Congratulations, Sushi, you have been optimized by me.

Nagasaki Motoyo walked beside Chihiro, looking at the girl's every smile and frown, and she couldn't help but smile herself.

"correct."

After getting on the subway, Su Shi, who was "forced" to stick close to Chihiro due to the crowd, suppressed her inner excitement and asked in a voice that both of them could hear:

"Who sent you a message just now? And...did you find Xiaoxiang to be your teacher?"

"How could it be Xiaoxiang?"

"Why?" Nagasaki Suyo was a little confused. "Aren't you two on good terms? I remember you told me before..."

"Wasn't that before?"

Tsuzuki Chihiro sighed and thought that since Su Shi had almost let it go, there was no need for her to continue hiding the matter. "The lyricist of Red Ginger, Miss OB... Su Shi, do you still remember her?"

"Of course I remember... Wait, you don't mean to say..."

"Yes, she is Xiaoxiang."

"Is it really her?!" Nagasaki Suye had certainly thought of this possibility, but when she really heard this fact from Chihiro's mouth, she was still a little surprised.

So, that day when Xiaoxiang suddenly quit the group was the turning point of everything?

"But why did she suddenly..."

Having said this, Su Shi suddenly fell silent, because it seemed that this was not the first time she raised this issue. The last time she raised it was to Xiaoxiang himself.

The question that didn't get an answer that time may not get an answer this time either?

"How would I know? This guy looks like he's going to explode if I say one more word. It's really infuriating..."

"..."

Nagasaki Suyo remained silent because she was feeling very complicated.

On the one hand, she is still very grateful to the sunny and cheerful Xiaoxiang in the past who helped her out of the haze; but on the other hand, she is a little at a loss because the current Xiaoxiang is too unfamiliar.

Li Xi once told her that that was Xiaoxiang's original appearance, but she refused to believe it at the time.

but now……

"Let's not talk about this. My need to learn keyboard skills has nothing to do with Xiaoxiang." Tsuzuki Chihiro was very good at observing Su Shi's mood. Knowing that the girl was beginning to feel troubled again, she immediately changed the subject. "Let's go to Yoshinoya first and meet our old friends."

"Old friends? Do you mean Satoshi and the others, or Momoka and the others?"

"All."

"what?"

"Didn't I tell you? They're a full band now, and they invited us to watch their live performance this weekend."

"...I only know that Xiaozhi and the others formed a band, but how would I know who they were with?"

Seeing Chihiro Tsuzuki looking like she deserved a beating, Su Shi got a little angry. It just so happened that this scumbag was still entangled with Aine in front of her today. Su Shi, who wanted to settle both old and new grudges, stretched out her hand and was about to pinch the soft flesh on Chihiro's waist.

But what’s infuriating is that this guy actually dodged it flexibly!

"The little maid is committing insubordination, isn't she?"

"Humph."

Nagasaki Suyo turned her head away, trying to hide the embarrassment on her face, but soon she turned her head back and asked, "So you mean to say that you want to learn piano from Xiaozhi in the future?

That little guy... is he that easy to talk to?"

"Xiaozhi is very cute, don't treat her like some super-male kid."

"The last thing I want to hear from you is you calling other girls cute."

"you really……"

She didn't say "You are such a jealous person" because Chihiro knew that Su Shi was the type of person who was "not good at playing" in these aspects.

"So Xiaozhi plans to teach you how to play the piano? No strings attached?"

"Of course."

"...what conditions?"

"I want to teach Nina how to play guitar." Tsuzuki Chihiro said this with a slight smile, "Of course, I plan to let Aine teach her first, and then I will take over when Aine's ability is not enough."

"Sure enough, this is a shameless idea that only you could come up with... But why don't you teach me how to play the guitar?"

"Who said that? Don't I use you for fingering practice every night?"

"...Are you crazy?! We're on the subway!"

"What are you afraid of? No one can hear us whispering, and..." Tsuzuki Chihiro blew on Su Shi's cheek, as if trying to blow away the blush on the girl's face, "Su Shi, you are becoming more and more bad. You can even understand my hints."

"I, I understand what I understand..."

.......

ps: Today is New Year’s Eve, I would like to wish everyone a happy New Year’s Eve!

Secondly, I want to tell you that the updates for the next few days will remain as usual. I originally said that I would pay off all the bounties within this month, but considering that I'm a bit busy during the Chinese New Year, it's likely that I won't be able to do it...

If you count the chapters I wrote while on sick leave a few days ago and subtract the one I have already paid back, I now still owe 10 chapters.

But don’t worry, since this book plans to expand into the mujica aspect, it will not be finished so soon, so there is still a chance to make up these ten chapters.

Chapter 197 Xiaozhi: Who is Toyokawa Shoko? (1/2)

"You two are eating...it's you two."

As soon as I walked into Yoshinoya's beef bowl restaurant, I heard Xiaozhi's cold voice and Rupa's helpless laughter beside him.

Chihiro Tsuzuki and Su Shi found a seat and sat down without ordering anything.

"Hina and the others didn't come?"

"We didn't rehearse today." Ebizuka Satoshi glanced at Chihiro who turned to look at him, raised his eyebrows slightly, and added a little embarrassedly, "We're sorry about the red ginger incident."

In fact, Ebizka Satoshi didn't want to say such things to Chihiro and Motoya.

Because she had already said in advance that they would keep looking for a suitable band and would work hard to move towards their dream of going to the Budokan, so there would definitely be times in the future when the "Red Ginger" group would be unable to cope with all the demands.

If it were in the past, when it was just Rupa and I, the disbanding of Red Ginger wouldn't seem like a big deal, except that it would be a bit unfair to the few fans.

