They are in the music show, but I am a stranger to them

And for some reason, being stared at by everyone like this, Aiyin felt inexplicably guilty, and she felt as if the uneasiness deep in her heart was beginning to rise up.

"Big, everyone? Shall we start practicing? What song shall we practice today?"

"——The song we practiced today was not a song from our original band."

However, when Aine was about to get to the point with a guilty conscience, Shiina Riki obviously took a deep breath, barely calmed down his inner emotions, and said to Aine indifferently:

"I specially brought some popular songs from senior bands. I will send the music to everyone later. Our practice today is to improve our band's ability to work together."

"We all got familiar with the old songs very quickly, but I haven't finished the new original songs yet, so the only way to improve my cooperation ability is to learn from playing other songs."

"Okay, here's the music, everyone can share it. This shouldn't be a big deal for anyone, right?"

Li Xi's attitude was exceptionally calm, and her reasons were impeccable. She sent the music scores to everyone in the band one by one, and after Aiyin received the music scores, she simply scanned them, and her face turned slightly ugly...

"This seems to be a song that Afterglow covered... "The Cry of Lost World"... Isn't this super difficult?!"

Li Xi: "Huh? Isn't this natural? Simple songs simply cannot live up to expectations. Only difficult songs like this can expose all our problems, right?"

"This……"

And Shiina Riki’s answer made Aine’s face even uglier…

At this time, Nagasaki Suyo came over in time. Suyo had a gentle smile on her face and said softly to Aine:

"Aine-chan, if you think it's too difficult, it's not too late to talk now. Riki isn't in a very good mood today. I think we can sit down and have a good chat. Maybe the problem can be solved?"

"..." On the other side, after reading the music score, Mu immediately locked his eyes on the thoughtful Aine, as if waiting for Aine to make her own decision.

But in the end, Aine thought deeply for a long time in front of everyone, and finally, she slightly exerted a little force on the shoulder of her gig bag, as if she had made up her mind, and answered in a tone that pretended to be relaxed:

"Ah... it's a little difficult, but if everyone wants to give it a try, why not come together?"

Li Xi: “Okay, come on.”

As soon as Aiyin finished speaking, Lixi had already sat in front of his drum set, holding the mallet in his hand and the pedals ready. Mu, who was responsible for the lead guitar, also quietly went to his seat, ready to play.

Faced with this scene, Su Shi seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he returned to his seat silently. Then Aine and Deng stood in their own positions one after another with different feelings.

No, it’s okay… After all, Brother Qi taught me guitar for a month, so I have some basic skills.

And I received strict instruction from store manager Tsuzuki yesterday, so I believe I will improve, right? And it's such a difficult song, and everyone should not be familiar with it, so I shouldn't be the only one who has problems, right?

Aiyin stood at her position, ready to go, but she felt her fingers were a little stiff... The air conditioning was turned on in the recording studio, but she was sweating profusely and was in a trance because of her nervousness.

In fact, if Aiyin had received six months of special guitar training from Tsuzuki like Chen Qi, with her talent, the scene she expected might still happen. But her extra training was only one day, which did not bring any qualitative leap to Aiyin's skills.

What's more, although Aiyin practiced very tiredly that day, compared to the novice Kita who Tsuzuki paid more attention to, and the cowardly Pochi-chan, Aiyin actually focused most of her energy on Chen Qi yesterday, and her guitar practice was just a little more diligent than usual.

Therefore, playing a song that was no longer familiar to her, Aiyin, who had only learned the skill for a month and a day, finally began to show her true level under the unfamiliar song...

At the beginning, Aine only made a few mistakes. Since no one was familiar with the song, Li Xi and Mu would occasionally make mistakes, and they would start again immediately after calling a stop.

And gradually, by the seventh and eighth time, Aiyin, who was getting more and more nervous, started to make more and more mistakes... Li Xi frowned, but patiently played it again a few times.

But soon, Ai Yin, who was becoming more and more panicked, gradually began to lose control of her own rhythm, gradually forgot her main job of keeping pace with the band's rhythm, and began to work hard in the opposite direction to avoid making mistakes.

Finally, Lixi's drums stopped, Sushi's bass fell silent, and even Mu's guitar and Deng's hesitant singing gradually stopped... Everyone had noticed something was wrong.

Today's Chihaya Aine is completely different from her genius performance yesterday!

"—Don't you have anything to say?"

Shiina Riki also put down the mallet in his hand, and immediately fixed his sharp eyes on Chihaya Aine, who was standing there motionless and sweating profusely. His tone became uncontrollably heavier, and he said word by word:

"Or, to be more precise, don't you have anything that anyone wants to mention?"

"The person who taught you guitar and helped you get familiar with our band's songs, now that things have come to this, you're still not willing to confess?"

"Answer us—where is Chen Qi?"

Dengdeng!

