After being elected as the governor of Tokyo, he will debut as a band!

That's what I heard on the other end of the phone, and then the call was abruptly disconnected.

"Waaah! What a jerk!"

Hiroi, with a long face, rubbed his ankle and tried to get up.

Toyokawa Shoko also reached out to help, but the two of them struggled for a long time without getting up, so Hiroi simply sat back down on the ground.

"Never mind, let's leave it at that... The ground is actually quite nice, except for being a bit cold."

She nonchalantly slapped away Toyokawa Shoko's hand that was supporting her arm, and at the same time opened a bottle of Oni-slaying sake.

Compared to bottled premium liquor, the cardboard boxed Oni Slayer liquor, though of slightly lower quality, is easy to carry and not afraid of being dropped, making it perfect for this situation.

Toyokawa Shoko thought this person was a bit nonsensical.

What do you mean... forget it? Are you planning to just sit here and not get up? But this is a stairwell corner, and other residents from this building will pass by from time to time. Won't you feel embarrassed if they see you later?

Toyokawa Shoko did not voice her doubts.

She stared at Kikuri Hiroi's face for a while, and felt that this person exuded a kind of lazy and messy demeanor that was not unpleasant.

...There are musicians like that too.

I'd really like to see what her band is like.

Toyokawa Shoko stared blankly as Hiroi Kikuri downed half a jin of sake without any snacks, when she heard a series of unhurried footsteps coming from below their floor.

She quickly turned around and looked into the distance, pretending that she had nothing to do with the person sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a girl with short hair, about her age, walk up to her.

She had short hair that only reached her neck, a cool and melancholic air about her, and a beauty mark at the corner of her eye that gave her a captivating beauty... She seemed like someone with a story to tell.

"Kikuri-nee, are you... alright? I heard you were injured?"

The short-haired girl waved and greeted him.

"Oh! It's Liang. Why are you here?"

“I happened to be in the nearby green belt when I received a call from Shima-nee. She saw the photos I posted on Line, knew I was nearby, and asked me to come and check on me.”

The short-haired girl grabbed Hiroi's arm and shoulder and pulled her up from the ground... but she wasn't fully pulled up; she only pulled her halfway up, and half of Hiroi's body was still dangling in the air.

"Oh, by the way, Shima-nee told me that if I come over, you'll treat me to a meal."

"...She's talking nonsense..."

"Then I'll let go."

"Don't let go! Okay, okay, I'll pay! Waaah, I'm already in such a terrible state, and Shima even sent people to plunder my gold coins..."

After a bit of playful fighting, Hiroi Kikuri finally managed to stand up with the help of the short-haired girl.

“Let me introduce you. This is Ryo Yamada, a bassist like me. This is Shoko Toyokawa, a… well, I don’t know what instrument you’re good at yet,” Hiroi said thoughtfully, but quickly gave a silly grin as if he had given up. “Anyway, she’s a young woman who can bring surprises and is full of possibilities.”

Uh... what an embarrassing way to describe it...

Xiangzi was starting to lose his composure.

"I studied piano for a while..."

She quickly introduced herself.

She felt that if she let Hiroi continue spouting nonsense like this, she would lose all face.

"Oh! A piano?!"

A glint of money flashed in Yamada Ryo's eyes, but she immediately realized something and fell silent before she could exclaim, "Then you must be very rich."

Even such a subtle reaction still impacted Xiangzi's sensitive self-esteem.

When working, you face adults

She could completely disregard her pride, but in front of her peers, especially those with similar band experience, she simply couldn't be at ease.

I wanted to turn away, to distance myself from these naive girls who only had music in their minds and knew nothing of human suffering...

Just as she unconsciously clenched her fist, Hiroi suddenly made a "hmm" sound as if he had suddenly thought of something.

"Speaking of which, doesn't the Bond Band not have a keyboardist?"

"...This is mainly Hongxia's fault. Why didn't she grab a keyboard player from the street?"

"Do you think keyboard warriors are like cabbages, something you can just grab whenever you want?"

"So guitarists are like cabbages? Hongxia caught two on the street at once... Although the second guitarist came with a six-string bass, he got caught on the street because he didn't know anything about music before, his mentality collapsed and he ran away, pfft..."

The two bassists laughed without a care in the world.

Because mocking teammates and juniors was considered low-class, the atmosphere among the three became vulgar.

The vulgar atmosphere had no room for self-pity, so Xiangzi's gloom was dispelled considerably.

But why would Yamada Ryo's band hire someone who knows absolutely nothing about music as their guitarist? This band seems incredibly unprofessional.

Normally, the initial intention of a group of people forming a band, even if they don't want to be in a band with their bandmates for life, should at least be to successfully hold live performances and become a popular band in their school or community/town...

