Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

Hoshika was jealous because she'd heard PA's previous comments and saw him greeting JK. Kenzaki Yuuma thought to himself. Having spent so many years with Ijichi Hoshika, how could Yuuma not know what she was thinking?

"Yuzhen-ge, do you still have any energy drinks here? Oh, my sister is here too."

Hongxia and Liang also finished school and rushed into the store, intending to buy some energy drinks from Youzhen.

Hearing about energy drinks, Yuuma was a little curious about what they were going to do. He remembered seeing pictures of girls with a "landmine" style online before; those girls would even modify their knives into decorative designs, and he'd heard they liked to mix energy drinks with their rice. No, no, Kenzaki Yuuma absolutely didn't want a good girl like Nijika to turn into that kind of person.

"We do have energy drinks, but why are you suddenly buying this? You don't usually drink this, do you?"

“It was Boqi-chan who said it, look.”

The three people next to the counter looked at Hongxia's phone screen. It was the group chat after the band ended. Boqi had sent a long message: "Please work while you and Liang are blasting electronic dance music and dancing with energy drinks in one hand."

After reading the message, the group exchanged bewildered glances. Kenzaki Yuuma took a deep breath, patted Nijika on the shoulder, and said, "Nijika, are you guys going to become party girls? Or are you going to create a landmine-like persona...?"

"No way! What is Yuzhen thinking? Since Pochi-chan has begged us so much, we should at least buy some drinks to make a show for her, and then ask her what she thinks later."

Yuuma didn't say much. With a gloomy face, he carried a case of energy drinks and went back to STARRY with them. He had watched Nijika grow up, and he couldn't let his little cabbage be corrupted. As for what to do with the shop? Kenzaki Yuuma only needed to pay salaries; the other staff would take care of it.

As soon as the group stepped out of the store, they saw Pochi tug-of-war with a little red-haired girl in the distance. Pochi whispered something behind the red-haired girl, and then the girl suddenly turned around and started rubbing Pochi's face.

Hongxia saw Boqi and pulled Liang Xiao over.

"Poch-chan! I don't quite understand what you mean, but Yu-chan gave us a lot of energy drinks!"

She suddenly stopped and looked at the little red-haired boy in surprise.

"Ah! The runaway guitarist! Kita-chan, what are you doing here?!"

Kenzaki Yuuma was still unaware of what had happened; his drink had already been taken back by Ijichi Seika and PA. He walked over to Nijika's side, staring at the trembling Kita. Kita looked at Ryo, who was being led by Nijika, and the terrifying-looking man in front of him, and suddenly began to dogeza (prostrate himself in a deep bow).

"In other words, Kita ran away because he can't play the guitar."

Inside the exhibition hall, Kenzaki Yuuma and Nijika sat together. He held a can of energy drink in his hand, but he didn't drink much of it; it tasted awful.

"Honestly, Kita could have just told us he can't play the guitar. We're all so worried about him."

“I thought you were dead, so I burned incense for you every day.”

Kenzaki Yuuma took a sip of his drink and glanced at Ryo with surprise. He never expected that Ryo would actually save money to offer incense to Kita.

Kita ended up wearing the maid outfit that Ijichi Seika had bought for her in the performance hall to atone for her sins. However, Kenzaki Yuuma could probably guess that the maid outfit must have been bought for Nijika by this tsundere sister complex. After confirming that the band wouldn't take any landmine-like actions after the performance, Yuuma felt relieved and went to the bar. He placed the half-empty can of energy drink on the bar and sat down next to Ijichi Seika.

"These little guys are really energetic."

Ichika ignored him and casually picked up the energy drink he had placed on the bar and took a big gulp.

"Hey, that can of drink is mine."

"Oh, here you go."

Seeing the last bit of his drink, Kenzaki Yuuma, adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, tilted his head back and drank it all, then threw the can into the trash can. Ijichi Seika remained focused on her computer, not looking at him.

After throwing out the trash, Yuuma saw Kita struggling to carry a bucket of water and went to lend a hand. PA, who had been sitting next to them, saw Yuuma enter the storage room and, looking at Iji Tomoka who was blushing but pretending to be absent-minded, leaned close to her ear:

"Is an indirect kiss enough?"

"Say that again and I'll fire you."

"Okay, okay~"

Chapter 8 Guitar, Bass, and Cool's Wallet

Kita's enthusiasm completely dispelled the gloomy atmosphere in the performance hall.

Although her maid outfit was pretty, it could be a bit of a hindrance sometimes. When Kenzaki Yuuma took the bucket of water from Kita, he accidentally touched her fingers and noticed the calluses on Kita's hands. Considering that Nijika said Kita was a "runaway guitarist," those must be from practicing guitar. She's a good kid who practices hard for the band.

"Kita-chan, let Pochi tell you where the drinks are."

"it is good!"

Kita was called away by Nijika. Kenzaki Yuuma placed the bucket in front of Ryo, who was about to mop the floor.

What are you two talking about?

As soon as Kenzaki Yuuma returned to the bar, he saw PA and Hoshika talking quietly about something.

"They were talking about what kind of woman Kenzaki would like to marry."

While answering Kenzaki Yuuma's question, PA secretly nudged Iji Tomoka with her elbow.

"Marriage?" Kenzaki Yuuma glanced at Iji Tomoka, then sat down next to the two of them and began to think about the question. "Anyway, it probably won't be with that kind of gentle woman. I don't like gentle women because I've always been selfish when it comes to relationships. Gentle women are gentle to everyone, but I only want that gentleness to belong to me. However, what I like most is that kind of tsundere who says one thing but means another; I like any tsundere attribute."

