I play wind instruments in Kansai

In the bass practice classroom.

"Damn it, another guaranteed minimum! I've already spent so much money! Haven't I been added to the whitelist?!"

An Hechun held the phone in both hands, grimacing as he spoke.

"Hmm..."

Koharu Kohika is holding a thick, silvery-white euphonium. These large, bass instruments aren't cheap, and she's using government-supplied equipment.

"Senior Anhe, why don't you practice at all? Is it really okay to just play games all the time?"

This senior student doesn't look like a senior at all. Although she is beautiful and has a gentle personality, she doesn't seem to work hard enough.

An Hechun looked up at her, smiled, and happily shook her legs, saying:

"I've been practicing all along, it's just unfortunate that you can't see me when I'm practicing."

"No, no, no, I'm usually the first one to arrive at the band club and I also leave very late, but I've never seen you practice. Are you sure it's okay?"

"No problem," An Hechun said, continuing to play on her phone. "By the way, do you play Genshin Impact? Want to add each other as friends?"

"Hmm... I don't play mobile games."

She wasn't initially uninterested in mobile games; it was just that her phone's specs were too low.

The cell phones in our family have been passed down from generation to generation. When Mom gets a new phone, she gives it to Dad, and Dad then gives her the old one.

By the time it reached her hands, the phone was already a relic of the past.

Playing games on this kind of phone will be very laggy and the battery will drain very quickly.

Because it can't run, you eventually become immune to games and don't even have the thought of "I must have a good mobile phone when I grow up".

Watching videos, chatting with friends, and staying informed about social events are enough, Koji Xiangyin thought.

"You should play some games. You should enjoy yourself while you're young." An Hechun had a friendly smile on her face. She was generally kind to everyone.

"......"

Kohikari bit her lower lip, a surge of indescribable emotions welling up inside her.

"Anhe-senpai is the percussion group leader. Even though she's only holding the flag, she'll be choosing the competition piece afterwards. Aren't you nervous?"

Her tone changed subtly, which An Hechun keenly noticed. She placed her phone on the table and said:

"Yes, I'm very nervous."

"No, you don't seem nervous at all. You're playing the game so casually right now, and you're even tempting me to play with you."

An Hechun smiled, her round eyes darting around.

"Actually, I was playing the game with a lot of tension the whole time."

Kohinata glanced to the side and murmured softly:

"No, that's not right. That's just sophistry."

"Huh? What?" An Hechun's body swayed slightly.

Kohinata Hina, holding a thick tube, played the euphonium, the silver paint distorting her face in the light.

"For Anhe-senpai, playing the wind instrument is just a trivial matter, right? Seeing you playing around like that, anyone would feel relaxed and not nervous. But why did you encourage us to play together? Don't you think that's going too far? Shouldn't a senior set an example? But you just keep playing around."

"......"

She looked small and didn't seem like a student at all, but what she said was rather presumptuous, which really surprised An Hechun.

"Really? So that's what you think?"

An Hechun bent and stretched his legs, grinned, and said...

"Sorry, I won't be playing games next time you practice."

Koharu hugged the bass horn tightly, her face tense, and said:

"Thanks."

"Why did Kohinata transfer here? Isn't her own school's brass band good enough?" Anzu asked, putting her phone in her skirt pocket.

"Hmm." Kohinata Hina's nostrils flared slightly as she turned her face away, saying, "Are you trying to bully me by asking this?"

"What? I have no interest in doing that."

A bitter smile appeared on An Hechun's face. She raised her hands and tapped her fingers in the air, saying...

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. My dad also plays percussion, but he's a complete amateur. He'll never reach a professional level in his entire life. Those elders always feel that they can't do things themselves, so they expect their children to do them. Isn't that going too far?"

"......"

"Percussion instruments are indeed quite interesting at first, but you get tired of them after a while. They are simply not as interesting as other instruments. The only interesting one is the marimba."

Koharu's legs were tightly pressed together, and the black socks covering her calves were cotton socks that looked stuffy.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

An Hechun said with a smile:

"What can I do? I think if I don't explain it to you clearly, you'll start nagging me again, so I think it's better to be clear about it."

"Hmm..." Kohinata Hina slumped her shoulders with a dejected expression.

