Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

"So that means Senior Ryo and Senior Nijika are very good at studying, right?"

"Well, Hongxia's grades are alright, right? As for Liang..." Youzhen hesitated before continuing.

“If her brother hadn’t helped her cram, she definitely would have failed the last exam again,” Hongxia continued Yuzhen’s words.

"If you study it, you'll forget how to play bass," Ryo defended himself.

"So Ryo-senpai isn't actually mysterious and far-sighted...?" Kita felt his idealized view of Ryo was being shattered.

"If you've always thought of Ryo as something so great, then I'm sorry, but this guy has a completely one-dimensional brain." Yuuma ruthlessly shattered Kita's last remaining illusions about Ryo.

"I must erase that conversation from my memory!" Kita covered his ears.

"Does love that is too strong lead to this kind of behavior?" Nijika couldn't understand Kita's behavior.

After a round of conversation, the car quieted down again. The journey was quite long, and the people in the back gradually fell asleep. This time, no one leaned on Kita's shoulder, and she slowly fell asleep as well.

"I saw the photos. It looks like you two have a pretty good relationship," Yuuki said to Yuuma in a teasing tone as she rested for a bit while waiting at a red light.

"Hongxia sent it to you? Seriously, when did she get your contact information?" Youzhen shook her head helplessly. "By the way, Mom asked me to ask you when you're going to find a girlfriend?"

"I'm so busy, how could I have that time?"

"Then I'll reply to Mom like this."

“Please don’t,” Yu Xing said as the light turned green and she restarted the car. “I have a feeling that if she hears you say that, she’ll definitely let Dad take over the company temporarily and then make me go on blind dates.”

"That's definitely something they, as a couple, would do."

In any case, the two brothers felt helpless about their parents.

"Wake up, we're here."

It wasn't until evening that Yuuki parked the car in the parking lot near STARRY and got out to unload her luggage. Yuma woke up the girls who were still sleeping.

"Hurry home, everyone, and be careful on the road. But don't forget to come tomorrow."

Everyone stood in front of STARRY with their luggage, while Yuxing went to return the car.

"Let's all do our best in tomorrow's rehearsal! Although we still don't know when our next performance will be." After Hongxia finished speaking, everyone went home.

Tomorrow we'll be back to our daily routines, but these past two days have allowed everyone to relax quite a bit, so they'll probably be even more energetic tomorrow.

"What are you still looking at? Let's go home."

Xingge's voice pulled Youzhen back to reality.

"Okay, go home."

……

"What's this?" Xingge found an extra piece of clothing in her suitcase while packing. When she unfolded it, she discovered it was a set of shark pajamas. The pajamas had a tail at the back, and the hood was the upper part of a shark's head. When she put on the hood and zipped it up, it could form a cartoon shark's head with the collar.

"I bought it. You were looking at this, weren't you?" Yuzhen confessed when she realized she had been caught. "I wanted to give you a surprise."

"Who, who wants your surprise?" Xingge said, but she still folded her pajamas neatly and put them on her bed.

"I knew you'd say that." Yuzhen looked at her tsundere expression and pulled out an identical set from her suitcase. "I bought two sets, let's wear them as matching outfits at home."

"what?"

……

Am I a bit of an unwanted presence in this house?

During dinner, Hongxia looked at the two sharks sitting opposite her, glued together, and began to question her own significance in this family.

The next afternoon, Yuzhen arrived at the performance hall.

Just as he had expected, everyone was indeed full of energy, but something seemed a little off.

"Brother Kenzaki, please tell us about it."

"Brother, tell me about it."

Yuma sat next to Hoshika, with Kita and Nijika each grabbing one of his arms and shaking them. Yuma and Hoshika had talked about their student days in the car before, which made them very curious, so after Yuma arrived today, the two of them kept pestering him to tell them about it.

“I understand that Kita wants to hear, but why does Nijika want to?” Yuma broke free from their grasp and looked at them helplessly. “Doesn’t Nijika know a lot?”

“That’s different. I mainly know about what happens when my older brother and sister are at home, but I don’t know about what happens to you two at school.” Hongxia showed a gossipy expression. “I want to know more about my older brother and sister.”

"Please, Kenzaki-nii, tell me about it."

“I want you all to be energetic, but not to waste your energy on things like this.” Yuzhen looked helplessly at Xingge, who was working on the computer next to her, and asked for her opinion, “Can I talk to them?”

"Whatever, I don't care anyway." Xingge kept staring at the computer.

"Alright, then let me tell you our story from back then."

"Great!"

Hearing that there was some gossip to share, PA and Liang also sat down.

'It's a colorful story of youth, I'm not listening to it, I'd better hide now.' Pochi tried to escape, but was found and pulled back by Nijika and Kita. People in the same band should stay together.

Yuzhen looked helplessly at the group of melon hunters whose eyes were shining, and took a sip of orange juice.

"Let's continue from where we left off last time, starting from when I joined the Light Music Club."

Chapter 25 Methods of Club Recruitment

As Yuuma recounts his story, his past with Ijichi Hoshika unfolds before everyone's eyes.

Yuuma has been a student in the Light Music Club for a month now. During this time, he has gradually adapted to life in the club and the enthusiasm of his seniors.

"Good morning, Ijichi-kun."

