I play wind instruments in Kansai

It's alright, Miyamine Nozomi thinks the chair will be very happy.

If I could, I'd like to be a chair in my next life.

"Don't say that, Shiraishi-senpai. You should think of yourself first, then the club," Erika Toda said with a smile.

Hitomi Shiraishi lowered her head and gently pressed her left thumb, saying:

"I have never thought about the club's well-being; this kind of club won't last long."

Her words immediately surprised Erika Toda, who glanced at Nozomi Miyamine somewhat bewilderedly and said:

"Is this...?"

Indeed, judging from the club's current performance, Shiraishi-senpai is not wrong, and she cannot refute it with a clear conscience.

"Xiaotong?"

A sound came from the doorway. Kirishima Ruka stood there, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear to highlight her delicate and pretty face.

Hitomi Shiraishi nodded slightly, packed up her piccolo, and headed outside with her instrument.

Kirishima Ruka smiled politely at the two people inside the room.

When she and Hitomi Shiraishi entered the corridor, she let out a long sigh, as if trying to expel the pent-up emotions that had been building up in her lungs:

"Xiaotong, you should at least try to get along better with the people in the club and do things your own way. I can't keep helping you forever."

Following behind her, Shiraishi Hitomi parted her lips slightly, glanced to the side, and whispered:

"What should we do with Ryuka?"

Kirishima Ruka immediately composed herself, frowning slightly as she said:

"What does that mean? Of course I'll take care of myself; I'm not a child anymore."

"Then why did you go to Gongling, Liuge?"

"—!"

As if her sore spot had been hit, Kirishima Ruka's throat moved slightly, almost uncontrollably.

"These are the people we need to win over in order to get to the conference. Hitomi, you should know how much I love wind instruments."

Hitomi Shiraishi didn't speak; her heart was pounding, and she felt a persistent itch deep in her throat.

"Don't push yourself too hard, it's okay even if you don't perform," Kirishima Ruka said calmly. "Just focus on practicing your piccolo."

Shiraishi Hitomi's gaze fell on the exposed thighs beneath Kirishima Ruka's skirt, and she asked:

"Should I go to the oboe section?"

Kirishima Ruka glanced back at her, a hint of guilt flickering in the depths of her eyes:

"It depends on Kato-kun's situation before the conference, if you'd like."

"Um."

"Ah, you're both here."

Gu Huayin walked over quickly, her beautiful and charming face full of concern.

"Want to go out and have some fun after practice this afternoon? We haven't been to karaoke in ages, and I haven't organized any parties since you two came back."

The girl's gentle words tugged at Kirishima Ruka's eardrums, but she simply shook her head and said:

"No need, you'd be better off using that time to practice more."

Gu Huayin blinked her bright eyes and gently rubbed the strands of hair on her chest with her fingers, saying:

"I just felt that since we were finally able to be together, I was wondering if we could..."

"No need. As long as we achieve something in the future, our relationship will only get better and better."

Kirishima Ruka said calmly.

"If I don't achieve good results, then there's no reason for me to stay in the brass band, and you know that."

"Hmm..."

Guanyin carefully observed her face; her full breasts rose and fell with her breath. She glanced around and, seeing no other members present, finally said…

"But, Ryuka, do you really think we can make it to the national tournament? That's simply impossible."

Hitomi Shiraishi stood obediently in place, her gaze shifting back and forth between the two.

"My goal has never been the national wind ensemble competition, just the ensemble competition."

Kirishima Ruka said abruptly,

"I only need to bear the burden of the lives of the selected few; I don't care about the others at all."

"Ryuka..." Shiraishi Hitomi's eyes gleamed as she raised her hand to cover her mouth.

A strange mix of surprise and worry rose in Tani Hana's heart, like eating plump clam meat mixed with fine sea sand.

"I guess that includes me?" she asked.

Kirishima Ruka glanced at her, her fair and delicate face expressionless, her fingers gripping the hem of her skirt as she whispered:

"If the club you manage continues to be like this, no amount of talking will help."

"Seeing the three of you standing together, it seems that the future of our wind band is truly bright."

The three turned their gazes and saw Liu Mujie walking slowly towards them with her arms crossed. She seemed not to have heard what the three were saying earlier.

But in Liu Mujie's mind, Minister Gu Hua was no longer a good person.

"I don't want to argue with you." Kirishima Ruka stood up straight, her alluring breasts and buttocks particularly prominent under her uniform.

