My love game with them that will lead to certain death

Rather, the guy who can become friends with Ming Hai is not an ordinary person.

"But these are just jokes. I know that so I won't take it seriously."

After failing in a head-on confrontation with Yamada and Narumi, Haruno smiled and shifted her gaze, directing her firepower at her own sister, Yukinoshita Yukino, who had been unable to join the conversation between the three people.

"Xue-no-chan will get used to it slowly, don't worry too much."

Here it comes again, the seemingly gentle and considerate concern actually contains deeper meaning.

On the surface, it seems that Haruno is acting as a coordinator for Yukinoshita and Yamada Ryo, who are still unfamiliar to them. As a senior who is a few years older than them, there is nothing wrong with this.

But to Yukinoshita Yukino, those words actually contained other information.

Although she is her own elder sister, she seems to be very familiar with "outsiders" Narumi and Yamada. Between the lines, there is a kind of naturalness and grace that can serve as a bridge of communication for Yukino, her younger sister, to get familiar with them.

Therefore, this also made Yukinoshita Yukino, who was able to deconstruct this layer of meaning, feel particularly unhappy.

She lowered her eyes and did not respond to Yang Nai, but her delicate and lovely face was covered with a thick haze.

Ming Hai rolled his eyes after reading this information - when Yukino was clearly at a disadvantage, he couldn't just sit there and watch the show.

"Wait wait wait, I didn't know since when you became so familiar with Yamada, Senior."

He raised his eyebrows listlessly and took a step forward, just enough to block his body between the Yukinoshita sisters.

"If you two are so keen on dating, go ahead - I'm going to take my guitar and run away first."

"Dating Haruno-senpai? It's not impossible."

Yamada produced a sign from somewhere and pointed at the number on it seriously.

"But the charge is 1000 yen per hour, and the maximum size is only a princess hug. Thank you for your patronage."

Yukinoshita Haruno's eyebrows twitched.

"By the way, my price is double that of Yamada. As for physical contact like hugging, that's another price."

Ming Hai's action of joining in the conversation made her smile, which symbolized politeness, disappear.

"……puff."

Yukino, who was almost falling into inferiority complex because of the aggressive Haruno, smiled softly, and the look she gave Yamada was no longer full of caution and vigilance towards strangers as before.

"As expected, the people who can become friends with him are all very interesting people."

"Oh my~ Chatting with you guys is so fun. It makes me feel a few years younger."

Realizing that the rhythm of the conversation had been completely diverted by Yamada and Narumi without her noticing, Yono decided to quit while she was ahead and put a more relaxed and cheerful smile on her face again.

"But let's stop chatting here. I have to take Yukino home. You guys have your own things to do, right?"

"Well, now that you guys are gone I can go on a date with Xiao Hai."

Yamada, who had already completely adapted to Haruno's conversational habits and put them into practice, smiled confidently and made a half-heart gesture to Minghai who was standing next to him - but the latter just smiled and raised his middle finger.

"You're just saying this to disgust me, aren't you, Yamada?"

"Life is already so difficult. Some things should not be revealed."

"This guy forgot to take his medicine when he went out, don't take it to heart."

Ming Hai tried hard to suppress the urge to cover Yamada's mouth with his own hands - this guy was the biggest trouble at the moment.

If I had known earlier, I would have let these three guys fight it out on their own. It’s just that he came at the wrong time to make this farce.

Chapter 50 Just Because You Are You

To be honest, Yamada Ryo actually had no interest in being inexplicably involved in the "battlefield with the Yukinoshita sisters."

It would be better to say that she was a little curious at first, but after she understood the situation, she instantly lost interest.

Being caught between two people with whom he has a close relationship, Ercong has to carefully play social games to maintain the relationship in order to prevent the collapse of this triangle relationship... It sounds so troublesome.

"I really don't understand why Xiao Hai would write this kind of plot in the book. It doesn't seem as interesting as playing music."

Yamada Ryo curled her lips. If it weren't for the fact that Ming Hai would definitely retort that "it's not that interesting for rock musicians to smoke, drink and play with women all day long", she would have said what she was thinking bluntly.

To sum up, Ms. Yamada Ryo is actually a person who has absolutely no patience for things that are not her hobbies.

