In music anime, band girls won't be alone.

She felt her mind was in a mess, as if she couldn't quite figure things out.

She picked up the bill, glanced at it, and left.

When I opened the door to my home, I saw my mother sitting on the sofa, with luxury brand packaging bags on the table in front of her.

"Mother?"

A hint of surprise appeared in Nagasaki Motoyo's eyes. She subconsciously tried to put on a smile and pretend nothing was wrong, but she failed because her heart was too heavy.

Seeing her daughter's somber expression, Nagasaki's mother immediately got up, went over, and hugged her tightly, her eyes filled with concern.

"Xiao Su Shi, what's wrong?"

Why do you look unhappy?

Nagasaki Motoyo shook her head slightly, forcing a smile.

"I'm fine, Mother."

Nagasaki's mother led her to sit on the sofa, then cupped her face in her hands and looked at her intently.

"Xiao Su Shi, you can tell Mommy anything, and Mommy will help you find a solution."

"Did someone bully you?"

Nagasaki Motoyo shook her head again.

"No one bullies me."

Nagasaki's mother hugged her tightly, her gaze drifting to the luxury items on the table.

"I admit that I have been focusing too much on my work and neglecting my little Su Shi."

"And there's very little time to have a heart-to-heart talk with you."

"Actually, I had to cancel a social engagement today, so I'm very happy that I was able to come back early. I rushed to buy you these gifts to celebrate the start of your high school life."

"I thought I could give Xiaosushi a surprise..."

Feeling her mother's warm embrace and this rare moment of tenderness, Nagasaki Motoyo was overwhelmed by a torrent of suppressed emotions, and tears streamed down her face.

"Mother...I..."

Nagasaki's mother took out a tissue and gently wiped away her tears, her voice soft.

"It's alright, Xiao Su Shi, you can talk whenever you want, I'll always be willing to listen."

After calming down a bit, Nagasaki Motoyo lifted her head from her mother's arms, looked at the only person she could rely on at the moment, and decided to ask her for help.

"Mother, do you remember when I was in the third year of junior high school, I joined a band?"

Nagasaki's mother nodded.

"Of course I remember. When I first joined, Xiao Su Shi was very happy every day."

"Is it because of the band that you're sad today?"

Nagasaki Motoyo lowered her eyes.

"The band fell apart months ago."

“Now the members don’t keep in touch much anymore, and they even deliberately avoid each other.”

A look of surprise appeared in Nagasaki's mother's eyes.

"Oh no~ how could this happen?"

Nagasaki Motoyo shook her head.

“I don’t know why Xiangzi left suddenly. Xiao Mu should have known, but she didn’t want to tell me.”

"Dengjiang thought it was her fault and stopped contacting us. Lixi also left..."

Looking at her daughter, who was showing weakness for the first time since they moved, Nagasaki's mother felt a pang of guilt.

Because of her well-behaved and sensible nature, it's easy to overlook the fact that she's just a teenager.

No matter how mature she is, she will still have her own growing pains and problems, and she will also have difficulties in solving them.

The Nagasaki mother held her daughter's hand and listened quietly to her story.

"Because from beginning to end, none of us have sat down together for a proper chat, so I wanted to try to get in touch with everyone so that we could all sit down together and have a face-to-face conversation."

"If there are problems, we will solve them; if there are ideas, we will discuss them."

"But reality is more difficult than I imagined. Besides Xiangzi, I can't get in touch with another key person, Dengjiang. Even if I do get in touch, we can't meet."

"I recently met a friend of Deng Jiang's, and I just met him. I wanted to ask him to help me arrange to meet Deng Jiang, but he refused."

"This is the best method I can find right now, but it's not working."

"So... I don't know what to do now..."

After listening to her story, a thoughtful look appeared in Nagasaki's mother's eyes.

"Xiao Su Shi, is this friend of Deng Jiang you mentioned related to the band you used to be in?"

