Want to be human, but cube-like

After all, if you can play the guitar, even if you don't have the ability to improvise, you should still have a lot of guitar tabs stored in your mind or in the muscle memory of your hands.

Otherwise, how did she practice?

"I……"

Xiangzi was about to take out her phone to say that she had two guitar tabs she had written before, but she froze abruptly as soon as she spoke.

She certainly had two pieces she could play for Alex, even complete sheet music for four instruments: piano, guitar, bass, and drums, which she had written herself.

However, those were songs she wrote for her previous band, and Xiangzi was unwilling, or rather, not yet ready, to let Alex know about them.

　"I've practiced composing some pieces, but I've put them aside..."

After hesitating for a while, Xiangzi finally spoke up. She was about to say that she would go back to her room to get her notebook for Alex when she saw Lena make a move.

"I'll play it for you, then you play it?"

Lena suddenly walked up to Alex, tilted her head and looked up at her, asking softly.

Her round little face still didn't reveal any expression, but a strange emotion was faintly revealed in her eyes.

It's like a longing, and also like sadness.

Alex looked into Lena's eyes and pondered for a moment.

"it is good."

As she spoke, she took down her guitar and handed it to her. Before Alex could hand over the pick as well, she saw Lena take out a green pick from her pocket, with the word "SPACE" on it.

"..."

Taking a deep breath, Lena's pick remained still on the strings for a few breaths.

The air gradually quieted down.

Then, a torrential downpour of string music swept across the entire second floor of the hamburger shop.

Le Nai displayed a variety of superb plucking techniques, as if she were showing off her skills. Xiangzi, who could not find any similar sheet music in his memory, stared at Le Nai, who was playing entirely on the spot, and widened his eyes in slight surprise.

She never expected that such a young child could have such strong guitar skills.

But it seemed like she hadn't played in a long time. Xiangzi could tell that Lena was a little rusty at first, but she quickly got back into the swing of things after just a dozen breaths.

After several seconds, the guitar music gradually stopped. Lena slowly exhaled, glanced down at the guitar, and then silently took it down and handed it back to Alex.

Clearly, this was the solution that Lena gave Alex after she explained that she didn't have sheet music: to improvise a piece of music and have her play it.

But Xiangzi frowned slightly when he saw this scene. Did he want others to replicate his improvisation after only hearing it once?

But then she was taken aback.

Because Alex actually picked up her guitar and completely replicated the impromptu performance that Lena had just shown.

To be honest, replicating a performance isn't actually that outrageous.

The most outrageous thing is that not only was the virtuosic playing technique perfectly replicated, but even the feeling of Lena when she was initially unfamiliar with the game was perfectly repeated, without any difference.

Xiangzi's light golden eyes widened. She looked at Alex, then turned to look at Lena.

…………

P.S. I don't think the cat seemed to be doing anything wrong. Although it seemed a bit like a riddle, Alex actually understood it. The riddle is immediately followed by Alex's inner thoughts, dissecting the conversation. She knew what the cat was saying, but just didn't know how to respond. Essentially, these paragraphs are all about the cat reminding Alex of what was puzzling her.

Why is this passage described as sounding like a spoiled brat? The cat never threatened Alex, and even if Alex ignored her, she wouldn't say anything. If anything, it's that Alex has a generation gap with her and feels he needs to keep the cat quiet to prevent her from talking nonsense. This led to the cat believing she needed to complete the task of "forgetting Alex's special ability," which is why she demanded Baphomet as payment. This stems from a difference in their perceptions.

Is this misunderstanding because I didn't write about the cat's psychological changes at all?

Volume 1: Chapter 79 Want to play in a band together?

Compared to Xiangzi, who only noticed the two men's guitar skills.

Lena, standing next to him, pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.

Alex did indeed play exactly as she had played, but precisely because the reproduction was so perfect, like a recording, it lost Alex's own expression.

"wrong."

Alex lowered her hand and gently shook her head; she herself had realized the problem.

Compared to Xiangzi and Lena, who only had a superficial understanding, Alex understood the reasons much better.

When playing a piece of music while looking at the score, the score itself, as an inanimate object, has no emotional expression ability. This leaves Alex some room to show her personal style. After all, no matter how standard she plays, she can't replicate the emotions and movements of the composer when he played.

But unlike playing from sheet music, she had just watched Lena play herself. Every pluck of the string, every technique, and even the slightest bit of string-plucking force that Lena herself might not be able to reproduce, were all memorized by Alex. To completely reproduce this improvisational performance, which was far from her limit, was as easy as eating and drinking.

She can perfectly reproduce even the emotions that Lena infuses into her work.

But this was clearly not what the two of them wanted.

Alex put down her guitar and looked at Lena.

"what happened?"

Seeing the two men's dissatisfied expressions, Xiangzi asked in confusion.

To be honest, she didn't know why Alex brought Lena back and played the guitar for her.

I thought it was just a normal performance, but judging from their expressions now, they seem to have other motives.

"I want to hear Ellie's own voice."

It seems she did remember Alex's name. After glancing slightly at Xiangzi who had spoken, Lena opened her eyes and looked at Alex, saying...

"Alex, my own...voice?"

These slightly jarring words, ironically, helped Xiangzi understand what Lenai was trying to express.

Xiangzi's eyes brightened slightly as she remembered the piano piece Alex played at the music store that day, even though the emotions in it made her feel a little depressed.

But without a doubt, it truly belonged to Alex, a cry from her own heart.

