How can my simulation be a real love?

"I……"

But Sanjiao Chuhua hesitated.

She didn't want to say the word "like" to Xiangzi, because if she did, their friendship would be affected.

As a popular idol, Chu Hua always maintains a professional smile and can make the most calm and rational judgments in any situation.

But at this moment, she hesitated uncontrollably due to her inner turmoil, a moment that Toyokawa Shoko naturally noticed.

Toyokawa Shoko gripped her skirt tightly and sighed, speaking in a nonchalant tone, "Really? So you like Naruto too, Hatsuka."

Seen through...

At this moment, Misaka Hatsuka knew she couldn't explain the truth, nor could she 'deceive' the other party again, so she could only nod vigorously.

Upon seeing the attitude of her childhood friend, Toyokawa Shoko, who had been frowning, simply raised her head slightly and reached out to lift a strand of soft, delicate, azure hair from her temple.

Then, under the blonde girl's remorseful gaze, she strode forward with elegant steps, staring at her with an extremely firm and indifferent look.

"Even if we're friends, I won't give Ming to you, Chu Hua!"

She did consider Ming's feelings!

This one pure land beside her was the only place she was absolutely unwilling to give up to anyone else.

"Chu Hua, from today onwards... we are 'love rivals'!"

After saying those words, Toyokawa Shoko seemed to exhale the pent-up frustration that had been building up inside her for so long. At this moment, the girl's indifferent demeanor, sharp as a hedgehog, made her seem like a completely different person from the weak and helpless girl she had been before.

This left Chu Hua, who had originally wanted to withdraw from the relationship and let the other person have their way, completely stunned.

Now she had absolutely no idea what to do.

"Then I'll take my leave now."

After saying those words, Toyokawa Shoko gave Hatsuka a deep look, then turned and strode away down the street.

Only Misaka Hatsuka remained, staring blankly at the departing figure. With a look of disappointment in her eyes, she looked up at the dazzling night sky and murmured to herself in a somewhat wistful tone.

"A love rival...?"

Standing there in a daze, Mikasa didn't notice the crossroads behind her, where a black-haired girl carrying a musical instrument case was leaning against the wall with a blank expression.

Her fingertips, used for playing the bass, pressed lightly against the handles, making a 'click-click' sound, while her emerald-green eyes calmly gazed at the sky.

"..."

She didn't intend to stay there for long. The black-haired girl merely glanced at the time on her phone before turning and leaving with heavy steps.

As for Toyokawa Shoko, who was walking away in the distance? She naturally had no idea what was happening behind her.

After uttering those sharp and cold words, she hurried away as if fleeing. Even after leaving the streets of Yokohama and reaching the sidewalk, her slender fingers, the same fingers she used to play the piano, were still tightly gripping the hem of her skirt.

The road beside the intersection was filled with the cacophony of car horns, and crowds of people moved through the sparsely populated streets.

With each step she took forward, she felt her emotions grow heavier. Just moments before, she had maintained a tough stance, but now she was like a hedgehog curled up, with a sharp outer shell concealing a soft heart.

"...Was my tone a little too harsh on Chu Hua?"

Waves of regret washed over me.

Shoko Toyokawa pursed her slightly chapped lips, and her eyes began to tremble slightly. Originally, she had not intended to show such a cold attitude to her close friend, Hatsuka, since Hatsuka had only wanted to apologize to her at the time.

But when she realized the other party's 'lie', she couldn't control her emotions.

If Xiangzi were to go back and apologize to Chuhua now, her fragile self-esteem wouldn't allow it, so she could only be a little gentler with Chuhua during the subsequent band training at Ave Mujica.

As Misaka Hatsuka walked down the street, looking utterly dejected, she seemed to suddenly remember something. With a dazed look in her eyes, she immediately took out her phone from her pocket and hesitated for a full half minute before finally dialing a number.

After cautiously waiting for the busy signal, the other end finally answered. At that moment, the girl, as if grasping at a straw, said in an anxious and self-reproachful tone—

"Hello? Is this Xiao Mu?"

……

The following day, RiNG—

Yawning, Kazami Naru walked wearily up to the second-floor coffee shop. He should have been working on 'composing' at a high intensity these past two days, but for this competition, he planned to use the pieces he had simulated before.

