It's a romantic comedy for everyone, so why am I the only one single?

Of course, he didn't have any expectations for Hori Kyoko either.

In fact, the reason he called Boqi over during his lunch break was simply to give her the sheet music for "If You Can Shine," so that she could start preparing for the recording studio recording in advance.

He himself wasn't in a hurry to practice.

After all, the piano accompaniment during the recording will be the version played by Saori Himegami, and as for the stage performance, it's still unknown when that will happen.

And even if you're performing on stage, you can just use a ready-made accompaniment, right?

He can just focus on singing.

So teaching Hori Kyoko and Yoshikawa Yuki to play the drums now is really just something I did right after lunch, and it's just playing around with them.

However, he soon realized that something seemed amiss.

The drumbeats in this song are not like that; they have rhythmic variations, which makes it easy for beginners like Kyoko Hori and Yuki Yoshikawa to make mistakes.

Unfortunately, they don't know how to read music. If he just tells them verbally, "You need to speed up here," "You need to slow down here," or "You need to play it like this here," they simply won't understand. So he has to demonstrate it to them in person.

Because he made so many mistakes, Hori Kyoko went from initially standing up to offer him her chair, to only shifting her position slightly to share half the chair with him, and finally simply turning to the side.

As a result, he and Hori Kyoko grew closer and closer, to a point that Ishikawa, watching from the side, was practically drooling.

Although he was the third closest guy to Hori Kyoko, he could never sit next to her, and even when they ate lunch together during lunch break, they could only sit across from each other at the table!

This was already the closest he had ever gotten to Hori Kyoko!

Is it too late for me to start learning the drums now?

Just as Iura Hide finished giving Hori Kyoko his 'personal' instruction once again, Ishikawa Toru finally couldn't help but lean over and ask in a low voice, somewhat nervous, shy, and incredibly expectant.

Iura Hide didn't bother to say a word, only giving him a look that said "you're an idiot."

Are you kidding me? Do you really think the drum set is such an easy instrument to learn?

Even if Toru Ishikawa isn't stupid, if he only starts learning now, he might not reach the 'high-level amateur' level of Nijika Ichi by the time he graduates.

Ishikawa felt a wave of frustration.

However, what he didn't know was that even if he possessed professional-level drum skills right now, he couldn't possibly realize his little scheme.

Please, do you really think Hori Kyoko is such a casual person?

If that were the case, Kyoko Hori wouldn't still be single!

In fact, beneath Hori Kyoko's seemingly unchanged face, her heart was already pounding wildly like a frightened deer.

Especially when Iura Shu was close to her, that strange feeling she had never experienced before made her feel flustered and confused.

"Hey! What are you thinking! This is just normal instruction!!!" Hori Kyoko quickly reminded herself.

She swears that at first she really just thought it was too much trouble to make a mistake every ten seconds or so and have to stand up to give up her seat every time!

Really!

As for why there were more and more mistakes later on, well, that needs to be explained using quantum science.

Mashiro, standing to the side, remained expressionless, clutching her carton of milk and sipping slowly through the straw.

Boqi-chan had roughly memorized the sheet music and started trying to play it without the sheet music, while secretly complaining about how stupid Hori Kyoko was.

Only the most familiar Yoshikawa Yuki looked at Hori Kyoko, then at Iura Hide, and the light in her deep brown eyes suddenly dimmed, a faint bitterness rising in her heart.

"Ah?"

"Why are you sad? Don't you like Toru?"

"If Kyoko really has feelings for that guy Iura, you should be happy! That way, Toru won't be able to pursue Kyoko anymore!"

Yoshikawa Yuki murmured to herself silently.

Normally, if Hori Kyoko truly falls in love with Iura Hide and the two can successfully get together, it would indeed be a good thing for her.

After all, this would mean Ishikawa Toru would be heartbroken, and that would give her a chance.

but

Why is Kyoko so popular?

Why can't you be a little braver?

Yoshikawa Yuki unconsciously lowered her head, feeling increasingly disappointed.

However, just like before, before she could feel disappointed for long, a familiar chop to the head came down from the familiar spot with the familiar force.

Although the silly laughter that usually accompanied it was gone, it still instantly shattered all the gloom and frustration in her heart, roughly pulling her out of that unseen abyss.

】

Chapter 111 The Attack of Pokemon

"Hey, what are you thinking about? I've been calling you for ages and you didn't hear me."

"It's your turn, come over here quickly."

"If you're not thinking clearly, why are you trying to find out the truth?"

"Fool!"

Yoshikawa Yuki instinctively covered her head with her hands, her big eyes staring blankly at Iura Hide, who was retracting his hand chop.

Despite his disgusted expression and his call of her being stupid, she didn't get angry or upset.

The moment their eyes met, she, who was both insecure and sensitive, noticed the concern in Iura Hide's eyes.

