Tokyo: Who would still fall in love after being spoiled?

Chapter 121 Finally, Amano officially announced his connection with him

When Tianye put down the trumpet, a group of children gathered around. The boys were carrying nets and fishing rods on their shoulders, and the girls were holding buckets in their hands. There were only two or three small fish the size of fry in the buckets.

The girl from the bathhouse was there too, and she loudly asked him who the pretty sister who played the trumpet was.

"A classmate I met in high school in Tokyo."

"Are you good friends?"

"are friends."

"So, are Chu-nii and Eri-san also friends?"

"Also a friend."

"Oh!" The girl nodded seriously, fished out a candy he had casually stuffed into her pocket, and handed it to Amano, "Please give candy to my friend who is a beginner!"

"Hey..." He never expected it to come to this.

"Ah, thank you..." Amano even took it and gave him a questioning look at the first moment.

He avoided looking at her, pretending it was none of his business.

"Sister, can you play other songs?" a brave boy asked, raising his hand high.

"...What do you want to hear?" Amano was silent for a moment, then gave the children a gentle smile he had never seen before and asked softly, "Even if I can't do it, the brother next to me can do it."

"Hey!" He couldn't stand it, "Why do you have to bring my...?"

It was she who was harassed by these kids, what did it have to do with him?
"Wow! A beginner can also play that golden instrument! How amazing!" The girl from the bathhouse said with shining eyes, clapping her hands in applause.

"It's even better than my sister's." Amano added with exaggeration.

"When did it happen? How come I don't even know about it?" He didn't want to get involved in this farce at all.

"Hasn't it always been like this?" Amano asked him back in confusion, lying without blushing or feeling any nervousness.

He was speechless for a moment. Amano's image as an innocent girl sister had an advantage in the eyes of the children. He had no choice but to change his strategy and make up his mind - as long as Amano said that she couldn't sing a song, he would also say that he couldn't sing it either.

The only songs these kids could remember were animation theme songs. Fortunately, Amano had learned a lot of them before going to the welfare home for the charity performance, so he wasn't asked to actually play a few.

The trumpet was played until the sun set in the west, and the river surface was sparkling with golden light. Not far from the river bank, a few adults appeared, listening to the sound of the trumpet from afar.

One of the children's father called out from afar, and the children packed up their fishing rods, nets and buckets, said goodbye to him and Amano reluctantly, and returned to the town.

"Who is Eri?" Amano asked him maliciously after the children left.

"The girl just now was adopted by the Yuba family. Eri is also one of them. For various reasons, she stopped going to school after junior high school and helps run the bathhouse." He explained, "If you go to the bathhouse at night, you will definitely see her."

"Do you know him?"

"The town has a population of only a thousand people, so anyone of the same age will definitely know each other." He saw Amano tear open the candy wrapper and stuff the milk candy into his mouth. "I gave her the milk candy. She said she bought it in Tokyo. There are five or six in total. She's willing to give you one. It seems she likes you very much..."

"Tokyo... You can buy this kind of candy at any convenience store, Inoue-san."

"A few days before I flew back, I was so busy practicing the ensemble that I forgot to bring any souvenirs. It's understandable, right? It's good enough that I could give her some milk candy..." He saw the disdain in Amano's eyes and defended himself, "Besides, there's only one grocery store in this town, and they don't sell this kind of candy."

"Really?" Amano didn't believe it.

"Probably..." He wasn't sure. He hadn't been to the grocery store in town for several years.

He suddenly remembered that when he came back, he only had a suitcase with him, and he didn't even think of buying something to give to his parents as a token of his appreciation.

The first thing I thought of was using points to make up for it, but then I felt that doing so was artificial and that if I really wanted to compensate, I could only do it next time.

"It's your turn." Amano didn't give him much time to think about it. He replaced the trumpet mouthpiece with a spare one and handed it to him.

"My turn?"

"How are you going to learn if you don't practice playing it yourself? Can you remember it just by listening to me play it a few times?" Amano couldn't help but frown.

