I, the mastermind behind the scenes at Soubu High, refuse to be caught in a bloodbath.

"Your hand is in the way."

Kazusa didn't even glance at him, but calmly picked up a piece of fried chicken and chewed it in small bites.

"..."

Ji Xiaolu looked completely bewildered and pursed her lips in discomfort.

"As expected, the two of you have a very good relationship."

Kogiso smiled somewhat reluctantly.

"They're just childhood sweethearts with a complicated relationship, nothing to worry about."

Kazusa responded in this way, without even glancing at Ogiso.

"Ahem, so what does discussing matters have to do with the dishes made by Ogiso himself?"

Kitahara persisted, asking questions relentlessly.

"Eh? Did I cause you any trouble?"

"No! That's not true at all, it's just..." Kitahara turned his head away, embarrassed, and said, "After this incident, I'm sure all the boys in the school will consider me their public enemy..."

“That’s unnecessary worry,” Kazusa glanced at him, then looked at Himekoji with a →_→ look and said, “There are at least a handful of beautiful girls who have been rumored to have ambiguous relationships with Himekoji, so you still have this guy to shield you. Is this what they call… that even if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up?”

"Hey, don't use the Chinese proverbs I taught you to lecture me."

"But it's a fact that you're entangled with several girls."

"Those are all misunderstandings, misunderstandings. Rumors should not be believed."

There's no smoke without fire.

"...Kazusa, that's enough, really enough. I surrender. I love Big Brother. I admit to all the crimes you can fabricate."

"What kind of crap is that? It's a complete mess."

“Ahem! Alright,” Kitahara coughed loudly, while Ogiso shrugged slightly and laughed, “I’ve heard such rumors many times, but I believe Himekoji-kun is definitely not such an irresponsible guy. Also, you don’t need to worry about the cooking at all. I just think it’ll be more harmonious for everyone to talk about things after we’ve eaten our fill.”

As she spoke, Xiao Mu revealed a slightly sad expression, saying that she hadn't invited any friends over to her home for three years.

After we had eaten and drunk our fill, the discussion returned to the issue we had just discussed.

"As for the personnel," Kazusa said bluntly to Kitahara, "if Iizuka has decent guitar skills, he can completely replace you. Then, with some internal adjustments, we can still manage to form a band."

"I...I also want to prepare for this performance, after all, it's the last cultural festival of high school..."

Kitahara's words were initially very firm, but later his tone became like he was trying to gain sympathy.

"Kitahara," Himekoji said with a mischievous grin, pushing up her glasses, "If you want to repeat a year, that's fine too. You can sign up here anytime."

"It seems that the rumors about the student council president abusing his power are not unfounded."

Kitahara immediately crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and began to complain.

"Well, after all, fulfilling the students' wishes requires a lot of work."

"I don't need to repeat a grade to attend another school festival, so thank you for your kindness."

Kitahara read the text expressionlessly, while Kazusa and Ogiso exchanged a knowing glance and chuckled to themselves.

"Does Iizuka-kun play bass?"

"Bass... I don't think he can play it. He's only really good at guitar."

At this point, Kitahara also revealed an awkward smile. It seemed that his only option was to withdraw.

"However, even if I withdraw, it won't be possible to gather enough people in a short time, so I might as well give it a shot..."

"If the songs we choose don't require too much complexity in terms of instrument coordination, I believe that the three of us can still put together a band."

Kazusa pointed at Himekoji, then at Setsuna, who hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise.

"Huh—? Do we have to pre-record the audio and then..."

“If the song is simple, there’s no need for that kind of trouble,” Kazusa said with a confident smile. She nudged Himekoji with her elbow and winked at him, “Right?”

"correct."

"I don't understand..."

Koki and Kitahara exchanged a glance, and both of them slumped their shoulders in resignation.

“But even so, I still want to do something for everyone... I would feel bad if I forced you to do it.”

Kitahara lowered his head deeply. Although he had realized his powerlessness, he still found it hard to accept being pointed out in this situation.

“Kitahara-kun…” Yukina gave a sympathetic, sorrowful smile. She reached out and took Himekoji’s hand, pleading, “Please, please let Kitahara-kun stay in the band! After all, I was introduced by Kitahara-kun. It would be strange if he wasn’t there…”

Himekoji didn't answer, but instead turned her gaze to Kazusa. Their eyes met for a moment, and she nodded almost imperceptibly before sighing and rubbing her forehead.

"Alright, alright, then Kitahara will be the guitarist."

"That's great!!" Kiso cheered with satisfaction, revealing an exceptionally sweet smile. Kitahara nodded deeply to her and said in a deep voice, "Thank you so much, Kiso."

“Phew—, well then,” Kazusa said, looking at Kitahara with a terrible headache, “Let’s decide on the songs first, then assign the positions.”

"As for the music, we should already be on the same page."

"Who says you're telepathic, you idiot?"

Kazusa glared fiercely at Kitahara, whose heart skipped a beat. He quickly apologized, but Kazusa remained with her arms crossed, coldly snorting and ignoring him.

"Well, Kazusa, let's listen to the tracks first, but I guess it's the white album."

