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

After the second day of the event, when the student council compiled the sales data, all the homeroom teachers understood that Class A of Grade 11 had already secured the victory.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances on the third day, they will undoubtedly secure the title of most popular student at this school festival.

Just as they thought.

There were indeed no unexpected incidents in Class A of Grade 11.

After the third day of the school festival ended, and after verification of the student council's statistics and the confirmation of the homeroom teacher observation team, the school announced the most popular class of this school festival through the school's internal broadcast—Class 1-A!

Upon hearing the results, the students in the class immediately erupted in cheers, expressing their excitement and joy through words and actions.

Then the homeroom teacher, looking very excited, arrived and announced two things.

The first thing is that after school today, it will be the seven-day Golden Week holiday. Students must pay attention to safety when going out.

The second thing is that the class benefits promised before winning the championship will be fulfilled after the holiday to avoid delaying everyone's departure from school.

For students, holidays are the primary motivation.

Driven by the seven-day holiday, the students quickly cleaned the classroom and took care of the follow-up tasks.

After everything was over, Shirakawa Sawa, Takamatsu Akari, and Shiina Tatsuki walked out of the school gate together.

Seeing that it was getting dark, the former suggested that they find a place to eat first, and the other two agreed.

The three then went to a restaurant and sat down.

After ordering, Shirakawa looked at the two people in front of him.

What are your plans for the Golden Week holiday?

Shiina Tatsuki didn't speak, but looked at Takamatsu Akari next to her.

The latter thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"I do not know either."

"I don't have any ideas yet."

During her previous holidays, she would mostly go to places like aquariums and planetariums, going whenever she felt like it, without any plans.

During this holiday, she wanted to get together with her bandmates, but considering that Shiina Tatsuki was still composing, she didn't ask.

Shiina Tatsuki thought for a moment, then spoke.

"The store will be quite busy during Golden Week, and my senior colleague said it would be best if I could go there."

"So I'll probably take a part-time job at the store."

She glanced at the boy opposite her again, her eyes filled with obvious struggle, even a hint of pain.

"Um... Shirakawa-san, I've already had five lessons with Ryo-senpai..."

"But she didn't say how many sections were left..."

She was feeling quite conflicted. On one hand, she didn't want to bother the other party anymore. Although it was ostensibly a resource exchange, she felt that her contribution was the least valuable.

When she decided to learn composition, she also looked into the price of composition classes. For example, a composition class like Yamada Ryo's, which is considered a professional level, costs at least 5000 yen per hour.

But now I can get a lesson just by playing two songs.

Of course, you need to spend time practicing before playing a piece, but compared to composition classes, it's purely physical work and doesn't have much value.

Therefore, she always felt that the so-called resource exchange mentioned by the other party was actually unequal.

However, she now desperately wants to improve her composition skills so that she can create lyrics that match Takasō Tō's.

She couldn't help but recall her days at CRYCHIC, when Toyokawa Shoko, after receiving lyrics written by Takamatsu Akira, confidently declared that she would definitely be able to compose a matching melody.

The confidence that came from having immense strength as its foundation radiated a natural glow, making her, sitting behind the drum set, seem so inconspicuous at the time.

No matter where she was in the space, the spotlight was always on Toyokawa Shoko, even if she was standing in a corner.

Even when I'm in the center of the stage, I'm always overshadowed by the other person's brilliance and become an inconspicuous corner.

That feeling... was like when I was with my older sister, where I was always the center of attention, never the one being noticed.

Just like after CRYCHIC disbanded, everyone was thinking about winning back Toyokawa Shoko, rather than finding someone to replace her.

She admired, or even somewhat revered, the other person's talent.

However, she didn't want to always look up to him.

She didn't want to always exist in the shadow of the other person.

She wanted people to know that she, Shiina Tatsuki, did not stand on the stage because of her sister's fame, nor did she need Toyokawa Shoko to change the score to play better.

Deep down, she always longed for recognition for who she was, rather than having her sister constantly mentioned when people praised her...

So even though it's hard for her to speak now, she still wants to see if she can have a few more lessons.

