I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

"...I should have been here first."

Her crimson eyes lingered on Xi Wang for a long time, then before he could notice, she moved a few steps to the side, avoiding his gaze.

"I'm late..."

She muttered to herself again.

"Um... Elja, try to be normal, you're scaring me..."

"...With your audacious nature, you're actually afraid?!"

After a moment of silence, Erjia ruthlessly mocked her best friend again.

"Phew... I feel much more at ease hearing that you can say that about me."

Are you looking for a fight?

"Hmm... well... if it's you, it's not impossible..."

"Get out, I don't want to be drawn into your notebook."

"How did you know? Hey, wait a minute, don't go! How about I draw you prettier? I can even change your figure~"

"roll!!!"

Chapter Twelve: The Rain Falls at Night (6467)

Although you were ultimately "captured" by Eden, somewhat unexpectedly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, you two got along very well. Despite not exchanging many words, your relationship was rapidly growing closer.

[That makes sense. You two act very similarly, have compatible personalities, and share a passion for music. It's quite reasonable that you became friends so quickly.]

Even so, you still keep your distance from Eden... Just as you said, she's too dazzling, not someone you should get close to, and the difference in your social standing is undeniable. Getting too close... wouldn't be good for you.

[You know very well that if you get too close to Eden in your current situation... it will definitely bring you trouble. Others might not go after Eden because of her status and family background, at most they might gossip about her in secret, but they can bully you at will.]

Anyway, at most you'll just have to ask the school for help. As long as you do it discreetly, you'll be fine. And if all else fails... some people's connections will make the school hesitant to punish you too severely.

So at school, you still try to avoid Eden as much as possible, partly to avoid causing yourself more trouble, and partly to prevent Eden from getting involved in any unfounded rumors—you're very familiar with this kind of thing.

However, Eden didn't seem to care about any of this... or perhaps she hadn't noticed it?

No… looking at the other students around her, behaving obediently and sweetly, and speaking with the utmost politeness and kindness, you dismissed your previous guess.

Eden herself might not care about those rumors, but... she didn't need to, because others wouldn't show it in front of her, they wouldn't even show their dislike for her... They did this simply to avoid Eden developing a bad impression of them, nothing more.

This is truly... disgusting.

However, compared to others, Eden does prefer to communicate with you, preferably just the two of you... because here, you are basically the only one "similar" to her, and after vaguely sensing the students' rejection of you, she actually wants to communicate with you even more.

Because when you're together, you can avoid most verbal communication and instead "communicate" through music, which is simpler and more expressive... This is undoubtedly the happiest thing for Eden.

Although you and Eden don't usually object to others joining in, whenever someone else has to ask, while you understand immediately, Eden can't help but smile at you, showing a little bit of... "favoritism" towards you.

[But this often leads to another consequence... when others see Eden with you, and even seeming happy, they inevitably feel some... "jealousy" towards you.]

[Especially when they try to join you, but after a piece ends and they want to speak, they get a somewhat disappointed look from Eden, while you continue playing, and Eden's eyes will be filled with joy when he looks at you, and he will naturally join in your music...]

Anyone can see that your relationship is rapidly growing closer, and anyone can see that Eden prefers to be with you... and as more and more people try to join in, Eden is increasingly showing his desire to be alone with you.

There's no way around it; compared to you, who can quickly understand her and communicate with her through music, the brilliance of others pales in comparison, and their colors seem somewhat dim in comparison to yours... This is what they call "no comparison, no harm," isn't it?

Naturally, their dislike for you deepened... You got used to it and didn't care anymore, because your focus was more on Eden than on them.

You can sense Eden's friendliness towards you, and her growing affection for you as time goes by... because she has found someone "like her," a "companion" who can be described as walking the same "path."

And you're willing to reciprocate with friendliness, and as time goes by, you're also willing to get closer to her... However, you still maintain a certain distance.

[Nothing more than the malice emanating from others... They naturally wouldn't target you too much in front of Eden, but... it's a different story when Eden can't see you.]

Even though Eden occasionally sensed that something was amiss, even though Eden noticed the other students' rejection of you, even though Eden tried to persuade others not to hold such prejudices against you, it was all in vain.

They remain the same; they behave slightly better in front of Eden, but behind his back they still harbor malice towards you. In fact, because of Eden's words, this malice is gradually deepening, showing signs of intensifying.

[And this escalating malice... will eventually lead to a very, very bad consequence once it reaches a certain point.]

--------

????~

"Hmph~?"

The lighthearted melody and cheerful singing echoed in the hall. People living under the same roof sat around Xi Wang, listening to his cheerful tune while playing around.

When the song ended, everyone cheerfully applauded and cheered, making Xi Wang feel a little embarrassed... However, he had gotten used to everyone's enthusiasm over the past few days.

"Kid, has something good happened to you lately? You've been having a lot of fun."

Someone asked this with a smile.

"Of course! [Record Player] has definitely met someone good! And it's definitely related to a girl. Let me tell you, [Record Player] is always so happy when he goes to the music school to practice. He's obviously got a companion!"

The other man, while joking, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and was about to light it.

"Smoking (swear words), the record player is going to play, and Gin is here too. If they both cough later, I'll beat you up."

Li stepped forward and snatched the cigarette from the man's mouth, snapping it in half with a flick of his finger and tossing it into the trash can.

