Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

Yuuma, who was taking a photo with a girl, heard a teasing voice behind him. He turned around and saw Ijichi Hoshika carrying a guitar. The girl who had just taken the photo with him thought this blonde girl with the guitar, who looked like a delinquent, was Yuuma's girlfriend, so she quickly apologized and left.

Why are you apologizing to me?

Xingge watched the girl's departing figure with a puzzled expression.

"Senior, don't you need to help out inside?"

The girls in the class were mostly responsible for preparing drinks and food for the guests, and Yuzhen didn't understand why Xingge looked so relaxed.

"I have to rehearse. This year is the first time in a long time that the Light Music Club will be able to perform on stage."

"Huh? Why don't I know?"

"You're going to participate in a beauty pageant, and the class monitor said you're the face of our class's café, so Tokita-senpai and the others thought you were too tired and didn't plan to let you go on stage."

"I see. But please let me know next time. I thought I had just overlooked the club's notice. It scared me to death."

Yuuma breathed a sigh of relief. At first, he thought it was his fault, but it turned out that his seniors thought he was too tired and didn't want to trouble him. To be honest, although he was very touched, Yuuma still wanted to go on stage with everyone. However, he felt that if he insisted on going on stage, he would be letting his seniors down, so he kept it to himself.

"Kenzaki, could you come over here for a moment? The shop needs your help."

The class monitor suddenly came over and found Yuzhen at the door.

"Ah, Ijichi-kun is here too. Sorry to bother you two. May I borrow Kenzaki for a while?"

"Do as you please," Xingge waved her hand to indicate that she didn't care. "We were just chatting casually anyway. I'll be going now, it's almost time, I need to go to the club activity room, I probably won't be back until noon."

"See you at noon, Ijichi-senpai."

Xingge had to go back to rehearsal. Youzhen followed the class monitor into the shop, where she learned that they were short-staffed. Indeed, the classroom was almost full, and Youzhen noticed that some girls had changed clothes to fill in; business seemed to be booming.

"Sorry, business is unexpectedly good, we're a bit overwhelmed."

"There's no need to apologize for this. I'm happy that business is good too."

What else could Kenzaki Yuuma say? He could only give up greeting customers at the door and focus on serving the customers inside the store. It wasn't until noon, when it was almost time to change shifts, that he finally had a chance to rest for a while.

There were far fewer customers, so they didn't need as many waiters. Just as Yuuma sat down in a chair by the window to rest, she heard a familiar voice coming from the doorway.

"Mom, it's the older brother from that day."

He looked up and saw Xingge's mother holding Hongxia's little hand as they appeared at the classroom door.

“Auntie, and Hongxia too,” Youzhen quickly got up and walked towards the door, “Are you here to see Xingge-senpai? She should be rehearsing in the club activity room right now, and she might not be back for a while.”

"It's alright. Can we sit inside and wait for her for a while?" Mrs. Ijichi asked with her usual gentle smile. "But you look very tired. Will we be a bother to you?"

"No, please come in." Yuzhen turned to the side and respectfully made a "please come in" gesture. He had done this many times that morning, and Yuzhen felt that he was almost developing muscle memory for it.

A few days ago, he had a misunderstanding with Ijichi Hoshika at Ijichi's house. He thought he would be scolded by her mother, but the aunt didn't care. She listened carefully to Yuuma explain what happened and his relationship with Ijichi Hoshika, and then chatted with him for quite a while. Now, Yuuma thinks she was really understanding.

"So, what would you two like to order?"

Yuzhen led her aunt and Hongxia to a seat and then brought them two glasses of water.

"Big brother, I'd like this omelet rice. Could you please add extra ketchup for me?"

Little Rainbow Natsume sat on Mrs. Ijichi's lap, picked up the menu, and flipped through it a couple of times. Although she was very young, she spoke very politely, which was really cute.

"Of course you can."

