I'm not a womanizer for Chihaya Aine

"Ah, don't move yet, it will be done soon."

Feeling some of Qing's small movements, Aiyin said this softly, and her main attention was still focused on the movements of her hands. However, the effect of Aiyin's casual words was immediate, and Qing was like a piece of wood and didn't dare to move at all.

Deng, who was sitting opposite, stared blankly at Aine and Qing. She had been unable to join in their conversation and could not help them. She could only stare blankly at them. She didn't know why she felt a little itchy when she saw their intimate behavior.

The silence lasted for a while, and finally Aine breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, “It’s done.”

Qing, who had been tense all the time, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. His expression did not change at all, and he still thanked her in a cold voice, "Thank you."

Aiyin complained, "You didn't even look in the mirror to see if you were satisfied before you thanked me? Dengdeng, what do you think of Qingqing now?"

Deng nodded firmly and said, "It looks good."

In fact, what Deng was thinking was that Xiaoqing has always been very beautiful, and now she is even more beautiful.

Qing looked away, looking at the Roselia poster on the wall and said, "I said I don't care about my hairstyle, right? So I really don't care what you do... The fact that you are willing to help me with my hair makes me happy."

All of a sudden, the whole club room fell silent again. Aiyin didn't even dare to look at Qing. She pretended nothing had happened and sat back in her seat.

Obviously, that should be a sentence used by friends to express their feelings honestly, and Qing would say it so directly, which is also in line with Qing's personality. But for some reason, it seemed very ambiguous when said in the atmosphere just now.

After drinking a whole cup of tea, Aine's inexplicably throbbing heart finally calmed down. This was the first time that Aine drank a cup of tea in one breath. She actually didn't like the bitterness of tea, so if she ordered black tea in a store, she would add a lot of sugar, but for some reason, this cup of chrysanthemum tea today had a sweet taste in its fragrance.

After calming down, Aiyin naturally wouldn't let the atmosphere remain silent, so she brought up the previous topic and said, "Speaking of which, Qingqing, you are not interested in so many things that JKs should like. I'm really curious about what kind of things you like. I know that Deng Deng likes collecting, but as for you... I still can't see anything that you are very interested in."

Indeed, Qing's interests and hobbies have always been a mystery in the eyes of Aine and the others. Even in front of Aine and Deng, two people she is relatively close to, Qing rarely shows herself. She mostly chats about topics raised by Aine and Deng, or talks about serious matters in a very pragmatic way.

Aine still remembered the plan the Red, Green and Yellow trio had given her, and if they knew Ao's interests and hobbies, it would probably be easier for the other students in the class to become friends with Ao.

So Aine asked tentatively, “Are you interested in the stars? After all, you joined the Astronomy Club, and you seem to be very interested in astronomical phenomena like meteor showers.”

At this time, the lamp opposite seemed to remember something and said, "But, on the day Xiaoqing joined the Astronomy Department, she said that she was not interested in stars...but she finally joined the Astronomy Department. I want to know why Xiaoqing joined the Astronomy Department..."

Qing turned his gaze back to the front, took a sip of tea, and said, "I'm really not very interested in stars, but of course I don't hate them either. As for why I joined the Astronomy Department, it's because I think it's the most romantic type of science among all the sciences that emphasize rational thinking. I wanted to experience this romantic science, so I came here."

Qing naturally wouldn't say that the reason she joined the astronomy club was to have more interactions with you two, but the reason she gave wasn't made up. Qing also joined the astronomy club when she was in high school before she traveled through time, and she joined the club with this idea in mind. Unfortunately, she didn't feel the romance of science in the end, after all, her main club activities at that time were installing telescopes and participating in astronomy competitions.

“I see, now that you mention it, astronomy does have a lot of romanticism, like the story of Altair and Vega, and the constellations.” Aine nodded as if she understood. “But if it were me, if I wanted to pursue romance, I would probably go directly to some art clubs, like the Fine Arts Club or the Light Music Club… although Haneda doesn’t have a Light Music Club.”

Aiyin said this not to deny Qing's idea of joining the astronomy club, she just expressed her own opinion so that the topic could be discussed at a deeper level. But what Aiyin didn't expect was that Qing actually agreed with her point of view.

