People in Zongman are masters of copying romance novels

Not only did he look at himself with a strange look, but in his free time when there was no one around him, Kita Ikuyo would always ask him some inexplicable questions about Yamada Ryo, or would occasionally lead the topic towards Yamada Ryo...

Aoki Jie didn't quite understand the purpose of Kita Ikuyo's behavior, but after asking her, she would just laugh and fool him.

He was somewhat at a loss as to what to say.

Fortunately, although it had a certain impact on Aokisuke, it was not too big. After one or two times, Aokisuke finally stopped caring about it.

Anyway, after practicing for a while under strange looks, after [STARRY] opened for business, several girls in the band began to help in the store again.

Until the livehouse closes.

After practicing in the recording studio for a while, around 8:30, I thought I would go home as usual without any incident, just like the previous few days. However, after the girls except Hongxia left, the store manager Ijichi Xingge asked Aoki Suke to wait in the store for a while.

Aokisuke and Hongxia, who were still in the store, were a little confused.

Aokisuke stayed.

Manager Xingge, who asked Aokisuke to wait for a moment, turned around and took out an envelope from behind the bar of [STARRY].

Then, he walked in front of Aokisuke and handed his hand to the boy in front of him. Ichichi Xingge spoke,

"You've been helping out in the store lately. We can't let students do unpaid work, so... here, this is your latest salary."

Aokisuke was stunned for a moment.

However, after he realized what was happening, he did not choose to reach out and take the envelope handed to him by the manager of Xingge Store.

Aokisuke has his own considerations——

On the one hand, he had not asked for any salary from Ijichi Xingge before helping her. Now that he was charging her, Aokijie always felt that he was being "forced to sell himself".

On the other hand... Aokisuke thought he was quite capable, but on weekdays, he could only sweep the floor or clean the tables at [STARRY]. If he wanted to receive a normal salary, this workload would probably not be enough...

What's more, the relationship between him and Hongxia and others can definitely be called friends, and the store manager Xingge is his friend's sister... In this regard, Aoki Jie, who is a Chinese at heart, actually doesn't want to be too clear.

Therefore, after Aokijie realized what was going on, he decisively shook his head and refused.

"I didn't do any particularly strenuous work, so forget about the wages. Thank you, Manager."

Ijichi Xingge was a little surprised that Aokisuke would refuse so decisively, but she didn't force it. She nodded and said "hmm", then threw the envelope back on the bar.

However, although she did not force Aokisuke to accept the salary, Ijichi Hoshika did not give up and asked Aokisuke to take some things home from the store.

After throwing the envelope on the bar, Ijichi Xingge picked up an electric guitar that looked relatively new from under the bar.

"Didn't you say before that there was a guitar of better quality in the store? It was previously stored in the warehouse and I didn't find it. This afternoon when I was cleaning the warehouse, I found it in the corner... You can use it."

Holding the guitar in one hand, he handed it to Aokisuke. Then, after a pause, the store manager continued,

"You'd better take this. It's useless and takes up space in the store. Don't be so polite as to say you're unworthy of it... The store's recent increase in customers is all thanks to you, so keep it."

Aoki was a little hesitant. Just looking at the appearance of this guitar, one could tell it was definitely expensive. Although what the Xingge store manager said made sense, if he accepted it...

I wanted to say something, but Yidizhi Hongxia beside me persuaded me first.

"Aoki-senpai, just accept it. It's not too much to take a guitar when you bring so much profit to the livehouse. My sister has been smiling so much these past few days when she counts the money. You have made a great contribution."

"..."

Aoki Ke was silent for a moment, then looked at Ijichi Seika with some embarrassment.

Hong Xia's words were fine from her own perspective, and from the perspective of trying to persuade her to accept the guitar. But if you look at it from the store manager's perspective...

It feels a bit like trying to trick my sister.

So, after Hongxia finished speaking, not only Aokisuke was silent for a moment, but Ijichi Seika was also silent for a moment.

Then, after a moment of silence, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and after a few seconds, the store manager nodded with a feigned indifference.

"Well, Hongxia is right."

......

The reasons given by Ijichi Hoshige were very reasonable, so Aoki Jie did not refuse anymore.

So, in addition to carrying his own guitar, Aokisuke also brought this guitar that looked of high quality.

It is a bit troublesome to carry a schoolbag and two guitars on my back, but fortunately the weight of the two guitars is not too high, and even with the weight of the schoolbag, the weight is barely acceptable.

After thanking the store manager and Hongxia, Aokisuke turned around and walked towards the store door again.

However......

He had just taken two steps and before he could push open the door, a familiar sound of music suddenly came from behind him.

【After thinking about it, I still don’t understand. 】

I am waiting for you under the blue sky, at noon when the breeze blows, but my thoughts have already drifted away into the afternoon.

Aokijie paused for a moment and was slightly confused.

Familiar guitar strumming, familiar voice...

This is the song "So I Quit Music" that I sang myself, and it's a live version.

With a puzzled look on his face, Aoki Jie looked back at the source of the voice.

And behind Aokisuke——

After this music sounded, Hongxia, who had been tired after a whole day and had just relaxed for a moment, suddenly tensed up again!

A few days ago, she set the song sung by Aoki-senpai as her cell phone ringtone. Because she was a little shy, when there were acquaintances around her, Hongxia would always turn her cell phone to silent mode to avoid being discovered that she was currently using "So I Gave Up Music" as her cell phone ringtone.

But right now...

During ensemble practice this afternoon, I forgot to put my phone on silent mode.

Looking at Senior Aoki who stopped in front of her and looked back with a puzzled look, Hongxia took out her cell phone from her pocket tremblingly and answered the call with trembling hands.

"Hey, Liang, what's wrong..."

