Why play in a band if you don't form one for life?

Another task for Ryo was to complete the duet with Rinko. As both of them were people who mainly used sound waves to carry power, they had often worked together in battle. Recently, Ryo suddenly had an idea to try out if the bass and organ would have a special effect if they played a duet together, so the matter was settled. However, when the song was only half completed, another request came from Shiko.

Liang was indeed surprised that Rinko came to urge her to do this. According to her understanding, Rinko had a similar personality to Ichiri, who would never ask anyone for anything, and even if she did, she would never ask about the progress, and would only worry secretly by herself.

Linzi walked in the dark in the corridor. She seemed to be able to hear her own heartbeat. It seemed like this was the first time she urged someone to do something... It was so scary...

"Woo!" I bumped into someone.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry!" "Yes... I'm sorry!" The two apologized at the same time. "(It's Goto-san...)" Rinko heard it.

"Wait, wait, torch..." Yili hurriedly put the torch given to her by Shizi under her armpits, and took out the flint to try to light it. This position was very uncomfortable, and Yili tried several times without success.

"Let me... hold it..." Rinko took the torch and groped her way to bring the tip close to Ikari's hand.

"Crack!" A spark flashed, and a fire ignited, illuminating the faces of the two people.

“Thank you…” Yili took the torch back. “I didn’t light it before because I thought it was a bit stupid to hold it in the airship… ahahaha…”

Rinko looked around but didn't see Kita. "Kita-san... isn't here?"

"We haven't always been together..." Yili explained, "Then I'll go first... How about I take this and send you off?"

"Then... thank you for your help..."

So, the two of them set out on the journey back to Rinko's room. It wasn't far and they would soon arrive.

Standing at the door of the room, Yili did not go in, but turned around and said goodbye to Linzi: "Then I'm leaving..."

"Thank you..." Linzi suddenly thought of something and called Zhu Yili again, "Wait."

Yili was shocked and turned back immediately: "Yes!" Her face was covered with sweat in an instant.

Seeing Ichiri's expression, Rinko also became inexplicably nervous: "No... it's not an important matter... it's just... has Goto ever asked someone to do something for you before?"

After hearing that it was indeed not a big deal, Ichiri was relieved. She thought carefully about Rinko's question: "(If I ask someone else, does the agreement with Shiko count? If that's what Rinko-san wants to ask...)"

"some."

"Then...if the other person is a little slow in doing things...will Goto-san urge them to do it?"

"Hmm..." Yili recalled. As far as she could remember, Shizi had never broken the promise of "writing a song for her", but it wasn't always in the form of a complete song. Sometimes it was a complete guitar score, sometimes with lyrics, and sometimes just a solo in a live performance. There were indeed times when he didn't write a song for a long time, but she didn't seem to have urged him. After all, even if the other person was Shizi, she wouldn't dare...

Seeing Ichiri's expression, Rinko almost understood. "(Did I do something wrong? I asked Yamada-san to do it, but I urged her to do it...)"

Rinko's body trembled. Ichiri noticed her change and guessed a little about the reason.

"I think... having the courage to urge others is... 'taking a step forward'!" She used the same words that Rinko had used to counsel her to counsel Rinko.

"You're right... You're right..." Linzi seemed relieved.

“(Since I dared to urge Yamada-san, does that mean… that she and I are already close?)”

Rinko recalled the time when she first met Ryo.

Chapter 8: Ryo and Rinko's First Time (Happy Birthday Eve~)

The rafts floated on the water, and the river pushed them forward.

When the sun rose to the top of their heads, the raft landed. They had to light a fire and cook. It was not impossible to ask Shizi to provide dry food directly, but unfortunately...

"Hey, hey, when is the next live? Are we going to compete against Roselia? We will lose, right? We will definitely lose, right?" Shizi said these discouraging and inappropriate words with an excited look on his face.

It seems she is of no use now.

"(Next time, I'd better ask her to prepare dry food in advance.)" Hong Xia reflected on her negligence and opened the cardboard box beside her. Fortunately, there were still some ingredients inside.

The ship has docked.

"We were treated by Roselia yesterday, so let's stop the band and cook today." Before Lisa could speak, Hongxia raised her hand.

On the shore, all kinds of strange monsters are approaching. "Monsters" is what Roselia calls them. The Ending Band thinks that this is more RPG, so they call it that.

"Then let's clean up this area." Youxina took the lead and stepped onto the shore. Thorns began to grow from her wrists.

She stepped onto a muddy river beach. Beyond the narrow river beach was a natural embankment covered with green grass. Climbing up the embankment, she could see an open plain with few trees and a wide view. There were a few hills in the distance, and a few forests on the hills. The dark green of the leaves and the light green of the grass were a pleasant contrast. It would be even better if there were no monsters wandering around and annoying her.

"It's useless for you guys to stay here, Xiao Shizi, come and help me. The others can go and help Roselia." Hong Xia built a simple stove on the river bank, brought out pots and pans, and issued instructions to the other members of the band, "Don't let them underestimate us!"