So that's how it is. They wanted to connect through music.

Xiangzi, who seemed to have some strange misunderstanding, began to look at Alex with a hint of expectation, just like Lena had done before.

"...not yet possible with a guitar."

Gently placing the guitar back on its case, Alex finished speaking and walked towards the guitar case by the wall.

Because Lena had previously told her to use the guitar to express the words she didn't know how to answer, she wanted to try it out.

For Alex, musical instruments were merely a means to an end; whether it was a guitar or an electronic keyboard, there was little difference.

However, now, perhaps she needs to use this electronic keyboard to answer Lena's previous questions.

Since there was no shelf available, Alex simply sat cross-legged on the floor against the wall. She took out the keyboard, placed it on its case, and plugged it into the power outlet in the corner.

He gently ran his hands over the various buttons on the electronic keyboard, and without even needing to test the sound, he quickly tuned the piano tone.

She gently closed her eyes, and several musical scores she had written down that afternoon in the music store came to mind.

Slowly tap a key, followed by a thin, equally slow measure of piano music.

The simple melody, which even beginners could easily master, reached the ears of the three.

But this opening made Xiangzi slightly open her lips, and a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.

Xiangzi recognized the voice; it was Chopin's "Winter Wind Exercise".

song".

The brief introduction fades out until the chords end, almost too faint to be faint at all.

After a brief pause, like the calm before a storm, Xiangzi, knowing what was to come, subconsciously held his breath.

Then, the silent notes suddenly erupted. Alex's right hand fingers almost became afterimages as the high-speed melody descended from the high register. The intense and surging piano music swept everything away like a hurricane.

The steady rhythm and speed, along with the flawless piano playing, left Xiangzi stunned.

Just like the "Girl's Prayer" I heard in the mall last time, even though it is an extremely difficult etude that tests the speed, sensitivity, accuracy, and endurance of the fingers, Alex can perform it with mechanical precision and without any deviation.

Or rather, even Xiangzi could no longer determine whether Alex was still controlling the standard intervals between notes while playing.

The dense melody completely overwhelmed Xiangzi's hearing, and by the time she came to her senses, Alex had already struck the final chord.

"call……"

Xiangzi took a deep breath and gently touched her chest, feeling her heart pounding. She looked at Alex with a complicated expression.

I can't do it myself, like Alex.

This was the first thought that came to her mind after listening to Alex's performance.

Xiangzi had certainly played this etude before, but she simply couldn't do it. To play this etude without making a single wrong note, or even to control the speed perfectly to play the entire piece, was something that could only happen when she was in top form. The speed of this piece is extremely difficult to control.

As for Alex's performance just now, it can be described as a master-level piano performance. Xiangzi doesn't think he has the right to comment on whether her piece was played well or not.

What Xiangzi found most unacceptable was that she could actually hear a trace of emotion in Alex's dense, almost chaotic melody even in this kind of etude.

In other words, she can even pour her emotions into these extreme etudes and express her inner feelings.

They don't seem human at all.

Having been ruthlessly defeated in the very place he was most proud of, Xiangzi, biting his lower lip, felt a pang of shame in front of Alex.

"Amazing."

While Xiangzi was still looking down in frustration, Lena came over, squatted down next to Alex, and looked at her with shining eyes.

Is this considered an answer?

Alex ignored her praise, and simply withdrew her hands, which still didn't seem tired at all, and turned her head to ask.

"Yes, it's different now, unlike the voice from that day."

Nodding, Lena affirmed.

Have you found your place yet?

Then, she tilted her head and asked again.

"...A place to call home?"

Alex was confused when she heard the word.

"My home is gone."

Speaking softly, Lena lowered her eyes, looking at Alex's smooth fingertips and then at her own fingertips covered with calluses.

"so envious."

I don't know if she was envious of Alex's fingers not having calluses, or envious of something else.

"Want to play together?"

Suddenly, Lena looked up again, staring intently into Alex's eyes.

"band?"

Volume 1: Chapter 80 Don't Harass Alex!

"Baa~!", "Moo...!", "Giggle giggle!", "Hmph—!"

Under a blue sky and white clouds, amidst lush green plains, in this vast, boundless world of pixels, a blue-haired girl with pigtails walks back and forth outside several fences crowded with strange blocky creatures.

"It's so noisy!"

Unable to bear the noise, Xiangzi muttered to himself and casually shoved a stalk of wheat he was holding into the fence next to a sheep.

Then, hearts appeared above its head, and it began to bump into and rub against another sheep that had just been fed wheat. After a while, a much smaller sheep emerged from under the two sheep that were neither male nor female, and some glowing particles appeared on the ground.

"No matter how many times I watch it, it always feels so strange... um..."

With a soft sigh, Xiangzi straightened his arms and stretched his waist muscles slightly.

As we just saw, Xiangzi is feeding the animals on the Sky Island. Before opening for business in the morning, Alex came to harvest some ingredients and then rushed to open the shop. After the midday peak, Xiangzi, who had some free time, came to the Sky Island to let the animals reproduce and maintain their population.

A week has passed since Alex defeated the banker witch. Perhaps it's because she's been eating the comfort-boosting food Alex cooks every day, but Xiangzi's sprained ankle is healing very quickly. She was able to walk normally yesterday.

These past few days, she hasn't been able to help out at the shop, but she's been practicing the electronic keyboard in her room, which is making her feel cooped up. So every now and then she goes to the Sky Island to learn about the rules of this world and various things related to the operation of the burger shop.