Green plums cannot become lovers.

"Sister Zhu Yin, you know our band, right? 'Thorns Without Thorns'."

"know."

Akane Akasaka nodded. She did know about it; Subaru had even strongly recommended it to her.

However, from her perspective, their band's arrangement is still a bit immature, but the lead singer's voice is very distinctive.

"We feel like we're going in circles right now."

An and Subaru lowered their voices and slowed down their speech, “Rehearsals, performances, writing new songs, and more rehearsals. It seems like we’re doing a lot of things, but I always feel like we have no direction and don’t know where to go next.”

She paused, then drew a circle on the bag with her finger.

"Why is that?"

There was a moment of silence in the office. An and Asuka placed their hands on Akane's shoulders, but didn't move.

Akane Akasaka opened her eyes, turned her head, and looked at the girl on the sofa.

An and Subaru had very serious expressions.

"You want me to help you with your development plan?"

“Hmm.” An He Mao nodded vigorously. “Sister Zhu Yin has experience managing large companies, and I’d like to hear your opinion. Not just on music, but also on how to keep a band alive and how to go further.”

Akane Akasaka did not answer immediately. She leaned back in her chair, rested her hands on the armrests, and tapped the leather armrests lightly twice with her index fingers.

Do you know what kind of music you're making?

"Rock?"

"I wasn't asking about the musical style."

Akane Akasaka's tone was softer than usual. "What I'm asking is what you want to say to the listeners through your music. Is there something that you can only express through music, and that can't be expressed in any other way?"

An and Subaru opened their mouths, thought for a moment, and then shook their heads.

"Absolutely not."

“Then think it through first.” Akane Akasaka’s tone was not harsh. “Development planning is the second step. The first step is to know who you are.”

"I see..." An and Subaru found it somewhat obscure and difficult to understand.

"Could Sister Zhu Yin take a look at this for us?"

An and Subaru's eyes were full of anticipation.

"Me? I refuse."

Akane Akasaka refused decisively.

An and Subaru were stunned for a moment, the light in their eyes dimmed, and they immediately slumped down.

however

“Compared to me,” Akane Akasaka changed the subject, turning her head and gesturing with her chin toward the person behind her, “the guy behind me is obviously more suitable.”

An and Subaru's eyes lit up instantly.

Yes, Asuka is the one who makes music, Asuka is the one who makes games, Asuka is the one who writes lyrics and composes music, but this young man is the one who truly started from scratch and built something up.

He is clearly more suited for this kind of work.

Anwa Subaru's gaze moved from Akane Akasaka to Asuka Anwa's face, then back to Akane Akasaka, repeating this twice before finally settling on the boy's speechless expression.

Anhe Feibiao felt somewhat helpless; Sister Zhuyin had given herself more trouble to do.

"Asuka, I'm counting on you."

An and Subaru clasped their hands together in front of them, lowered their heads slightly, and stared at him intently from above their fingers.

An and Asuka hesitated.

He had refused the girl's invitation last time, and he intended to refuse again this time. But when he saw An and Subaru's bright eyes, her clasped hands and slightly forward-leaning body, and her slightly pursed lips as if she were expecting something—

He sighed.

Who can blame me when this girl is my sister?

"Let's go..."

Anhe Subaru's lips suddenly parted into a wide grin, her smile exploding across her face like a candy that had been suddenly smashed, its sweetness spreading everywhere.

Volume 1: Chapter 292

Chapter 292

Anhe Mao felt that she was the only normal person in her band.

This conclusion was not reached in a day; it is a judgment that has been accumulated and repeatedly verified over time.

Lead singer Serina Ikee is frequently absent from school.

At seventeen, she had the petite figure of a middle school student, but a fiery temper like a firecracker ready to explode at any moment. When she was happy, her laughter filled the entire room; when she was unhappy, her lips would turn down, and her small face would look like it was about to burst.