"No!! Boss, you can't do this!"

"What are you yelling about? I haven't even hit you yet (swearing)."

"Boss, this is pure revenge! And what's that in your mouth, boss?!"

"Lollipop, what's up?"

Li expressionlessly pulled the stick out of his mouth, revealing the pale blue candy on it, and then reached out and tapped the man on the head.

"I told you not to smoke at this time, not to smoke at this time! Don't you ever learn?! You're asking for a beating!"

"Haha... Brother Li, you don't have to do that... I don't particularly hate the smell of smoke."

Xi Wang said with a smile as she packed up the instruments.

"Don't worry about them."

Yin, who was sitting on the sofa, spoke in a tone that remained largely unchanged.

"If you want to sing, staying in a smoky environment for a long time will damage your voice and lungs. You can't let them ruin your future artistic career."

She curled up slightly, adjusted the laptop on her lap, and spoke as she typed.

"Besides, I don't like the smell of smoke either... It would be good for them to quit smoking."

Her almost imperceptible pale blue pupils shifted slightly as she looked at the oak tree beside her.

"At least I won't smell so bad anymore... and my breath won't smell so foul either. It'll taste sweet, which is nice."

"Wow--"

"What are you looking at (swear words) for? Why are you making a fuss? Looking for a beating?"

Facing the meaningful looks from the crowd, Li, with a lollipop in his mouth, waved his fists in the air, pretending to threaten.

“If you shout again, I’ll beat you up and then kick you out… Also, all of you better watch yourselves. Go smoke somewhere else, and don’t swear indoors, understand? Don’t make me say it a second time.”

"What if you smoke indoors, boss?"

One person raised his hand high, a mocking smile on his face, and asked loudly.

"It's okay, I'll beat him up."

Yin's gaze remained fixed on the computer screen, and then he spoke in a calm and unhurried tone, saying something that everyone would like to hear.

"Great!!!"

"If you keep making noise, I'll beat you up!"

Li swung his fist again, somewhat annoyed, trying to maintain his intimidating presence... but it was no use, at least not now, since Yin and Xiwang were both there, and Li wasn't going to just start beating them up.

Although others didn't quite understand why Li liked Xiwang so much... even though he often helped out, learned some cooking skills and would occasionally cook for everyone, would give away small items when he had spare money, would sing for everyone whenever he had free time, and would even accept song requests. If he didn't know a song, he would even learn it and sing it for everyone.

To be considerate of everyone's status, he even went to Li to learn the language so that he could understand the "idioms" spoken in everyone's hometown dialects... Well, now that you mention it, Xi Wang is indeed very likable, because everyone has seen his efforts and everyone has enjoyed the help that Xi Wang has given them.

Therefore, everyone was willing to reciprocate with friendliness and make some changes for Xiwang... Even though most of the boys here had a smoking habit, after learning that excessive smoke might damage Xiwang's voice, everyone accepted Li's new rule of "no smoking indoors"... They had received so much help from Xiwang, so they should at least give back to Xiwang in some way, and at least not ruin Xiwang's future path because of them.

However... smoking addiction is not so easy to quit. It's very difficult to get them to completely change this bad habit. But asking them to give up listening to music around Xi Wang and go outside to smoke... is something they are unwilling to do.

There was no other way; many of them wanted Xi Wang to sing specific songs. If you wanted to hear a song you wanted, you had to stay by Xi Wang's side and "request" it from him, otherwise the others would definitely jeer and take the song away from you.

It's similar to the feeling of [you've ordered songs at a karaoke bar, but then you go to the restroom and come back to find that someone else has taken your place, so you can't sing your favorite song. And if you want to order a new song, you'll have to be at the very back of the queue, and you might not even get to sing it by the time you leave].

Basically, people are in a state of "feeling uncomfortable if they don't smoke a song, feeling uncomfortable all day if they do smoke", so they would rather endure their nicotine cravings and wait until the song they requested is finished before going outside to smoke, rather than miss their song just to relieve their cravings.

But... sure enough, the craving for cigarettes was still a bit unpleasant.

"Boss, do you have any more candy?"

The man who had just tried to smoke but failed clicked his tongue and asked.

"It's okay not to smoke now, but it's really uncomfortable not to have something in my mouth."

"That's all, you can buy it yourself."

Li pouted and refused without hesitation.

"Ah, I have some here..."

"Don't give them the record player; let them buy their own."

"It's okay. I love sweets, so I often buy a lot... but I can't eat them all the time, it's bad for my teeth. I can share them with everyone."

Xi Wang smiled and placed a box of candy on the table, intending to leave it there for anyone who needed it or had a craving. She then took out a bag of lollipops and gave one to everyone present, earning their thanks.

"Thank you, [the record player]."

Yin also had one, but she simply thanked him and then, without turning her head, reached out and handed the candy in her hand to Li, who was standing next to her.

Li understood, helped her unpack the package, and then fed it to Yin... This action naturally caused another commotion.

Seeing such a harmonious atmosphere, Xi Wang smiled happily, then moved her instrument back to her room, said goodbye, and went out to the music store to practice.

"........."

After Xi Wang left, the room fell into a brief silence. Then everyone quickly got to work, packed their things, and sat down together.

"Hey, isn't [Jacques Player] going to a competition soon? He's definitely going to win a prize. What do you guys think we should get as a celebratory gift?"