I said you are all war criminals

The girl raised her hand, as if about to take action—

"Hey, hitting people is not nice."

The black-haired girl's hand was grabbed by Hakuno.

"Do you know her, Xiangzi?"

He controlled the black-haired girl with one hand, and then asked Xiangzi in a puzzled voice, "Why does it feel like this girl is very angry with you?"

Xiangzi hesitated for a moment, and she looked at the other person's face carefully again, "You are..."

"I'm Shiina Riki! Why are you acting so stupid, Toyokawa Shoko!"

The black-haired girl has red eyes.

Ah, now Xiangzi remembered.

It turned out to be her.

86

Chapter 86 Xiangzi hates the trouble in the band.

Xiangzi felt that he was not to blame.

The last time I saw Shiina Riki was... half a year ago? No, counting the time in the simulator, it should be a year and a half ago... Yes, a year and a half ago.

Xiangzi hasn't seen Lixi for a long time.

Besides...

"It's just that we were in a band together. There's no need to make such a big fuss, right?"

Xiangzi frowned, "Do you really have to hold a grudge against me for so long...wouldn't it be better for you to form a different band earlier?"

She didn't want to get entangled with Li Xi. That was all so long ago. It would be too embarrassing to still dwell on these things now.

...No, wait.

After she finished speaking, Xiangzi realized that her attitude was a little off. She was too used to talking down to Li Xi, but Li Xi was not her subordinate... This would only intensify the conflict.

So, Xiangzi decided to use a softer approach.

"I've also started a new band, so there's no need for you to come to me. Just start a student band with Deng or something, and forget about Crychic."

Hearing Xiangzi casually write off Crychic's past, Lixi became furious like a cat whose tail was stepped on.

"You bastard!"

She struggled hard. Even though Bai Ye's hand was like an iron clamp holding her wrist tightly, Li Xi still struggled, "In your eyes, what are we?"

In the end, Lixi almost roared, and his voice was almost hoarse.

Xiangzi rubbed her temples, sighing inwardly, "It's troublesome." She really didn't want to get tangled up in this with a high school girl, let alone see her crying. But Crychic was already a thing of the past, and she wanted nothing to do with it anymore.

After thinking for a moment, Xiangzi placed his hand on Bai Ye's wrist and said softly, "Thank you for being angry for me."

Bai Ye let go of Li Xi, not knowing why, and looked at Xiangzi in confusion. Li Xi took the opportunity to rub his wrist, which was pinched red, and glared at Xiangzi fiercely.

"I don't understand why you're bothering me with this."

Xiangzi shook his head and pointed at the girl who had been talking to Lixi. "Aren't you also trying to get new band members? This one with long hair looks like she's in a band, right?"

Li Xi looked in the direction of Xiangzi's finger and saw a girl with long hair standing there with a look of surprise on her face.

"look,"

Xiangzi spoke calmly, as if the tense atmosphere just now hadn't existed at all. "Isn't she also looking for new band members? Instead of holding on to the past, why not seize the present and create new music with new partners, right?"

Xiangzi thought these words were like a revelation, enough to wake up the stubborn Lixi. She even turned to the long-haired girl with a hint of complacency and began to explain the whole story: "It's like this, Lixi and I used to form a band together, and now I have a new band, so..."

Before Xiangzi could finish his words, the long-haired girl suddenly screamed "Too much!" like a cat whose tail was stepped on, then she ran away from the scene at the speed of a 100-meter sprint, holding her bass box, leaving Xiangzi confused and Lixi furious.

Xiangzi stared blankly at the direction the girl disappeared, her mind full of questions. Was this reaction... a bit extreme? Wasn't she just trying to convince this guy to play music with Lixi? Why did she feel like she had done something unforgivable... Did Lixi do something excessive to this girl?

Before Xiangzi could figure out what was going on, Lixi rushed over, grabbed Xiangzi by the collar and lifted her up.

