Girls' Wishing Tree

She received a message from Ying, who apologized and said that she spoke without thinking.

Li Xi didn't know how to face Ying, so he had to block her.

Walking down the street, Li Xi had no idea where to go. She wanted to go somewhere where Shiina Maki wasn't around, but who in this world wouldn't treat her as Maki's sister?

A light rain started to fall from the sky.

Rain mixed with tears flowed down her cheeks, and her wet long hair stuck to her scalp, telling everyone about her miserable state.

Suddenly, the rain stopped.

No, it wasn't that the rain stopped, but that an umbrella was covering Lixi's head.

Li Xi slowly turned his neck, which was a little stiff due to the rain, and saw a familiar face.

It was her partner at the training center, Hachiman Kairei. She was carrying a convenience store bag in her hand without an umbrella, looking like she was buying some groceries from a place not far from home.

"I'm sorry." Li Xi's eyes softened slightly: "I...maybe I won't continue learning the drums."

"Don't talk about it yet. Go to my house and take a shower. We can talk after you have something to say."

"No... no need—" Li Xi refused at first, but seeing Hai Ling's concerned look, she agreed: "Sorry to bother you then."

When Li Xi followed Hai Ling back, Ying also returned to the shrine.

I've been chasing it for over an hour but haven't caught it. Now running around everywhere is completely useless.

Looking at the raindrops falling from the sky, Ying felt a surge of self-blame in her heart.

Is Lixi still out there in the rain? Is Deng with her?

Gao Mu picked up his phone and sent a message to Deng: [I'm sorry, I seem to have hurt your friend today. My original intention was to hope that she could make significant progress in percussion before the Harvest Festival. Can Deng help me explain this?]

[Yakura can't treat Riki like this.]

[I didn’t find Lixi either.]

[Lixi must be feeling very uncomfortable.]

Deng quickly replied with three messages in succession.

[Can you help me make an appointment with Li Xi? I will go to Li Xi to apologize tomorrow.] Gao Muying continued to send messages to Deng.

Shows read, but light doesn't reply.

Sakura had no choice but to send another message to Hikawa Hina.

Deng is from Haneki, Riki is her classmate, Hina is the student council president of Haneki, and Hina was also invited to the program recording, so we should be able to ask Hina to help find Riki.

[Hina, I found a drummer at Haneda Junior High School named Shiina Tatsuki. I wanted her to participate in a guitarist interview, so I invited her to a shrine for a rehearsal. During the rehearsal, I said some harsh words to her, and now she's gone. Can you help me find her? I'd like to apologize to her in person.]

The message sent to Ricai also showed as read, but Ricai did not reply for half an hour.

Sakura Takagi sat in front of the computer, trying to write the score of "Pig Bajie Carrying His Wife on His Back" and send it to Ichiri Goto, but she kept making mistakes.

In his previous life, Mr. Xu’s compositions were actually very trendy. Although they were works from the 80s, they don’t sound outdated even now.

Takagi Sakura was very familiar with this piece of music, but she made several mistakes in composing this piece of music which was only a little over a minute long, and ultimately had to give up halfway.

In its current state, there is no way it can work.

Sakura's phone suddenly lit up - it was Hinata's reply.

I asked Shiina Maki, but she's not home yet. Maki called her, and she's staying at a friend's house tonight. Maki told me to tell you that Lixi isn't very confident, so try to take care of her. Lixi's going to school tomorrow, and I'll help you communicate with her.

At the critical moment, I finally found a reliable person.

But Lixi has already blocked himself.

Sakura, who had been blocked by Riki, put down her phone and decided that she couldn't rely solely on Hina to communicate with Riki. The two of them didn't know each other, and Hina was only friends with Maki. With Riki, she probably couldn't even speak to him.

It looks like I still have to go to Yugaoka tomorrow.

With the exception of Mibori, all the girls who appeared in the dialog box were talented in music, and Riki's performance on the drums also demonstrated this.

Although her performance currently seems to lack spirituality, the strength of her arms is able to support high-intensity performance, which is very important for a female drummer.

If Li Xi chose to give up music because she did not make a choice in time, it would be difficult for her to get over this hurdle.

Chapter 56 Shrines, Festivals, and Monsters: 16. Going to Yugaoka

It was already late at night, but Takagi Sakura couldn't fall asleep at all. The matter of Shiina Riki was like a thorn in her heart.

She had always treated the choices as a tool to earn Shining Points, and only restrained herself and helped the girls choose with kindness. Only now did she realize that her unconsidered choices might change the girls' lives.

Yes, she knew that the meeting of two people would definitely leave a "mark" on each other, and the process of making friends was a process of mutual change, but she had always believed that the change in options would not be so obvious.

