practice room and attacked Master Taro with a wooden sword when he came in..."

"I see." Li Xi seemed to have figured something out. This must be the legendary chuunibyou (middle school syndrome). If the chuunibyou-afflicted Wakaba Mutsu takes the strongest guy she sees as her imaginary enemy, then the plot makes sense.

Seeing that Lixi had gradually calmed down, Xiaodeng hesitated for a moment, then clenched her fist and said softly but firmly, "Little Lixi... come and play the drums!"

"Huh? Is Deng already ready to rebuild the band?" Li Xi was slightly taken aback, so she excitedly but also a little disappointedly shouted, "I'm coming, didn't we agree?"

The excitement stemmed from Takamatsu's intention to start anew, while the disappointment arose from the fact that the person who inspired Takamatsu to start anew had absolutely no connection to him.

Deng shook her head slightly and said softly, "It's not like that... Master Taro said that he's going to do a street performance tomorrow to build up his courage... so he hopes that Xiaolixi can come with me."

“Street live performance…” Li Xi repeated in confusion, then exclaimed in great surprise, “Wait, street live performance? Me?”

"Yes!" Deng nodded matter-of-factly.

"Wait! Lamp, I'm the drummer! The drummer!?" Lixi argued earnestly, trying to persuade Lamp to abandon the idea. Did the drummer have to bring his entire drum set to the street liev?

"Hmm? Can't I be a drummer?" Deng tilted his head, looked at Lixi's reluctant expression, then lowered his head and said dejectedly, "I'm sorry... did I say something weird again?"

Seeing the lamp cowering pitifully like a small animal, Li Xi felt a surge of passion and impulsively shouted, "No! The lamp did nothing wrong! I want to go!"

“Little Lixi…” Deng stared blankly at Lixi. Although she didn’t know why Lixi was suddenly so excited, she still nodded vigorously and said happily, “Yes!”

I'd be so happy to play with Lixi!