This significantly reduces the workload of arranging music and also greatly increases the practice time for both bands.

In preparation for the cultural festival and the end of the band's "Duibang" performance in two weeks, Mygo, who usually only trained two or three days a week, suddenly started training every day.

Today was naturally a training day for everyone, but before the Mygo members could gather, Kazami Naru had already arrived. The sheet music for the performance was already more than half completed, so he naturally had to come and show it to Ms. Shiina.

"..."

Kazami Mei, who had just sat down, subconsciously looked towards the front desk.

He thought that Ms. Shiina, who was also working today, would come over with a cold face and hand him the menu as usual after seeing him. But to his surprise, his good friend just frowned when he saw him and then buried his head and continued to make coffee.

Is it a secret crush, and you're pretending not to see it?

Just as Kazami Mei opened his phone to send a message to 'question' Shiina-san, she suddenly walked towards him with a cup of coffee.

"Here, it's on me."

Wearing her work uniform, Shiina Ritsuki gently placed the still-steaming coffee in front of him, her beautiful and charming face maintaining its usual indifferent expression.

"Cappuccino?"

Kazami Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise upon seeing the cup of coffee.

Without hesitation, he picked it up and took a small sip. The rich aroma of coffee and the invigorating sweetness that filled his mouth immediately made his eyes light up. This unexpected sweetness was undoubtedly due to the addition of a large amount of white sugar.

But what does this mean?

The brother immediately offered to buy drinks, which must mean he has something important to ask his father for help.

"Shiina, do you need me to take the blame?"

"Huh? What nonsense are you spouting?"

Shiina Tatsuki frowned, staring strangely at the unreliable guy in front of her. But having long been used to his personality, she merely pursed her lips, hesitated slightly, and then, blushing slightly, casually said—

"I just brought you some things to urge you to hurry up with the arrangement. Everyone is still waiting to practice the new song."

"What are you doing here at RiNG today, Kazami? You don't need to come all the way here to train for the next live performance since you're not going on stage, right?"

Kazami Mei had no reservations whatsoever with his good buddy in front of him, and bluntly said, "Can't I come and watch if you're not training? If not, I can at least come over for a coffee and see how your training is going. Is it that after you've used me, Shiina, you're going to kick me out because I'm no longer of any value?"

"Huh? How could that be possible!"

Upon hearing this, Shiina Tatsuki sat up abruptly as if on cue. The commotion startled Narita Ji, who was peeking from a distance, so much that he almost shrank back to the front desk.

Once she realized what was happening, Ms. Shiina seemed to notice that she had been a little excited. Her pretty face flushed slightly, and she quickly sat back down.

"poor!"

Seeing his good brother's adorable appearance of blushing and gritting his teeth, Kazami Naruto felt a strange sense of satisfaction, but he just raised his eyebrows and showed a hint of teasing.

Li Xige is nothing but a nobody.

"I was just kidding. Actually, I came here to show you the effect of the new song."

"You've already finished writing it?!"

"Of course not, it's only half-finished and the audio has only been synthesized using software."

Kazami Mei rolled her eyes and took out sheet music and an audio player from her plastic bag. Shiina Tatsuki, sitting opposite her, took them without hesitation and looked at them carefully.

When she saw that the score for the intro and main melody was almost complete, her expression immediately became extremely stiff.

"Even if it's only half done, isn't that a bit too fast!"

This is only the third day since the decision to compose the music was made, right?

In less than two days, he had already written more than half of the new score, printed out the score and completed the audio synthesis. This was an incredible and bizarre phenomenon in the eyes of Shiina Tatsuki, who was also a composer.

Even if two Toyokawa Shokos came, they wouldn't dare say they could do the same!

Suddenly, Shiina Tatsuki, who was holding the sheet music, seemed to sense something. She frowned and asked with a subtle look, "Kazami... you didn't arrange the music for us first, did you?"

The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

If Kazami Mei were to temporarily set aside the arrangement work for the end of the band and focus all his efforts on completing the new song for Mygo, then given his talent and ability, it is indeed possible that he could complete more than half of it in such a short time.