At that moment, a gentle warmth welled up from the bottom of her heart, making her involuntarily feel a lump in her throat, and she almost burst into tears.

"What's wrong with me thinking about things? You're the idiot!" Yoshikawa Yuki quickly retorted angrily, because otherwise, tears would really fall.

Of course, despite the bickering, her body language betrayed her, and she quickly took two steps toward the drum set.

"Is that so? I remember correctly, right?"

"No, we need to go faster here, like this."

"Huh? Is that so?"

Perhaps knowing she was a fool and would make many mistakes, or perhaps harboring some other ulterior motive, Yoshikawa Yuki directly imitated Hori Kyoko's actions, skipping the first stage of getting up and giving up her seat, and the second stage of sharing the chair. She felt both shy and smug, and even the smile on her face seemed brighter than usual.

However, this caused discomfort to Iura Hide's back.

Feeling embarrassed to put his weight on the two girls, he could only rely on his back strength for support.

Most importantly, it happens every ten seconds or so. If his back wasn't strong enough, he wouldn't have been able to take it.

However, after instructing for more than ten minutes, and seeing that there were no physical problems, Iura Hide, whose patience had run out, decided not to continue.

"Okay, that's it."

"Huh? Can we play it like this?"

"Playing a performance? What are you thinking? I meant lunch break is almost over, it's time to go back to the classroom!"

"Huh!? It's already over? Has it been so long? We haven't even played together yet!"

"Who told you two idiots to learn so slowly? If it were Toru, he would definitely be much faster than you two." Iura Hideyoshi, Kawakawa Yuki and Hori Kyoko had disappointed expressions on their faces, but they held back from saying it out loud, only complaining to themselves.

At this moment, Toru Ishikawa, who hadn't had a chance to speak up until now, finally spoke up to assert his presence, saying on behalf of Kyoko Hori, "There's still a little time, why don't you give us a performance?"

"Yeah, yeah, you do it once!" Yoshikawa Yuki and Hori Kyoko, who were originally feeling dejected, suddenly brightened up and quickly chimed in to agree.

"Let Pochi-chan do this!"

Iura Hide glared at Ishikawa Toru with annoyance before explaining, "This song is a duet between my sister and me. I can't sing the female part. If you're just listening to the accompaniment, you should listen to Pochi-chan. Pochi-chan's level is much higher than mine."

"Eh!? I...I...I can't do it—"

Suddenly called upon, Boqi-chan's mouth dropped open, and she seemed poised to turn into a meme-worthy girl. Faced with everyone's gaze, she hurriedly tried to refuse.

but

"My senior just praised me. If I say no, he'll be disappointed, won't he?"

Like a slideshow, scenes flashed through her mind: being ignored by everyone, whether in class activities or at other times; hiding in the closet to practice guitar whenever she had a spare moment; practicing until late every night. These scenes made her unconsciously grip the guitar tightly and bite her lip.

Wanting to be seen by everyone, wanting to become a popular figure at school, wanting to shine like Hideaki Iura—isn't that the meaning and goal behind her hard work in practicing guitar?

She used to complain that she couldn't find opportunities.

Now that the opportunity is in front of her, what reason does she have to refuse?

If she doesn't even dare to perform a solo in private, in front of friends she knows, what will she do when she actually steps onto the stage? Will she continue to disappoint Iura Hide, who trusts her and gives her opportunities?

"No! I absolutely cannot let my senior down!"

"I-I can!" Under the strange gazes of Hori Kyoko and the others, Pochi-chan pounded her chest and shouted loudly.

Whether it was because she was hammering too hard or shouting too loudly, her voice cracked a little.

Ironically, with such force, the sound should have been quite loud, but in reality, if the activity room hadn't been so quiet and Yoshikawa Yuki had stopped drumming, no one would have been able to hear it.

"Is this kid really that socially awkward?" The group looked on in surprise.

Previously, they only thought that Pochi was a bit introverted, but now it seems that it's much more than that.

Hori Kyoko and Yoshikawa Yuki couldn't help but worry about Iura Hide.

"If she's so socially awkward, what will happen when she officially performs on stage? Is she really okay?"

Their doubts were quickly dispelled, because even they, who were not professionals, could tell that Boqi-chan played the guitar really well.

This was completely different from the previous intermittent playing while flipping through sheet music.

When Boqi played the song smoothly and completely on the electric guitar, they finally realized how good it was, and also that the song was indeed quite difficult.

Although Boqi-chan didn't dare to lift her head the whole time, she kept her head down.

But when she showed off her skills by performing several four-piece quintets with glissando, Hori Kyoko and the other two couldn't help but open their mouths wide, feeling that it was just too cool.

"Wow, that's amazing! Pochi-chan!"

After the performance, as Yoshikawa Yuki spoke first, Hori Kyoko and Ishikawa Toru couldn't help but offer their sincere praise.