Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

It seems I must at least be worthy of Banami's trust.

"By the way, if Lixi thinks it's good, after we're done—" He smiled at Lixi beside him during the break, "how about we grab a cappuccino?"

This is their consistent style, and Xiao especially misses the time she spent relaxing with her teachers over coffee after practice.

"...It all depends on whether you can satisfy me."

Li Xi sat upright, her lips curving into a slightly expectant smile—she seemed to treat it merely as a challenge.

Seeing this, Banami, who had originally planned to cheer him on, couldn't keep up the smile.

She was thinking about how to help Kazama complete his mission perfectly—but did this guy even have time to flirt with girls like a peacock?!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Gathering You One by One

Memories of the past always resurface whenever Xiao touches a musical instrument again.

"Choose one that interests you the most, Xiao."

When Mu brought Xiao, who was only five or six years old, to the practice room, he placed the young boy in front of a series of musical instruments.

"We will teach you everything."

Mu gently squatted down and placed her hands on Xiao's body from behind, which reassured the somewhat uneasy child.

"Haha, want to learn guitar with Ai-yin? Lots of girls like guys who can play guitar~"

Ai-yin picked up her guitar and showed particular enthusiasm for teaching young children.

"Aiyin, the child is still young, don't say such things. You're a nanny now, it's not good to be so unreliable. Compared to this, although my skills are only slightly improved, I can still teach you the basics of bass, Xiao."

Su Shi's smile was so gentle that it was as if the child Mu had brought back was her own. As she picked up Beth, she was surrounded by a maternal aura.

"If... you want to sing, or want to write lyrics, I will help Xiaojun."

The somewhat shy and introverted Gao Songdeng showed his friendliest side to Xiao, whom he was meeting for the first time, perhaps because he was a harmonious child.

"...If that guy were still alive, someone would have taught him how to play the keyboard."

Only Lixi remembered his old friend at this moment.

"........."

Everyone fell silent; clearly, what she said after her thoughts had wandered off was somewhat inappropriate.

"...Sorry, I can teach you how to play the drums."

Lixi realized he had lost his composure and awkwardly tried to make amends with this remark.

"But let me make this clear from the start: I will be very strict with you."

"Taki-chan..."

"Ah Xiao is still very young, let's take it slow."

While the other aunties were saying the same thing, Xiao took the initiative to walk up to Lixi.

"I want to start by learning the drums."

Even though Xiao was just a naive and young child back then, he could still read a hint of loneliness in Li Xi's eyes.

Before Mu brought him home, he had always lived alone, so he was particularly good at understanding the expressions people have when they are lonely and sad.

So he took Lixi's hand first.

Xiao straightened her back and silently laid out the first chord on the piano keys.

After that, he also sought out a teacher to learn how to play the piano.

If he could also become a capable keyboardist, perhaps Lixi and the others would find some solace in the thought of this perpetually vacant position.

I just didn't want to see them looking so sad again.

The notes that slipped out from between her fingers were clear and clean. Xiao was not trying to show off her skills. The melody flowed out naturally, like a mountain stream flowing into a valley.

He inadvertently recalled his initial reason for learning to use the keyboard, and he shifted his focus to the more important present moment.

Xiao didn't rush into the main topic, but repeatedly played the structure of the prelude, as if she was using the sound of a piano to adjust the breathing for this collaboration.

Lixi lowered his head and glanced at the sheet music.

The song she chose was "New Born" by Muse. The keyboardist is indispensable in the performance of this song. The keyboardist is required to enter the song perfectly and maintain the rhythm without making the slightest mistake when the melody loops. It is indeed necessary for the keyboardist to have a certain level of skill to be able to do this.

When she turned her head to examine the boy's expression, Xiao's eyes were calm as water beneath her lowered eyelashes, but her fingertips moved more and more swiftly, as if she were gently tapping on an invisible net, weaving a melody perfectly.

Is this what you call not being very good at...?

Lixi muttered to himself, but his hands had already unconsciously tightened their grip on the drumsticks.

When Kazama used the last note of his piano to send out the signal, Rakuna caught it almost immediately.

A burst of energetic electric guitar music started playing.

They didn't say a single unnecessary word, but their rhythms were perfectly synchronized at that moment, like clockwork striking in unison.

Le Nai, holding her guitar, leaned against the speaker like a cat that had just woken up from a nap, her eyes lazy, but her fingertips plucked the rhythmic gaps, pushing the song's emotion and infectiousness to its peak.

Of course, she hadn't looked at the charts at all.

Lixi has always disliked performers who lack a sense of cooperation—Wildcat may have his own unique ideas, but Kazama is not at all.

He wasn't the kind of top student who mechanically played according to the sheet music, but rather a guide who could lead the rhythm without breaking the rules. No matter how noisy Lena's electric guitar was, he could firmly support it with chord progression after chord progression.

The two have already completed their collaboration; now all that's missing is Li Xi joining them.

"You two are pretty good, you caught up."

The black-haired girl chuckled softly, and as Kazama played the second melody, she immediately stepped on the bass drum, followed quickly by the snare drum and bass drum.

Her rhythm was crisp and clean, without a trace of superfluous emotional embellishment. If Kazama's fingertips hesitated even slightly within such a rhythm, the disordered syllables would be instantly exposed.

She was waiting for that "hesitation".

But Kazama didn't have it.

His left hand remained steadily on the bass register, while his right hand lightly tapped the keys a few times, even taking the initiative to insert offbeats and pauses between Lixi's drumbeats.

Li Xi's eyes flickered slightly, and with a flick of his wrist, the rhythm suddenly sped up by one and a half beats.

She could catch a glimpse of the smile still lingering on the boy's lips out of the corner of her eye. The keyboard patterns were disassembled and then reassembled at her new speed. It was as if he had been prepared all along, or as if this challenge was just a routine warm-up for him.

