Loneliness and Rock and Roll with Band Observer

"…That's not the question!" Hong Xia gestured with her hand, "Aren't these questions extremely difficult? If I encountered questions like this on the test paper, I would basically give up!"

"I don't understand." Liang looked confused. "It's so profound, like an alien language."

"Give up... Yes, it's normal to give up when encountering a difficult problem, but if you can't solve every problem..." Qiu Hui looked embarrassed.

"Let's ignore these difficult problems for now. Let me ask you, what about the other parts?" Hong Xia asked.

"Others? I'm sure I can answer the easy questions, such as solving equations and common linear programming, and directly finding derivatives, but the slightly different types of questions are..."

"You can't even be considered 'worrying about the final exam'!"

Hongxia seemed to feel that she was being subtly despised.

"…By the way, Akie, did you bring Haneoka's test paper?"

"Yes, yes."

Qiu Hui took out the math midterm exam paper from her bag and placed it in front of the two of them.

"…Fifty-four points." After seeing the score, Hong Xia seemed to feel inexplicably relieved.

"To be honest, my score is already below average." Akie sighed, "It's very serious."

"Average score..."

After Hongxia read through the test paper, her brows suddenly furrowed.

The difficulty of the questions was completely beyond her original expectations.

Logically speaking, Kitazawa High School is a school that attaches great importance to academic advancement, but Hongxia still feels that the difficulty of this test paper still makes her a little scared.

If I were to do it, I would have no problem passing the exam, but I would probably only get around 50 points if I tried my best. If I wanted to get over 60 points, I would probably have to rely on a burst of inspiration and extraordinary performance...

…But how could Akie get this score even though she “never paid attention in class”?

"Hongxia, what's wrong?" asked Liang who was unaware of the situation.

"……Feel sorry."

Hongxia clasped her hands together and bowed solemnly to Qiuhui.

"Akiie-chan, I may not be able to teach you anything! I'm so sorry!"

“…There’s no need to dwell on who teaches whom.” Akie smiled, “Even if we just discuss together, I think it’s valuable.”

She glanced at Liang who was pretending to be indifferent and said with a smile: "Besides, I can teach others."

"..." Liang seemed a little guilty.

"To be honest, Ryo, you always look like a hermit..."

Qiu Hui lowered her head and took a look at the test paper in front of her with a terrible score, and she couldn't help laughing.

"...I didn't expect that you have such a clue about studying." She said jokingly.

"I don't think we need to worry about such a small problem." Liang defended himself with a weak stance, "Even if Axl Rose skipped classes and dropped out of school, it wouldn't affect him from becoming a great band member..."

“This has nothing to do with the band members.” Qiu Hui sighed, “Why don’t you say that the members of Dream Theater are all from Berklee College of Music?”

"Uh, I can't refute that..." Ryo raised his hands in surrender, "Damn it, I was defeated by someone like Akie..."

"What topic are you talking about?" Hong Xia seemed a little confused, "What happened to Mr. Rose later?"

So, the originally scheduled exchange meeting unknowingly turned into a cram school that Hongxia and Qiuhui opened for Liang.

Although it was originally planned that Hongxia would teach others, it gradually became Akie's home ground.

"…Although English word formation is a mess due to the repeated influence of foreign languages ​​throughout history, it can still be understood more or less from the perspective of roots and affixes."

At this moment, Qiu Hui was slowly explaining to Liang the problem of memorizing English words.

"How should I put it... just like the parts of a musical instrument. 'Dis-', 'de-', 'mal-', 'il-' and so on, these are all affixes that express negation. Although they look different, they all have the same purpose - just like there are many versions of bass with different numbers of strings, but they are all basses in essence. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I seem to understand." Liang's eyes were distracted, "but I also seem not to understand."

"Then I'll find some real examples, wait a minute..."

Looking at Qiu Hui who was flipping through the English textbook with a sad face, Hong Xia suddenly couldn't help laughing out loud.

"What's wrong?" Qiu Hui asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing." Hongxia shook her head. "I just felt that Akie had been saying that she 'didn't pay attention in class' before. But doesn't she actually know a lot? And she seems to be quite good at teaching others."

Generally speaking, in school, this kind of behavior of "learning a lot but always claiming that you haven't done anything" is surprisingly annoying.

But Hongxia didn't think that Qiuhui's behavior was annoying.

Because, she felt, Qiu Hui might really mean so.

Maybe Qiu Hui really feels that no matter how much she has achieved, she will always think that it is not enough.

"I haven't really been paying attention to the lessons lately. The only subject I can teach like this is English, and that's purely a habit I got from my childhood..."

As she spoke, she seemed to suddenly realize that something was wrong, and immediately looked as if she wanted to apologize.

“…I’m sorry, am I acting like I’m showing off?”

"Huh?" Liang seemed to be completely confused. "Why do you think so?"

“That’s not the case.”

Hongxia shook her head and suddenly felt a pain in her heart.

"Akiie-chan, you're apologizing for something like this... I'm really worried."