All of a sudden, the stone hanging in Aine's heart, whose face turned pale, finally hit her feet when she was completely unprepared.

The secret that she had always wanted to hide and didn't want to make public...seemed to be impossible to hide anymore.

Chapter 38: Escaped Aine, Mu's final effort

"Pray? Li Xi-chan, did you just say pray?!"

However, everything changed when Shiina Riki shouted out the name in front of everyone without any hesitation, a name that would make everyone present shudder as soon as it was mentioned.

In particular, Takamatsu Deng, who originally just felt that the atmosphere was weird, shouted out the loudest voice in the past few days almost at the moment he heard the name.

Also after Shiina Riki made the matter clear, a bitter smile appeared on the face of Su Shi who was standing beside her, but she seemed to know that there was no way to stop all this, and she could only watch this scene continue helplessly.

As for Ruo Ye Mu, she was probably the one among the group who was most surprised that it was Li Xi who revealed this matter.

This doll girl, who usually had no expression on her face, suddenly contracted her pupils when she realized that once Li Xi opened his mouth, something bad might happen.

This scene... is familiar. Mu is so familiar with it!

Li Xi's difficulties, the silent Su Shi, the confused Deng... and the people who are being difficult and on the verge of collapse!

Except for the absence of Xiangzi, this is exactly the same as when Crychic disbanded half a year ago! Everything is exactly the same!

Although Mu knew that Chen Qi now lived in Aiyin's house, she felt a little sad, but she never thought of exposing this matter from beginning to end.

Because she felt that this might be a good thing for Chen Qi.

Chihaya Aine is a person who has nothing to do with Crychic in the past. She will not touch Chen Qi's psychological trauma. This is the best result for Mu, who has always wanted to help Chen Qi break free from the shadow of the past.

Although Aiyin has joined the band for some unknown reason due to a series of coincidences, at least Chen Qi himself has not directly intervened in the past grudges. Aiyin also does not seem to intend to make public the fact that Chen Qi is in her home. There is still room for maneuver.

Ruo Yemu believed that as long as there was enough time for everyone in the band to adapt to the absence of Chen Qi, there would always be a turning point.

Even if Deng misses her brother so much, she will definitely become strong for her wish to find her brother. Sooner or later, she will adapt to life without her brother's guidance and be able to move forward alone.

This is also the scene that Qi hopes to witness.

Lixi will no longer feel the "oppression" from Xiangzi and Qi, and will slowly realize her own strength. With her unremitting self-improvement, the band's future composing should not be difficult.

As for Su Shi...she should be the most troublesome one. From the moment Su Shi smelled Qi's trace, Mu knew that she would definitely not be controlled.

During the Crychic period, Mu was not particularly familiar with Su Shi. After all, at that time, the real core of the band was Xiangzi and Qi.

The friendship between the two arose after the band disbanded. Mu felt that Su Shi was the only one at the time who did not misunderstand Chen Qi and who contributed to the continuation of the band that Chen Qi had worked so hard to maintain, so he became acquainted with Su Shi.

During this process, although Mu did not say anything, she could see from various signs in Su Shi's daily life that Su Shi had a deep obsession with Crychic... no, to be more precise, with Qi.

Moreover, this obsession did not weaken with the disappearance of Chen Qi and the passage of time. Instead, it began to brew in Su Shi's heart, causing a great qualitative change in her feelings for Qi...

To the point that his persistence was so strong that Mu found it a little scary.

So, when Mu learned the address of Ain's house through a little bit of channels and found this place, when he met Su Shi in person at Ain's house, Mu knew that his guess was correct.

Su Shi is deeply obsessed with Qi. If she knew Qi's whereabouts, she would never limit herself to just meeting him once.

Someone who just wants to meet Qi once would not throw herself on his small bed, sniffing his scent and crying when she sees him living in a small room.

But what made Mu feel conflicted was that she thought that with Su Shi's personality, if she knew that Qi really didn't want to be involved in the past, she probably wouldn't go against him?

After all, Su Shi cares about Qi the most, and the agreement she reached with herself was just to help Qi get through this lonely and difficult period together... Although Mu felt that Su Shi's thoughts were not that simple, she did not think that Su Shi would be the one to expose the secret.

Therefore, Mu reluctantly accepted Su Shi's invitation to form an alliance to jointly maintain the secret and not interfere with Chen Qi's current life.

But Lixi...why was it Lixi?

Where did she get the news?

Wasn't she... the first person who proposed to disband Crychic? Wasn't she the one who disliked Qi the most and didn't want to be in the same band with Qi the most?

No, now is not the time to focus on this. Once Li Xi opens her mouth, she will not be much better than herself. If Mu herself had Chen Qi as her "translator" in the past, then Li Xi would not even give people a chance to translate. She would definitely have a counterproductive effect!

At this time, we should stop it, otherwise, Aine, who seems to have a good relationship with Qi, will end up like Qi!

