Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

Yuzhen was taken aback by Xingge's words. Was he being asked to leave that night? He hadn't said he wasn't staying there tonight, had he? Had he done something wrong?

As he thought this, he saw Kita beside Nijika, his eyes gleaming with gossip. Okay, Yuuma knows why now. It seems everything will be fine after Kita leaves; Hoshika is just too embarrassed to let Kita know they sleep together every day.

"So, my sister was just nagging me." Hongxia looked up at Youzhen when she saw him return. "Isn't my sister's room full of brother's things? Why don't you give yourself to brother too?"

"She gave it to me."

Yuma's words immediately shut Hongxia up.

Hongxia thought about it and realized she might have actually given it to him?

"No, that doesn't count." She quickly shook her head. "If we're not married, then we haven't given it to her."

“We’ve been a couple for a long time, even if you don’t count the years we broke up.” Yuzhen found it amusing to look at Hongxia’s flushed face. “But Hongxia and Liang aren’t a couple. She’s just your friend, right? Hongxia, you’re just too lenient with Liang.”

"That was... that Ryo insisted on putting things in my room."

"You just give it to her if she wants it?" Xingge felt that Hongxia was too soft-hearted towards Liang, which would make Liang more and more dependent on Hongxia, and that was not a good thing.

"But she insisted."

“But we can’t keep indulging her like this,” Yuzhen said. She felt that Hongxia was like a mother being pestered by her child to buy her toys when she was dealing with Liang. “Hongxia, you shouldn’t be so soft-hearted with Liang. It’s like raising a child. The more you spoil her, the more unruly she becomes.”

"but……"

“Think about that guy Hiroi,” Yuma said, seeing that Nijika still wanted to speak, and quickly cited Hiroi as a typical example, “It’s because their band’s drummer kept indulging her that she became an alcoholic bassist. Do you want Ryo to become a social outcast like that?”

Hongxia thought about Hiroi's appearance and couldn't help but shudder. She didn't want Ryo to become like that.

"I understand, I'll talk to Ryo about it."

Seeing that Nijika had made up her mind, Yuuma nodded in approval, then turned to look at Kita, who had been standing silently to the side:

"Stop laughing. The score you got on that test was much lower than the one you did the day before yesterday. Go and work on the questions you got wrong."

Yuma suddenly spoke to Kita, startling Kita who was eavesdropping nearby.

Kita felt like she was being called on by the teacher for daydreaming in class, and she immediately stood up straight.

"I understand! I'll go right away!"

Chapter 79: Flying (The author can't think of a title)

Good morning, store manager.

As soon as Pochi arrived at the exhibition hall, he started crawling into the trash cans.

"Why don't you go to work?"

Yu-ma and Hoshika watched as Pochi, whose head was wrapped in bandages, made another strange move. They then checked their watches. It was already afternoon, so why was she saying good morning? What had happened to her this time?

After Pochi explained, they realized it was because of the school festival.

Pochi is still debating whether or not to go on stage to perform.

“I definitely have to go on stage at least once.” Xingge thought that Boqi was worrying too much after hearing his words. “This is a rare stage for youth. If I miss it, I might never get another chance.”

“Indeed, if there’s such an opportunity, it’s best to seize it.” PA sat down next to him. “But I dropped out of high school, so I don’t know much about these things.”

As the only person present whose high school life could be described as smooth sailing, Kenzaki Yuuma felt that everyone's attention was focused on him.

Even Boqi was staring at Yuzhen. She thought that someone like Yuzhen, who looked like she was very popular in school, must be able to say something insightful.

Yuzhen felt their expectations were a bit strange, but the atmosphere had already reached this point, so he couldn't very well say something to discourage Boqi, could he?

"Hmm... give it a try. My performances at the school festival with Hoshino were unforgettable experiences, so I think you definitely won't regret it if you go on stage this time, Pochi." He paused for a moment after saying that, "But are you going to go on stage by yourself?"

"How could this be! No, no, no, it's impossible."