But even so, she still stood patiently beside Ming Hai, quietly waiting for him to sort out the remaining issues between him and the two Yukinoshita sisters - she herself knew that not causing trouble for Ming Hai was the greatest help she could give.

Fortunately, Yukinoshita Haruno also realized that the conversation during this accidental encounter was a bit too long.

"If I'm free someday, I'd be happy to invite you two to sit down and chat during my free time - of course, it's my treat. But today, maybe that's all the small talk will end here."

She leaned towards Yukino, who raised her head as if she understood what her body movements meant.

"Let's go, Yukino-chan. We still have to arrange a hospital appointment after the dinner, so we can't delay any longer."

"……Hospital?"

After catching this special word, Ming Hai instantly regained his spirits. His sudden glance made the smile on Yukinoshita Haruno's face deepen a little bit.

"To avoid misunderstanding, let me first explain - this is just a routine checkup, and I'm not seriously ill."

She showed an expression that said "As expected, you still care about Yukino~", which made Ming Hai, who realized it later, grin.

Tsk, I was taken advantage of by this woman without even realizing it.

"Hmm...it shouldn't be a problem."

Yukino, who was walking towards the back seat of the car with her, paused for a moment, and before getting in the car, she turned her head slightly to look at Minghai who was still standing in the distance.

"Don't worry, Narumi-kun. It's just a checkup."

Her eyes were different from Yang Nai's, who was always testing others. She simply conveyed the message "I'm sure I'll be fine" to reassure him.

"…As a club member, I'm just worried about the club leader's health, but since you guys said so, it shouldn't be a problem."

The curly-haired boy looked away. He was just thinking about everything that Yukino, who was seriously ill in the simulation, had experienced, so he was a little distracted for a moment.

I don’t know if Yukinoshita Yukino noticed this.

"Okay, next time Senior Yang Nai will treat you, I'll remember that."

Yamada on the side was still indifferent to the whole thing. She was not interested in the relationship between the two sisters, Narumi and Yukinoshita, but only paid attention to some strange things.

Sitting in the back seat, Yukino's gaze stayed on the curly-haired boy for a brief moment, and then she retracted her gaze as the black car started to move forward.

Ming Hai, who had been standing still, and Yamada, who was standing beside him, watched the Yukinoshita family's car go farther and farther away, and finally they took a step forward.

"So Xiao Hai, who do you like more, the elder sister or the younger sister?"

When they walked side by side and turned a corner, Miss Yamada's sudden question made Ming Hai twitch the corner of his mouth.

"Yamada, when did you become such a gossip?"

"No, I'm just concerned about your love life. After all, I'd be very sad if the little sea of ​​peony flowers that have lasted for thousands of years finally bloomed."

Wearing different school uniforms, they were strolling on the street where only Sobu High School students were coming and going. The musical instrument cases on their backs were also extremely conspicuous - but they did not care about the occasional curious glances from passers-by around them.

"I can't say I like you. After all, we don't really have much in common."

Ming Hai raised his head slightly, stared at the vast sky with white clouds and expressed his thoughts.

What happens in the simulation should stay in the simulation, and try not to affect real life as much as possible - this is how he minimizes possible troubles.

"And even if there is any intersection, the me in their eyes may not be who I really am."

Although Ming Hai himself did not choose to join the simulation game in order to build relationships with them, he did not expect the interpersonal relationships in the simulation to be perfectly replicated in reality.

"…Why would Xiao Hai think so?"

Yamada blinked, recalling the "dream" that seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Well - just think of it as me pretending to be many different people when I need to deal with others in social situations."

Considering that it was troublesome to explain, and he didn't know whether he could explain the simulation clearly to Yamada, Ming Hai finally chose to turn a blind eye to this matter.

"I am a troublesome junior in the eyes of the outstanding seniors from prestigious universities, and a lazy and unlearned member who drags down the team in the eyes of the club leader of the flower of the high mountain - maybe that's how they see me."

If he wasn't worried that casually revealing the existence of the simulation would cause serious consequences, Yamada would definitely be the first person he wanted to tell the whole story.

"Just like a person's personality is sometimes given through social functions, in order to correspond to a certain "identity", I am also happy to play such a role. No matter what they think of the role I play, it is not the whole me after all."

Don't expect more from them than you expect, and there won't be any disappointment.

"Hmm...it's a bit confusing."