But if he were to compose two pieces of music in different styles at the same time, and in such a short time...

Seeing Shiina Tatsuki's furrowed brows and glaring eyes, Kazami Mei understood, and responded calmly.

"Actually, I had already come up with ideas for new songs for both bands before, so when I decided to make new songs, the music was already in my mind. Now I'm just taking the music out of my head."

"So Shiina, you can rest assured, both bands are at the same pace."

He was well aware, of course, that Ms. Shiina had a strong sense of self-respect.

In Shiina Tatsuki's view, the so-called 'victory or defeat' should be faced squarely and honestly, and she would never accept Kazami Mei's favoritism towards Mygo at this time.

Moreover, Kazami Mei wasn't lying at all. The two original songs for the cultural festival live already existed in his mind, and they were indeed songs he wrote himself.

He is now simply turning the 'sounds' in his mind into a physical 'score'.

Seeing that Shiina Tatsuki's tense expression had gradually eased, Kazami Mei asked with a slight smile, "Speaking of which, Shiina, how did you know I like sweet cappuccinos?"

"...!"

Shiina Riki froze as if those words had pierced her heart. Sparks flew across her fair and delicate face, and in her panic, she quickly held up the sheet music in her hand to shield herself.

Embarrassed and annoyed, she even reached out her little fist and gently punched Kazami Naruto's chest.

"hiss--"

Kazami Naruto gasped sharply, and his action startled Shiina-san, who quickly looked over with a flustered expression.

"Sorry, are you alright?!"

Shiina Riki had never been so panicked. An inexplicable panic made it impossible for her to maintain the cold tone she had just used.

Oh no, it seems like we've overdone it.

In reality, how could Shiina Ritsuki's weak little fist possibly hurt? She's not some palm-sized tiger with super strength that can throw bricks. For someone like Kazami Mei, who wouldn't even cough after being hit by a truck, this kind of punch was more like a spoiled act.

But he didn't expect that Li Xi would actually panic. If he told her it was a joke at this point—

"It's alright, it's alright, Shiina, don't worry about it..."

Just as Kazami Mei was still thinking about how to act more convincingly, she suddenly felt a gentle pat on her right shoulder.

The moment he turned his head, he met the gaze of a pair of calm, dark green eyes. Hachiman Kairin, with her medium-length black hair, was standing beside him at some point.

"Kazami, come with me for a moment."

9

Chapter Nine: Yawata Kairin will make you sweat profusely.

Today, Hachiman Kairin was somewhat different from her usual calm and composed demeanor. Dressed in a black leather outfit, she stood expressionlessly beside Kazami Mei.

Her sudden appearance startled Shiina Tatsuki, who was still blushing slightly. Feeling a bit strange, she frowned and asked, "Hai Ling? What's going on?"

"I need to talk to Kazami about something, so I'm borrowing him for now."

As she spoke, Hachiman Kairin gently patted Kazami Naru's shoulder, then turned and pointed to the corridor not far away.

Although he didn't know why his good brother Hai Ling suddenly wanted to see him, Feng Jianming still sensed something from her unusual tone, so he looked thoughtfully at the black-haired girl's back.

After a moment of thought, Kazami Mei slowly turned to Ritsuki and said softly, "Shiina, I'll go over there first."

"Hey! Wait..."

Completely bewildered, Shiina Ritsuki watched as Kazami Mei and Hachiman Kairin left, her right hand, which she had reached out to try to stop them, frozen in mid-air.

In her opinion, the two seemed to have no sense of unfamiliarity with each other, which left her, who had a good relationship with both of them, completely confused.

When exactly did the two of them become so close?

"What exactly are they up to? Do they want to talk about something they don't want me to know?"

An inexplicable anxiety made Shiina Riki unable to relax, so she could only sit there and occasionally steal glances at them from the corner of her eye.

Kazami Naru, who was led to a corner of the RiNG corridor by Hai Ling, vaguely guessed what she meant. From their last conversation, Kazami Naru already knew roughly what Hai Ling thought of him.

The subtle changes in his relationship with Xiao Mutou may have been noticed by the observant Hailing.

Leaning against the wall, Hachiman Kairin slowly raised her calm eyes and spoke first in her handsome, even voice—