Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

"Really, both of our daughters really like Yuma."

Please don't say things that could be misunderstood.

Yuma looked at Aunt Ijichi, who was teasing him.

"Hongxia, get down first, I'll hold you." Xingge, who had been watching from the side, gently poked Hongxia, who was being held by Youzhen. "He must be tired too."

"Is brother tired?"

"It's alright, Hongxia is very light."

"That's what my brother said."

Hongxia looked at her older sister with a mischievous smile.

"Huh? When did you start teasing me, little one?" Xingge was annoyed after being deliberately teased by Hongxia. "Yuzhen, give Hongxia a hug."

"No, no, Hongxia wants her brother to hold her."

The two sisters started having their daily little squabbles again, and Yuuma was usually caught in the middle of them during these times; he was used to it.

"Xingge, it's not good to be jealous of your own sister."

Mrs. Ichichi smiled as she looked at her two daughters and teased Hoshika.

'Auntie, you can just watch, but don't stir things up.' Yuzhen thought to herself.

In the end, Hongxia got down from Yuzhen's arms. She was led by the hands of Yuzhen and Xingka and walked between them.

Mrs. Ijichi parted ways with the three downstairs; she needed to go to the convenience store to buy some things, and told the three of them to go upstairs by themselves.

"Sister, I'm hungry."

"Let's wait until Mom comes back. Let's have some snacks for now."

Listening to the sisters' conversation, Yuzhen glanced at the time; it was already noon.

"If Hongxia is hungry, how about I go and cook something now?"

"Can your brother cook?"

"Of course I will. Hongxia, would you like to eat your brother's cooking?"

"Yes! Hongxia wants to try it."

Hongxia obediently went to the sofa to watch TV and wait for dinner, while Youzhen glanced at Xingge next to her.

Xingge was still a little skeptical when she heard that Youzhen could cook, since he didn't seem like someone who could cook.

"Looks like I'll have to show off my skills. Senior Xingge, don't be scared by my well-honed culinary expertise."

"What are you talking about? It sounds so childish."

……

"I never expected you could actually cook."

Xingge sat at the table and watched Youzhen bring the food to the table.

"Yu is really amazing."

Mrs. Ijichi also led Nijika to wash her hands and sit down.

“My parents are often not home, so I usually cook for my older brother.” Yuzhen felt a little awkward being praised like that. “Try it.”

"Then we won't stand on ceremony, I'll start eating."

Chapter 33 The Gift

On the first day of her holiday, Yuzhen went to the mall with three senior colleagues. They were there to help Yuzhen pick out a birthday present for Xingge, which Yuzhen planned to give to her on her birthday in a few days.

"I don't really know what to give a girl for her birthday, so I'd like to ask you all for help."

"Then why did you have me and Omori come too? Isn't Umino enough?" Senior Tokita asked, pointing to himself.

“Since Tokita-senpai has a girlfriend, I think your opinion is worth considering.” Yuma looked at the two of them. “As for Omori-senpai, I think it would be awkward for him if we only asked the two of you and didn’t contact him.”

After listening to Yuuma's words, Senior Omori placed his hands on Yuuma's shoulders and looked at him, "Kenzaki, there's no need to be so honest. I feel like I'm superfluous now."

Since we were already there, we all started looking for things we thought would be suitable as gifts in the mall.

Yuzhen wandered to the clothing section on the second floor. In his mind, sending clothes was one of the safest options. He browsed for a while and found there were quite a few styles to choose from, making it a bit difficult. After browsing for a while longer, he realized another problem: he didn't seem to know Xingge's clothing size.

There was no other way. He checked the time and decided to go back to the meeting point to see if the seniors had any better suggestions.

What kinds of things did you choose?

Yuma looked at the photos taken by her seniors and fell into deep thought.

"Isn't it obvious?" Senior Tokita looked at the puzzled Yuuma. "I was shooting swimsuit photos."

"Why would you think of giving someone a swimsuit in winter?" Yuzhen sat on a chair in the rest area, rubbing her forehead. "Don't tell me you gave your girlfriend a swimsuit too. And how come you weren't arrested by security for being a pervert?"

"I did give my girlfriend a swimsuit during summer vacation." Senior Tokita put away his phone and scratched his head. "She accepted it and even wore it for me."

"What are you showing off!" Senior Omori suddenly sprang up and grabbed Senior Tokita by the throat.

