Loneliness and Rock and Roll with Band Observer

Is this considered an equal exchange?

“Ah… ahahaha… this…”

The girl stared awkwardly at the "guitar" that was producing the bass sound.

After a moment, she excitedly stepped forward and held Qiu Hui's hands.

"Thank you so much!" Her bright eyes flashed with excitement that was about to overflow.

"Wow, what happened suddenly?"

"I used my pocket money to buy a new guitar! It would have been terrible if you hadn't pointed out my mistake! Thank you so much!"

“Well, um, it’s just a small favor, please don’t be so exaggerated…”

The enthusiasm of the girl in front of her was almost dazzling to Qiu Hui.

This is a passion driven by the confidence born from beauty and temperament.

This is a special move of a high school girl who can only be used openly because she is proud of "not being hated no matter what".

"Is this a school uniform? Which school are you from?"

"Higaoka Girls' College...it's quite far from here..."

"Higaoka! Isn't that the school with a lot of bands? What a coincidence, did you come here to buy instruments because you want to play in a band?"

"That's true, but I'm a keyboard player, and to be honest, my level is pretty bad..."

The girl's familiar enthusiasm and complete control over the rhythm of the conversation made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"What about you? Which high school do you go to?"

"I'm Kita from Shuhua High School!" the girl who called herself "Kita" answered.

"Kita is your last name, right? What's your first name?"

“…Um, as for the name…ah, haha. Let’s not talk about it for now.”

Kita smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.

Is the name a difficult topic for her to talk about? Qiu Hui wondered.

Could it be one of those weird names that the parents came up with on a whim?

Qiu Hui looked at the other person with a hint of sympathy in her eyes.

It must be very difficult for Yang Jiao, who is often seen interacting with people, to have a strange name that might be laughed at by others.

"My name is Togawa Akee," Akee said, "It's okay to tell me my name."

"Well, Togawa-san... well, rather than talking about names and stuff, how about we go have a drink together?" Kita was only slightly hesitant for a moment, then immediately changed the direction of the conversation, "It's my treat!"

"You mean a drink? Us? This is NG, right?"

"That's not what I meant. I know a good cafe nearby!" Kita introduced enthusiastically, "Although it's attached to the LIVEHOUSE, the quality of the food is quite good!"

"Yes, sure." Qiu Hui nodded.

She had a good impression of Xiduo. Besides, it would be a waste if she didn't drink the free drinks.

"Oh, that's right."

Kita seemed to suddenly remember something, let go of Akie's hands, and continued speaking.

"A classmate of mine is actually forming a band with Haneda's students. I just heard about it this morning, but I didn't expect to meet Haneda's students in the afternoon. It's fate!"

"There is such a coincidence?" Qiu Hui was shocked, "It really is fate..."

...Wait, that classmate she was talking about, couldn't it be Goto?

It is true that Goto is a student of Shuka High School.

Moreover, he just happened to join the closing band yesterday. The timing also matches.

This is too much of a coincidence!

Akie recalled Goto's previous actions in STARRY.

I'm sorry Goto-san, I jumped to conclusions too early...

...The plot development during this period really gives people the feeling of a prank variety show!

After that, Qiu Hui took Kita to the real guitar counter. After she picked out the guitar, the two of them carried the instruments together and walked towards the cafe Kita mentioned.

"Wow, it's so hot..." Akie sighed, "Especially with this thing on my back."

The surface of the gigging bag pressed against my back, almost like wearing an extra piece of clothing.

"It's really hot recently." Kita took out a pack of tissues from his pocket and handed it to Aki. "If you feel your head is sweating, wipe it off immediately. Otherwise, your makeup will be ruined."

"I don't usually wear makeup when I go out...but thank you."

Qiu Hui opened the tissue wrapper and wiped her head with it in a very ungraceful manner. At the same time, she took off her glasses and wiped off the mist that had formed due to the sudden change in temperature inside and outside.

"By the way, I'm just asking. Is the classmate you mentioned who is in a band with the students from Hanegaoka the one with pink hair, who walks with his head down, who often apologizes for inexplicable little things, but whose guitar skills are surprisingly high?"

"How did you guess that?" Kita exclaimed, "Togawa-san is amazing!"

"…Why do you think I was just guessing?" Akie smiled softly, covering her mouth with her hands. "The student from Yugaoka who formed a band with Goto-san was actually me. You're right, this is really fate."

“Eh? Is this really the case?!”

“That’s true.”

Qiu Hui looked around; the densely packed buildings limited her vision to the narrow four-lane road.

"The world is surprisingly small."

……

Shortly after.

Qiu Hui raised her head and exclaimed at the huge "RING" sign on the glass curtain wall.

"It's really huge. Rather than calling it a live house, it's more like the entrance to a department store, right?"

"That's right!" Kita agreed, "After all, there are many people who come here just to drink."

"The decoration style seems quite fashionable..."

Qiu Hui suddenly had a bad feeling.

With the waiter's enthusiastic greeting, she found a seat and sat down. The comfortable seat made her bad premonition deepen.

After getting the drink menu, she glanced at it casually and her face suddenly turned ugly.

