In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

The piano is hailed as the king of instruments, while the violin is the queen of instruments.

A commotion broke out at the scene, and excited cheers could be heard.

Kazusa was in the center of the stage, next to Chiya Minamoto. The two of them, one sitting and one standing, not only complemented each other perfectly with their instruments, but their temperament and appearance also seemed to be so harmonious, a match made in heaven.

"Hmph, what an arrogant girl, she hasn't even mastered the violin yet." Yoko muttered to herself from below the stage. Although she didn't affirm her daughter's violin skills, a faint smile appeared on her lips as she looked at the young man and woman on the stage.

'If you're ready, you can start anytime.'

On stage, Kazusa silently conveyed these words to Chiya Minamoto.

Yuan Qianye also understood the meaning behind what she had just said backstage.

Now it's true, the two of them are each in charge of one instrument, and they have become a unit themselves. If one of them makes a fool of himself, it will be obvious at a glance.

On stage, Kazusa rests her violin on her chin, tilts her head slightly, and gently presses her cheek against the violin.

Her gentle gaze fell upon Yuan Qianye, as if she revered him as her sovereign, obeying only the guidance of his music, waiting for the perfect moment.

Yuan Qianye looked into her eyes and was also touched.

It was somewhat sudden, but it wasn't a challenge for him, since the piece wasn't difficult, and so now, all that was left was to enjoy it.

He quickly pressed the keys. The essence of Canon lies in the pursuit and response. The piano melody is as broad as the earth, stable and cyclical, while the violin melody that slowly joins in is like a bird soaring and rising in the sky. As the melody unfolds, emotions are irresistibly poured into it.

The audience below the stage remained quiet, captivated by this perfect classical ensemble, completely entranced. The air seemed to freeze, with only the notes flowing gently.

Out of place among the swaying figures around her, Yukino stood tall and straight in the audience, like a pine tree in winter. Her azure eyes clearly reflected everything on the stage—his focused listening, her slightly flushed cheeks from nervousness or joy, and their perfectly harmonious musical performance.

Some things don't need to be explicitly stated; you can draw partial conclusions just by observing them.

When the performance ended, the audience erupted in applause, but she simply clapped along with everyone else.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the stage, Saeko Busujima, who was standing near the exit, watched her boyfriend's performance on stage. She then saw her and Kazusa bowing to the audience in thanks, her eyes burning with emotion, lost in thought.

Around 4 PM, also inside the gymnasium, the closing ceremony of this school festival was held, and some awards that were not particularly significant were announced.

Yuan Qianye didn't care about any of this. While listening from the audience, he took out his phone and then smiled slightly.

In a private online poll held by the boys at Soubu High School, the first ever "High Mountain Flower" popularity contest, Touma Kazusa's name jumped from the top ten to the top spot.

It seems that some students have jointly applied to the school to light a bonfire on the school's open space that evening and start a dance party at the end of the day.

However, most people were exhausted after the two days of commotion and finishing up their work, so they were all looking forward to going home to rest. Therefore, this was destined to be a celebration for only a small number of people.

Around 5 PM, Gen Chiya, who had been called by the city patrol to help out at the student council with some small tasks, arrived at the Service Club and extended an invitation.

"You've all worked hard these past few days. If you all have time, I'll treat you to dinner tonight at a nice place."

…………

Chapter 053: Intimate Like Mother and Son (6k)

"A good place?"

“Yes, a good place.” Yuan Qianye nodded and repeated.

Eriri looked at Rikka with a puzzled expression.

Rikka spread her hands: "Don't look at me, I don't know either, brother, stop keeping me in suspense."

"It's Shihua's restaurant. After a period of intensive preparation, everything is finally in place. She plans to start a trial operation next week. If the customer feedback is good, she will find an opportunity to officially open the restaurant. Since everyone is free tonight, let's go and support her and give her some feedback."

Rikka exclaimed in surprise, "My sister's shop is officially opening? How come I had no idea!"

