Want to be human, but cube-like

"I was in a rush to leave today and forgot to bring my bass. It's okay, I'll go with Xiao Mu to the front desk to borrow a bass and a guitar later."

Su Shi, who didn't care about Li Xi's attitude at all, just smiled and brushed it off.

As a livehouse, Ring naturally offers instrument rental services, and guests can also store their instruments here.

So even though Su Shi didn't bring her bass to school today because she didn't expect Li Xi to suddenly send a message asking everyone to go to rehearsal, she didn't care about it at all.

"Tsk..."

Seeing Su Shi's perfunctory attitude, but not wanting to get entangled in this matter, Li Xi had no choice but to let it go.

"correct……"

At this moment, Su Shicai pretended to be nonchalant, looked around, and asked a question that she had been wanting to know since she entered the room.

"Xiao Xiang...hasn't she arrived yet?"

However, as soon as she finished speaking, the other three people present gave completely different reactions.

"what?!"

Lixi, with a furrowed brow, glared at her intensely.

"Xiangzi, didn't she quit the band a long time ago?! Why are you still bringing her up?"

She crossed her arms and spoke with anger.

"Eh?!"

Su Shi froze, her lips slightly parted.

"Xiao Xiang..."

Deng, who had been looking downcast, became even more somber after hearing their conversation. She hugged her notebook tightly and murmured something under her breath.

"Su Shi...?"

Even Mu, who had been silently following behind Su Shi, cast a puzzled look at her.

Xiao Xiang... left the band?

Su Shi, who was still in a daze, couldn't immediately grasp the specific meaning of the sentence.

But then, her eyes widened, and she looked slightly flustered.

My wish... Has my wish not come true?!

Everyone is clearly...

She glanced at the three people beside her and subconsciously squeezed her left index finger hard with her right hand.

Why? Why is it that Xiao Xiang is the only one who hasn't come back?!

"Alright, everyone hasn't practiced in a long time, right? We should hurry up. Weren't you guys going to borrow some instruments?"

Not wanting to waste any more words, Li Xi glanced at Deng, who had become very sad because of their topic, and felt a little annoyed.

"Ah... um... I, Xiaomu and I are going to borrow some instruments now, please wait for us a moment~"

Barely managing to steady her mind, Su Shi

She tried her best to control her expression, not wanting anyone to notice anything unusual about her.

Although Li Xi and Mu may have already sensed it.

But regardless of Xiao Xiang's whereabouts, it's already a huge step forward that everyone has come back. Su Shi doesn't want the band, which has finally made some progress, to fall apart again because of her mistake.

She could only deal with the current situation for the time being.

Tonight, I absolutely have to get to the bottom of this with Cupid!

Following behind Su Shi, Mu walked outside with her, looking at her with a worried expression, her lips trembling, but she couldn't say anything.

On this day, as Crychic's long-awaited rehearsal, everyone stumbled and faltered throughout.

The scene is filled with characters: Lamp, who is completely unable to sing; Suze, who is so distracted that she only noticed after the performance that the bass was not plugged in; and Riki, who is extremely annoyed because Lamp cannot sing a single word, but dares not scold her.

Only Mu maintained her consistently high level of skill.

But in a band where the lead singer and bass are silent and the drummer keeps yelling for a restart, even if she plays the guitar exceptionally well, it won't make a difference.

After all, this wasn't her solo performance.

Even so, none of them uttered a single word to end the session. They endured it all and completed today's meaningless, even suffocatingly tense and torturous training.

Without Toyokawa Shoko's lead keyboard, Mutsu, who had taken over the rhythm guitar position, silently watched this band, which, even though it was teetering on the brink of collapse, seemed to be bound together by something, unable to break free.

She seemed to see that in everyone.

A chain that binds everyone.

But they have to stay together in the band.

For some reason, this thought arose in Mu's heart once again.

…………

PS: This band is terrifying... Anyone who sneaks in during their practice will probably be crushed to death by the gravitational collapse on the spot.

I've been experiencing some writer's block these past couple of days. Actually, where exactly is the writer's block?

I'm torn between whether Aine should return to Japan in a week or, like in the original work, in two weeks.

Although they were just crabs that were soaked in water and then shipped out by courier, I was so determined when I set off, but after only a week I told my parents I wanted to come back. Isn't that a bit...?

Volume 2: Chapter 204 What should we do?

As the sun set, a frustrated Lixi finally decided to end today's training.

Although this doesn't even qualify as training.

"..."

She looked at everyone's expressions, frowned, but only sighed and said nothing.

