Heavy girl? I feel worse than Black Hole Trigger!

Baodeng Zheli was stunned.

Playing music alone can be really frustrating sometimes.

First, Nagasaki Soyo heard the emotions that were not sung, then Takamatsu Tomo transcended time and space to experience the lyricist's sensibility, and now there is Toyokawa Shoko who guessed the original song that did not yet exist from his KTV-style singing.

Why do I feel like I can’t win even though I’m using cheats?

He shifted his attention as if to escape and turned to look at Lenai.

Following his gaze, the others realized that the silver-haired girl with strange behavior had jumped off the chair and approached the open stage.

Lenai picked up his guitar which he had placed beside the stage and reinserted the wires into the pedal, which emitted a loud electric sound, temporarily interrupting the conversation between Zheli and the others.

Then she put on her suspenders, gave Zhe Li a silly smile, and slid the strings with the pick.

“——…….”

The man opened his eyes wide.

The dense notes came rushing in, suddenly knocking open the door of memory.

There was still a lack of rhythm and drum beats - it was only this subconscious thought that made his fingers touch the strings. When the clear sound came out from the speakers, he came to his senses and realized that what he was holding was not an electric bass.

During this brief pause, the melody at Lenai's fingertips had already rushed to the next measure.

A hurried, even hurried, feeling of wonder flows between the beats played by Le Nai.

It's like being in a sealed room with no escape, watching the water gradually rise. You're not suffocating yet, but it's hard to breathe...

"I almost became an ordinary person overwhelmed by desire."

Then the piano music stopped abruptly.

That is the pause that exists in the song.

The girl raised her head at the same moment and looked at him with her clear, heterochromatic eyes.

It was a very brief moment, but it was enough for the tacit understanding between the two to convey their will—

“… ‘That’s me.’”

He sang softly, and his fingers touched the strings again.

During that brief moment of daze, he had completely memorized Lenai's "demonstration" and immediately switched to the rhythm guitarist mode, accurately filling in the four blank lines.

"..."

The tip of Toyokawa Shoko's ears twitched slightly.

A pair of beautiful eyes slowly moved from the girl who was nodding happily to the rhythm to the man who was counting the strings with his head down.

Baodeng Zheli clearly didn't speak, but she seemed to still hear those few words of the song -

'Feel the pain and sing.'

'Feeling sad and singing.'

"Sing to live."

"It's just a collection of egocentric people."

Only then did Le Nai's powerful chords join the melody, creating a surging wave of sound.

"——I really want to be your god."

Then the song reaches its climax and moves into the chorus...

When Lenai finally stopped plucking the strings at the end of the chorus, Zhelidu was still reluctant to stop.

He took a beat longer to breathe a sigh of relief, stopped the strings, and looked up to see Lenai blinking and staring at him with her ethereal eyes.

The girl stared at him and opened her mouth softly: "This, is it okay?"

And he grinned.

"……Perfect."

When Toyokawa Shoko mentioned the "original version", his mind began to vividly recall Hatsune Miku's crying voice, followed by the shallow background music.

But the melody played by Lenai easily overwhelmed the lyrics in my memory.

...It was so strong that it seemed to be announcing its existence to his memory.

He understood at that moment: Why must we imitate the "original"?

Even cover singers may have interpretations that are different from the original singers.

He's not Kanzaki Iori. Even less so is Rakuna. Both Hoto Oori and Kaname Rakuna have led vastly different lives than Kanzaki Iori, and naturally, they both have vastly different interpretations of the same song.

Just like Kanzaki Iori knew nothing about Hoto Oriri, but still wrote a song that moved Hoto Oriri.

"..."

The man smiled and lowered his eyes.

The setting sun shone through the window, casting a blurry shadow on the ground.

But soon, another shadow overlapped with it, blending into an inseparable and extremely deep imprint.

A girl named Nagasaki Suyo stopped in front of the shadow, looked up at him and smiled softly.

……

Love and peace are borrowed ideals.

The heroic behavior is a borrowed image.

He is just such an ordinary person, and that's why he wants to save someone.

...I hope that one day someone will be able to save me like this.

But, perhaps,

This existence named Baodeng Zheli also has something unique that is different from "them".

——The "cry" that always exists in the heart will never be false.

"..."

He first squatted down, then knelt on one knee, lowering his body as much as possible and walked into the shadow.

Nagasaki Suyo blinked first, then timidly raised her eyes and looked at him.

Those eyes were as blue as the cloudless sky, but it was not the sun that colored them but the starlight: a little cold, a little distant, yet also incredibly real—

As if I could see it just by looking up.

A brightness that brings peace of mind.

"Su Shi."

Baodeng Zheli spoke in a low voice.

At the moment when Toyokawa Shoko excitedly pulled Takamatsu Deng and shouted something, at the moment when Shiina Riki angrily tried to separate the two, at this moment when it seemed that only they were left.

The moment when a pair of intertwined figures coincidentally overlap and are engraved in a corner of the world.

There was a man who smiled like a boy.

The smile was like a certain young man still alive in my heart.

"Thank you for liking me."

he said softly.

Thank you for making me able to save myself.

Thank you for making me determined to be a hero to myself.

"Thank you for letting me learn to like you."

“————…….”

And a certain girl quietly opened her eyes wide.

She seemed to have forgotten how to express herself, mumbling incomparably calmly...

"Is this your counterattack...?"

The man was stunned for a moment, then he remembered the conversation a few days ago and couldn't help but chuckle -

"So, I'll do the same as you, once a week?"

"… So stupid."

"Each each other."

"Really, so stupid—"

She said this expressionlessly, glancing away with eyes that were already filled with tears.

……

Oh, how stupid.

What should I do to like you more than I do now?

For a moment, I seriously considered this...

It's really a——

What a hopeless, fool!

Chapter of Lost Stars, Act 1, Summer Time Record: Interlude Until the Morning Star Falls in the Breeze

If the spring breeze blows towards the blue sky, the white clouds will run away playfully.

And when the breeze sinks towards the ground, how can people hide?

"Su Shi."

"Ok?"

"Is it about time to get up?"

"No."

“…It’s hard for me to work like this.”

"Then don't work."

"Oops..."

A long, flaxen hair as smooth as a waterfall flowed down from Baodeng Zheli's shoulders.

Nagasaki Suyo was hugging Zheli's neck from behind, with her little head resting on her shoulder. They were so close that he could hear her breathing.

This seems to be the first time that Su Shi has shown such obvious "aggression".

Ever since Baodeng Zheli said those words to Su Shi that day, she quickly returned to normal, at least until Zheli sent her home, she did not show anything special.

...Until today, before noon, the girl came abruptly.

Then, without saying a word, he walked towards the store manager who was killing time on a stool and approached him closely from behind.

You can clearly feel a softness on your back, and a scent of fragrance lingers at the tip of your nose; it's like a breeze following closely by your side, so gentle that you can break free with a little more effort, and so comfortable that you want to stay where you are and take a warm nap.

So Zhe Li didn't ask anything, but just stroked the back of her slightly cold hand comfortingly, and spent the not-unbearable silence together.

But...it's a bit too long.

"Okay, it's about time you tell me what happened, right?" Zhe Li said, patting the slender hands.

The girl's voice was close to her ear, muffled: "Are you scared?"

"A little. I was worried about what happened to you." Zhe Li smiled: "But it sounds like you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for making you worry."

Su Shi said in a whisper, almost as if breathing, "It's just that I'm a little unwilling."

"Not reconciled?"

"...Obviously, I was the one who liked you first."

Su Shi suddenly loosened his hands and stood up from Zhe Li's back.