People are in animation, but they can connect to reality

After returning to the drunk's house, Asagi was truly thankful he remembered the way. He simply heated up two portions of cooked food and placed the rice next to the original bag. After doing all this, Asagi prepared to leave.

"Okay, that's it. Well, I'm leaving now. See you later." Asagi had no intention of staying because this kind of thing seemed so abrupt. It was as if helping someone meant he had to stay and let his family know, as if he was taking credit for it.

The drunk stared at him blankly, not saying a word. After Asagi left, the drunk looked at the two cooked meals on the small table. He stretched out his hands tremblingly, holding the food in his hands, but tears kept falling as if he couldn't control himself.

"Hey, hey, are you lying to me?"

After returning home, the phone started ringing. Asagi picked up the phone and saw a message from Hina.

"I didn't lie to you, don't spit blood at me."

"Have you forgotten what you said?" Hina's questioning tone almost burst out from the phone.

"Uh, I remember." To be honest, he had almost forgotten. "How about this, tomorrow, at Yoshinoya, I'll send you the address."

It was late when Toyokawa Shoko returned home. She wearily opened the door, clutching discounted supermarket vegetables. As usual, she would cook, clean the house, and clear out her father's litter. By the time she finished, it was around midnight.

But today, Toyokawa Shoko felt a tinge of strangeness. Usually, her father was lying by the porch, looking drunk, surrounded by discarded beer cans. But today, something was different.

Chapter 235: It's OK

Toyokawa Shoko turned on the living room light and saw her father was already asleep. Tonight, her father was sleeping in the right place, not drunk anywhere else. Toyokawa Shoko was surprised. While this was something most families could easily do, it was a luxury for Toyokawa Shoko.

There was still a portion of food left on the small table in the living room. Although it was cold, Shoko Toyokawa held the food and ate it with her head down. Occasionally, the girl would wipe her face to wipe off some of the warmth.

"Asaki, remember our appointment tomorrow." After school, Asagi received a message from Senior Takeda.

"What are you looking at?" Qi Yu asked curiously with a smile on his face.

"It's nothing. It's just that Senior Takeda wanted to watch a live performance, and since she was too timid, she insisted on dragging me along. I couldn't persuade her, so I had to agree to her request." Asagi explained.

"Well, it's just something like this, so I'll go too. Is that okay?" Qiyu stared at Asagi, a smile blooming on her face as delicate as a porcelain doll.

"Isn't Nanayu very busy?" Because Qinbuki Nanayu has been busy preparing for the competition for student council president, she has been busy recently and has no time to join the club. If Nanayu succeeds, she may leave the club in the future.

However, with the support of the student council president, Takeda-senpai will be very happy.

"I can spare some time to come out once in a while. Wouldn't Asagi welcome me?"

"No, not really. If Qiyu could come too, it would be a real help. To be honest, I can't quite handle Senior Takeda. She sometimes does things without thinking, and I can't stop her at all." To be honest, Senior Takeda sometimes makes decisions arbitrarily, and then uses her status as a senior to pressure him, so he can only agree.

If Nanayu comes too, it will be much better. Asagi feels that Nanayu seems to be able to suppress the senior, and the senior will suddenly become well-behaved in front of Nanayu.

"It's settled then. We'll contact each other by phone then."

Asagi and Nanaha had exchanged contact information a long time ago, but they had never used their phones to communicate. Nanaha was very busy, and after just a short chat, she hurried away with some documents in her arms.

Saturday was a busy day at Yoshinoya. Asagi changed his clothes and took Nina's place. Asagi stood at the front desk. Rupa kept looking at him with a hesitant expression, as if he had something to say. After a while, Rupa bit his teeth, as if he had made up his mind.

"To be honest, I'm a little surprised about the plan," Rupa said in a low voice.

"Is Rupa not satisfied?" Asagi blinked. He felt that there was nothing wrong with his distribution plan and that he had given out what was due.

