Oh no! They all seem a bit off!

Chapter 147 First Ensemble

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was Saturday, the day for the K-On! Club's public street performance.

Ji Yexue chose to perform near Shinjuku Station, where there is the highest foot traffic.

In order to attract more people, she even had Akizuki Makoto reveal the schedule of the event on his social media two days in advance.

The news of his upcoming performance at Shinjuku Station immediately attracted widespread attention, with many people saying they would be there on time to watch.

"Shall we gather together for lunch before the performance...?"

Looking at the schedule notification sent by Ji Yexue in the LINE group, Akizuki Makoto said to Touko, who was lying on his lap reading comics, "Touko, get up and change your clothes."

Ever since Dongzi learned that he was going to perform on the weekend, she has been very enthusiastic. Every night, Dongzi would listen to him play the guitar and correct his mistakes.

Even though Dongzi has never learned guitar and can't play it, she can immediately point out if Akizuki Makoto plays a single wrong note and teach him how to play it.

This made Akizuki Makoto sigh inwardly, thinking that she was indeed his proud little sister and a super genius with an intelligence of ten points.

Under Fuyuko's guidance, he gradually learned to sing the song "Unattainable Love" that Shiina Maki was going to sing, and was able to ensure that there would only be three to five wrong notes when playing the song.

After all, it's only a few days. Even if he's a genius, he can't go from a guitar novice to a guitar master in just a few days.

"Good~"

Dongzi happily went to change her clothes, and Qiuyue Cheng also prepared to go out.

Ji Yexue had set the meeting point at a high-end Japanese restaurant near Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, which she probably booked out again.

When Makoto Akizuki took Fuyuko out, Maki Shiina quickly opened her door and pretended to bump into them, setting off together.

Today, Shiina Maki dressed up carefully, wearing the clothes she bought when she went out with Akizuki Makoto before, and her hair was also styled properly.

After all, she was going to be performing on the street, and as the lead singer who was in the absolute center position, if she acted as gloomy as she usually did at school, she would probably be ridiculed.

"Akizuki-kun, w-what should I do? I'm so nervous, I feel like I can't even speak properly."

Sitting in the taxi, Shiina Maki placed her hand on her full breasts, feeling a strong throbbing in her palm.

Akizuki Makoto smiled and comforted her, "Take your time to prepare mentally. There's still some time before the performance starts."

Stage fright is something only you can overcome; relying on others is useless.

Ji Yexue's performance time was set for 3 PM, and it's only a little past 11 AM now.

Four hours is enough time for Maki Shiina to slowly adjust her mindset.

...Although, when Shiina Maki actually stands on the stage and faces the audience, she will probably be so nervous that she will have a stomachache and it will be difficult for her to even speak.

I feel nervous now, and I can't imagine how much psychological pressure Shiina Maki will have to endure when the performance actually takes place.

However, Makoto Akizuki believes that Maki Shiina will definitely be able to sing well in the end, because this is the final test for her.

Shiina Maki has a personality that becomes exceptionally brave and fearless once she makes up her mind and musters her courage.

Just like when she stood up for Akizuki Makoto at the karaoke bar, or when she made up her mind to break away from her family of origin and separate from her mother.

Although she may feel scared and lost, she will definitely be able to muster up the courage in the end.

……

When they arrived at the restaurant that Ji Yexue had booked, everyone else was already there.

Rin Shiraishi and Rie Niijima both live in Shinjuku. After seeing the message from Yuki Himeyasu to gather, they immediately set off to come.

Good afternoon, Qiuyue!

"Good afternoon, Senior Akizuki!"

"Good afternoon."

After exchanging greetings, Akizuki Makoto introduced Fuyuko separately to Shiraishi Rin and Niijima Rie. The two girls seemed to really like Fuyuko and took the initiative to get close to her.

When Akizuki Makoto pulled out a chair and sat down next to Ji Yexue, Ji Yexue asked, "How's your practice going? Can you guarantee you can play it smoothly without making any mistakes?"

"This one……"

After carefully considering his words, Akizuki Makoto smiled, nodded, and replied, "I can guarantee that."

Last night, he used the intermediate-level skills provided by the system to learn guitar.

Now he can not only play the songs that Shiina Maki wants to sing accurately, but he can also learn other songs after playing them a few times.

