Girls' Wishing Tree

What she didn't know was that Sakura had only called her over because Lenai hadn't answered the phone.

Even though the lead singer was overshadowed by Sakura and Ichiri, she had no complaints and even happily arranged for her friends to record the entire process - she was particularly surprised that she could recruit a talented musician like Sakura Takagi by simply posting a recruitment message online.

What she didn't know was that Sakura took on the task of being a support musician at Starry more because another person was also a support musician there.

Yamada Ryo, the support bassist Kita mentioned.

At this time, Yamada Ryo was standing in the audience, holding a glass of orange juice, shaking his head to the rhythm on the stage.

Her band disbanded, but her love for music and bass never faded.

On stage, Sakura, accompanied by her guitarist, bowed to the audience, and Ryo nodded approvingly. Even from her rather critical perspective, Sakura's bass playing was flawless, though a few parts lacked "spirituality." Considering she was a part-time bassist, this performance was already perfect.

"Great sense of rhythm, solid technique..." Ryo murmured to herself, a glint of approval in her eyes. As a professional musician, she had a keen intuition for music and knew the value of Sakura's performance.

Sakura on the stage seemed to have noticed the gazes from the audience. She looked up inadvertently and her eyes met Yamada Ryo's in the air.

At that moment, time seemed to stand still. Sakura was slightly stunned, then smiled brightly and greeted Yamada Ryo with her eyes. Yamada Ryo was a little surprised, but still smiled politely in return.

At the end of the performance, the audience erupted in applause. Sakura and Goto Ichiri took their bows on stage, the atmosphere so electric it practically blew the roof off.

Yamada Ryo put down the orange juice cup, stood up, and watched Sakura walk back to the backstage.

Sakura returned to the backstage and symbolically collected a few thousand yen as an appearance fee, leaving some for the ticket back to the shrine, and stuffed the rest into Goto Ichiri's hand.

"Ah, thank you! Thank you!" Goto Ichiri held the money and almost turned into a bowing machine.

"Given your guitar playing skills, this appearance fee is too low." Ying changed the subject: "But we're not here to make money today. I just want you to play the guitar for a while."

Yili said happily: "Ying, you are so nice to me!"

Ying reached out and touched Yili's head: "Okay, I have something else to do. Do you want to go back first? Or stay here with me for a while?"

Ichiri put his guitar on his back, but he didn't look like he was going to leave: "I'll stay here with Ying for a while."

At that moment, Yamada Ryo stood in the audience, the orange juice cup swaying gently in her hand. Her eyes never left the stage until someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ms. Yamada, it's almost time to go on stage."

"Oh, okay." Liang then remembered that he still had the job of supporting the musicians.

Sakura came out from backstage and just heard the announcer say that Yamada Ryo was starting the performance.

Soon, the figure that had just looked into her eyes overlapped with a figure she had seen in the musical instrument store before.

It turns out that she is Yamada Ryo.

Ryo Yamada, who found some problems with the bass after trying it out, but still bought it.

Yamada Ryo stood on the stage, smiling and bowing to the audience. Her gaze swept across the audience, finally stopping at Sakura. As their gaze met, a thousand words seemed to flow through their eyes.

Sakura stood in the audience, watching Ryo expertly guide the rhythm, each note precise and powerful. She instantly understood why Kita was so obsessed with Ryo.

A bassist with high playing level is indeed someone that bands are vying for.

When the performance ended, the audience erupted in thunderous applause again. Yamada Ryo and his teammates bowed to express their gratitude, glancing at Sakura as they looked up.

When Yamada Ryo walked off the stage, Sakura took the initiative to greet him and said, "You played very well."

Liang smiled slightly, "Thank you. You did an excellent job, too."

"Add me your contact information, maybe there's a chance for cooperation." Ying took out her cell phone.

Ichiri nervously watched Sakura and Liang talking, trying to keep a straight face and pretend to be "aloof" to cover up the fact that he was "socially anxious".

But her expression was destined to be seen by no one - Liang didn't pay much attention to her.

"I think I saw you once in a music store, but I didn't know you at that time." Liang took the initiative to point out the fact that he had met Ying before: "If I knew you were the shrine maiden of Sakura Shrine, I would have talked to you for a while."

"It's not too late to talk now. Liang, you're currently a support musician, right?"

"...Yeah." Liang obviously didn't want to talk about this topic: "I'm quite enjoying this state. After all, it's not easy for a bassist to find a band. The bassists of the three bands performing tonight were all support musicians."

Sakura didn't notice this and took the program out of her pocket to check.

Starry's program would print the names of all the band members. She and Liang were indeed support musicians, but Hachiman Kailing from the next band did not have the support musician mark.