"You're right. The reason I joined the Astronomy Department for such an inexplicable reason was entirely due to my personal problem. In fact, I am a person whose thoughts are dominated by rational thinking, but I yearn for the romance understood by emotional thinking. If I force myself to use rational thinking to feel this abstract romance, I will only end up confused." Qing criticized himself bluntly, as if he was a completely rational person.

Deng felt uneasy because of Qing's words and the way she criticized him mercilessly. Xiaoqing said that she wanted to join the astronomy club. Did she regret joining the club? Would she quit?

After hearing Qing's self-criticism, Aiyin was more curious. So Aiyin asked, "Why do you say that?"

Qing raised his head slightly, as if reminiscing, and slowly said: "Every time I look up at the starry sky, the stars I see are always just stars. No matter how I connect the stars together, I can't see the shape of constellations. I can't remember the positions of the stars, and I can't even recognize the Big Dipper. For me, when I look at the starry sky, I can only understand how many stars there are and whether the starry sky is beautiful."

At this time, Qing took out a stone from his pocket. It was the stone that Deng gave Qing yesterday, which was shaped like an owl. Then he continued, "Like this stone, in Deng's eyes it is shaped like an owl, but no matter how I look at it, it is just an ordinary stone. Even though Deng told me it looks like an owl, I can't tell the difference between it and an ordinary stone no matter which angle I look at it from."

"Xiaoqing... don't you like it?" Deng asked nervously, clenching his fists uncomfortably.

Aine didn't expect Qing to be so indifferent to the stars, nor did she expect Qing to bring up the stone she received from Deng as an example. What's more, these two things are what Deng likes. Deng must be feeling very uncomfortable now. However, Aine didn't intend to intervene in the conversation between the two. In Aine's opinion, Qing knows Deng better than she does. She must know that what she said just now will make Deng sad, so she should have a backup plan. Aine believes in Qing so much.

Qing looked at Deng, his eyes softened and he said, "Before Deng gave it to me, I had no reason to like an ordinary stone. But Deng gave me a reason to like a stone. If I were alone, I would probably never understand the romance of the starry sky, nor could I distinguish the shapes of stones, but I know Deng. Deng can tell me what the world is like in Deng's eyes. Maybe I can't understand it now, maybe Deng can't express it well now... but I believe that one day..."

[Warning. The host's d language has been detected. Please stop the d language and clarify it, otherwise you will be punished by level 1. ]

The system's prompt stopped Qing from saying the words of comfort, and his face turned red because the words he was about to blurt out were interrupted.

Aiyin looked at Qing in confusion, and looked at Qing's face curiously, but she could only see her face which was dyed red for some reason and her mouth opening as if she wanted to say something but stopped.

Deng also looked at Qing in confusion. She had already felt Qing's sincerity and expectations from his sincere words just now. At this moment, she was no longer worried that Qing would leave the astronomy department because he didn't like the stars. She also knew that Qing would not leave her just because he didn't understand her.

But why did Xiaoqing's words suddenly stop?

Qing quickly adjusted his mood, put on his usual cold poker face and said, "Sorry, I just got a literary bug. Please forget what I just said."

After saying that, Qing silently reached out to pick up the stone on the table. However, while grabbing the stone, his other hand also grabbed the stone. The fingertips and backs of Qing and Deng's hands touched each other, and Qing was so scared that he quickly let go of the stone and took back his hand, fearing that the system would judge it as a violation again.

Aiyin watched Qing's actions completely, and seemed to have thought of something. Then she looked at Qing with a smirk and said, "Qingqing, are you shy?"

Qing crossed his arms and said expressionlessly: "Please don't make such unfunny jokes. I have no reason to be shy, right?"

Seeing Qing refused to admit it, Aiyin pressed on: "Just now, when Qingqing was halfway through her speech, did you suddenly realize that what you said sounded like a confession, and you felt shy so you suddenly stopped? I saw you blushing!"

Huh? Confession? In Aiyin's eyes, did what I just said sound like a confession? Qing thought about it carefully. You know what, it really sounded like a confession. No wonder the system detected a violation.