"Sorry……"

The gray-haired girl lowered her head, tightly gripping the microphone that hadn't even been used, and apologized to everyone in a dejected whisper.

"It's all because of me..."

If Su Shi's voice was so low that it was almost inaudible because the bass wasn't plugged in, then Asahi, as the lead singer, was completely unable to sing, resulting in their ensemble not playing a single lyric throughout the entire rehearsal.

This is also the reason why the ensemble training failed so badly.

"No, it's okay!"

Upon hearing this, Lixi, who was in a bad mood, immediately changed her expression.

She always sounded impatient when talking to others, but when faced with Deng's apology, she appeared flustered.

"It's just that I haven't practiced in a long time. Next time! I'll definitely be able to sing it next time!"

The words of comfort she racked her brains to come up with seemed so pale and powerless.

"It's all my fault... I didn't practice properly..."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing her words, Deng became even more dejected.

Deng Mingming is the one who needs the most practice! But what have you been doing all this time?!

The words, like a sharp blade piercing his heart, resurfaced in his mind once more, and a suffocating, dull pain surged like a tide, giving Deng the urge to run away.

But, you can't...

She kept her head down and didn't even notice that the notebook she cherished had been crumpled up by her own vigorous crumpling.

They absolutely have to form a band together...

As if bound by something, wanting to escape but unable to, the lamp kept repeating this phrase in its heart.

"what……!"

Realizing she had said the wrong thing, Lixi panicked, but being tongue-tied, she couldn't think of anything to say to comfort the dejected Deng.

Su Shi, who should have spoken up to comfort Tama and ease the tension at this time, unusually remained silent this time.

She too was lost in thought, head down, still pondering why Xiangzi hadn't returned.

They didn't even notice the state of Deng and Lixi.

Mu silently watched the whole thing, then simply walked out of the training room, clutching his guitar case and looking at everyone.

Lixi wanted to take Deng home, but Deng shook her head and refused, then ran away on her own.

Frustrated, Li Xi could only turn around and casually greet Mu and Su Shi before silently leaving.

Mu Wei tilted her head slightly and glanced at Su Shi, who had been absent-minded beside her.

Su Shi seems to have become very strange today...

In the past, she would volunteer to bring the lamp home.

Unable to understand, Mu lowered his head again, waiting for Su Shi to speak.

She knew that since Su Shi hadn't mentioned leaving, there must be something she wanted to tell her.

"Xiao Mu..."

Sure enough, after watching Deng and Lixi leave one after another, Su Shi glanced at the Ring gate where only the two of them were standing to the side, and she suddenly called out to Mu.

Do you know what happened to Xiaoxiang?

She still cares a lot about this.

Rather, she had wanted to ask several times during training, but Su Shi couldn't bring herself to speak because of Deng and Li Xi's presence.

Su Shi understood that if she brought up Xiao Xiang again in front of Deng and Li Xi, it would only cause Li Xi to feel disgusted, just like before, and it would also make Deng feel even worse.

She didn't dare to make the atmosphere at Crychic even worse under these circumstances.

After finally waiting for the two to leave, she immediately asked Mu impatiently.

"..."

But when faced with Su Shi's question, Mu simply lowered his head and remained silent.

She didn't know how to answer the other person.

"Xiao Mu, is it possible for you to get in touch with Xiao Xiang?"

Su Shi gripped the handbag tightly, her small hands tightening their grip on the handle. She was a little annoyed, but she still forced a smile and spoke softly to Mu.

"..."

He remained silent, but this time, Mu subtly shook his head.

There was finally some response, although it wasn't the kind of response Su Shi wanted.

She took a deep breath, trying to suppress the surging emotions within her.

"Is that so? Xiao Mu can't get in touch with Xiao Xiang either..."

Since she couldn't get the desired result from Mu, Su Shi didn't want to waste any more time.

She needs to go find Cupid and ask him properly.

We agreed that any wish could be granted... but why?

Everyone's back! Whether it's Xiaodeng, who left first, or Xiaolixi, who only follows Xiaodeng around, and... Xiaomu, all three of them are clearly back...

But why did Xiao Xiang...? Xiao Lixi still said she quit the band?

Why didn't she return to Crychic like everyone else?

In that case, in that case... isn't it exactly the same as when Xiao Xiang said he wanted to quit the band?

Then, one by one, everyone will stop coming to practice, until only one person is left...

That won't do!

"Xiao Mu, I still have some things to do. See you tomorrow~"

Eager to speak with Kyubey, Su Shi suppressed her emotions, forced a smile, and said goodbye to Mu.