It's not just Aiyin. Once Qi knows that he has affected the lives of people he cares about, he might become nervous.

"Aine-chan? Do you know where Inori is?"

However, just as countless thoughts flashed through Mu's mind and he was about to organize his words to speak, the voice from Gao Songdeng, which was surprised and a little bit unbelievable, interrupted Mu again.

Takamatsu Deng's trembling eyes were staring at Aine who was standing motionless in front of him. However, at this moment, Aine's face turned from blue to white, but she answered Takamatsu Deng with silence.

"——The lamp is asking you a question."

At this time, Li Xi, who had been unable to sit still for a long time, saw that Aine seemed to want to continue hiding it, and finally shouted to Aine without thinking:

"At this point, you're not going to say anything like, you learned guitar by yourself, there's no such person as Chen Qi, right?"

"If that's the case, then what about your original song? Are you trying to say that you also taught yourself how to arrange and write the lyrics?"

"If that's the case, then I can apologize to you. After all, I know how difficult it is for a person to teach himself how to compose music and write lyrics. On top of that, he also has to learn guitar. If you hadn't practiced music since childhood, it would not have been easy to achieve this."

As he spoke, Shiina Riki did not forget to stand up on his own initiative, as if to make room for Aine, and his tone softened a little.

But even so, Li Xi's words were full of difficulty no matter how you listened to them. He said:

"If you want to prove yourself, why don't you come over now? Let's discuss the unfinished original song together?"

"I don't ask you to surpass my understanding. As long as you can provide me with some references, I will consider you pass. I will assume that you created that song because of a sudden inspiration. How about that?"

Aiyin: “…”

However, as soon as Shiina Riki's voice fell, there was no response at all, as if a stone fell into the sea. Under everyone's gaze, Aine remained motionless, and even her breathing seemed to have stopped.

Faced with this scene, Shiina Riki's expression, which had originally eased a little, turned completely gloomy... Her worst guess finally came true.

It turns out that everything about Chihaya Aine was fake. She was not someone who could replace Chen Qi or Xiangzi.

All of this... is still controlled by "him" behind the scenes.

In the end, their apparent success...is still because of him!

In fact, when Li Xi received the news from Hai Ling yesterday and learned that Chen Qi and Ai Yin were so close that he could hide it from her, and even that Chen Qi might know Ai Yin's home address, Li Xi still had a glimmer of hope for Ai Yin.

She hoped that Aiyin’s current achievements had nothing to do with Chen Qi.

No, even if there was a connection, Li Xi hoped that at least the song was truly Aine’s own original creation.

But now, Aiyin's silence has completely shattered Riki's hopes, and what replaced them was the anger that welled up in his heart belatedly.

"How dare you plagiarize his original work?!"

Li Xi almost shouted this sentence with gritted teeth.

"No, no!"

And Li Xi’s words seemed to hit the most sensitive spot in Aine’s heart, causing her pale face to suddenly come back to her senses. She held her guitar and shook her head in denial:

"This song was given to me by Brother Qi! I have never admitted to anyone that I wrote this song! It's just that everyone praises me too much, I'm embarrassed--"

"Brother Qi?" X4

However, Ai Yin was panicking and had obviously lost her composure. In a panic, she even subconsciously said the name she was most familiar with, which caused another uproar.

For a moment, not only Deng and Li Xi, but even Su Shihemu cast extremely surprised looks at Aine, just because of this unique and intimate name coming from Aine's mouth.

Among them, the one who suffered the greatest blow was undoubtedly Chen Qi's real sister, Gao Songdeng.

"Brother Qi...what on earth is going on? Aine-chan?"

“Aine-chan, do you really know Qi? And why do you call Qi…brother?”

This time, Gao Songdeng's voice, which usually sounded a little weak, was trembling, as if he was greatly shaken by the fact that the title "brother", which should have belonged to him alone, came from the mouth of a second person.

But even so, Gao Song Deng still did not make a rash definition. All her attention was now attracted by the name she had been thinking about day and night. Deng swallowed her saliva and asked carefully to Aine, whose body had begun to tremble:

“Aine-chan, if you really know where Nori is… please tell me.”

"I, I want to see him, he is my brother, please let me see him!"

Aiyin: “I…I…”

However, facing Takamatsu Touma who was begging desperately, and Riki who was looking at her sharply, Aine, whose thoughts were completely confused, could not utter a word.

Aiyin didn't know why, in just ten minutes, the band that she regarded as a treasure yesterday suddenly became the target of public criticism.

Isn't it me that you care about?

What you care about... is just the marks left by Brother Qi on my body?

When Chihaya Aine thought of this, her eyes turned red almost instantly. Aine, who had never suffered such a great injustice since she was a child, had a strong urge to cry.

However, Aine still didn't say a word of rebuttal, let alone say anything to provoke others.