Momoi Taro wants to form a "don" brother duo, but it's a music anime.

Gao Songdeng's heartfelt singing seemed both out of place and perfectly fitting at this moment... It was like an invisible needle, precisely piercing the most vulnerable part of Xiangzi's heart, continuously and in waves pricking her sensitive and taut nerves, leaving her nowhere to escape.

An overwhelming urge surged within her, and she just wanted to escape from this suffocating space without looking back... But... perhaps Taro-senpai was watching her quietly from somewhere, and she absolutely, absolutely did not want him to worry about her.

"In complete darkness, I walk one direction forward... I can only keep writing randomly, knowing that my expectations are all in vain. But I still keep seeking redemption." Gao Songdeng's singing is as straightforward and profound as ever... No, at this moment, it pierces Xiangzi's heart more sharply than ever before, forcing her to confront the suppressed pain without any escape.

All my expectations were in vain... Ha.

Xiangzi had never hated Gao Songdeng's lyrics, so unabashedly emotional, as much as she did now. They were like a merciless mirror, laying bare all the truths she had been trying to escape, displaying them mercilessly before her eyes… Xiangzi's eyes instantly filled with a torrent of tears, almost overflowing. She clenched her teeth tightly, using all her willpower to forcefully hold back the tears, but this only made her appear so strange.

They don't need me anymore..., do they...?

Thinking this, Xiangzi bit his lip tightly, trying to let the pain stimulate his mind and distract himself.

The lighting outside the stage was indeed dim, but on stage, the gaze that had been silently watching Xiangzi all along—that of Ruoye Mu—clearly captured her twisted and painful expression. That expression was like a thorn, piercing Mu's eyes. But on stage, she could do nothing but play the guitar.

"Mumu... if you're so worried, go ask Momoi Taro for help after this is over. He'll definitely be fine... This isn't a solution. Mumu didn't even sing the harmonies just now... Everyone will notice something's wrong, right?"

A concerned voice echoed in his mind, a timely reminder that slightly lifted Wakaba Mutsu's spirits and dispelled some of the heaviness weighing on his heart... Motis was right, if things continued like this, everyone would discover his worries... Inviting Shoko over had already anticipated these possible events... What he needed to do was not to grieve on stage, but...

"Welcoming the storm after it's over...!" Thinking this, the lingering confusion in Wakaba Mutsumi's guitar completely vanished, and the harmony began: "Happiness, however, makes one's heart and mind bewildered..."

As Mautis said, the confusion in her guitar playing was noticed by several people, including Aine and Taro on the side of the stage. Taro's expression remained unchanged as always, while Aine looked at Wakaba Mutsu with worry. She didn't know why Wakaba Mutsu, who was quite normal before going on stage, had become so depressed after playing for a while.

...It can't be that I broke down completely just because I didn't play the guitar well.

But she was the one who really couldn't do anything. She couldn't just rush onto the stage and pull the person out, could she? Thinking this, Chihaya Aine felt a wave of helpless anxiety. She clenched her hands and secretly made up her mind that as soon as the live ended, she would ask Mutsu what had happened.

Besides the two of them, there was another person who noticed Xiao Mu's unusual behavior... that was Su Shi. At first, she was watching Toyokawa Shoko's expression, her heart heavy with worry. However, she heard the negative emotions emanating from Wakaba Mu's guitar. She glanced at the indifferent Wakaba Mu beside her with some surprise, then looked at Shoko, feeling somewhat at a loss.

Fortunately, Ruoye Mu's performance quickly returned to its usual standard and flowed smoothly. Although Su Shi's worries had not completely dissipated, she was limited by the rules of the stage and could only temporarily suppress her concerns, focus on the bass under her fingers, and continue the performance with the band.

"...Shining upon me who cannot weep! Light—gently guiding me—!" Takamatsu Akari's singing continued, and Shoko thought sadly... Now that I cannot weep, where is the light...? Taro-senpai... She naturally thought of him. But... this is her own matter, she herself, can she handle it...?

Xiangzi closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again, her eyes blazing with a dark flame. Now that she understood she could never go back to the past, and that the band of the past had no place for her, she would create one herself, by any means necessary.

"...Why are your hands so warm? Please, please never let go again...forever, ever!" Takamatsu Akari's slightly shaky voice fell to the last note, ending the entire live performance and winning applause from the audience.

After a standard curtain call, the members of the Dongjulong Flame Group left the stage. Xiangzi could no longer suppress her emotions and ran away from RiNG... If she ran away now, Takamatsu Akari wouldn't see her embarrassment. This was her last act of tenderness.