Ryo noticed Sakura's confusion and held out a hand to her, "Give me one thousand yen and I'll tell you why Ms. Hachiman is a support musician."

"No more." Ying spread her hands in a very unconcerned manner: "All the money I had was eaten by Jimmy Henry."

Ichiri couldn't hold it in any longer: "Ying! Jimmy Henry never takes money! I'll pay for the thousand yen!"

Sakura watched speechlessly as Ichiri pulled out a thousand-yen note and bent over to hand it to Ryo: "Please accept this!"

Liang snatched the banknotes from Ichiri's hand and said, "Oh, actually, Ms. Hachiman is the bassist for more than ten bands. She is a full member of each band, so even if she is a full member, she is also a support musician."

Yili suddenly felt cheated and stared at Liang while biting her lip. Liang noticed her gaze but calmly put the banknotes into his pocket.

Sakura didn't notice the interaction between the two, but turned her attention back to the stage.

She also knew Hachiman Kailing, a friend of Shiina Ritsuki's; they'd even been partners. But after watching for half a minute, Sakura averted her gaze—she'd come to see Ryo on Sayu's behalf today, and interacting with Kailing wasn't part of her plan.

Chapter 158 Harvest, Band and BangDream: 6. Is it considered a betrayal of Crychic?

Shiina Riki took a lipstick and reluctantly painted her lips with a color that seemed mature for a middle school student.

Maki told her that if she put on a bit more makeup, the photo would look better. Since her sister had already decided to wear makeup, she had no choice but to follow suit.

There are actually very few devices in Lixi's makeup box, unlike Miaomeng's which has a large number of beauty products for live streaming.

Li Xi was putting on makeup when her phone suddenly lit up.

It was a message from Hachiman Kairei.

[I saw Ying twice in the past few days. Once she was performing as a backup musician at a LiveHouse, and another time she was playing a street music session with a girl with short silver hair.]

Lixi frowned - she knew that Ying had let go of Crychic very decisively, but when Ying really quickly returned to her daily life, she felt a little uncomfortable.

[It's her freedom to choose where to perform.] Li Xi replied to Hai Ling in a somewhat argumentative tone.

“That’s good.” Hailing’s answer was brief.

"Lixi, are you ready? If you are, we will drive you to the shrine."

She put her phone down, quickly fixed the edges of her eyeshadow, and walked out of the room carrying the bag containing her equipment.

Maki drove a K-car, and the two girls didn't seem too crowded inside. Riki hardly spoke, just staring out the window, while Maki hummed the song that Sakura prepared for this interview.

It’s a very relaxing song with some tropical vibes.

"Havana", there was a trumpet version of this song in Sakura's previous life, and the effect was very good.

"How could Ying write such a song?" Li Xi asked in confusion, "This song is completely in the style of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions, right?"

"It's hard to grasp the thoughts of outstanding composers," Maki said to Riki. "Sakura is a true musical genius. Even among professional musicians, she's already quite famous, and many people are talking about her compositions and performances. You might not know that Qingpeng Girls' University is planning to send Sakura a special invitation to enroll."

"Huh? Didn't she only go to junior high school?" Li Xi's first reaction was to not believe what her sister said.

"A talent like her will be able to bring honor to the school in the future, so naturally the school will relax some of the requirements. I also heard about this from other people, so I'm not sure about the details." Maki explained to her sister.

Li Xi stopped talking again.

Why would such a great musician join Crychic?

The mysteries surrounding Sakura seemed to be increasing, and she recalled the day she met Sakura and Momoka on the overpass.

She accepted Sakura's kindness, but was hurt; when she made assumptions about Sakura and wanted to help her, she felt that Sakura did not need her help.

Until Maki found a parking space, Lixi hadn't come up with anything valuable, but instead felt more and more confused.

Maki and Riki walked up the old stone steps and entered the shrine, where Sakura was already waiting in the yard.

"Maki, Riki! You're finally here! Today's filming will be the last time in the training room here. In a few days, the equipment here will be moved to a place with better sound insulation, and this place will be converted into a training room!" Sakura greeted the two of them enthusiastically.

Maki, carrying her instrument case, stepped forward. "Looks like we're lucky, then. Now what? Should we start the interview right away?"

"Well, the recording equipment has also changed. Last time we filmed with a mobile phone, but this time I bought a camera specifically for this one, and Sayu has already adjusted it." Sakura turned her gaze to Riki, "We'll be the rhythm section, and your sister's trumpet will handle the high notes."

"...Oh." Lixi responded absentmindedly, but she still walked to the drum set and started to make some adjustments to the drums.

"Lixi, you won't be on camera for a while. Maki and I will record the interview first. I'll call you when it's time to record the music. By the way, do you have any idea about what I told you the other day? This time, I plan to be more involved and lead a band myself. I'm sure that something like what happened to Xiangzi won't happen again."