According to the system, intermediate skills correspond to master and professional levels.

Musical instruments are all about experience and skill. When he used intermediate skills, what came to mind was not only his experience of playing the guitar, but also muscle memory formed in his body.

"Ah."

After receiving a positive reply from Akizuki Makoto, Ji Yexue's reaction was indifferent. She turned to the chef, who was standing behind the bar and dressed in a chef's uniform, and instructed him, "You can serve the dishes now."

In her eyes, Akizuki Makoto was a genius among geniuses, just like her.

Learning to play the guitar in a few days seems impossible to others, but Makoto Akizuki definitely can.

Even the most impossible things become possible for him.

After that, it was lunchtime. Several chefs stood behind the bar, preparing dishes on the spot, while the six of them sat outside the bar.

This is what is called omakase.

However, since Ji Yexue had booked the entire restaurant, the chefs dared not slack off and prepared the dishes with utmost care, carefully observing their reactions.

If anyone frowns or only eats a little and then stops, the chefs will ask what's wrong with their taste and then prepare food according to their preferences.

The person who enjoyed the meal the most was none other than Shiraishi Rin.

She ate a lot, more than twice as much as Akizuki Makoto, a man. Everyone else was full and told the chef to stop cooking, but she was still eating.

Although she felt bad for Ji Yexue, since Ji Yexue was the one who treated her to the meal, she could only eat with a heavy heart, knowing that she would only live until tomorrow night.

After Shiraishi Rin finished eating and rested for a while, Ji Yexue looked at the time displayed on her phone and said, "Let's go to rehearse first. It's only 1:30 now, and we still have an hour and a half."

Led by her, the group left the restaurant, boarded a large van waiting outside, and headed to a pre-arranged professional recording studio.

Sitting in the car, Rie Niijima said excitedly, "I never thought we could go to a professional recording studio. We hadn't even gotten to that point before; we had always rehearsed in the school's activity room."

Once again, she felt that joining the newly formed Light Music Club was the right thing to do.

Although Matsumoto Fumiki advised her to leave the club, otherwise it might disband again due to emotional entanglements, she believed that Himeyasu and Akizuki Makoto were not that kind of people.

"President Ji Ye is really reliable. Thank you for your hospitality today."

Shiraishi Rin was filled with gratitude, because today's lunch was the most delicious and sumptuous meal she had ever eaten in her life.

In fact, she had already expressed her gratitude to Ji Yexue several times before this.

Ji Yexue didn't know what was wrong with Shiraishi Rin. Despite coming from a well-off family and being the young lady of the Shincho Club, she was acting like a pauper, being incredibly grateful for Ji Yexue's invitation. Although they had never had any direct contact before Shiraishi Rin joined the club, based on her investigation, Shiraishi Rin was probably a rude and disrespectful person.

No wonder Akizuki said that Shiraishi Rin had become very strange, as if he had suddenly become a different person.

Even she had this very clear feeling, let alone Akizuki Makoto and Shiina Maki, who had witnessed Shiraishi Rin's wicked side.

After spending these few days together, Shiina Maki's opinion of Shiraishi Rin has changed drastically, and she no longer feels the same fear or apprehension she had before.

Rie Niijima, who knew nothing about Rin Shiraishi's past, became good friends with her and even insisted on forming a band with her for life.

The expression and reaction of Shiraishi Rin when he was invited to form a band for life still seem incredible to them to this day.

Makoto Akizuki still clearly remembers that Rin Shiraishi burst into tears and kept apologizing to Rie Niijima, saying that he couldn't form a band with her for life.

……

Upon arriving at the recording studio, the five of them each took on their respective roles and adjusted the equipment.

Makoto Akizuki took off the guitar he had been carrying and stood to the left of Maki Shiina, with Rie Niijima, who was playing bass, to his right. Yuki Hime and Rin Shiraishi stood behind the three of them.

"Are you all ready?"

"Ready!"

"Then follow my command, three, two, one... Go!"

Under Ji Yexue's direction, the first thing to sound was the synthesized music by keyboardist Shiraishi Rin, followed by her drums, Akizuki Makoto's guitar, and Niijima Rie's bass.

There are two versions of the song "Unreachable Love" sung by Maki Shiina: one is a symphony with drums as the main instrument, and the other is accompanied entirely by guitar.

