Tokyo: Idol Girls have absolutely no bad intentions!

Is that all? Ito looked at Takikawa in disbelief, but Takikawa, seemingly oblivious, turned his attention to Asada.

"And Asada."

"Huh?" Asada's body visibly trembled when his name was called.

"If you don't like tatami mats, you can tell us. You don't need to come to Ito." Her tone suddenly softened.

Finally, his gaze fell on Ito. "Come out with me."

Although I don't know what I'm being called out for, I'm more than happy to be able to get out of this predicament.

"Senior," Mori said, releasing Ito's hand, "remember to come back."

With you here tonight, I'm afraid I won't be coming back.

Following Takikawa out of the room, the bedroom door was closed. Takikawa turned around under Ito's surprised gaze and inserted the key into the lock.

With a gentle twist, accompanied by a crisp "click," the bedroom door was locked from the inside.

"What is this?" Ito looked uncertainly at Takikawa, who was fiddling with the key.

"It's obvious they won't be coming out until morning."

As if to confirm Takikawa's statement, hurried footsteps came from the bedroom, followed by the clicking sound of the doorknob being frantically turned.

Someone was knocking on the door anxiously, shouting things like "Let me out."

"Ito." It was Asada calling for help.

Normally, Ito wouldn't refuse, but given what happened tonight, he's temporarily lowering Asada's trust level to negative.

"Stop looking, go to sleep." Takikawa called out to Ito, waking him from his daze.

"Remember this: don't let them out until tomorrow morning." Takikawa handed the key to Ito. "Unless you really want to do something filthy."

of course not.

Ito took the key. Although he could only sleep on the tatami mat in the living room, it was still much better than not sleeping at all.

Hayakawa had already returned to her room, and seeing that Takikawa was about to go back as well, Ito grabbed his wrist.

Takikawa, whose wrist was being grabbed, stared at Ito's hand. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry." Ito released his hand. "I have a question. Why did you help me?"

Takikawa yawned, his pajama collar slipping down slightly. "If you keep making a fuss, it won't just be me who gets woken up."

After saying that, she waved and walked towards the door, saying, "Goodnight."

"Good night."

The motion-sensor lights in the apartment corridor suddenly turned on, illuminating Takikawa's profile, and Ito could see a hint of pleasure in them.

It’s weird.

There were intermittent knocking sounds and the rustling of wind through the leaves in the room.

After the farce, Ito felt even sleepier. He closed the apartment door and said goodnight to Asada and the others in the bedroom, though he didn't know if they could hear him.

I took out the earplugs from the cabinet to prevent Asada from being disturbed during his practice, and the moment I put them on, the world finally became much quieter.

He lay down on the tatami mat in the living room, and the unique fragrance of a young girl wafted to his nose as the night breeze blew in from the balcony.

In his hazy state, he felt a strange sensation coming from beside him, but before long, he drifted off to sleep again.

Chapter 118 To help the girls' band

Three days have passed since that night, which felt like something out of a Saw movie; the experience was something that is hard to describe to outsiders.

The biggest mistake was not closing the balcony door properly, which indirectly led to Ito waking up in the morning with a girl's original underwear inexplicably on his face.

Although it has been washed and still smells of lavender, this cannot excuse it.

If it were just Kuchako, that would be one thing, but unfortunately, Takikawa happened to walk in from outside and witnessed everything.

She didn't say anything, but I still vividly remember her disdainful look.

It's unclear what she said to Asada, but it subtly changed Asada's attitude towards him.

In the three days that followed, Asada said no more than 100 words to him.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Ito asked Asada, who was standing next to him, referring to the location sent by Shinno.

Asada ignored Ito, picked up a bag, and rang the doorbell.

Before long, the villa door slowly opened, and Xinye stood at the door to invite them in.

Ito sank deep into the cat-leg sofa and looked up at the high ceiling.

Saturday was the day they were supposed to record the song, and Shinno readily agreed, without Ito noticing anything amiss.

When I first heard that he lived alone, I thought it was because his parents were busy with work, so he lived almost alone.

But unexpectedly, Shinno really moved out to live alone.

They now live in a two-story Western-style villa near the school, which they bought for convenience. It has a courtyard and a swimming pool.

As soon as they entered the house, Ito and his companion were invited into Shinno's bedroom. The bedroom was very spacious; Shinno said it was a renovation of the original three rooms on the second floor, which had been combined together.