“Oh!” “Oh.” “Oh…”

"How do we do this?" On the other side, Roselia was already prepared. Lisa stuffed a bag of cookies into everyone's hands. The bag was what Lisa asked Shizi for last night with the design. It was divided into three small bags of different colors, each with an independent opening, which was easy to open with one hand and not easy to let the contents fall out. It can be seen that she has designed it in her mind for a long time. "Red is for your own main attributes, green is for healing, and yellow is for mental strength. Remember~"

Lisa retreated to the last row and sat next to Rinko who was already sitting in front of the organ. Before them were Saya and Ako, and in front was Yukina.

"Let's do it too!" Following Kita's call, the three people who had finished the band joined in on their own and stood together with Ako, Sayo and the others. This time, the middle of the entire team became bloated.

"There are too many warlocks..." Squeezed in the crowd, Yazi felt a little hot for some reason.

"Here, I've prepared some for you too." Lisa handed three small bags to the three people.

"Thank you."

Youxina turned around and said, "Can we start now?"

The battle process is very simple: Sayo has low attack power but a wide attack range, and is mainly responsible for killing monsters; other mages are responsible for output, and then Yukina cleans up those that are too close. Although the three people who ended the band were working with Roselia for the first time, they cooperated well. A small area nearby was quickly cleaned up. Although the density of monsters on the plains is much higher than that on the plateau, it is daytime after all.

"Is that all? With such a small area, monsters from the outside world might come in later." Kita said.

"So we need to move to a few places and come a few more times." Youxina was the first to take action again, "Let's go."

As they walked, Aya explained to Rinrin, "Actually, if we talk about the attack range, the combination skill of Saya-san and Ayako's 'Shashasha' is larger. Saya-san creates rain, and Ayako transforms the rain into something else. But this skill causes friendly damage, so it can't be used casually. Rinrin's [Passion Song] is just right, but the range is a little smaller than Saya-san's, and our attack range is even smaller than Rinrin's, so..."

"I think I discovered something just now." Liang suddenly interrupted, "Rinko, do you see that monster in the distance? Can you attack it now?"

Rinko squinted along the tip of Ryo's finger and saw a black mist hovering next to a tree. But it was obviously out of her reach now. Even Sayo couldn't reach it.

"Try the [Passion Song] now," Liang said.

"Eh? Okay... okay." Facing Ryo who had just confronted Yukina, Rinko was extremely nervous. The shadow of the organ rose again behind her, and she sat down, playing the organ while tremblingly singing "The Passion" in Latin.

The black fog was not affected at all. A breeze blew by, and the treetops swayed gently.

Liang picked up the bass and played a few notes. The notes merged with the sound of the piano, giving it form and pushing it far away. In an instant, it surpassed Rinko's previous limit, and even Saya's limit was exceeded in an instant! The sound waves finally reached the bottom of the tree, and the black fog was dispersed before it could react.

Yazi opened his mouth wide and watched this scene.

Ryo turned around and gave Rinko a thumbs-up: "Looks like we need more cooperation, Rinko."

Cold sweat began to appear on Linzi's back.

Sitting in her room in the airship, Rinko played the keyboard alone. From the sound of the piano, it can be heard that she is absent-minded. Rinko's room is very simple. In addition to the necessary furniture such as the bed, table and chairs, there is only a keyboard and a few vases for decoration. There are also several half-body mannequins lined up on the wall, wearing the clothes that Rinko recently designed for Roselia.

The piano music suddenly disappeared.

"Ah... no power..." Rinko checked the mobile power bank connected to the keyboard. Even the display screen was not lit up. She pulled the wire down and connected it to the generator. With a rumbling vibration, the power bank began to charge. Although Rinko could not create a generator, she could still refuel the existing ones.

The generator was too noisy, and Rinko didn't want to stay in this room any longer. She took out a torch from under the table, lit it, opened the door and walked out.

"(It's really stupid, holding a torch in an airship.)"

Yukina's room was not far away. Rinko knocked gently on the door with the hand that was not holding the torch.

Without knocking a second time, Rinko heard steady footsteps approaching the door. Rinko extinguished the torch, and the door opened.

"Rinko?" Yukina was standing behind the door, wearing plain home clothes.

Rinko quietly hid the torch behind her back and said, "Yuukina-san...Excuse me...are you free now?"

"Yeah." Youxina turned sideways to let Rinko in, then closed the door.

Yukina's room is similar to Rinko's room, except that there is no bust, and the keyboard has been replaced by a guitar. The guitar is played only when Yukina is composing, and it is now leaning against a shelf next to the table. There is also a speaker connected to it, and the speaker is connected to headphones and placed on the table.

"Are you...composing music?" Rinko was afraid that she would disturb others again.

"I just hit a bottleneck, so I might as well change my mindset." Youxina answered casually, "I plan to hold a live show in a few days, on the stage of a small bar." Although everyone was underage, Shizi still set up a bar out of some insistence. Of course, the drinks inside did not contain any alcohol.

Rinko noticed Yukina's tone: "Yukina-san...seems very happy..."

"Yes." Youxina admitted generously, "The speed of the airship is much faster than I thought." But she didn't dwell on this topic: "What are you doing here?"

