Who says meal replacements can’t be eaten as meals?

"That note!"

"Eh?" Confused by the excited tone she had never heard from Deng, Sakuya, who had already thought of the answer to the question in her mind, turned her head slightly.

His grey bangs almost touched his forehead, and his amber eyes, which were less than three inches away from him, opened wide.

"It's in the shape of a cucumber flower! Ah, that... I have a complete collection at home."

Perhaps it was because he met those beautiful gray-blue eyes that Gao Songdeng's tone suddenly lost its confidence and he began to stutter.

"Oh, I see. Do you like this notebook too? I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I haven't used it since I finished elementary school. I was worried that my classmates would think I was childish."

Sakuya blushed slightly and moved back without making a sound.

Mr. Deng, you’re getting a little too close.

Although I didn't quite understand Deng's sudden excitement, I still considerately started the conversation.

"Ah, this one's for Sakiya."

As if he suddenly remembered something, Deng skillfully opened his backpack, took out a familiar light green notebook, and solemnly handed it to Sakuya with both hands.

"Eh? Do you want me to see it?"

"Because... they are the same style."

Looking at the brown-haired girl holding a notebook in front of him with a confused look on her face, Deng, who didn't know what to do, added hurriedly:

"This one is a sweet pea flower, and the one in Sakuya's hand is a cucumber flower... that one..."

"I see, Xiao Deng really knows a lot."

Sakuya chuckled and interrupted the grey-haired cutie who was at a loss, and his gaze fell back on the notebook on his chest.

This time, it was Xiao Deng who handed it to me.

"Can I open it and take a look?"

While saying this, his slender fingers had already spread out the notebook.

"Ah... Sakuya."

Deng's tone sounded a little cute. She didn't mean to refuse, but rather... a little shy?

His eyes swept over the few words that occupied most of the content.

[I am with everyone, but I feel like I am alone]

【I really want to be a human】

【Band…Dazzling】

Sakuya's hand shook unconsciously as she turned the page.

This...could it be Takamatsu-san’s diary?

It is very rude to read someone's diary in front of a classmate you just met.

She exerted force with her left hand, trying to close the notebook filled with the girl's thoughts. However, the page automatically turned to the side with fold marks. A familiar name jumped into her eyes.

【Guitar: Wakaba Mutsu】

His left hand, which was closing the notebook, paused unconsciously, and he glanced at the page that was tilted over, and actually saw the names of his sister and Xiangzi.

Ignoring the ones I haven't seen, it seems to be a drummer named Shiina.

Sakuya, with great willpower, closed Takamatsu Deng's diary. Suppressing her restless curiosity, Miss Sakuya handed the notebook to Takamatsu-Gandalf-Deng with trembling hands, just like Bilbo Baggins handing over the One Ring.

"Xiao Deng, don't just hand things like diaries to other people in the future."

If I continue reading this, Xiao Deng will fall back into her previous state of depression, right?

Sakuya wiped the non-existent sweat on his forehead and was satisfied that he had defeated his inner demons again, but was almost broken by Deng's next words.

The setting sun shone obliquely through the window onto Deng Juanli's face. Perhaps the sun also wanted to act as a makeup girl, and the lamp under the sunlight was much more moving than usual.

"If Sakuya wants to see it... you can."

Covering her face with her hands in shame, Ms. Sakuya turned around and squatted down as if she had retreated. It took her a long time to regain her previous vitality.

"Xiao Deng, it's not okay to say such things to others with a shy look on your face."

"You can only say this to someone you like."

Deng tilted his head in confusion.

"But, I like Sakuya."

Sakuya-san let out a cute hum, took a breath, and covered her chest, explaining helplessly:

"It's not the kind of love that can be shown to anyone. Xiao Deng will understand in the future."

"Anyway, don't say that next time. It's too foul."

Pinch the hair hanging down beside your ears with your fingertips, straighten it down, and repeat.

"And... that notebook, it's very important to Xiao Deng, right?"

Deng nodded seriously and said in a nostalgic tone:

"These are the happy memories I had with Xiangzi and everyone else."

Before the little animal could think of the loss that followed, Sakuya, who was already somewhat familiar with Deng, spoke up:

"Then keep it well."

"Xiao Deng is still hurt by what happened before, so let's put it aside for now."

"No matter how painful it is, it will be healed by time. If you keep immersing yourself in the past world, you will miss many beautiful scenery."

The lamp holding the notebook seemed a little touched and moved closer to the flaxen-haired girl.

"Then Sakuya...can you go watch it with me? For the rest of your life."

The girl turned her head away somewhat embarrassedly, twirling her hair around her fingertips, without answering. She wrote down the unfinished formula on the paper as if to escape.

Even an equation that looks complicated can be wrapped in round brackets if you factor it.

Chapter 14: Some people watch the sea, some people are loved

After a busy day, Tokyo finally ushered in her relaxing night. Looking down, the neon lights were shining brightly, and the clean French windows reflected the stars and the tossing and turning girl.

She rolled from one end of the bed to the other, with a little blush still on her little face.

Miss Sakuya was unable to calmly face Takamatsu Deng's invitation, which was almost like a confession, and simply chose to turn into an ostrich.

Although escaping is shameful, it is useful!

I can kind of understand why the sister attaches so much importance to a band that has long been disbanded, but Deng is too heavy-hearted!

For a lifetime or something, it's like proposing...proposing marriage.

Ignoring the brown-haired girl twisting and turning on the bed and making strange noises, the phone wrapped in a blue shark shell began to vibrate.

He flipped over and approached the phone that was charging on the bedside table, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and swiped up.

As expected, it was a Line message from Akiyama Mio.

We casually chatted about Afterglow's new single, complained about how it rained on the way home today, and how the price of a certain brand of picks had gone up again. The topic unknowingly turned to the club.

