Joker's Band Game Story

"Learning guitar... I... I want to..."

But Aine seemed to have been asked the question, and she lowered her head shyly and started to fidget.

Clearly, this question touched on something she was unwilling to talk about. At this moment, Ren Amamiya did not force her, but quietly waited for her to answer.

Is she the same as Li Xi? This question touched on the most troubling part of my heart.

Ren Amamiya wasn't in a hurry. He just kept his head down and began to gently play the guitar.

“It’s okay, you can take your time to think of your answer. I’ve seen many reasons for learning guitar, and your answer may not be unexpected.”

While playing slow-paced music and talking casually, Ren Amamiya was also comforting the other person, telling her not to be so shy.

"Whether you hope that playing the guitar will make everyone notice you, or you simply think that playing the guitar is cool, or you want to attract other members of the opposite sex by playing the guitar, or you want to make money through the guitar, I have heard about all of these. You don't need to be so conflicted. Just give me a general overview."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Ai Yin: Are my goals really that high?

"I just feel... like I'll be out of place."

Finally, Aine, with her head bowed, revealed her reason.

In the world of music, a new phenomenon has indeed emerged in the 21st century: the 'era of big girl bands' has gradually formed since 2015.

In layman's terms, many girls started playing in bands. Before this era, the ratio of men to women playing in bands was about 10 to 1 or even 20 to 1, but during the era of big girl bands, this ratio even became 1 to 1 or 1 to 2.

Girls are more perceptive about trends than boys. In addition, after school, boys tend to engage in sports or games, while girls gradually turn to playing music and forming bands from various miscellaneous activities.

Whether this is good or bad, at least in Amamiya's view it is a good thing. Musicians will no longer have to worry about not having fans. Before, girls chased after celebrities, but now girls chase after bands. This is indeed a good thing for him. The increase in bands will also increase his income, and he can earn a lot of money.

If he weren't currently not fully engaged in the music industry, he would already be earning a million yen a month. He truly has the potential; with his young age and mature playing skills, joining a star band would be a piece of cake.

Having talent alone doesn't guarantee fame, but to become famous and maintain that fame requires talent... It's hard to say, but with Amamiya's talent, at least with proper publicity, he could become famous quickly.

Under these circumstances, there are quite a few new bands, but most of them are still small bands focused on entertainment.

That's how it is in Ai Yin's class. Before she came, only Gao Songdeng didn't have a band. Everyone else had formed bands with their friends—although they were just playing around, they were really having fun.

She was too embarrassed to tell Ren Amamiya that she was a bit vain, so she just said that she wanted to fit in and that as a transfer student, she needed to have her own little circle of friends.

That's certainly understandable. If she were to form a small circle with others based on her ideas, she wouldn't need much guitar skill; she could simply learn and play together with everyone.

Unfortunately, she formed a band with Akari, and the band also included Nagasaki Sose and Shiina Tatsuki.

Wherever Li Xi is, the pressure will definitely be immense. She's the type to put pressure on herself, so unless you're exceptionally capable, she'll put a lot of pressure on you.

She is too concerned about 'perfection', so she will put pressure on herself if any factor prevents her from presenting a perfect product.

"So you're thinking you don't want to leave this band? Didn't I mention before that you could choose to switch bands with Deng? Haven't you considered that?"

Ren Amamiya asked casually, but he was also trying to figure out Aine's thoughts.

If Aine wavers, then her skills don't need to be too strong. Forming a band doesn't necessarily require superb skills; everyone's skill level is about the same to have fun. This is generally true for team games.

However, Aine's level could be even higher, so that she could become the leader and lead everyone forward.

"Lamp...she really likes this team, so I want to give it a try."

Aine didn't back down; instead, she wanted to try forming a team with everyone.

Although Lixi has a bad temper and Shuangshi is disloyal, she still wants to play with everyone.

Li Xi has a bad temper but is cold on the outside but warm on the inside, while Shuang Shi, though disloyal, has contributed to the formation of the band.

That's why she wants to stay in the band; she actually quite likes the atmosphere.

"But don't you have any other thoughts about Shuangshi's divided loyalty? You know, she might try to ostracize you."

If Sosei really does something like breaking up the team to welcome Shoko back, it will undoubtedly hurt Aine.

Aine knew and understood that Ren Amamiya was indeed helping her analyze the situation; she just hoped that Aine could be more rational.

but……

"She misses Crychic so much, which means there must be some important bond that left her with wonderful memories, right? But Crychic is over, and no matter how much she wants to go back, she can't, right? She longs to leave behind bonds, so let's give her more memories and more bonds. Crychic left her with one memory, so let's leave her ten, a hundred, so she knows that our side is better."

Aine seemed to understand Sōse's thoughts and didn't care about her little schemes.

Everyone has things they cherish, and Aine also has things she holds dear. She wishes she could go back to the past, but she can't; she can only keep looking forward.

The mentality of seeking pleasure in the world is wrong and incorrect, so it must be corrected!

She wasn't upset by Shuangshi's actions; on the contrary, she felt she should help him. There was no absolute conflict between them, so why couldn't they all happily make music together?

After all, Sosei is so gentle, why should such a gentle girl suffer like that? Aine will break through all these difficulties!

"But... hehe, it's nothing, it's nothing."

Ai Yin chuckled twice, but she still didn't reveal her true thoughts—she wanted to lead the band.

Yes, she still craves the limelight.

But the thought of the cat joining the team made her feel discouraged again: "But Renai is so amazing, wouldn't I be completely useless in the team...?"