They were playing a symphonic version, with a rich, full, and mellow tone.

After the intro played for about twenty-two seconds, Maki Shiina took a deep breath, gripped the microphone tightly, and began to sing the lyrics she already knew by heart.

This was their first proper rehearsal, but the process went surprisingly smoothly.

Needless to say, Akizuki Makoto did not mispronounce a single word from beginning to end.

As the drummer leading the rhythm, Ji Yexue's performance was also very stable, with each strike perfectly timed, as precise as a metronome.

Rin Shiraishi also had no problems; as the keyboardist, she felt less pressure on herself with this song.

Even Shiina Maki, who was the most worrisome, was singing well, with a steady and powerful voice that was extremely infectious and emotional.

After all, she had sung this song countless times and had a deep understanding of the lyrics.

"……very good."

As the piece came to a close, even someone as discerning as Ji Yexue couldn't help but acknowledge the high level of quality in the performance.

They've only been in the band for almost a week, so it's quite impressive that they've performed at this level.

However, this is also thanks to the fact that the song sung by Maki Shiina is relatively simple, and a senior artist has already arranged the score for them.

Next, they will face the challenge of creating original compositions.

The university competition organized by the Light Music Association has a strict requirement that participants perform their own original compositions to compete.

Only when they create their own original songs can they be considered a band.

"Akizuki-senpai is amazing! I feel like she could do a guitar solo."

Rie Niijima stared at Makoto Akizuki with sparkling eyes. She had been watching his guitar playing intently throughout the performance.

"You flatter me, I'm still far from good enough."

Akizuki scratched his head and smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

After all, it was thanks to the system's capabilities, not my own hard work and sweat, which is quite embarrassing.

Shiina Maki asked curiously, "Akizuki-kun, can you already play the guitar version?"

"It might work?"

After giving a somewhat uncertain answer, Akizuki Makoto picked up his guitar again and said, "How about I give it a try?"

Although he has never seen sheet music, he now possesses a professional-level guitar skill and can understand how to play a piece after hearing it just once.

After that, he played "Unattainable Love" on the guitar alone, without a single mistake, and the tone was steady and full.

If you had a metronome, you would see that every beat he struck was perfectly accurate, neither too high nor too low.

"I didn't expect you could already play it solo."

After listening to Akizuki Makoto's solo performance, Ji Yexue couldn't help but be somewhat surprised.

The difficulty of ensemble playing and solo playing are completely different. Akizuki Makoto has only been playing the guitar for four days, yet he can play solo. This is beyond the description of a genius among geniuses.

"He's worthy of being the man I've chosen."

Ji Yexue's beautiful eyes, which were filled with vibrant colors, looked at Qiuyue, and the corners of her lips couldn't help but turn up.

She felt proud of Akizuki Makoto's excellence and even wanted to show it off to the whole world.

"The senior is too good. Our previous band's guitarist practiced for two years, but he probably didn't play as well as the senior."

Rie Niijima was deeply shocked; after listening to Makoto Akizuki's guitar solo, her worldview collapsed.

So, that's what geniuses are like? They can do things that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of with ease.

If it were before, and someone told her that she could go from a complete novice to a solo guitarist in just a few days, she would definitely have scoffed.

"Brother is so handsome~"

Dongzi's eyes were also sparkling. She cheered excitedly and rushed into Qiuyue Cheng's arms, rubbing her little head against his chest.

"It's all thanks to Dongzi's excellent teaching."

Akizuki Makoto laughed and placed his hand on Touko's head, gently stroking it.

"Huh? Dongzi taught you?"

Shiina Maki caught the key phrase and exclaimed in surprise, "Touko can play the guitar? And she even taught Akizuki-kun?!"

"Dongzi can't play."

Dongzi shook her head, looking completely innocent, and said, "Dongzi was just correcting my brother's mistake. My brother said that Dongzi has perfect pitch."

"That's wonderful. I also want perfect pitch. It's the ultimate musical talent."

Rie Niijima's eyes were filled with envy as she thought to herself that the Akizuki family had truly excellent genes, not only in appearance but also in their intelligence.

It's hard to imagine how strong their genes must be, and how outstanding their next generation of children must be.

(End of this chapter)