Loneliness and Rock and Roll with Band Observer

"Hey, stray cat!"

Lixi stopped Lenai who was about to leave.

"I want to confirm one more thing. You just said you wanted to join us, are you serious?"

Facing Li Xi's question, Le Na nodded as if it was a matter of course: "Yes."

Deng also noticed what Le Na did and asked, "Then... why?"

"Yeah," Sushi agreed, "Why did they have to choose us? A guitarist as good as Lena-chan would be wanted by many bands, right?"

"That's true." Li Xi nodded. "Although I think it's a good thing that you can join, I still want to hear the reason."

"reason……"

Lenai shook her head.

"…Because, all the other bands are just boring people."

She then turned her head and looked in the direction of the light.

Realizing the gaze directed at him by Le Nai, Deng shrank his head slightly with some uneasiness.

"But, this is an interesting woman... a girl."

Lenai looked at the light and smiled with satisfaction.

"ha?"

Li Xi shouted in dissatisfaction. What kind of reason is this?

What's so interesting about it? And he said such words to the light for no apparent reason. It scared her, didn't it?

"I'm a little confused..." Su Shi said with a wry smile, "Besides, if I suddenly say something like this, Xiao Deng will be very troubled."

The light was indeed a bit troubling. She lowered her head slightly, wondering what was so "interesting" about her.

What is so special about me?

Thinking of this, she raised her head and looked in the direction of Aine.

……

It looked like Aine was trying hard to pretend that she was in a good mood.

This is Togawa Aie's judgment.

Maybe he was forcing himself because he was considering the lights and my feelings.

Judging from the unusually stiff smile and pretentious attitude, Qiu Hui felt that her judgment was at least 70% to 80% correct.

After practice, her attention was always on Aine.

The appearance of Rakuna seemed to quickly destroy the self-confidence that Aine had built up with great difficulty.

Although Aine herself was still forcing a smile, after spending so much time with her, Akie instinctively sensed something was wrong, and couldn't suppress the urge to do something.

“Aine, um, your performance today has definitely improved, it’s much smoother, and… well, even though there were some mistakes at the end, it’s not a big deal, I think…”

No, what's the point of saying these things dryly all the time?

Qiu Hui knew that this would not work. Just saying these words would not have the desired effect.

There is a gap between Aine and Rakuna's performance levels. First of all, we must acknowledge the existence of this gap before we can talk about comforting her. Otherwise, it would be just empty talk...

"If it's rhythm guitar, I think it's enough now... And, since there are already two guitarists, even if Rakuna joins, no one will just abandon you..."

Akie blushed and tried her best to say what she thought might be appropriate to comfort Aine.

"And, well, talent is important when it comes to playing musical instruments. But if we just play in a band together, even if we can't be so professional, it's still..."

Qiu Hui actually knows that she is not good at comforting people. All she can do is to deny the other person's reasons for feeling depressed and "convince the other person to be happy."

But the current situation is not suitable for her to display this ability.

Because, the reason that made Aine feel depressed was an objective reality that neither of them could deny.

So, Aine smiled bitterly and shook her head, interrupting Akie's words.

"Thank you for your concern, senior." Her tone sounded helpless and bitter, "I understand what you mean, but..."

She seemed like she wanted to say something, but in the end she just smiled bitterly and said nothing.

Now that things have come to this, I really can’t say it.

Even if everyone really accepts me staying in the band...

But, if I were to perform on stage with that Lenai, wouldn't I just become like air?

The seniors are right, if we are just playing in a band together, it doesn't matter if the level is a little bad.

But... I want to attract attention.

I want to be noticed by everyone, I want to be admired by everyone, I want to start over and get out of the "failure at that time"...

But, before I knew it, things seemed... to be the same as "that time" again.

I thought to myself that I could do it, and that as long as I put in a little effort, good results would come out. Then, I realized that it was not the case at all...

...and then you’ll want to escape.

"But? Then what?" Qiu Hui gave him a worried look.

“…Nothing.” Aine shook her head, “I’ve figured it out!”

She then stood up and bowed to everyone.

"I just remembered that I have something else to do! Today's practice just happened to be over, so I'll be leaving now. Bye everyone!"

“Aine, wait a minute!”

Aiyin jogged all the way out of the cafe, and then almost escaped from RiNG.

"..."

Looking at Aine's receding back, Akie lowered her head in silence.

"Senior Qiu Hui did nothing wrong." Deng sat next to Qiu Hui and comforted her.

"Thank you..." Qiu Hui sighed, "Although it's not my fault, but... I should have done better."

The lamp stared at Akie's gloomy face.

The fact that she showed such an expression showed that Senior Akiie really cared about this matter.