If I had been more perceptive, I would have seen from the options the system gave to Takamatsu Deng and Miyazono Kaoru that choices were very important to the girls. Unfortunately, at the time, I was only thinking about quickly obtaining a human form, and later I was paralyzed by some seemingly insignificant options.

She is now reviewing the situation and feels that Lixi really needs more encouragement. Perhaps watching videos with her and pointing out where she can improve bit by bit would be a more appropriate choice.

The system's urging made her feel a little confused at the time, but there was not much point in looking for excuses now.

"Lixi..." Gao Muying looked at the moon hanging in the sky with some trepidation, wondering what she should do to make Lixi listen to her.

In the end, she sent messages to Goto Ichiri and Kawahara Momoka.

[I'll give you a fake medical record. Please take tomorrow off and come to my place with your guitar. We'll practice another song together. I also have another favor to ask you.] This is for Goto Ichiri.

[Please come to the shrine tomorrow. The little girl we saw on the overpass suddenly doesn't want to play the drums anymore. See if you can help persuade her.] This one is for Momoka.

She didn't know who among Deng, Hina, Ichiri and Momoka could persuade Li Xi, but she would definitely use saturated guidance to ignite Li Xi's love for music.

Deng is Riki's friend, but she is not very willing to persuade Riki; Hina is the student council president of Haneigaoka, but she is more familiar with Maki, so it is hard to say how much influence she can have in front of Riki; Ichiri and Riki both have some inferiority complexes, but it is not known whether Ichiri's persistence can open Riki's heart; Momoka is a person who encountered setbacks on the road of music but still moved forward, but whether Riki will empathize with her is still a question mark.

Takagi Sakura even thought about Miyazono Kaoru and Shiina Maki.

It was a bit too ridiculous to push Miyazono Kaoru out in a wheelchair. As for asking Shiina Maki out, on the one hand, she was not familiar with Maki and could only go through Hina as the middleman. On the other hand, she now realized that Riki's knot was with Maki, and rashly asking her out might have the opposite effect.

Before dawn, Takagi Sakura managed to take a nap for two hours.

When the first ray of sunlight shone into the shrine, she sent another message to Takamatsu Deng, hoping that she could help persuade Shiina Riki again, or at least see if Riki would go to school today.

This time, Erlinba Wendeng actually replied to the message.

I will bring Lixi's schoolbag to school.

Takagi Sakura adjusted her mood and managed to finish the music that she hadn't been able to write yesterday.

The first to arrive was Goto Ichiri, who arrived at the shrine during class time.

Looking at Goto Ichiri carrying a schoolbag in his hand and a guitar on his back, Takagi Sakura was a little moved - at this critical moment, Goto Ichiri decisively took her forged medical record to the teacher to ask for leave, and came to help with her guitar on her back. This can be said to be "a friend in need is a friend indeed".

Sometimes I even deliberately use the identity of "Monster Lord" to scare Goto Ichiri, and my face gets a little hot just thinking about it.

"Ying, I'm here." Yili walked into the training room: "Is the next song very difficult?"

"No, it's not difficult." Gao Muying handed over the music sheet: "Take the guitar track and play it with the neck pickup. Try to make the sound crisp and smooth, and playful."

Goto Ichiri didn't look at the music score immediately, but looked at Takagi Sakura's face for a few seconds.

Even though she was a tree demon, that look of anxiety and fatigue was still evident on her face.

"Yakura..." Ichiri wanted to ask what happened to Sakura, but the words retreated when they reached his lips: "We are not playing together now, right?"

"Well, that's fine. I have a favor to ask of you. There's a drummer I found..." Takagi Sakura told Goto Ichiri about Riki's situation, and then made a request to her: "If Hinata doesn't persuade Riki well at noon, I'd like you to come with me to Hanegaoka Girls' College after school."

"Go... go to Yuqiu?" Yili was a little scared, and his face was full of tension.

To her, the unfamiliar school was like a terrifying "devil's den." Going there after school was especially frightening, as it made her heart leap into her throat.

"Is my head mask here? If I put it on..." Yili began to look around for the pig head mask placed in the shrine.

"Don't be afraid." Takagi Sakura held Goto Ichiri's hand. "Momoka and I will go together. We went there today to help Shiina Riki dispel her worries. I thought that with your personality, you might become good friends with her, so I asked you to go."

"Friend..." Goto Ichiri raised her head so that Takagi Sakura could barely see her eyes from under her bangs.

Ying read Ichiri's dilemma.

"Just do me a favor. We're already friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah..." Pochi agreed after feeling the warmth of Sakura's palm.

After a while, Taoxiang also came over with a backpack, but she didn't bring her guitar.

"Ying, what happened to the little girl on the overpass?" Taoxiang asked straight to the point as soon as she came in.

