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

Chapter 30: The Piano Sound Made of Five Hundred Coins
"Hey!"

While the tuner was still making the final adjustments to the music, he walked to the door of the competition department classroom and shouted to Amano, ignoring Kato who had not yet finished playing a melody inside.

Kato's Qin Yin was forced to stop.

Amano frowned, glared at him, and ignored him.

"Go on," she said to Kato.

He turned his head and looked at Kimura behind him on the left, pointed at Amano and asked knowingly, "What's that guy's name?"

"Amano, Amano Kanade." Kimura folded his arms and watched from the side.

"Amano!" He looked at Amano again and continued to shout, "This guy next to me and I are going to compete in a Xiao Shi competition next door, and you will be the referee."

"What do you mean 'this guy'? My last name is Kimura!" Kimura couldn't help but say.

“…” Amano looked at Kato who stopped playing again, looked at him, and couldn’t help sighing.

"Practice on your own for a while and remember the mistakes I just pointed out. Ten minutes." She instructed Kato and walked out of the classroom.

"Okay..." Kato followed Amano's gaze out the door and looked at Kimura standing behind him.

The moment their eyes met, Kimura looked away.

He noticed this and spoke to her in a low voice that Amano would definitely hear, "What is this Amano, does he have a bad personality?"

"Huh?" Kimura turned to look at him.

"He's so arrogant, just like you."

"I didn't!" Kimura frowned, "Besides, what are you qualified to say about others?"

"Am I arrogant?" Amano came to the door and asked him.

"The competition this weekend." He changed the subject.

Amano has not responded to his declaration of war yet.

"Do you think you can beat me?" Amano smiled suddenly.

"Isn't it easy?" he continued to provoke.

"Arrogant." Amano remained unmoved.

"Arrogant..." Kimura listened at the side with great interest, "Pfft..."

The tuner had finished his work and was picking up the various old parts on the floor and stuffing them into a plastic bag. He saw Inoue and the other two walk into the classroom and stood up from the ground.

"The total is 57,300 yen, minus the 5,000 yen advance payment, the total payment is 52,300 yen." He reported the amount.

Inoue looked at Kimura.

"Let me pay?" Kimura opened his eyes wide.

"Otherwise?" he asked.

"It's best to check the tuning results first, and make sure you are satisfied with the key feel, tone volume, and overall effect before paying." The tuner nearby reminded.

"Then let's compete first." He looked at Kimura who clenched his fists again and shrugged, "You first."

"I'll go first..."

……

Xiao Shiqu was only a little over two minutes long, and the competition took only five minutes to get the result.

"Even without me as the referee, the result would be the same, right?" Amano asked him, with a hint of accusation in his tone.

"How would I know?" He looked at Kimura who was standing aside with his head down, and saw that the index finger of her fist, which was pressing on the thumb, was so hard that it turned red with blood.

"This competition would have had a different outcome with or without you as referee, Amano-san."

"Waste of time." Amano left a word, adding fuel to the fire, and turned and left.

Kimura also turned on his toes and walked towards the door with his head down.

"Hey," he stopped her when she was about to walk out of the room, "pay!" "You want me to pay?!" Kimura turned around and glared at him angrily, gritting his teeth, his cheeks flushed, and a glimmer in the corners of his eyes.

"You don't want to pay me and you still want to take away my piano practice time?"

"Practice..." She froze for a moment, her aura suddenly extinguished as if a basin of cold water had been poured on her. She lowered her head, her voice becoming increasingly quiet. "I don't have... I don't have that much money now..."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier that you have no money!" he said in an impatient tone, took out his wallet and paid the remaining balance to the lawyer.

"From now on, you owe me fifty-five thousand yen."

"Eh..." Kimura raised his head and asked subconsciously, "It's not fifty-two thousand three..."

"As long as you give me more than 2,000 yuan in interest, you're still not satisfied?"

"I……"

The mediation lawyer filled out the commission completion details on his smartphone, filled out the invoice, borrowed the desk to stamp it, and handed it to Inoue.

Although he listened to the whole conversation between him and Kimura, he did not say a word. After completing his work, he walked away silently.

"How much money do you have in your wallet now?"

"Two thousand...two thousand four hundred and thirty-seven yen..."

"Give me two thousand first."

"There's tomorrow's lunch in there..."

"Then fifteen hundred." He held out his hand for the money and added, "Also, don't try to gain sympathy by saving money on food and going hungry. I just want money, no matter how you get it."

“…Here.” Kimura’s wallet was a soft cloth wallet with a zipper. There was a layer of woolen wrapping on the outside, with a black cat on a white background, as if it was handmade.

There wasn't a single banknote in it, only coins of different denominations. I finally picked up two 500-yen coins and five 100-yen coins and gave them to him reluctantly.

"That's right." He flipped the coin that fell into his hand, walked past Kimura and left the classroom, "Remember to lock the door."

After all the hassle, it was already past six o'clock and the sky outside the corridor window was gradually getting darker.

The melody that he could hardly understand was still ringing in the competition department classroom.

Although he used his points to buy two piano pieces, he could only play these two pieces and still knew nothing about other piano-related knowledge.

But judging from the listening experience alone, the melody played by Kato is much better than that played by Kimura.

He didn't have a good impression of Kimura. From what he had overheard before, Kato's rejection of Amano was far less intense than Kimura's.

"Here, here, and here... Never mind. Practice from the 17th to the 26th bar several times until you can do it five times in a row without making any mistakes. Make sure your fingers are as relaxed as possible to get used to the long jumps."

"it is good……"

After getting Kimura aside, Amano shouldn't have any major problems guiding Kato.

Now all he needed to do was teach Kimura how to practice Xiao Shi before the competition they signed up for...

While Inoue was standing outside the competition club classroom to sort out his thoughts, intermittent piano sounds could be heard from the interest club.

He collected his thoughts, left the club building, and walked out of the school.

On the way back to the boarding house, I reported the situation to Sakurai.

[Inoue: During this time, I will be in charge of Kimura-san, and Amano-san will be in charge of the other girl.]
[Inoue: Everything is going well.]
[Sakurai: That's a huge help! Thank you!]
[Sakurai: Kimura-san often gets angry and his way of speaking isn't very pleasant... I hope Inoue-san doesn't mind too much.]
[Sakurai: If you have any conflicts, please tell me. I will go and talk to Kimura-san.]
[Inoue: I don’t mind, it’s easy to communicate.]
Kimura probably wouldn't tell anyone that he spent 55,000 yen just to play the piano for an hour and a half every day.

[Sakurai: Really… That’s great…]
He walked along the riverside sidewalk and down the slope leading to the riverside park. Under the lights that were already on, many mosquito-sized flying insects gathered.

[Inoue: I forgot to ask, when will Kimura-san and the others participate in the competition?]
[Sakurai: I forgot to mention that! Blame it on me...it's the weekend of the last week of the semester.]
It took a week longer than he expected...

He put away his phone and looked at the open space where Takeda had previously raised his head to blow the paper. There was no one there.

It seems that he has gone to work.

Inoue did not stay in the park. Before returning to the boarding house, he went to a chain convenience store where Takeda did not work part-time and bought a pink piggy bank.

He returned to his room and stuffed the coin Kimura had given him into his pocket.

(End of this chapter)