"Let's discuss it with Hongxia and the others, and hear their opinions."

"Ah, okay!"

……

"School festival performance? Great, great!" Nijika was very excited after hearing Bochi's question. It was clear that she really wanted the Ending Band to perform. "I also really want to participate in the school festival performance with everyone."

"Haven't you participated in this kind of activity before?"

Yuuma hasn't been around for several years and has no idea about Nijika's middle school life. He thought Nijika and Ryo would perform at the middle school festival. Now it seems that was completely out of the question.

Thinking about this, he felt a little guilty. He wasn't there during the most difficult time for the two sisters. If he had just asked a few more questions when Xingge broke up with him back then, none of this would have happened.

However, he didn't show these emotions, because it wouldn't be good if it affected others. Everyone is talking about the school festival right now.

“I performed on stage at the junior high school festival.” Ryo, who hadn’t spoken until now, suddenly interjected, “I played a really obscure piece, and the whole stadium looked like a funeral parlor.”

She even gave a thumbs-up with a proud look on her face. Anyway, Yu really didn't know what was so great about that.

"Speaking of which, your band is just starting out, so participating in this kind of event is actually beneficial."

Yuuma pulled a whiteboard out of nowhere and placed it on the bar counter, then began to explain the significance of the school festival incident to the band's development, pointing to what he had just written on it:

"Ahem, here's the key point. First, there will be many people from outside the school during the school festival, which can attract a lot of spectators. And with Kita, such a popular guy, your band will definitely have a large audience, which will help increase your popularity within the school and positively impact the band's development. Second, this is one of the few opportunities in your lives to showcase your youth, which will promote the development of relationships between band members. Third, this opportunity is crucial for Bochi to build confidence; success will be a milestone in the band's development..."

The people next to them were all drowsy listening to Youzhen's long speech.

Ryo and Boqi could barely keep their eyes open. For the past few days, Yuzhen had been filling their brains with knowledge almost every day, and now they felt sleepy whenever they heard Yuzhen's voice lecturing.

"What's going on with Boss Kenzaki?"

PA leaned close to Hoshika's ear and whispered something to her. The only way to find out about Kenzaki Yuuma, besides asking him, was to ask Ijichi Hoshika; this was PA's accumulated experience.

“He’s practically gone crazy from tutoring those four girls these past few days,” Xingge whispered in response to PA’s question. “These past two days, no matter what Hongxia and I ask him, he just rambles on about a bunch of random things.”

"No wonder he studied politics."

PA watched Yuma talking and circling keywords. Although she could hear what Yuma was saying, it went in one ear and out the other, and she didn't really think about it.

She had always thought that people who studied politics or history weren't necessarily very good at their studies, but they were definitely good at talking. Yuzhen's performance today just happened to contradict her stereotypes.

“In conclusion…” Yuzhen capped his pen. He wanted to say more, but seeing Ryo and Bochi slumped over the table, lost in thought, he was a little disappointed. “Kids these days, really. They can’t even listen to this much. When Xingge and I stood on the playground under the scorching sun listening to the principal’s speech for over two hours, we didn’t even listen to this much.”

"Don't remind me of those painful memories." Xingge quickly put away the whiteboard, then looked at Boqi, who was still lying next to her, and said, "Although what he just said was a bit long-winded, it was really fine."

"Sister, you actually listened to the whole thing?"

Hongxia looked troubled. She couldn't even stand listening to this, yet her sister had actually listened to it all? Normally, she thought her sister would be in the same state as the two people next to her.

“But, but,” Pochi struggled to prop himself up on the table with his arms, “won’t I get expelled if I don’t use rock music to liven up the atmosphere at the school festival?”

"Such a school rule couldn't possibly exist, could it?"

Yuzhen and Xingge knew without even thinking that this was just another figment of Boqi's imagination.

“I think I can understand how Boqi feels,” Ryo also stood up from the table. “After all, there must have been more audience members back then than here, so the pressure must have been immense.”