An Hechun crossed her legs and crossed her arms, saying:

"Besides, I don't really like percussion, but when I say I like it, my parents are very happy. Isn't it a child's duty to make their parents happy?"

"......"

"I'm already exhausted enough. Wouldn't it be even worse if I had to practice at school all the time? What do you think?"

Seeing that Koharu Hina remained silent, An Kazumi, unperturbed, propped her arms behind her head and raised her voice, revealing her flawless armpits through her sleeves:

"How about it? Do you understand me a little bit now, you little rascal from Kumamoto?"

Koharu's mouth kept opening and closing, as if telling Anwa-senpai not to be so carefree, and that she had become the bad guy.

"But if you don't want to stay in the percussion section, you should have made that clear sooner."

"That's true," An Hechun said, pouting.

"But why not say it?"

"That's because I thought that once I proved I didn't have any talent in percussion, they would give up on letting me continue. But the reality is that I inexplicably became the percussion group leader and I can't step down now."

"......"

"You little rascal, why aren't you saying anything?"

An Hechun glared at him fiercely and said,

"Weren't you so bold at the beginning? You seemed so high and mighty."

Kohinata, holding her breath, looked up and stared directly at her, saying:

"Well... I just felt that I shouldn't lie. You need to have your own life. Yes, you're wrong."

"Huh?! I was wrong!"

An Hechun stood up excitedly, disregarding the fact that she was wearing a skirt, and exaggeratedly spread her legs, striking a pose as if she wanted to devour her.

Kohikari hunched her shoulders and nervously closed her eyes.

Just then, a sound came from the window.

"But we'll have to face it someday, Anwa-senpai. You need to have your own life, right?"

"Um?"

Anhe Jun turned his head, and Kohikawa Hinata opened one eye and saw Miyane Nozomi by the window.

"Junior Gongling? When did you arrive?"

"Are you trying to bully me by saying this?"

Gong Lingwang placed his hands on the windowsill, sighed deeply, and said...

"But everyone has their own difficulties, and we should take that into account. We should all build interpersonal relationships without barriers based on understanding and respect. But it's easier said than done, which is why we have so many concerns."

An Hechun stood up straight, resting her wrists on her waist, and said:

"What kind of line is that? It sounds so strange!"

"I pulled out my phone to find this on the spur of the moment, and it's quite interesting."

Miyamine Nozomi picked up her phone and waved it, saying,

"There's a second half to the sentence: If we pretend not to see each other and keep our distance, we'll feel more relaxed and at peace with each other. In that case, the world will be divided into beautiful but cold mosaic patterns."

An Hechun squinted slightly, muttering "So annoying, so annoying, so annoying" repeatedly, before finally plopping down in a chair and saying:

"Ugh, people who preach are so annoying. They can't even put themselves in others' shoes to empathize, yet they spout off some impressive-sounding things. Do they think everyone's an idiot? Hey, you, come in."

Without much thought, Gong Lingwang walked into the practice room.

An Hechun squinted at him, crossed her arms, and said:

Turn around, with your back to me.

"What are you doing?"

Gongling Wang said that, but he still obediently did as he was told.

"I'm going to give you a good kick in the ass first! That'll teach you a lesson for spouting those high-sounding principles!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her leg and kicked Gong Lingwang's buttocks lightly.

"Huh!" Kohinata Hina's face fell. She had never seen a handsome guy like Miyamune get kicked before.

Gong Lingwang staggered forward half a step, but because the kick wasn't hard, he didn't feel any pain and wasn't angry.

"That feels good." An Hechun flashed a bright white smile. "Really, I'll handle this myself. Don't try to interfere in the future."

Kohi Xiangyangcai whispered a reminder:

"Um, wasn't it Anhe-senpai who brought this up first?"

"Isn't it because you've been refusing to say anything!"

An Hechun raised his arm and locked it around her neck, shouting,

"If you want to understand someone, you have to be honest with them first, you bastard!"

The little sunflower made a strange whimpering sound.

"Junior Gongling?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell anyone about this. If I hear anything outside..." An Hechun warned with a wink, slicing his neck with his hand.

Gongling Wang nodded, then casually picked up the sheet music on the table; it was the tuba section.

"Is Kohinata-san's tutti amazing?"

"Hmm..." Kohinata Hinata seemed reserved and said in a low voice, "It's...it's alright."