At this time, Yuzhen still looked like a well-behaved student. Her bangs didn't reach her eyebrows, her hair didn't cover her ears, she had a regular schedule, and her complexion was healthy.

"Oh, it's Kenzaki. Good morning."

Xingge yawned, and it was obvious that she hadn't slept well last night.

"What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well? You look terrible."

"I stayed up late watching TV series last night and went to bed a little late."

The two walked into the classroom together and sat in their seats.

"Wake me up during my lunch break."

After Xingge finished speaking, she lay down on the table and fell asleep.

Yuma looked helplessly at the girl sitting next to her. Aside from her family and her guitar, it seemed nothing else concerned her. She usually seemed completely stress-free, probably because her parents didn't have any special expectations of her. Yuma thought of her own father, that guy with the perpetually stern face.

Well, if we go along with Father's plan, he can just finish university and take over the company with his older brother, right? It shouldn't be too difficult.

Thinking this, Yuzhen took out her textbook and began to listen to the lesson.

Over the course of this month, he'd noticed that no matter whether Xingge skipped class or slept in class, the teachers didn't bother with her. Wasn't she just like those delinquent girls on TV?

"Isn't Ijichi-kun thinking about going on to higher education?"

During their lunch break, the two of them ate lunch together on the rooftop.

The fence leading to the rooftop of the teaching building has a sign that reads "Students are prohibited from entering," but Xingge and Youzhen have been ignoring it lately, since no one comes to check.

"We're only in our first year of high school, why are we thinking so much?"

"But it wouldn't hurt to start planning now, would it? Do you have any ideas, Ijichi-san?"

"Hmm... it seems not for now," Xingge replied after thinking for a while. "What about you? Is there a university you'd like to go to?"

“I want to try applying to Waseda University.” Yuma finished her bento box and closed the lid. “My father wants me to study law there.”

"You like law?" Xingge said, picking up a piece of fried chicken with her chopsticks and stuffing it into her mouth.

"I wouldn't say I like him..."

"Then why learn it?" Hoshigo turned to look at Kenzaki Yuuma with a puzzled expression. "Why force yourself to do something you don't like?"

"I don't know," Yuzhen said without thinking. "Sorry, I'll go back now."

Xingge watched Youzhen's departing figure and stuffed another mouthful of rice into her mouth.

"I don't know what that means? Strange guy."

After school, it was time for club activities, and Yuuma and Hoshika went to the Light Music Club together.

"Hey, Kenzaki, I just remembered something." Hoshika walked over to Yuuma, who was fiddling with the keyboard, a smile playing on her lips. She pointed at herself with her left thumb, tilting her head slightly. "I joined the light music club before you, shouldn't you call me 'senpai'?"

“It seems so. Although I’m two months older than Ijichi-san, I do have the least seniority in the Light Music Club.” Yuuma looked at the smug Hoshika in front of him and extended his hand. “Then, Ijichi-senpai, please take care of me.”

Xingge grasped his outstretched hand, nodded, and then returned to her seat to fiddle with her guitar.

The light music club wasn't large; besides Yuuma and Hoshika, there were only two boys and one girl, all third-year students. When Yuuma first joined, he was curious why no second-year students had joined. Then, the club president, the muscular drummer Tokita-senpai, pulled out a videotape and answered his question.

It was a recording from a previous cultural festival. After the brass band's performance, the light music club rushed onto the stage and started their own performance. Although the atmosphere was lively, what they did was clearly against the rules, and they were later reprimanded. After that, the light music club became synonymous with delinquent boys and girls.

"That was because the student council rejected our performance application, so the former president took us to get revenge," Senior Tokita explained to Yuuma.

Later, Yuuma learned about the Light Music Club's past practices from bassist Omori-senpai and discovered that they had toned it down during the cultural festival, which explained why the student council had rejected their application.

However, to be fair, the atmosphere within the club is quite good, and Yuma really enjoys the time spent playing music with everyone, so she continues to stay here.

The Light Music Club's activities mainly consist of covering and singing popular songs from the internet, and Yuuma is becoming more and more comfortable collaborating with everyone. However, sometimes they also improvise, which means Yuuma also needs to improvise and play along with them.

"You've done a great job." Senior Tokita handed Yuma a bottle of coffee. "You were quite rigid at first, but now you can improvise. You've made great progress. And as expected, a band needs a keyboard."

"Thank you, senior." Yuzhen took the coffee from her senior, opened the tab, and took a sip.

"Oh, right, there's something I need to tell you." Tokita-senpai seemed to have suddenly remembered something important. "There's a school festival in a few days. Your class has been notified, right?"

"Is that true?" Hoshigo asked Yuuma with a puzzled look.

"You were sleeping then, so you didn't know. Sorry, I forgot to tell you." Yuuma awkwardly touched the back of her neck. "By the way, why did Tokita-senpai bring this up?"

"This is related to our recruitment."

Upon hearing Tokita-senpai's words, Omori-senpai and rhythm guitarist Umino-senpai's expressions suddenly turned serious: "It's that time of year again?"

"Yes, it's an important event concerning the club's recruitment." Tokita-senpai's eyes also sharpened.

The three seniors all turned their gazes to Kenzaki Yuuma, who was completely bewildered by the situation.

Why are you all looking at me?