People in Zongman are masters of copying romance novels

Hong Xia, who was standing by, paused slightly after hearing what Aoki Jie said.

She was a little surprised that her behavior would be so obvious, and she didn't expect that Senior Aoki would ask her this directly.

So, after hearing the question clearly, Hong Xia was stunned for a moment, then, after getting nervous, she immediately started to refute in a panic.

"No, no, it's just your imagination, right, Aoki-senpai?"

"..."

Hong Xia is an easy person to understand. Usually, the expression on her face cannot hide what she is thinking.

He was silent, then nodded and Aokisuke simply said "hmm".

Then he said, "Basketball shooting, claw machines, fighting games and the like... Want to grab a doll? I think the dolls here are pretty cute."

"Ah... um, okay."

Hongxia didn't object, and the two of them went to exchange some coins.

During this period, the two still did not communicate much. Hongxia was very nervous because her thoughts were pointed out, while Aokisuke had some misunderstandings and was thinking about all sorts of things.

The silence continued until Hongxia tried to catch the doll several times but failed.

Having used up all his coins, Hongxia didn't rush to exchange them. Instead, she moved closer to Aokisuke, ready to watch him use up all his coins.

And Aokisuke——

Noticing Hongxia, he didn't say anything more. He quietly put a 500 yen coin into the machine in front of him, then operated the joystick to control the hook inside the machine.

The hook moved horizontally to the right, and after aiming at the specific position of the doll, Aokisuke hooked it decisively.

The doll was picked up, but unfortunately, when it was halfway there, the hook did not hold it firmly and the doll fell down again.

Not surprised by the result, Aokisuke put in another coin and operated the hook again, but this time, he spoke at the same time.

Looking at Gouzhua, he seemed to be talking to himself, but he was actually talking to Hongxia,

"Even though saying this isn't nice and it makes me feel like I'm just complaining... I actually feel quite stressed sometimes."

The hook moves horizontally, this time first to the left, then up.

"In fact, I can feel that sometimes some of the decisions and choices I made were not actually correct."

The target is still the doll that just fell down. Aim and press the button.

"Isn't it a bad idea to let our band get involved in this kind of professionalism too early? Choosing Kita as the lead singer was obviously a wrong decision. And with "Fireworks" this time, I don't know how it will end..."

The hook grabbed the doll, and this time it held it firmly, so the doll did not fall down prematurely.

Hong Xia beside him was stunned for a moment. After she realized what was happening, she was a little confused as to why Senior Aoki suddenly said this.

But at the same time, a hint of worry appeared in her eyes.

Aokisuke continued to speak,

"I wouldn't dare say how high my emotional intelligence is, so there are times when I might offend someone without even realizing it."

"A while ago, there was a misunderstanding with Liang, and our relationship seems to have returned to the time when we first met. This problem is actually quite bothering me. I want to apologize, but I always hesitate and don't know how to start..."

"Anyway—"

The hook moved slowly until it reached the exit, then released with a snap, and the doll fell out at the same time.

Aokisuke leaned over, took out the doll from under the claw machine, stood up again, and handed it to Hongxia.

His eyes met the girl's, he hesitated for a moment, then continued,

"I'm not trying to excuse myself, I'm just worried that if something isn't done right it might give everyone in the band a bad impression... If there's something wrong, just point it out directly."

Hong Xia blinked, as if not reacting, and reached out to take the doll blankly.

Then, after a pause, she suddenly realized why Senior Aoki said this -

Because of my hesitation and fear of speaking, Senior Aoki must have misunderstood something.

"No, that's not right. Wait, wait a minute, Aoki-senpai!"

The original plan went awry from the start, and now it's being misunderstood...

Hongxia was a little panicked, and at this moment she didn't care about her nervousness and shyness.

This is something that's easy to explain, but...

If you want to explain something like this clearly, I think the only way is to tell the truth, right?

But if I tell the truth, then wouldn't I have to put everything I want to say out loud and tell Senior Aoki?

......

Now is not the time to hesitate. Thoughts flashed through her mind quickly. After a moment's hesitation, Hong Xia spoke.

Rather than being embarrassed, it is better to clear up the misunderstanding first!

A blush appeared on her face. She hadn't spoken much since arriving at the intersection in front of Shibuya Station. As if to build up her courage, she raised her voice for the first time in a long time.

"No, that's not it—I was hesitant because I wanted Aoki-senpai to just call me by my name, but that's embarrassing. So, that's why I was hesitant!"

He finished speaking in one breath, then realized that his voice was a little too loud.

He decisively lowered his eyes and placed his slightly cool hands on his cheeks, which were now slightly hot. Then, his voice became much softer, almost whispering to himself, and he said, "In short, in short... Senior Aoki, don't misunderstand..."

"..."

"Because of this?"

Aokijie suddenly realized that he seemed to be a little sensitive.

At this moment, he suddenly felt embarrassed and wanted to find a dark corner to squat down.

He took a deep breath and blinked.

Holding the idea that he absolutely could not let himself be embarrassed alone at the moment, Aoki hesitated for a moment, then forced a smile and spoke,

"Hongxia, Hongxia-chan, Hongxia-kun... As for calling someone that, given our relationship, given the relationship between everyone in the band, no—there's no need to hesitate."

"Ugh——!"

The girl's already hot cheeks turned completely red, and even steam began to rise from her head...

......

Today's victory or defeat——

Aoki Suke and Ichichi Nijika were defeated.

Chapter 87: Chaos Begins from This Episode

The two spent a total of more than 3000 yen, but in the end they only caught two cat dolls with different colors but exactly the same appearance.

I stopped dwelling on this expensive entertainment project that didn't generate any positive feedback.