After all, the existence of this account is to prepare for the day when the new band will be reorganized.

But they chose to drag Chihiro and Su Shi into it.

Of course, there is another reason for this. She apologized specifically for this because the target was Chihiro.

"What's there to apologize for~" Tsuzuki Chihiro smiled, not really caring, "I should thank you for giving us this account."

"..."

Looking at Xiaozhi holding the rice spoon as if he wanted to hit someone, Chihiro smiled again. Now she really thought Xiaozhi was quite cute.

He seems to be a bit weird in terms of personality, but compared to the other little blue octopus who plays the keyboard... Xiaozhi's personality does not seem to be as complicated as that one.

"But are you really willing to teach me how to play the piano? Even for free?"

When the others heard the words "free of charge", Nagasaki Suyo on the side frowned and looked at the two girls in front of them with suspicion.

"Of course there are conditions! I..."

Ebizuka Satoshi was about to explain, but she saw that it was still part-time work and there were many other customers in the store, so she closed her mouth and folded her arms and said:

"But I have work to do right now. Can you wait until I get off work in a few hours?"

"What? No...don't."

"But it's hard to explain all this right now. The last time I left work early, I was already scolded by my boss..."

"Alas, a humble worker..."

"You two rich second-generations, get out of my way!"

What bothers Chihiro Tsuzuki the most is this kind of hateful behavior of arousing people's curiosity and then ignoring it, and now she is really interested in playing the piano, although it is unlikely that she can surpass Xiaoxiang through a short period of practice.

But after learning the piano, it is also a good idea to go to the piano room and grab the little octopus's piano to play when you have nothing to do.

If she can't torture Xiaoxiang for fun during school hours, then what's the point of her being forced to agree to go to school?

"Oh, right." Tsuzuki Chihiro's eyes suddenly lit up. She slowly turned her head and looked at the bewildered Nagasaki Suyo. "Suyo, can you do me a favor?"

"Shouldn't you..."

"That's what I meant."

Nagasaki Suyo felt that sometimes telepathy was not a good thing. For example, now, before Tsuzuki Chihiro even said her inhumane idea, she had already guessed what it was.

This guy... actually planned to let her work here instead of Xiaozhi, and then take Xiaozhi home to discuss the piano matter!

This is too much! She really can’t stand it anymore!!!

"Sushi." Tsuzuki Chihiro whispered softly in Sushi's ear, "As my little maid, isn't it my duty to listen to my master?

As long as you're obedient, I'll consider agreeing to whatever you want to do when we celebrate your birthday alone in a few days~"

“…This is the only time.”

"Thank you Sushi~"

Chihiro Tsuzuki clapped her hands happily, tilted her head and looked cute, but only Su Shi knew that she was not being "cute", but being "girlfriend".

Standing up helplessly, Su Shi walked to the back kitchen helplessly, and then explained her and Chihiro's ideas to Xiaozhi who had a surprised expression on his face.

After a while, Xiaozhi, who had been looking at Chihiro Tsuzuki as if she were an alien, changed his clothes and came out. Then, he remained silent with some awkwardness and followed Chihiro towards her home.

Since Chihiro's family doesn't have an electronic piano, the only place she can go is the house shared by Satoshi and Rupa.

But Xiaozhi didn't speak much along the way, or he didn't know what to say to Chihiro.

Although she admired Chihiro's abilities, she didn't know how to get along with her alone, so at this moment, Xiaozhi regretted agreeing to teach her piano.

"Why do you want me to teach Renai how to play guitar?"

"……Eh?"

Xiaozhi was startled by Chihiro who suddenly stopped and turned around. She was only 148cm tall and she always felt angry in front of Chihiro who was 162cm tall.

However, she didn't expect that this talented guitar girl, whose personality she couldn't quite understand, would suddenly ask such a question.

"Aren't you her friend? It's normal to teach her how to play guitar, right?"

"But you've only known her for a short time, right?" Tsuzuki Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you'd be the type to show such concern for a teammate you've only just met."

"..."

"Let's go to your house first."

"You guy..."

Xiaozhi looked at Chihiro with some displeasure as she was talking to herself. She skipped the topic before she even answered, as if she was deliberately going against the grain of such a person. She didn't intend to explain the reason at first, but suddenly stopped in front of Chihiro and said:

"Actually, I want Renai to give up."

"...Give up? Give up what?"

"She doesn't understand at all that learning guitar isn't easy. I... really don't like her blind confidence."

This made Xiaozhi think of his former teammates in a band. They all thought that they could succeed as long as they practiced casually. Most of the time, they seemed to be just expressing their "state" of playing music to others, rather than their "results" of playing music.

The result was predictable. After being told so many unpleasant things, the three teammates were a little broken-down and turned around to accuse her, the former piano genius, of thinking that everyone was the same as her.

But...if you don't have a serious attitude, how can you succeed? Can you get into a martial arts school at lightning speed just by relying on gimmicks and marketing without relying on musicality?

"So you want me to defeat her?" Tsuzuki Chihiro couldn't help but laugh, "But why do you think I can definitely defeat her?"

"because……"

Because you, a guitar fanatic, will make people feel inferior, but Xiaozhi was too embarrassed to say this.

But deep down, she could feel that among the people she knew, no one could surpass the beautiful girl in front of her in terms of concentration on the guitar, not even Momoka... could do it.

Chihiro playing the guitar made her, who at that time didn't know anything about the other person at all, subconsciously believe that this focused and selfless Chihiro was the kind of person who could understand her inner thoughts.

No compromise, at least not in music... no compromise at all.

It’s a pity... Chihiro and I don’t seem to be destined to be bandmates.

"Forget it, since it's the cute Xiaozhi who asked, I'll agree.