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

Why is Xiaoxiang here? And in the first row?

Aqi, did you invite her too?

For some reason, Xiangzi's appearance here made Su Shi feel a little uneasy. She always felt that this was not an accident, and with Xiangzi's self-esteem, her appearance here openly was a very rare thing.

What does Xiaoxiang want to do? Or...what does Aqi want to do? What is going on?

……

"...Mu, why are you sitting next to me?"

In fact, Su Shi was confused, and Toyokawa Shoko, who was invited, was also confused. She stared at Mu, who was sitting next to her, and felt uncomfortable. She turned her eyes away and asked in a low voice.

Next to Xiangzi, Mu also maintained his usual calm tone and replied expressionlessly:

"Because my position is right next to Xiaoxiang."

Xiangzi: “…”

Xiangzi felt that if he spoke one more word to Mu, his blood pressure might explode.

Is that what she was asking? What she wanted to ask was why Mu happened to be by her side?

You are obviously a band, and you were all invited by Chen Qi. According to common sense, shouldn't the five of you sit in a row? Why did you miss out and sit next to me?

Chen Qi shouldn't do such a thing, which means, why does Mu have to stay by her side?

Xiangzi was a little confused, but at this time, as the lights in the studio dimmed, Xiangzi knew that the performance had begun. Even though she felt a little uneasy, she had no choice but to sit down and wait for the performance to begin.

Gradually, under the gaze of Xiangzi and others, one member after another walked onto the stage from the backstage, and many fans who came because of [sumimi] could tell their identities even by just a little bit of shadow and position.

But soon, the lead singer's position that should have belonged to Junda Mana was replaced by Chen Qi's tall and thin figure, who looked nothing like Junda Mana. At that moment, many voices rose one after another from the audience.

"Hey? Isn't that a man? Where is Mana?"

"Is that a new member? Is he standing in the wrong position?"

"Did Mana get kicked out? Is this Hatsuka's new partner?"

"That's not right. Mana seems to be standing on the other side? Why did she give up the lead singer position to someone else?"

Facing the waves of doubts, or even whispers of doubt, Aine, who was sitting in the front row, was also unconsciously annoyed, but was quickly pulled back by Su Shi who was beside her.

"Calm down, Aiyin, do you want to ruin Aqi's first performance?" Su Shi also said very calmly. She had expected this situation, and said to her companions beside her calmly:

"And you, Lixi, calm down too. This is a performance, you can't make loud noises. Don't be so uncivilized as them."

"..." After being warned by Su Shi, Shiina Riki, who was about to speak, silently stopped getting up, crossed his legs and sulked.

"Brother..." Deng stared at Chen Qi who was being questioned on the stage with an uneasy look. She felt so nervous that her heart was about to jump out, and silently prayed that her brother could succeed.

The silence lasted for a while, until all the sounds in the venue gradually stopped. On the stage, Chen Qi and Chu Hua looked at each other, and Chu Hua spoke the first words.

"Everyone, thank you very much for your support. As you can see, although we [sumimi] also participated in this performance, in essence, we are just supporting."

“This performance was supposed to be the debut live of this junior next to me, but I insisted on bringing everyone from [sumimi] to participate in this performance together.”

"And all this is just because Mr. Chen Qi, who is beside me, composed a song that made me want to sing with him."

However, as soon as Sanjiao Chuhua finished speaking, there was another round of whispering from the audience. Before everyone in the audience could react, Chen Qi took the initiative to move closer to the microphone and said in a deep voice:

"This song is what Miss Chuhua and I want to sing together for a mutual friend of ours."

"We were both close to her, but gradually drifted apart. Miss Chuhua and I both retain the best memories of her."

"And now, we want to rekindle our friendship together, and use this song to let her hear our longing for her."

"Could it be——"

As soon as Chen Qi finished speaking, Aiyin and the others sitting in the first row reacted almost immediately. In an instant, the five of them almost reflexively cast their eyes to Toyokawa Shoko, whose expression could not be seen clearly at the moment.

After all, Chen Qi's words just now almost made everything clear. He and Chuhua were friends in common. Although Aiyin and the others didn't know that Sanjiao Chuhua was Xiangzi's childhood sweetheart, they all knew that they didn't know Sanjiao Chuhua.

Then, the only possible person is Toyokawa Shoko, who was born as a young lady and is recognized to have a close relationship with Chen Qi!

This song was actually written by Chen Qi for her?!