"No, on the contrary, I didn't expect to get so much." Although the words made people happy, but Rupa did not smile, which was surprising. Because Rupa is a person who loves to laugh, no matter when, Asagi can always see Rupa's smile.

"Is it really okay?" Rupa's expression was a little serious.

Asagi nodded, putting on a relaxed attitude, "It's okay, I have a backup plan."

"Backhand?" Lupa tilted his head in surprise.

"Hehe, Lupa will know this when the time comes."

Rupa didn't ask any further questions. Today, after get off work, Nina didn't leave. Instead, she sat in the shop, seemingly waiting for someone. Did Nina know Hina was coming? Asagi was a little puzzled. Asagi had been working diligently the day before yesterday, taking orders from customers.

"Hina, why are you here?" Nina shouted in surprise. It turned out that she didn't know.

Hina was wearing a brown coat with a brown sweater underneath, two short ponytails, black long-framed glasses and an unknown short hat on her head. She stood at the door and looked at the words on the door for a while. After confirming that this was Yoshinoya, Hina walked in.

As soon as Hina came in, she heard Nina's voice. She turned around and saw Nina already rushing over to her. Nina was hugging Hina's body, rubbing her head against her cheek. Hina was stroking Nina's hair lovingly.

"What would you like to eat? Renai will treat you." Asagi walked over at the right time and stood in front of Hina.

Hina took the menu and took a look at it.

"Try the beef rice here, it's delicious." Rencai recommended it excitedly. The first time she came to the restaurant, it was MMK who treated her to beef rice.

"Then let's listen to Nina." Hina handed the menu back to Asagi and took the opportunity to say, "Hey, you can't deny it this time."

"Who is it?" Nina looked at Hina curiously.

"Nina doesn't need to know this." Hina said lightly.

"Really?" Hina turned her unhappy face away. Hina is always like this, cold and a little arrogant.

"You'll know soon." Asagi smiled.

Hina sat with her arms folded, relaxed. She was eager to meet the composer. If possible, becoming acquainted would be even better. Diamond Dust has been very popular lately, but their signature song remains "Empty Box," composed by Ms. MMK. Their manager had approached numerous music producers for the song.

However, there still wasn't a single song that people would remember. This couldn't go on like this. The lifespan of an idol was extremely short, like a mayfly, born and dying in a single day. You never know when they'll suddenly be out of fashion. Either they leave behind songs that people will remember, or they keep releasing new songs to maintain their popularity. But new songs cost money, and that was a huge expense.

"Hi, we're here." As Asagi had just walked away, 486 came in from outside waving his hand. Following 486 was MMK, who was standing next to 486 with a guitar on her back.

"Hey, this is the lead singer of Diamond Stardust. Why is she here? Is she here to see Nina?" 486 spotted Hina next to Nina. They had met Hina once before, when they were following Asagi. From Asagi, 486 briefly learned about Hina and Nina's relationship.

"Isn't their relationship bad?" 486 tilted his head and leaned close to MMK's ear and asked in a low voice.

"How would I know? You should ask in person about this kind of thing." MMK waved his hand to drive 486 away.

"Hello, Ms. MMK, Ms. Anhe," Hina said politely. 486 and MMK responded politely. "I came here because Asagi invited me. He said he wanted to introduce your arrangement to me, and I'm curious." Hina smiled wickedly.

"What a bad Hina!" Asagi shook her head after listening to this. How could she shift the focus of the conflict to herself? It was as if Asagi was betraying MMK and the others' secrets.

"Oh, you don't know yet." MMK looked indifferent.

Things didn't go the way Hina had expected. She'd thought Asagi would at least be publicly beaten. This was a serious matter, right? Leaking the information about an important composer would cause significant damage to the band.

Chapter 236 Bad News

"So that's how it is. You're an outsider." 486 spread his hands and shook his head.

Hina was stunned. She stared at MMK and 486 with disbelief. This was completely different from what she had expected. Where had she made a mistake, or had they not understood? She bit her lip, her brow furrowed.