But Qing would definitely not admit it. After all, she didn't stop talking because she was shy, so Qing denied it: "Those are just your imaginations. I was just acting like a literary youth just now. Now that I've returned to normal, I feel that there's no point in saying so many things."

Aine wanted to make a few more jokes, but at this time Deng loudly denied Qing's denial.

“It’s not meaningless!”

Deng shouted unexpectedly loudly, making Ai Qing and the others look at him in surprise. But Deng's courageous shout only lasted for a moment, and after coming to his senses, he became weak and spoke in a low and intermittent voice as usual.

"What Xiaoqing just said made me understand your thoughts... and I also know what I should do."

Deng held up the stone in his hand and showed it to Qing. With his other hand, he pointed at the protrusions on the stone and said, "This is the beak, the direction of the head is like this... this is the eye, and this is the side wing..."

The comparison instructions were not enough, Deng put down the stone, picked up the notebook with the flower pattern cover and started drawing on the paper. Qing hurriedly caught the fallen stone, and Aine curiously came to Deng's side to read it.

After the lamp was finished, Aine looked at the round owl doodle, then looked at the stone in Ao's hand and exclaimed, "It really does look a bit like an owl!"

Deng handed the finished notebook to Qing and asked expectantly, "How is it... can you figure it out?"

Qing looked carefully and it did seem to be the case. He nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I figured it out."

Deng smiled and took back the notebook, inviting her: "Let's go see the stars together! I can also draw constellation patterns for Xiaoqing!"

Looking at Deng's expectant expression, Qing felt a little caught in a dilemma. Even without the system's prompt, Qing knew that if he agreed to Deng's invitation at this time, it would definitely be a violation. However, it was really difficult to refuse Deng with this look on her face.

Qing could only think of an excuse and declined politely: "It's not safe to go out at night. It's better not to go out just to watch the stars together."

Deng was stunned for a moment, then invited, "How about going to the planetarium? We can go there during the day."

"Well... let's talk about it later." Qing was a little overwhelmed by Deng's attack and could only refuse weakly.

Aiyin, who was standing by, also felt that Qing didn't seem to want to agree to Deng's request to go stargazing together. Although she couldn't figure out why Qing didn't agree, she believed that Qing had some reasons that were inconvenient to say, so she spoke up to help, "You can go to the planetarium anytime, right? There's really no need to rush."

With Aine's help, Deng quickly accepted this reason, but she immediately pointed the finger at Aine again.

"Aine-chan, do you want to join the astronomy club? We can look at the stars together... It's okay if you don't understand, I can explain it to you and even draw pictures!"

“Ahaha, I’ll think about it.” Aiyin wanted to fool around, but when she saw Deng’s expression was a little disappointed, she gave a reason, “I’ve been busy with the band’s affairs these days, and I don’t have much time to think about the club’s affairs. I’ll give you an answer after the band’s affairs are settled.”

"Then...it's a deal!"

"Okay, it's an appointment."

Seeing the two of them make an agreement, Qing said at the right time: "In this case, Aiyin, you can be considered a reserve member of our astronomy department, right?"

Aiyin didn't know what Qing was thinking, so she carefully denied it: "I didn't say I would definitely join, did I? I just said I would give you an answer when the time comes."

Qing made a very artificial surprised expression and asked back: "Huh? Are you going to refuse to join?"

Aiyin followed Qing's line of sight and looked at the lamp that was looking at her anxiously. She really couldn't say no.

However, Qing did not let Aine answer and continued, "During the Golden Week, Comet PanSTARRS will be within the observable range of the telescope. It will be brightest on May 5th, which is the best time to observe it. I wonder if the captain and the reserve members are interested in observing this comet together during the Golden Week?"

"Comet?" Aine murmured hesitantly. Compared to meteor showers, comets were much less romantic, and they needed a telescope to observe, so Aine wasn't very interested.

"Yeah, together!" Deng nodded happily.

Then Qingdeng and the other looked at Aine at the same time, and Aine said helplessly: "I know, I will go with you."

Qing patted Aine's shoulder and consoled her, "It's also my first time going to celestial observation with my friends, and it's probably the same for the lights, so let's just think of it as going out for fun together."

"I feel more accepting when I put it this way..."

