You are Toyokawa Shoko, then who am I?

【Naru Sumita:...It sounds so good. 】

【Oblivionis: It would be best if you like it. 】

[Oblivionis: This song is sung by two people. You can find another person to sing with you later.]

Oblivionis: The first version only lasted about forty seconds, with a lot of omissions. I helped complete the remaining lyrics and extended the song to four minutes.

[Oblivionis: I'll give you this version of the lyrics and music. You are now the owner of this song. You can discuss the details with your friend who originally wrote the lyrics. In short, no matter what, the dominant position is yours.]

[Oblivionis: Although this is a belated blessing, thank you anyway. I was listening to your singing in the car when I was feeling good. In return, I helped you write this song.]

[Oblivionis: Congratulations on reaching 1000 followers, Mana-chan. Congratulations on taking another step forward on your path to becoming an idol.]

[Oblivionis: You will definitely be able to perform at Tokyo Dome in the future.]

【Oblivionis: From your 1000th fan, Xiangjun. 】

"—"

Junda Mana looked at the messages that came in, her beautiful brown eyes blinking, like a child who saw a shooting star that left a long trail on the sky for the first time.

The competition in the idol industry is very fierce.

In the same agency, there may be only two people who can become famous in the end, but there are more than two hundred trainees.

Mana Junda initially came to this strange environment where she had to support herself in pursuit of her dream.

She always has a cute and honest smile.

In fact, I was also worried whether I would be the last two people.

She did not do things that abandoned her conscience or confused her conscience like others.

From the moment she became a trainee, she has been working hard and diligently.

And this moment.

Her duty, her hard work.

It seems that it paid off.

With a song like this, she no longer needs to worry about whether she can advance to the next round of selection. She might even become the target of the agency's resources thanks to this song...

It was clearly just a fantasy dream yesterday.

It seems like I can touch it today.

"—"

She is lying on the bed.

His eyes were staring at the ceiling in a trance.

Her arm covered her eyes, obscuring her expression as her mind flashed back to the memory of when she asked about her friend Sanjiao Chuhua.

She sighed softly.

I am not aware of it myself.

There was a hint of complexity in the tone.

"...That friend of Xiaochu's is indeed Xiang-kun."

49

Chapter 49 I have no objection to you marrying Kaname Lenai from now on.

After chatting with Junda Mana, it was almost two o'clock in the morning.

Toyokawa Sho put down his headphones, knowing that he should go to bed and have a good sleep. He had to go to work at RiNG tomorrow. If he went there with a haggard face, Li Xi would definitely worry about him.

However, Toyokawa Sho really didn't feel sleepy at all. After his attention was diverted from the tedious work, it slid back into his complicated and depressed mood along the original trajectory.

His gaze fled back to the screen of his mobile phone like a deserter, thinking about chatting with the beautiful idol again, but seeing that they had already said good night to each other, Toyokawa Sho couldn't bear to continue disturbing the girl who had been waiting for his news for almost a whole night.

She should have a good rest.

So he turned off his phone and slowly leaned forward.

He looked down at the panda pendant that seemed to be lying on his palm, his consciousness wandering in the magnificent and long corridor of life.

Putting your fingers on it, it's like touching the crystal wall in the memory palace. Clicking on it, you can see the rippling surface of the lake on the wall, and the memories of being with Li Xi in the past few days and the stories weaved together in the previous world emerge.

These memories are like a dream.

It was as if it had turned into a rope that I could hold on to tightly, dragging myself slowly towards the place where the light was shining. Looking back down, I saw an empty and silent darkness.

Toyokawa Sho closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the panda's soft fur. The room was filled with only the light from the computer screen, which was like a paintbrush dipped in depressing colors, outlining his figure with a hazy and broken feeling.

After sitting like this for a while, he exhaled a breath, shook his head, and pulled himself out of the endless weakness.

He held the mouse, slid it to the far left of the screen to turn off the computer, put the microphone, sound-absorbing cover and other used items back to their original places, then stood up and carefully pushed open the door.

The living room outside was already pitch black, but fortunately not so dark that one couldn't see one's hand in front of one's face.

The light coming from the courtyard passed through the paper on the partition, illuminating the darkness slightly like a weak candlelight.

This house has a traditional Japanese-style structure, with the floor covered with mats made of rush. The interior space is not separated by modern doors, but by simple and plain partitions that look concise and elegant.

Toyokawa Sho groped in the dark, walked over and opened the partition, and saw Tsuzuki Shifune moving a wooden chair and sitting on the corridor of the courtyard.

She held a thin stream of smoke between her old fingers as she gazed at the flower trees in front of her, their leaves swaying in the light evening breeze. The dull water bowls and the overgrown stone paths together created the scenery of the courtyard. The tranquil beauty and the old-fashioned sadness, two completely different styles seemed to blend together, emitting a faint light under the moonlight.

Tsuzuki Shifune noticed the movement behind him, turned around and saw that it was Toyokawa Sho. He took out a portable ashtray from his pocket and extinguished the cigarette he had not smoked half of.

“Smoking is bad.”

Tsuzuki Shifune said slowly, "If you can avoid smoking, then don't smoke."

"I listen to you."

Toyokawa Sho knew that the old man didn't want to establish a bad image in front of him, so he put out the cigarette, so he slowly walked to the old man's side.

Just as I was about to sit down, I found that the old man's clothes were a little thin and he might be cold in the rainy weather tonight, so I went back to the living room and brought him the newly bought gray and black windbreaker.

Then he walked up to the old man and draped it over his legs like a blanket.

"No need,"

Tsuzuki Shifune shook his head. "I'm just old and can't sleep for too long, so I came to the yard to get some fresh air."

"You have to keep warm, too."