The appearance of Rakuna may have been a big blow to Aine. After all, the result of her hard practice was completely surpassed by her opponent.

And Aine's depression also hurt Akiie-senpai.

Although she is not an official member at all, she is more like a leader than I am.

However, in the current situation, even Senior Qiu Hui doesn’t seem to know how to deal with it...

"Band, is it over?"

At this time, looking at Aine's receding back, Lenna picked up her suitcase and planned to drag it away from here.

"Then I'm leaving. Bye."

"Wait a minute!" Li Xi shouted, trying to stop Lenai from leaving without permission, but to no avail.

"This guy really comes and goes as he pleases,

She sighed and shook her head.

Suddenly, she noticed the empty parfait cups left on the bar and had a terrible realization.

"The parfait hasn't been paid for yet!" Lixi shouted angrily.

Qiu Hui turned her head and sighed.

"I don't think I did anything today." She looked at Su Shi, "I feel a little guilty... I don't have to pay you today."

Since she was unable to help Aine, she looked quite depressed now.

Chapter 44: Confused Light

After Aine left, no one had the energy to do anything else.

So, the four of them decided to call it a day.

Although Qiu Hui did not ask for money, Su Shi insisted on paying today's remuneration for some considerations.

After realizing that continuing to refuse would be impolite, Qiu Hui had no choice but to accept it.

After paying the fees, the four of them headed to the train station together. Before heading to their respective destinations, they temporarily needed to take the same train.

"...I feel like we can't go on like this any longer."

In the shaking train car, Nagasaki Suyo spoke in a voice just loud enough for the three people around her to hear.

"We are like a pile of loose sand right now." She stroked her long hair gently. "I have a feeling that we will become completely ignorant of each other's thoughts again. If this continues, we will probably repeat the same mistakes."

Su Shi put his hand down, but unconsciously clutched the corner of his clothes because of worry.

"Me, Deng, Riki, Aine, Aie-senpai, and Rina-chan." She called out everyone's name one by one. "The number of people in the band has increased, and everyone's ideas have become... more and more complicated and harder to understand."

"We don't even know if Stray Cat will join the band yet."

Li Xi snorted coldly.

"That guy's guitar skills finally improved to a passable level, but it seems that he has become depressed because of the stray cat." She said impatiently, "And the stray cat herself is so capricious and difficult to understand. I don't know if she will come next time..."

Li Xi suddenly realized a very crucial problem and frowned in pain.

“…Damn it, I just remembered that I forgot to even ask for the stray cat’s contact information!”

Now this new band is facing such a dire mess.

“…Shiina-san.” Akie turned her head and looked at Riki, “I’ll try my best to find a solution for Aine’s problem.”

"That's really a big help." Li Xi sighed, "Although I don't want to admit it, that guy is now a member of this band. If he continues to be so depressed, it will be troublesome..."

Looking at Li Xi who had accepted Aine despite her reluctant tone, a smile finally appeared on his gloomy face after a long absence.

Li Xi also quickly noticed the change in Deng's expression. Although she was happy that Deng was in a better mood, she felt a little upset after thinking about the reason.

Therefore, she lost interest in continuing to say anything.

She glanced at Su Shi beside her and said, "Su Shi, what do you think?"

After throwing the topic to Su Shi, she stopped talking herself.

“Yes, Aine-san is now also a member of the band.”

Su Shi nodded, as if he was going to agree with Li Xi's opinion.

“I can probably understand Aine’s thoughts. After all, Ryuna-chan’s performance is truly amazing, so it’s only natural that she would feel pressured.”

Su Shi paused and continued to express his point of view.

“But, I think if Aine could see Rakuna as a partner to play with, rather than a rival, this feeling of pressure would be eliminated.”

“For this reason, I think if everyone can work together from now on with the goal of ‘playing on stage together’, can we solve the problem?”

After saying that, she looked at Li Xi.

"Lixi also said before that he hopes to arrange the first performance during the summer vacation, right?" She continued, "I think this is a good idea. Now, our band needs a common goal..."

"…I don't think it's appropriate."

Unexpectedly, the objection came from Qiu Hui, who had been silent since a while ago.

She put her hands on her thighs, her face slightly pale, and she looked uncomfortable.

"Akie-senpai?" Suyo seemed quite surprised, "Why?"

“If we practice together, Aine will only become more aware of the gap between her and Rakuna’s level.” Akie shook her head vigorously.

“But if Aine wants to form a band with everyone, this is a problem that she must face.”

Su Shi emphasized with a smile.

“Or do you think, Akie-senpai, that it would be better to exclude Rakuna-chan in order to take Aine’s feelings into consideration?”

"I didn't say that."