Rinko straightened her face and turned to Yukina: "I... want to learn composition."

Chapter 9 Ringing Bloom

After hearing what Rinko said, Youkina looked at Rinko again.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Yes." Rinko replied, "I...want to help Yamada-san."

Help her? Yukina remembered that Ryo seemed to be composing a duet between her and Rinko. Was it related to this matter?

Youxina thought it was unnecessary to investigate further, but she still wanted to remind him.

"Composing music is not an easy task. Even if you start learning from now on, it will be difficult to help her in a short period of time."

Rinko seemed to have thought of this a long time ago. She clasped her hands in front of her chest and said, "It's okay... Even if I can only help a little... it's enough..."

Youxina nodded slightly, she pulled out her chair and pointed to the edge of the bed: "Sit down, let's start now."

Yukina taught very carefully, and Rinko also studied very seriously. Once you get serious, it's easy to forget the time. Before you know it, Ako has already rang the meal bell and pushed the food cart past the door. Because of her night vision ability, she took the initiative to take over the work of delivering food in place of Lisa.

Knock, knock, knock. "Youkina-san, it's time to eat! Today we have beef bowl!" She knocked on the door energetically.

"This is... beef bowl!" In the command room, Shizi made an exaggerated gesture like a country girl.

"Haha, you always react like this every time you eat beef donburi." Lisa sat next to Shizi.

"The meal was delicious, thank you very much!" After eating, Shizi made an international friendly gesture to Lisa with a bright smile.

"This kind of reaction is also..." Lisa tried hard to control her expression.

"Sorry, I can't help it every time." Shizi switched back to his normal voice and clasped his hands together.

"By the way, is there anything missing in the kitchen?" Otherwise, Shizi couldn't think of any reason for Lisa to stay here.

"Come to think of it... it seems to be lacking a bit of pepper." Lisa tilted her head, "But I mainly came to see how you were doing."

Shiko has been sleepless for two days. Even Yuki has never experienced this. Although in theory their multiple abilities can help Shiko survive, and Lisa herself is also the one who provided the plan, and Ako has repeatedly assured that Shiko is in good condition, Lisa is still a little worried. Now that Ako has taken the initiative to take the job of delivering meals, Lisa also took this opportunity to personally confirm whether Shiko is safe.

From the outside, Shizi seemed the same as yesterday. The dark circles under his eyes were not heavier, but they were not lighter either. His eyes were full of sleepiness, but he looked fine. However, his inner self was not so easy to confirm.

"Um...are you sure you're okay? I'm sorry, but I see that you don't seem to have anything to do here."

"Thinking about it carefully, there really isn't." Shizi placed the bowl and chopsticks on the table and let it dissipate on its own. "There are no relatively high mountains or any noteworthy terrain within the distance that the airship can fly in a day. The airship is running automatically the whole time. Strictly speaking, I'm just daydreaming here."

"That……"

"Now that I've done it, I still want to finish it. Otherwise it's just a waste of time." Shizi smiled at Lisa. "Besides, measuring 'how long can we stay awake at most' will always be useful somewhere, right?"

That's right.

Although it has always been the other party who took the initiative...

But this time, Rinko thought, she must be able to play a role.

At the beginning, when she and Ichiri gradually improved their relationship on the same raft, Rinko also made up her mind silently. For a long time, she and Ryo have been partners in battle. Similar abilities allow their cooperation to achieve the effect of 1+1>2. However, outside of battle, they still don’t communicate much. After all, neither of them has much to say. This situation has kept their relationship at the level of ordinary teammates who are not too close or too far. For their respective social circles, this kind of relationship is actually the most normal, but this "normal" belonging to the Yin corner has become an obstacle in cooperation.

Rinko often felt that there was always some disharmony when their voices overlapped. No matter how she played, it was uncomfortable, and it was completely different from the feeling of playing with Roselia.

On the airship. Cool room.

All the clutter that was piled up everywhere was cleared away. The floor was also swept. Hong Xia lay on the bed in a "big" shape. She was too tired to move. "You, you can't let me take care of you forever..."

Ryo beat the rhythm with his head: "Thank you very much, that's it, I love you."

"Don't say such embarrassing words in such a tone..."

"Come and take a look, how about this part?" Liang sat next to Hongxia with the music score.

"Just go and discuss the song with Senior Rinko..." Hongxia waved her hands without even raising her head.

"Not that one. It's the one that Shizi sings."

Hong Xia stood up after hearing that. She looked at the sheet music and said, "There are no drums here... Should we go to the bar?"

On the way to the bar, the two walked side by side, Hongxia was lighting.

"I heard that Yuuki-san is planning to hold a live show in the next few days." Hongxia said, "I hope I can catch up with this song."

"Live... huh..." Liang was calm, this was expected, "The song that Rinko and I are working on should be ready in the next two days."

"Oh?" Hong Xia turned her head. "Then, do you want to put it in the live performance? Although it is an ensemble piece for battle, it should be good as music, right?"

"That's fine with me. Just ask Rinko later."