"I……"

Subconsciously, Akie was about to make the paradoxical move of "apologizing for apologizing so often", but she managed to close her mouth before she could open it.

Chapter 31 Hong Xia's Thoughts

Although this little episode did not interrupt the normal progress of the study session, Hong Xia still found it difficult to suppress the urge to let her imagination run wild in the subsequent discussion.

My sister said that she "knew nothing" about Akie.

But generally speaking, someone who would say something like this must know something, right?

Hongxia recalled the night of the celebration banquet when Qiu Hui cried in front of her.

She takes the word "family" very seriously. Why is that?

Was it because of some unfortunate change in the family, like me?

Or is there another reason?

I remember that Xiao Boqi once said that Qiu Hui said that her parents were both "excellent people."

Is that really the case? On the one hand, excellent parents will set strict standards for their children, and on the other hand, the children themselves will subconsciously push themselves to get closer to their parents' ideals because of their parents' excellence.

That's why I try so hard to set high standards for myself, and always consider apologizing as my first option, always subconsciously reflecting on whether I have done something wrong.

While reviewing the notes at hand, Hongxia paid close attention to the discussion between Qiu Hui and Liang.

Although she felt that Qiu Hui had taught very attentively, Liang had been acting as if there was something wrong with his brain since the beginning.

"Ah... How can I explain this to Liang?" Akie lamented, "Did the alien parasite in your brain take over your body today? Is that why you can't understand the language of Earth?"

"I'm afraid that's what happened..." Liang nodded, "He must have taken advantage of the moment when I was distracted by the final exam and became absent-minded, that's definitely the case!"

"So is this what Mr. Alien meant by that sentence?" Qiu Hui said seriously, following Liang's meaning and making a joke.

"Oh? Well, how should I put it? I can still take the initiative sometimes..."

"Since we can occasionally take back the initiative, why don't we make good use of this precious opportunity and quickly memorize all the words in this unit?" Qiu Hui said with a smile.

"Akie, you're so strict..."

Looking at the two people who seemed to get along well for some reason, Hong Xia smiled and shook her head.

Although she has always been very serious, it is surprising that Akie can get along well with a guy like Ryo.

Moreover, when Xiao Qiuhui was with Liang, she seemed to have a very relaxed feeling.

If she was facing me, she definitely wouldn't joke like that.

Thinking of this, Hongxia felt a little lost for some reason.

Xiao Qiuhui, as she said herself, might be a very troublesome person.

If I simply treat her gently, it might not work...

At this time, Hongxia remembered what her sister had said.

Akiie, she's not "what a high school student should be like" at all.

Qiu Hui is usually gentle and serious.

Akiie, who occasionally shows some electric feelings.

That night, Qiu Hui had a smile on her face but couldn't stop crying.

Which one is the real Akiie?

Little Bochi lacks confidence in herself, so she should be encouraged more.

Liang always does what she wants and has wild ideas, so we should be a little strict with her.

As for Xiao Xiduo, since he is a very cheerful and lively person, he can just treat it with a relaxed attitude.

but……

...If I don't know what kind of person Qiu Hui is, how should I treat her?

Hongxia felt a little lost.

Although he said shamelessly that he wanted to become a "family" with Akie.

But I actually... don't really know her that well.

Just self-righteously caring for her with a gentle attitude may not be enough.

At least we need to understand what she thinks and how she sees us...

……

after a while.

"Everyone, the store is getting busy now," Ijichi Hoshika announced to everyone, "In order to free up space, please go upstairs and continue."

"Um, the upstairs is Ijichi-san's home, right?" Deng asked, "Is that okay?"

"It's okay, we are all Hongxia's friends." Xingge nodded.

“Great! By the way, studying is more tiring than I thought!” Aine complained, “Can we take a break after we go upstairs?”

"That's a good idea. How about we have a tea party in the living room first?" Hong Xia suggested.

"Oh, a tea party!" Liang suddenly perked up, "In a sense, it really feels like a band!"

"…Are you referring to the cartoon?" Akie asked.

In short, everyone simply packed up their things and went upstairs together in a noisy manner.

“Hey, senpai!”

“Aine? What…?”

Just as Akie was about to go upstairs, she suddenly sensed Aine approaching from the left.

“I really showed off my skills today!” Aine said excitedly, “To be honest, teaching people at study sessions is more tiring than I thought, can you praise me?”

“Ah… um, um, Aine is really amazing…”

Akie turned her face away a little shyly, but happened to meet the eyes of Goto Ichiri on the other side.

“Akie, um, although I may be a little too proud to say this… but I feel that, um, thanks to everyone, I seem to be a little closer to passing… so… can you… praise me too?”

Yili, who seemed very nervous, tremblingly made this humble request.

"Yes, Pochi, you are also great..." Unable to refuse such a thing from Ichiri, Akie had to suppress her shyness at the moment and began to praise him.

"Ichiri-chan, I helped a lot, didn't I?"

"Ah, indeed, thank you to Kita too..." Ichiri turned around and came face to face with the smiling Kita.