Will the plagiarism girl be a substitute for the preference for women?

Su Shi raised her head slightly, her index finger resting on her chin, and said:

"No, I don't think so. 'Crychic' has a special meaning for the original five of us back then, but now..."

Su Shi's eyes turned to Ai Yin, who responded with a soft "ha" and a smile.

"Now that we're teaming up with new members, we need to come up with a new band name. What does Xiaodeng think?"

“…Hmm.” Deng nodded.

Lixi looked at the lamp and agreed, "Okay."

When the three veteran members made their decision, Aine, as a newcomer, felt a thin barrier in the air and didn't immediately bring up a topic.

However, Su Shi did take care of Aine's side and asked her the question.

"Does Aiyin have any suggestions for naming her?"

On the way to RING, Ai Yin put on her glasses beforehand. Fortunately, when meeting new friends and discussing band plans, she had a touch of elegance and refinement.

Aine's appearance did indeed affect Su Shi's first impression of her.

Just as Su Shi was waiting for Aine to make a statement that matched her appearance, perhaps inspired by the words of some famous works, or perhaps to discuss the band's goals before establishing a general direction for the name.

Ai Yin started by looking at the menu, trying to figure out which drink had a nice-sounding name.

"How about we each choose a favorite drink and then use the word roots from those drinks to create a team name?" Ai Yin suggested.

"So casual..." Li Xi muttered, hands on her hips.

"Wouldn't it be better to use things that everyone likes to symbolize ourselves, and then merge them all into the team?"

Ai Yin asked Deng, who was slightly more familiar with the audience and was also a former band member.

What does Xiaodeng think?

"Hmm..." The lamp hesitated when answering the question.

Su Shi felt that one should not judge a book by its cover, and she was indeed deceived by Aine's seemingly intellectual and intelligent appearance when she wore glasses.

So, she took the lead in the conversation.

"Aiyin's idea of ​​linking the team name with the team members is the right one."

"I knew it!" Aine said to Riki with a smug smile.

"So, we incorporated the members' shared initial aspirations and experiences into the team name, just like..."

Su Shi originally wanted to say that it would be like the band name "Crychic" in the past, but that would make Ai Yin, who was not a member of the original band, feel alienated.

"Just like other mainstream bands' naming strategies," she corrected herself.

"But now that China isn't here, it's hard to discuss our shared initial intentions. We haven't started a new band life yet, and we don't have any new shared experiences."

"So... let's talk about the band setup first. I'm the bassist, and then..."

Su Shi looked at Aine again, indicating that she should set an example.

Although the idea of ​​naming the band Aiyin was a bit difficult to evaluate, we should still give this new member more opportunities to speak and help foster a better relationship.

Ai-yin definitely knew that the lead singer was Tamamo, and she had also told Riki about her and her band's identities, so she couldn't possibly give an unexpected answer to this question...

"I want to be a guitarist and vocalist!"

Chapter 38 About the Past

Guitar... lead vocals...

Ai-yin should already know that Akari was the lead vocalist during her time with Crychic, right?

Could it be that he's planning to replace the lights and become the lead singer himself?

As the only new member among the four, if that's what Aine meant, Su Shi felt it would be quite difficult to avoid losing face.

“Hey, we already have a lead singer named Deng,” Li Xi said, arms crossed.

“We can have a duo vocal performance,” Ai Yin said matter-of-factly.

So you didn't intend to replace the lamp? Su Shi could tolerate that, but it's still a bit complicated.

A lead singer plus guitarist...that sounds pretty niche..."

"Are you serious?" Li Xi asked helplessly, bending down and resting her hand on the table.

"It should be okay, right?" Ai Yin herself seemed a little unsure. "I'll sing one part, and then Tamamo will sing one part, that should be fine, right?"

"I can only compose sheet music for one lead singer."

Li Xi felt that this kind of joking around wouldn't lead to any solutions, so he said that and went back to work, only to be stopped by Su Shixian.

When did Lixi start learning music arrangement?

After a moment of silence, Li Xi replied, "Not long after the band broke up..."

At first, I didn't like Li Xi's hesitant way of speaking to the light and her inability to sing loudly when she was in Crychic.

At first, I didn't understand the lyrics written by Deng.

It wasn't until Deng's heartfelt and infectious singing resonated with Li Xi that she exclaimed, "This is practically a reflection of myself!"

Li Xi also realized later that she hadn't been very involved in the writing and performance of the lyrics, and had done little to contribute to the lyrics of "The Lamp".

It's not so much that we did less, but rather that we couldn't do it.

The lyrics for "The Lamp" were perfect for Li Xi, but when it came to whether the lyrics could be optimized to make them more suitable for singing, Li Xi couldn't offer any opinions. It was Xiang Zi who was mainly responsible for making the revisions.

When these lyrics were adapted into vocal scores and corresponding instrumental scores were created, it was Xiangzi who did the work.

On the day Crychic disbanded, Lixi grabbed Xiangzi by the collar and loudly complained about how worried Deng was about her and whether he had considered her feelings. Lixi herself was also experiencing complicated emotions.

Because Xiangzi was extremely important to Deng, much more important than herself, she questioned why this person, who was so important to Deng, had left her.

But at the same time, she had a thought that she herself found absurd—it was Xiangzi's departure that created an opportunity for her.

After the band disbanded, Lixi began to learn music arrangement.

Perhaps it was the thought of Xiangzi, that seemingly all-around capable guy, that made them unwilling to be outdone.

Or perhaps it's a thought that one day, I could compose another piece of music for the lamp.