"So that's it."

It wasn't until the very last sentence that Ren Amamiya realized Aine's little secret.

She not only wanted to perform with the lights, but also wanted to be the most dazzling person in the group.

Generally speaking, the most dazzling person is undoubtedly the lead singer, which is why she wanted to be a guitarist and vocalist. But Deng can't play guitar, bass, or even drums; she can say she can't do anything.

So what should I do?

"I understand. So your goal is to play the piano as well as Lena, right?"

"Eh? Eh hey hey!"

Aine couldn't help but raise her head; she hadn't expected Ren Amamiya to reveal such a goal.

Wait a minute, can I be as good as Renai? Really? Can I do that?

Aine never expected that she would become such a grand goal. Noticing Aine's reaction, Ren Amamiya also figured out her little scheme.

"Let's test your talent first. If you have good talent, you can achieve it in about three or four months, based on Le Nai's level. You don't think Le Nai is the kind of person who practices guitar every day, do you?"

Guitar is indeed difficult to learn, but Le Nai is a genius, so she reached this level of guitar skill in her third year of junior high school.

But she really didn't practice her guitar skills properly, otherwise she would definitely be much better than this.

Ren Amamiya also stopped playing. He had been using music to gradually give Aion a sense of feeling, encouraging her to express her thoughts.

People are more likely to open up in the right environment, so he gave an impromptu performance, which allowed Ai Yin to experience the power of music.

When Ren Amamiya stopped playing, Aine realized that the music she had been hearing was coming from Ren Amamiya's side. She immediately felt embarrassed and said, "What are you doing, Ren Amamiya-kun!"

"This is just a warm-up, perfect for when we start teaching. Let's start with the basics. I feel like you don't have much of a foundation... What do you know?"

"Hmm... C chord... A minor... and F..."

As Aine spoke, she demonstrated, and her actions made Ren Amamiya realize that Aine truly knew nothing.

Her current situation is like learning English without knowing the 26 letters of the alphabet, just like learning to walk with WASD and aim with the right mouse button and shoot with the left mouse button when playing an FPS game. She's not even familiar with using Shift to crouch.

"First of all, that's not A minor, it's an A minor triad... and when you press F, why do you place all three fingers one by one instead of all at once?"

Ren Amamiya easily placed his hand on the string, and he began to demonstrate to Aine the correct way to do it and the wrong way she had done it earlier.

Having thoroughly understood Aine's situation, Ren Amamiya began to teach her using the simplest methods, starting from scratch.

The occasional guitar music and Ren Amamiya's clear teaching voice coming from the room reassured Aine's mother, who was eavesdropping at the door.

She was still wondering if this boy named Amamiya had some other relationship with Aine, but now, listening to the interactions inside, she knew that he was indeed teaching seriously, rather than taking the opportunity to do something else.

As a mother, she naturally has to be more concerned about her daughter finding a teacher outside. What if her innocent and lovely daughter gets deceived?

So at the appropriate time, she brought two freshly made drinks into Aine's room, observing the two of them sitting there.

The two were sitting on the tatami mats, about a meter apart, a distance that made her feel at ease. Both of them were holding guitars, and she couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Aine's left hand struggle with the guitar.

"Good luck with your practice, I won't bother you anymore."

Aine's mother was completely relieved. There was no ambiguity between the two, and the boy seemed very serious.

My guitar practice hasn't been long, only about an hour and a half.

After all, if Aine continued practicing, she would feel like her fingers no longer belonged to her. As a beginner, Aine has already done a great job of persevering until now.

"He has decent talent and isn't slow-witted. He should be able to reach a basic stage performance level in about a month."

Ren Amamiya began packing his things. Since today's lessons were over, he decided not to stay any longer and prepared to leave.

"Are you leaving so soon?"

Aine was surprised that Ren Amamiya was so decisive; she thought he would stay a little longer.

It was surprisingly official and bureaucratic.

"It's getting late, so I won't bother you any longer. If you feel there are no problems with your studies, then starting tomorrow, I'll teach you for one hour every day, and you can practice at home gradually afterwards. However, don't overdo it in the first few weeks of practice; you need an adjustment period... although I don't think you'll experience that situation."

Ren Amamiya's words carried a hint of teasing, which made Aine's face puff up immediately: "What do you mean?!"

"Literally, that's enough for today's practice. Take a good rest afterwards and let your fingers relax. Let your fingers get used to playing the guitar for the next few days. Starting tomorrow, it will be charged, so don't forget to bring your money."

"Good~"

Despite Ren Amamiya's insistence on money, Aine remained completely unconcerned.

She was even worried that Amamiya Ren wouldn't accept the money, otherwise she wouldn't be able to repay the favor.

And two thousand an hour is really cheap. I'll talk to my family about it later.

"Two thousand an hour? That's really a discounted price."

During dinner, Aine brought up the topic of money with her father. Aine didn't work, so she had no money in her pocket and had to ask her father for some.

He didn't really care about his daughter hiring someone to practice guitar.

After all, the fact that they were able to send their daughter abroad to study, and that she could come back if she didn't want to study anymore, is enough to prove that their family environment is quite good and allows her to pursue her interests.

Moreover, compared to her condition in the first few days after she returned, her return to normal now is enough to comfort him.

"But is that teacher's technique good enough?"

Aine's father was more concerned about the quality of the teachers Aine found. If Aine wanted to find a teacher, he could help her find a reliable one.