Nagasaki Motoyo shook her head.

"It doesn't matter."

"He and Dengjiang are classmates, but they only met after the start of this semester."

Nagasaki's mother nodded.

"So, with what kind of mindset did you approach others with your help?"

"Try to put yourself in his shoes. If you were him, would you help him?"

Nagasaki Motoyo was startled, feeling as if her mother had seen through her very soul.

Nagasaki's mother continued, her expression gradually turning serious.

“I know you really want to repair your relationship with your former bandmates, but you also need to change your approach.”

"For example, when you ask someone for help, even if that person has nothing to do with your previous band, asking them for help is essentially forcing them to do something their friend doesn't want to do, which actually hurts their relationship."

"If everything goes well after you meet, that's fine. But if things don't go well, he'll be in a very difficult position, caught in the middle."

"So it's only natural that they would reject you."

“Xiao Su Shi, I think you’re being a little too concerned about your own feelings in this matter.”

"Moreover, you acted too hastily and didn't consider many things."

Nagasaki Motoyo was speechless upon hearing her mother's words.

The seriousness in Nagasaki's mother's eyes softened slightly, revealing a gentle look.

"Xiao Su Shi, if you really need him to act as a bridge between you and the original band members, you have to make him your friend first. Otherwise, he has no right or reason to help you, understand?"

"The friends I'm talking about aren't the kind of fair-weather friends you just have for show, but the kind of friends you can truly confide in."

"Since this has just happened, I should quickly go and apologize to them to ease the tension."

Nagasaki Motoyo nodded, said "thank you" to her mother, and then got up and went into her bedroom.

Volume 1: Chapter 24 Is this considered having dinner together?

Shirakawa Sawa, who was watching a live performance at STARY, received a message from Nagasaki Motoyo.

"I'm really sorry, Shirakawa-kun. What I said this afternoon was a bit too personal, and I didn't consider your feelings."

"If you have time tomorrow, I would like to invite you to lunch so I can express my apologies to you in person."

After reading the message, Shirakawa turned off the screen and put away his phone.

At 10 p.m., all of STRRY's performances ended. After saying goodbye to Nijika Ijichi and Ryo Yamada, Shirakawa Sawa left the performance hall and slowly walked towards his accommodation.

After walking for a while, he took out his phone and sent a message to Nagasaki Motoyo.

"I appreciate your kind intentions, but there's no need for a meal."

Less than a minute later, the other party replied with a message.

"Thank you for your understanding. Please feel free to contact me if there is anything I can do to help you in the future."

Shirakawa did not reply, put away his phone, and walked towards the convenience store not far away.

I didn't eat dinner because I was watching a live show that night.

Then I remembered that I still had a system task to complete, so I bought two rice balls and planned to eat them in the park in front of the park, which would count as completing the task.

Although it's called a park, it's actually quite small, with only a perfunctory artificial hill, some common flowers and plants, and some standard facilities like slides, parallel bars, and horizontal bars.

Upon reaching the park entrance, Shirakawa Sawa saw someone sitting on a bench inside, with their back to the park gate.

This piqued his curiosity.

As he entered the park and got closer, the dim streetlights helped him see things more clearly.

Although the person's back was to him and his face was not visible, he could tell from the long blue hair, the two strands of hair tied with ribbons at his temples, and the plain clothes that had been washed too many times and were now hardened and faded, that this was Toyokawa Shoko.

"classmate……"

Shirakawa Sawa maintained a distance of two meters and made a sound.

Then he saw Toyokawa Shoko's body tense up instantly, followed by a gesture of raising her hand to wipe her face.

Then the other person turned around and looked at him.

It really was Toyokawa Shoko.

Although visibility was poor at night, Shirakawa Sawa could still see that Toyokawa Shoko's eyes were filled with tears that she hadn't wiped away.

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

Shirakawa Sawa spoke again.

Toyokawa Shoko remained expressionless, her voice carrying a hint of coldness.