Willowwood Lamp stepped forward, glaring at him with annoyance, its voice deep and resonant as it came from its throat:

"Do you think I wanted this? Did you have Gu Hua-senpai say something to me? Or did she do it herself?"

"Hmm?" Kirishima Ruka looked at Tani Hanane beside her.

Faced with Liu Mujie's complaint, she twisted her hair, somewhat at a loss, and forced a stiff smile, saying:

"This has nothing to do with Ryuka; I did it myself."

"What did you do?" Kirishima Ruka asked.

Even though Kanon was a senior for three years, she didn't act like a senior at all in front of Ruka Kirishima. To outsiders, she was actually three levels below her.

"that is......."

Tani Hana's gaze wandered aimlessly in the air, and she rubbed her hair harder, as if she were so nervous that she wanted to turn her hair into brown powder.

"She wants me to choose between you and Daidouji-senpai in the future," Yuuto Yanagi said bluntly.

Kirishima Ruka's clear gaze swept over Tani Hanon, leaving her speechless for a moment, her throat moving up and down in a smooth curve.

After a while, she finally spoke with a tense expression:

"Why would I do something like this? Do you think I'd be grateful to you for it?"

"I'm just trying to avoid unnecessary trouble. Although the Holy Son's alternate account is good, in my heart, Ryuga, your alternate account is the strongest."

"Stop being so delusional."

Kirishima Ruka glanced at the sharp gaze, causing her to slow her breathing by half a beat.

"I don't need you to do these things."

Gu Huayin raised her hand to her chest and said somewhat anxiously:

"Because it's more convenient this way, isn't it? Everyone can notice you, notice how outstanding you are—"

Kirishima Ruka turned to the side and said in a more serious tone:

"What's so great about me? They'll just think I'm a bad person. I've been trying my best to get rid of that idea since I joined the club, but you're only making that impression more ingrained!"

It was as if everyone was being manipulated to make her the center of attention.

Gu Huayin was speechless after hearing what she said, and lowered her head in a sullen mood.

"Hmm..."

Hitomi Shiraishi seemed to want to say something, but the words remained stuck in her throat.

"Listen, I don't care about that. I'll choose the people in my own way. I didn't come to you to complain."

Willowwood Lamp's tone remained relentless.

"I'm warning you, don't look for Gongling again."

"What?"

Kirishima Ryuka was taken aback; she had never imagined that the Willow Wood Lantern Festival would discuss a man so openly.

In the past, she rarely mentioned boys' names, let alone such ambiguous topics.

"If he gets involved with you, there will definitely be a dark period in his life."

Willowwood Lamp narrowed its eyes slightly, its gaze sharp as it spoke.

"If you have any self-awareness, you should keep your distance from him."

Her words were undeniable. Kirishima Ruka crossed her arms, her nails digging into the skin of her arm, causing a sharp, piercing pain.

It should be refuted, but what's the point of refuting it?

Kirishima Ruka understood one thing: she and Yanagi Yuuka could never go back to the way they were before; this girl no longer trusted her at all.

The two had a good relationship since childhood, and the three of them, including Hitomi Shiraishi, often played together and joined the same brass band in elementary school.

But things are different now.

But even so...

"I won't agree to that."

Kirishima Ruka stared directly at her and said,

"This is something that Miyamune should say to me in person, not that you, Kiyotomi."

"ha?"

Willowwood Lamp frowned in displeasure, tilting its head slightly.

"Don't you know how many people you've harmed?"

"Ugh—!"

Kirishima Ruka's dark pupils flickered a few times, her body stiffened, her long eyelashes trembled repeatedly, and two red blushes burned on her cheeks.

But it wasn't shyness; it was anger and shame.

The faces of parents, friends, teachers, and all sorts of people kept surfacing from the depths of her memory, almost breaking through Kirishima Ruka's mental defenses.

"—!"

She made an indistinct sound in her throat, then lowered her head and ran away quickly.

"Junior Liu Mu! Don't say things like that!"

Seeing that Kirishima Ruka had run away after being scolded, Tani Hanane quickly said sternly.

"You don't understand anything at all!"

Willowwood Lamp's imposing presence was in no way inferior to anyone's, and his tone remained clear and bright:

"Of course I understand. I was abandoned by Kirishima and could only stand there stupidly on the stage. I hated her to death back then."

Shiraishi Hitomi paused in her breathing, and finally spoke, but her voice sounded extremely weak:

"Ugh... Jie Deng, don't do that."