"Mmm! After all, everyone's coordination for this song was really amazing!" Komatsu put her hands together next to her head, tilted her head and said in a cute way, "Once you coordinate, it makes people really want to sing it out loud."

"This song only requires a simple lead singer, guitarist, keyboardist, and saxophonist."

Kazusa finally became a little more amiable, but she still wouldn't give Kitahara a friendly look, speaking either to Himekoji or to Setsuna.

"As for the saxophone..."

“As for the saxophone, let me play,” Kazusa said, putting a hand to her chest. “I shouldn’t have any problem playing that part. And Himekoji, you can play the keyboard, okay?”

Chapter 187 This is so troublesome, [the author] needs to start writing a thesis.

"How about we switch? After all, you major in the piano, and if Aunt Youzi comes..."

"Aunt Daphne is coming too, isn't she? You're also majoring in piano, so you'll be the keyboardist."

“Okay, I’m fine with it.” Himekoji and Kazusa exchanged these words, while Kitahara and Koki both looked like they’d seen a ghost. He hesitated before speaking, “Um, you two not only play the piano, but also the saxophone?”

"Isn't it easy to master a musical instrument once you've learned a few?"

Ji Xiaolu asked with a puzzled look.

“Sigh—” Kitahara made a gesture of playing an air guitar and sighed, “Looks like I’m a talentless idiot.”

“That’s true,” Kazusa finally spoke to him, “If you can’t play a few complete pieces in half a year, you can basically say you’ve said goodbye to the instrument. And as for the guitar, Himekoji…”

"Alright, alright, the first song is 'White Album,' and what about the second song?"

As the student council president, if I want to perform on stage, I can easily adjust the performance time. In contrast, I have to ask other performance groups to shorten their time. Hmm, I really am an ultra-selfish person.

"Let's master this first. Don't try to do too much at once. After all, there are still some very obvious weaknesses in our team."

Kazusa scratched her arm in frustration, looking quite unhappy.

"Yeah...yes."

Kitahara and Kogiso, who were completely passive during the conversation, responded in hushed tones.

Just then, there was a knock on Setsuna's door; it was her father's voice.

A few minutes later, she opened the door apologetically, bowed, and said slowly, "Um... Dad said we have something very important to discuss at home right now. Could you please go back first? I'm so sorry about today!"

"In that case, let's go. I'll call Miss Reiko. Kogiso, you don't need to worry about what happened today."

"Ah."

Kazusa nodded and stood up without paying much attention. She could tell from Ogiso's expression that Ogiso was terrified of what was about to happen, which made her feel a little relieved. Although she had once greatly envied the warm family that Himekoji had, she also felt a headache just thinking about the constraints of that kind of family.

Is this what they mean by "to gain something, you have to lose something else"...? Kazusa thought to herself as she followed Himekoji to the entrance. However, Setsuna's light footsteps immediately caught up and stopped Kazusa. Himekoji and Kitahara then went out first.

"Ah—, I'm not used to kneeling, my legs are going numb."

As soon as Himekoji came out, she stretched her legs. Because her mother was Italian, there was almost nothing Japanese-style in the house, and she had nothing to do with kneeling. Except for kneeling for a while when taking tea ceremony class, she usually sat normally. But today, she had to kneel the whole time at Kogiso's house, which was even more uncomfortable than taking tea ceremony class.

"President Himekoji, you... weren't you originally very opposed to our light music club?"

"What's wrong? Do you want me to quit now?"

He gave Kitahara a cold look. Himekoji was sure of Kitahara Haruki's work ability, but he couldn't agree with his character, especially since he remembered that this guy would hurt Kazusa deeply. So he had been trying to avoid contact between him and Kazusa, and fortunately, it was working well now.

"No, I absolutely didn't mean that. On the contrary, it's really a great help that you and Touma joined us. I'm just... curious."

Kitahara quickly smiled and waved his hand, his face looking somewhat stiff.

"I see... I'm not really curious. I just made a small deal with Kogiso, and there are some family reasons too. You don't need to worry about it."

Himeko stretched her hips and then, as Reiko's car appeared at the end of the road and was about to arrive.

"squeak----"

Miss Reiko stepped on the brakes and brought the car to a steady stop. Kitahara glanced at Himekoji's car a few times but didn't say anything. Miss Reiko opened the car door and got out, bowing slightly to Himekoji and saying, "Master Haruto, isn't Miss Kazusa here?"

"She's still inside, she should be out soon."

Himekoji pointed to Setsuna's house.

"By the way, I am Reiko Izayoi, the head maid of the Himekoji family. It's nice to meet you."

Miss Reiko bowed to Kitahara.

"Yes, I am Kitahara Haruki, a classmate of President Himekoji. Nice to meet you."

After they introduced themselves, Miss Reiko stopped talking to him. Just as Kitahara was about to say something, Kazusa opened the door and came out of Setsuna's house, saying only to Himekoji, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"So, Kitahara, do you want to ride back in my car, or do you want to go back by yourself?"

As Reiko opened the car door for Kazusa and invited her in, Himekoji politely asked Kitahara, who thought for a few seconds, then smiled and shook his head, saying, "No need to trouble yourself, I can go back by myself, it's not far from the subway station."

"Well then, goodbye."

He waved to him and sat down next to Kazusa.