After Liang finished speaking, a few tears still welled up in the corners of her eyes: "Actually, I still dream about that performance that felt like a vigil sometimes."

"So your nonchalant attitude just now was just a show of bravado?" Yuzhen looked helplessly at Ryo, who had slumped back onto the table and was pretending to sob. "Anyway, the most important thing this time is not to let Boqi have any regrets, right? It all depends on Boqi's choice."

“Agreed!” Hongxia raised her hand. “Poch-chan, think about it some more. There’s no need to rush to decide now.”

"I see."

……

"What was that look on your face this afternoon?" Xingge asked, sitting on the bed that evening, looking at Youzhen who was checking the bills at her desk. "What are you feeling guilty about?"

"You noticed?"

Yuzhen never expected that Xingge would see her brief change in expression.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about some things." He tried to change the subject, but met Xingge's gaze. Youzhen felt that she had seen through his thoughts. "I'm sorry."

Why apologize?

Xingge got off the bed and walked behind Youzhen.

Before Yuuma could react to what Xingge was about to do, Xingge's hand was already on his hair. Yuuma wanted to turn around, but Xingge stopped him. His head tilted back as Xingge guided him, resting against her chest. The two of them stared at each other like that.

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself in the future. It wasn't your fault."

"But……"

Yuzhen wanted to say something, but he felt Xingge's slightly cool hand suddenly place on his neck, then slide down a little, stroking the wound on his collarbone.

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

Chapter 80 The innocent anchor PA almost suffered a box attack

Early in the morning, Kenzaki Yuuma sat in his restaurant, staring at PA eating breakfast next to him.

"Why are you staring at her like that?" Xingge, who was next to him, was naturally annoyed by Youzhen's behavior and poked Youzhen's face with her finger.

"Ah, no, I just suddenly felt that PA's voice sounded a little familiar."

"How could you not be familiar with it if you listen to it every day?"

"That seems to make some sense."

PA, who was sitting to the side eating a sandwich, listened calmly to the conversation between the two, but she was not as calm as she appeared. In fact, she had broken out in a cold sweat when Yuma was staring at her.

Yu Zhen couldn't sleep after flirting with Xing Ge last night, so he secretly went back to his own home through the balcony and turned on his computer to try out the anime-style suit he had previously customized for his live stream.

He thought this thing was really high-tech; the little figure on the screen could change according to his movements and expressions. Yuzhen found it quite interesting, so he immediately started a live stream to try it out.

He was using his old account, which already had a certain fan base. Plus, he had recently posted two cover songs, so some people entered the live stream as soon as it started. After Yuzhen greeted them, the viewers saw his costume start twitching and making all sorts of bizarre expressions.

It was more than an hour later when he finally got the thing working. It was past 1 a.m. He opened a side-scrolling sandbox game and, with his clumsy skills, managed to get the comments section to teach him how to play.

He also took a moment to check the number of viewers in the live stream. Hmm, it seemed like a lot of people; in reality, it was probably everyone who played this game online. He answered some questions from the chat as he played, many of which were about the band.

"Oh dear, what an incredibly incompetent boss."

Just as Yuzhen was about to end the broadcast after being knocked down three times, he found that he had received a call request to connect with someone. He took a closer look at the nickname and saw that it was Yinxi Alte.

He was so focused on being able to connect with such a big streamer on his first live stream that he forgot that his account actually had a significantly higher number of followers than Yinxi Art.

"Hello, Mr. Audio-Visual Art, can you hear me?"

PA, on the other end, heard Yuzaki's voice and made a "hmm?" sound. She then looked at the account she was connected with and it really was Kenzaki Yuzaki. She couldn't understand Kenzaki Yuzaki's motivation for dressing up as a cat-eared boy in a leather outfit in the middle of the night.

"Yes, you can hear me. Nice to meet you. I'm Audio-Visual Alto." PA replied to Yuuma in his usual livestream voice. "Kenzaki-sama... Kenzaki Yuuma? Is that your online name?"