Yamada Ryo curled her lips. She rarely thought about such weird philosophical questions.

"I don't think it matters."

However, precisely because she had never thought about anything like this before, she came to her conclusion so decisively.

"Anyway, whether it's the junior Hai, the club member Hai, the Hai who can play guitar, or the tone-deaf Hai... they're all Hai. Even if you try to pretend to be someone else, in the end, you'll only be the Hai who's trying hard to be someone else."

Yamada Ryo has never been a person who would be too fussy about such details, and this is one of the important reasons why she did not care too much after escaping from the dream and immediately adapted to the original rhythm of life.

"As long as you are you, that's enough. I don't really care about anything else."

And it was precisely because of her frankness that Ming Hai, who was usually eloquent, suddenly fell silent at this moment, and just looked at the blue-haired girl with an expression as if he was going to listen to what she said carefully.

Yamada Ryo is someone who always gives him unexpected answers - this is the only trait of her personality that can be summed up.

But Narumi didn't hate this.

"Yamada, you are unexpectedly a philosopher."

He raised the corners of his mouth slightly, without even noticing it.

"Really? Then I can sell lessons, make a lot of money and buy a few bass guitars for my family..."

Just as they were passing a small open space in the park, a familiar voice drew their attention away from their conversation.

"Um, are you a guitarist?"

Not far away, a girl with blonde ponytail was talking to a pink shadow.

"Although this request is a little sudden, could you please be the temporary guitarist for our band?"

Ming Hai and Yamada both stopped at the same time.

The figures of the two girls talking over there - they look familiar no matter how I look at them.

Chapter 51: The Never-Ending First Acquaintance

It was about a day or two ago that Goto Ichiri woke up from that strange "dream".

Like most dreams that are forgotten as soon as one wakes up, she could not remember other details of the dream very clearly. The only thing that left a deep impression on her was a nightmarish experience.

The childhood sweetheart who appeared out of nowhere in her dream changed his gentle and cheerful attitude when they were young and turned to be extremely mean to her. Just when she had let go of the past and decided not to waste time on such interpersonal relationships, she received the bad news that he had an accident - it turned out that all the excessive things he had done before were just to make Goto hate him.

After that, Pochi-chan, filled with regret and pain, used misfortune as a source of nourishment for his own talent and became a talented guitarist who was both a singer and songwriter... The more time passes, the more vague my memory becomes, and it probably ends here.

After waking up from such a dream, Miss Goto Ichiri sat on her bed in a daze for a long time, and then resolutely decided -

Cover yourself with the quilt and go back to sleep.

“No matter how you look at it, the experience of having this kind of dream is too bad! Why can’t I realize my dream happily even in my dream, but must be accompanied by this kind of suffering!”

Pochi-chan curled up in the quilt and patted her cheeks, wondering if reading too many novels had a certain impact on her subconscious mind.

So to speak, the original song that made Guitar Hero famous on YouTube also tells the story of a pair of childhood sweethearts who are separated by death but still look after each other.

"Could it be that I was so obsessed with it that I had such a dream...!"

It’s just that the chaotic and unreasonable dream made Pochi-chan the heroine of this story.

Miss Goto Ichiri convinced herself with this idea and stayed at home for several days before she gradually regained the motivation to go to school.

Even though the number of followers on YouTube has almost reached 3, more than three times the original number of fans, that also means that Guitar Hero is being recognized by more people.

In reality, Goto Ichiri is still a nobody who is ignored by everyone. Even when she goes to school with her guitar case with trepidation, or tries to wear some rock-related peripherals on her clothes, no one comes up to talk to her.

The social way for an introverted and autistic child is to wait for an extrovert to adopt her.

"Ah... Even I will meet such a person."

After school, Pochi-chan sat on the swing in the park with a huge and heavy guitar case on her back, trying to attract other people's attention, but no one paid attention to her all day, and she felt a little dejected.

The uncle next to her who was suffering from the hardships of life was smoking a cigarette while busy replying to messages from his boss on his mobile phone, blowing out smoke rings tiredly and numbly - Pochi always felt that she saw her own life in the next twenty years in him.

“Now that I think about it, it would be better to become an unlucky but talented celebrity guitarist…! I don’t want to be a boring adult doing nothing for the rest of my life…!”