Yuzhen felt that this little dumpling was really cute, and she would definitely spoil her if she had such a little sister.

"Then I'll have this omelet rice, a cup of black tea, and a cup of orange juice, please."

"It's alright, I'll serve you your food right away."

In just a short while, Yuzhen brought out the food they had ordered.

Surely no one would think these foods are freshly made, right? The meals Yuma's class uses are mostly frozen food; they just need to be heated up and served. After all, the class budget is limited, and after making these butler uniforms, there's not much left. Plus, very few people can cook, and there's not enough space for cooking, so this is the only option.

Yuzhen also brought Hongxia a plate of strawberry cake, which he had just bought from the next class as a gift for the little one.

"This is a gift from your brother to Hongxia. Don't tell anyone, okay? It's a secret between the two of us." Youzhen put her index finger to her lips and winked at Hongxia.

“Yes, Hongxia won’t tell anyone.”

After speaking earnestly, Hongxia covered her mouth with her two small hands.

"Hongxia, if you cover your mouth, you won't be able to eat the cake. Mommy is going to eat it all."

"No, Mom, don't take Hongxia's cake."

Yuzhen stood to the side watching the interaction between the mother and daughter, and couldn't help but smile.

"Yuuma, may I call you that?" Hongxia's mother looked gently at Yuuma standing next to her.

"Of course, please go ahead." Yuzhen quickly averted her gaze and the corners of her mouth that were turned up.

"Thank you for taking care of Xingge all this time."

"No, it is I who have received a lot of care from my seniors."

"for example?"

"Eh?"

Yuzhen was at a loss for words when asked this question. Aren't these kinds of questions usually just polite remarks?

"Just kidding, don't be so nervous." She noticed Yuzhen's embarrassment and chuckled softly.

'Is this what they call a cunning, manipulative nature?' Yuuma thought to herself, looking at her. 'No wonder Hoshika-senpai has such a nasty personality. Is this hereditary?'

"Mom? What brings you here?" Xingge walked in carrying her guitar and immediately saw Youzhen and her mother and sister sitting next to her.

"I came to see Yuzhen. After all, he's the first boy Xingge brought home."

"Mom, don't talk nonsense," Xingge retorted to her mother, her face flushed.

"Auntie, my senior and I are just ordinary classmates."

Their voices weren't loud, and there weren't many people in the classroom, so probably not many people noticed. However, Yuzhen still felt this matter needed to be clarified.

"Alright, it seems I misunderstood." Mrs. Ijichi simply smiled at the two of them and didn't continue teasing them.

"By the way, how's the rehearsal going, senior?"

Yuma asked after Ijichi Hoshika sat down.

"It's alright. We'll be the third to go on stage after the beauty pageant tomorrow afternoon. Remember to come and watch."

After Xingge finished speaking, she picked up the menu and looked at it.

"Why is there only omelet rice?"

"We're short on funds, please understand," Yuzhen replied, trying her best to maintain a smile.

"Then give me one."

"Okay, please wait a moment."

After Yuma brought out Hoshika's omelet rice, he felt that Mrs. Ijichi next to him seemed to be looking at him with a hopeful expression.

“Um… Auntie, I’m sorry, this is a butler’s café, we don’t offer services like ‘casting magic to make omelet rice taste better’.”

"Oh dear, that's a pity."

It was time for the shift change. Youzhen had nothing to do in the afternoon; the boys who were in charge of the afternoon shift had already come to relieve him. He sat down next to Xingge with a glass of orange juice and a plate of omelet rice, then downed his orange juice in one gulp.

"Are you very tired?" Xingge asked him after swallowing the food in her mouth.

"Of course, I haven't been able to sit down and rest much all morning."

Yuzhen complained slightly, then started eating. He spent the entire morning either standing at the door greeting customers or delivering food to the restaurant. Many girls wanted to take photos with him, especially those from outside the school; they were incredibly shameless, asking for his contact information right away. Even after he coldly refused, they would leave excitedly. Yuzhen felt utterly exhausted.