[Mio]: This afternoon, when I was accompanying my teacher in the music classroom, a very gentle blonde lady came.

[Mio]: I wanted to join the choir, but Lu shamelessly persuaded me to stay.

[Mio]: He grabbed my hand in a particularly exaggerated manner and said, "Didn't we agree to form a band? Mio will be the bassist and I will be on the drums. We will play this music for the rest of our lives!"

'Lifetime'? Sakuya-san searched for the keyword.

[Konohana Sakuya]: Eh? Was Ritsu like this before? Could it be that... high school girls become serious once they form a band?

Sakuya's gloomy mood suddenly brightened up a lot.

As we all know, when people encounter misfortune, if they see people who are just as unlucky as themselves, or even more unlucky, they will feel much better and even feel a little bit of happiness.

But when it is one's friend who is unlucky, the mood of gloating prevails.

Turns out I'm not the only one troubled by this.

The desire to talk came like a flood, instantly breaking down the dam of embarrassment.

His fingers almost left an afterimage on the virtual keyboard, and the emotion of helplessness mixed with a little pride turned into dozens of lines that bombarded Akiyama Mio's phone.

The black-haired girl in Kyoto bent her knees and sat on the bed in her room. Her long, smooth black hair was draped behind her. She pressed the backspace key bit by bit, deleting all the content in the chat box.

In fact, Ritsu imagined the non-existent memory all by herself, and then performed it with exaggerated acting skills. Her purpose was just to use people's sympathy to ensure that the light music club would not be disbanded due to lack of members...

Now that things have come to this, there is no way to talk about this matter anymore.

Saki-chan... looks like she's under a lot of pressure.

Are high school girls in Tokyo actually this kind of group?

Is the relationship so good that you can dig deep into each other's inner self after just two days of meeting each other?

[Mio]: Ahahaha, it's not easy for you either, Sakuya. If you're tired, you can come back and relax on weekends or holidays. Although it's not as developed as Tokyo, sometimes it's necessary to calm your mind with a slow pace of life.

[Konohana Sakuya]: That’s true. I’ve only been in Tokyo for three days, but it feels like half a month has passed.

Ms. Sakuya, who was lying on the bed, tried to turn over but failed, so she unplugged the charging cable.

After recharging her batteries and becoming full of energy again, Ms. Sakuya nodded in satisfaction.

As expected, "lifetime" is a very common term among high school students. I must be ignorant to care so much about it.

Miss Sakuya, full of fighting spirit, took advantage of the situation and rushed straight to her sister's door, threw herself on the bed, grabbed Su Shi's soft waist, and made an inexplicable invitation to go back to her hometown together during the Golden Week.

Then I was beaten by my sister QAQ.

Although she only received a perfunctory promise of "We'll talk about it when the time comes," Ms. Sakuya still stamped the result of this surprise attack as a victory in her heart.

A strategic victory is also a victory!

Humming the tune heard on TV, it seems to be a black and white duo called Sumimi?

Having resolved her worries, Sakuya returned to her loyal bed.

Before going to sleep, the image of lively blue twin ponytails suddenly appeared in her mind, and Sakuya picked up her phone as if possessed by a ghost.

The time on the top right corner of the phone just skipped 10:30. Sakuya found the customer service S and sent a message on Line saying "see you tomorrow" and "good night" with emoticons. After opening the map to search for something, Sakuya contentedly turned off the phone screen and soon fell asleep.

======

And on the other side…

“Thank you for your feedback today. I’m sorry for the unpleasant experience you have had. I wish you a happy life.”

With a gentle sigh, today, Ms. Xiangzi, who had to work overtime for an extra hour because of customer complaints, took off the cheap headphones on her head with a tired face. She clicked the quit button with her mouse, and the working hours stayed at an acceptable number. Customer service S finally finished her work for the day.

Working in this kind of black-hearted enterprise that claims to accelerate national social progress but actually exploits child labor is just because they are not picky about people or time. Most importantly, you don't have to show up in public, and you can still maintain some of your remaining little and useless dignity.

Her back felt a little sore, and her body was also feeling weak. Trying to maintain her graceful pace, Toyokawa Shoko prayed in her heart that she could catch the last bus in the evening. Otherwise, she would have to wait for the night bus in the still chilly early spring with this thin shirt.

The commercial street, which had been busy all day, fell into a deep sleep. The night canteen that was open late at night lit up with warm yellow lights. The street lights were a bit powerless, barely illuminating the asphalt road underfoot, leaving half of the sidewalk in darkness. Looking up, the neon signs with missing edges and corners were shining with a cold light without any warmth.

The supermarket chain put up a sign for proofing. Although he had expected this, Xiangzi still sighed for not being able to grab the discounted ingredients.

Let’s go back. There are some bean sprouts left at home, if your bastard dad doesn’t use them as a snack.

Thanks to Yuqiu's full subsidy, I can save a lot of food money every day. After deducting this month's commuting rent, I may even have enough money left to buy two sets of clothes.

Calculating the living expenses that a normal high school student has never considered, Toyokawa Shoko stopped at the dark open-air station.

The cell phone, which had been unmuted, vibrated slightly in the bag. It was probably another bill email from the utility company. Even so, Xiangzi took out his cell phone.

A message box that I hadn’t seen for a long time popped up on the phone screen. The avatar was a somewhat unfamiliar blue hairband, like a blue whale spraying water.

"See you tomorrow."

"Good night~(((?( ?ω? )?)))"

He chuckled, and only then did Xiangzi realize that there was still some light on the platform.

At the end of the platform, the white light of the standing lamps cut through the darkness. In the distance, there was a rumble of the train hitting the track.

Chapter 15: The Great Disaster Called the Baseline Test