Guitarist He is an older sister with inexplicable persistence, and her past, which everyone knows, is that of a former professional gamer.

The keyboardist was the guy she called "Hakimi," not because she liked cats, but because she would yell "Ha!" when she was angry.

She has a temper just as fiery as Nina, but the difference between them is that Nina is an open flame, which ignites easily and then dies down; while Satoshi is a smoldering fire, you don't know when she's burning, and by the time you notice, she's already charred.

The bassist is RUPA, who looks the most normal. She's even handsome, has a gentle smile, is reliable, never late for rehearsals, and always knows the sheet music best. However, she's a drunkard with a bad temper.

She herself comes from a scholarly family and has been practicing drums for several years. She considers herself a perfect drummer who combines beauty and skill.

That's the kind of band they are.

There are former professional players, amateur music masters, musical geniuses who can learn in just a few days, and classically trained students who have received rigorous training since childhood. They all look like a super team aiming for the championship.

But in reality, it's just a roadside stall.

Videos posted on the platform rarely get more than 100 views. Occasionally, if you're lucky enough to be favored by the algorithm, a few encouraging comments like "Not bad" or "Keep it up" will appear in the bullet screen, and then nothing more. Traffic is like the tide, rising up and covering your feet, then receding without leaving a trace.

Minor incidents occasionally occur, and discord among the members is commonplace; they often bicker.

The more critical issue is that the band members have disagreements about whether to go professional, because there is a member in the band who feels betrayed because of her professional career, so she is somewhat resistant to going professional.

An and Subaru couldn't quite figure out what went wrong.

She did try; she read relevant books, watched interviews with veteran bands, and tried her best to solve the problem, but in the end, it was all in vain.

That's why she thought of asking Akane Kousaka for help.

That woman's vision, experience, and management skills are exactly what their band currently lacks. (箘-林异齐?寺吾镹肆巴)

Akane Akasaka refused, but at the same time, she pushed someone else onto her.

Thinking of this, An and Subaru couldn't help but steal a glance at the boy walking beside them.

The two walked along the street for about fifteen minutes and then turned into a narrow alley. The walls on both sides of the alley were covered with posters of various performances. Some were still very new with neat edges, while others had faded and curled edges, rustling in the wind.

"arrive."

An and Subaru stopped in front of a door.

The wooden door wasn't large, and some of the paint was peeling off, revealing the dark gray wood grain underneath. Above the door frame hung an inconspicuous sign that read "Livehouse".

Anhe Feibiao looked up and glanced at Er Yiyi San??Qiu Li?Shaanxi?Wo.

"Is this the place?"

"This is it." Anhe Mao pushed open the door, stepping aside to let him in first. "Aren't you a little surprised?"

“Indeed.” An and Asuka stepped over the threshold, their eyes sweeping around.

It was smaller than he had expected. The entrance was a narrow hallway, barely wide enough for three people to stand side by side. A gray non-slip mat covered the floor, its edges worn and frayed. A notice board hung on the wall, displaying a schedule of upcoming performances and flyers for several bands. The corners of the flyers were held together with thumbtacks, and some had their bottom halves torn off.

At the end of the corridor was a soundproof door. Pushing it open, one could find a performance venue that could accommodate about seventy or eighty people. The stage wasn't very big, only slightly raised above the ground, and a few speakers that hadn't been packed away were piled up at the stage entrance.

The auditorium was an open space with a layer of dark gray epoxy paint on the cement floor. There were scratches left by chair legs dragging on the paint, like some kind of text repeatedly written by time.

On either side of the audience seating were several exposed steel pipe pillars, covered with various stickers and graffiti. Some had lyrics written on them, some had an incomprehensible band logo drawn on them, and some were just names and dates casually written by someone.

The air was filled with the smells of old wood, metal tools, and a slight damp, musty odor, but it wasn't too unpleasant.

An and Subaru walked ahead, crossed the audience seats, pushed open a small door next to the stage, and entered a narrower corridor.