"Toyokawa Shoko, did you get kicked in the head by a donkey? You bastard!"

Li Xi gritted his teeth, his eyes nearly spitting fire. "Don't you even recognize the bassist of your own band? If you're pretending, at least act convincingly! That's Nagasaki Suyo! She's your classmate!"

……what?

Xiangzi recalled carefully, and the girl seemed to... have brown hair.

It really is Nagasaki Suyo.

"……Feel sorry."

Even though Xiangzi admitted his mistake, she was not so shameless as to stick her neck out and say "I'm not wrong" in such a matter.

"Do you know how much Sushi has sacrificed for Crychic?! To support your creations, she stayed up all night practicing bass, and got so many blisters on her hands! She turned down so many club activities for the band's performances! What about you?! What did you do? Besides writing songs, what else do you do? You run away after the performance! Now you can't even remember the names of your own band members!"

Li Xi's voice became increasingly sharp, almost piercing Xiangzi's eardrums.

The guests around began to gather around, pointing and whispering.

"The band is a community of shared destiny. Isn't that what you said yourself? Why, why can you forget about us so easily... What are we to you?"

After Li Xi finished yelling this, he finally let go of Xiangzi's collar, squatted down with his hands covering his face, his shoulders trembling slightly.

There are more and more people watching, and the discussion is getting louder and louder.

Xiangzi had experienced worse situations.

However, Xiangzi really had no plan in mind for how to deal with the current situation.

…Can't we talk about something bigger? About the survival of the world, or something, rather than the triumphs and tribulations of a band?

"Alright, alright, it's just a fight between bandmates. It happens every day, doesn't it?"

Hakuno, as if aware of the crowd's intentions, intervened to help Xiangzi and Lixi disperse the crowd. This thoughtful gesture was typical of Hakuno, and it reassured Xiangzi that the simulation was the real future.

So, for Xiangzi, Shiina Riki was someone they would never have any contact with in the future. She really didn't need to deal with this guy anymore.

Just turn around and leave.

Even if Shiina Riki was crying, so what? Riki wasn't a half-demon, and he hadn't made a name for himself in the next decade or so. He was completely unknown. Even if Xiangzi reconciled with Riki here, it wouldn't have done anything good.

It's more like the other way around.

What would have happened if Xiangzi hadn't hardened his heart at this time, but had once again gotten involved with Lixi and Crychic's gang?

...It’s troublesome just thinking about it.

So, Xiangzi, you should just stay like this... just like this...

"Well, let's just explain it all at once."

Toyokawa Shoko looks down at Shiina Tateki.

She spoke in that familiar, almost commanding tone.

"Lixi, come with me. Let's go to the training room and I'll explain everything to you there."

Then, Xiangzi turned his head slightly and said in a still firm voice, "Hakuno, wait here for me. I need to hand over the meeting with my old bandmates and then find new ones."

After saying that, Xiangzi looked at Shiina Riki again.

"Do you want to keep crying, or come with me?"

87

Chapter 87 Arresting Su Shi.

Shoko arrested Shiina Riki.

Although Hakuno was also curious about what kind of sparks would fly between the two, he now had another thing to do.

"I have to go see how Su Shi is doing."

Hakuno pulled out a searching cane (five achievements) from his trouser pocket and began to search for Sushi.

The tip of the missing person's cane flickered with a faint red light, like a beating heart, guiding Hakuno in the right direction. Following this strange guidance, Hakuno crossed the bustling streets and turned into a quiet alley. The cane's red light grew stronger and stronger, finally pointing to an unremarkable roadside shop.

This is a department store.

Hakuno pushed open the glass door of the department store, and a cool breeze mingled with the scent of cheap perfume hit him. The air conditioner hummed, and overhead fluorescent tubes cast a pale glow, illuminating the dazzling array of goods on the shelves. He glanced around and quickly found Su Shi. She stood stiffly in a corner, sticking out like a telephone pole, motionless.