And this guitarist in Yamada's band not only doesn't understand music, but he also just runs away without a second thought...

Xiangzi thought about the thoughts and memories that had been troubling him for the past year...

I'm starting to think some people are a bit silly.

As for herself...

Yes, I've already let go of everything from that memory from a year ago!

A young girl who has taken on the heavy burden of her family should be aware of the situation; how could she possibly still be thinking about the band or her friends?

Xiangzi felt that she was probably closer to Yamada Ryo on a spiritual level than she was to the bassist she used to know.

What's next?

After the two finished laughing, Yamada Ryo asked a question.

"The Bond Band is having a small live show at Starry Night tonight. Kikuri-nee, are you going there?"

"Oh, a small-scale live performance? How are the tickets selling?"

For some reason, Yamada Ryo seemed to have thought of something funny. "Just as I expected, it's a complete mess."

"That must be really tough..." Hiroi couldn't quite manage a smile. She was already considered quite unconventional among musicians, and Yamada Ryo was even more unconventional... She really wondered what Ryo would be like if he actually became a full-time musician in the future.

I just discovered that the latest Mujica release by Bangbang features a sequel about the Toyokawa family.

I've revised the description of Xiangzi's father in the previous text; those who haven't read it can take a look.

Make way for me: 054 Superficiality

"Perfect timing, my classmate Toyokawa and I are also going over there."

Kikuri Hiroi continued.

Shoko Toyokawa didn't want to go to the performance hall, as it would remind her of the days a year ago when she and her friends were rehearsing hard for the Crychic band's live performance.

Crychic was a band formed a year ago by Toyokawa Shoko and four other girls. At that time, she was still the eldest daughter of the Toyokawa family... Now, Crychic has fallen apart, and the former band members are scattered in different places.

However, after hearing the conversation between Hiroi and Yamada, her thinking softened. Neither Hiroi Kikuri nor Yamada Ryo seemed to be particularly dedicated to running a band, but this also reduced her psychological pressure—

Going to the performance hall with two people who formed a band with a carefree attitude, and watching their flawed rehearsals... perhaps it will make my memories of crychic a little blurrier.

However, she probably didn't realize that forming a band doesn't actually require that much effort... It was thanks to Xiangzi's coordination and organization that the teamwork that was so hard-won among the Crychic members was the basic element that would naturally emerge without any special attention in other bands.

Conversely, the tacit understanding and mutual understanding among band members mostly existed before the band was formed. Bands like Crychic, which formed first and then worked towards a common goal (or even failed to achieve it, with each of the five members having their own thoughts before disbanding), are relatively rare.

Because of this idea, and because Hiroi Kikuri's sprained ankle was directly related to Shoko, Shoko felt embarrassed to refuse the invitation again. She could only act as another crutch for Hiroi Kikuri, helping Hiroi to take the tram with Ryo.

What? You're saying Hiroi is injured like this, and he still wants to take public transportation? Wouldn't it be more convenient to take a taxi?

Let's forget about it. The three of us are so poor that the money we have combined isn't even enough for the starting fare of a taxi.

Incidentally, the bento that Hiroi brought back for Shoko from the Hyakubehōkai Company was taken by Yamada Ryo to fill his stomach because Shoko didn't accept it.

Yamada Ryo had no idea how long he had been starving; his eyes lit up when he saw the curry pork cutlet, and he ate like a wild beast.

"After eating grass for a week, I finally got to see meat today. Long-term vegetarianism is really not a life for humans!"

While eating, Yamada Ryo made this remark.

For some reason, Xiangzi felt that something was off about that statement.

……

Yukino Yukinoshita has been having some setbacks in her career lately.

She felt that her boss, Utsunomiya Takuya, seemed to be targeting her.

Previously, because of the incident where she secretly delivered documents for Governor Aoyama, Takuya Utsunomiya required her to submit detailed written reports to him on all tasks assigned to her by the governor, whether personal or official.

The request itself wasn't a big problem. After all, Aoyama rarely asked Yukino to do personal things. He had plenty of people under him who could easily handle personal matters, such as the Suzumiya father and son, Yagami Takayuki, and Majima Goro, etc. They all had their own power bases, and their ability to handle affairs and their social influence were far stronger than the secretaries and assistants of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

In terms of cultural and educational affairs, he also has acquaintances in temples and shrines. For example, Mayoi Aya, one of his personal advisors, can use her influence in the spiritual medium world to help him do many things that are inconvenient to put on the surface... Of course, it's not anything underhanded, but nothing more than spying on the privacy of political opponents and winning over the votes of believers.

