Loneliness and Rock and Roll with Band Observer

Aine said Deng's name blankly.

Then the sound of lights was heard.

“Aine, please, follow me!”

“What’s wrong…huh?”

Aine realized that she was being dragged by the light.

Why does it become like this...

...I don't want to think about it anymore.

Just subconsciously cooperating with Deng’s actions, Aine allowed herself to be carried away.

The two people who were left behind stared at the scene in amazement.

"Chihaya-san was taken away... and that girl was wearing the same uniform, right?"

"There seems to be a bad atmosphere... By the way, could this be..."

……

Not noticing the discussion of the two people behind him, Deng led Aine and trotted all the way until they finally arrived at the entrance of the aquarium.

“…Aquarium?” Aine looked at the sign with some confusion, “Deng, why did you bring me here?”

"have no idea."

“Eh? You don’t know?” Aine was startled.

"I have an annual pass," said Deng.

“Even if you have an annual pass, you don’t have to bring me here…” Aine said with a wry smile.

“…I can buy the ticket for Aine.”

Deng’s resolute expression made Aine feel a little shaken.

“Ahaha, that’s not necessary, I can just buy the ticket myself…” Aine sighed, “If I need Deng to help me buy the ticket, wouldn’t that be too unreasonable of me?”

"Well, alright." Deng nodded, "Anyway...thank you for coming along."

“You’re welcome.” Aine shook her head, “This isn’t something to be thankful for, ok?”

Deng nodded, took out his phone, and sent a message in the group chat.

Afterwards, he and Aine walked into the aquarium’s main entrance.

……

Not long after, the three people who came after receiving the news about the light also arrived at the ticket office in front of the gate.

"Um, I... let me confirm first, do we really want to go in?" Su Shi asked.

"You've come all the way here, do we have to wait for them to come out at the door?" Li Xi asked back.

"Anyway... let's go in quickly and buy tickets," Qiu Hui said nervously.

I have to hurry in. After all, I barely mustered up the courage to come here thanks to Ryo's encouragement.

If I hesitate for too long, once this temporarily borrowed motivation is used up, I will become hesitant again like before, right?

Qiu Hui subconsciously adjusted her glasses, still feeling a little uneasy.

Although he gained some courage with Liang's encouragement, the concerns that had troubled him before still existed objectively.

So it’s best to make a quick decision and say what needs to be said before the brain can react...

"Hello, the price of a regular ticket is..."

The ticket seller was nervously processing the ticket purchase procedures for the three people in front of him, wondering whether they were going to the aquarium or to participate in a big sale at the supermarket.

After getting the tickets, Li Xi and Qiu Hui immediately rushed into the main entrance of the aquarium with the momentum of a supermarket sale.

"Wait a moment!" Su Shi, who was quickly left behind, protested while trying to keep up with the two.

Lixi, who was the first to rush into the aquarium lobby, couldn't wait to run to the full guide map near the entrance.

"Which exhibition area is the light in now? Come to think of it, there are exactly three paths to choose from starting from the entrance."

Li Xi turned around and looked at Qiu Hui and Su Shi who had followed him.

"How about we split up and look for it?" she suggested.

"Why are we dividing heads..." Qiu Hui shook her head and responded to Li Xi's suggestion while dialing Deng's number. "Why not just call and ask which exhibition area Deng is in now?"

"Ah? Yeah..." Li Xi nodded dully.

"Lixi, it would be better if you calm down for a while, right?" Su Shi sighed.

Li Xi then looked at Qiu Hui anxiously, waiting for her to know the result from Deng.

Chapter 56: I, No Fear of Escape (Part 1)

The moment she entered the aquarium, Aine felt as if she had arrived in a different dimension outside the Earth.

The clever allocation of space and lighting design make the space inside the museum appear to be quiet and ethereal, like the deep sea or outer space.

Even though the lamp was right next to me, it seemed to melt into the darkness because of the light.

All in all, it was a design that allowed people to focus on the scenery in the tank - and that seemed to calm her down a little.

“…Actually, I’ve rarely been to an aquarium before.” Aine exclaimed, “It seems to be more spectacular than I imagined.”

She turned her head to look at the light beside her. The light from the tank shone through the bright blue water, casting ripples on the ends of her hair.

"Does Xiao Deng come here often? After all, you have bought an annual pass."

"Yeah." Deng nodded, "I like the atmosphere here. It feels very relaxing."

She looked up and watched the school of fish swimming through the tank in front of her.

The peach-colored, translucent fish body is divided by red stripes, like a group of meteors streaking across the dark blue night sky.

"This is the red-banded half-line carp," Deng said. "It's native to Guyana in South America."

“Really?” Aine exclaimed, “Hmm… that’s really amazing. It should be quite far from Japan, right?”

"Yeah, it's very far." Deng nodded. "I think it's amazing that I made it this far to Japan."

Aine and Tomo watched the school of fish swimming leisurely from one end of the tank to the other.

Did you come all the way from South America just for us to see it like this?

