Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

"Oh right, I still need to cook."

Yuma finally snapped out of her daydreaming about what to name her child and remembered that she still had to make dinner.

So what are we eating today?

Xingge saw that he had finally remembered and asked him.

"I saw a cooking video online a few days ago, and I wanted to try making it today," Yuzhen said as she walked into the kitchen. "Let me find some suitable kitchen utensils... Hmm, this one won't do, it's too heavy, and this one lacks creativity..."

"So what exactly are you going to make? Why are you complaining that the kitchenware isn't creative enough?"

Xingge listened to his mutterings and had no idea what he was trying to do. Oh well, in the end all she had to do was eat.

"So all you did was fry up some pork chops?"

Xingge ate the fried pork chops that Youzhen had just served, and felt that they were no different from ordinary fried pork chops.

"That shouldn't be the case." Yuzhen ate while watching the tutorial video he had found earlier. "The video clearly said it was simple and unique. How did this author taste the apple's delicate fragrance?"

“Is it possible,” Xingge put down his chopsticks, “that he didn’t even taste it himself?”

“Very insightful.” Yuma turned off her phone. “This kind of thing can happen.”

……

On the morning of the second day of the holiday, Youzhen and Xingge took Bruce for a stroll in the park.

Yuma sat on the lawn, watching Hoshigo throw the ball, which was then retrieved by Bruce.

"Well done, good boy, good boy."

Xingge squatted down and stroked Bruce's head, who had just run back with a ball in his mouth. She was also a little tired from playing, so she led Bruce back to sit down next to Youzhen.

"I'm so envious of Bruce, he got praised by his senior."

Yuma vigorously rubbed Bruce's head.

"Are you even jealous of dogs now?" Xingge moved next to Youzhen, then raised her hand and patted his head. "You praised me last night too."

"When? I don't remember."

"I praised you yesterday when we were sleeping together."

Xingge did praise Youzhen last night, but Youzhen was almost asleep and not fully awake at that time, so of course she didn't hear it clearly.

"Just yesterday, when you were holding me."

Xingge sat on the lawn with her knees drawn up to her chest. She lowered her head, buried her face in her arms, and tilted her head slightly, peeking out one eye to watch Youzhen's reaction.

"last night?"

Yuzhen did remember that Xingge had made up some excuse to snuggle into his arms when she was sleeping last night, but he didn't hear what she said afterward because he was too sleepy and Xingge's voice was too soft.

"Could you say it again? I want to hear it again."

"...I can only say it one more time."

"I'm listening."

"What I said last night was that you..." Xingge's voice trailed off as she beckoned Youzhen closer, "You are the... the best boyfriend, I like you."

"Just say it out loud."

Yuzhen lowered her head and whispered something to Xingge in her ear.

Bruce stood between the two, neither making a fuss nor shouting. He just watched as Xingge next to him looked up, and then the two people's faces got closer and closer.

"It's all your fault, you made me look bad."

Hoshika and Yuuma led Bruce on their way to the ramen shop. Hoshika kept her head down the whole way, ignoring Yuuma. This girl had just made her say those things in the park, and an old lady had even seen them kissing.

She just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. How could she do something like this in the park? She felt like she must have lost her mind.

"Yes, yes, it's my fault." Yuzhen nodded. He wasn't worried because Xingge's temper would soon dissipate. "I'm going to the library this morning. Is it okay for you to be home alone, senpai?"

"I'm not a little kid like Hongxia, what could possibly happen to me if I'm home alone?"

"I can rest assured that."

……

'Oh no, I'm so bored without him at home.'

Xingge didn't have to go to work in the morning; she just lay on the sofa watching TV dramas.

But she couldn't concentrate on watching it; she felt a little uncomfortable being alone. Usually, when they watched TV dramas and anime together, Yuzhen would hold her close, but now she was all alone, and without Yuzhen's hand on her shoulder, she actually felt a little cold.

"I feel a little cold in the middle of summer? Is this what they call withdrawal symptoms?"

Chapter 57 School Trip

After learning about the shop where Hoshiga works, Yuma would take a look whenever she had free time, and sometimes she would tease Hoshiga behind the shop manager's back.

At first, Xingge thought it wasn't quite right for him to do this, but after a few days they got used to it and both of them found the role-playing quite interesting.

The store manager had actually watched the security footage. From her perspective, Yuzhen would always cling to Xingge whenever he came in, and Xingge couldn't shake him off. The manager had also asked Xingge about these things, but from Xingge's answers and reactions, she realized that Xingge didn't seem to care much. She now felt completely unable to understand these young people's thinking, even though she wasn't much older than Xingge herself.

There was nothing she could do; Xingge herself didn't care, so she couldn't say much more.

