Aspiring to be a girl in a band

Seeing that the light looked very disappointed, Ai-yin quickly comforted him.

"I don't think it's the light's fault at all."

The lamp, which had been drooping, lifted its head again.

Seeing that her comforting words had worked, Ai Yin smiled and pressed her advantage, continuing to speak.

"Because... 【Spring Shadow】is a great song. Soyo showed me videos of your rehearsals before. I can feel that Toki must have poured all her hopes and passion into singing it so well."

Aine's energetic words were like a shot of adrenaline for the lamp.

And then the lamp finally smiled.

"And what about you, Aine?"

Arakawa Kirika's gaze shifted to Aine.

"Uh... me... of course I have one too."

Ai Yin paused for a moment.

Because for her, the thing she regrets most recently is going to study in the UK.

Ai Yin really didn't want to talk about that time she spent studying abroad.

She wasn't bad at English; on the contrary, she achieved excellent results in the school's English tests.

But it wasn't until she actually went abroad that Ai Yin realized that communicating in English and doing English exercises are completely different concepts.

In addition, many of one's own habits, which are taken for granted, often lead to various misunderstandings or become a joke in the eyes of foreigners.

In short... unable to adapt to life as a student abroad, Ai Yin sheepishly returned to China.

"Is that so?"

Seeing Aine's hesitant manner, Arakawa Kirika did not force Aine to reveal her embarrassing past.

She just felt a little better.

Because she already knew that others would also regret it.

"So, what do you usually do after you regret it?"

Arakawa Kirika continued to ask, a question that had been troubling her all day.

From a perspective unseen by Akari and Aine, Arakawa Kirika was scratching the back of her hand, injuring herself to relieve her inner turmoil—a practice she consistently employed.

The lamp was silent for a moment, then answered before Aine could.

“I want to apologize to Xiangzi. Although Aine said it wasn’t my fault, I still want to talk to Xiangzi.”

An apology...

Arakawa Kirika frowned.

This was a proposal she absolutely could not accept.

Although she felt regretful... she would never show weakness, and she would never apologize.

Then she looked at Aine.

When Aine met Arakawa Kirika's gaze, she became visibly nervous, but still managed to articulate her thoughts clearly.

"As for me... if it's just my own business, I'll probably choose to forget it selectively... after all, if my mind is always tied to the unspeakable past, life will become very difficult, won't it?"

As Aine spoke, she also observed Arakawa Kirika's expression.

She noticed that after she finished speaking, Arakawa Kirika only frowned.

In that instant, Aine suddenly felt she understood why Arakawa Kirika had brought up the topic of "regret" with Akari and herself today.

Arakawa-san... has she started to regret doing something really awful to someone...?

Based on her understanding of Arakawa Kirika's personality, Aine deduced the correct answer.

Arakawa-san doesn't seem very satisfied with what Akari said... which makes sense. Her personality clearly shows that even if she's wrong, she absolutely refuses to apologize... um...

In that case...

Aine knew what to say.

"But if I accidentally say something wrong and hurt someone... I might think about making up for my mistake."

Ai-yin spoke cautiously.

The lamp looked at Aine with some confusion.

The lamp could not imagine that Aine would hurt others.

But Aine just winked playfully at the light, signaling her not to worry about it.

Clearly, Aine's words finally touched Arakawa Kirika and pointed her in the right direction.

"To make amends..."

Arakawa Kirika murmured the word, and then her eyes finally softened.

She stood up, then walked to the lamp and hugged it.

"Light, I've been thinking about some troublesome things all day and neglected you, which must have made you very sad."

The lamp's defenses had been breached by Arakawa Kirika's embrace, and it stood frozen in place, not daring to move.

After a brief embrace, Arakawa Kirika released the light and then reached out to ruffle Aine's hair.

Arakawa Kirika did not show obvious affection to the pink-haired girl who saw right through her thoughts, as she did to the lamp.

"..."

"Thank you."

After saying just two words, Arakawa Kirika returned to her seat.

……

After school, Arakawa Kirika left the classroom immediately. She knew that Toyokawa Shoko hadn't come to school today, so she headed straight for the school gate.

Volume 1: Chapter 76 The Visit to the Sick

At dusk.

The sun cast its last rays of warmth upon the old building, as if painting it a layer of orange paint.

Arakawa Kirika felt the creaking noise of her footsteps on the dilapidated wooden stairs.

She arrived at the door, then naturally took out a key that someone had made for her, and easily opened the door.

It felt as comfortable as walking into my own home.

A foul smell of alcohol hits you.

This made her frown.

Upon entering the room, one finds various bottles of liquor scattered on the floor, leaving almost no room to step.

The atmosphere inside the house was completely devoid of warmth; instead, it felt cold and damp.

She... she actually lived in such an environment?

Arakawa Kirika was genuinely shocked. If she put herself in Arakawa Kirika's shoes, she knew she wouldn't be able to last even a day in such an environment.

She stepped over the bottles, not wanting to disturb anyone.

"The small room to the right after entering..."

She kept repeating the location of Xiangzi's room that someone had told her.

Arakawa Kirika stood by Xiangzi's bedside for a long time.

Xiangzi was fast asleep, with a damp towel covering her head to cool her down. Her face was flushed, and her condition had clearly worsened compared to yesterday.

Was it because the continuous travel caused the condition to worsen?

Arakawa Kirika thought to herself.

She sat down next to Xiangzi and then touched his face with her hand.

There's absolutely no need for a thermometer or anything like that; you can tell if someone has a high fever just by measuring their body.

In his daze, Xiangzi suddenly felt very comfortable.

For Shoko, who was a cold-blooded creature, Arakawa Kirika was undoubtedly an oasis found in the desert.

The cool touch made Xiangzi, even while asleep, instinctively reach out and grab Arakawa Kirika's arm.

Arakawa Kirika was a little taken aback by the sudden action, and she quickly looked at Shoko's face.

But they found that the other person showed no signs of waking up.

Is it because it's too hot that you want to hug something cold to cool down?

Arakawa Kirika hesitated for a moment, but did not pull her hand away, letting Shoko hold her.

Time passed second by second.

Arakawa Kirika realized that her arms had also become warm from Shoko's embrace.

After no longer being able to enjoy the cool, refreshing feeling, Xiangzi reluctantly let go of Arakawa Kirika's arm.

"It seems... to be much more troublesome than I imagined."

Arakawa Kirika frowned.

She discovered that the act of "visiting the sick" seemed to involve many strange steps compared to the examples her subordinates had taught her.

Arakawa Kirika reached out and touched the towel covering Shoko's forehead again.

The towels used to cool down have become somewhat dry and have completely lost their intended function.

Arakawa Kirika then took the towel off, went to the bathroom, wet it again, carefully folded it back to its original shape, and placed it on Shoko's forehead once more.

Xiangzi's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed, indicating that it was indeed having some effect.

Then, Arakawa Kirika prepared to leave Shoko's room.

Just then, Arakawa Kirika suddenly heard Shoko's voice.

"Don't go... Chuhua..."