"Mu, let me go——"

On the other hand, Xiangzi realized something was wrong the moment Chuhua opened his mouth. After hearing Xiangzi's words that were almost like calling out a name, he instinctively wanted to leave the scene.

But what Xiangzi didn't expect was that when she just wanted to stand up, Ruoye Mu beside her grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to her seat.

"...Qi, the task given to me is to make sure Xiang doesn't leave."

Facing Xiangzi's indignant and aggrieved gaze, Mu was not afraid or uneasy. Instead, he smiled slightly and said to Xiangzi:

"Qi, let Xiang finish listening to this song and don't run away like last time."

"Or is it that Xiang is running away now in order to let everyone here realize that the friend Qi is talking about is you?"

Xiangzi: “…”

In the end, Mu's plain words completely shattered Xiangzi's pitiful self-esteem. Xiangzi, who could not bear the humiliation that Mu described, had no choice but to sit back in his seat like a broken jar, gritted his teeth slightly, and stared at Chen Qi and Chu Hua on the stage with a look that was not sure whether it was anger or sadness.

They actually hid it from her! They actually teamed up to hide it from her!

Aren't you my friends, my childhood sweethearts? Why did you team up to deceive me?

Do you really want to see me embarrassed? Is it so fun for you to see me cry?

However, Chen Qi and Chu Hua on the stage could not sense Xiangzi's self-destructive complaints. After all the opening remarks were over, Chen Qi and Chu Hua looked at each other, faced the entire audience, and said in unison:

"Next, please enjoy this song, a song we dedicate to our mutual friends."

"Gray and Blue."

Chapter 58: "Gray and Blue", the perfect cooperation between Chu Hua and Chen Qi

The prelude of the song had not yet sounded, but Chen Qi's words had already caused an uproar in the audience.

Everyone was looking around curiously, as if trying to find the "common friend" mentioned by Chu Hua and Chen Qi on the stage, wondering if he was hiding beside them.

But compared to the confused crowd, the friends sitting in the first row who had a close relationship with Chen Qi almost immediately thought of who the person Chen Qi was talking about. The moment their eyes locked on the figure of Toyokawa Shoko, they revealed different expressions.

"Aqi... actually wrote another song specifically for Xiaoxiang?"

"Could it be that Ah Qi still hasn't given up on Xiao Xiang? Even though Xiao Xiang hurt him like that, he still likes her—"

The moment this thought came to Nagasaki Sushi's mind, it was almost interrupted by Sushi's force. Sushi was unwilling to admit it, and even more unwilling to think about such a possibility.

But now, the facts were right before his eyes, and Su Shi had no choice but to believe it.

Why? Ah Qi, why do you keep thinking about Xiao Xiang?

She obviously hurt you like that, she obviously destroyed the Crychic that you had been trying so hard to maintain, why do you still call her your "friend"? Why did you write a song for her?

Aqi, this won’t do... No matter how good your temper is, and how close you were to Xiangzi, how can you forgive her for something like this?

How could we have such a "friend" who enjoys your tenderness and protection but turns around and stabs your heart from behind? !

For a moment, Nagasaki Suyo was also in a state of confusion. She pursed her lips slightly and even forgot the purpose of her coming here in the first place. She couldn't hear the song that Chen Qi was going to sing at all...

"Brother...why do you still care about Xiangzi so much?"

The person whose mood is closest to Su Shi's is undoubtedly Takamatsu Deng.

This girl, who was usually as gentle as a small animal, showed a rare look of reluctance when she heard that her brother's first public live performance was to dedicate a song to Toyokawa Shoko.

Gao Songdeng always felt that her brother was taken away by Xiangzi, but for Deng, this was not the most unacceptable thing for her.

What Deng found most difficult to accept was that Xiangzi had clearly left Crychic, but did not "return" her brother to her.

In his brother's heart, Xiangzi's image always remained, just like the scratch marks on the wall, no matter how hard he wiped it, it could not be wiped away...

Why? Xiangzi has already left, and you have destroyed everything your brother has... Why do you still want to stay in your brother's heart?

Even today, my brother is still doing this for you...

"Ms. Fengchuan! I thought she had given up! I didn't expect that she still means so much to Brother Qi!"

In comparison, Aine's thoughts are much simpler than those of Deng and Su Shi. Aine's only reaction now is jealousy!

Aiyin recalled the detailed conversation she had with Xiangzi that day. She did not think that Xiangzi was lying to her. After all, in the past two weeks, in addition to Li Xi, Su Shi and Hemu had often visited her. Or rather, they came to visit her brother Qi and came to see her by the way.

