In the music series, the male protagonist writes a self-help manual for the inner world

"Crench."

Not sure if it was an illusion, but Chen Xinghua felt as if he heard a slight sound of bone cracking.

"Ah." The black-haired girl showed a painful expression. She felt that her arm was pressed down by a hydraulic press and she could not move at all.

It hurts so much. It hurts so much... It hurts so much.

Gao Songdeng said seriously: "Good children should not do bad things."

But Takamatsu Deng's cute face looked like a devil to the black girl, because she felt that her arm was about to be broken by Takamatsu Deng.

"Hmm."

So scary, is that guy a devil?

If I had known this earlier, I would not have touched the thigh of a man I didn’t know just because I had never tasted a man.

"It's going to break, it's going to break, it's going to break." The black-haired girl's desperate roar was drowned out by the frenzied music and the audience's cheers.

"Good children shouldn't do bad things." Gao Songdeng repeated what he had just said, "Don't do bad things."

The black-haired girl looked at Takamatsu Deng's amber eyes, and the strength in her body seemed to be drained away by some particularly heavy force.

If Gao Songdeng hadn't grabbed her arm, she might have fallen to her knees.

This is because she felt gravity from Song Deng's pupils, incomparable gravity.

Even light would be captured by this gravity.

The black-haired girl had no doubt about this, so she fled when the light loosened its restraints a little.

Looking at the black-haired girl's fleeing back, Chen Xinghua turned to look at the lamp.

"Um...thank you for what you did just now."

Deng also looked at Chen Xinghua and spoke in a girlish voice full of youthfulness.

"This is what I should do. You're welcome."

For some reason, Chen Xinghua suddenly felt goose bumps all over his body, as if this body was warning him.

Stop quickly, there is a cliff ahead with no way back.

Feeling this way, Chen Xinghua looked forward, backward, left, and right.

He looked around, but in the end he did not see any signs of danger. He only saw a very cute girl named Takamatsu Deng, who looked like a little animal.

It must be my misunderstanding.

"What exactly happened between you and Aiyin?" Chen Xinghua asked in a low voice, "Is there any particularly big conflict?"

Chen Xinghua always felt that Chihaya Aine was particularly repulsive to Takamatsu Deng.

"I don't know." Deng shook her head in confusion. She didn't know why Chihaya Aine was so repulsed by her. "This is obviously the first time we met."

The first meeting should be true. Because Chen Xinghua remembered that Chihaya Aine was a transfer student who had just completed the admission interview a few days ago.

"Was it because of the garbage bag I put there that she tripped?" Deng shook his head and said in confusion.

It seems that Aiyin mentioned this matter in the chat history. Chen Xinghua thought.

But it shouldn't be this.

It was just a matter of tripping over a garbage bag, which shouldn't reach the same level of rejection as Chihaya Aine.

"But I know that Aine has lost her way in life." Deng said firmly.

She felt that Chihaya Aine was particularly confused, just like her when the band "CRYCHIC" had just disbanded, even though she had clearly found her belonging.

But this sense of belonging was completely destroyed overnight.

Although Takamatsu Deng didn't know about Chihaya Aine's previous experiences, she felt that way.

"She couldn't find a place to belong, a direction to move forward, or anything."

"All she could find was the fog that covered her eyes."

"She is now a lost and confused person."

After hearing Deng's words, Chen Xinghua wondered if he had been too busy recently, so busy and tired that he couldn't even understand what others were saying.

Do you want to give yourself a short vacation?

The lights are so abstract, so electric.

What on earth is she talking about?

Without any context, Chen Xinghua simply couldn't understand what Deng was saying.

So he shook his head and sorted out his thoughts.

Although he didn't quite understand what happened between Deng and Aine, he thought it would be fine if he could just bring Aine and Deng together and have a good talk.

If you can talk, then talk. Let's happily make dumplings together and reconcile. If you can't talk, then just break up and treat each other as invisible strangers.

After we went to university, we parted ways completely and never saw each other again in this life.

It's that simple.

At this time, the performance on the stage was in its final stage, and the guitarist Aoba Mocha from the Afterglow band ended the performance with a handsome guitar solo.

Chihaya Aine held Chen Xinghua's hand tightly, feeling the sense of security coming from his palm, and then devoted half of her attention to listening to the performance of Senior Aoba on the stage.

Yes, Aoba Moka and Chihaya Aine also went to the same school, they were both students at Hanaoka Girls' Academy. In fact, the entire Afterglow band is a student of Hanaoka Girls' Academy.

I have to say, Aoba-senpai's performance is as good as ever... but not as good as the future Aoba-senpai's, Chihaya Aine thought to herself.

But this is a matter of course. Someone who has practiced guitar for two years is definitely not as good as someone who has practiced guitar for five years.

