Lonely Rock, Liang is my fiancée

Exclamations rang out from the queue again and again, and Ito Rin squinted her eyes and looked at the schools near them.

It was not in vain that he read the magazine on wind music yesterday. He had roughly recognized the schools that had attracted the most attention.

Seika Women's, seven times; Sapporo High School, eight times the gold medal; the most terrifying one is the Yodogawa Institute of Technology, which is mostly composed of male students, and they won the gold medal for nine consecutive times.

In other words, Shimokitazawa's opponents today are these schools?

What he could think of, naturally other people were not stupid either. Aoyama Mako's face turned pale, Kousaka Yuna tightly grasped Kumiko's hand, and in a trance she saw a bad future.

They certainly put in a lot of effort, but compared to these schools, no one can say that they are really confident.

Ito Rin, who had gone out to gather information, returned to the queue. With his handsome face and sweet words as weapons, he took the water handed to him by Hong Xia and took a sip. His expression was not very good.

"Five gold awards were selected yesterday."

Most members turned pale. The limit of nine gold prizes meant that their chances of winning were reduced to the lowest.

Minister Qingshan was more open-minded. Even though he was very nervous inside, he still firmly comforted everyone.

"There has never been a quota for the gold medal in the national competition. As long as your performance skills are superb enough, you can get it. Do you have confidence?"

"Yes!" Without any hesitation, their voices were unprecedentedly united.

Ito Rin glanced at Hongxia beside her and suddenly realized what was missing.

empathy.

No matter what, they were just outsiders who had never had any training experience together, so it was natural that they could not understand their excitement.

After entering, while they went to the concert hall to tune their instruments and waited for the staff to notify them to go on stage to compete, Ito Rin and Hongxia found a seat and sat down.

Electronic products such as mobile phones were turned off, and those sitting nearby were contestants from other schools, and at the front was the judges' seat responsible for commenting.

Coming to this highest stage as a spectator, his passion was aroused a little, but he was just a spectator after all, so he could only cheer silently from the audience.

"If you compare this place to a rock music stage, that one is more suitable." Hong Xia beside him suddenly said.

"There's no way they can be compared." Ito Rin shifted his gaze to her.

"It's impossible for a high school to form a professional league for rock music, but it would be an exaggeration to compare it with the Budokan, as the numbers on both sides are not equal."

"Rock music, which represents rebellion and resistance, is inherently not accepted by mainstream culture. Most of the corresponding competitions are just small-scale competitions between different regions. It is difficult to form a formal system. But if it is systematized, is it really rock music?"

Hong Xia nodded thoughtfully, stroking her chin with her slender fingers, "They are about to go on stage."

A place to prepare.

Kumiko Asakura held the euphonium, her eyes closed, and her breathing became weak; Yuna Kousaka held the trumpet and silently recited the music score.

Mako Aoyama sat at the front of the team, maintaining order while lowering her head to look at the things the conductor would use; Koizumi no longer looked like a troublemaker as usual, and held the mouthpiece of the clarinet in her mouth to preserve its temperature and taste.

The time to go on stage is approaching.

Kumiko, who was chatting with Ito Rin yesterday and could still say with an open-minded attitude that she had little confidence in winning the gold medal, was already sweating on her hands as she placed them on the euphonium.

She didn't want to lose, not only for herself and Yuna, but also for the other members of the brass band who had put in so much effort.

If you can play better than before, you will surely win the game as easily as before, right? Come on, Yumiko!

The silent Qingshan Jianzi raised his head, looked at the crowd with their heads lowered in the preparation room, and took a deep breath.

"If everyone has nothing else to say, I would like to say something in the final moments."

No one objected, and everyone looked up and stared at the minister who stood up.

“Since the formation of the wind ensemble this year, all of us, including the seniors who left the ensemble, have been working hard for this day.”

"We have given up too much time for training. We train during holidays, during tutoring sessions, and even when we can enjoy time with friends, we are still training."

“I’m a sophomore this year, and this will be my last time competing in the national competition.”

Qingshan Jianzi held the music score tightly in his hand, and the determination in his eyes infected everyone.

