My love game with them that will lead to certain death

"Really? I don't have any memory of this at all."

"Absolutely. I remember it very clearly."

How come you have such a good memory? Why don’t you change your career and become a human dash cam? I guarantee that no old man or old woman dares to blackmail your Yukinoshita family’s car.

Facing the confident look of Yukinoshita Yukino, Ming Hai, who vaguely felt that the truth could not be hidden, simply acted crazy to the end.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please forgive my fish-man-like memory for the sake of the fact that I might become a potential Alzheimer's patient in fifty or sixty years, Judge Yukinoshita!"

"Sometimes I really hate your way of changing the subject, Narumi-kun."

"Okay, okay, you hate me again."

"...I'm not being coquettish, please don't misunderstand."

"Is that so? Thank you for liking it?"

“………Hmm.”

Yukinoshita pursed her lips helplessly, but she was helpless against the smiling curly-haired boy in front of her.

The other two members of the Service Club were already accustomed to their daily interactions (flirting), so they just showed an expression of "You guys are here again, right?" - but Miura, who had been ignored for some time, was a little restless.

She stared straight at the curly-haired boy who was able to restrain her number one enemy, Yukinoshita Yukino (self-proclaimed by Miura), and the curiosity burning in her heart grew stronger.

Chapter 70: You can debut without wearing women’s clothes!

Yukinoshita Yukino is actually a girl with that kind of personality.

When she is happy, she will hardly express her joy and relaxation openly. When she is sad, it is difficult for her to let down her guard and express her sorrow to someone openly. Even if her heart is full of longing for someone, she will hardly say it directly - but once she seriously tells you her true feelings, she will be very straightforward and leave no way out for herself.

And such a straightforward girl, when she is acting coquettishly, she will actually say...

[You always say some exaggerated words to perfunctorily deal with things. I really hate you a little bit. ——18:43 Yukinoshita Nyanoheno]

After finishing the club activities, Miss Yukinoshita was still expressing her emotions through text messages, unaware of how cute her behavior was. As a result, the young man Ming Hai, who came to the livehouse performance venue, looked at his phone and laughed for almost three minutes.

After the club activity ended and Miura Yumiko was asked to leave, Ming Hai did not give Yukinoshita any chance to catch him and ask him the whole story. He picked up his schoolbag and sneaked directly to the underground livehouse venue where the band usually performed - so it was reasonable for him to receive a series of fatal emails from Miss Yukinoshita.

"It probably won't make her suspicious. Anyway, even if Yukino really wants to find her sister to find out what's going on, I think Haruno will still go along with what I say - after all, this way she can successfully tease her sister."

Based on his understanding of the Yukinoshita sisters, the problem caused by this incident would not be too big, but if there were a few more similar incidents in the future, that might not be the case.

Fortunately, at least it is still under control at this stage.

[Are you really willing to hate me? I'm so sad. 】

He sent this very annoying message, but still chose to ignore what Yukinoshita Yukino really cared about. Then he put down his phone and turned away - and just then he felt a cool touch on his cheek.

"I thought you were going to continue to indulge in text dating. Be careful not to get caught by the manager if you slack off."

Handing the can of coffee in his hand, which was the culprit that caused the touch that Minghai felt, to the curly-haired boy, Yamada Ryo, who had just put down his bass, sat next to Minghai without hesitation. Minghai was also very considerate and moved to the side to leave some space for her.

"It's okay even if they catch me slacking off, right? Anyway, I didn't agree to join your band, Hong Xia. We just wanted to perform together when we were in the mood."

Ming Hai, who always has a backup plan for everything, has found enough reasons to be lazy. He is considering whether to quit his part-time job and submit his works to the light novel library to earn his first pot of gold - even if he can only be a third-rate novelist like in a certain future, it is much better than working a part-time job for the minimum hourly wage.

Originally, Ming Hai thought that Yamada would agree with his opinion, but she just nodded disapprovingly and drank her canned coffee without saying a word.

“…Yamada, do you think this approach is not feasible? Or are you angry that I slacked off?”

Sensing this subtle sign of trouble, Ming Hai carefully put his phone back into his bag and turned to look at the silent Yamada - based on his understanding of this guy, if he suddenly became silent during the conversation, it meant he was either busy eating grass that appeared from nowhere, or he was a little unhappy.

Just when Ming Hai changed his usual nonchalant attitude and began to cautiously test Yamada's attitude, the blue-haired girl's mumbling voice made the dry smile on his lips freeze.

"…Your name is Hongxia Hongxia-san."

"……what?"

"Even before, I always called you Hong Xia Yi Dizhi-san."

