Classic soul swap, but a musical

The cake was eaten up, and Aragaki Ai returned to the basement to start the next practice.

It was more fun to use his body to tease Little Mutou, so he suppressed his thoughts and focused on practicing the piano.

Four hours passed in a flash, and the settlement list appeared in front of her. Aragaki Ai closed it directly and opened the daily tasks and mall.

There is no change in the mall, it still has the same two items, but since Aragaki Ai completed the task regarding Pochi, there should be one more slot, but now three slots are filled.

[Winning first place in the weekend competition will earn you 1,500 points.]

"Ok?"

Ai Aragaki didn't think this competition was a big deal at first, but now it seems that she has to win first place.

One thousand five hundred points.

He is short of points now.

Returning his attention to the work at hand, he felt that it was almost done, and went back to practicing the piano. The points gave him even more motivation.

Until late at night, his fingers were trembling, his breathing became rapid, and his shirt was soaked with sweat. Including the time he spent with Mu, the practice lasted for nearly ten hours.

Ai Aragaki spent the entire evening practicing Beethoven's Farewell, trying to finish playing the first movement.

He took the tram home and got on the elevator.

At this moment, he saw someone outside wanting to take the elevator, so he pressed the button to open the elevator door.

"Thank you."

The woman coming towards me had black curly medium-length hair and looked neat and tidy. She was wearing a grey suit that was well-fitting and holding a stack of documents in her hands.

"It's okay." Aragaki Ai took a step back, gave up some space, and watched her choose the 45th floor.

He remembers...

The person in front of him was Su Shi's mother.

The woman looked at the boy, with a hint of curiosity in her expression. She seemed to think that at this time, he, who looked like an ordinary student, should not come back so late.

"You...are you not worried about coming back so late?"

"......." Aragaki Ai didn't expect her to talk to her. She was stunned for a second before responding.

“I go to school here alone.”

"Oh? So young? Then it's too late to come back." Ms. Nagasaki rubbed her chin with her thumb. She seemed to be about the same age as her daughter. Children nowadays are so independent.

"I'm working part-time." Aragaki Ai replied politely.

Having already answered the question to this point, Ms. Nagasaki did not dare to ask any further questions. She just asked a few more questions out of professional habit. Now thinking about it, it was a bit impolite.

As expected, I've been too tired recently.

She covered her head, watched the elevator stop, and apologized to him. Aragaki Ai didn't care. If it were someone else, he might not even pay attention.

The elevator doors closed and opened again, and the hands moved to the number forty-five.

Ms. Nagasaki opened the door, took off her shoes, and looked around. Everything was neat and clean, and spotlessly tidy.

Her gaze finally fell on the girl coming out of the room and she smiled.

"Sushi, have you had dinner?"

"Yes, Mom, have you eaten? If not, I can heat up some soup for you. If you want to eat anything, I can check the refrigerator." Su Shi walked towards the kitchen with a slightly concerned look in his eyes.

"Then I'll leave it to you. Anything is fine as long as I can fill my stomach."

"Well, wait a moment."

Su Shi's voice is a little hoarse, and sounds very ordinary and gentle.

She went into the kitchen, heated up the soup, and made some simple meals for her mother. At this time, the mother-daughter relationship between the two seemed reversed.

Later, the two of them sat at the dining table together, and Ms. Nagasaki said something like, "Thanks to Suyo," which was really nice.

She paused for a moment, "I just met a boy in the elevator. He's still working so late. He should be able to live here, so he should be well-off."

"Huh?" Su Shi seemed to know who his mother was talking about, and recalled the young man he met this morning.

"It's really strange."

Ms. Nagasaki treated this as a casual chat with her daughter and didn't take it seriously, quickly changing the subject.

"Next Monday is your birthday, right? Is there anything you want?"

"Hmm..." Su Shi thought about it and felt that he didn't lack anything and didn't want anything.

She asked with a smile: "Oh, by the way, I saw a very beautiful skirt last time, maybe it will be very suitable for Su Shi, do you want it?"

"...Mom, do you think it will be suitable for me?" Su Shi's fingers rested on the table, entangled involuntarily.

"Well, it will suit you very well. Believe me, I want to turn down some of my work next Monday so I can come back to celebrate your birthday with you. I will prepare gifts and cakes." Ms. Nagasaki smiled and her tone was full of longing.

"Okay." The corners of Su Shi's mouth also rose, in the same tone as her mother.

She added, "I want to invite my friends back, is that okay?"

Her expression changed to surprise, and she smiled naturally, "Of course! I also want to meet Su Shi's friends, classmates from school?"

"Well, there are classmates..." Su Shi thought of Mu and Xiangzi, and did not tell her mother about her troubles.

She gave the same gentle smile and discussed her birthday next Monday with her mother.

The next day, evening.

After finishing a day's class, Aragaki Ai met Xiao Mutou at 5:30. There was a female pianist following behind her. They must have come together after class.

"Hey, have you decided on the piece to play?" The female pianist's expression was a little interrogative. She put one hand on her waist and led Xiao Mutou to block the door.

"Is it urgent?" asked Aragaki Ai.

"I helped you skip the preliminaries, so it's the official competition. Tomorrow is the final registration period. You must decide on the repertoire tonight. For the next few days, devote yourself to practice."

