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

Sure enough, after taking the sheet music and looking at it for about three minutes, a smile of enjoyment appeared on Yoro's face.

It was as if the notes in the musical score had automatically transformed into a beautiful melody in her mind.

Then, she gave this comment:

"I like this piece, but the guitar part is too superficial."

Toyokawa Shoko was initially surprised, but quickly realized that Rakuna's assessment was fairly objective.

"Reaching for the Sky" is undoubtedly a masterpiece, but that's in terms of the whole piece. If you look closely at the details, you can still find some minor flaws.

Shoko Toyokawa is a fan of Monica, so when she looks at the works of Rui Yashio and Mashiro Kurata, she has an idol filter on her. Therefore, even though she has a sharp eye, she can't help but overlook these shortcomings in details, such as the situation that Rakuna mentioned, "the guitar part lacks difficulty and variation".

This situation doesn't arise because Rui Yashio's composing skills are lacking; it's mainly because Monica's guitarist, Toru Kiritani, isn't particularly skilled at guitar (before Ayane Chihaya appeared, Toru Kiritani was probably the worst guitarist in the entire band). Therefore, when Rui composes, she habitually lowers the difficulty of the guitar playing to ensure that the band's overall performance in a live performance isn't negatively affected by Toru Kiritani's mistakes.

When Xiangzi commissioned Rui to write an article, she also emphasized that the guitarist in the band, Chihaya Aine, was far inferior to Kiritani Touko in guitar skills.

...Chihaya Aine's

The assessment that "her guitar skills are far inferior to Touko Kiritani's" is not inherently problematic. However, in the eyes of someone like Rui Yashio, who thinks her violin skills are terrible just because she hasn't won a national championship, Chihaya Aine's guitar skills might be comparable to a bear's.

After hearing Xiangzi's description, she could actually picture a big black bear in a JK uniform scratching at guitar strings with its large paws.

Therefore, she further simplified the guitar playing part based on her original habits. Although it was still difficult for Chihaya Aine to play the song perfectly in a short time, this was already the limit that Yashio Rui could understand as a "technically unskilled person".

In Rui's opinion, if a guitarist can't even reach this level, then they shouldn't be so stubborn. There's a saying, "In every profession, there are top performers." The sooner you switch careers, the sooner you'll be free.

However, this simplification inevitably leads to a reduction in the technicality and variability of the guitar part of the score. For a "guitar fanatic" like Yao Lena who is obsessed with guitar techniques and performance, it's like making a delicious dish that looks and smells great, only to find out that it's salt-free when you take a bite.

“If you’d like to join in, I can make the guitar part of this piece a bit more complicated.”

Xiangzi straightened his back and said earnestly.

She has a very solid foundation in music theory, so making modifications without affecting the brilliance of the original work is not a difficult task for her.

The only problem is that modifying other people's works requires obtaining authorization from them. Originally, Xiangzi was using the face that Aoyama had "lent" her to get help from Yashio Rui and Kurata Mashiro free of charge. Now she wants to modify their works, which is a bit too much.

But there was no other way; it concerned the future of the band, so Toyokawa Shoko had to swallow her pride one more time.

"Where's the music you composed yourself?"

Lena leaned forward, shifting her attention from the sheet music to Shoko's face, wanting to see just how skilled Shoko Toyokawa was at composing.

For her, a "funny woman" is more appealing than a "funny tune".

"This……"

As mentioned earlier, when Xiangzi was composing music for the lyrics of "The Lamp," she was inevitably haunted by the shadow of "Spring Shadow." To avoid falling into nostalgia for crychic, she hadn't composed a complete piece of music for the past month.

There were a lot of unfinished drafts that were abandoned halfway, but Xiangzi felt that showing them to Yao Lenai would only have the opposite effect.

Seeing that Toyokawa Shoko had fallen silent, the woman sitting opposite her, Deng, suddenly stood up and took out a green-covered notebook from her handbag and handed it to Rakuna.

"This piece of music was composed by Xiao Xiang."

"Wait, the light, that's..."

Xiangzi immediately recognized it as the notebook containing the lyrics to "Spring Shadows." The sheet music for "Spring Shadows," which he had given to her before Crychic disbanded, was also tucked inside this notebook.

She wanted to ask Deng to take the notebook back, but Le Nai had to be quick and nimble, grabbing Deng's lyric book and flipping through it with the speed of a cat before Xiangzi could even speak.

And a few seconds later, she exclaimed "Oh oh—" in surprise.

Lena quickly finished reading the sheet music, and a strange light appeared in her eyes as she closed the notebook.