"So I'm using a more selfish statement. I hope everyone can help me realize my wish of winning the gold medal!"

"I don't want to end my wind music journey with two silver medals."

“We must win the gold medal!”

After a moment's silence, the boys roared out.

"Gold medal! Come on!"

Kumiko touched the arm that Yuna was holding tightly and shouted loudly: "Shimokitazawa! Come on!"

The warm atmosphere finally dispelled the gloom, and the sounds from outside also came in.

"The next school to perform, Shimokitazawa High School, is ready to go on stage."

Chapter 7: Singing in the Face of Tears (Updated)

What was the performance like that day?

Ito Rin couldn't describe it in words. Compared to rock music that drives the audience's emotions, wind music has the ability to elevate people.

Unfortunately, the school that left the deepest impression on him was not Shimokitazawa.

When the results of the competition were announced, they stood in front of the concert hall for a group photo, and some of the emotional members were still crying silently.

"Students from Shimokitazawa, come over here."

Minister Aoyama and Deputy Minister Koizumi stood in front of everyone as usual.

They were holding the award certificates and silver trophies they had received. When they saw Kousaka Yuuna crying in the corner, they tried to comfort her and began to prepare to give instructions to the brass band leaders.

Kumiko stood aside, wanting to comfort Yuna but not knowing how to say it. Every time she opened her mouth, she closed it silently. She really had no desire to cry.

"If we hadn't encountered those schools, we should have been able to win the gold medal, right?"

After comforting herself with this somewhat pale reason, Kumiko wanted to regain her energy, but when she saw the tears in the eyes of the minister who was comforting others just now, she became quiet again.

"…We have done our best. From now on, I will leave it to you…"

Thinking that her senior will leave the wind orchestra next year, she couldn't help feeling sad. If she could still participate in her senior year, Shimokitazawa would definitely win, right?

It is too difficult to let these first-year students take on the main role.

But the seniors also have to work hard for college, and there are only a few who really want to pursue a career in wind instruments.

The more she thought about it, the sadder she felt. She saw Ito Rin coming out of the boys' line, swallowed the hot air that was about to burst out of her mouth, and trotted over to him.

"senior."

"Why, you want to comfort her too? Kumiko doesn't seem like that kind of person." Ito Rin rubbed his temples.

He recalled the conversation he had just had with the boys. Even though they failed, their mentality was still good. Those first-year students said they would work hard for another year and must win the gold medal.

Even though the boys didn't want to admit it, the fact was that compared to their seniors who had been practicing for nearly two years, the first-year members were a burden on the team, and many of them had no experience in playing wind instruments during junior high school.

If the third-year veterans bring in the second-year main players and new talents, they may be able to win the gold medal.

"What are you talking about? I seem like someone who doesn't need comfort!" Kumiko complained.

"looks like?"

"Of course, I'm just an ordinary girl, okay."

"Hahaha."

"You're the one who's still laughing after winning the silver medal. I'm going to report you to the minister."

Ito Rin said in disbelief: "Has our friendship disappeared just like that? I'm so sad."

"What friendship? I don't know." Kumiko raised her head with a confused expression.

Among all the second-year seniors, the one she had the best relationship with was actually Ito Rin, whom she had just met. Even though the director had high expectations of her, she still couldn't get close to him.

"I treated you to dinner yesterday, and I cheered you on so hard during the game."

"It's obviously Senior Hong Xia, hello!"

"Hey, why are you here?" Ito Rin saw Hong Xia approaching them, touched her chin and looked at her, and said, "Have you packed everything?"

"Why does your tone sound like you're giving orders?" Hong Xia blinked.

"How is that possible? You're overthinking it."

"Well, I have to think about whether I should help someone edit the video. If two people can do the workload without interruption for 24 hours, it should be easy to complete, right?"

Do you have any misunderstanding about the definition of ease? How crazy do you have to be to say that working for a whole day is ease?

After helping to carry the things, they took a group photo, and no matter how disappointed or sad they were, they had to cheer themselves up and get on the school bus back to Tokyo.