Fortunately, Yuzhen would help out at the store and got along well with everyone there. So the store manager's perception of him became that he was a slightly frivolous but nice guy.

This situation continued until Yuuki returned from Hokkaido.

Yu-Xing and Yu-Zhen learned over the phone that he was at the music store, so he went to the bar first to check and make sure everything was alright before going to the music store.

"Sasaki-nee, nothing's happened lately, has anything?"

As soon as Yuxing entered, she found the store manager and inquired about the business situation during this period.

"There are no problems with operations."

Manager Sasaki is right. There are no problems with the business operations, but Yuuma comes almost every day to hang around Hoshika, and lately he's been frequently trying out the keyboards on the second floor. Although he's practically her boss, having another person like him after Hoshika is bound to be a bit of a headache.

Fortunately, Yu-ma really does help with maintenance after playing, and sometimes she even helps Hoshika maintain her guitar.

"It's good that nothing's wrong." Youxing looked around. "I'll go inside and take a look. The guitar I ordered a few days ago should be in the storage room, right? I bought it for a friend, I'll go get it."

"Wait, don't go in!"

When Manager Sasaki saw Yuuki's hand on the doorknob of the storage room, he quickly tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Yu Xing had already opened the door, and then he saw Xing Ge, dressed in an employee uniform, leaning against the wall of the storage room, with Yu Zhen's arm propped against the wall and her other hand hooking her chin.

Sasaki saw that Hoshika's face was full of resistance, and seemed to be a little shy. Yuuma, on the other hand, had a frivolous smile on his face.

'Has he finally lost his temper and decided to attack Xingge?! I'm so sorry, Xingge, I'm such a useless manager, I failed to protect you.'

"Tsk, what bad luck!"

Yu Xing immediately closed the door again.

"Wait, boss, our employees have been..."

"Huh? What are you talking about? It's been so long and you still don't know what their relationship is?"

A few minutes later.

"terribly sorry!"

Yuuma and Hoshika had already emerged from the storage room. After being reprimanded by Yuuki, they explained their relationship to Manager Sasaki and apologized. After all, the two of them had really gone too far with their antics lately.

"So I was just a part of your little romantic escapades, huh?"

The light had faded from Sasaki's eyes as he stared at the two of them.

'Mr. Yuzuru, even if you're Mr. Yuzuru's younger brother, I still have to give you a nickname! Let's call you the Fallen Angel of Shimokitazawa.'

"You two should stop getting thrills from this kind of thing. It's really disgusting."

Yuuki straddled the chair next to her, her hands resting on the back of the chair, with a gloating expression on her face.

……

"We're going on a school trip the day after tomorrow, everyone please get ready. If anyone can't go, please let me know."

The homeroom teacher told everyone the news after class. Since school was about to end, the classroom immediately became lively with her announcement.

"We're going to Kyoto this time, for three days and two nights. You'll need to divide yourselves into groups of four to six people each."

She left the classroom after she finished speaking.

The school trip is an activity that everyone is looking forward to. The various groups in the class have already been divided into groups and are getting together to imagine the upcoming trip to Kyoto.

"Kenzaki, Ijichi, how about the four of us form a group?"

Aikawa and Kamishiro packed their bags and walked over to Yuuma to ask him questions.

Yuzhen and Xingge naturally had no objections. They weren't particularly close to the other students in the class, so it was practically impossible for them to team up with them.

"Kyoto?" Yuma and Hoshika walked home. "It sounds like it'll be really interesting."

"I've never been to Kyoto. Is there anything to do there?"

Xingge took out her phone and started looking up tourist attractions in the area.

“There are so many places to visit.” Yuma tilted her head and looked at the attractions that had just appeared on her phone screen. “I definitely want to go on a pilgrimage to Fushimi Inari Shrine.”

Are any of your favorite anime or tokusatsu series filmed there?

"That's right, so I definitely have to go and see it this time."

In one of Kenzaki Yuuma's favorite anime, the male and female protagonists confessed their feelings and got together there. So he really wanted to see the place where the characters from the anime found happiness.

“Speaking of which, Kyoto is a classic destination for school trips.” Yuma recalled the anime she had watched, and it seemed that many of the school trip scenes in those anime were set in Kyoto. “Let’s go see Kiyomizu-dera Temple sometime.”

“You seem to know a lot about these things, so you can plan the itinerary, and we'll follow you.”

Seeing that he understood so well, Xingge put away her phone and decided to follow him on this trip.

"Alright, I'll go back and make a plan."

Yuma nodded in agreement.

"By the way, haven't Auntie and Hongxia returned yet?"

"No. My grandparents can't bear to part with them, so they'll stay there for a few more days."