"Interesting woman."

She stared at the light and gave a riddle-like assessment.

……

Mujica's sixth episode is even more unbelievable; the wildcats' superpowers have even appeared? Is this still a girl band anime? Where did this come from?

Isogachi Music Awards: 036 Can you fool 100,000 voters but not you?

"Interesting woman."

There's a subtle ambiguity in what Yoroi said... If she weren't a petite beauty even smaller than a lamp, Riki would probably have already slammed his knife on the table and stood up in anger.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Even so, Li Xi still asked warily.

Instead of answering her question, Yoroi turned to Xiangzi and held up three fingers.

"See you in three days."

“But we’re having a live performance at RinG in three days. Are you planning to go straight to the live performance without participating in our ensemble practice before then?”

Toyokawa Shoko raised her own questions.

"No difference."

Yoro's reaction was quite calm, as if skipping practice and going straight to a live performance was just a perfectly normal thing for her.

"No, this is too reckless! Even if your guitar skills are outstanding, you shouldn't skip the most basic ensemble exercises."

Toyokawa Shoko immediately wanted to reject Yoro's arrangement, but Yoro was neither a former member of the Kulai Xiku group nor a friend of Shoko's since childhood. Shoko said "no" in a serious tone, which had no deterrent effect on her.

She didn't even glance at Xiangzi before getting up and running out of the restaurant without warning.

"Wait, classmate, where are you going?"

Toyokawa Shoko was afraid that the guitarist who had secured a spot in the preliminary round would run away, so she quickly chased after him. Nagasaki Motoyo, worried that Shoko would be taken advantage of, also followed her out.

Of the remaining five people at the table, Akari and Mutsu were not very talkative, Riki didn't want to talk to anyone except Akari, and Hiroi Kikuri was only interested in drinking and eating snacks, looking like she was "I'm here to clear out the restaurant's inventory." Only Chihaya Aine was a normal person.

To prevent the dinner from ending abruptly, Ai decided to take on the responsibility of livening up the atmosphere. She gave Shiina Tatsuki several meaningful glances, hoping he would join in and start a conversation, but he only gave her a "don't bother me" look before continuing to quietly comfort Takamatsu Akari.

After seeing Rakuna leave after reading his lyric book with two cryptic remarks, Takamatsu Akari thought he had messed up again and was now sulking with his head down.

Feeling isolated and helpless, Aine could only strike up a conversation with Aoyama, who was sitting at the next table.

"Mr. Hack? Why don't you sit at our table for a while? Xiao Xiang and the others have freed up their seats."

Aoyama and Aine exchanged a glance, and Aoyama could see the meaning of "plea for help" in her eyes.

He glanced around the shop, found no cameras, nodded, and sat down in Xiangzi's original seat, next to Xiao Mu.

Unlike Deng, Xiao Mu wasn't talkative, but she wasn't socially anxious. Seeing a man much taller than her father sitting next to her, yet not feeling the pressure of being forced into social interaction, struck her as odd.

Many adults she had encountered before, whether they were her parents' friends or the hosts who interviewed her on TV shows, would express a desire for her to talk more and showcase herself when they approached her. If she couldn't satisfy them, they would press her harder and put pressure on her. And every time this happened, her parents would always side with the other person and help them pressure her.

Few adults are not driven by self-interest, and therefore few would not see her as a rare commodity after seeing her.

But the tall man didn't seem to have that intention at all; he seemed to be sitting there simply to help Chihaya Aine ease the tension.

Xiao Mu raised her head slightly, wanting to see the tall man's face, but what she saw was a golden mask.

The mask completely covered Aoyama's face, leaving only a small part around his mouth exposed.

It's convenient for him to eat.

Xiao Mu stared at his mouth for a while, feeling that the mouth looked somewhat familiar.

In one of her past memories, there seems to be a blurry image of her father bowing and scraping to a similar mouth.

However, there seems to be something different about the two mouths.

Xiao Mu wanted to recall the scene at that time, but the appearance of Ai Yin's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Ah, Hakusan, this is Mutsumi, the daughter of comedian Takafumi Wakaba and actress Minami Mori. You've probably seen her on TV, haven't you?"

"You are Wakaba Mutsu?"

Aoyama turned his head to look at her.

Xiao Mu lowered her head and remained silent, feeling somewhat disappointed.

This man, like everyone else, only knew that he was the daughter of those two men…

But what Aoyama said next made Mu look up in surprise.

"I know you, Tsukimori's student council president. Rui Yashio mentioned you to me, saying that you and Motoyo Nagasaki are inseparable at school..."

