Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

Yuuma doesn't dislike her like this; in fact, she likes it a lot. The fact that Hoshika is jealous about this shows that she cares about Yuuma a lot.

"Because my dad told me that a man's heart should be as broad as the ocean, so I accepted them all. Besides, why not take free chocolate?"

"Ah, that's amazing. A man's heart is as vast as the ocean."

Hoshigo repeated Yuuma's words in a completely emotionless tone, and then Yuuma hugged her.

Yuma held her in his arms and let her head rest against his chest.

"But he also said that among those rivers, only one main stream is indispensable."

He felt Xingge's arms wrap around his waist, and the fabric of his shirt was warm from Xingge's breath.

"Hongxia, wake up, it's time to eat."

The two quickly separated upon hearing the sound behind them.

"Mom! When did you come in?"

Mrs. Ijichi, who had entered the room at some unknown time, was holding Nijika, who had just woken up and was still groggy. She looked at the two idiots with their faces red and steam rising from their heads.

"They just came in. It's okay, I didn't hear anything."

She carried Hongxia out of the room.

Xingge gently punched Youzhen's chest.

"It's all your fault, you suddenly hugged me."

"Huh? Me?"

"Let's go eat."

……

That night, Yuzhen lay on the bed in the guest room. He was actually a bit sensitive to different beds; on previous Valentine's Days, he would go out with his older brother until he was tired before returning to the hotel, and then he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the bed.

The phone rang, and Yuzhen picked it up to see that it was Yuxing calling.

Why are you calling again?

Yuzhen answered the phone and spoke to Yuxing in a low voice.

Why is your voice so soft?

"Nonsense, I'm not at home." Yuzhen rolled her eyes at Yuxing, though Yuxing couldn't see it. "It's so rude to make a loud phone call in someone else's house."

"That's boring. I thought you two were sleeping together."

"What are you talking about in your sleep?"

Yuuma retorted to Yuuki, and then heard a rather loud commotion coming from his side.

"What are you doing over there? It's so noisy."

"Didn't I tell you? I had a project to work on at school today. My group and I just finished it, and I'm inviting them to dinner."

Yuzhen glanced at the time on her phone; it was past nine o'clock at night. Yuxing and the others had really worked hard.

"Then don't stay up too late, get some rest."

"I know, you should go to sleep too."

Yuma hung up the phone. Once she relaxed, she fell asleep without realizing it.

"Brother, get up quickly!"

Yuuma felt incredibly heavy and heard Hongxia's voice. He opened his eyes and realized it was already morning. Hongxia was riding on him; the little one had come to wake him up.

"Okay, okay, get up, get up."

I patted Hongxia's head, and then she ran out by herself.

Yuuma got dressed and washed up using the disposable toiletries prepared by Mrs. Ijichi, intending to go to the kitchen to help make breakfast. However, he was pushed out by Mrs. Ijichi as soon as he went in.

“Yuzhen, go wake Xingge up. She often forgets to set her alarm.”

"Huh? Me?"

Yuma pointed at herself, wondering if it was alright for her to be allowed into Hoshino's room so early in the morning. Wouldn't it be awkward if Hoshino didn't like wearing pajamas to sleep?

"No problem, Yuuma can go. I trust Yuuma won't do anything bad."

"Ok."

He walked to Xingge's bedroom door and knocked.

"Senior Xingge, it's time to get up."

There was absolutely no sound from inside the house.

"Brother can just go in directly. When my silly sister is sleeping, I can only wake her up by shaking her."

Hongxia stood on tiptoe, pulled the doorknob, and opened the door directly. Then she pulled Youzhen into Xingge's bedroom.

Xingge was still asleep. She was lying on her side facing the wall, and it looked like she was drooling. So cute.

Yuzhen had seen enough, so she gently placed her hand on Yuzhen's shoulder and shook it.

"Senior, wake up."

"Uh……"

Xingge opened her eyes and saw Youzhen by the bedside.

"Wait! It's you!"

"Auntie asked me to wake you up."

After Yuma finished speaking, the room suddenly fell silent.

"Aren't you going out? I need to change my clothes."

"I'm leaving right away."

Yuuma left the bedroom and closed the door. He saw Hongxia, who had already run out, standing beside him.

"You little rascal, Hongxia, you abandoned your brother and ran away."

Yuma squatted down and rubbed Hongxia's face.

"Mom told my brother to wake up my sister, so of course Hongxia had to come out."

"Who taught you all this, little guy?"

After breakfast, Youzhen and Xingge changed their shoes in the entryway, opened the door, and prepared to go to school.

"Yuma, when you leave the house, you should say 'I'm leaving'."

"Ah good."

Yuma turned around and gave a slight bow to Aunt Ijichi, who was standing in the entryway and had taken good care of him.

"Well then, I'm heading out."

"That's more like it."

Chapter 39 The Encounter of Life with Life

"Senior Xingge, what a coincidence!"

On Saturday morning, Xingge had just walked out of the convenience store carrying her groceries when she heard Youzhen's voice. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw Youzhen walking towards her with a golden retriever.

He stopped in front of Xingge, and the dog he was leading sat down obediently and looked up at Xingge.

"It's quite a coincidence." Xingge squatted down and carefully reached out to stroke the golden retriever's head. "When did you get a dog? It's so well-behaved. What's its name?"

“Its name is Bruce.” Yuzhen also squatted down and rubbed Bruce’s head. “But it’s not my dog. It’s owned by the owner of the ramen shop that my brother and I often go to.”

"What a strange name."

This morning, Yu-zhen and Yu-xing went to their favorite ramen shop. The owner is a man in his fifties who is very familiar with their fathers, so they often come here. Bruce was picked up by the man one rainy night and has been staying at the shop entrance ever since. Many customers love this well-behaved golden retriever.

That morning, when the two of them arrived at the store, they discovered that the store manager had accidentally twisted his back the night before and couldn't walk Bruce anymore, so he asked the two of them for help.

However, Yuuki had to go to school, so the task of walking the dog was left to Yuuma, who had nothing else to do.

"So I took it around everywhere, and that's how I met Senior Xingge here."

"So that's how it is."

Yuzhen mentioned the things Xingge bought, and he planned to help Xingge return them first.

The two stood up, and Yuma noticed that Hoshika was still looking at Bruce. It seemed she really liked these cute little animals.

"Would you like to try leading it, senior?"

He handed the rope to Xingge.

Xingge took the rope, and the two of them and the dog walked together toward Ijichi's house.

They ran into Mrs. Ijichi and Hongxia downstairs as they returned from grocery shopping. Xingge and Mrs. Ijichi went upstairs to put their things away, while Hongxia didn't go upstairs. She cautiously approached Bruce and patted its head.

Bruce sat there enjoying being patted on the head by Xiao Hongxia, and then he rubbed against her.

"Hongxia, hurry up and go up."

Xingge put the things away, then came back and urged Hongxia to go home quickly.

Hongxia looked back at Bruce, waved goodbye to him, and then ran upstairs.

"Isn't Senior Xingge going home?"

Yuzhen noticed that Hoshika wasn't planning to go upstairs.

"It's safer to walk such a large dog with two people, I'll come with you."

"Bruce is very well-behaved."

"This is just in case. It seems your safety awareness is not enough."

"Let's go then, I plan to take it to the nearby park."

……

They went to a nearby park together. The park was quite large, and there were many people walking their dogs, but large dogs like Bruce were not common.