It turns out that what he just said in front of his mother was not a lie?

"Are you really going to teach me how to play the trumpet?" He was puzzled.

"There are only six days left before the competition. Do you think you can offset me in the competition just by practicing on your own?" Amano asked back.

"Offset with you?"

"Forcing me to play the trumpet and practice the duet part that's not in the original piece, isn't that just to create a balance in the competition rules?"

"What do you mean by 'flat'..." He finally came to his senses and met Amano's clear and sharp gaze. He once again felt the real feeling of having his heart seen through. "That's right... but I'm enough. It doesn't matter whether you play the trumpet or not."

"...Are you planning on letting the Kitakura Wind Orchestra lose?"

"Isn't winning or losing the same? Even if Kitakura wins, Hayashi High will only point the finger at me - it was me who secretly practiced the duet part that caused them to lose the competition. It has nothing to do with the other members of the Kitakura wind band."

"Besides," he thought for a moment, shrugged, and added, "wasn't it me who got them involved in this incident in the first place? I have to give them an outlet as compensation."

Amano was silent for a moment.

"I dragged these victims into this drama just to join the North Sakura Wind Band midway through and to shine at the competition," he concluded, then asked her, "After the competition is over, shouldn't we treat them to a dinner together?"

Amano listened to the last character in silence, and only the sound of the wind remained in his ears. He sighed at last.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I?"

"If what you said is true, then the duet practice was kept secret from the other members of the Kitakura Wind Band, right?"

"That's right."

"So, after the competition, what are you going to do? Get kicked out of the band and have everyone's happy? Or will you join the band and compete in the Kanto and national competitions, making a splash and having your name slammed?"

"It's all right..." he said indifferently.

"Even if you don't consider your own reputation, shouldn't you consider the impact of your actions on the Inquisitive Society?" Amano took a deep breath and asked coldly, "Or do you have a special habit of liking being scorned by others?"

"What does this have to do with the club? This 'helping the Kitakura Wind Ensemble re-arrange a free song' isn't a club activity."

"It is now." Amano interrupted him in a cold tone and said.

"Well...are you worried about me?" He held the trumpet in his hand, which still retained the warmth of Amano's hand.

"If a member of a group is exposed for misconduct, it will have an impact on the group no matter what, Inoue-san." Amano was stunned, and her pretty brows furrowed even more tightly. "Who cares whether it's an individual or collective fault?"

"so--"

"Want to quit?" Amano seemed genuinely angry this time. "Let me play it first?" He raised the trumpet in his hand, suddenly feeling a little more excited about Amano's next reaction.

"You..." Amano was about to say something but was blocked in his mouth. He paused for a few seconds before sighing helplessly and shaking his head, "Go ahead."

"As you wish." He smiled maliciously and raised his trumpet.

The tone of Amano's trumpet is clearer and less heavy than the one he bought. The sound it blows seems to float up to the clouds without him noticing.

After he finished blowing it once, he looked at Amano.

"Blow it again." The girl just nodded slightly, without any instructions, just said.

Finished blowing again.

"Blow it again."

……

"Blow it again."

……

"Again--"

"What's the difference between this and practicing on my own?" He couldn't help but resist, but saw the girl raised the corners of her mouth, she was totally teasing him, and had no intention of giving him serious guidance at all.

"Wait until you finish blowing this time." Amano restrained his smile, raised his hand to lightly lift his hair, and continued to give orders as if nothing had happened.

"Dede..." He calmed down and blew it again seriously.

His trumpet playing skills were already at the highest level, allowing him to fully master the technique of playing this piece.

The only drawback was that it was boring. Not only did he expect others to feel bored when they heard it, but he himself felt bored as well.

When people fall in love with a piece of music, they probably first fall in love with a certain part of the melody and like it very much. Then they fall in love with the whole piece of music, listen to it over and over again, hum it, try to play it themselves, and then try their best to play the part that they think is the most touching according to their own feelings.

But he had never felt this way, whether it was trumpet, piano, or painting.