"Kenzaki-sensei is very possessive."

"I guess so. Sometimes I even scare myself."

PA glanced at Ichichi Hoshika, the haughty golden retriever who was already sprawled on the table, burying her face in her arms, seemingly uninterested in the topic. However, she guessed the manager's face must be very red.

"Excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

After Kenzaki went into the restroom, PA poked Hoshika in the back. "You're very possessive, aren't you? You like being tsundere. Why is the manager still hesitating? Honestly, you two should just get married already."

"Nonsense." Ijichi Hoshika's face was still buried in her arms, and her voice was muffled.

After Kenzaki Yuuma went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, he saw his ears, which were slightly flushed. Honestly, to just blurt it out like that when someone asked was practically calling him out by name. He turned on the tap, washed his face, and tried to cool it down a little.

He decided to be honest with Ichika Seika after a while, since it was better to hope that the band would end and enter the Budokan the next day than to expect her to take the initiative.

Kenzaki Yuuma took a deep breath to calm himself down, then walked out of the restroom as if nothing had happened.

"You've had a hard day."

The guests had all left, and it was time for the performance hall to close. Everyone packed up their belongings and prepared to leave.

"The performance tonight was great."

"What exactly are you here for?"

Ijichi Seika gave Kenzaki Yuuma a deadpan look, as if he were an unemployed bum.

"We're here to watch the show, what else would we be here for?"

Kenzaki Yuuma glanced at Ijichi Seika's computer for a while; it displayed the bands' performance schedule. Ijichi Seika was wearing headphones, listening to the demos submitted by the next band. Yuuma couldn't hear the music, so he found it uninteresting and got up to leave.

As Kenzaki Yuuma stood up, he felt as if he had bumped into something. He glanced under the table and saw it was Kita's guitar bag, but the zipper was a little open. He picked up the bag and placed it on the table, intending to zip it up, but a quick look inside revealed something was wrong.

"Kita, may I see your guitar?"

"OK."

After the guitar case was opened, a six-string bass was revealed. The performance hall fell silent.

"Kita, you want to switch to bass and vocals just because you can't play guitar?"

Why did you say that, Kenzaki-nii?

"Because it's a bass."

Kenzaki Yuuma mercilessly revealed the truth.

“But, don’t basses only have four strings? Mine has six.”

Kita started sweating. Being told by a senior member of a band she had played in for a long time that she had bought the wrong instrument made her start to panic. However, she probably still didn't want to accept reality and was still being stubborn.

"Your instrument is a six-string bass."

After Ryo spoke, Kita's hopes were completely shattered. The colors on her body began to fade, and then she collapsed onto the ground as a pile of line art. Kenzaki Yuuma had only ever seen this happen to Pochi before.

In the end, Ryo bought Kita's bass and lent her a guitar. Kita returned to the band and became the guitarist and lead vocalist. Although Ryo will be eating grass from now on, it's still a cause for celebration.

A few days later, Kenzaki Yuuma's izakaya also opened for business. That morning, Yuuma was sorting out the bills from the past few days at the izakaya.

"Taking a group photo?"

The three members of the band TFBOYS, who were not involved in the breakup, suddenly approached him that day and asked if he knew of any suitable places to take group photos.

Kenzaki Yuuma thought for a moment, "If it's Kawasaki, I can recommend a few places, but I haven't explored Shimokitazawa properly in a long time. I only remember there used to be a nice graffiti wall, I don't know if it's still there."

Can you tell us where it is?

After Yuma told them the location, they left immediately.

"So urgent?"

Kenzaki Yuuma lowered his head and continued checking the accounts.

In the evening, Kenzaki Yuuma returned to his family restaurant and immediately saw Yamada Ryo sitting in the corner eating curry rice.

"Have you finished taking your group photos?"

"Soon, the place you recommended will be great."

After swallowing the curry in her mouth, Liang took out her phone, opened the photo album, and showed Yuzhen a group photo. The four girls in the photo jumped up, brimming with youthful energy.

"not bad."

Yuzhen didn't want to disturb Ryo's meal, so he went back behind the counter. But as soon as he sat down, he heard Boqi's voice.

Hey, is the business still open?

Her voice silenced everyone in the restaurant for a moment.

"Of course it's still open for business."

Kenzaki Yuuma stood behind the counter watching her with amusement on his face. He knew that Pochi must have come up with this stunt because she didn't know how to naturally enter the restaurant.

"Pochi, here, here."

Liang called Boqi over directly. After finishing her curry rice, she asked Boqi for the lyrics.

"Can I take a look at this too?"

Kenzaki Yuuma was also interested in the band's ending song, so he joined the two of them. After getting Pochi's permission, he and Ryo read Pochi's lyrics together. Yuuma felt that it didn't seem like something Pochi would write; it must have taken Kita's personality into account, but it definitely lacked personality and seemed rather uninteresting. However, he didn't say anything; he wanted to see Ryo's reaction.

As he expected, Liang was also dissatisfied. She then talked a lot with Boqi, and Boqi decided to rewrite the lyrics.

"Liang, you haven't paid yet."

After finishing her research on the lyrics, Ryo was about to slip away, but she was pulled back by Kenzaki Yuuma as soon as she reached the door.

"Didn't you say it would be free for us?"

“I do consider you all friends and I don’t intend to charge you, but that doesn’t include you. Hongxia said she can only give you half price at most.”

"Then let's say Poch is treating me to dinner. You won't accept Poch's money, right?"