She wasn't trying to get something for nothing; she would keep this kindness and gratitude to herself and express her thanks properly when she was able to do so.

She didn't want to be left with nothing but a dry thank you after receiving someone's kindness.

Seeing Shiina Tatsuki's expression, Shirakawa Sawa didn't answer immediately. Instead, he took out his phone and checked it before looking at her.

"I've tentatively scheduled ten lessons with Senior Liang."

"if……"

Before he could finish speaking, Shiina Tatsuki quickly interrupted.

"I see."

"Thank you, Shirakawa-kun."

She didn't want to hear anything more; without a doubt, it was something like, "If it's not enough, we can add more."

Such words will only deepen her sense of indebtedness to the other person and her self-blame.

If I were strong enough, why would I need so many class hours?

So she devised her next learning strategy: first, she would study on her own, and when she encountered problems, she would write them down. When the problems accumulated to a certain extent, or when she encountered a critical problem, she would then go to Yamada Ryo.

If Shirakawa Ze knew about this thought, he wouldn't say anything.

But if Yamada Ryo knew, he would definitely be heartbroken and say that your way of learning is wrong, and that you should come to me whenever you encounter a problem, the more problems the better...

As usual, after dinner, the three parted ways at the restaurant entrance. Shirakawa went home by himself, while Shiina Tatsuki and Takamatsu Akari went home together.

When he got near his residence, Shirakawa saw Yutenji Wakanagi's car parked in front of his house.

He walked over, and the other person saw him in the rearview mirror, immediately rolled down the window, stuck their head out, and smiled.

"Ze-kun, I've been waiting for you for so long~"

Book 1: Chapter 93 Difficulty, Practice, and the Head-Up Man

Shirakawa walked to Yutenji Wakana's car, a hint of apology on his face.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

“I didn’t know you were coming today.”

The latter took off his sunglasses and laughed.

"Well, just kidding. Actually, I just arrived and was just about to send you a message."

"I mainly wanted to see if Ze-jun would feel heartbroken after learning that I had been waiting here all alone for half a day..."

Shirakawa Sawa smiled but remained silent, waiting for the other party to continue.

Yutenji Wakana blinked and gestured to the passenger seat.

"Zejun, get in the car first, we can talk as we drive."

Shirakawa Ze nodded, walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, and got in.

After starting the car, Yutenji Wakana spoke at the same time.

"Ze-jun, I've bought all the makeup and styling supplies these past two days. Please check later to see if there's anything that needs adjusting."

"And for that scene with two people, I've already designed the movements. We'll rehearse it in a bit and see how it goes."

Shirakawa Sawa said there was no problem.

The other party's efficiency was higher than he had expected.

Upon arriving at their lodgings, Yutenji Wakana led Shirakawa Sawa directly to the workshop and began showing him all the makeup and styling-related items.

After confirming that there were no problems, she picked up the notebook on the table, turned to the page with the double-person actions written on it, and handed it to Shirakawa Sawa.

"Zejun, take a look and see if these movements are difficult for you."

Shirakawa looked at it and saw that it was just a few simplified dance moves, which didn't seem to require much basic skill.

He picked up his notebook, got up, and tried out the movements. He felt it was okay; it wasn't too difficult. He just needed to practice a few more times to get used to it.

Yutenji Wakana clapped her hands, signaling Shirakawa Sawa to stop.

"Ze-jun, it seems that the movements are not a problem for you. So the next step is the eye contact."

"After all, it's about showing affection, so it's mainly about the eyes."

"So we need to practice the expressiveness of our eyes first."

As she spoke, she stood opposite Shirakawa Sawa.

"Come on, Ze Jun, let's start with something simple."

"Look at me with the same normal look you have when you see someone you like."

"To make it easier to find that feeling, you can look at me while thinking about someone you like."

Shirakawa Sawa nodded, closed his eyes, and thought for a while about Takamatsu Akari.

After gathering his emotions, he opened his eyes and saw a face in front of him that resembled Takasatsu Teng's.

Suddenly, he thought of asking Teacher Da Xiang for help on how to solve the problem, and he couldn't help but laugh.