Bai Ye followed her line of sight and nearly blew his load. In front of her was a whole row of adult magazines, the girls on the covers wearing scantily clad clothes and striking all sorts of alluring poses.

"cough,"

Bai Ye cleared his throat and walked over to her, "I didn't expect you had such a hobby."

Su Shi didn't react.

"Hello, hello?"

Bai Ye stretched out his hand in front of Su Shi's eyes and shook it a few times.

Su Shi didn't react, like a dead fish.

Su Shi was obviously not reading the magazines, she just stood there blankly... It seemed that Xiangzi's words had a great impact on her.

Bai Ye called Su Shi's name a few more times, even waving his hand in front of her face, but she still didn't react, her eyes empty, as if her soul had left her body. Bai Ye sighed. This girl looked quite mature, but he didn't expect her mental state to be so poor. Were Xiangzi's words really that destructive?

He gave up trying to communicate with Su Shi and instead pulled a magazine with a rather provocative cover from the bookshelf and pretended to flip through it. He called it research, but in reality, he wasn't really that excited. After all, in this age of information explosion, what hadn't he seen? The contents of these magazines were nothing but child's play to him. He just wanted something to do to ease the awkward atmosphere.

"Cough cough,"

Hakuno pretended to cough, trying to get Sushi's attention. "The printing quality of this magazine is pretty good. The paper is thick and feels good."

Su Shi still didn't react, standing there like a sculpture.

"Look, this posture,"

Bai Ye pointed at a girl in a magazine and said, "Isn't it a bit difficult? Most people can't do it, right?"

Su Shi still didn't respond.

Bai Ye shrugged helplessly. It seemed that this girl was really lost in her own world. He simply gave up the idea of communicating with Su Shi and concentrated on studying the magazine in his hand.

That being said, while this stuff certainly wasn't something worthy of formal presentation, paper products from this era still had a certain "flavor." Before he knew it, Hakuno had truly become absorbed in the world of adult magazines. The scent of ink mixed with the tang of cheap perfume gave him a strange sense of security. He studied the various poses with rapt attention, as if admiring a work of art, completely oblivious to the time and the presence of a living person beside him.

Until an impatient cough broke the silence.

"Cough cough!"

A clerk stood by the shelves, glaring at Bai Ye fiercely. He was holding a feather duster and slapping the shelves repeatedly, raising a cloud of dust.

Bai Ye finally woke up from his dream and realized that he had been in the store for a long time. He put down the magazine in his hand awkwardly. The girl on the cover was still in a seductive pose, as if laughing at his loss of composure.

"Oh, sorry, I'll leave now."

Bai Ye scratched his head and prepared to pay the bill and leave.

Only then did he realize that Su Shi was still maintaining his original posture, motionless, standing there like a sculpture.

"Hello, Sushi?"

Hakuno called her again, but she still didn't respond.

Isn't this too much of an exaggeration? Bai Ye thought, could it be that Xiangzi's words really have hit her so hard?

He walked over to Su Shi and gently pressed his hand on her shoulder.

This time, it was like adding batteries to a toy that had run out of power. Su Shi's body suddenly jumped up, "Who!"

"Just a passing Kamen Rider—"

Hakuno joked, "Shigasaki, you like reading this? Do you want me to give you a copy?"

Su Shi's eyes swept over the books and magazines in front of her, and her face suddenly flushed. However, she didn't slap Bai Ye like those third-rate comics did. She just lowered her head slightly and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Bai Ye, for chasing you here... Was it Xiangzi who asked you to chase me here?"

There was a hint of anticipation in her voice.

...How humble.

"No, I came here on my own. Xiangzi went to explain everything to the clerk, and I saw you weren't feeling well, so I followed you here... and you ended up standing here for a long time. Do you like this thing?"

Hakuno asked with a smile.

Su Shi shook his head repeatedly.