Before he could answer, the female pianist took a few steps forward and continued.

"How about the Mephistopheles Waltz? Your fingers are more flexible than Mu's, so choosing this kind of music would be easier."

Little Mutou, who was standing aside, did not feel uncomfortable at all. She took it for granted that it was natural for Ai to be more powerful than her.

Aragaki Ai thought for a moment, "I'm not familiar with that song. I want to use Love Dream or Chopin's Farewell Song."

These two songs are the best he can come up with. No matter what happens, it will be easy for him to take first place in the youth group.

"......." The female pianist was silent for a moment. "No, change it. Are you planning to make a living from these two songs forever? Besides, you'll compare it to Youmu's past performances, which will affect the judges' judgment. Change it."

"Then I'll just moonlight." Aragaki Ai wanted to play it safe. If he didn't have 1,500 points, he would definitely let himself go and try to get first place with his level 6 piano test.

"...How come you've lost your edge at this point?! We're all the same age, and your level is definitely at the top, compared to Minami..."

She glanced at Mu, swallowed her words, and glared at Aragaki Ai, meaning, "I know everything you said to Mori Minami."

Ai Aragaki was at her wit's end and asked, "Teacher, are you really going to play the Mephistopheles Waltz? That's too challenging, isn't it? Can I memorize this piece before the weekend?"

"Then you decide for yourself." Her eyes were sharp, putting pressure on him, forcing him to choose a difficult song that he was not familiar with.

“We ask you to participate in competitions not for the rankings, but for the atmosphere, to push your potential and play better music.

How about the Black Key Etude?

In fact, the songs she chose were all songs that Aragaki Aiwamu could play, but were very difficult and hard to interpret.

He could understand the other party, but he really needed those 1,500 points.

He rubbed his temples. "What about Farewell? Beethoven's Farewell, would that be okay?"

"Which movement?" asked the pianist.

"The first movement."

"I thought you would choose the second movement. Your talent is more suitable for faster music. The allegro in the second movement is very fast, which suits you better."

"No, just the first movement."

Ai Aragaki decided on the repertoire with her and discussed the specific details with her.

Little Mutou stood between the two of them, watching them discuss the weekend's game.

After seeing off the female pianist, he turned his gaze to Mu and smiled.

"Have you had dinner?"

The girl with light green hair shook her head, took his fingers and raised her head.

"Then let's go together."

Ai Aragaki originally wanted to go to the cafeteria, but later she thought it would be okay for her to eat alone, so she took Mutou out to eat.

He didn't make a reservation in advance and went directly to a restaurant downstairs from his office. After entering, he found that most of the people there were young couples.

The restaurant is quite large and the decoration is quite exquisite. Although there are couples here, the tables are far apart and the chairs are semi-enclosed round sofas, which makes it difficult to hear other people's conversations.

Maybe everyone lowered their voices, so it didn't seem very noisy. Under the cover of the violin and piano ensemble over there, there was almost no loud noise.

After the waiter handed over the menu, Aragaki Ai took a glance at it, ordered the dishes, and found that Xiao Mutou was looking at the table next to her.

They were an older couple, probably around twenty years old, and they were feeding each other, taking turns taking a bite, with smiles on their faces.

Mu kept looking at him with a seemingly dull, emotionless expression, so he had no choice but to interlock his fingers with Mu and shake them to attract her attention.

“Not very polite.”

"Oh." She withdrew her gaze and saw other couples out of the corner of her eye. It seemed that everyone was very close to each other.

The girl moved a little towards him, their forearms touching, and then slowly moved a little further.

Ai Aragaki simply sat next to her to prevent her from moving down all the time. This kind of circular sofa would make them sit side by side no matter how they sat.

"Love." She was very happy, with a very faint smile on the corner of her mouth. If someone who was not familiar with her was not familiar with her, she would hardly notice this smile.

"Oh, by the way, you have a show tomorrow, right? How are your preparations going?"

Aragaki Ai thought about this and if there was no such program, she could actually spare two hours of rehearsal time, but then Chuhua would have no free time at all, and she should be given some time to rest.

As an agent, he has a very clear understanding of everyone's schedule.

"No need to play the piano, just stand there."

Mu recalled what Mori Minami had told him, and turned his gaze towards the couple at the next table who were feeding each other.

"like......"

Volume 1: Chapter 104: Fruit

"........"

Ai Aragaki had already guessed that Mutsu also wanted to do that, but it was impossible in public.

She looked away, "No?"

"No," he refused.

The girl lowered her brows, feeling a little disappointed, as she watched the waiter bring the dishes, one portion for each person.

She pulled the boy's hand, "Why?"

"......Mu, do you want me to do that?" He lowered his voice and asked in her ear.

"Ah."

"Not here."

"Oh."

His tone was aggrieved, and Aragaki Ai felt a little bit sorry for him, so she kept controlling her facial muscles.

Mu lowered his head, held the spoon, put the rice into his mouth, and said nothing.

The music playing in my ears was Paganini's, and couples filled the space, creating a completely different atmosphere from here.

I can't stand it.

Aragaki Ai whispered, leaning closer to her and saying, "If you want, wait until we get back."