Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

Shoko Toyokawa stood by the window, looking at the streets outside being washed by rain. Her mood was as heavy as the weather.

Just then, the door of the rehearsal room was gently pushed open.

A figure appeared at the door.

It is the beginning of Triangle.

She was still late.

Her golden hair was wet by the rain, with a few strands sticking to her cheeks in a mess. The clothes that usually looked fashionable and beautiful were now slightly wet, appearing unsuitably thin.

She lowered her head, as if she didn't dare to look at the people in the rehearsal room.

The atmosphere in the rehearsal room suddenly became stagnant because of her appearance.

Ruomai opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know how to start.

Hai Ling just glanced at her lightly without saying anything.

Xiangzi turned around and looked at Chuhua with a complicated expression.

Chu Hua took a deep breath, seemed to muster up all his courage, and finally raised his head.

Her face was a little pale and her lips had lost their usual color.

She looked at Xiangzi, then glanced at the other people present. Her voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard by everyone:

"I'm here to quit Ave Mujica."

.......

PS: This chapter has 5,000 words, and there should be another chapter with more than 5,000 words before tonight.

I will try my best to update it before midnight, Red Bean Paste Private Marseille.

My sleep and rest schedule is messed up again.

Chapter 130 I said Kujo Renji was right

The sound of raindrops hitting the windows of the rehearsal room was like a monotonous and annoying lullaby.

Inside, the light from the incandescent lamps was diluted by the gloomy weather and became somewhat dim, shining on everyone's face, as if covered with a layer of barely noticeable dust.

Sanjiao Chuhua's words "I'm here to quit Ave Mujica" instantly froze the already tense atmosphere in the rehearsal room.

What a similar scene.

Toyokawa Shoko's face turned quite ugly almost the moment Chuhua finished speaking.

It was a complex expression of shock, confusion, and a stinging sense of betrayal. Her fingers, placed at her sides, subconsciously curled up, her nails digging into her palms, causing a slight pain, but not enough to dispel the rapidly spreading chill in her heart.

Jiujo Renji made a whistle-like sound in her mind. If he had a physical body, he would probably cross his arms leisurely and make himself a cup of black tea for watching a play.

There's really nothing new under the sun.

Wasn’t it a similar situation when a certain Miss Xiangzi messed up the band?

He didn't say anything, but he felt a little gloating and happy at ease.

It turns out that this is how Miss Toyokawa felt when she was "eating melon" in her mind. It's really interesting.

He decided to put aside those inappropriate "guidance" for the time being and concentrate on being a qualified audience.

"why?"

Shoko Toyokawa's voice was a little dry, like sandpaper rubbing against wooden boards.

She tried hard to maintain her composure as a leader, but the barely perceptible tremor at the end of her voice still revealed the turmoil in her heart at the moment.

In response to her, Sanjiao Chuhua's even deeper silence.

The blonde girl lowered her head, a few strands of wet hair clinging to her pale cheeks, making her look even more fragile and disheveled than usual. She didn't dare look at Xiangzi, nor did she dare look at the other people in the rehearsal room. She just stared at her shoes, which were slightly soaked by the rain.

It should have been a rather serious, even sad, scene.

The sudden withdrawal of a band member is a big shock to any group.

But at this moment, Kujo Renji just wanted to laugh.

Of course, he was very "considerate" and did not express this emotion through Xiangzi's expression or words. He just silently adjusted a more comfortable "viewing posture" in the corner of his consciousness.

"Chuhua."

Xiangzi took a deep breath, and the humid air unique to rainy days was inhaled into his lungs, carrying with it a hint of cold oppression.

She took a step forward, closing the distance between her and Chu Hua, trying to use the closer distance to exert pressure, or in other words, to convey some kind of unquestionable will.

"Look at me. Tell me, what happened? Was it Sumimi's side, or did someone say something to you?"

There was a subtle urgency in her tone, as well as a confidence that said, "If you tell me, I can solve it."

——Although this confidence seemed somewhat blind and naive to Kujo Renji.

Sanjiao Chuhua's shoulders trembled imperceptibly. She still didn't look up. A muffled voice came from below, with a strong nasal tone, as if she had a cold.

"No, Xiaoxiang."

She finally spoke, her voice so light that it seemed as if it would be drowned out by the sound of rain outside the window at any moment:

"It has nothing to do with... with anyone."

She paused, as if gathering the courage to speak her next words, her determination almost hurting the listener's ears.

"I just don't have any reason to stay on Ave Mujica anymore."

"No reason?"

Toyokawa Shoko seemed to have heard some ridiculous joke, and her voice rose a few notches involuntarily:

"We've been through so much together, from the initial obscurity to the current success, and you're telling me now there's no reason?"

She doesn't believe it.

Or rather, she didn't want to believe it. She would rather believe that Chu Hua had encountered some unspeakable trouble than believe that she really wanted to give up everything.

"Chuhua, if you encounter any problems, whether it's financial, interpersonal, or anything else you find difficult, you can tell me."

Xiangzi's tone slowed down a bit, trying to show an attitude of tolerance and reliance:

"Ave Mujica is a whole, and I will help you resolve it. But I don't want you to make such a decision unilaterally without telling me anything, as you are doing now."

These words were spoken sincerely, and also contained a hint of an attempt to control the situation.

