Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

"Can I take a picture with Kenzaki-senpai?"

"of course can."

Kita raised his phone and moved closer to Yuma. Yuma felt a strange, intense aura suddenly appear around Kita, as if he was about to be purified by the world. However, he still forced a smile.

Seeing Kita run to the side with his phone, Yuuma remembered the question from the beginning.

"You still haven't told me why Poch isn't here?"

“Speaking of which, Boqi said she was going to sell tickets, and then we haven’t heard from her since.” Hongxia took out her phone and opened the band’s group chat. “But I’ve actually already met Boqi’s quota, so it’s okay even if Boqi doesn’t sell any.”

"Why don't we just tell her about this?" Yuzhen glanced at the group chat on Hongxia's phone, then thought for a moment, "Or we can tell her the method I used yesterday; that's what I did before."

“No, that will only make Pochi-chan dependent on us.” Nijika’s expression was like that of a mother watching her child fail miserably. Her attitude was firm, and since this was their own band’s business, Yuuma didn’t say much.

He left the rehearsal room and bumped into Xingge. Xingge looked up and glared at him, about to say something, but when she saw what he looked like now, she almost didn't recognize him.

"You dyed your hair back to its original color?"

"Hmm, how does it look?"

"You're more efficient than before. But why didn't you tell me? It feels a bit awkward now."

I wanted to give you a surprise.

"Who wants your surprise?"

PA, who was eating his bento box nearby, watched as these two started their daily mission in front of him again, and silently took his bento box and moved a little further away.

As opening time approached, Yuuma checked her phone and saw that Hiroi had sent her a distress message in the middle of the night. It seemed she was drunk again and had wandered off to Kanazawa Hachikei. Yuuma called her anyway and learned that Hiroi was preparing for a street performance, and that Shima had given her the equipment. With Shima there, everything should be fine, Yuuma thought, and didn't bother with her anymore.

"Boqi said she sold out of tickets."

After a while, Yuzhen heard Hongxia's voice and looked over, finding the three little ones squatting on the ground in a circle. Curious, he went over and saw the message Boqi had posted in their group chat.

"Are you lying? Have we put too much pressure on you?"

"Please be nice to her during rehearsal tomorrow."

"Alright, alright, shut up." Yuma listened to their speculations about Bochi and lightly tapped Nijika and Kita on the head, who had just spoken. "Don't speculate about him like that. Besides, you're the ones who wanted Bochi to grow, and now that there are results, you don't believe it. Go back to work, we'll be opening soon."

"I'm sorry." ×3

Watching them go to work, Yuzhen sighed helplessly.

Xingge appeared behind him without him noticing and pressed a can of iced cola against his cheek.

"So cold." Yuzhen turned around and took the cola Xingge gave him, then sat down at the bar with her. He opened the tab, and his face was sprayed with cola. "Seriously, you play pranks like this."

"No, I really don't know." Xingge took a wet wipe and helped Youzhen wipe her face.

“I can do it myself.” Yuzhen pressed her wrist and took the wet wipe from her hand. “Where did this cola come from? I didn’t see you shaking it just now.”

"PA bought it."

When the two looked at PA again, she had just finished checking the equipment. Sensing their gazes, she playfully stuck out her tongue. Yuma wouldn't get angry over such a prank; she just laughed it off.

Boqi felt something was off about the performance hall today. For some reason, Hongxia and the others looked at her with gentle eyes, and they were also very tolerant of her when she was working there.

After Bochi entered the room, Yuzhen could smell a faint scent of alcohol from time to time. When Bochi passed by him, he noticed that it was indeed her scent.

"Poch, come here for a second."

Upon hearing this, Pochi approached Yuzhen timidly. She hadn't recognized Yuzhen when she entered and now assumed he was looking for trouble. Hoshigo and Yuzhen were sitting together; she could also smell a hint of alcohol in them and was also looking at Pochi with a serious expression.

"you've been drinking?"

Yuma asked directly.

"Ah...no, no."

Boqi kept his head down, but he did talk about the street performance he had with the drunken bassist older sister that afternoon.

After hearing what Boqi said, Yuzhen's first thought was Hiroi. In addition, Hiroi also mentioned that he had performed on the street with a freelance guitarist that afternoon, which made him realize how small the world is.

"It's alright as long as he didn't drink. Try to stay away from that drunken bassist in the future, and absolutely don't let him pick up bad habits from her." Yuzhen and Xingge were relieved after figuring out where the smell of alcohol on Boqi came from, and they let Boqi go.

"Speaking of which, Hiroi used to be like Pochi, right?"

Xingge thought of Guangjing from before, who was also socially anxious, but his condition didn't seem to be as severe as Boqi's.

"Yes, she used to be a very good child."

Yuuma was also very curious about how Hiroi had transformed from a socially awkward person into a socially awkward, alcoholic one while he was away. However, as he pondered this, he sensed something was amiss. He glanced at Hoshika and noticed she had just turned to look at him as well. Then, the two of them stared seriously at Pochi in the distance.

"We absolutely cannot let Pochi-chan become another Hiroi!"

This was their shared thought at that moment, and Yuma and Hoshika were filled with determination.

Chapter 17 Special

Yuuma and Hoshika sat facing each other in a cafe in Shinjuku. They were there for a collaboration event, featuring a card art that Yuuma really liked. Since STARRY wasn't open that morning, Hoshika had nothing else to do, so she came along as a date.

"Didn't get it!" Kenzaki Yuuma has already opened four blind boxes, but still hasn't gotten the Blade collaboration keycaps. "It's not even a rare item, so why is it so hard to get?"

