Want to be human, but cube-like

Besides, can spending more than half an hour every afternoon to practice her spoken English really yield any results?

Xiangzi had serious doubts about this.

As for why Aine kept coming to see Alex, Xiangzi wasn't quite sure. She was just quite helpless about Alex's endlessly indulgent attitude.

However, upon closer reflection, Alex does indeed usually seem indifferent to everything, and this indulgent attitude is sometimes reflected in matters related to Xiangzi. Thinking of this, she no longer has the confidence to correct Alex's attitude and make her keep her distance from Aine.

Ultimately, she and Alex weren't in a close relationship, so she had no right to interfere in the other's social life.

Just like when Lena invited Alex to form a band, although Xiangzi always felt that she had been beaten to it, she didn't even have the courage to speak up when she thought about her current situation. She could only watch helplessly as Alex tacitly agreed to play music with Lena.

However, deep down, I still feel a little envious.

"Indeed, missing a day of practice is not a big deal."

Putting aside the many thoughts in his mind, Xiangzi spoke, drawing everyone's attention.

"Actually, it's quite troublesome for Chihaya to come over every afternoon after school, isn't it?"

"Xiao Xiang, just call me Ai Yin~ It's Anon~!"

As soon as Xiangzi finished speaking, Aiyin leaned closer, put on a slightly displeased expression, corrected Xiangzi's form of address, and then asked a question out of curiosity.

"So what Xiao Xiang means is?"

"Sigh... What I wanted to say was, Aine-san, you didn't actually have to choose this time to come. After all, as the student council president, you must be quite busy during the afternoon after school, right?"

Reluctantly changing his form of address, Xiangzi said to Aine.

"Well, this is alright..."

Her expression paused slightly, and Aine's words seemed somewhat hesitant.

If you really want to know if she's busy, then she definitely is. The reason she was able to free up so much time this afternoon is simply because Aine finished her student council work very quickly. Anyway, once the handover is completed this month, the rest is none of her business, so being a little busy during this period is not unacceptable.

"Alex, don't you usually have a lot of free time in the evenings?"

As he spoke, Xiangzi looked at Alex.

"In that case, why don't you just have Aiyin and you have a voice call on your phone tonight? You don't necessarily have to talk face-to-face to practice your spoken English, do you?"

After so much buildup, Xiangzi finally voiced her suggestion.

Anyway, lately, after Alex clears out the monsters in the mob farm at night, she either sits there in a daze or goes to bed early. Whenever Xiangzi asks her if there's anything she wants to do, she just says she doesn't know.

If the two of them choose to use voice calls in the evening to help Ai Yin practice her spoken English, then Ai Yin won't always choose to come over in the afternoon and disturb Alex's business of running the burger shop and her rest.

Moreover, Xiangzi had had enough of these two guys who had absolutely no concept of social distance. They would often huddle together in public to whisper secrets and make intimate gestures. Xiangzi, standing to the side, felt embarrassed every time she saw the strange looks from the customers.

"Hmm...that seems like a good idea? Ellie, can I video call you when I get back tonight?"

After tilting her head and thinking for a moment, Aine thought Xiangzi's suggestion was pretty good, and then she looked at Alex expectantly.

"I'm fine with that. You can send me a message tonight."

Alex agreed to the proposal without much thought.

"Ok?"

Lena, who was lying on the counter and was so bored that she was about to doze off, asked a question at this moment.

Her little face was puffed out, and her lips were almost pursed into the shape of a cat's mouth.

…………

P.S. Motes is so cute! I want to write about her, give her an independent personality or something, it's easier to do that in the Madoka Magica universe.

Soft and sweet Xiao Xiang is back for a limited time! If there's no plot twist, this character actually matches what I guessed before. He's completely focused on his own worldview, like a mother hen, and doesn't have any hidden, heavy thoughts. He's the most innocent of the five. He's just a prickly hedgehog in a shell; he's never really been evil. A little scare from Motis and he turns into a soft and sweet girl. So cute!