In short, since Yukino actually has almost no personal affairs to handle with Aoyama, she doesn't have to feel any psychological pressure about "invading Governor Aoyama's privacy," and there is no moral issue with this work.

However, as the chief secretary of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Takuya Utsunomiya already had access to all official documents issued by the governor and their contents. Even if they were sent to the committee secretary, Yo Arima, he could learn about them through regular commemorative secretarial meetings. This meant that the report Yukino submitted to Utsunomiya was completely unnecessary, as Utsunomiya was already very familiar with the contents of the briefing.

What upset Yukino was that Utsunomiya never even looked at the reports she compiled every day. But Utsunomiya was, after all, a member of the upper class.

She wouldn't throw those reports into the trash can in front of her, but as soon as Yukino left the office and closed the door, she could hear the sound of the paper shredder starting up inside.

Yukino Yukinoshita, the second young lady of the Yukinoshita family, would she swallow her anger and remain silent when faced with such a situation?

The answer is of course no.

After hearing the shredder for the fifth time while standing outside the door, she turned around and opened the door, meeting the gaze of Utsunomiya Takuya standing next to the shredder.

"Senior Utsunomiya, do you really enjoy wasting other people's lives in this way? If so, I hope you have the same attitude towards your own life. The Analects says, 'If you want to establish yourself, help others to establish themselves; if you want to achieve success, help others to achieve success.' If you also feel that wasting your life is a sin, then please don't extend that sin to others. If you are expressing your dissatisfaction with me in this way, please be more direct and just say what you think. Even animals express their dissatisfaction with other individuals by howling."

Takuya Utsunomiya looked at her with some surprise, his brain seemingly going blank for a moment, but he quickly recovered. He wasn't angry at all; instead, he leisurely took a sip of the fragrant tea.

“Ms. Yukinoshita, if you feel that I’m wasting your life by throwing your painstakingly submitted reports into the shredder without even glancing at them, then I can only tell you one thing frankly,” he pointed to the ground, “everyone in this building is wasting their life.”

"I don't understand what you are talking about."

"Don't you understand?" Utsunomiya shrugged. "Then you should ask your father for advice more often in the future... By the way, Ms. Yukinoshita, you also graduated from the University of Tokyo, right?"

"What does this have to do with the current topic?"

"It's nothing, I just want to chat a bit more with the younger generation from my alma mater... Hmm," he thought for a moment before speaking, "Do you think the governor reads every single report I submit? Or do the members of parliament carefully review the reports the governor submits to the parliament?"

"……Is not it?"

"Of course not. The vast majority of documents are just routine procedures, or rather, superficial."

"A small number of documents are used to leave a record so that they can be used to investigate and determine responsibility in case of an accident someday. Of course, even this small number of documents are often not needed (after all, bowing is much easier than reviewing old documents)."

"Leaving aside these major parts, there is a small portion of documents that are indeed meaningful. For example, they are used to make projects that are merely superficial appear less superficial, and to make projects that were not originally superficial appear superficial in the eyes of the public when they are completely stalled."

The new Mujica anime has slightly altered Toyokawa Kei's character setting, turning him from a failed politician into a bankrupt boss. Other official settings are largely consistent with my expectations for Sho's father: a live-in son-in-law, leaving with nothing, and essentially giving up. This doesn't significantly affect the current plot development.

Make way for me: 055 An unspoken truth

When Yukino was making tea for Aoyama, she seemed somewhat distracted.

They even forgot to pour out the used tea leaves and directly added fresh tea before serving it. Aoyama took a sip and frowned.

However, he wasn't a "tongue-twisting emperor" and wasn't strict about food and drink, so he wasn't angry. He just felt that Yukino Yukinoshita's condition might cause oversights in her work, so he asked her casually.

"Miss Yukinoshita, is something troubling you?"

"Thank you for your concern, but this is my private matter, so please don't take up your valuable time."

Yukino bowed slightly, her tone calm but still conveying basic respect.

Strictly speaking, she and Aoyama Mukoto are not in a superior-subordinate relationship. Her direct supervisor is still Utsunomiya Takuya. Since she dares to act rebelliously in front of Utsunomiya Takuya, she naturally wouldn't show any flattery towards Aoyama Mukoto.

"Hehe, it is my duty to listen to the troubles of the residents of Tokyo and solve them. Ms. Yukinoshita, you are from Tokyo, right? Then you are also one of my esteemed voters. Let me hear what my voters are worried about."

"It's Qingshan," he said kindly.

Back when he was still in the campaign stage, he would greet even the most repulsive old men or middle-aged people with gender dysphoria with a smile. Therefore, showing a friendly attitude and then skillfully throwing out a sweet word was just a basic skill for him.

But Yukino Yukinoshita is no ordinary person. She won't become docile just because of a little kindness.