"That's because it's hard to tell Hong Xia and Manager Xing Ge apart if we call them by their last names. Besides, it was they who suggested it."

“You always just call me Yamada.”

Ignoring Ming Hai's explanation which sounded reasonable, Ms. Yamada pointed at herself with a somewhat hurt expression, her pitiful eyes looking like a cat who just expects to be favored.

If Yukinoshita Meowno is the type of cat who would use "I hate you" to express her care and act coquettishly, then Yamada is a completely different type of cat from her.

If Yamada could become a cat, she would probably be the kind of person who would directly press her owner's hand on her head with her paw and say "I want to be patted on the head more often" without changing her expression.

"What's going on? Did Yamada act like this in the past?"

Ming Hai, who had not expected her to counter the move like this, blinked. To be honest, his thoughts were a little messy because of Yamada's sudden move, and his brain was shutting down.

"…It's okay, I just said it casually."

Seeing that he didn't speak for a long time, the blue-haired girl just smiled slightly and looked away.

"Anyway, if Xiao Hai calls everyone else by their first names but only me by my last name, I'm the most special one."

“What the hell—damn it, when did this guy start to act so cool!?”

At this moment, Pochi-chan, who was practicing guitar diligently in a corner, couldn't help but sneeze.

"Is Pochi okay? Do you have a cold?"

The other end of their conversation could not be heard in the lounge, and Hongxia was particularly considerate in handing tissue paper to the pink-haired girl.

"Speaking of the performance just now, Xiao Hai, you, the guest singer, were very infectious."

Miss Yamada stopped teasing her friend and gulped down a large can of coffee. Then she gave the curly-haired boy a thumbs up with satisfaction.

"I can hear girls screaming from the audience. If you don't want to form a band, why don't you try to debut as an artist?"

"Oh, and then on the first day after I passed the audition and became an idol, I was transported to another world by a truck as soon as I left the house. Next, please read "About How I was Reincarnated into Another World and Became the Number One Idol on the Continent"!"

"Interesting, I support you. Go and become an idol. With your face, you should be able to debut in KFC48 without wearing women's clothes. Don't forget each other when you become rich."

"Yamada, are you supporting me to become an idol or to be created in another world? By the way, weren't you just urging me to do rock music with you?"

"If you're a rock musician, you can only smoke, drink and be an idol, but if you're an idol, you can be an idol. It's obvious who's better."

"Oh - that makes sense! Then I want to be an idol! My specialties are playing musical instruments and writing novels. I'll sign up once I've practiced for more than two and a half years!"

"What nonsense are they talking about over there..."

Hongxia's mother covered the ears of Pochi-chan, who looked confused, with a headache. She was very worried that if the lounge had such a chat atmosphere in the future, it would lead to the bad behavior of the well-behaved and cute Goto baby.

"novel……"

The pink-haired girl, who had covered her ears but still heard one or two words, seemed to be thinking about something, and her eyes had a slight emotional fluctuation as she looked at the curly-haired boy who was talking.

Chapter 71: End of the Band's Golden Sign

Although "Guitar Hero" often releases some singing and playing videos online, it is rare to make secondary creations based on novels or animation comics. The comics of Kashiwagi Eri that Pochi-chan accidentally saw on the Internet are one of her few sources of inspiration.

Later, she also traced back to the source and read the original novel. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the most amazing short original novel that Goto Ichiri has ever read. (Well, it’s just because Pochi-chan is not very familiar with novels compared to comics and music)

Therefore, when the senior Ming Hai, whom she had always cared about, mentioned the word "novel", the unique characteristic of the two-dimensional otaku "being keen on recommending what he likes" emerged.

"As for novels, I recently read a very interesting novel!"

Well, actually, Pochi-chan was just trying to create a common topic using her very clumsy conversation skills.

She put down her guitar timidly and interrupted the conversation between Ming Hai and Yamada in an extremely awkward manner, thus attracting the attention of both of them.

"That novel tells the story of a pair of childhood sweethearts who still love each other deeply despite being separated by life and death. I personally think it is very touching!"

“Oh—Is that so?”

Yamada tilted his head in a very flattering manner, and Ming Hai on the side blinked his eyes and asked back with a smile.

"Really? Goto, what is it about that novel that you like so much? Can you tell me? I'm a little curious - if it's interesting, I'll go and read it."

The most considerate way to communicate with a socially anxious person is to respond adequately when she wants to express her opinions and ideas, and to pick up her words and continue at the appropriate time - after all, this will neither scare the other person because of being too enthusiastic, nor be considered too cold and thus extinguish Pochi-chan's desire to communicate with others.