He was able to discover the wonderful parts, and there were many painting techniques that made him applaud, but he always stopped there.

When he starts to paint or play, he will only present the wonderful parts as they are, trying his best to make his works have this kind of "wonderfulness".

He had never experienced that feeling of falling in love at first sight in any piece of music, painting or even a novel.

"Inoue-kun, do you have someone you like?" Amano suddenly asked him after listening to him play again.

"Parents and family, do they count?"

"Same age... doesn't necessarily mean they're the same age, girls... No, before that, I should ask another question first..." Amano pondered and gradually muttered to himself.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have ruled out the possibility that Inoue-san is a LGBTQ+ person." When she came to her senses, she pretended to apologize to him and then asked, "Anyway, is there anyone you like in the traditional sense of love?"

"What sexual minority... My sexual orientation is normal. Like other boys with normal physiology and sexual orientation, I like pretty girls with cute looks and beautiful figures." He was also about to get angry.

Even if you're mad at him, you shouldn't hold a grudge like that, right? How long are you going to keep playing tricks on him?
"So you like me?" Amano was suddenly stunned, avoiding his gaze, and said in surprise with poor acting.

"You only have half." He said slanderously.

"Only half?" Amano looked at him again and lowered his head following his gaze.

He reacted quickly and took two steps back quickly.

"Development times vary from person to person, and from a reproductive perspective, mammary gland development isn't completely positively correlated with visible breast size. The biggest factor affecting breast size during growth is fat, which means—"

At the end of the explanation, Amano fell silent.

"So, do you still need guidance? There's only the cute-looking Amano-san." He put down the trumpet and asked in a rhythmic voice.

"...Answer my question first." Amano opened his mouth several times, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Finally, he sighed, regained his composure, and spoke in a cold voice.

"Which question?"

"Is there a girl you like romantically?"

"To be honest, no." The answer was not difficult to determine; it was even obvious to him.

Not only in the sense of love, even if all the angles in the world from which one could like someone were taken into account, he might never have placed anyone in such a position.

"What do you like to do?"

"What's going on...does daydreaming count? Or when I'm hungry, I just want to eat."

“…” This was the third time Amano sighed in just one evening.

She gently rubbed her forehead with the slender fingers that lifted her hair. "What's your ideal in life?"

"Well... make money, become famous, and live to be a hundred years old?" He thought for a moment and said.

In fact, this is indeed the case.

Be it in his previous life, before he unlocked the system in this life, or now.

On the surface, he says that he has no interest in fame and fortune, but his pursuit is ultimately still rooted in the soil of money and fame, where it takes root, sprouts, and grows.

He had previously said that he wanted to focus on making money and live a peaceful and ordinary life, but that was only because after experiencing all kinds of things in his previous life, he was completely disappointed in his abilities.

He is the kind of person who lives in this world for these things, and has nothing else and is worthless.

I am unwilling to be the so-called flesh and blood of society, but I only have the empty goal of wanting to guide the world. I have never had any special expectations for my own life, nor have I ever expected what the world would become like - I just live in a daze, just like most people who are flesh and blood.

"Live to be a hundred?" Amano skipped over the first two words and asked, "Is that why you do morning exercises every day, have a regular sleep schedule, and claim you'll swim a few laps in the river every night?"

"No... I just hope I can live as long as possible," he said realistically. "It has nothing to do with my daily exercise."

"Isn't that just daydreaming..."

"No, no, no. After all, it's just like those people who drop a five-yen coin into a shrine and hope some random deity will grant their wish. How does that even count as daydreaming?" He argued, "Besides, think about it, technology is advancing so rapidly these days. Maybe in a few decades we can extend human lifespan to 150. And if I only wish to live to 100, is that greedy?"

"The point is that you haven't done anything to work for it, Inoue-san." Amano sighed and shook his head with a headache.

"I think as long as I can live to see the day when there is a medical breakthrough, I'm already working hard enough," he said.

……

……

(End of this chapter)