It started with being hated by the girl in the band

Nakagawa Nobuyuki's voice brought me back to the real world, and I just watched him looking at me with a somewhat worried expression.

[Stop pretending to care about me. ]

Although I really want to say this.

But I could fully sense in my heart that his concern for me was not fake, but real worry and concern.

Those eyes were really too vivid.

But why?

……

The main entrance of RiNG.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

Nagasaki Suyo smiled gently and gently twirled the ends of her hair with her fingers.

"Are you really okay? Su Shi-san looked so strange just now..."

The pink-haired girl who was standing side by side with Nakagawa Nobuyuki also looked over with some concern, even though Nagasaki Suyo seemed to be fine now.

"Well, are you really okay? Of course I'll tell everyone if there's anything wrong."

Nagasaki Suyo emphasized it again, and this time her expression became even more perfect and impeccable.

Looking at Nagasaki Suyo's increasingly sweet smile in front of him, Nakagawa Xinxin always had a strange feeling like intuition in his heart.

If there was really nothing wrong, would it be necessary to show such a perfect smile...? There shouldn't be any need, right?

It's so flawless that it almost seems unreal.

However, since Nagasaki Suyo had no intention of saying it, Nakagawa Nobuyuki naturally tactfully stopped asking further.

Today I came to RiNG to watch them practice, but in the end I could tell that they didn't practice anything useful at all.

The only gain was probably that Tachibana Shiina agreed to teach him how to compose music.

That’s right, remember that Neko & Ume account?

Nakagawa Nobuyuki would post some of his part-time job daily life on his account when he had nothing to do. As a result, for some reason, Neko & Ume have been so active recently. Not only do they like his posts every day, they also leave messages whenever they have nothing to do. They even said something like they planned to learn to play drums and form a band.

To be honest, Nakagawa Xin was itching to do something. In addition, Nakagawa Xin had been hanging out in various bands recently, so the idea of ​​making money by operating accounts and attracting traffic came up again.

This time, maybe I can try to become a band blogger?

In addition, more importantly, Nakagawa Shin is very happy that he can meet so many friends in the band.

After all, before this, the only person he could call a "friend" was perhaps Goto Ichiri, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, even though Toyokawa was just a nodding acquaintance with him at the colleague level.

If I could find a decent band to work with, maybe I wouldn't have to work every day and worry about water, electricity and rent, right?

You don't need much money, just enough to live on.

Even though he knew he might not be cut out for it, Nakagawa Nobuyuki still wanted to give it a try.

Anyway, there is no loss if you fail. Even if you just think of it as making new friends, you will make a lot of money.

Nakagawa Nobuyuki made up his mind secretly.

Because it was still early to leave Fanxing for work, Nakagawa Nobuyuki simply took Chihaya Aine to a small park on the street to practice guitar.

Although Nakagawa Nobuyuki is not a guitar expert, as a well-known amateur, Nakagawa Nobuyuki has also watched Ichiri practice the guitar many times, and he is able to guide the complete novice Chihaya Aine to familiarize herself with a few chords with ease.

...Of course, that’s just because Aine is a true novice.

“…Xinxin, do you really want to stay here?”

Chihaya Aine looked at Nakagawa Nobuyuki with some shame, even though his expression remained calm.

After all, Chihaya Aine has never played the guitar in public. She only practices at home and in live houses.

On weekends, children from nearby would often run by the small park, laughing and talking.

“Ain, you’re going to be on stage in the future anyway. Right now, there will probably only be snails and cicadas listening to you play the guitar, but things will be different when you’re on stage in the future.”

Nakagawa Nobuyuki took the guitar bag off Chihaya Aine's back and shrugged.

"It would be nice if snails were listening to me on stage..."

Chihaya Aine gently sat on one side of the swing, holding the swing rope on one side with her small hands, and complained softly.

"Then it will become Mr. Ito's comic book, I think."

Nakagawa Nobuyuki made a comment.

Under the shade of the trees in the park, Nakagawa Nobuyuki and Chihaya Aion, who were sitting on the same swing, were marking the chord score they had just finished. Nakagawa Nobuyuki even drew the fingerstyle scores next to the chords for Chihaya Aion one by one.

Although you can hardly hear any obvious sound when the electric guitar is not plugged in, it doesn't matter if you just want to practice fingering.

"It's a bit too much that you don't know a single chord."

"…Because I haven't learned to read chords yet!"

……

"Just hold the C chord here—just raise your finger higher."

"I can hardly bend my fingers anymore..."

……

It was not until Chihaya Aine looked at him pitifully, pinching her red fingers, that Nakagawa Nobuyuki stopped the practice.

"Do you know the music score now?"

"Yes... almost."

Xinxin is unexpectedly so serious in this place!

Chihaya Aine cried in her heart.

"Do your fingertips hurt?"

Looking at Chihaya Aine who kept pinching her red fingertips in front of him, Nakagawa Shin suddenly asked.

"Yes, it hurts...but Sushi-san told me that if you practice more, it won't hurt anymore."

That’s why you said you wanted to be a lead singer... It wouldn’t look good if your fingertips were covered with thick calluses!

