Loneliness and Rock and Roll with Band Observer

The recording studio of the firm.

"Okay! Thank you for your hard work!"

The instructor in charge of the training clapped his hands, signaling that everyone could take a short break.

"Oh, I feel so tired!" Hong Xia shouted with a smile.

Although he said he was very tired, he actually gave people a feeling of being full of energy.

"It feels so-so." Ryo shook his head, "From a musical point of view, it's still far from good enough..."

As she spoke, her expression suddenly changed.

"…But from the perspective of making money, there is still hope. Hehehe."

"That's quite blunt, but it's true."

Manager Ms. Hitoshi Yazawa walked into the recording studio and nodded slightly to everyone.

"I am very happy to see that everyone is making good progress. In addition, I have two good news to tell you."

Miss Renzi has a stern face most of the time, but she does seem to be in a good mood at the moment.

"What is it?" Kita came over with great interest.

"The first good news is that the MV that was recorded some time ago has a very encouraging growth in views, for a band that has just debuted." The manager commented, "So the second good news follows. You know RiNG, right?"

"How could I not know?" Akie smiled, "In fact, I'm already very familiar with it. Are you going to perform there next time?"

"That's exactly what happened." The agent nodded. "It might be a little early for you to perform solo, but after talking with them, the agency got you the best and longest time slot."

"Really?" Kita clenched his fists nervously, "That's... great!"

"RiNG... compared to our STARRY, this is a pretty big venue." Hong Xia exclaimed, "We're making really fast progress..."

"That being said, don't be too happy too soon."

The agent frowned and spoke in a serious tone.

"Everyone has heard of the barrel theory. According to that theory, the current closing band is actually a strange structure consisting of the longest board, the second longest board, and the remaining short board."

Her statement was rather unkind, but the band members couldn't find any fault with it.

"Ms. Akihoko has provided this new band with a fan base that is not very large, but still of a certain size," the manager analyzed. "Besides that, the biggest selling point of the band itself is Goto-san's guitar."

"Huh? Ah, me, me?" Ichiri, who was suddenly mentioned, was a little at a loss.

"That's you." Akie smiled and patted Ichiri's shoulder. "It's okay to be a little more confident."

"...Yes." Ichiri nodded firmly. She turned her head and looked at Akie, with an indescribable meaning in her eyes.

Kita glanced at Ichiri and Akie, then silently hugged the guitar in his arms.

"As for the others, they are fine by the standards of a student band. But if you look at them by the standards of a contract, there is still a lot of room for improvement." The agent sighed, "I don't want to discourage you... but that's the truth."

"We know!"

The first to respond was Hong Xia, waving her drumsticks eagerly.

"We will continue to work hard to catch up with Xiao Yili's progress!"

Looking at the energetic Hong Xia, the agent shook her head slightly.

“It’s good to be motivated, but don’t force yourself.”

She looked at Goto Ichiri.

"Goto-san's skills... are certainly the result of long-term hard work, but I don't think it's just hard work alone that can reach that level."

"If you can't do something, don't push yourself too hard. After all, we are all students... It sounds good to say 'risk everything for music', but I think it's actually..."

As she spoke, the agent shook her head.

"…What am I doing? I already said I don't want to discourage you all."

She paused and immediately adjusted her mindset to work mode.

"Ahem, I actually have some other miscellaneous work arrangements after this..."

Chapter 115: Meeting Xiangzi's Date

The current Qiu Hui is no longer the backup keyboardist of that unknown band.

After that unexpected performance of Kasuga Shadow, she was able to focus on her own band.

According to the previously scheduled arrangements, the band's schedule began to become busy.

Recording music videos for old songs, preparing for new songs, practicing, performing, attending events, and other arrangements...

The agent even mentioned that after RiNG's second performance, the agency will arrange for the band to perform at the nearest music festival depending on the response.

All in all, things are going well.

Of course, the biggest credit for this situation should go to Akie and Ichiri.

Relying on Aki Ryouko's fan base and the promotional cooperation between the library and the agency, the band was on a level far higher than most student bands from the very beginning.

Thanks to Guitar Hero's near-professional performance level, the band also has the hard power to keep the audience.

but……

"Um, it's cool."

During another break after practice, Hongxia found Liang.

At this moment, the expression on her face was not as energetic as before, but was filled with obvious worry.

"What's wrong?" Liang looked over.

"The relationship between Akie-chan and Pochi-chan..." Nijixia said uneasily, "It feels, like, quite strange."

She still remembered what happened when she talked to Yili on the phone before.

"She said... that if she could continue to play the guitar well, she would be favored by Akie..."

She looked in the direction of Ichiri and Akie. The two were huddled together, seemingly whispering something to each other.

"It's good to have harmonious relations," Liang said calmly.