Compared to the previous time, the atmosphere at this moment was even more depressing. Aoyama Kanko didn't want everyone's memories of the wind band to be filled with such a bad feeling, so even though she was feeling very depressed, she still encouraged Ito Rin to sing a song.

Not only him, Hong Xia also did not escape. But don't regard all the people in the band as those who can sing and dance. Singing is the responsibility of the lead singer, and dancing is the job of the bassist.

"There's no other way. Come on." Ito Rin shrugged. Facing the expectant eyes on the bus, she couldn't say no.

After communicating, he chose a song that Hongxia could sing.

"Come on, head towards the applause."

“Only I can navigate for myself.”

On the school bus, Ijichi Kouka seemed a little embarrassed when holding the microphone and singing in front of other classmates, but following Ito Rin's footsteps, she gradually relaxed a little.

This heartwarming and inspirational song was perfect to be sung in front of the Shimokitazawa Wind Orchestra, which had just suffered a defeat.

The originally depressing atmosphere gradually became lively under their leadership. Several girls beat the rhythm and sang together. The loudest voice came from Kumiko who was sitting on the aisle side.

After Hongxia finished singing, a blush appeared on her fair face. It was not known whether it was due to nervousness or the influence of the atmosphere. After them, Kumiko pulled Yuna and volunteered to sing a song.

"Come one! Come one!"

This is how young people's joys and sorrows are. The setbacks just now disappear in the happiness of today. Perhaps when we look back on this memory, the sadness of failure has been washed away by the joy of the journey.

After returning to Tokyo, they still had to discuss the future arrangements for the wind orchestra. Ito Rin also ended her club experience this semester. She packed her luggage and accompanied Hongxia back to the residential community where they lived.

"The video of our school sacrifice has been posted online, but it has only a few views." Hong Xia, who was walking on the street and browsing her phone, seemed to have discovered some secret.

“We have a video with a lot of views…”

"Where is it, let me see?"

Hongxia leaned over and looked at Ito Rin's phone. If they could become famous on the Internet, it would definitely be of great benefit to the development of their band.

"【Sad News】A shocking development at the girls' high school cultural festival live, the name is quite good." Ito Rin said jokingly.

The video of Xiao Boqi diving on the stage was filmed and posted online, and it has received quite a lot of views on Twitter and YouTube. After all, after watching so many normal videos, it is inevitable that when you see something funny like this, you will click on it to take a look.

Especially the changes in her facial expressions when she was diving, they were absolutely professional!

"Why can't I be happy at all? I hope little Pochi won't be angry after seeing this video, but she should be happy because there are so many likes."

"After she became famous, this kind of dark history was just something to talk about when she was on TV, and the comments below were all encouraging."

In the comment section, in addition to the simplest and most honest "hahaha", there are also many people who are worried about the life safety of the diving girl. After all, from the perspective of the photographer, this is not an easy task.

'It's so sad that no one is there to pick her up.'

"I definitely didn't catch the sudden dive!"

"It's really pitiful. I hope there will be no problem later."

Because the incident was too vivid, no one paid attention to the band's performance, and Ito Rin's plan to increase her fame by relying on the traffic from this incident completely failed.

"What a pity." He sighed.

"What are you thinking about? It's definitely not reliable to increase your fame in this way. And when you go out to perform in the future, do you have to change Pochi's nickname to 'the stage diving guitarist'?" Hong Xia complained.

"That's a good idea. It seems that Hong Xia has also made a lot of plans in this regard."

She was too lazy to pay attention to Ito Rin's nonsense. She picked up her phone to report her arrival home to her sister, and then stopped in front of his door.

"How are you going to allocate the video work? Tomorrow is a holiday, and I have plenty of time."

After explaining the itinerary to his girlfriend, Ito Rin was very pleased to learn that they were still able to keep the band running without the leadership of the two leaders, and asked them to continue working hard.

"Well, come in for a moment."

"I really suspect that you have impure motives." Hong Xia kicked the ground with a suspicious look.

"Not yet." Ito Rin didn't explain much. After opening the door, she made a gesture of invitation with a bit of pride.