The collaboration rules are simple: buy a specific drink and receive a blind box as a gift. This time, the blind box contains five different keycaps, with the hidden one being a mage/knight. Frankly, it's a money-grabbing scheme, but quite a few people are still buying drinks here. Yuuma only needs Blade keycaps, so he came specifically for Blade.

Watching Yuuma struggle to drink his fourth beverage, the collaboration drink turned out to be sparkling water, incredibly filling. He wondered what the drink designers were thinking; doing this meant losing a lot of money. But this collaboration was indeed very cheap—perhaps a low-profit, high-volume strategy? At this point, Yuuma was too busy to think any further; he was already a little tipsy.

"Are you sure it's okay for you to drink so much sparkling water?" Xingge finished her own sparkling water and then casually opened the blind box that was given to her. "Which one is this? It doesn't look very nice."

"That's Decade, a very powerful knight." Yuzhen didn't understand why Xingge thought it looked bad. Had her aesthetic sense been corrupted?

So, do you want this?

Faced with Hoshigoto's question, Yuuma remembered his Decade keyboard, which was half full, but he still smiled and took it, then put it in the inside pocket of his coat.

"Another sparkling water, please."

Do you want to order anything else?

After the two of them finished two more glasses of sparkling water together, Yuma finally got her wish.

"Is there some kind of event going on over there? There are so many people."

After they came out, they found another cafe nearby was also full of people. It seemed to be a cafe that collaborated with virtual YouTubers, with several standees displayed at the entrance. Then, as they passed by, they made eye contact with PA, who was sitting by the window.

"You still watch virtual YouTubers?" Yuzhen sat opposite PA, and Xingge sat next to him.

"I just came here for coffee and happened to come across this event."

This is a lie. PA's character, the voice actress Alto, is also involved in this collaboration. She took advantage of her day off to come here and check things out; she's still a little concerned about her popularity. She just didn't expect that not many people at the event recognized Alto, and then she ran into Yuuma and Hoshika. If those two found out she was streaming her game with her voice mixed up that night, and then got angry and swore at her, her life would be over. That's what PA was thinking at the moment, so she deliberately pretended to be calm.

"Oh? It's PA-neechan, Kenzaki-sensei, and Ijichi-senpai! Good morning!"

Eliza, full of energy, arrived and immediately saw three familiar faces as she entered.

"Is Eliza here for an event?" Yuzhen knew this girl well and immediately guessed her purpose.

"Yeah, I came for Little Al. I'm going to go next door to try my luck at opening the Knight blind boxes later. I want to get Little Al's coaster and Decade's keycaps today!"

It's strange, the mage is clearly the hidden gem, so why does it seem like no one cares?

The drinks everyone ordered arrived quickly. Yuzhen didn't order anything this time; he simply couldn't drink anymore.

A few minutes later, looking at the several empty glasses in front of Eliza, Yuzhen recalled her terrifying experience of chugging sparkling water earlier. Xingge couldn't understand why she and Yuzhen were so fixated on something that was clearly a rip-off.

"Because I like it. And businesses are always trying different ways to attract customers to pay for their hobbies, so naturally they attract a group of people." Before Xingge could ask anything, Youzhen had already whispered. "But I won't spend money recklessly just because I like something. I just wanted to try it because it's not expensive."

"That's all?"

"of course."

Xingge bit her straw and watched Eliza open the blind box.

Eliza still hadn't managed to remove the Audio-Visual Alt's coaster, and PA stopped her when she tried to use her spare funds. During a casual chat with Eliza at the food court, PA had learned that Eliza was the top player she often played games with, so she couldn't bear to see Eliza forcing herself to continue drinking her beverage for her sake.

PA is the person behind the soundtrack to Alto, so she received quite a few coaster samples. She pretended that she had just drawn one herself and then gave one to Eliza.

"Thank you, PA-neechan. Now I'm going to try and get Kamen Rider Decade's keycaps."

"Wait a minute." PA quickly grabbed her and pressed her back into her seat. "Can you still drink? Aren't you saving the rest of your money for the tram ride home?"

"That shop only sells sparkling water, let's not go. Don't get a stomachache." Yuma pulled a Decade keycap from the left pocket of his coat and handed it to Eliza. "Here, I have half a keyboard full of these."

"Thank you, Kenzaki-sensei."

She was very satisfied after receiving the keycaps, and then she dragged PA along to go shopping.

"Didn't she run out of money?"

So we're going shopping.

Yuma still couldn't understand after hearing Hoshika's explanation. Was it really that interesting to wander around outside in such a hot sun?

They sat for a while and then left, walking side by side on the streets of Shinjuku.

"You just gave it to her directly? You really didn't feel any reluctance?" Xingge patted Youzhen's arm. She felt a little uncomfortable when she saw this guy give that keycap to someone else.

"What does it matter? I have plenty." Yuzhen glanced at Xingge after saying that; her emotions were written all over her face, easy to understand. "You're not jealous, are you?"

"No."

"Your only skill is your stubbornness."

Xingge simply ignored him.

"The one I gave Eliza was one I found myself."

After hearing his words, Ichiji Hoshika looked at him and saw him take out an identical keycap from the inside pocket of his coat.

"This is from you, I can't bear to give it to anyone else."

“You clearly have a lot.”

"Don't belittle it! It's different." Yuzhen stopped and looked at Xingge, who was still clearly sulking. "This is the first keycap you gave me; I didn't have one before."

"They look exactly the same..."

"That's what makes it unique."

Xingge was interrupted before she could finish speaking, and he glared at her.

"What if I give you another one later..."

"That was the second one you gave me, and it was one of a kind."