Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

Yuzhen lay on the bed, swiping his phone screen. He didn't open any apps, and he didn't know what app could calm his agitated mind. He just swiped left and right to switch screens.

"Ugh! So annoying." Yuzhen sat up in bed and went out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. He stomped heavily on the floor as he got out of bed to vent his frustration.

That pack of cigarettes wasn't a waste of money; he lit one and tried it. It was a bit strong; it really wasn't good stuff.

It's really funny, back then he wouldn't let Xingge smoke, but now he's the one smoking.

Yuzhen leaned on the balcony railing, looking at the night view outside. He didn't continue smoking, only remembering to put it out when it was half-burned.

He went back to his room and looked in the mirror. His dark circles were quite pronounced, and there were white highlights in his hair. He also had pierced ears and earrings. He didn't look like a good person.

To be honest, he was almost kicked out the first time he went to tutor. Luckily, he was self-aware of his appearance and brought his graduation certificate and a teaching qualification he had casually taken years ago that he never expected to actually use. His current reputation is entirely built on his own abilities.

"I'm so tired." Yuzhen laid the mirror down, its surface covering the table. "What is Xingge doing now? Oh, right, she should be sleeping. It's already very late."

He's actually gotten used to staying up late.

Time is truly amazing; it's incredible how much a person can change in just one year.

How is Xingge doing now? Youzhen couldn't help but think of her again. Then he shook his head. Why worry about her? Even if she can't take good care of herself, she has a nanny. There's no need to worry.

"What's wrong with me today? Why did I suddenly think of these things? Am I lovesick?" Yuzhen shook her head, lay back down on the bed, and closed her eyes. "I should go to sleep quickly, it's already very late."

Chapter 64 Extra 2

It's been five years since Yuma arrived in Kawasaki, and everything has been going smoothly; the band's career is thriving. That's how it should have been.

Inoue was caught by one of his girlfriends at a hotel a few days ago, with the lead singer of another band. One of them has a girlfriend, the other a boyfriend, but they still went out and messed around. Now his girlfriend has come knocking on his door.

Yuzhen arrived at the performance hall very late. He was woken up by the ringing of the phone. He had been composing music in his room for the past few days and was completely unaware of these events. Hearing the news, his mind was in a mess.

The performance hall was chaotic. Yuzhen counted eleven girls arguing after entering, and another girl was silently crying in a corner. Yuzhen recognized her; he had tutored her for a while before she went to university, and she had become a regular at their band's performances. According to the manager, this girl was the only one Inoue hadn't yet gotten his hands on.

Yuma put down her umbrella, walked over to her, took out a tissue to wipe away her tears, and then asked Sawamura Mana to take her home first. What followed was not something a vulnerable female college student who hadn't yet experienced society should see.

"Inoue Kazuhiko! You bastard!" Yuma shoved aside the noisy girls without hesitation and punched Inoue Kazuhiko, who was sitting in the middle, in the face.

Although Yu's schedule has been chaotic these past few years, he still manages to find time to exercise. Apart from his band's drummer, Jin Tian, ​​no one else has the strength to stop him.

Yuma is currently seething with anger.

"Kenzaki!" Before the shopkeeper could react, Kenzaki Yuuma made his move, startling him so much that he quickly grabbed Yuuma.

Yuzhen is usually very amiable, so everyone in the store has never seen him so angry before. They were all terrified.

Yu-chan was afraid of hurting the store manager, so she also stopped temporarily.

There were already some negative rumors about Inoue, but his usual innocent appearance made Yuma and the other two think that the rumors were just made up by haters, but now it seems that they are all true.

Inoue took a punch, got up from the ground, and pulled out a folding knife, but Yuma grabbed his wrist and disarmed him.

Yuzhen grew angrier the more she thought about it, so she dragged him away from the performance hall, not wanting him to smash the equipment and cause trouble for the manager.

It was still raining outside. Yuma simply threw him onto the street, then grabbed the umbrella she had just put down and smashed it into Inoue's chest just as he was about to stand up.

He'd spent so many years painstakingly building up his band since he came here, and this guy had just ruined it all. And all that time, he'd been cleaning up the messes this bastard made when he was drunk.