Also, I always felt that the scene where they disbanded later was staged. If it wasn't Metty playing the four of them, then it was the four of them playing Metty. The lines and expressions all had a performative quality, and it was deliberately acted out.

Volume 1: Chapter 84 What band breaks up after only two months? You agree, right, Xiangzi?

In a room where the walls, ceiling, and floor were all covered with soundproofing material, the music from the keyboard and electric guitar gradually came to a stop.

The white-haired girl, who had been strumming the strings of her instrument with her eyes closed, lowered her small hand that was holding the record player, slowly opened her heterochromatic eyes, and smiled contentedly.

Alex, who was standing next to her, glanced at the sheet music in front of her, which she had gotten from Xiangzi earlier, and also released her fingers from the keys.

"Pop-pa-!"

There was a round of applause.

"Amazing! Ellie and Little Lenal!"

Standing to the side, listening to the two playing their love duet, he clapped his hands excitedly in praise.

At this time, only the three of them were on the second floor. After all, there were still customers in the hamburger shop during business hours, so Xiangzi had to stay downstairs to watch the shop.

"I can still only play according to the score."

Alex shook her head.

Lacking any creative ability and unable to improvise with Lena, this was indeed a minor annoyance for Alex.

In this respect, she was quite grateful to Xiangzi.

Unlike Lena, who had been improvising along with the melody she played, Alex would only be able to play the pieces from those music stores if Xiangzi hadn't given her some sheet music that she supposedly composed casually in her spare time to practice.

I've seen world-famous pieces before, but those pieces are hard to match with Lena's improvisation.

There might be some popular sheet music available for free online, but most of these songs were labeled boring by Lena, and Alex also felt that the sheet music was so simple that it made her feel sleepy when she played it.

"Lenai, do you want to play again?"

After she finished speaking, she asked Lena a question.

"Satisfied~"

Lena also took off her guitar strap, turned around and smiled.

Since Lena doesn't intend to continue, let's end today's ensemble here. Alex checked the keyboard before turning it off.

"Even so, that's still amazing. Not everyone has that kind of improvisational ability like Xiaolena."

Ai Yin stepped forward and offered a word of comfort. In fact, in her opinion, Alex was simply showing off.

Not only Ellie, but Xiao Le Nai's guitar skills are also amazing... and she has so much equipment, she's so hardcore!

After saying that, she glanced at Lena's pile of effects pedals and clicked her tongue in amazement.

"Oh right, I remember, Ai Yin, you said you used to be the guitarist and lead singer of a band? How about coming to play with us next time?"

At that moment, Alex, who was tidying up the power cord and speaker wires of the electronic keyboard, seemed to remember something and turned to ask Aine.

"Eh?"

Ai Yin was taken aback; she hadn't expected to be invited so suddenly.

"I……?"

He hesitated for a moment, lowered his head, raised one index finger, and pointed to himself.

Is this for real...? Me, forming a band with these two people who are so good at playing instruments?

If it were before, she could have confidently agreed, but after listening to Rana's impromptu performance and watching her dazzling display of skill, Aine's confidence was slightly shaken.

"Hmm, what does Lena think?"

Nodding, Alex looked at Lena again, seeking her opinion.

"Well?"

Lena, who was tidying up her equipment and carefully putting the guitar back into its case, looked up at her blankly after hearing this. After a few seconds, she seemed to understand the conversation between the two of them and then looked at Aine, who looked a little uneasy.

"Let's play together."

Then, she smiled and said.

"Haha... Little Lena wants me to play with you too?"

With a forced smile, Ai-yin probably wanted to refuse but didn't know how to say it.

"...Speaking of which, Xiao Le Nai's guitar looks really old."

Her gaze wandered around before finally settling on the guitar that Lena had just put back in its case, as she tried to change the subject.