Aine couldn't help laughing when she realized this.

"Really?" She said with a smile, "I feel like... I can relax a little bit."

Just a few minutes ago I felt like my life was about to end.

Thanks to Xiao Deng... I feel like I can temporarily escape from that feeling and take a breath.

“That’s great.” Deng nodded shyly, “Actually… I don’t know if Aine would like the aquarium, so…”

"I like it very much. Thank you Xiao Deng."

Aiyin raised her head with a smile, trying to observe and distinguish the small lives flying through the “air”.

She couldn't tell the types of things like the lights, she could only tell the differences in color, shape, and pattern.

"Why can the lamp tell them apart?" she asked the lamp. "Although I can tell that they look different, I have no idea which is which."

“I don’t know either… I think I can tell them apart naturally.” Deng said, “Look, Aine, this is a black-lined Paraguayan catfish, the one with yellow and black stripes, the one lying on the coral.”

"Oh, really! It looks kind of funny!"

"And this one, this is a gourami. It gets its name from its protruding mouth."

“That’s a very fitting name!” Aine laughed, “This way, I think I’ll be able to recognize it when I see it in the future!”

The two walked together, passing through exhibition halls one after another.

Walking through the corridor, Deng led Aiyin to a huge space with a dome formed by water tanks.

It was as if the entire sky was replaced by water.

And in this clear and transparent sky, countless black and white birds are swimming in a cute manner.

Just then, Deng's cell phone rang again.

"…We're in the penguin exhibit."

When Aine looked up, Deng whispered their location to Akiie on the other end of the line, then hung up and came to Aine's side.

“It’s penguins. There are so many of them.” Aine exclaimed.

“Yeah, penguins.” Deng nodded, “Aine likes penguins too, right?”

“Hmm! How should I put it? She feels soft and she seems to not care about anything. She’s very relaxed.” Aine nodded.

She looked up at one of them, which was using its beak to clean its feathers, or as if it was scratching itself.

“Thank you for bringing me here.” Aine smiled and said, “Just now, I really felt like my life was going to end…”

Aine smiled bitterly and shook her head slightly.

"I just shouted something like 'I'm not running away', right? Actually... that was a lie."

"I've been avoiding it. Ever since I started high school, until now."

Aine smiled bitterly, looking at the penguins swimming above her head.

“I transferred here in the second half of the semester. Isn’t this a weird time?” Aine stroked her hair in embarrassment, “Normally, I shouldn’t have enrolled at this time. I said before that it was because of family reasons… but that was actually a lie.”

“I originally planned to study abroad in England during high school. However, after half a semester there, I just couldn’t keep up with the pace… so I ran away and transferred to Hanegaoka.” Aine spoke calmly about her past, as if it was someone else’s business.

"Studying abroad... that must be hard, right?" Deng asked, "Being alone in a completely unfamiliar environment, I think just living there must be very difficult."

“It was indeed very hard, huh? It was really hard.” Aine shook her head. “At that time, I was just confident enough to decide to study abroad because I had good English grades in junior high school. Now that I think about it, it was really stupid…”

She sighed and continued, "But that's not all. I know that if I work hard there, I can improve my academic performance and English skills. As long as I'm willing to work hard, I think I can do it..."

“…But I still escaped.”

Aine clenched her fists involuntarily.

Standing next to the lamp, everything she wanted to hide from herself at this moment was revealed in the soft and subtle light of the aquarium.

"If it's something that you can't do no matter what, then maybe it's understandable."

"But if you're unwilling to face something that you can do... that's undoubtedly escaping."

“Aine…”

Deng lowered his head slightly and couldn't help but move closer.

“The two people I just met were my junior high school classmates.” Aine smiled, “Because, after failing to study abroad, I ran away and came back. This kind of thing is really embarrassing. So I kept it a secret from my junior high school classmates... But now even they know it.”

"I was thinking of starting over in Hanegaoka... but it turned out like this. My life is going to be ruined just like this..."

As she spoke, the frustration and loss that had been suppressed a little before began to grow again in Aine’s heart.

But at this moment, she suddenly felt a warm touch in the palm of her hand.

“Huh?” Aine looked at the light beside her.

Deng held Aine's hand at some point and said to her, "It won't end."

“Even if you’ve experienced failure, you shouldn’t always keep it in your heart. If you keep dwelling on the past, your life will be very difficult.” She looked at Aine, “Didn’t Aine tell me the same thing in the karaoke room at that time?”

Touma tried to encourage Aine, just as the latter once encouraged the former.

“I…was…”

Moved by Tomo’s actions, Aine wiped away the tears that welled up uncontrollably.

"…I'm sorry. I…I couldn't do it myself, but…I pretended to know everything and said so many nice things."

“That’s not just a nice word.” Deng said firmly, “When I didn’t know what to do, it was Aine who told me that I just had to work hard…”

"But, those are indeed nice words."

Aine, however, did not intend to agree with Deng’s opinion and just shook her head slowly.