"hand."

Then, Nakagawa Nobuyuki stretched out his hand.

"What do you need your hands for..."

Although she said this, Chihaya Aine still placed her hand on Nakagawa Nobuyuki's with great trust.

Then, Chihaya Aine felt her hand being held by Nakagawa Nobuyuki.

Feeling the warmth from Nakagawa Nobuyuki's hand, the pink-haired girl couldn't help but blush, and she subconsciously shouted: "Wait, wait!"

"Wait what?"

Nakagawa Nobuyuki raised his head and looked at him with a strange expression.

"That's... nothing."

Chihaya Aine lowered her head slightly, with random thoughts flying around in her mind.

I'm too good to handle it, right?

We've only known each other for a short time...

But, but I have never felt this kind of feeling on anyone else...

"Wait, stop clenching your hands...it won't hurt until I put a Band-Aid on it."

Nakagawa Nobuyuki put the band-aid given to him by Xiao Deng on Chihaya Aine's finger. After making sure that the edges were not curled, he let go of the pink-haired girl's hand.

As soon as she let go, Chihaya Aine, with a red face, quickly pulled her hand back like lightning and hid it behind her back.

Especially when she saw Nakagawa Nobuyuki with a normal expression, the shame monster in Chihaya Aine's heart was about to go out of control.

Could it be... Am I the only one wavering?

…That’s right, it’s just a band-aid! What’s there to be ashamed of? We’re just good friends! This is normal!

Now it is Chihaya Aine who is constantly hypnotizing herself.

65

Chapter 65: The change of [progress bar]...?

Tokyo on a summer evening rolled by like a scroll outside the train window.

The weather is nice today and it should be cool at night.

Nakagawa Nobuyuki was in a particularly good mood today, maybe because he really spent the afternoon with his friends, or maybe because he suddenly found his goal, or maybe both.

"Xinxin, are you in a good mood today?"

Chihaya Aion was holding her guitar bag, looking at Nakagawa Nobuyuki who was humming Haruhi Kage in front of her, with a slight smile on her face.

My fingers unconsciously rubbed the rough texture of the Band-Aid, and my mood miraculously improved.

“It’s really nice, and I feel happy to meet everyone.”

Nakagawa Shin did not deny it and openly admitted that he was indeed very happy. He then said, "Speaking of this, I still have to thank Aine."

"Eh? Me?"

Chihaya Aine pointed at herself in confusion.

“Of course, if Aine hadn’t dragged me to find the band that day, I really wouldn’t have been able to meet you all.”

"If that were the case, I would probably still be growing mold and mushrooms in my rental house right now, right?"

Nakagawa Nobuyuki held the handrail of the tram and looked at the little pink-haired girl with a puzzled look on her face, with some emotion on his face.

"W-How can it be so serious?"

Chihaya Aine felt a little embarrassed being stared at and her face turned slightly red. She subconsciously turned her head away and looked out the window.

But even so, the slightly dark night outside the window still turned the bright tram window into a transparent black mirror.

Nakagawa Nobuyuki's figure still appeared on it.

“Although I really don’t want to say things like the male protagonist in a light novel, like [friend] or [thank you so much for all this time]…”

“But it really seems like there’s nothing else to say——Thank you so much, Aine.”

Chihaya Aine didn't dare to look up to see what Nakagawa Nobuo's expression was.

I... seem to be a little infected by Xinxin.

I've become a little bad at responding to other people's gratitude, especially such serious gratitude.

Really, why did you suddenly say such things... It's also a bit too embarrassing!

"...No, don't talk about this, it's so embarrassing..."

The little pink-haired girl, who was a little restless, gently covered her red cheeks with her hands. Especially when she saw the passers-by looking at her with blessings, she felt an indescribable strange feeling in her heart.

Absolutely, I was definitely misunderstood...

Xinxin...Xinxin, could it be that you like me, that's why you're saying these things to me?

A guess that made her heart beat faster suddenly appeared in the little pink-haired girl's mind.

Now let’s review the story of suspecting the neighbor of stealing his axe. The man suspected that his neighbor had stolen his axe, so the more he looked at him, the more he looked like a thief.

Chihaya Aine now is like the family who found that their axe was lost. The more she thinks about it, the more possible it seems. Her face, which was originally just a little rosy, becomes even brighter and more rosy.

Subconsciously, he secretly raised his bright grey eyes and looked at Nakagawa Nobuyuki who looked normal beside him.

Well, he doesn't really impress me, he's just a little handsome... and, he's still far from the kind of refreshing handsome guy I like! He's... he's just average! He's still far from Mr. Sakyamuni who cuts meat to feed the eagle! On the contrary - anyway, he's just average!

In short, Xinxin is still far from being good enough! We can only be called friends!

...Well, we're not just ordinary friends, but...but we have to start as [good friends] first!

And - moreover, we have only known each other for a few days! Even if it is love at first sight, it is too early! I still need to take the test for a while!

However, Nakagawa Nobuyuki, who was deep in thought, had no way of knowing this. Nakagawa Nobuyuki was still thinking about other things.