After seeing Xiao Mu's reaction, Qingshan had a better understanding of the situation and continued speaking.

In fact, using words to please a girl is essentially no different from using speeches to win votes from thousands of voters. Both require grasping the other person's core needs and then describing the vision they expect.

Xiao Mu, like many other celebrity children, is forced to confront a vast number of well-intentioned and malicious individuals at an early age due to the shadow of their parents' fame. Qingshan has seen it all before. What they lack most is recognition of their own value.

"She also said that you took good care of the plants in the classroom garden, especially those cucumber vines. It's rare to see a student grow crops so healthily... Speaking of which, these three cucumber dishes on the table must have been made with the cucumbers you brought, right? Hiroi, you ate quite a bit of this kelp cucumber pickle and plum sauce cucumber, didn't you? How did it taste?"

"You know what, these cucumbers, just picked from the garden this afternoon, are really something else—fresh, crisp, and perfect with drinks... crunch..."

Under Aoyama's deliberate guidance, Hiroi Kikuri could only utter words of praise for the two dishes.

Aoyama seized the opportunity when she had just eaten a large piece of fried pork cutlet and was in dire need of something to cleanse her palate, and threw the conversation to her. Sure enough, after praising her to Aoyama, she immediately picked up a large piece of cucumber with plum sauce, crunched it into her mouth, and then gulped down more than half a glass of beer, letting out an extremely enjoyable "ha" sound.

The back-and-forth between Aoyama and Hiroi Kikuri put Wakaba Mutsumi in a great mood. Although she didn't show it on her face, she started making more small gestures with her hands.

She pushed a plate of cucumber rolls that was closest to her toward Aoyama.

"Haksan, you can eat more of this."

Not only that, she also thoughtfully poured some Japanese soy sauce into the dipping sauce dish in front of Aoyama.

This scene left Xiangzi, who had hurriedly returned, stunned at the doorway.

"Xiao Mu? (Mu Zimi?)"

She gave Xiao Mu an incredulous look.

This was the first time in all these years that she had seen Xiao Mu take the initiative to care for or serve someone.

Could it be that Xiao Mu also recognized Haksan's identity and, like me, wanted to gain the power to rebel against her elders from him?

Gyokcho Music Awards: 037 80s Xiao Mu? Mr. Hack, please leave.

Time goes back to ten minutes ago.

Rakuna ran out the door not because she wanted to leave, but because she went to her grandmother's car to get a wooden guitar. When Toyokawa Shoko and Nagasaki Motoyo caught up with her in the parking lot, she stood in front of them and began to play "Spring Shadows," a piece she had just memorized.

After the warm sound of the acoustic guitar began, both Xiangzi and Su Shi fell into a daze.

When the song ended, Lena wiped the sweat from her brow and looked at the two of them expectantly.

"How about it?"

"Wow, that's amazing... You were able to play the entire guitar part of 'Spring Shadow' after just glancing at the sheet music once," Su Shi said, covering her slightly parted lips and subconsciously praising, "Maybe you really are destined to be with our Crychic..."

"Well."

Upon hearing this, Xiangzi, who had been nervously twisting his fingers, lost control of his emotions and ran back into the restaurant, letting out a frustrated groan.

"Xiao Xiang!"

Su Shi glanced at Le Nai as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she was more concerned about Xiang Zi and chased after him without saying anything.

Lenai stared blankly for a while, then turned to look at her grandmother sitting in the car.

"Did I play badly?"

Du Zhushi was even more baffled than his own granddaughter, and even wondered if he was too old to understand these young girls at all.

Generally speaking, after watching someone's performance, if you think it's good, you should applaud and cheer to show your encouragement; if you think it's bad, you should snort and show your disdain. What does it mean to show a frightened expression and then turn around and run away?

Could it be that Lena's music caused her to have some terrible hallucinations?

Speaking of which, I bought that wooden guitar more than ten years ago at a secondhand stall. Could it be cursed? ... Sigh, what am I thinking? People get a little superstitious as they get older.

The most important thing now is to prevent Lena from falling into self-doubt.

"That's not true. Lena, your performance just now was truly moving."

Why did Xiangzi leave?

"Hmm..." Granny Tsuzuki hesitated for a moment, looking at the steering wheel. Her old mind couldn't come up with a perfect reason in a few seconds.

"She probably has her own story, right?"

……

"Xiao Mu? (Mu Zimi)"

Back at the dining table, Toyokawa Shoko stared in surprise at Wakaba Mutsumi, who was displaying an unprecedented level of enthusiasm.