Loneliness and Rock and Roll with Band Observer

She turned around.

"Let's go."

She blended into the audience and walked into the stage area.

Su Shi watched her back and stood there for a long time.

If that kneeling was like a fire that burned Su Shi's original obsession to ashes, then this scene was like a pool of water poured on the ashes, completely extinguishing the last trace of fire under the ashes.

So this is ah.

Su Shi sighed silently.

The last bit of obsession that remained turned into dust blown away by the wind as Xiangzi spoke with a calm expression.

However, although this relief made her heart calmer, it also deepened her emptiness.

Su Shi felt his chest tighten.

Driven by that sense of emptiness, her desire for companionship may not have weakened, but has become even stronger.

I want to see Qiu Hui...

Theoretically it doesn't have to be her, but from a practical point of view, there is no better choice than her.

So Su Shi moved and walked towards the entrance door.

Suddenly, a familiar figure trotted past her.

“Hmm~ Hehehe…”

The guy had long pink hair and was humming some weird tune.

"……ah!"

The guy stopped in front of Su Shi as if he suddenly remembered something, and then turned around.

Suyo saw her face clearly. It was Chihaya Aine.

“…It’s Suyo.”

Su Shi saw the whole process of Aine's expression changing. After a moment of surprise, Aine became a little confused.

“I say, that…”

Aine seemed a little embarrassed, so she started to try to strike up a conversation in a slightly clumsy way.

But Su Shi seemed to ignore her and just walked forward on his own.

“…Ah, are you ignoring me?”

Aiyin stared at Su Shi’s back with some dissatisfaction.

"How heartless." She muttered softly.

Well, after all, she doesn't want to be in the band anymore. Maybe she thinks I'm annoying and doesn't want to have anything to do with me?

Forget it, this time I came mainly to watch my seniors perform. Let’s put Su Shi’s matter aside for now! After all, I don’t plan to continue playing in a band…

Aiyin smiled and continued to jog towards the intersection, soon passing by Su Shi and surpassing her once again.

"..."

Su Shi stared at Aine's back in silence, feeling somewhat stunned.

…I thought she would be more persistent.

Recalling the messages she had sent him before, Su Shi felt a strong sense of contrast.

Now that we were facing each other at such a close distance, I had already started thinking about how to reject Aine’s persistent pursuit, but…

And yet she just left me like that?

Although from the results, it seems that Su Shi didn't really want to talk to Aine, so Aine ignoring her was actually a satisfactory result...

...But some inexplicable psychological reasons made Su Shi feel empty inside.

Even if she wanted to "reject", she couldn't easily accept "being rejected". The emptiness in her heart drove her to give such contradictory double standards.

Aiyin moved nimbly through the crowd and quickly squeezed to the front row, then naturally started chatting with two girls who looked like students and fans.

"Are you fans of the band End of the Band as well?"

"Ah! Of course! I came here with this friend during my first performance!"

"I originally came here because of Akihoko-sensei's reputation... but later I found that everyone in this band is really interesting!"

"I think the lead singer is really cute... What do you think Chihaya-kun?"

“Just call me Aine! As for me, of course I like Akiko the most… Hehehe, I think I like her more than anyone else, right?”

"Wow, it's a one-on-one push..."

...They are having a lively conversation, Su Shi thought.

The last sentence in particular was of particular concern... She frowned.

Thinking back to what happened during the training camp, Su Shi's brows furrowed even deeper.

Aine and Akie were doing that behind our backs... I think they were probably dating. If not, then... that would be even worse.

"I like you more than anyone else" and so on is so corny.

Thinking of this, Su Shi unconsciously tugged at the corner of his clothes.

…What am I doing? she asked herself.

I just want friends.

There's no need to think about these things...

Chapter 12 Xiangzi's Decision

Nagasaki Suyo's uneasy look was seen by Wakaba Mutsu who was standing beside her.

Mu's concern for Su Shi has also been noticed by Xiangzi who is beside him.

"Do you care much?" Xiangzi asked.

"...A little bit." Mu nodded gently, "It seems that Su Shi is very lonely."

"That was her own fault," Xiangzi responded. "She was the one who wanted to abandon her band members."

Mu remained silent, but his eyes were still fixed in Su Shi's direction.

It's your own fault. Is this what Xiang meant?

Thinking back on Su Shi's actions during this period of time, especially her attitude towards him, even Mu couldn't help but feel a little shaken.

But, even so...

Mu was not sure what his thoughts were at the moment. Perhaps it should be called sympathy?