"Not yet." Li Xi turned his head away.

After she returned the lamp, nothing seemed to change in the days that followed.

Deng was still avoiding her, and she didn't want to bother Deng. They did go to the same school, but they maintained a subtle distance from each other.

Mu Zai still silently read all the messages in the group, and then said nothing. Xiangzi did not leave the group, but did not read any message.

The person who sent the message was, of course, Su Shi, but judging from the messages in the group, even Mu Du no longer cared about Su Shi's mood and went to the rehearsal room.

And Su Shi wasn't crazy enough to take a bass guitar to the training room to perform a "solo show", so no one came to Crychic now.

Thinking of this, the scene of the six Crychic members together flashed through Lixi's mind.

We don't get together for rehearsals very often, but we have fun almost every time.

Ying will explain to everyone the differences between different instruments and different musical styles, Xiangzi will seriously focus on the details of the performance, Mu and Sushi can both play with smiles from the bottom of their hearts, and Deng will quietly sing out the voice in his heart in a way that is not quite in line with vocal pronunciation.

Li Xi came to his senses and found that his sister was already being interviewed by Ying.

In front of the reflector set up by Sayu, Sakura, wearing a shrine maiden costume, with a microphone clipped to her collar, actively interviewed Maki.

"It's rare for girls to be directly interested in the trumpet, right? Could you please tell me how Maki first became interested in this instrument?"

These questions had been sent to Maki in advance, so she answered them calmly: "It started when I was very young. At that time, I couldn't even distinguish the sound of different instruments. My parents took me to a musical instrument training institution. Initially, they wanted me to learn piano, but I immediately fell in love with the golden instrument on the wall."

"Haha, this means Maki and Xiaohao are connected, right?"

"I pointed at the instrument on the wall. Actually, I meant the saxophone, but my mom took down the trumpet and asked if the teacher could teach me that. It was a strange misunderstanding. Then I tried a few lessons and really felt the joy of playing wind music..."

Li Xi stood outside the camera, not daring to breathe loudly. Even she didn't know what her sister said.

She hadn't asked Maki either.

In Riki's impression, Maki has always been "all-powerful", whether it is playing or studying, it is the shadow of his childhood.

However, in Ying's interview, it is difficult to find any overlap between her growth experience and Li Xi's impression of it.

Maki describes a stumbling and somewhat daring girl who gradually embarks on the road to becoming a professional musician. In Riki's eyes, Maki can complete the suppression of herself with just a little effort.

Li Xi rubbed his temple with one hand and suddenly wanted to join Ying's band.

If Sakura were to guide me, could I be like my sister?

Thinking of this, Li Xi blushed - if he joined Ying's band, would it be considered a betrayal of Crychic?

Chapter 159 Harvest, Band and BangDream: 7. Homeless

In Shiina Maki's car.

Li Xi sat in the passenger seat, rubbing his left index finger with his right thumb.

This was the first time she accompanied her sister.

My sister's trumpet playing is indeed impeccable, and Sakura's bass is as reliable as her violin.

The song was recorded in just three takes, two of which were due to minor issues with her drumming – in other words, if she could get it right in one take, the entire song wouldn’t need to be recorded again.

Sakura joining Crychic has certainly improved our playing level... but Xiangzi also plays so well, could it be that the two of them are working together to trick the other four?

Some messy thoughts popped up in Li Xi's mind involuntarily.

"Lixi, what are your experiences participating in the recording today?" Maki suddenly spoke up, interrupting Lixi's thoughts.

"Ah...sister...you and Ying are both very good." Li Xi could only answer with a repetitive sentence.

Maki smiled. "I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about you. What are your thoughts?"

Li Xi was silent.

She really didn't know what she was feeling.

She should be very happy to be able to play with Sakura again, but she didn't find that kind of excitement that came from the bottom of her heart.

But if you want to talk about disappointment, the ensemble with her sister and Sakura might be considered a dream lineup for Li Xi.

The more she thought about it, the more confused she became, and this confusion was quickly caught by her older sister, Maki.

"Are you still thinking about your last band? The first wind band my sister formed also disbanded after two months."

"No..." Li Xi denied subconsciously, then changed the subject with a guilty conscience: "I just think Ying's program recording is getting more and more proficient. It's true that she's popular on the Internet, and there's a reason for that."

"Lixi, you've known Ying for a while, right? You should be more familiar with her situation." Maki turned the steering wheel and glanced at Lixi as she turned an intersection. "Didn't you have any insights into today's ensemble?"

Being questioned, Li Xi cast his gaze out the window: "As for the music... I feel that the rhythm and musical style need more practice. Sakura took the bass, and then-"