Several practice rooms lined both sides of the corridor, each with a number on its door. She stopped in front of a door labeled "206," took a key out of her pocket, inserted it into the lock, and turned it twice.

The door opened.

The practice room wasn't big, maybe ten square meters, but it was small yet fully equipped. An and Asuka stood at the door, their gazes sweeping across the small space before finally settling on the drum set in the corner.

"Is this where you usually practice?"

“Yeah.” An and Subaru placed their canvas bags on the folding chair in the corner, turned around, put their hands on their hips like a little animal showing off its territory, and said, “Aren’t you a little surprised?”

Anwa Asuka nodded. He originally thought that, given Anwa's status as the eldest daughter of the Anwa family, Anwa Subaru could find a better venue, but this place... to be honest, was similar to the livehouses he used to frequent in Aichi.

"hey-hey."

Anhe Mao noticed the doubt in his eyes and chuckled, "Everyone splits the bill, so this place offers the best value for money. It's close to the station, the prices are cheap, and the owner is nice."

"Take me inside and have a look."

"Good good."

An and Subaru stepped aside to let him in, then quickly walked to the drum set, bent down, and wiped away the invisible dust from the drum surface with their sleeves.

An and Asuka walked into the practice room and sat down on an overturned plastic box.

"What about the rest?"

"Not here yet." Anhe Subaru looked at his phone. "But he should be here soon."

She paused for a moment after speaking, then added with a smile, "When they arrive, they'll be very surprised, especially Nina."

"Your lead singer?" An and Asuka thought for a moment, and the image of that girl with a rather unique voice came to mind.

"Ah."

When An and Subaru said this, their tone was disdainful, but the corners of their mouths were curved, and their eyes were also curved: "He's so annoying and troublesome. He's seventeen years old, but he's like a child. He always does things that are hard to understand, and he has a bad temper."

An and Asuka didn't speak, they just listened.

"That's good."

"Is it good?" An and Subaru tilted their heads and thought for a moment. "Well, it is indeed quite good. At least it's better than those people who keep everything bottled up inside and end up getting sick from it."

As she spoke, her gaze didn't fall on An and Asuka, but rather on the wall covered with sound-absorbing cotton. Tiny specks of dust were embedded in the gaps of the sound-absorbing cotton, gleaming faintly silver under the light.

An and Asuka looked at her profile and suddenly spoke.

"So where exactly are you stuck right now?"

An and Subaru thought for a moment, then replied:

"I'm just...very confused."

Her voice was lower than before, and she spoke more slowly.

"Everyone knows that we are not in the best state right now. But no one can say for sure what's wrong, how to change it, or to what extent it should be changed."

Momoka thinks we haven't practiced enough, Satoshi thinks our arrangement is too conservative, RUPA thinks our positioning isn't clear enough, and Nina... Nina thinks everything is good, yet nothing is good either.

She paused, then tapped the drumhead twice with her fingers, producing two muffled, arrhythmic sounds.

"I can't explain it clearly right now, but you'll probably understand once they get here."

"I see."

An and Asuka didn't press the matter. He leaned against the wall, his back pressed against the uneven sound-absorbing cotton, feeling a slightly rough sensation seep through his coat onto his skin.

The practice room fell silent.

Anhe Mao didn't really like this kind of quiet. She wasn't the kind of person who could comfortably stay in silence. When she wasn't talking, her mind would start churning with all sorts of random thoughts, and the results of these thoughts usually weren't good.

So she'd rather make some noise, even if it's nonsense or noise, than be quiet.

She turned around, with her back to An and Asuka, and sat down in front of the drum set.

"Ta-da, look."

She pulled the drumsticks out of her bag and held them up in front of An and Feibiao, the two drumsticks side by side in her palm, as if displaying some precious collection.

"Do you remember these drumsticks?"

An and Asuka were taken aback.