Bad premonition experience.

"It's so expensive!" Qiu Hui almost shouted, "Everything I look at is priced in the four digits!"

Even if it's only 1,000 yen, it's almost enough for a meal for me!

Looking at Kita who was happily ordering from the waiter in front of her, Akihide couldn't help but feel nervous.

I have to hurry and find something relatively cheap before it’s my turn to order…

Chapter 13: Akihae's Theory of "Socialism"

“…That’s good!”

Kita, who was sitting across from me, had already taken her order very quickly. She seemed to be a frequent visitor and was very familiar with the menu.

"Where's Togawa-san?"

“My words…”

Qiu Hui glanced at the waiter.

The waiter seemed a little cold. If I took too long to choose, he might dislike me. It would be better to decide quickly...

"Let's have this iced lemon soda."

"One serving of iced lemon sparkling water." The waiter nodded and wrote down the order.

"Eh? Don't you want some tea or coffee?"

"Well... because I'm worried that I'll have insomnia at night if I drink too much. My sleep quality has been a bit bad recently..."

"You can also order juice, smoothies, non-alcoholic cocktails, etc.? I highly recommend the ones in this category, right?"

"No need for that, just lemonade will do!"

After all, it seemed that lemonade was the only item on the entire menu that was priced within Akihime's acceptable range.

If you order drinks that are too expensive, it will cause trouble for the host, so it is better to choose cheaper ones.

"That's it."

Kita took the drink order, glanced at the lemonade label, and as if he understood something, he smiled and handed the drink order back to the waiter, saying to Akie, "I appreciate your kindness."

"…What do you mean?" the latter asked uncertainly.

Kita didn't continue talking, but quickly changed the subject.

Although the two had never met before today, due to a series of coincidences, they had the same intersection as "classmates playing in a band together." So the topic naturally shifted to Goto.

"Actually, the first time I met Goto-san was in a corner of the staircase corridor. Normally, no one would go to such a place, right? But when I passed by, I happened to hear her playing the guitar there! To be honest, I was really moved at that time!"

"Goto-san's performance is indeed very moving." Akie nodded, "Although his personality is quite strange."

Recalling Goto's strange behavior in the "Hoshi" store, she couldn't help but ask, "Kita-san and she go to the same school, so I'm curious, what kind of image does Goto-san have in your school?"

"Well... we didn't know each other before that." Kita answered, "After that, I asked around in Goto's class about everyone's impression of her. Well, in the eyes of her classmates, Goto is actually quite... unpredictable."

Kita stretched out his hand and began to count on his fingers.

"First of all, his taste in clothes is very strange, and he likes to bring all kinds of weird peripheral products to school. He often joins other people's conversations abruptly, and then leaves on his own before the other party can react. He is always inexplicably excited, and inexplicably becomes very depressed..."

“…Well, in the eyes of her classmates, Goto-san is just a moody weirdo. So it seems that no one is willing to talk to her.”

After listening to Kita's statement, Akie also had an idea.

This statement is quite different from her own opinion.

"I was also very curious when I met her. She looks good and has musical talent, so why was she ignored to that extent in school?" Akie said in a heavy tone, "Perhaps she has an unusual personality that makes it difficult for everyone to effectively 'evaluate' her."

She picked up the glass of water in front of her and took a sip.

"What exactly does it mean to be gregarious? I think it means 'to be easily evaluated according to the prevailing standards'."

"How do you say it specifically?" Kita leaned forward slightly, his eyes became focused, and he seemed to be very concerned about this topic.

“Socializing is like exchanging gifts at an event. I think when everyone gives a gift, they expect the gift they receive in return to be at least not worse than the gift they gave, right? So, I think everyone would like to be able to find out the other party’s gift-returning strategy and gift preferences, so as to choose whether to exchange gifts with the other party and what kind of gift to give.”

As she spoke, Qiu Hui seemed to feel a tight and uncomfortable feeling in her chest.

She smiled as if she was not worried, and then continued.

"So-called sociable people are those who have a 'gift preference' and 'gift return strategy' that are close to the group average. As long as people give gifts according to common sense, there is a great chance that they will get the expected return in exchange."

"If you are a loner, then even if you give a gift, you don't know what you will receive... Maybe some people would like this feeling of surprise. But from an economic point of view, most people should be risk-averse."

Qiu Hui lowered her head slightly.

"I'm actually...a risk-averse person. So I completely understand why everyone does this."

Kita put his hands on his chin and listened very carefully.

"When I usually interact with people, I don't think so much like Togawa-san does."

"Yes. Kita-san's strategy is very simple, it is just to 'give everyone the same gift'. Although you have not formed a theoretical understanding like me, your simple strategy is the easiest to understand and the most predictable one. So Kita-san must be a very sociable person, right?"

Togawa Akie smiled sheepishly.

"On the contrary, after giving such a long speech, I became anxious and worried because of these understandings when exchanging gifts, and formed a complicated and difficult-to-understand strategy... As a result, I lost in the competition of getting along with others."

"How should I put it? In a sense, this can be considered the 'Curse of Knowledge'...right?"

After listening to this, Kita smiled and nodded.