The members of the Giant Dragon Flame Group slowly exited the brightly lit stage and returned to the somewhat dimly lit backstage. The live performance was undoubtedly a success; the enthusiastic cheers of the audience still seemed to echo in their ears. However, the atmosphere within the group was inexplicably oppressive, a heavy silence hanging in the air. When they pushed open the backstage door, they were greeted by Momoi Taro standing quietly to one side, and Chihaya Aine with a warm smile on her face.

"Thank you for your hard work~" Ai Yin waved to the four of them, and Tang smiled and said, "We saw the live performance just now, it was very good, Deng Deng sang really well."

"Hmph, I don't need you to tell me," Li Xi immediately crossed her arms and retorted coldly. However, the slight upturn of her lips and the smile she couldn't hide completely exposed her inner pride. She said as if she were the one being praised, not Gao Songdeng, "Of course, Deng's song is the best!"

"Really?" Aine tilted her head playfully, lightly touching her lower lip with her fingertip, feigning serious thought. "Personally, I think Taro's songs are the best."

Li Xi was speechless for a moment after being choked by her blunt rebuttal. She could only let out a heavy hum and quickly turn her face away. Takamatsu Akari, standing to the side, lowered her eyes shyly and echoed softly but firmly, "Master Taro's song... is better."

"Of course! My song is 100 points!" Taro shouted confidently. Riki clicked his tongue and didn't say anything. Su Shi smiled gently without saying a word, while Ruo Ye Mu looked preoccupied. Deng, who wasn't much of a talker to begin with, suddenly made the atmosphere cold.

"In my opinion, Lixi performed better." Hailing crossed her arms, pretending to be indifferent, and commented softly, "Well then, I'll stop here and go first." She left without looking back, her steps crisp and neat.

"Hailing!" "Hailing!" Ai Yin subconsciously reached out her hand to Hailing's rapidly departing figure, as if trying to stop her from leaving. Hailing waved her hand nonchalantly and quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor without stopping.

She had overheard Taro and Aine's conversation backstage. Although she hadn't been mentioned much, she had heard everything she needed to hear. Rather than staying and becoming invisible, or getting involved in what might happen next, it was better to leave gracefully. After all, she had done what she needed to do and it was time to go about her own business.

After all, she wasn't particularly interested in managing other people's bands.

"By the way! The performance by the Dragon Flame Team was so amazing, how about we have a celebration party?" Aine smiled, trying to lighten the slightly tense atmosphere with a relaxed tone, while subtly glancing in Wakaba Mutsu's direction, hoping to catch Mutsu alone for a chat: "Let's have it at Taro's house!?"

"Sorry... I... have something to do right now." To everyone's surprise, Ruoye Mu raised her head and said softly in her uniquely calm tone, with almost no inflection. Then she slung her guitar case over her shoulder and left.

"Hey! Wait!" Aine tried to call out to Wakaba Mutsu, her voice filled with obvious urgency, but Wakaba Mutsu seemed not to hear her at all, and continued walking without stopping.

"Ah...he's gone." Aine looked at the empty doorway, her smile fading, her eyes twitching slightly. Somewhat dejected, she turned around to say something to Taro, only to be shocked to find that Momoi Taro had disappeared once again.

"Seriously, where did Taro go?! Why did he suddenly disappear like that?!" After looking around to make sure he was really not there, Aine couldn't help but raise her voice, scratching her head in dissatisfaction, her carefully styled hair getting a little messed up.

"Um..." Su Shi squinted, smiled, and raised her hand. After attracting Ai Yin's attention, she smiled gently and said, "I have some things to attend to later, so I'll have to go ahead... Excuse me." After saying that, Su Shi bowed, picked up her bass bag, and left.

"Ah! Su Shi!" Aine sighed helplessly as she watched Su Shi leave from backstage. She then rubbed her face, smiled, and asked Takamatsu Akari, "Well, Akari, let's go have dinner together to celebrate the success of our first live performance."

"Hmm... um~!" Takamatsu Akari hesitated for a moment, then nodded heavily. She had nothing to do after that, so having dinner with Aine was not bad.

Lixi saw this, nodded slightly, and instructed Aiyin, "Well, if you can, take the lamp home after dinner, or give me a call. I'll be going now." After saying that, Lixi prepared to leave.

Just as Lixi turned around, a slender hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. She turned her head and saw it was the little pink-haired girl, Aine, who was looking at her with a mischievous smile and said, "If you're so worried about Dengdeng, why don't you come along too?"