In short, now that Deng is rarely motivated to sing out loud again, Li Xi wants to seize the opportunity to compose his own music for Deng's lyrics.

Perhaps she should... thank Chika, who inspired the light.

However, the thought that it wasn't her who motivated the lamp to sing made her feel inferior.

And then I heard them say that Chika and Shoko look so alike...

Will it reappear? Even if he learns to arrange music, will the other members of the band prefer to use Chizuru's sheet music?

So, it couldn't be one of my... competitors, could it?

Li Xi temporarily put aside his thoughts and returned to the backstage area.

……

Seeing that Lixi was busy continuing to work and that Qiannai hadn't come, and that neither of the two people who met the music theory requirements were there, Su Shi felt that continuing to discuss the band project wouldn't make much progress, so she started chatting about everyday things.

At that moment, China promptly sent a voice message.

However, this time it wasn't a two- or three-second word recitation, or a one-second vocal scale, but ten seconds of content.

Aine realized that this was probably information that was truly inconvenient for others to see.

After speech-to-text conversion, the following information was obtained.

"Little Ai, I'm so sorry for lying to you before! The fact that I and Deng are old friends is a lie. I said it because of some obsession. I'm really sorry!"

The obsession that China refers to is the desire to create a past that doesn't exist, a past that is different from her own and other people who are also somewhat special, as if only in this way can she make up for the missing parts of her life.

After struggling repeatedly, China finally suppressed her obsession in the hospital room and told Aine the truth.

If we don't tell them soon, their lives will likely become even more incomplete.

What if Aine said something like, "Ah, Akari is also an old friend of China's"... China didn't dare to imagine the consequences.

Maybe Aine will complain about it along with the last AI writing incident, but it's much better than the company dying.

Aine also has a good memory; she knows that the first time China lied to her like this, Akari was chatting happily with China, but ran away when she saw her.

Was it because China was afraid that I would feel resentful that she told this lie?

China did not explain this part of the reason, because saying it would seem to underestimate the other person's psychological resilience, but Aine had already guessed it.

"Little Chinatsu, you're really interesting."

Aiyin looked at her phone and said softly and gently.

Before Su Shi could even come over and ask what interesting things China had posted, Aine put her phone back in her pocket.

"It's nothing, just some personal matters between us."

Aine spoke as if she were a long-time friend of China.

The lamp beside it also quietly recalled that day.

I had collected some beautiful pebbles, and then China happened to come back. I wanted to give the pebbles to China, but when Aine came out, I realized that China had gone to pick up an old friend, so I ran away feeling a little embarrassed.

I don't know if it caused them any confusion at the time, but they still seem to be treating themselves very well now.

Meanwhile, Suze, who was sitting directly opposite Aine, maintained a gentle expression after hearing Aine say that she had a secret with China, but she had to try even harder.

She still couldn't understand how she could get along with someone like Chika to the point of having secrets, and how she could still smile when she saw Chika's messages.

Wasn't it China's fault that Aine escaped from the karaoke bar yesterday?

Ah, this is so unfair! Was there something wrong with how I opened the file for Chizuru back then...?

If Suze had made the same mistake as putting coffee beans directly into boiling water when she was with China, she felt she would regret it deeply.

She wanted to ask Aine for advice on how Aine got along with Chinatsu.

After chatting about food, drinks, and entertainment, and recounting some of Crychic's past, Su Shi gradually shifted the topic to China.

Did you meet through a music discussion group?

"Yes, I was captivated by her playing when I met her in person."

"I was also in the brass band at the time, and I was drawn to China's elegant posture when she played the piano. I never expected that she, who had only transferred to Tsukimori in high school, would fit in so perfectly. Aine-san, could you tell me if China had taken any etiquette classes before?"

"Um, well..."

Aine realizes that the fabricated past between herself and China is not yet fully developed.

Chapter 39 It has nothing to do with China.

The young ladies of Tsuki no Mori basically learn etiquette from a young age, and none of them fail to maintain an elegant demeanor when performing.

Among a group of people who have received etiquette training, physical appearance is not something that stands out and can attract attention.

What truly attracted Su Shi at first was China's familiar blue hair and silhouette as she played her elegant music.

Of course, Su Shi wouldn't say that Qian Nai resembled Xiang Zi, which was why he went up to get to know her.

She simply used the topic of Chinana as a starting point to see what Aine knew about Chinana.

By the way, through Aine's narration, he can compare what Chinana told him to find out how much Chinana is still hiding from him.

"China hasn't mentioned etiquette or anything like that to me..."

This is the only reply Ai Yin can think of. Rather than making one up on the spot, it's better to say she doesn't know.

It would be troublesome if the other party was asking a question they already knew the answer to, and their answer differed from what they said.

"I see. She told me that in order to pass the interview for admission to Tsukinomori and to integrate into life in Tsukinomori, she enrolled in an etiquette training course on her own."

Learning that Aine, who seemed to be so close to China, also knew some things about China that she herself didn't, Suze was finally somewhat relieved.

No... we can't be pleased with this.

Even if they know more about China than her other friends, what does it matter? They still haven't reached the point of "opening their hearts" with China.

Conversely, Aine may not know many things about China that are not important, but she may know the important things very well, such as the "secret" that Aine mentioned about China before, the latter being the key.

On the other side, Aine realized that Suze was asking a question she already knew the answer to, and coupled with Suze's previous act of pretending to have China's contact information, she felt somewhat uneasy and nervous.

She vaguely sensed Su Shi's possessiveness towards China.