"That's not the case!" Hongxia shook her head vigorously, "You know that, right? Xiao Qiuhui is still..."

"Hehe, well, that's someone else's private matter." Liang turned his head away guiltily.

"Although what Ryo said is not wrong, but... it's still worrying."

Hongxia showed a rare bitter expression.

"I understand, I understand." Liang nodded. "In-team romance is actually... an unstable factor. If one party regards the other party as more important than the band itself, problems will usually arise when encountering major events."

"So Liang thought so too." Hongxia sighed.

"So, what is Nijixia going to do? Is she going to break up Akiie and Pochi?" Ryo made a shocking suggestion as if nothing had happened.

"I don't have that plan! I feel like that would be too much!"

Hongxia blushed and tried her best to lower her voice so that Ichiri and Akie wouldn't hear it.

"So what are you going to do?" Liang asked back.

Unlike Hong Xia, she was unrestrained when she was thinking about something and would speak her mind directly.

"I...I don't know what to do." Hongxia shook her head helplessly.

She wants to take care of everyone in the band equally and doesn't want anyone to get hurt.

But...this kind of thing can't be done all the time.

The band is like a second family to her.

Well, since we are family... then what comes with it are the difficult household chores.

What should I do...

"If you ask me, just take it one step at a time." Liang made a suggestion casually, "If you force yourself to calculate this and that, you will often end up doing something bad with good intentions."

"…Is it really okay?" Hongxia shook her head.

……

After the practice, everyone temporarily went their separate ways.

Qiu Hui took out her cell phone and checked the received text message.

Her schedule was still quite tight. She had made an appointment a few days ago to discuss something with Toyokawa Shoko.

The location... was not chosen in a convenience store, but in the "Yuze Coffee Shop" that Xiangzi usually goes to.

After all, Xiangzi probably wanted to talk about something more important, and it would be a bit strange to talk about it in a convenience store.

So, after coming out of the office building, she now has to take the tram to the vicinity of the coffee shop.

This didn't go along with Ichiri, but she still followed behind Akie like a pendant.

"I have to talk to a friend later." Akie looked at Ichiri beside her helplessly, "I think it's not on the same route as you, Pochi."

"..."

Ichiri did not answer verbally. Her response was to squeeze Akie's hand.

"Even if you come with us... you may have to wait aside while we talk." Akie continued, "That should be..."

"...I want Akie to spend more time with me." Ichiri said softly, "Because, you practiced hard today."

Akie smiled helplessly. Goto Ichiri did perform very well in practice today... In fact, she has performed very well in the past few days.

Especially when recording the MV, even the staff praised her performance. After the MV was released, Qiu Hui even found a sliced ​​video of Ichiri's guitar solo on the Internet, and the playback volume was no less than that of the original video.

"I'm not renting a girlfriend, don't act like I'm paying for time..."

Having said that, Qiu Hui still smiled, took out her cell phone, and called Toyokawa Shoko.

The call was quickly connected.

"Akie, what's wrong?"

"Look, we agreed to talk about the band later, right?"

"Yes. Any changes to the schedule?"

"Not really. Actually, it's the guitarist in my band... She's a little interested in that, so I hope she can listen in while we chat."

Yili turned his head to look at Qiu Hui who was dialing the phone, a hint of surprise in his eyes, and he held Qiu Hui's hand with a little more strength.

“Ah, yes, yes… Is that ok? Oh… ah, you also want to ask the guitarist for his opinion? That would be great. Well, then…”

After some negotiations with Xiangzi, Qiu Hui finally hung up the phone.

"Since the schedule has been confirmed, this is all I can do." Akie smiled apologetically.

Yes. Although she said that she was not a rental girlfriend, in fact, she still followed the value of equal exchange that she had formed for a long time.

If Yili meets her demands, she will definitely provide something in return.

Earlier on the beach, the three of them had made an agreement to get along with each other in a way that made each other as comfortable and as free as possible.

Therefore, Qiu Hui felt that since this kind of relationship could make both the other person and herself feel relaxed and happy, then... it was okay to do it this way.

“It’s okay…” Ichiri smiled in a rather tasteless manner, “Hehehe…Akie, I’m already very happy that you can find a solution…”

"Don't take it too seriously." Qiu Hui covered her mouth and chuckled.

After a brief pause, she continued to explain the follow-up arrangements while walking towards the tram stop with Yili.

"Next, I'm going to talk to that friend about forming a band," she said. "She might ask me some questions. You don't have to force yourself to answer them, but if you have any ideas..."

Ichiri nodded repeatedly, turning into a full affirmation machine for Akie.

Chapter 116 Determination and Jealousy

Yuze Coffee Shop.

Toyokawa Shoko sat upright, sipping free lemonade while waiting for Akiie to arrive.