"I can probably understand Mu's thoughts, but there is one thing you must know."

Xiangzi said, pulling Mu's attention away from Sushi.

"Mu... is a very important part of my plan."

Xiangzi clenched his fists slightly, his expression solemn.

"I need Mu to convince the agency, and then I'll rely on Mu and Chuhua to attract more members."

"I need a strong enough team, and then use it as a bargaining chip to exchange for more resources."

"Harmony is a necessary existence. So, I probably won't allow you to be indecisive..."

Xiangzi sighed softly.

"…By the way, Mu said that he never felt happy playing in a band."

She turned her head and looked at the silent and quiet girl beside her.

"I'm going to force you to form a band with me again. I feel like maybe I should... apologize."

Mu's eyes widened slightly, and there was a hint of surprise in his eyes as he looked at Xiangzi.

"Xiang, I wasn't going to apologize in the first place."

"Yeah." Xiangzi nodded.

She recalled the time when she was still under the protection of her family and had no worries.

Because I admired the music played by my seniors in Tsuki no Mori, I came up with the idea of ​​forming a band on my own initiative.

After having this idea in mind, I began to look for the right candidate with determination.

"I didn't care about Mu's opinion at all." Xiangzi shook his head gently, "I just knew that you would agree..."

"…Because it was Xiang's request." Mu continued in a low voice, "Even though I don't like it, I will still agree to it."

"Yeah. I probably thought the same thing at the time, right? I took Mu's sacrifice for me for granted."

Xiangzi's words made Mu feel a little embarrassed: "... Not really."

"Ah, the wording is a bit exaggerated. This is probably a habit she learned from Aki." Xiangzi laughed, "She sometimes really gets hung up on a lot of inexplicable details..."

"…Especially when dealing with other people."

Mu said nothing, but turned to look at the stage. There was a new development coming from above.

The ending band's time slot is a little later, and the bands that are now taking the stage are the warm-up bands.

But Mu's main purpose of coming here was not to watch the performance. Therefore, she did not focus too much on the hot band.

"So, Xiang, what are you going to do?"

Mu gently touched Xiangzi beside him.

"If you want to debut, you need to do a lot of things."

When saying this, Ruo Yemu thought of his parents.

His father was a well-known comedian, but in Mu's impression, he was almost always as serious as a portrait of a king wearing a military uniform and ribbon. Perhaps this contrast was also a kind of humor.

His mother is a star in the entertainment industry. Mu is not sure what his mother's masterpieces are, but he knows that she is very busy at work and is very famous.

Meetings, dinners, dances, social occasions, "introductions", countless etiquette, and a lot of insincere words.

Mu is now a high school student, still far away from her parents' world; but even so, she has gotten a preliminary glimpse of that world from the complicated education she received since childhood.

"I know." Xiangzi also laughed self-deprecatingly, "I also thought about these things when I was preparing."

"Talent is just a necessary condition... sometimes it's not even that necessary. Money is more important than talent, but relationships are more useful than money."

Xiangzi made a speech that sounded very old-fashioned.

After hearing this, Mu lowered her head without saying a word. She was familiar with Toyokawa Shoko in the past, and could hardly imagine that such words would come from the mouth of the girl who admired the perseverance and elegance of her predecessors.

"But fortunately, there are still some things I can do."

There was a rare hint of confidence in Xiangzi's tone.

She hadn't felt this way for a long time, ever since she left the protection of her family.

"Mu's identity itself is a very attractive bargaining chip... You don't need to really do anything. As long as you exist, they will imagine all kinds of plots and logical relationships on their own, and then favor you." Xiangzi said.

"And Chuhua, we're going to go see her together after this."

A hint of hesitation appeared on Xiangzi's face, but she managed to suppress it.

"I... I need to treat her as honestly as possible." She sighed, "My relationship with her is not as close as it could be. Moreover, I have to convince her to go all out to do something that may not be good for her own interests..."

"Xiang, are you worried?" Mu asked.

"I am definitely worried... but this is the only way," Xiangzi said, "I don't have many chips, so I have to make full use of them."

As the warm-up band played, Xiangzi stared quietly ahead, as if what was ahead was not a stage but an infinitely distant horizon.

"If you express your thoughts sincerely and firmly, and take the other person's feelings into consideration, then there should be no problem."

Xiangzi smiled.

"Just like how Akie moved me, I can definitely... move Hatsuka and everyone else."

The performance on the stage continued, with music and cheers complementing each other.