Hina always had a calm, unperturbed look on her face, as if she had seen through everything. Nina was used to that kind of Hina, and when she first saw that aggrieved expression on Hina's face, her heart burst with joy.

It's so rare to see Hina like this. I didn't know Hina would make such an expression. I have never seen it before.

As if isolated, Hina wondered what she had done wrong. She glanced at the expressions of those around her, and finally fixed her gaze on Nina. Hina blinked and looked at Nina.

Hina is like this. She won't say it directly when she needs help, but she'll just give her this look. She hopes her friends will notice her plight and step up to help. Nina is familiar with this expression of Hina's; it's because she knows this kind of Hina that she became her friend.

Suddenly she remembered the moment when she and Hina became friends. At that time, Hina seemed to be in some kind of trouble and was standing alone. Nina felt that the child was very lonely and must have no friends.

"Asaki is our arranger." Nina walked up to Asaki and patted him on the shoulder when he wasn't paying attention. She almost knocked the menu out of Asaki's hand. "Hey, he's a very capable person."

Asagi was about to get angry at Nina and tell her to pay attention because he was still working, but when he heard Nina praising him like that, Asagi swallowed his words and pretended that what happened just now had not happened.

"Snapped!"

Hina slammed her hands on the table, as if she'd heard something incredulous, and abruptly stood up. She stared at Asagi with suspicion, her gaze shifting between Nina and Asagi. Unable to detect any suspiciousness in Nina's eyes, she sat down again. Her face, which had just been filled with anticipation, a touch of excitement, and a hint of mischief, now looked as if she had been struck by a blow.

Asagi found it very funny to see Hina's evil intentions fail. Hina seemed to notice Asagi's gaze.

"Hmph!" Hina snorted and turned her face away.

Seeing Hina's frustrated look, Nina, instead of trying to comfort her, smiled happily. This was because Nina had always been frustrated and frustrated by Hina. It seemed as if everything she did was wrong, and if she disobeyed Hina, she would immediately suffer the consequences of her reckless actions.

At that time, Hina always stood proudly in front of her, making some very cold and sarcastic remarks to her. She stood there with her head hung low like a child who had made a mistake, and was scolded by teacher Hina for her self-serving and self-protective remarks.

For example, "You failed again," "Why didn't you listen to me?", "Come on, Hina is right. I didn't listen to her and ended up in this situation. I'm such an idiot.", "How many times do I have to tell you to stop meddling in other people's business? You'll get dragged into it." These were all unpleasant words that sounded unpleasant, but I couldn't refute them.

So, Nina was very happy to see Hina show such an expression, which made her feel inexplicably satisfied.

When it was almost time to get off work, most of Yoshinoya's customers had left, leaving only MMK and the others sitting in the store. At this time, the doorbell rang again, and a figure walked in.

"Welcome," Asagi and Rupa smiled towards the door.

They looked up and saw that it was Miss Miura Shiomi. Miura Shiomi was wearing a black work uniform and had a serious expression, which could be said to be a heavy feeling. She hesitated at the door, as if she lacked some courage.

Everyone looked at Miura Shiomi in confusion, feeling very strange.

Miura Shiomi walked in with a serious expression.

"I have some bad news to tell you all," Miura Shiomi lowered her head and bowed deeply to everyone with a very standard and serious posture.

While everyone was wondering what was happening, Miura Shiomi continued to bow, not looking up for a long time. Instantly, everyone's expressions became solemn. Miss Miura was a very steady person, so everyone thought the matter was serious.

"SAG required the band to perform new songs at the party. This was a mistake on my part. I failed to notice this in time, and it caused serious trouble for everyone."

"Ms. Miura, please get up quickly. Everyone is not used to you being like this." Asagi helped Miura Shiomi up.

Miura Shiomi looked up, a look of self-blame on her face. Although she was a professional, she was still a newcomer and didn't have her own band, so it was normal for her to make mistakes at work.