The heavy rain soaked Yuzhen, calming him down a bit. He tossed his umbrella aside, thinking of going back to the performance hall to sit for a while and compose himself.

But Inoue stood up from the ground, grabbed Yuma, and pulled a knife out of his pocket.

Yuuma hadn't expected this guy to carry so many folding knives. He only managed to block Inoue's thrust at his throat, but Inoue still managed to cut him near his collarbone. He punched Inoue in the chin, knocking him unconscious.

……

Yuma was released on bail from the police station the following evening.

He hadn't seen Yuuki, who came to pick him up, for four years, and he never expected that Yuuki would know about this.

"sorry."

"It's not easy to hear those three words from you." Yuxing took out her phone, took a picture of Yuzhen's injury, and sent it to her mother. "Mom and Dad are very worried about you."

"Then why did you take pictures of them?"

"Mom told me to take this picture." Youxing patted Youzhen's shoulder, which wasn't bandaged. "Let's go, I'll take you to get something to eat."

Yu-chan still didn't go back with Yu-sachi. He was just not convinced. He hadn't done anything wrong, so why couldn't he do anything right?

His father had contacted him two years ago, and he was quite surprised to hear an apology from his father. But now that he was out in the game, he naturally wanted to achieve something on his own and not be looked down upon.

However, it seems that, just as my father said back then, he really doesn't have any talent in this area.

Yuma bought some more alcohol and walked home alone. He saw a small park, went inside, sat on a bench, took out his drink, opened the cap, and took a swig. It still didn't taste good, but at times like this, he just felt like having a drink or two—a strange feeling indeed.

"Strange, is my alcohol tolerance really that bad?" Yuuma rubbed her head and looked at the bottle in her hand again. It really was Demon Slayer Sake; she hadn't bought the wrong thing. She was already drunk after only three boxes? Yuuma felt incredibly pathetic.

Yuma has only ever drunk two kinds of alcohol: beer, which he often drinks when he's alone, and the "water of life" that he drank with Tokita-senpai and the others when he ran away from home to go to Izu to clear his head.

He had always thought that he got drunk in Izu because the stuff was too strong, but now it seems it wasn't the alcohol that was the problem.

"No, I have to get home right away." Yuzhen finished tidying up the trash and staggered towards his house. He figured he was probably heading in the right direction.

After walking for a while, at a corner, he felt as if he had bumped into someone. He fell to the ground, and the other person helped him up.

Yuuma didn't know who helped him up at the time, but the person was probably not very tall compared to him, and was a girl. Her build was...

"Xingge?"

"Who's that? Is she your girlfriend, sir?" the girl supporting him asked, sounding like she'd had quite a bit to drink. "Hey, sir, are you still awake? Can you walk by yourself?"

'It's not Xingge. No, I don't want to trouble others.' Yu really wanted to move his body, but before he could even try, he felt like he had collapsed again, and then he couldn't remember anything.

……

"Ouch~, my head hurts so much. I only drank a few boxes of Demon Slayer."

Yuma shook her head and looked around.

In an unfamiliar room, he lay on a bed, next to a boy.

'Wait, am I seeing things?'

Yuzhen glanced to the side again, confirming that the boy was not a hallucination he had while drunk.

What did I do last night?

"Hey, are you two awake?"

Yuma heard a knock on the door, and then a silver-haired girl opened the door and peeked in. Fortunately, both Yuma and the boy next to her were dressed.

Later, Yuuma learned that the girl's name was Kawara Momoka, and that she had drunk a little too much the night before, as it was her first time drinking.

She thought she had bumped into Yuuma and that when she helped him up, she hadn't held on properly and had knocked him unconscious again, so she brought Yuuma back and left him in her roommate's room.

"You mean you knocked me unconscious because you were afraid I'd do something bad to you while I was unconscious, so you left me in a gay man's room?"

Yuuma felt powerless after hearing Momoka's words. Luckily, the guy was a believer in pure love and didn't do anything to him.

Yuuma's band naturally disbanded, and everyone went their separate ways; Inoue also went to jail. Yuuma started working as a tutor during the day and as a support musician in his spare time. Later, he decided to move in and share an apartment with Momoka and the other girl. It was cheap, and it was nice to have someone to keep him company.