As for the lamp, it seemed like it had taken up residence in Brother Qi’s little house over the past two weeks and refused to leave!

In contrast, Xiangzi never came to see Qi Ge from beginning to end. Of course, it is also possible that she did not know the address of Aiyin's house. But at school, she always kept a distance from Aiyin, never offended her, and never glared at her with jealous eyes, which was very telling.

So that means it's not Fengchuan who is pestering Qi Ge, but simply Qi Ge who can't let go of his ex-girlfriend?

"Sure enough, there are still many things between them that I don't know."

While Aiyin was feeling jealous, she started to think again in her mind. She thought she knew enough about Chen Qi's past, and since Xiangzi had already given up, she seemed to have relaxed her vigilance.

Toyokawa Shoko is still her archenemy! At least she is the only one that Qi Ge "misses"! This is dangerous enough!

"That foolish man! He deserves to be hurt but he still refuses to repent!"

Shiina Riki was even more direct. Maybe because he was annoyed or because he had no resistance to this kind of topic, Riki cursed Chen Qi in his heart with a red face, but then he cast an indignant look towards where Xiangzi was.

On the other side, the four girls who were also invited by Chen Qi to finish the band were sitting in another row, looking indifferent to the world...

"Liang? Do you know who the person Senior Chen Qi was talking about is?" Hong Xia, who was not very clear about Chen Qi's interpersonal relationships, asked Liang, who seemed to be the most familiar with Chen Qi.

Liang: "Based on my guess about Senior Chen Qi's interpersonal relationships, the person he was talking about is either Wakaba Mu or that Toyokawa Shoko."

Liang also gave her own guess after thinking for a while, but she didn't actually know much about Chen Qi, she just sorted it out based on the only clues.

After all, the only people they have met who have a close relationship with Chen Qi are Mu and Shoko, apart from his younger sister Takamatsu Deng and Chihaya Aine who is obviously pursuing him.

And from the fact that Xiangzi fled because of "LOSER" sung by Chen Qi, Liang felt that Xiangzi was more likely. But for Liang, this was not a problem she cared about.

What Liang is more curious about now is that this song contains Chen Qi's thoughts and recollections. She is very curious about what kind of delicacy is inside Chen Qi's heart, who is so gentle when talking to her, besides the motivation and perseverance of "LOSER"?

Goto Ichiri has been staring at Chen Qi since the moment he appeared on the stage. She was looking at the person she admired the most on the stage, and was also looking forward to whether she could get a glimpse of the story in his heart.

Even if she only understood him a little better... at least this way, she would feel a little closer to the man she longed for.

"Woo~woo~"

And at this moment, with the only beam of light shining on the dim stage, a soft tone, accompanied by a harmony so light that people were afraid of disturbing it, began to sound slowly.

Chen Qi, who was illuminated by the only light, looked like a white moon. He gently plucked the strings of his zither and sang in a gentle voice, reminiscing:

"The end of summer with its erratic sleeve length."

"I recalled this while sitting on the dawn train."

“That nostalgic scenery…”

It seems to be telling a memory, a past event.

The moment Chen Qi opened his mouth, his singing was the only voice left on the scene. Faced with his soft and light voice, everyone subconsciously held their breath, fearing that any movement of theirs would disturb the young man's remembrance.

Soon, a figure began to appear in the young man's memories, just like the person who suddenly appeared in his lyrics.

"Are you the same now as you were then?"

"Riding around on that twisted, deformed bike."

"That stupid tightrope walk, the blood oozing from my knees."

"I don't know why everything seems so vague now..."

In the audience, Xiangzi, who now couldn't leave even if he wanted to, had to raise his head and listen to Chen Qi's singing, solemnly listening to his memories of himself.

Indeed, Xiangzi had no memory of riding a bicycle or playing tightrope walking games.

But she can also feel from the lyrics the carefree playfulness among children during their childhood, as well as the desire to retain the childhood that can never be returned...

This doesn't sound like Chen Qi is singing about himself.

Instead, it seems more like... Chen Qi is singing out Chu Hua's thoughts?

"Even if you and I have grown taller."

“Still praying for things that never change.”

"Inspired by that boring old face."

“It’s still singing now.”

"La la la, la la la, la la la la..."

A small climax came to an abrupt end at the perfect moment. The lights on the stage, which had originally burst out, also returned to dimness once again as Chen Qi's singing disappeared, and the music, which had originally been exciting, also returned to calmness once again.