Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

She had already learned through the system that Kazama Akira had just met with Toyokawa Shoko and Wakaba Mutsumi outside the door, and Banami was not fixated on why Kazama hadn't honestly told her about it.

This guy has kept a lot of things from her, one more won't make a difference.

However, judging from the current situation, Kazama can successfully complete his first task—his debut on stage—without her personal intervention.

"To be able to play a duet with someone you've just met, Kazama, you're really quite the social butterfly."

When they returned to the dessert shop together, Banami couldn't help but complain like this.

The fact that she could immediately make a promise to perform a duet with Renai Riki and the others after meeting them for the first time felt a bit too fast, even for someone as socially adept as her.

"I even had a meal with you, Banai, on our very first meeting."

"Indeed, indeed, including today's meal, that makes two meals."

"Oh dear... sometimes you don't need to be close to some people to feel a sense of familiarity."

Kazama's explanation seemed somewhat formulaic; he couldn't possibly say something like, "Because they are actually the aunts who raised me for over ten years, I know their character better than anyone else."

However, unaware of this, Banami was clearly quite dissatisfied with his evasive and perfunctory words.

What? This is the kind of line that only a protagonist in a romance comic would say.

"...And what about me?"

Just before pushing open the door to the dessert shop, Banami asked yet another question, seemingly absentmindedly.

"You seem quite familiar with me."

Even without getting to know her well, a sense of familiarity arose spontaneously... Could it be the same for her?

"........."

The boy paused slightly before stepping into the dessert shop. He turned his head and saw that Banami had half her head down and was holding her left arm with her right hand, looking completely unconcerned.

Finally, after a moment's thought, Xiao gave a brief reply.

"...because you look a lot like my aunt."

"………What?"

This nonsensical response naturally surprised and astonished the initially nervous Banami, who could only manage a forced smile.

"Kazama, you bastard—I won't forgive you until you treat me to double the price!"

"Huh? I was complimenting you, Yanami!"

"Which girl wants to be praised like that?!"

The noise outside the shop did not escape the ears of the other three girls sitting inside. At least Nagasaki Motoyo, who was quietly sipping her black tea, heard all of Kazama and Hanami's commotion.

"Taki-chan... are you going to play a duet with that boy?"

Nagasaki Motoyo asked with a soft smile, and Shiina Tatsuki, who had been working diligently, felt a strange sense of pressure, so she had no choice but to speak up and explain for herself.

"I haven't made up my mind yet; it was that stray cat over there who made the deal with him first."

She turned her attention to the heterochromatic-eyed girl who had been sitting quietly in the corner eating her matcha parfait—wait, this seems to be her third one today.

"Speaking of which, why did you want to perform with him?"

Lixi dismissed Lena's questions, though she had never really understood what was going on in the mind of this strange customer who frequented the store.

"If I wanted to, I agreed."

The girl licked her lips, rolling the last bit of parfait left on her lips into her mouth.

Just then, Banami and Akatsuki pushed open the door and entered, and the girl was asking the boy a similar question.

"Why play together? Hmm... because it's so much fun."

The moment Kazama stepped through the door, this answer reached the ears of the three people inside the shop.

Li Xi and Su Shi had different expressions, while Le Nai stood up with a smile and gave him a thumbs up.

"Playing music is so cool!"

"Oh, that's right!"

Xiao also gave a thumbs up and responded in a serious manner.

"These two seem to get along quite well..."

Lixi complained as she wiped the freshly washed dessert plate, while Su Shi held her teacup in silence.

"........."

Looking at the two people in front of her, she seemed to be plotting something.

"Taki-chan."

Finally, Nagasaki Motoyo smiled gracefully—at a volume that only she and Shiina Tatsuki could hear.

"Let's go too."

"…………what?"

Chapter Twenty-Two: You're Not Allowed to Play in a Band!

Although his mother, Mu, once said, "I have never felt happy about forming a band," Xiao, as her son, has never felt that way.

On the contrary, he really enjoys the feeling of performing a song on stage with like-minded and perfectly compatible partners, and this process does help him release stress.

Therefore, it can be said that he accepted Lena's invitation to play the ensemble without thinking or hesitation.

Well, he actually learned this form of entertainment from Le Nai, who taught him by example. He still remembers how he was almost driven to madness by Li Xi's devilish training and had to pick up drumsticks to become a booming drummer to relieve the pressure. Le Nai also excitedly gave an impromptu guitar solo.

"I'm glad you also enjoy playing music and have your own unique insights into it"—she seemed to be expressing her approval of Xiao in this way.

It seems that even as Aunt Lena gets older, she remains the same as she was in her youth, maintaining the same pure and straightforward personality for decades.

And so, Xiao and Le Nai hit it off and agreed to play a duet together at LivehouseRing.

Of course, there was a little reason behind his choice of this location.

The owner of this livehouse is Ms. Shifune Tsuzuki, who is also the grandmother of Yoru Nakamoto, the wildcat girl. The coffee and dessert shop where Riki works is also located in this building, which is about half the size of a shopping mall.

If I can get along well with Rakuna, at least I'll have a chance to get freebies from Akira's performances and practice sessions here later.

Of course, if he were lucky enough to gain the appreciation of this knowledgeable old man, he could probably take this opportunity to earn some extra money, or even fulfill his dream of making his debut before he transmigrated...

Ahem, thinking too far ahead is sometimes a bad habit. Xiao stopped there and withdrew her fantasy.