An Hechun said without any mercy:

"Very bad."

"Tch." Kohinata Hina curled her lip.

"But the burden here isn't too heavy, so you don't need to put too much psychological pressure on yourself," An Hechun comforted her.

"I came here hoping to compete on stage, because everyone here is terrible. If I just work hard, I can perform on stage."

An Hechun was momentarily speechless, her eyebrows twitching.

"What you're saying..."

"Hey, what are you three doing here? The three-year talks?"

Then another voice came, and everyone turned to look. It was Shida Nana with medium-length hair.

An Hechun couldn't help but complain:

"Is the window of the bass practice room a spawn point for new characters?"

Nana Shida said:

"What are you saying? The ensemble practice is in a little while. The three of you arrived early, so go and move all the music stands from the instrument room to the first music classroom and set them up like before."

"And what about you?" An Hechun asked.

"Sitting in the first music room playing on my phone," Shida Nana said, raising her hand. "Goodbye."

After she left, Kohinata took a breath and said, her lips parting slightly:

"So handsome."

"Thank you," said Miyamune Nozomi.

"Hmm, I mean Chief Shida."

He was so serious that it made Koharu Hinata's chest ache slightly, and then he said something else.

"But you are indeed very good-looking, Miyamori."

"Sorry, it's a habit." Miyamine Nozomi didn't blush.

"What an offensive habit." An Hechun moved aside with some disgust.

Hina Kohinata asked, "Is Shida-senpai very strong?"

"Of course, she's a well-known saxophone mercenary in Wakayama City."

"What do you mean?" Miyamune asked.

"If other schools need a bass saxophone for a performance, she's usually the first person they think of."

An and Jun grabbed Koharu Hina's collar with their left hand and Miyamine Nozomi's collar with their right, saying...

"Alright, come with me to work."

The three arrived at the music room, which was filled with dozens of music stands.

In the wind band, only the music stand has no "owner"; whoever gets it first gets to keep it, and it's only for that day's practice.

Miyamine Nozomi can carry six music stands in one go, and Kohiko Hina can carry two. They are not heavy, each weighing about three kilograms.

Those professional heavy-duty music stands are large, solid steel structures, each weighing around ten kilograms.

"Wow~~ A charming junior who can carry six music stands~~~" An Hechun cupped her face in her hands, her slender, fair fingers tapping lightly, feigning envy.

When I arrived at the first music classroom, I saw Nana Shida sitting there playing on her phone.

Back in the instrument management room, they went to get the music stand, while An and Chun sat there playing on their phones.

Xiao Ri Xiang Yang Cai worked back and forth, panting heavily until her face was red, but she didn't say a word.

Only when Miyamine Nozomi passed by her could one hear her muttering in a Kumamoto accent, "I'm just stubborn."

Soon after, other members of the wind instrument club arrived at the club building, and the once quiet corridor became noisy.

Today was their first ensemble practice. The first-year students had never seen the Haruki Brass Band play together before, but judging from their happy expressions, they were all in great spirits.

"Who told you to move these things?"

On his third attempt, Liu Mujie, carrying a trumpet and sheet music tucked under his arm, stopped him, looking rather unhappy.

Gongling Wang was silent for a moment, then said:

"Hasebe-senpai."

As expected, the willow-wood knotted lantern's eyebrows were raised, and her breasts beneath the uniform were stretched into a full, round shape:

"I knew it! That bastard! You actually listened to him? You're even more of a bastard!"

Gongling Wang couldn't help but smile and said:

"Actually, it was Shida-senpai who asked me to go; it had nothing to do with Hasebe-senpai."

"Hmm?"

Liu Mujie was taken aback for a moment, clearly sensing that she was calming down, but then those eyes glared at her again.

"You're playing me?"

"Wait a minute? If Shida-senpai gives me instructions, then everything's fine?"

"Shida-senpai is indeed capable, and she's the top student. She's one of the very few people in the club I respect."

Willowwood lamp glanced at the music stand in his hand and said,

"Give me two, your hands are all claw-like."

Gongling Wang didn't pretend; he put down both TVs and said, "Liu Mu, you're so kind."

She rolled her eyes, speechless.

Upon arriving at the first music practice room, the space suddenly felt cramped due to the piles of music stands and chairs, plus the presence of more than sixty people.