Deng watched Qing put the owl stone into her school uniform pocket and thought: Even if Xiaoqing doesn't understand, she is still getting along with me in her own way, just like she is not interested in stars, but still finds out about meteor showers and comets, and participates in astronomy club activities in her own way. But one day, I will try my best to make Xiaoqing like stars, and then, I will also make Xiaoqing...

17 Band, Once, Beginning

After the bell rang for the end of get out of class, the head of the Astronomy Club, the regular members of the Astronomy Club, and the reserve members of the Astronomy Club of Yugaoka once again came to their Astronomy Club room.

However, this time, Qing and Aine did not come to the Astronomy Club to chat, and certainly not to participate in club activities, but to discuss more serious topics.

"Band, what should we do?" Qing put down his teacup and looked at Aiyin with inquiring eyes.

Aiyin held the teacup in one hand and rested her chin with the other hand and said, “I’m just waiting for Deng Deng to consider it…”

Ao glanced at Deng, who was sitting at another table writing an activity report, and said, "I think we can think of Deng as a reserve member, just like Aine is a reserve member of the astronomy club."

Hearing this, Aine straightened up a little, leaned close to Qing's ear and asked, "Are you so sure that Deng Deng will join us?"

Aine knew that it was almost a foregone conclusion that she would join the Astronomy Club in the future, so she was a little surprised that Aonato joining their band was mentioned in the same breath as this matter.

Qing shrugged, not intending to lower his voice to whisper: "Of course, because Deng also wants to form a band, and we are the best candidates for Deng's teammates."

Aine sighed and asked, "If that's the case, why is Deng Deng so hesitant?"

Qing tapped the table with his fingertips, then raised his index finger slightly and pointed at the lamp and said, "Maybe it's because he wants to form a band for life. She is here, why not ask her opinion?"

Deng, who had been mentioned many times, finally put down her pen. As early as when Qing and Aine started talking about the band, she didn't write a single word.

"I hope it can last a lifetime... I'm trying to find a way to form a band for a lifetime... Sometimes when I'm with Xiaoqing and Xiaoyin, I get a fleeting feeling... I think that might be something that can last us a lifetime..."

Deng said this, placing his hand on his heart, feeling the burning desire to spend his whole life with Aiqing, and saying words he didn't quite understand.

Aiyin lay on the table somewhat weakly, tilted her head and rested it on her arm, and said with emotion: "A lifetime? It feels so far away..."

After learning about Deng's determination to form a lifelong band yesterday, Aiyin also thought about the possibility of forming a lifelong band after returning home, but it was still a little hard to imagine. After all, the leap from a play band to a lifelong band is a bit too big.

Qing patted Aine's back to comfort her, then looked at Deng and said, "Aine and I will be busy with band matters from now on, and we may not be able to come to the Astronomy Club often. If Deng doesn't join us, he will immediately become a person again. Is this okay?"

Deng imagined the scene. It was normal every day a week ago, but for some reason, an inexplicable feeling of suffocation arose from his heart. Deng looked like he was about to cry and begged in a low voice: "No... Let's be together..."

Aiyin glanced at Qing with some resentment, then comforted Deng, "Qingqing, you're too cunning to say that, right? No matter what, we won't abandon Deng Deng. I care more about Deng Deng than the band. Qingqing thinks the same, right?"

Qing made tea for himself skillfully as if he didn't hear Aine's question. Due to the system, he couldn't say anything out loud about his concern for Deng. So Qing couldn't confirm Aine's question, but he couldn't deny it either, because Deng would be sad.

Qing also filled Aine and Deng's cups with tea, and then placed the teapot on the table with great momentum.

"There won't be any problems if we just join, right?"

After that, Qing looked at Deng and continued in a cold voice: "Deng wants to form a band for life. You are afraid that the band will disband, right? However, if you don't join the band, you won't lose anything, but you won't have anything either. Please forgive me for not understanding your emotional thinking. I think between getting 100% and getting 0, and getting 1% and 1% respectively, I will definitely choose the latter. What's more, the possibility that we can form a band for life is not necessarily lower than 99%."

Aiyin, who was standing by, did not spoil the show because of Qing's cold tone this time. Instead, she nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, if you don't try, you won't get anything. Even if you fail, it doesn't mean your life is over. You can still start over somewhere else."