“You’ve been focused on the school festival all this time, how could you pay attention to anything else?” Yuan Qianye patted her head and said to the others, “Today isn’t officially open for business, but Toka said she’s made ample preparations and has plenty of ingredients, so if Auntie and the others aren’t busy, please call them and ask them to come over. We’ve always been very grateful for their care, so this is a good opportunity to thank them as well.”

He had planned everything in advance, and Rikka also thought it was great to have such a lively atmosphere, so she immediately chimed in to support her older brother.

Eriri and Kazusa had no problem, but Yukino hesitated for a moment before shaking her head: "I'll head back now. Have fun, everyone."

Rikka grabbed her hand: "Why, Yukino? Wouldn't it be better if we all went together?"

"I'm sorry, Rikka. I've been staying up late preparing for the movie these past few days, and I was also helping out as a waitress in class today, so I'm quite tired. Now that everything is finally over, I want to go home and get some rest." Yukino tried hard to keep her eyes from drifting towards Kazusa as she answered, "My mom also works very late tonight, so I really can't spare the time. Please tell Tohka-nee my apologies tonight. I'll definitely come to congratulate Tohka-nee on the official opening of her shop. If you're short-staffed and busy then, I'm happy to help out."

Yukino's words were impeccable. Even if Rikka wanted to include her, she couldn't bring herself to invite her again. Although she was somewhat disappointed, that was all she could do.

Chiya seemed quite casual about it, and came over to Yukino to say thank you for your hard work.

After his performance with Kazusa ended in the afternoon, he noticed that Yukino's mood was subtly off. She was cold and mostly just listened to him, whether she replied or not depended on her mood at the time, basically just ignoring him.

However, precisely because of this, Chiya was quite happy.

He would rather Yukino treated him this way, as it meant she still had feelings for him.

If she were truly calm and composed, letting go of the past and moving forward with a magnanimous attitude, that would be a terrible performance.

Although her request was rejected now, seemingly disrespectful and reducing opportunities to spend time together, it actually revealed her true feelings and let Yuan Qianye know that her emotions were still affected by him, which was quite comforting.

While the others were packing up to leave, Yuan Qianye leaned close to Yukino and whispered, "Remember to take a warm bath when you get home tonight. It will improve your blood circulation and help you rest better."

Yukino glanced at him, then quickly looked away to put away her teacup. She didn't reply, but nodded very lightly.

So the group left the school, waving goodbye to Yukino as she was picked up by her driver. The others then took the train together, chatting and laughing, and arrived at Toka's restaurant.

The restaurant's name has been decided: "Night Moon." The protruding metal characters appear on a warm yellow light fixture resembling a full moon, with a few slender green bamboos adorning the side, creating a rather picturesque scene.

Upon entering the restaurant, the group, who were visiting for the first time, were even more impressed, as the environment was much more upscale than they had initially imagined.

Only Shika was busy in the open kitchen. She had contacted Chiya beforehand, so she wasn't surprised to see everyone come over. She put down her food preparation work, washed her hands, and invited everyone to sit down and drink.

"Sister Toka, this place is really amazing." After sitting down, Eriri couldn't stop looking around.

"We did put a lot of effort into the initial decoration, but the quality of the restaurant depends on the quality of the food. I will try my best not to disappoint you in this regard. Please give me your feedback after dinner."

"Sister Shihua's cooking skills are unparalleled. If she performs normally, there will be no problem. This restaurant will definitely be a huge success."

"Then I'll take your good wishes."

At this moment, Yuan Qianye took off his coat and went into the kitchen to help out.

At this moment, Toka noticed that besides her younger sister, only Eriri and Kazusa were there, and she asked curiously, "Where's Yukino? Didn't we agree that everyone would come together?"

"Yukino, she's back..."

Just as Rikka was about to answer, Eriri grabbed her hand from under the bar and quickly interrupted her explanation.

"Yukino has been working too hard lately and seems to be feeling unwell, so she went back to rest first. She also asked us to apologize to Toka-nee."

"There's nothing to apologize for. Of course, health should be the priority." Toka didn't mind at all.

"Is there anything we can do to help, sister?" Rikka asked.

"Qianye is enough on his own. You guys rest for a while and chat. I'll prepare. Just wait patiently for your meal later."