"You two, stop fooling around." Yuma looked helplessly at the two seniors who had turned into demons. "What was that one that Senior Omori chose? I don't quite recognize it."

The photo that Omori-senpai took was of a bottle of something he didn't recognize, and his photography skills were terrible. Yuma could tell that the label on it was in English, but he couldn't make out what it said.

"It's protein powder."

"You mean you want me to deliver a tub of protein powder to Senior Xingge?" Youzhen was already exhausted. "As long as I'm a normal person, I can't do that."

However, Umino-senpai's choice was more reliable; she took a picture of a pink scarf.

“I’ve wanted to buy this for a while, but I already had the one I’m wearing now, so I didn’t buy it.”

"I see, so this is what girls often discuss." Yuuma felt she understood. However, Aunt Ijichi bought Xingge a scarf of this style the other day, so giving him another one would be duplicates.

He said this to Senior Umino.

"You have so many demands."

"Exactly, exactly, you don't like any of the things we chose."

Yuma squinted at the two unreliable guys who were still saying such things.

"If either of you had chosen something more reliable, I wouldn't have refused so readily."

……

After spending the morning browsing the clothing section on the second floor without finding anything suitable, they decided to have lunch first.

"I'll pay them, since everyone's here to help me."

Yuzhen led them up the escalator to the fourth floor for dinner. When they passed the third floor, he saw a toy counter next to the escalator, which seemed to be filled with plush dolls.

"Hey, Kenzaki, what are we eating later?"

"Yeah, what are we going to eat?"

"There are quite a few shops on the fourth floor, you can choose for yourselves."

"Great!"

……

After lunch, the three seniors left first, but Yu-ma said she wanted to see more, so she stayed behind.

He went back to the toy counter on the third floor, where a cute panda plush toy was displayed in the window. Yuzhen thought Xingge would like it.

However, Yuma wandered around the store and didn't see the same doll in the display case, so she went to find the shop assistant behind the counter.

"Is this still available? I've looked around and can't seem to find it."

"Sorry, this doll is a Christmas limited edition and it sold out very quickly. Except for the display piece, all the others have already been sold," the shop assistant patiently replied.

"Is that so?" Yuuma glanced at the dolls in the display window. "Are those for sale?"

"That's not for sale..."

“I can pay more.”

The clerk said she needed to make a phone call to ask the manager and asked Yuzhen to wait a moment.

The store manager felt that since all the goods were sold out, there was no point in keeping this one, so he simply let Yuzhen take it away at the original price.

……

"It's quite cute. Should we give it to Ichichi Hoshika?" Yuuki looked at the plush doll that Yuuma had brought back and tried to touch it, but Yuuma slapped his hand. "You're so stingy. The packaging is still there. You can't even touch it."

"So cute." Yuzhen's mother picked up the plush doll, examined it for a moment, and then put it back on the table. "Is it for your girlfriend? Yuxing told me about it."

"I knew you couldn't control your mouth."

Yuzhen slapped Yuxing's outstretched hand again.

"Oh, and I also brought you some gifts."

As Yuma spoke, he took a scarf out of the bag and gave it to his mother, the same scarf that Umino-senpai had shown him.

"Thank you, Yuzuru." Mom took the scarf, put it on, and looked in the mirror. She liked it very much.

"Yuzhen is so good to her mother. Come here, let her give you a kiss."

"No, I'm so old, why are you still like this?"

"No matter how old Yu-chan is, she's still a child in her mother's eyes. Yu-sachi is the same."

Yuuma tried to dodge, but Yuuki held him down and forced him to accept his mother's reward.

"This is for you." Yuzhen took out a box and handed it to Yuxing.

"What's this?" Yuxing took the box, opened it, and saw a game disc. "Oh! I was just thinking of buying this. Thank you."

Yuuki took the CD and went back to her room to play.

“And this too, Dad said he wanted to eat this a few days ago.” Yuzhen pulled two more glass bottles out of the bag. “I saw it when I was shopping and bought two bottles.”

"It's spicy miso. Your dad did say he wanted to eat it a couple of days ago."

“Then please give this to him.” Yuzhen stood up and picked up the plush doll. “I won’t be home on Christmas Eve. It’s Xingge’s birthday that day, and I told her I would go to her house to play that day.”

"Okay then, have fun."