However, Sanjiao Chuhua just shook his head slowly, as if he was rejecting all of Xiangzi's suggestions, and as if he was making a final cut with something deep in his heart.

"I just... simply don't want to stay here any longer."

She finally raised her face a little, revealing a pair of eyes that had lost their former luster, filled with fatigue and an almost numb emptiness.

She clenched her hands, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

"Regarding the compensation for leaving the team, as stated in the contract, I will find a way to pay it off as soon as possible."

This sentence, like an icy key, opened another Pandora's box.

Yutenji Wakamu, who had been standing silently by and trying to digest this sudden change, finally couldn't hold back any longer when she heard the word "compensation".

"Chuhua!"

Her voice was sharp and angry, like a cat whose tail was stepped on, its fur instantly standing up:

"What the hell are you talking about?! Compensation? Are we talking about compensation?! What do you think Ave Mujica is? A convenience store where you can just come and go as you please?!"

Ruomai's eyes widened with anger and his chest heaved violently.

She didn't understand, she didn't understand at all, why things had turned out like this. Just a few days ago, they were still discussing the details of the next performance, and everything seemed so promising.

In the face of Yutenji Wakamu's angry questioning, Sankaku Hatsuka's response was still silence.

She just lowered her head even lower, as if trying to shrink herself into the crack of the ground.

That look was more like a kind of despair that was unable to refute rather than guilt.

The atmosphere in the rehearsal room became increasingly heavy and oppressive due to these successive shocks.

Looking at everything in front of her, Toyokawa Shoko felt a splitting headache. She felt like she was trapped in a recurring nightmare, and every time she tried to grasp something, it would eventually slip through her fingers.

.......

Sanjiao Chuhua is gone.

Rehearsals naturally came to a halt. A suffocating awkwardness and frustration hung in the air, and everyone was preoccupied, no one in the mood to touch their instruments.

In the end, this rehearsal, which should have been full of anticipation, ended abruptly in an almost unpleasant manner.

Yutenji Ruomai glared angrily in the direction where Chuhua left, muttering words like "ungrateful" and "ungrateful" under his breath, but his eyes were a little red.

Hai Ling packed up her things without saying a word and left the rehearsal room silently.

Shoko Toyokawa rubbed her aching temples and felt an unprecedented fatigue.

She leaned against the cold wall, closed her eyes, and tried to sort out the chaotic thoughts in her mind.

At this moment, the somewhat teasing voice of Kujo Renji sounded in her mind.

"What are you thinking about?"

His tone sounded like that of a veteran drama critic who had just finished watching a wonderful play and was about to comment on the plot.

Shoko Toyokawa slowly opened her eyes, with a look of confusion and frustration in her eyes.

She didn't answer immediately, but just let out a long sigh, which seemed to take away the remaining strength in her body.

"I was wondering..." She paused, her voice a little hoarse, "Maybe I'm just too unlucky."

She laughed at herself:

"It seems like every time you handle something, it goes very smoothly and effortlessly. And I... always seem to be caught off guard and overwhelmed."

There was a hint of unwillingness, a hint of self-doubt in these words, and a hint of envy towards Kujo Renji's nearly omnipotent means...?

Maybe she didn't even realize it.

When Kujo Renji heard this, she felt as if she had heard some extremely funny joke and let out a low chuckle in her mind.

"Is there a possibility?"

There was undisguised sarcasm in his voice:

"Is there a gap between our abilities?"

This was said quite bluntly, even harshly, without any regard for Toyokawa Shoko's fragile self-esteem at the moment.

"..."

To Kujo Renji's surprise, Toyokawa Shoko rarely refuted immediately this time.

He cleared his throat, and with a slightly regretful and "if I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have done it in the first place" tone, he sighed and said:

"I told you all this long ago to find a way to tie them all down with contracts. Non-compete agreements, hefty liquidated damages, unlimited personal joint and several liability... The more stringent the clauses, the better. It would be best if they also leave some ambiguity and allow us the right to interpret them."

His voice carried a hint of the "earnest teachings" of someone who had experienced it:

"Once the trap contract is signed, if Sanjiao Chuhua doesn't continue to stay in the band honestly, she will have to consider whether she can afford the astronomical compensation. She may even have to stay in Orange for a few years. No matter what huge secrets she has, she has to endure it."

These words were full of capitalist coldness and unscrupulous pragmatism, which made Toyokawa Shoko frown.

Just when Kujo Renji thought that his "high-sounding theory" could make Toyokawa Shoko "enlightened", he heard her ask in a tone of suspicion and dissatisfaction:

"Weren't you the one who controlled my body and took care of these things before?"

"Uh..."

Kujo Renji's voice seemed to be choked by something and was stuck in an instant.

Strictly speaking, this is really his problem.

After all, during the time he occupied Shoko Toyokawa's body, although he made drastic changes to Ave Mujica's internal affairs and dealt with those imminent crises, he did not put too much energy into setting up any plans for member management, especially for Sankaku Hatsuka, who he considered to be Shoko Toyokawa's "loyal minister".

Who would have thought that this "loyal minister" who he thought he had the least to worry about would be the first one to jump out and overturn the table and part ways with Toyokawa Shoko?

This is really...shooting oneself in the foot.

Kujo Renji secretly complained in his heart, but dared not say it out loud, for fear that Toyokawa Shoko would find him guilty and mock him for being "nothing more than that."

......