And from the sparkling eyes of Pochi-chan, it can be seen that there is nothing wrong with Ming Hai's rhetoric.

“I, I think the delicately portrayed emotions are very interesting! The childhood sweethearts who are more like siblings in their growth journey are still protecting each other in their own way after being separated by life and death. This is also a very tear-jerking part!”

"Uh-huh."

Ming Hai smiled and nodded. Even though he was the author of the novel whose identity was not made public, he vaguely felt that this plot seemed a little familiar.

"I read Kashiwagi Eri's manga before I got into the original work. There are so many wonderful things in the manga!"

"Um………"

It wasn't until Pochi shyly mentioned the name of a comic book author that Ming Hai's expression became a little tense.

After all, now when Kashiwagi Eri is mentioned, the first person he thinks of is no longer the enthusiastic teacher who offered to help him even though they had never met before - but a certain blonde otaku girl who lives in her bedroom and never goes out.

"Kashiwagi Eri? Isn't she a famous manga artist?"

Yamada blinked and expressed his confusion without any hesitation. This was the first time that Ming Hai felt a little helpless about Yamada's straightforwardness.

"Pochi-chan... so you watched it too..."

"The... the artist of the book...?"

Pochi-chan was a little confused at first, but when she found that the smile on Senior Liang's face was becoming more and more intriguing, she realized something belatedly and her face was flushed with confusion.

"I, I, I, I don't know. I've only read this comic and haven't read any other works by this author...!"

"Explanation is covering up, but there's nothing to cover up, Pochi-chan. It's not uncommon to like reading books, just accept it!"

"Ryo, don't tell this to Pochi-chan."

Sensing that something was wrong, Hongxia's mother rushed to the scene as soon as possible. She pushed Pochi behind her like a child, and with a helpless look on her face, she gave the short-haired blue-haired girl a heavy knife.

"That's right, no one has ever asked you, Yamada, how you know all this so well."

And Ming Hai also followed Hongxia's rhythm and raised Yamada's hands, pulling her aside like a cat, completely ignoring the latter's slightly dissatisfied complaints.

"What? Xiao Hai, you betrayed me and became Hong Xia's side."

"How have I betrayed you, my dear Lord Yamada?"

"You've been speaking up for Hong Xia, singing the same tune with her... In order to adapt to the atmosphere of this band, have you set yourself up as a parent who takes care of everyone, similar to Hong Xia?"

"Yes, yes, yes. If Hong Xia is your mother, you know what you should call me."

However, Ms. Yamada's intuition is really sharp. When integrating into any group, Ming Hai will unconsciously set a role for himself that is most suitable for the group - it's just that Yamada explained this point in words.

"See, you're still taking advantage of me even now."

"Alright alright, Ryo are you some kind of kid that needs taking care of."

The blonde girl, who was especially gentle towards Pochi but didn't think too much about her old friend Yamada, just sighed with a headache, and then exchanged glances with the other "quasi-parent" Ming Hai.

"It's almost time to end this short break. It will be our encore time in a little while. Everyone should cheer up and put a perfect end to this performance."

"well!"

Although he still had some resistance to performing on stage, Pochi slowly accepted it and clenched his fists. Yamada also calmly picked up the bass while being held by Minghai's neck.

"I take it back, Yamada, you don't look like a cat at all, you look like a dog."

"Really? Then I should be Ming Hai's best friend."

"Well...and it's obviously Beagle."

Amidst the noisy conversations that continued, Ming Hai and the group that finished the band left the lounge.

But what Ming Hai didn't notice was that the phone he left on the table lit up after he closed the door of the lounge, and a text message that he didn't see was left in the notification bar.

[…Okay, actually I don’t really hate you. ——18:40 from Yukinoshita Nyanoheno]

The encore performance went particularly smoothly, perhaps because Pochi-chan was no longer confined to her own thoughts and contributed an excellent guitar solo - or perhaps it was because the curly-haired boy who was temporarily serving as the lead singer exuded a unique charm when he played the guitar and stood in front of the microphone, which impressed his teammates around him and also caused the audience to occasionally burst into a small exclamation.

For a singing performance, the most indispensable thing may not be technique but appeal, which was perfectly demonstrated by Ming Hai, the lead singer.

And just as he was contentedly gazing at the intoxicated expressions of the audience below the stage, what he did not notice was that in the corner of his blind spot, a shadow of blonde hair flashed by.

Chapter 72: The Long Road to Find Brother

When Eriri Sawamura woke up, she found herself lying on her bed at home.

What came into view were familiar scenes, the unchanging ceiling, the gorgeously decorated bedroom, and the empty mansion where she was alone after the butler went out.

“………Eh?”