Unlike the electronic keyboard in front of Alex and the electric guitar placed to the side, compared to the two brand-new instruments that had just been bought, the guitar in Lena's hand was obviously quite old just by looking at it. The edges were full of faded marks, and the scratches and cracks on the paint surface were almost like fish scales covering the entire guitar.

"This is Grandma's guitar."

It's clear she cherishes this guitar; she handles it with utmost care, both when using it and when putting it away, a stark contrast to Lena's usual carefree, cat-like demeanor.

After giving a brief reply, Lena lowered her head again and continued organizing the equipment she had brought.

"Oh, I see... By the way, Ellie, I had no idea that the second floor of the burger shop was such a large, soundproof performance room?"

Having failed to change the subject by mentioning Renai's guitar, Ai-yin quickly changed her mind and found another topic before Alex could ask her another question.

"It changed in a day... Ugh?"

Lena almost blurted out, "The soundproof room was created in a day," but Alex pinched one of her cheeks, forcibly stopping her from speaking. She looked at Alex with some confusion.

"It was renovated a while ago, but we only started using it recently."

Alex gave Lena a light glare, annoyed that she had forgotten to remind Lena not to tell anyone about this, so she had to make amends.

Over the past few days, Alex has come to understand Lena's personality better. It turns out that Lena, like herself, doesn't have much common sense. This has dispelled a lot of Alex's impulse to kill her for fear that she would use secrets to threaten her, as well as her doubts about Lena's strange behavior.

In fact, the day after Lena invited her to form a band, Alex bought soundproofing materials and audio equipment so she could play instruments in the hamburger shop, and then built the soundproofing herself.

It only took her less than half an hour – she simply replaced the interior walls with soundproofing materials, added an extra layer of soundproofing material to the floor and ceiling, and replaced the window glass and the second-floor door with soundproofing materials.

"Aine, how about it? Want to come play together?"

Alex, also afraid that Aine would continue to press for answers, brought up the previous topic again before Aine could speak.

"Um... but I'm going to England in two months, so it might not be convenient, right?"

Seeing that she couldn't avoid the topic, Ai Yin tilted her head, her gaze falling to the floor, and began to look for an excuse.

However, this reason is actually quite reasonable, since they can only play together for less than two months before having to quit.

What band lasts that short? It's impossible! And they're not very responsible towards the other members.

Aine thought to herself.

Even if you asked Xiangzi, who is the most common-sense person among the four of them besides Aine, she would probably give the same opinion.

"It's okay. Even though we can only play together for two months, as long as we're happy, that's all that matters, right?"

Alex said this, and she glanced at Lena, who frowned and thought about it for a while before nodding.

"As long as it's interesting, that's fine."

Her expression seemed noncommittal, but she still said something along those lines.

"Besides, I actually quite like Aine's voice. If you become the lead singer, then we can try some other songs."

Seeing that Lena had no objection, Alex added.

"...Lead singer?"

Upon hearing this, Ai Yin, who had been somewhat hesitant, suddenly brightened up.

Yes, although her instrumental skills are not as good as the two in front of her, as long as she is the lead singer, her instrumental skills don't matter. Even if she takes a guitar and is the lead singer, she only needs to play a few chords. This is no problem for Ai Yin at all.

And what's more! As the lead singer, I'll be in the center position! Both of my teammates are so skilled, and one of them is even of mixed race. This way, I can really make a splash before I go abroad!

"Hehe~ Ellie, do you really like my voice? I just can't do anything with you~!"

Aine couldn't help but chuckle a few times, and began to fantasize about the cheers she would receive during her performance.

"Then I'll join too! I can be the guitarist and vocalist!"

…………

PS Aine, overjoyed, is unaware that Alex is merely using her as a substitute for her mother.

I feel like it's going to start twisting later, ugh, I can't wait!

A question suddenly came to mind

Should Ai-yin really go to study abroad and then come back?

Hmm, I don't plan to take your opinions into consideration; I'll think about it myself.