Willowwood lamp spoke without any mercy, its right eyebrow twitching:

"Xiaotong, you're the same. You're like a pet that was abandoned and is now wagging its tail, begging to be adopted again. Don't you have any thoughts about this yourself?"

The feminine smile that Gu Huayin used to give her members was gone from her face, replaced by a cold expression, and her voice had lost its former affectation:

"Junior Liu Mu, don't say such malicious things. Apologize to Xiao Tong."

"Why should I? What did I say wrong?" Willow Wood Lamp said.

Gu Huayin frowned, clenched her fists, and scolded:

"Apologize! I demand an apology from you on behalf of the minister and my senior! Isn't that enough?!"

She rarely showed such a demeanor; in fact, Liu Mujie Deng had never seen her like this since she enrolled in school.

"Absolutely not, not even if I'm about to die, I will not change my mind."

Seeing that Liu Mujiedeng didn't apologize, Gu Huayin's tense face relaxed, because she was completely helpless and could only frown and say sadly:

"Liuge was already very upset, and now you want to make Xiaotong upset too? Do you know how much these words will hurt them both?"

"So what? What does it matter to me if that guy cries?" said Yuki Yuki.

Gu Huayin stood frozen in place, like a frame of a film paused, a look of sadness on her face. She pursed her lower lip and said...

"That's too much."

After she finished speaking, she walked away with a distressed face and quickly disappeared into the stairwell.

"Ku-hua." Shiraishi Hitomi opened her mouth, but her voice was not loud.

"I'm not wrong. I wasn't the one who treated this like a joke in the first place; it was them who said they wanted to form a brass band for life. Kirishima destroyed that promise herself. Weren't they just trying to fool me? What's the meaning of this now?"

Willow Knot Lantern gritted his teeth and continued speaking dismissively.

"The brass band club isn't a place for child's play, Hitomi. You're all grown up now. You should be able to judge for yourself who to get close to and who to stay away from. Why do you think so highly of them all?"

Hitomi Shiraishi glanced to the side without answering.

Seeing that she remained silent, Liu Mujie Deng, though accustomed to her personality since childhood, still felt a surge of anger within him with nowhere to vent it.

"What annoys me the most is that you're still with Kirishima now, which makes it seem like I'm the one who did something wrong."

Shiraishi Hitomi slumped her shoulders and said weakly:

"sorry."

"I've had enough of what you're saying. If she does anything to you, I won't help you."

"......"

On the side, Miyamine Nozomi was half-squatting, while Toda Erika squatted directly on the ground, hugging herself like a ball.

As the two came out of the vocal practice room, they heard Captain Gu Hua's "apology!"

Out of curiosity, they deliberately came over to peek, like squirrels hiding in secret.

"What happened? Why did Minister Tanihana run away? Did they have a fight?" Erika Toda whispered.

Miyamine Nozomi wasn't sure either, but Toda-senpai's body scent was quite pleasant.

"I feel like Liu Mu's attitude towards Captain Gu Hua is really bad. This won't do; she might be targeted!"

Erika Toda is very concerned about Yuito Yanagi's future status within the club.

"It's alright, Daidouji-senpai shouldn't let that happen."

Gongling Wang said,

"Liu Mu told me that Daidouji-senpai isn't that kind of bad person."

"Hmm... what are they saying? Shiraishi-senpai's voice is too soft..."

Erika Toda cautiously peeked out, but Yuuki Yanagi's sixth sense was so strong that she immediately turned her head and met her gaze.

The two-year-old squirrel was so frightened that it quickly shrank back, its body instinctively leaning backward, and the back of its head almost hit the lower half of Gongling Wang's body.

"Ugh—!"

"Junior Gongling! I think I've been seen! What should I do?!"

She didn't sense anything amiss at all; instead, she said in a panic...

"Say something! What do we do? Should we run?"

Gong Lingwang gritted his teeth, made a shushing gesture at her, and walked out despite the hidden pain.

"it's me."

Willow Wood Lamp said rather dejectedly:

"You're wearing a skirt? And you have shoulder-length hair?"

"Uh...is it okay?" Miyamine asked awkwardly, clenching his fist.

Willow Knot Lantern rolled his eyes and shouted at the people over there, "Come out, I saw you."

Gong Lingwang had no choice but to wave at her.

"Uh, hehe, just passing by, just passing by..." Erika Toda said awkwardly.