"What? Not going to university? Actually, it would be nice to go to university and see what it's like." Yuma looked at Momoka Kawaragi. He was thinking of having Momoka try to retake the college entrance exam, just like he had done to Hoshika back then.

"Forget it, uncle. I'm not cut out for studying."

“If you don’t want to study, then forget it.” Yuzhen took a sip of her beer. “By the way, don’t call me uncle. I’m just an older brother who’s nine years older than you.”

Chapter 65 School Trip (Part 5)

After the two went down the mountain and met up with Aikawa and Ueshiro, they decided to have lunch first.

"Chicken and egg rice bowl? That sounds pretty cozy." Xingge looked at the menu and finally ordered a chicken and egg rice bowl and an udon noodle set meal. She wanted noodles, but when it was served, she realized that the rice bowl was the main dish.

"This name is a bit hellish." Yuma and Hoshika ordered the same set meal. "So, 'Oyako-don' is just an egg and fried chicken rice bowl? Come to think of it, are this egg and this chicken really related?"

"I don't know, I only know that this fried chicken tastes alright." Xingge didn't dwell on these trivial matters; all she wanted to do now was eat. "But it's not as good as yours."

"Then I'll go back and cook it for you."

To be fair, Yuzhen thought the oyako (chicken and egg rice) actually tasted pretty good; maybe he and Xingge had different definitions of "delicious." The portion was a bit small, though, and he felt it wasn't enough. So he ordered another oyako rice dish separately.

Aikawa ordered a tonkotsu ramen, and Ueshiro ordered a pork cutlet rice bowl. Yuuma looked at the portions they received and thought they didn't seem like much. Could they really be full with just that little bit?

That's why Yuzhen doesn't like eating out. When she cooks at home, she only cooks what she needs, but when she orders one serving of food, she's not full, and if she orders two, she can't finish it all, resulting in waste, and it's also very expensive.

After everyone finished their lunch, they sat together on the steps of a park. Aikawa and Yu were looking at a map, still debating where to go next.

"So where are we going next?" Yuma leaned closer to look at the map in Aikawa's hand. "If I were to consider writing a report, I'd prefer to go to Sanjusangendo."

Upon hearing Yuuma's words, Aikawa exchanged a glance with Kamishiro beside him and nodded.

"Then let's go to Kiyomizu-dera Temple."

It's impossible for Aikawa and Kamishiro to go to Sanjusangendo. If they went there, Kenzaki Yuuma would definitely start thinking about that damn report again.

Before they set off today, they were asked by Ijichi Hoshika to do everything they could to ensure that Hoshika and Yuuma had a date alone, even at the cost of their dignity as class representatives.

So the four-person team headed north and arrived at Kiyomizu-dera Temple.

"Can we really have fun in a place like this?" Yuma looked at the sea of ​​people in front of her and couldn't help but doubt Aikawa's decision.

But when he turned around, he could no longer find Aikawa and Kamishiro; only Hoshika was standing beside him.

"That's strange, where did they go?" Yuzhen looked around but couldn't find them. "Could they have been separated by the crowd?"

"Don't worry about them." Xingge held up her phone to show Youzhen. "The two of them went to play on the other side. We can meet up with them when we leave."

"What's going on? We're supposed to be a four-person team, but we're not united at all." Yuuma scratched his head. "Never mind, where would you like to go first, senpai?"

"Let's go check out the Shimizu Stage."

"Let's go then."

……

"Oh! The view here is nice." Xingge looked around from behind the railing of the Qingshui Stage. "And it's so high up here, I think it's thirteen meters above the ground."

She noticed that Yuuma didn't respond, and when she turned around, she saw that Kenzaki Yuuma was facing away from her, seemingly looking at something.

"What are you doing standing here?" Xingge walked over to him, wanting to pull him to see the scenery, but Youzhen closed his eyes and shook his head.

Seeing his expression, Xingge's confusion slowly turned into a smile. She looked as if she had seen a new and fascinating toy.

"Are you afraid of heights?"