"...You're quite good at responding."

Kazama's fingers relaxed more and more, and he even threw out a light and clean rising note at the end of the fourth measure, like a subtle retort.

Lixi finally withdrew his probing attacks.

The three did not exchange a single word, but the music piled up and echoed in the empty practice room, tug-of-war and blending together, as if they were probing each other in some secret realm.

Shiina Tatsuki brought the rhythm back to the original beat. She cleanly and decisively cut off the last sustained note, like a sharp blade severing a thread.

Then, she tilted her head slightly to look at the boy in front of the keyboard.

Kazama slowly released his fingers, as naturally as an elegant pianist removing piano gloves. Rakuna, satisfied, played the final glissando, bringing their collaboration to a close.

"...I underestimated you. Your skills are indeed quite good."

Shiina Tatsuki frankly affirmed Akatsuki's abilities as a keyboardist. Although she was never one to speak pleasantly, she would never lie.

Actually, she always felt that this guy wasn't going all out, as if he was deliberately holding back his strength.

His effortless movements and perfectly timed endings in his voice didn't seem like the level a beginner could achieve.

However, he performed quite well, especially considering that this was after he had held back...

If he were to unleash his full potential, could I really keep up?

"You flatter me. Lixi's drumming is also excellent, and you can tell that it's a combination of talent and hard work."

Xiaowen's gentle praise drew Lixi's attention back.

“………Hmm.”

Shiina Riki wasn't good at listening to praise from others. Although the boy's praise made her feel genuinely happy and pleased, she still awkwardly put her hands in front of her in a defensive posture.

"You are the one who is overestimating me."

After a long silence, Lin Yiqi Siwu Jiu 4 Jiu Ba could only come up with this one sentence to respond, while at the same time she awkwardly tugged at the folds of her clothes on her left arm with her right hand.

Oh dear, it seems that this sensitive and suspicious teacher Lixi is ruminating on herself again.

Xiao felt a bit amused and exasperated. He had indeed been avoiding direct confrontation, and the keyboard was the instrument he was least familiar with. He thought he had been playing dumb and was doing a good job of concealing his true intentions—even so, Li Xi could still sense that he was responding to her drumbeats.

It looks like she'll be staying up all night to study and practice again.

After finishing her performance, Rakuna didn't exchange any more pleasantries with the two. Instead, she skipped over to the rest area and squatted down to devour her food. Sitting next to her, Banami rubbed her eyes and looked at the boy again with a look of surprise on her face.

I have to say, this guy is really skilled.

She hadn't had high hopes for Kazama's abilities, but it turns out this kid really fooled her.

"……Amazing."

A girl's voice, unlike any they'd ever heard before, came from the other side of the door. Everyone—from Banami to Riki and Akatsuki, who were still in the center of the recording studio tidying up the instruments—looked in the direction of the voice.

Appearing at the door was a girl with long pink hair, and behind her stood a shy girl with short hair, only half of her body visible.

"what……"

Shiina Ritsuki, who had just finished her performance, stared wide-eyed. Suze, who was standing next to her, smiled even more when she saw the short-haired girl, but that smile froze for a moment when the pink-haired girl appeared.

Banami also revealed a complicated expression.

Not for any other reason, but simply because that voice echoed in Xiao's mind again when she looked at the two of them.

[Character unlocked: Takamatsu Akari. All CRYCHIC characters unlocked, achievement achieved: Shadow of the Past.]

Chapter 26: Nagasaki Soyo, Planner

Takamatsu Akari and Chihaya Aine were both summoned by Nagasaki Motoyo. No, to be more precise, only Akari was summoned by Motoyo's message.

[Hey, Lixi and I are at Ring's recording studio right now. Heh, just realizing it's been ages since we've been to a place like this. I don't mean anything by it… but if you're interested, why don't you come along? Don't feel pressured, I was just asking casually. It's okay if you don't come, just treat this as a regular after-school get-together. —Su Shi]

Rather, it's more accurate to say that Takamatsu Tōdō didn't initially intend to come after receiving the message.

"........."

She didn't reply to Su Shi immediately, but simply closed her phone in silence.

But when she came to her senses, she found herself on the commercial street where LivehouseRing was located.

Takamatsu Akari, the former lead vocalist of CRYCHIC, is a first-year high school student at Haneoka Girls' Academy—and also a classmate of Chihaya Ayane, who transferred there.

"What's wrong? If you don't know where to go... how about we go sing karaoke?"

The pink-haired girl who was walking with her came back from the beverage shop with two drinks in her hands and handed one of the drinks to her on the sidewalk under the light.

Chihaya Aine has been pestering—cough, no, trying to persuade Akari to play in a band with her, but this girl, whose thoughts sometimes wander, is preoccupied and has never given a direct answer to her invitation. Aine only managed to get Akari to talk to her thanks to the cute penguin.

However, after such a sincere (and persistent) invitation from her, the soft-hearted Akari agreed to go out with her. Ai-on decided to take advantage of the situation and ask Akari again today if she wanted to form a band with her.

The expression changed when Deng received the message.

"What's wrong? A message from a friend?"

Aine, having escaped the scorching sun, came to the tree and looked at the short-haired girl who was still standing there.

"Well, um..."

Perhaps we can still be considered friends.

Takasatsu looked up. They had unknowingly strolled through the commercial district and arrived at Ring's building in just a few minutes.

"what happened?"

The lamp remained in place, so Ai Yin asked curiously why.

"Hey? Did your friend invite you to the recording studio? Can I come? Can I come!"

After a brief explanation of the lights, Chihaya Aine, who was determined to join in the fun, and not good at refusing, led the shining-eyed Aine into the livehouse floor of Ring.