After listening to the two's persuasion, Deng felt somewhat moved. It could be said that Deng had wanted to form a band again from the very beginning, but when he thought of that rainy day when crychic disbanded, Deng became hesitant again.

"But if the band disbands because of me... that feeling is disgusting... it's like the warm spring sun that is within reach is leaving me, and I feel like I can no longer be a human being..."

Deng has always been too shy to tell anyone about his wish to become a human being, and can only say it out loud to Toyokawa Shoko in the past and Ao now. Shoko learned about Deng's wish by checking Deng's notes without permission, while Ao's oppressive questioning a week ago made Deng blurt out that he was "not a human being".

"So, before you joined the previous band, did you have a way to become a human? Or were all the memories of the previous band so bad that you felt that even if you failed you would just go back to the beginning and you still didn't dare to try?" Qing asked.

The answer is no. Before Deng met Xiangzi and joined crychic, Deng was full of misunderstandings about other people, and other people could not understand Deng's world. Xiangzi was the first person to understand Deng, Aine was the second, and Qing was the one who did not understand Deng but still chose to walk with Deng and tried to understand each other. Deng could only see the hope of becoming a human being in these three people. And except for that rainy day, all the memories of crychic are treasures worth her collection.

Just as Deng was lost in crychic's memories, Qing had walked to her seat without her noticing and brought Deng's cup of tea to her. This also made Deng come back to her senses from her memories, and she looked up at Qing who was standing beside her.

"It seems that your previous band was not that bad, otherwise you wouldn't have looked so nostalgic just now." Qing put down the teacup, folded his arms and looked down at the light.

Deng nodded slightly and said, "It would be great if I could form a band with everyone in crychic for life... This is what I thought after crychic disbanded."

“So you just attached that idea to your next band?”

"Yeah." Deng looked at his and Qing's faces reflected in the teacup, not daring to meet Qing's gaze.

Hearing this, Ain, who had been sitting in her seat and not interjecting much, also understood why Qing was so concerned about inviting Deng to join the band. Although Ain had wanted Deng to join her band before, she had never forced Deng to join. But Qing was different. Several times when Deng joined the band, it was Qing who initiated it, and today Qing's strong speech even had the intention of forcing Deng to make a choice.

But Aiyin knew that Qing's attitude towards Deng seemed harsh, but in fact, he was thinking about Deng and hoped that Deng could become better. From this perspective, combined with Deng's attitude towards the previous band, it was not difficult for Aiyin to see that Qing was so eager to let Deng join the band just to let Deng get out of the shadow of failure in the previous band.

Thinking of this, Aine also stood up and walked to the other side of Deng's seat. She and Qing surrounded Deng on the left and right. Aine put her hand on Deng's shoulder, made Deng turn his head to look at her, and said, "Join us, let's start over together."

"Aine-chan..."

Aine half-knelt down, so that her eyes were level with the light and said, "The taste of failure is not pleasant. In fact, I experienced a serious failure before transferring to another school, which even frustrated my self-confidence. With the trust and encouragement of my parents, I chose to start over in Yugaoka... and then I met you and Qingqing."

Qing looked at Ain in surprise. She didn't expect Ain to take the initiative to tell her embarrassing story. You know, in the anime, although Ain also confessed to Deng about her failure in studying abroad, it was after she was ambushed by her junior high school classmates. Now, Ain is revealing her embarrassing past just to untie Deng's knot.

Aiyin gently raised the hand that was on Deng's shoulder, lifted a few strands of Deng's hair and stroked Deng's cheek, saying softly: "I'm glad that I firmly chose to let go of the failure and start over. Otherwise, I might not have met Deng Deng and Qing Qing."

At this time, Qing also said words of encouragement: "In fact, Deng has already taken a step forward, right? If it were you now, you would definitely do better than when you failed before, right? So even if you can't do it to the point you imagined now, as long as you can continue to move forward, maybe you will be able to do it in the future."

Deng looked at the two people beside him, and his desire to move forward with them gradually became firmer.

"Xiaoqing, Xiaoaiyin, and I...we want to form a band together!"

——————3