"Ah... your bag was indeed left in the store. I, I will keep it for you..."

"Sound, sound? There's nothing wrong with the sound..."

"No, it's okay, don't worry..."

"..."

"Ah... um, bye Ryo..."

The last sentence had a barely perceptible cry in it.

Then, he hung up the phone and put it away.

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

Hongxia looked at Senior Aoki who was standing there with a bit of confusion, and then looked at her sister who was thinking about something beside her.

The air was silent, Hong Xia was silent, and after a few seconds of silence, she tried to explain.

"Last time I wanted to try out the effect of using this song as a ringtone, but then I forgot to change it..."

Both the voice and the words had a distinct air of trying to cover up something.

And beside him, Ijichi Xingge seemed to be thinking about something and didn't pay any attention to Hongxia's voice.

Instead, he made his own speculations beside Hong Xia.

"I like it so much that I used it as my ringtone. But since it's sung by someone I know, especially someone of the opposite sex, I'd be embarrassed if someone caught me using it. So, I usually keep my phone on silent mode when I'm around people I know... like this?"

"..."

"Ugh——!"

Ijichi Hongxia was badly damaged, and tears suddenly appeared in the corners of her eyes. Then she looked at Aokisuke in front of her with a little nervousness.

Although I'm shy, that's secondary right now—if Aoki-senpai doesn't like my rash behavior of using his singing as a ringtone...

[STARRY] In front of the door, Aokisuke paused and took only a few seconds to figure out the current situation.

The air around them remained silent even after the Xingge store manager finished speaking. In this atmosphere, Aoki Jie felt that he should say something too...

He blinked, thought for a moment, and then said,

"There's nothing to be shy about. I sang 'So I Gave Up Music' for Ichichi-san. It's okay if you use it as your ringtone."

......

Ijichi Hoshige was thoughtful again: "Oh~ I originally sang this for Nijika..."

And Hong Xia on the other side——

"Ugh?"

"Huh? Huh? Huh?"

The girl was confused and couldn't figure it out. Then, due to overloaded thinking, her brain short-circuited and her face turned red instantly. At the same time, steam began to come out of her head.

Chapter 47 Random Thoughts and Test Results

It's hard not to feel the words, "I sang this song originally for Ijichi-san."

After hearing this, Hong Xia was somewhat unsure what to say or think next.

This continued until Aokisuke turned around and walked out of [STARRY] again, and the girl still hadn't come back to her senses.

It wasn't until her sister next to her said, "Hey, stop daydreaming," that Hong Xia came back to her senses.

With a noticeable blush still on her face, she forced herself to ignore her sister's teasing gaze, picked up Liang's schoolbag from the table beside her, and then picked up her own schoolbag. After saying "Hurry home for dinner" with a slightly trembling voice, the girl decisively turned around and walked out of the livehouse.

However, Hong Xia began to have some random thoughts in her heart.

She could sense that something was wrong with her current situation.

Whether it was wanting to shoulder Aoki-senpai's pressure and move forward with everyone, wanting to talk to Aoki-senpai more often, changing my phone ringtone to "So I Gave Up Music," or simply feeling the turmoil of my emotions after Aoki-senpai said that sentence...

But she didn't know how to deal with her emotions.

If you think about it a little more deeply, your mood will become very awkward——

Hong Xia didn't know how to deal with this strange feeling that was definitely more than just an ordinary friendship. When she thought about what Kita Ikuyo said to her, and what she said about Aoki-senpai and Ryo, she felt inexplicably depressed...

Shaking her head, Hong Xia forced herself to get rid of the random thoughts in her mind.

Whether it's his attitude towards Aoki-senpai or his views on the relationship between Ryo and Aoki-senpai, maintaining the status quo is probably fine...

......

Aoki Jie was unaware of Hongxia's mood. In recent days, he was busy preparing for the imminent end-of-month test.

In order to surpass Yukinoshita Yukino in the exam ranking, Aokisuke has been working hard in recent days - slightly reducing his training in [STARRY], reducing his daily sleep time, and devoting all this time to reviewing.

It lasts until Monday of the second week.

In the new week, the weather in Tokyo has become unpredictable again, but it is much better than the previous horrible weather where heavy rain would suddenly fall at any time.

The two-day month-end test began on a slightly damp and cloudy day.

Although he always thought about surpassing Yukinoshita Yukino in grades and getting first place in the school, once the exams started, Aokisuke had no other thoughts.

No matter whether I can surpass her in grades in the end, as long as I try my best during the exam, it will be fine.

On the first day, I took math and two science subjects in the morning and afternoon respectively, and on the second day, I took the remaining subjects again.

Until the last Chinese test was over.

When he walked out of the classroom, Aoki Jie was thinking about a question.

Is the next sentence of Matsuo Basho's "having shaved his head and wearing black robes" "the journey is rapidly approaching Black Hair Mountain"?

Aokisuke clearly remembered this haiku, but for some reason he couldn't remember it clearly during the exam. He regretted not reading it twice more, but fortunately - when he reread the Chinese textbook, Aokisuke found that he had remembered it correctly.

In short, the two-day end-of-month test is over.

The efficiency of grading papers is not particularly high. If you want to wait for the results of all subjects to come out and make a ranking list of deviation values ​​for the entire school, you have to wait until at least Friday.

Teachers mark the papers on Wednesday and Thursday, and announce the rankings on Friday.

During this period, Aokisuke went to school and came home as usual, finished his band training, and resumed his original training rhythm.

Until Friday.

I had classes as usual in the morning, and during lunch break I bought a piece of bread at a convenience store. After eating, I went to teach Kita Ikuyo guitar for a while.

Then, the results and rankings were announced in the afternoon.