Lixi straightened up, clearly not expecting Aiyin to invite her again. She stammered, "Well... I still have to go back to study."

"Study?" Ai Yin tilted her head, her fingers unconsciously twirling the ends of her pink hair. "It's okay to do the homework when we get back, right?"

"Huh? It's not homework... I want to go back and look at some books on music composition..." Most of the assignments at Hanasakigawa Girls' Academy aren't really serious assignments; there are plenty of crafts and haiku... Serious documents, though.

"Alright, alright, come on! Let's go eat together!" Ai Yin held Deng's wrist tightly with one hand, and grabbed Li Xi's wrist with the other without giving her a chance to argue. Her face was beaming with an incredibly enthusiastic smile, and she exuded a positive and friendly aura as she persuaded, "Li Xi is also an important member of our Donglong Flame team! Wouldn't it be better if we all went to the victory celebration together? It would be such a shame if she missed it!"

In the end, Lixi was half-heartedly dragged away by Aine to attend the celebration party. The smug little pink-haired girl thought to herself, "Whether it's the Dong Brothers or the Dong Dragon Flame Group, this family will fall apart sooner or later without me."

As if she had just thought of something, Ai Yin released their wrists: "Um, excuse me, could you two wait here for a moment? I want to go back and get my guitar first."

"Huh?" Li Xi watched Ai Yin trot away, her mouth slightly agape. She stared at Ai Yin's retreating figure with a puzzled expression for a while before finally reacting: "That girl is really infuriating!"

Lixi didn't really like the other party's impulsive and unpredictable style of doing things. In her opinion, it was better to be down-to-earth. Although Aine's live performance this time was very good, she still couldn't like this style of doing things.

"Xiao Ai... works very hard." Gao Songdeng whispered to Yueyi from the side, looking at Lixi, and said softly, "Just like Lixi, at school, Xiao Ai often reads books during breaks, and when she teaches me... she also practices hard..."

“My improvement in guitar playing is also thanks to… Xiao Ai.” She lowered her head and said softly, “I… am very grateful to her.”

"Keep trying..." Li Xi watched Ai Yin's departing figure, lost in thought.

Episode 33 of "Dong": The Doll's Cry

"Hey? Hai Ling?" Ai Yin returned to the lounge to pick up her guitar bag and leave, but unexpectedly found Hai Ling coming out carrying her bass bag.

"Chihaya-san?" Seeing Aine suddenly turn back, Hailing asked softly with a hint of doubt, "Weren't you going to find Wakaba-san?" She had thought Aine would leave immediately because she saw how concerned Aine was about Wakaba Mutsu.

"Ahaha... Taro's already gone, so I guess we don't really need me anymore, right?" Aine scratched the back of her head awkwardly, while Hailin nodded in complete agreement. With Momoi Taro gone, the others probably wouldn't need to do anything.

She didn't know when it started, but a certain principle had begun to emerge in Hailing's heart. But… she closed her eyes, pondering, feeling a lingering sense of unease. After a long while, she opened her eyes and asked, "Then why did I come here?"

"Actually, it's like this: the Donglong Flame Group is holding a celebration party, but only Lixi and Dengdeng are there, so I'm planning to go and fill in for them." Aiyin explained to Hailing with a light laugh, "So I came back first to get my guitar bag."

"I see. If that's the case, you can go directly there." Hai Ling nodded, indicating that she understood the cause and effect. Then she told Ai Yin, "Miao Meng has already taken your guitar bag to the practice room and sent a message to your phone, but I haven't received a reply. She asked me to let you know if I see you."

"Really?" Aine took out her phone in disbelief. The screen was completely black. She pressed some buttons, but there was no response. She could only laugh awkwardly, "Ahaha...it seems to be out of battery."

She put her phone away, looked at Hailing with a smile, and asked softly, "Did you come here specifically to wait for me, Hailing?"

"No, I was just about to go home," Hai Ling answered Aine's question calmly. She was telling the truth; Aine's sudden return was completely unexpected. But Aine didn't seem to think so. She tilted her head with a smug look on her face: "Is Hai Ling shy?"

"No, then I'll leave first." Hai Ling replied coldly. Chihaya Aine was a bit too overly familiar, the kind of person Hai Ling wasn't good at dealing with. The best approach was naturally to avoid being alone with her.

But just as Hai Ling was about to leave, her wrist was grabbed by Ai Yin, who said with a smile, "Hai Ling, why don't we go celebrate for the Dong Ju Long Flame Group together? There are very few people there, it will be much more lively if everyone comes together."