Because of their arrival, Shinno specially asked the chef in charge of meals to prepare some snacks. Seeing that Asada almost ate his little hand, the taste was undoubtedly excellent.

The plate of snacks was almost empty, but Xinye calmly invited them to drink tea.

"Where are the musical instruments?" Ito looked around and finally asked.

He had been observing since entering the villa, but he hadn't seen any musical instruments or anything related to music at all.

"Let's not talk about that now, Ito, have a snack." Shinno picked up a red bean waffle and handed it to Ito.

"No need, I'll get it myself if I want to eat." Ito stared suspiciously at Shinno's face. "Are you hiding something from us?"

"Uh..." Shinno guiltily withdrew his hand and took small bites of his waffle. "It can't really be called hiding it."

"I originally wanted to tell you..."

"explain."

"It's not a big deal, it can be resolved in a while."

It's not a big deal, why are you hesitating like this?

"How long?" Ito pressed.

“I don’t know…” Xinye lowered his head, “but it shouldn’t be long.”

He got up and led Ito and the other two into the basement, half of which had been converted into a recording studio, while the other half was left with only a few benches.

Upon seeing this scene, Ito almost fainted. He had originally planned to finish recording "Koi-on Ame-sora" and record a few more instrumental tracks as well.

Now, he can't even record a song, let alone have any instruments. It's like he came all this way for nothing, considering that every minute of his time was very expensive last week.

“As you can see,” Xinye said, picking up a fallen bench. “I don’t have any musical instruments left.”

People shouldn't, at least they shouldn't...

As the son of Hoshino Entertainment, he couldn't even find a single musical instrument in his home.

There should at least be a decorative piano placed in the living room by the floor-to-ceiling window.

They can all donate equipment to the school's light music club...

"You're not planning to bring all that equipment from the light music club back after graduation, are you?" Ito asked uncertainly. "To put it another way, you're willing to empty your house for the sake of those girls in the light music club."

"Xinye, you're quite the character."

Ito squinted and stared intently at Shinno.

“What are you thinking? Those musical instruments at the school were donated, not rented out. I won’t be able to get them back after I graduate.” Xinye vehemently denied it, his tone tinged with disappointment. “Besides, it was only in my name. I wasn’t involved at all.”

That's a truly 'sad' problem, one that Ito can't possibly understand.

"So this is?"

We need to figure out whether or not it's okay to record the song today.

If all else fails, he should ask Nagano Sae or Mori Kami as soon as possible if there are any part-time jobs he can do.

In order to rent a recording studio that can accommodate musical instruments.

Although it can be synthesized by computer, without professional adjustments, it is still somewhat inferior to a live performance.

"Fine, I'll just say it straight then!" Shinno said with a "what the hell" attitude. "The author of my favorite manga, 'K-On! Cry Out!', wanted to form a band, so I lent them my instruments."

"We don't need that many!" Ito still didn't understand.

“You need to get familiar with each type of instrument before you can make a better choice,” Xinye explained quietly.

After hearing the other party's explanation, Ito was speechless. How could someone do something so thankless and exhausting?

"Although I promised you, but..." Xinye clasped his hands together above his head, bowing slightly, "Please forgive me!"

"So when did you lend it out, and when was it agreed to be returned?"

Talking about anything else now is pointless; the most important thing is to recover these musical instruments.

Seeing that Shinno hadn't spoken yet, Ito felt a bad premonition. "You didn't make a promise, did you? What if the instrument gets damaged?"

"I... I don't think so." Xinye said this with obvious lack of confidence.

He truly admired Xinye; he could be so simple-minded.

If it were him, he would at least sign two contracts if he were to lend an instrument to someone else.

Moreover, it's such an expensive instrument. Xinye showed him photos last time, and there's more than one rare, master-commemorative edition.

"When was it lent out?" Ito asked, rubbing his temples in exasperation.

"On the very night I agreed, the other party contacted me on Line. Within two hours of my agreement, the instrument was taken away by someone else."

Doesn't that mean the other party tested the equipment for five days?

"Asada, let's go." Ito turned around decisively. "Let's ask Takikawa's manager if he can help us."

Asada didn't say anything, but followed Ito in tacit understanding, and the two headed towards the stairs.

"No!" Shinno quickly stepped forward and grabbed Ito's wrist. "Ito, you have to help me!"