"I didn't receive this message." Hina on the side was also shocked. Diamond Stardust did not receive this message.

Miura Shiomi just realized that Hina from Diamond Dust was also here. Although she felt strange, she did not ask any further questions, but thought about what Hina said.

"Well, Hina doesn't know either?" Nina looked at Hina suspiciously.

"I really don't know," Hina replied. "That's strange. Wait a minute, there's a message on my phone." Hina's phone vibrated. She opened it and frowned. "I got a message. It's from Ms. Mishima. She said we need new music for this SAG competition, so we need to discuss it with everyone."

"Sorry, I have to leave now." After receiving the news, Hina stood up, said goodbye to everyone, and quickly left Yoshinoya. It seemed that this news was a bit tricky for Diamond Stardust.

However, Asagi felt that this wasn't a problem for Diamond Stardust because they could buy songs with their own money. They were rich, and spending tens or even hundreds of millions on a song was easy.

"But this is too close. There are less than 6 days left, how can we come up with a new song?" After hearing the news, Satoshi Ebizuka ran over, very dissatisfied.

"It's really hard to create a piece of music for such a long time, unless you're a genius." MMK deeply agrees. As the original composer of Diamond Stardust, MMK knows how long it takes to polish a piece of music. It starts with tentative arrangements. Once inspiration is found, there's constant repetition, deletions and additions, and consideration of variations and timbre. In short, it takes a long time.

"Ding ding ding ding, everyone is worried, but don't we have a genius?" 486 pointed at Asagi, with no sign of worry on his face.

Everyone suddenly realized what was going on and looked at Asagi.

Chapter 237 Brave Shine

"I'm not talented, I'm only good at this little thing, leave it to me." Asagi took the commission confidently.

"Can it really be done?"

"can."

"New music also requires time to practice ensemble. Can it be produced within three days?"

"MMK said so, so I'll give it a try reluctantly."

"You're so reliable, Asagi." Nina burst into tears, tears of emotion streaming down her face.

"I always feel safe with Asagi around, what do you think, Chi-chan?" Roopa said with a grin.

"Hmph, that's pretty impressive." Satoshi Ebizuka showed his tsundere side.

"But this seems strange. How come even Miss Miura doesn't know about this?"

"SAG officials said the rules changed this year. Previously, SAG didn't hold auditions like this; they always invited bands to participate in the gala. Since this is the first time, I'm probably blaming myself for learning about it too late."

"No, it's not Ms. Miura's fault. Diamonddust just received the news as well. It seems a little strange."

"What's so strange about this? Did Asagi discover who's behind this?"

"No, no, there's no point in saying anything without evidence. Besides, they're the organizers, so we have to abide by whatever rules they set. It's not us who's trying to use their platform."

They were asking for new music, and it was a sudden, impromptu rule. It felt like something had been custom-made for Asagi. Of course, they were within their rights, even if it felt a bit unfair. After all, it was natural for them to want to support their own band, given the generous sum of money.

After returning home, Asagi was once again troubled. MMK was quite picky about the style of his songs, which meant he couldn't use many good songs. Asagi searched his phone idly, and stumbled upon the ED for "Oblivious" from "The Garden of Sinners." It was ethereal and had a stage play feel.

Asagi also liked the song, but it wasn't rock enough and required too much from the singer. Even if MMK was willing to accept it for the quality of the song, Nina wouldn't be able to pull it off.

What about "Brave Shine"? Asagi opened Mushroom's Fate and found "Brave Shine." It had a rock quality, and the composition was close to MMK's style. Most importantly, it was also very pleasant to listen to. Asagi nodded and began copying the sheet music.

Nina's version of "Brave Shine" should have a unique flavor. As for "Oblivious," the style seems more suited to Toyokawa Shoko's Ave Mujica. It would be great if Mujica were willing to sing.

The next day, when Asagi woke up and saw the "Brave Shine" on the table, he didn't rush to give it to MMK and decided to wait for two days. Otherwise, they would be suspicious again.