"If you're free this afternoon, why don't you two go for a stroll and relax?"

Mrs. Ijichi listened to their conversation and Yuzuru's complaints. She wiped the cream off Nijika's lips and then looked at them both with a kind gaze.

"We're going out to play. Will you be able to manage around the school?" Xingge looked up at her mother.

"I'm just here to take a look. I have plans to go shopping with a friend this afternoon, and I'll be heading back soon." Mrs. Ijichi narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at the two of them. "You two don't need to worry about me, just have fun."

……

Yuma and Hoshika walked around the campus after lunch. The school was incredibly lively during the school festival, with many more office workers and university students appearing at lunchtime. Yuma had heard from others that these people were a group known as "school festival hunters" by the students, who often came to the school for a cheap lunch during the school festival.

However, Yuzhen has already finished get off work, so the task of entertaining these people can be left to his classmates. These matters are temporarily no longer his concern.

The two of them went up to the third-grade floor, intending to see what activities the three senior students' classes were holding.

Yuma peeked out of the classroom of Class 3-3 and saw Senior Omori sitting inside. He waved to Senior Omori and said, "Senior Omori, we've come to hang out with you."

"Oh, it's you two. Come on in, would you like to try out the activity our class prepared?"

Senior Omori got up and led the two of them in. There were a few upperclassmen and students playing in the classroom; Senior Omori had come back to fill in after rehearsal. They were playing a shooting game, using toy guns to shoot tin cans placed on the table to score points and win prizes based on their scores.

Yuzhen noticed that Xingge seemed to be staring at something since entering the room. He followed Xingge's gaze and found a pink rabbit plush doll displayed on the shelf as a prize.

'She actually likes this kind of thing?' Yuuma found it a bit unbelievable. 'Could this be what they call gag reversal? It's so cute.'

"Senior, I want to try it." Yuzhen took out some money, took the gun handed to him by Senior Omori, and then stood behind the white line drawn on the ground, aiming at the bottom of the pile of metal cans.

He pulled the trigger and fired, feeling a recoil followed by the sound of cans hitting the ground, which sounded like a lot of them.

"Wow, you're pretty good! Looks like you've got a lot of points." Senior Omori started counting, picking up the metal cans that had fallen to the ground one by one. "Kenzaki, you're the first guy to get this many points in one shot."

"I'm actually that good?" Yuma walked over and squatted down to help Omori-senpai pick up the cans on the ground.

"Speaking of which, is this thing really safe?"

Xingge was playing with the gun that Youzhen had just handed her.

“It’s okay, these guns are just toys, and the bullets we use are made of very soft material. I’ve tried them myself.” Senior Omori put the can back. “Besides, we’ll be watching over them the whole time, so there shouldn’t be any unexpected situations.”

"That's good." Yuzhen nodded, took the gun back from the Star Singer, and put it back on the shelf beside the table. "So what's my prize?"

"Just pick one yourself." Senior Omori pointed to the shelf where the prizes were displayed. "Your score is first prize, but we're short on funds and stock, so we've changed it to allowing you to choose one prize from all the available prizes."

"Then I'll take this one." Yuzhen took the pink bunny doll.

"I thought you'd take that real bone carving." Senior Omori scratched his head in confusion. "I didn't expect you to have such a girlish heart."

Yuzhen didn't defend herself. After chatting with her senior for a few more minutes, she left with Xingge.

“Senior Ijichi, here you go.” He handed the doll to Hoshika. “I wasn’t really interested in those prizes, so I took this one. But thinking about it, it still feels a bit strange for a man like me to be holding this. If you don’t want it, you can give it to Nijika to play with when you get back.”

"Since you've said so, then I'll accept it." Ichiji Hoshika naturally took the doll and stuffed it into her bag. "It's for Nijika to take home and play with."