Who cares about the future, timelines, or making money? Playing guitar is fun, playing drums is fun, making music is fun—just enjoy yourself first.

With this cheerful feeling, Xiao went to keep the appointment before the appointed day.

When Xiao arrived at the recording studio, Le Nai had already been waiting in the room for a long time.

She squatted beside the chair, intently adjusting the guitar's pitch, like a kitten licking its paws and washing its face, until the boy pushed open the recording studio door and she looked up, like an alert wildcat.

“You’ve come to Erjiu Qilu Jiu ⑴san Balu.”

This is how Lena greets people; there's no complicated procedure like "good morning," "good afternoon," or "how are you doing lately?"

"You arrived ahead of schedule, Lena."

She simply slung the guitar behind her back, and her heterochromatic eyes, which would normally not linger on anything other than matcha parfaits, were now focused on the boy who had just entered the room.

"Hey, I just happened to be passing by today, so I thought I'd come and see your ensemble performance!"

—And there was also Anna Hanami, who walked into the recording studio with a bright smile behind him.

Actually, Banami isn't that interested in girl bands. She's the kind of person who'll click on a band's song if it's featured on the homepage, but she's not the type to go out of her way to attend their live performances.

Moreover, on this sweltering holiday when it's not school time, she would actually prefer to stay home with the air conditioning on, even if it's just to hide under the covers and reminisce about her innocent, unrequited love that had already blossomed before it even began.

Who told her to take over his system without her knowledge?

Holding such a hot potato in her hands, even if she wanted to stay out of it, the system would send her updates about Xiao's current situation from time to time, leaving her no time to calmly reminisce about her failed love life.

Kazama is actually a very easy guy to manage. Banami originally thought she might have to put in a lot of effort to train him and guide him to complete the tasks assigned by the system, but she didn't expect him to reach this point naturally without any prompting.

To use a game analogy, Kazama Akatsuki is like the main character in the kind of online browser game that Yanami saw her dad play when she was a child—the player doesn't have to worry about anything, the character will automatically find its way, lock onto enemies, and fight automatically.

Great, now she can relax and start the story mode.

In that case, it's perfectly reasonable for her to come over and take a look to make sure that nothing goes wrong while her chosen one is completing the task.

Well, it's definitely not because he's handsome that I wanted to take a second look.

"Actually, it's probably just that you, Yana, wanted to get something for free."

The boy's low-pitched grumbling pulled Banami back to reality from her thoughts, and also completely extinguished the pink bubbles that were gradually rising in her heart.

Is he just clueless about romance or is he simply immune to it? Banami could sense that every potential romantic moment was extinguished by his merciless, sharp-tongued sarcastic remarks.

Perhaps she was never treated as a girl by Kazama Akatsuki from beginning to end—no, Auntie is a girl too.

Thinking of this, the dissatisfaction rising in Ms. Banami's heart intensified.

"That's right, can't I get something for free?"

"Sure, go ahead and take advantage of me however you want, I won't resist."

"I'm telling you, Kazama, the way you talk is really easy to misunderstand... (Unintelligible text)"

"..."

Le Nai watched the two of them bantering like good buddies, blinked, and then lingered on them for a moment.

"Shall the three of us play together?"

She didn't care about the reason for the two of them bickering; she only cared whether the two of them could start playing the guitar soon.

"Ah, no, no, no—I know absolutely nothing about musical instruments. If I had to say, the position of an audience member standing on the sidelines and watching from afar suits me better!"

Having just finished joking around with Kazama, Bana quickly shook her head and waved her hand to politely decline Rakuna's invitation. Then, she took small steps and quickly slipped to the side to sit down, leaving empty seats for them.

How can someone who has a god-like perspective stand with the male protagonist? No way!

And if we absolutely have to say who's missing to join the performance...

Banami turned her bright eyes and fixed her gaze on the slowly opening door.

"You're here so early? Really... If it's just a practice performance, I'd be interested in joining you."

Shiina Tatsuki walked in from outside the door, it seemed that after much deliberation, she finally decided to keep the appointment.

"Oh my, takI II思冥柒陾II師ba私越+仪i酱. Anyway, having a chance to test my skills and results makes all that hard work in practicing worthwhile, doesn't it?"

Or perhaps she was bewitched by Nagasaki Motoyo, who entered with her and was smiling elegantly and calmly (just kidding) – cough cough, she was moved by her advice.

Xiao didn't say anything; he knew the latter even with a snap of his fingers.

"Welcome, welcome, Lixi and Sushi."

However, he was genuinely surprised that even Su Shi had come along.

"Okay, okay, I was just worried about Wildcat performing with a guy I'd only met a day ago... Ah."

Riki, busy trying to make amends, was still awkward, but this awkwardness immediately vanished when she saw Banami taking out snacks in the audience.

"...Why is this guest still here?"

She easily interrupted Hanami's spellcasting action of stuffing snacks into her mouth with a few words.

"...I know you embellished Miss Drummer's words! What you originally wanted to say was definitely more hurtful, wasn't it!"

"No, I didn't mean that, it's just..."

A shadow of sadness crossed Shiina Ritsuki's eyes.

The five people were gathered together in the recording studio, rehearsing something intensively—

It felt like yesterday was happening all over again.

Su Shi, who was standing to the side, didn't say anything, but the smile in her eyes deepened as she looked at Li Xi's profile.

Chapter Twenty-Three: A Clever Plan from the Past to Secure the World