They all have hidden attributes!

Instead of returning to the special building, the two descended the fire escape stairs to the open space outside on the first floor and walked side by side toward the atrium.

Makoto Takahashi thought now was the right time and casually asked, "Reiko-senpai, what do you think of bands these days?"

Sunlight struggled to squeeze through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled patterns on Kashima Reiko beside him. She seemed uncomfortable, her expression showing a hint of bewilderment.

"It would be best if we could hear Lengzi's true thoughts."

Looking at Kashima Reiko's profile, Takahashi Makoto added, "I won't tell anyone, I'm just a little curious."

Kashima Reiko nodded, stopped in front of the fountain in the courtyard, and said earnestly, "I want to keep the band going because I love playing the drums and I want to continue playing in the band with you."

"What about Junko?" Takahashi Makoto asked.

“Her condition is unstable. We are not professional enough right now, and I don’t want to see the band fall apart because of her emotional outbursts.”

After several days of investigation, Kashima Reiko believes that Shiraishi Junka is a completely uncontrollable factor.

Although she is very talented, she is always breaking the rules, just like a student who never follows basic discipline in class. Kashima Reiko, a strict teacher, can only think that Shiraishi Jun is unreliable.

"It seems like Senior Reiko doesn't dislike Maya?" Makoto Takahashi pressed.

"She is a genius with strong personal abilities, but she lacks planning skills when it comes to details, and the young lady is also the type who hates trivial matters."

It sounds like Kashima Reiko is used to this kind of environment and knows how to deal with it, so she doesn't care too much.

Makoto Takahashi kept her words in mind: "I understand. I'll go talk to Junko later. Do you know where she went?"

"After the rehearsal, I saw her come downstairs."

Just then, Makoto Takahashi's phone rang. He took it out of his pocket, answered the call, and learned that the delivery had arrived at the college gate.

After hanging up the phone, Kashima Reiko, who was standing next to her, said, "I'm going to the student council."

"Okay, see you this afternoon."

Makoto Takahashi said goodbye to her, opened Line, and sent a message to Junka Shiraishi, asking for her location.

As I typed characters on the screen, I felt a slight tap on my back.

"Senior Leng Zi?" He turned around and looked over.

"Sorry, I lost my balance just now."

Kashima Reiko quickly distanced herself and quickened her pace toward the student council, offering an unnecessary explanation: "I didn't sleep well last night."

"okay."

Makoto Takahashi watched her retreating figure, then rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

After picking up his delivery at the academy gate, Makoto Takahashi went straight back to the Light Music Club's office and went inside.

The air conditioning in the room carried a bitter aroma of coffee. Uesugi Maya was still sitting by the window reading a music theory book, with a Belgian kettle washed and placed on the bookshelf behind her.

"In the end, I still couldn't escape the fate of picking up delivery orders. Damn bassist destiny," he complained, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Bassists shouldn't tell their own bass jokes."

Maya Uesugi closed the book in her hand, looked up, and her gaze fell on the strangely shaped bag in Makoto Takahashi's hand: "Pizza?"

"There's also pasta and fried calamari rings, and things like that."

"Where's the dessert?"

Matcha mousse cake and chocolate cake.

Makoto Takahashi placed the delivery bag on the table, opened it, took out a slice of cake, handed it to Maya Uesugi, and then took out the food inside one by one and placed it on the table.

The set meal he bought was quite lavish, with two 10-inch pizzas of different flavors occupying the center, surrounded by small snacks in a cardboard box, emitting an enticing aroma.

Unfortunately, compared to the carefully prepared dishes by Uesugi Maya, they still seemed somewhat cheap and perfunctory.

Maya Uesugi picked up her coffee, took a sip, glanced at the two cakes, and looked thoughtful.

"Not to your taste?" Makoto Takahashi put on disposable plastic gloves, picked up a slice of pizza, and took a bite.

"I was just wondering why you chose chocolate flavor."

Maya Uesugi put down the white porcelain cup, picked up the chocolate cake, cut off a corner with her fork, and put it in her mouth.

“There are three flavors to choose from in the set meal. The strawberry cream flavor is too popular and it’s sold out. Since we can choose two desserts, of course we should choose different flavors,” Makoto Takahashi said matter-of-factly.

"I would choose two matcha mousse cakes."

Maya Uesugi frowned slightly, roughly stabbed the chocolate cake into it, and handed it to him: "Chocolate and coffee don't go together at all, here you go."

Makoto Takahashi suspects that she dislikes chocolate simply because Yuki Tachimi likes it.

A smart person would never say such a thing.

Seeing that Uesugi Maya had taken a bite of the matcha mousse cake and slightly raised the corners of her mouth, he picked up his fork, cut off a piece of chocolate cake, and put it in his mouth.

An incredibly sweet taste immediately spread in my mouth.

"...So sweet."

Makoto Takahashi pulled out a chair and sat down, casually remarking, "I feel like I've been eating a lot of chocolate lately."

"Oh."

Uesugi Maya sneered, about to make a sarcastic remark, but when she looked up, her gaze instantly fixed on the plastic fork in his hand.

Her ears began to burn, and her face instantly turned cold as she demanded, "What are you doing?"

Hearing Uesugi Maya's voice suddenly turn cold, Takahashi Makoto looked up and met her gaze, blinking blankly, "What?"