"I accidentally pissed her off. She came over to practice drums, and I thought her playing was too mechanical, so I said a few harsh words to her, and ended up shutting her down." Takagi Sakura clasped her hands together and said, "Momoka, please, I really just saw a young drummer with potential, and I unconsciously had high expectations."

"No problem." Taoxiang sat on the tatami very familiarly: "When are we going?"

"I'll ask Hina." Takagi Sakura sent a message to Hina.

What she didn't know was that Lixi hadn't been to school yet, and Hailing had skipped classes to stay with Lixi.

"Here, a drink." Hailing put a box of jelly on Lixi's shoulder.

Li Xi supported Naanjeong, "Hailing, my drums, do they sound like they were played on a drum machine?"

Hailing didn't say anything - she knew that Lixi's drumming was indeed too afraid of making mistakes, which made it seem a bit mechanical. But she always wanted to make up for it with her bass playing.

"Who said that? I'll help you beat her up." Hailing clenched her fist and shook it in front of Lixi.

"Is it true that Zero Dream Qi'er mixed with Zero Fin III?"

"Our rhythm group is the best rhythm group." Hailing still didn't give a direct answer, but chose to change the subject: "Even if you feel uncomfortable, you still have to go to school, right? How about I accompany you to Yuqiu?"

"Go ahead." Li Xi inserted the straw into the milk jelly drink box and deliberately sucked it out of the "sizzling" sound.

Chapter 57 Shrines, Festivals, and Monsters: 17, True Damage

The sun was hanging high in the sky at noon, and middle school girls generally did not like to be active under the sun, so there were few students active in the courtyard of the Yugaoka Girls' Academy.

Hinata had already asked about Shiina Riki's class and came over at lunchtime. She glanced around the classroom but didn't find any girls who looked like Maki.

So, Hinata had no choice but to ask Riki's classmates, "Excuse me, is Shiina-san here? I need something from Shiina-san."

"Ah, it's Hikawa-senpai from PasPale! Are you looking for Shiina Maki-senpai's sister? She didn't come to class this morning."

"Uh..." Hinata scratched her pigtail awkwardly, "Will Shiina-san come this afternoon?"

"Senior Hikawa, I'm here." Shiina Riki appeared at the classroom door at this time. His eyes were a little swollen, and he didn't sleep well the day before, so he looked like a panda that escaped from the zoo.

"Lixi, you should go to the infirmary to rest." Hina stood between Lixi and the other classmates.

She is well aware that for middle school girls, showing their vulnerable side can sometimes become an opportunity for bullying.

Although the atmosphere in Yuqiu is much better than that in other schools, it cannot be said that such a situation will never occur.

"No, I'm fine." Li Xi said, his voice slightly hoarse.

"Let's get some rest first, then we can talk about this." Hina held Shiina Riki's hand and said, "Everyone is concerned about you. I'm Hikawa Hina from the High School Student Council. Two people have asked me to look after you today."

She wasn't lying. The first person to ask her for help was Sakura Takagi, followed by Maki Shiina.

"Lixi, I brought your schoolbag for you." Deng walked over and put the schoolbag on Lixi's seat.

"Thank you." Li Xi took two deep breaths and agreed to go to the infirmary to rest for a while before class.

Hikawa Hina followed her out.

Takagi Sakura told Hina that it was her harsh words that caused Riki to run away. Maki also specifically reminded Hina not to let Riki know that she was paying attention to her sister's school life.

Hinata could probably guess Riki's mentality because she also had a sister.

Roselia's Glacier Gauze Night.

Although she is the more "genius" among the sisters, she gradually understands the helplessness of the comparison between sisters - Saya's previous alienation from her is inseparable from her learning the guitar that she cherished and entering PasPale through the audition.

Hinai had roughly guessed what Riki was thinking.

On the way to the infirmary, she tried to talk to Lixi: "Lixi, you didn't get enough rest last night, did you?"

"...Um, Hikawa-senpai, I stayed at a friend's house yesterday."

"Lixi, I'm at PasPale, you should know me, right? I want to record a show next, and I'm planning to invite you to play on the drums. You'd better stay in good shape and play out the best drums."

"I'm sorry, Senior Bingchuan, I don't plan to play the drums anymore - I wish you good health and a successful career." Li Xi walked forward a few meters quickly, turned around and bowed to Bingchuan Hina.

Then, Lixi quickened his pace and ran towards the infirmary.

Hikawa Hina didn't chase after her, but took out her phone and sent a message to Takagi Sakura: [Riki is in the infirmary now. She's in a very bad state and even said she won't play the drums anymore.]

At the shrine, Takagi Sakura saw her phone light up and immediately opened the chat box with Hina.

But the message in the chat box was not what she wanted to see.

"Lixi..." Sakura sat on the tatami somewhat depressed. The music scores scattered around were so glaring at this moment.