In an atmosphere that was more awkward than before, but much more comfortable to get along with, the two strolled around the mall for a while.

Around 11:30 am, I had lunch at a restaurant that looked very elegant, but the food was not very delicious.

Although I didn't understand Hong Xia's real purpose in asking me to come out, and even suspected that she just wanted me to change my name, so she asked me to help move the so-called electronic drums... But anyway -

After lunch, Aokisuke no longer worried about the address issue, so after a brief discussion, the two decided to go back to the livehouse directly.

The ensemble training was scheduled to start at two o'clock, but it wouldn't make any difference if she went earlier - Hong Xia was still not too confident about her level, and she usually devoted herself to training whenever she had free time.

With the idea of ​​returning early and practicing early, around twelve o'clock, the two returned to the livehouse after a bumpy ride on the tram.

No matter how late Manager Xingge gets up on weekdays, she will arrive at the livehouse early around 12 o'clock.

What's more, I woke up early today.

So, there is no doubt that even if they did not go upstairs to get the key, the two of them pushed open the door of the store with the sign "Temporarily Closed" hanging on it without any hindrance.

The sound of the two people pushing the door open was not small. Inside [STARRY], Ijichi Seika, who was sitting behind the bar in front of her laptop, naturally noticed the two people pushing the door open.

She shifted her gaze from the computer screen to the store entrance. When she saw Hong Xia and Aoki Jie, she also decisively and sharply noticed that the two people who pushed the door open were holding cat dolls in their hands.

He stared silently for a few seconds, blinking thoughtfully, until Aokisuke said, "Good afternoon, Manager Ijichi."

Silently withdrawing his gaze.

Then, with curiosity in his mind, he looked at the laptop screen, and after a few seconds of silence, Yidizhi Xingge retracted his gaze and responded.

"Good afternoon, Aoki-san. You're just in time. I just checked and found that the ambient light is broken. We have new ambient lights in the warehouse, but they were placed a little high when we were sorting them out, so - sorry to bother you."

This is half true and half false. There is indeed a problem with the ambient light, but Ijichi Xingge discovered the problem when checking this morning, so strictly speaking, Aoki Jie did not come at the right time.

But this matter is not important at the moment.

After pushing the door open and entering the store, saying hello and hearing what Ijichi Hoshige said, Aokisuke thought for a moment.

He remembered the location of the ambient light, probably on the third shelf.

The store manager can't reach it, but it should be fine if you go get it yourself.

He recalled the location of the ambient light in his mind, nodded and said "Oh", placed the light gray cat doll in his hand on the table, and walked decisively towards the warehouse.

And on the other side Hong Xia.

She probably didn't realize her sister's purpose at this time. After Aoki Jie went to find the atmosphere light, he didn't stand there anymore. He simply greeted his sister. Hongxia took her pure white ragdoll and walked away, preparing to go to the recording studio to practice drums.

"Wait, Hongxia." But before she could take a few more steps, she was stopped by Yijichi Xingge again.

Hong Xia paused and looked back at her sister, a hint of doubt on her face.

Ijichi Xingge looked at the laptop in front of him, as if he was doing the finishing work. After calling Hongxia, he did not rush to continue talking. Instead, he tapped on the keyboard a few more times, then stopped and turned his gaze to Hongxia.

He raised his eyebrows, looked up and down thoughtfully, and finally fixed his eyes on the cat doll in his sister's hand.

"Looks like it's going well."

Hongxia was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized that her sister was talking about a date.

"No, no..." The girl subconsciously denied it because she was shy.

Manager Xingge ignored Hongxia's denial and after a simple sigh, he decisively changed the topic of doubt.

"Speaking of which, what about the name? Has there been any change?"

"Ah...yeah, yes."

"How is it? Did you use the suggestions I gave you?" Yidizhi Xingge became interested.

"No, that's not it..." Hong Xia turned her eyes away, "Because, because Aoki-senpai asked me, I was so nervous that I said something like 'I want you to just call me by my name'... Ah - it doesn't matter what happens! I, I have to go practice!"

After explaining briefly, the girl quickly interrupted herself with a slightly stuttered voice, using the excuse of "needing to practice" as an excuse.

Then, under Ichichi Hoshige's gaze that probably meant "Oh~", Hongxia suppressed her embarrassment, took the doll, and trotted to the recording studio...

......

The location of the ambient light was not very conspicuous. Although he remembered the specific storage location, it still took Aokisuke some time to find it and take it out from the warehouse.

After taking out the ambient light, I also helped the store manager replace the damaged old light.

After sorting out all this, Aokisuke went to the recording studio.

After practicing the electric piano for a while, he gave Hong Xia some simple guidance based on his understanding of the song "Fireworks".

This continued until around two in the afternoon, when the remaining girls from the band also arrived at the livehouse one after another.

They chatted for a few minutes in the front hall because no one wanted to waste time. After all the band members arrived, the five of them started practicing decisively.

The band had only been training for no more than a week on the song "Fireworks". Judging from the current levels of the members except Aoki Suke, it was almost impossible to achieve a perfect ensemble.

Therefore, even in ensemble training, with the background of Aoki Suke's piano playing, the band's training on "Fireworks" so far can only be carried out section by section.

In short, although there were some minor incidents in the middle, the training went on smoothly except that Kita was not in good shape for some reason.

Then, practice until about 4:30.

After finishing the ensemble, the band members were just about to take a break when the door of the recording studio was suddenly opened.

Yidizhi Xingge leaned half of his body in.

She looked around the recording studio and confirmed that the band members were not practicing at the moment. Then, she cast her gaze on Aoki Jie, who looked a little confused.

"A band live that was originally scheduled for this afternoon was cancelled. There's a vacancy now. Do you want to go?"