Hai Ling paused, admitting she was somewhat tempted. But she calmly took out her phone, checked her schedule, and then said, "I know, then let's leave it at that."

"Great!" Ai Yin excitedly shook Hai Ling's arm and pulled her towards Gao Songdeng and Li Xi.

Outside RiNG, the sky had turned gloomy, with dark clouds covering the heavens.

Emerging from RiNG (x) is Mutsumi Wakaba, carrying her guitar bag and looking around, hoping to catch a glimpse of that familiar figure with blue twin tails, but no matter how hard she searches, she can't find her.

“Xiang…” Ruoye Mu murmured softly, her heart filled with worry.

"Wakaba!" A man's voice called from behind. Without turning around, she knew who it was—only that man would call her that.

She turned around and looked at Momoi Taro, still in his live performance outfit. The striking red seemed to brighten the sky, but Wakaba Mutsu could only lower her head, unable to look him in the eye, until he walked up to her and patted her shoulder. Her body stiffened involuntarily…

This wasn't shyness, but pure shame... She kept her head down, her petite body appearing exceptionally fragile under Taro's tall figure. Her forehead almost touched Taro's chest as she murmured softly, "I... I think I messed up again."

“I didn’t help Xiang again…” Ruoye Mu’s voice grew lower and lower, and towards the end it was tinged with obvious sobs: “I… I hurt Xiang again.”

"Wakaba..." Upon hearing Wakaba Mutsu's heartbroken words, Taro still didn't understand what had happened. However, Wakaba Mutsu's expression was so unpleasant that he chased after her. From what she said, it seemed to be related to Toyokawa Shoko.

However… Taro acted without hesitation, pressing Wakaba Mutsu’s head against his chest and raising his head to say firmly, “Although I don’t know what happened, if you have to say who you hurt, that person can only be yourself without a doubt.”

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His tone wasn't one of comfort, but rather a statement of fact: "I already said it when we first met: you've put yourself in too low a position. Right now, your emotions are like a flood being held back by a sluice gate. What if one day, these emotions become uncontrollable?"

“Something even worse will happen.” Taro gently stroked Wakaba Mutsumi’s soft hair and whispered, “So, cry. Release your emotions.”

These words completely shattered Wakaba Mutsu's last line of defense. She could no longer hold back, wrapping her arms tightly around Taro's waist and burying her face deep in his warm chest. What began as suppressed sobs quickly turned into uncontrollable, intermittent whimpers, her shoulders trembling violently as if she were pouring out all the pent-up pain.

Taro didn't say anything, but simply cupped her soft head in his large, warm hands, gently stroking it in an almost protective manner. He raised his head, his gaze fixed on the low-hanging, dark sky.

Just then, a cool touch suddenly landed on his cheek. Then, a second drop, a third drop... In no time, fine rain began to fall silently, growing faster and denser, soon enveloping the entire street in a hazy and chilly rain curtain.

Taro leaned forward, tightening his grip on the other person's hand slightly, instinctively letting himself be affected by the rain.

Momoi Taro actually sensed a strange sense of familiarity with Wakaba Mutsumi, but naturally he wouldn't give her any special treatment because of this. It was just that, now that she was injured, this sense of familiarity made Taro take a more direct approach to comfort her, nothing more.

In Momoi Taro's view, this was just ordinary comfort, without any romantic or ambiguous elements. He was simply offering support to those in need.

However, what the eyes across the street saw was a completely different scene.

Nagasaki Motoyo stood quietly, the three umbrellas she had prepared for her companions now feeling like a cold, heavy burden, making it hard for her to breathe. Her knuckles, gripping the umbrellas tightly, turned slightly white from the force, and her gaze pierced through the misty rain, fixed on the two figures embracing tightly across the street.

Those eyes, which were always full of gentle smiles, were now gradually losing their luster, like dusty glass, leaving only a bottomless emptiness and bewilderment, silently reflecting the blurry yet incredibly glaring scene in the rain.

After leaving RiNG, she noticed the gloomy weather. Ever since the day Ku Lai Xi Ku disbanded, she had become very sensitive to rainy days. She was certain it was going to rain soon, so before chasing after Ruo Ye Mu, she went to a convenience store and bought three umbrellas. When she came back, she saw that scene.

Slowly, Su Shi's body moved towards Taro's direction... She desperately tried to convince herself: Wakaba Mutsu was her most caring and important friend, and Momoi-san was someone she deeply admired. She had never confessed her feelings to him. If they were to get closer to each other... she should offer her blessings and smile.

Su Shi crossed the wet road and approached the couple embracing in the rain step by step.