"fork."

"fork?"

He held up the plastic fork that Uesugi Maya had just used, tilting his head in confusion and asking, "Didn't you give it to me? Hiss—"

Indirect kissing is something that is particularly unacceptable to people with psychological fastidiousness, not to mention that Uesugi Maya also has a hidden [pure] attribute.

Therefore, Makoto Takahashi was kicked hard by her.

Maya Uesugi quickly stood up, snatched the plastic fork back, and threw it into the trash can: "Trash."

"Then how am I supposed to eat this?" Takahashi Makoto looked at the chocolate cake with a troubled expression.

The only cutlery provided by the delivery service was disposable chopsticks, and it felt a bit strange to eat cake with chopsticks.

"Figure it out yourself." Uesugi Maya flicked her long black hair, turned her face to the window, and exuded a cold and aloof aura, as if to say, "Don't talk to me, I can't be bothered with you."

Having no other choice, Makoto Takahashi had to eat the cake with chopsticks.

After lunch, Maya Uesugi went downstairs to throw out the trash. Makoto Takahashi took out his phone, opened Line, and saw that the message he sent to Junka Shiraishi was still showing as [unread], which made him feel worried.

He had only known Shiraishi Jun for a short time and didn't know much about her personality. He only knew that she was a beautiful and charming senior student who was surprisingly timid.

This contrast is exactly what Makoto Takahashi likes. She has a great figure, but her timid and taciturn nature is worrying. Besides, Hanakawa Kaori, who is always with her today, is not at the academy.

After thinking for a moment, Makoto Takahashi decided to try his luck at the art club and got up to leave the club office.

When he arrived at the art department at the end of the corridor on the third floor, the door was locked and no one seemed to be there. He didn't know where Shiraishi Junka would go when she was alone, so he had no choice but to turn back.

As he reached the corner of the stairs, he heard steady footsteps coming from downstairs. Makoto Takahashi waited for a while, and then Maya Uesugi, who had just returned from taking out the trash, came into view.

"Have you seen Chun Ke?" he asked casually.

"No."

"Okay, I also want to talk to her about the band."

Is there any need to communicate with a lazy woman who also has ulterior motives?

Because of her lateness to rehearsal that morning, Uesugi Maya had a lot of complaints about Shiraishi Junka and spoke very rudely, making no attempt to hide her dislike.

“We’ve only just met, so some friction is normal. Everything will be alright,” Makoto Takahashi said.

Hearing this, a hint of helplessness flashed across Uesugi Maya's eyes, and she sighed, "You're too idealistic. Let me guess, your pursuit of the band is purely based on resonance."

"Maybe, but I just feel the atmosphere isn't quite right right now." Makoto Takahashi couldn't quite explain it, but he felt the band was in a bad state.

Back at the club office, after a short rest, it was soon time for the afternoon rehearsal.

After the morning rehearsal, Maya Uesugi had selected three songs for the performance. The next step was to practice them repeatedly while making appropriate adjustments, adding NiceFold's signature elements to the original songs, and then continue practicing until they were ready to perform on stage.

As a result, Junka Shiraishi did not appear for a long time.

The messages remained unread, and calls went unanswered, raising concerns that something might have happened and that someone urgently needed help.

The absence of the keyboardist greatly displeased both Maya Uesugi and Reiko Kashima.

The former exuded a low-pressure atmosphere in the rehearsal room, his face gloomy, his beautiful caramel-colored eyes shrouded in shadow, while the latter rhythmically and gently struck the snare drum with drumsticks, each sound causing the air to tremble slightly.

Makoto Takahashi sat on a high stool, holding his bass guitar, thinking that if Junko Shiraishi walked in now, she would definitely be scared to tears.

Five more minutes passed, but Shiraishi Junka still hadn't appeared.

"Let's start rehearsals. I'll be making changes to the keyboard parts."

Maya Uesugi's imposing voice sounded like she had completely given up on the keyboardist. Makoto Takahashi immediately put down his bass, stood up, and said, "Give me five minutes, I'll contact Junko again."

After saying that, he stepped out of the rehearsal room.

Hoping that Shiraishi Junko had simply run away and hadn't encountered any accident, Takahashi Makoto thought to himself as he took out his phone and dialed Tachimi Yuki's number.

Now that things have come to this, he has no better options than to rely on the young lady's immense power and influence.

The call connected instantly, and I heard Tachibana Yuki's sweet voice in my ear.

"Chengjun, have you missed me?"

"No, I wanted to ask you to help me find Shiraishi Junka. She probably ran away from the band." Takahashi Makoto awkwardly raised his hand and touched his nose.

"Hmm~ As expected of Xiaoye's band, I'm not surprised at all."

Tachibana Yuki laughed happily, completely unconcerned that he only contacted her when he needed something: "It will probably take a few minutes. I heard from Reiko that today's rehearsal didn't go very well?"

She perfectly kept her promise, offering help whenever Makoto Takahashi needed it, without refusing or imposing any conditions.

"It's alright, after all, we've only just started getting used to each other."

Makoto Takahashi looked up at the ceiling, smiled wryly, and said in a helpless tone, "It can't be that the band will collapse right after it's been formed. Everything will be alright."

"I see. Lengzi's personality is rather rigid."

"I know that Senior Lengzi was thinking about the band's best interests from her perspective."