Eriri and Rikka's cooking skills are known to Touka, but she's not so sure about Kazusa. However, since Kazusa comes from a well-off family, she imagines that Kazusa is probably not very good at cooking, so she'd better not let them cause trouble.

"it is good!"

Shihua smiled, handed the three of them hot towels, and then took out a plate of homemade desserts for each of them from the refrigerator. She turned around and came to Qianye's side, who had rolled up his sleeves, and said, "Qianye, you don't really need to help. I can handle it by myself."

Yuan Qianye shook her head, glanced back at Kazusa sitting at the bar, and seeing that her attention was drawn to the exquisite desserts in front of her, she softly replied, "Let me help out. It's fine to stay in the kitchen."

“There are other people coming later, right? No wonder you didn’t invite Saeko Utaha to come too.” Seeing his reaction, Toka immediately understood the key point.

"It has nothing to do with that. I just don't want to invite so many people and make things so hard for you, Toka."

"Have you made me work hard enough already?" With her back to the three of them, Toka gave him a charming glare and went to the pool to continue processing the ingredients.

"..."

You didn't see how I treated Shiwa and Saeko.

While silently thinking that he might need to find an opportunity to let Toka know his true strength and that it was necessary for her to understand how considerate and gentle he had always been to her, Yuan Qianye stepped forward to help.

Shortly after, Sayuri Sawamura pushed open the door and entered, followed by Yoko Touma.

The two ladies were much more polite than their daughters. Neither of them came empty-handed; each held a bouquet of flowers to congratulate Shi Hua on the opening of her new store.

The atmosphere during dinner was great, and Shihua's culinary skills were even more amazing after receiving guidance from a master chef.

During the conversation, she repeatedly thanked Touma Yoko for introducing her to such a wonderful mentor, but Touma Yoko waved her hand dismissively, saying it was a trivial matter and not worth mentioning.

Around 8 p.m., the two, along with their daughters, said goodbye one after the other.

Chiya and Rikka stayed behind to help Toka clean up.

"Sister, we're about to have our soft opening. Haven't you hired any staff yet? If a lot of customers come, one person definitely won't be able to handle it all, right?"

"Yes, they will have two people in the kitchen to help out, and two people in the front of the house to help serve guests. We haven't officially opened for business yet, so we didn't have them come over."

"Hmm, it feels a bit unreal. First it was Chiya, and now my sister is also becoming amazing. She has become a head chef and is even managing employees without us even realizing it. At this rate, it should be my turn to become amazing next."

"Given your carefree personality, you should go to bed early tonight. You can dream about anything."

After leisurely washing the dishes, tidying up the tables and chairs, and checking that all the electrical switches in the store were working properly, the three of them closed the store and went home together.

The next day, Gen Chiya had just returned from his morning exercise when he received a call from Kudo Miyoko.

"Boss, a gentleman named Daiki Ueno, who claims to be the head of the editorial department at TV Tokyo, called to inquire about the script transfer we discussed earlier. What's your opinion on that?"

Yuan Qianye gulped down the entire glass of water, not at all surprised. He had expected the other party to contact him again after seeing his sincere attitude, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. It seemed that he was in a real hurry. Could it be that there were some internal performance targets that needed to be met? But this was a good thing for him.

“I’m interested, but we definitely need to discuss this in person.”

"I understand. I'll schedule a time. When are you available, boss?"

After some communication, Miyoko arranged to meet with the TV station's department head at 2 PM.

In the morning, Chiya was not idle either. While Rikka was still lazing in bed, she went to Toka's room and played around with her for a while.

After finishing breakfast, I went straight to Touma's house to bother him.

Touma Yoko had just gotten up and finished washing up; she was still a little sleepy.

She yawned as she opened the door and led him into the living room: "Hmm—why are you here so early, Qianye?"

“It’s getting late, Aunt Yaozi, it’s past nine o’clock.” Yuan Qianye said, handing over the envelope she had picked up from her bosom.

"What is it?"

"You'll see when you see it."

"So mysterious."

Yoko's sleepiness dissipated slightly. She opened the envelope and then smiled sweetly.

The envelope contained several photos, all carefully laminated.