Toyokawa Sho sat down next to the old man and put on a playful smile to cheer him up. "I'm counting on you for everything. If you catch a cold, I'll be even more worried than Lenai."

When the old man heard this, he first smiled, and then actually pretended to sneeze.

The young man never thought that the always serious old man could have such a humorous side. He took it seriously for a moment and was about to help the old man go back to rest.

Then he saw that the old man was just pretending and soon returned to his usual calm and composed expression. Only then did he realize that he had been fooled.

He breathed a sigh of relief at first, then he looked at the old man and couldn't help laughing out loud. The old man and the young man were like friends who were joking with each other, sitting in the corridor and looking at the scenery of the courtyard together.

"Can't sleep?"

The old man brought up a new topic.

"I just didn't feel sleepy at all. I wanted to go to the yard to breathe some fresh air before going back to sleep."

Toyokawa Sho answered truthfully.

"Do you feel like there's a stone in your heart?"

The old man asked again.

"Otherwise I wouldn't have come to the yard with you."

Toyokawa Sho did not answer directly, but only admitted it euphemistically.

"If you're unhappy, just let it out. Don't bottle it up like a sullen person and say nothing."

The old man leaned back in his chair, his tone filled with the vicissitudes of time.

"You're still a little brat. You don't need to mature, and you don't need to. Restraining desires and suppressing emotions, while seemingly respectable and sensible, is actually disadvantageous and unhealthy for a child. The more you compromise and accept everything, the more it shows that your requests for help were not taken seriously, or even received no response."

"So sometimes, I'd rather indulge Lenai, pamper her, and dote on her. Even though this might cause her to lose track of the priorities in life, like now where she's so absorbed in guitar that she neglects her equally important studies, at least it won't turn her into a child with unspoken pain."

"..."

Toyokawa Sho opened his mouth slightly.

I wanted to say something, but found that I couldn't say anything at this time. I buried my right hand in my hair and scratched it a few times, but I still couldn't organize the words in my mind.

The old man took in his entire performance.

She remembered that time when Toyokawa Sho came down from upstairs, holding an umbrella, and returned to the car with a forced smile on his face, and sighed softly.

"Actually, you should learn more from Lenai."

"In my original plan, I hoped that you, as an older brother, could take care of Lenai for me. I'm getting old, and there are many things I really don't have the energy to do. Your presence can save me a lot of trouble. For example, you can teach her guitar, teach her how to behave, or even, as you said a few hours ago, you can help her with her studies."

"You're very smart, Fengchuan. You're highly gifted and capable. Even more remarkable is that you're willing to take care of Lenai. I can safely leave Lenai by your side. You can serve as her role model and slowly correct her character flaws. You'll help her realize that she can't just focus on the guitar and ignore other important things. You'll also help her figure out what path she wants to take in the future."

The old man spoke eloquently, and then sighed deeply.

"But it's precisely because of your excellence that I overlooked that you're also a sensitive child. If it weren't for what happened today, I wouldn't even know that your situation is worse than I expected."

"Toyokawa, hurt isn't something you have to endure; pain needs to be expressed. You can learn to be like Lenai and express your feelings directly. Holding on like this, saying nothing, even swallowing back tears, is what makes you aloof and strong."

"Fate will bow to you, suffering will submit to you, but human beings are born weak. Our social nature means that we are destined to intersect with others in this life. If you are always alone on your road, sooner or later you will collapse."

Toyokawa Sho lowered his head and clasped his hands.

He knew clearly that the old man was right.

This is also why after he traveled through time, he kept persuading Shoko Toyokawa to put aside her pride and meet her important friends again openly.

Because he walked this path alone, he swallowed all the grievances and all the realities that shattered his self-esteem. He walked this path to the end, but in return all he got was a messy heart.

So he didn't want Toyokawa Shoko to follow the same path as him, and didn't want Toyokawa Shoko to really become another him.

Instead, he hoped that she could take a different path from the one he had, a better and happier one.

"...So, how would you express your emotions, Lenai?"

Toyokawa Sho asked, "Play guitar?"

"Yeah, just playing guitar."

The old woman handed a wooden guitar placed next to her to Toyokawa Sho. This guitar was also an old companion that had been with her for a long time.

"Music is a vehicle for human emotions, joy, anger, sorrow, hope, or pain. These things that can be expressed in words sometimes reach the heart more directly than music."

"I know you have a lot of unspeakable secrets, but it doesn't matter. I can still be your listener, Fengchuan. There's no need to force yourself to tell me your pain and grievances. Just use this guitar to vent them."

“…Boss, thank you…”

When Toyokawa Sho heard these words, he felt a warm current flowing in his heart.

"But it's already two in the morning. Playing guitar so late at night will probably wake up Lenai."

Having said that, he still stretched out his hands and solemnly took the guitar.

He slowly stroked the body of the guitar and could feel the traces carved by the passing years. He seemed to be able to see the past when the young boss carried this guitar all over the country and finally made a name for himself.

"Don't you know how soundly she sleeps?"

The old man chuckled and glanced at the young man sitting next to him. "She was still holding your hand tightly when we got off the bus. It took a long time to shake her awake. When she got up, she was drooling all over your shoulder."

"Boss, I swear to God, you were the one who said that Lenai should be allowed to hug me if she wants."

The young man cried out for justice, saying that he was just an ordinary barista and how could he dare to refuse the boss's granddaughter's little hands.

"Don't you know how to pull your hand away?"

The old man teased.

"The next second after pulling away, she will be held again."

The young man sighed.

"It seems that Lenai really likes you,"

The old woman smiled. She didn't really care about it and said it just as a joke. "Her room is in the back room, quite far from here. Even if you sing with the microphone here, you'll only hear a faint sound in her room."

"How do you know so clearly?"