47.The light is still waiting for her

The live show will eventually end, the loyal fans who have been celebrating Afterglow's performance will leave one after another, and Chihaya Aine will eventually face the cruel reality.

....The light was still waiting for her.

Chihaya Aine looked at Takamatsu Deng who was standing on the other side of Chen Xinghua, her fingers pinched into the inside of her palm, her heart filled with resentment.

Why are you chasing after me? It was you who abandoned me, wasn't it?

Takamatsu Deng-san.

Chen Xinghua looked at Chihaya Aine worriedly. It seemed that there was a big conflict between her and Takamatsu Deng.

"Why don't we find a place to talk it out."

"The live show is over. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to stay here all the time?"

.....

There aren't many places that can provide a quiet space for a high school boy and two high school girls to chat.

In an open space like a cafe, someone might be able to overhear their conversation.

However, opening a hourly room for chatting would be a bit too immoral.

A male high school student takes two female high school students to a hourly room or something... anyone with a normal IQ would misunderstand.

So in the end, Chihaya Aine collapsed on the sofa in the karaoke bar, because karaoke can provide a space for conversation without being disturbed by others.

Chihaya Aine put her hands on the sofa and rubbed them constantly.

I've already decided that I'll never have anything more than a schoolmate relationship with Takamatsu Deng again...

But why am I sitting here instead of just running away?

Could it be that there is still expectation in my mind?

That's so stupid, Chihaya Aine.

Chen Xinghua chewed the persimmons that the waiter had just brought him, and then ordered a few dishes to fill his stomach on the ordering system.

After listening to the live performance for so long, he almost used up all the energy stored in his body.

"Order anything, it's my treat."

"It seems you can order food at the karaoke bar here."

Deng placed his hands flat on his knees and looked at Chihaya Aine.

"Can I have some konpeito?"

Maybe because students are the main target audience of this karaoke bar, it also provides a variety of small desserts.

"Okay." Chen Xinghua held the tablet in the store and looked at Chihaya Aine, "Aine, what about you? What do you want to eat?"

Chihaya Aine waved her hand and continued to look down, not wanting to meet Deng's gaze.

"I'm not hungry, just give me a bottle of Coke."

"I'm not hungry." Chen Xinghua opened the food ordering system on the tablet. He could see that Chihaya Aine was in a very bad mood.

What is the conflict between Aine and Takamatsu Deng... Haven't they only known each other for a day?

"Would you like a song?"

...or should he just start blowing things up? Chen Xinghua held the tablet, glancing at Chihaya Aine and Takamatsu Deng out of the corner of his eye.

Chihaya Aine is currently sitting on the sofa in autism, while Takamatsu Deng is sitting there with a serious look on his face.

"Haruhi Shadow."

Deng’s words caught Chen Xinghua off guard.

...You were really planning on requesting a song? I was just being polite. Isn't resolving your conflict the most important thing right now? Why are you suddenly requesting a song?

Chen Xinghua entered "Spring Shadow" into the song ordering system, and got the result "No such song found".

"Maybe I remembered a word wrong? I can't find it here."

Deng took out a very small notebook from his pocket.

"It's a song by the band CRYCHIC."

The band "CRYCHIC"? No matter how hard Chen Xinghua searched his memory, he couldn't find anything related to "CRYCHIC".

It's probably a band I haven't heard of.

If you think about it carefully, Deng is a high school student, and the band she joins should also be an amateur high school band.

This makes sense, as most high school bands have less name recognition than the current ending band.

Although the current Ending Band does not have many loyal listeners who will always come to listen to their live performances, most high school bands are just for fun in school.

That’s why the song-ordering system doesn’t include “Spring Shadow” by the band “CRYCHIC”.

"So, Deng, you're also in a band. How's it going? Have you participated in a few performances?"

Deng said in a very calm tone: "CRYCHIC has been disbanded."

Chen Xinghua's fingertips suddenly stopped somewhere on the tablet.

He seemed to have touched someone's sore spot.

"It's okay. High school bands are like that. They fall apart easily, just like sand pots on the beach. A single wave will wash them away and they'll vanish without a trace."

In Chen Xinghua's opinion, nine out of ten high school bands will disband after entering college. After all, most people do not make a living from music.

So there's no need to feel overly sad about the band's breakup...high school bands are such fragile things anyway.

"lamp....?"

Deng suddenly held Chen Xinghua's hand.

"No, forming a band is a lifelong endeavor. You can't give up halfway."

Chen Xinghua looked towards the light.

What Deng said sounds a bit like what Aine said...forming a band means you want to be in it for life or something like that.

“But why form a band for life?”

I don't want to make a living from music, so why should I form a band for life?

Deng was stunned when he heard Chen Xinghua's voice, then he said, "Because if we don't form a lifelong band, we will separate and we won't be friends anymore."

Just like she is now...