Momoi Taro wants to form a "don" brother duo, but it's a music anime.

"I see... I'll try my best then." Aine smiled, thought for a moment, and said, "Today's practice is at 6 o'clock, how about we practice at the Astronomy Club after school at 4 o'clock?"

"Ok!"

"Ah!" Ai Yin exclaimed, as if suddenly remembering something, clenching her fist in annoyance, "I forgot! My guitar is still in the practice room!"

“I can use my guitar…” Takamatsu Akari said softly.

"Hey? Dengdeng already bought a guitar?"

"Hmm!" Lamp nodded, looking at Aine: "It's in the Astronomy Club..."

"Then, go to the astronomy club during lunch break and after school."

The guitar that Takamatsu Akari bought was light gray, the same color as Chihaya Aine's eyes. While teaching Takamatsu Akari the guitar, Aine couldn't help but wonder if this was the important choice the fortune teller had mentioned? But this didn't align with her belief in Momoi Taro.

More importantly, why would that person know Momoi Taro...? That's definitely suspicious!

Although she was thinking this in her heart, Aine still focused most of her attention on Takamatsu Akari, teaching her how to play the guitar.

Gao Songdeng learned quite quickly. Although saying this might sound like self-praise, she could still confidently say that she was still far behind her.

Thinking this, Aine couldn't help but recall yesterday's practice. Come to think of it, if she had been more proactive in that part of the interlude, wouldn't it have been better...? But someone like her would definitely get scolded if she tried to change Taro's verses, right?

Forget it...

She couldn't help but recall once again the words of the mysterious fortune teller who had appeared out of nowhere. "For me, this won't be the next crucial decision..."

Tsukimori Academy School

Looking at the empty seats, Ruoye Mu felt inexplicably uneasy.

That seat, which should have been occupied by her good friend Nagasaki Motoyo, was empty today. The teacher was lecturing enthusiastically on the podium, but Wakaba Mutsu had no interest in listening to the lesson; all her attention was drawn to Motoyo's empty seat.

Su Shi didn't come to school... Did something happen?

"Su Shi keeps hurting Xiao Mu, just ignore her," Hajime thought to himself once again.

"Su Shi... is my friend."

"……snort!"

After class, Ruoye Mu went to the teacher's office and inquired about Su Shi's situation.

"Nagasaki-san seems to be sick and has taken leave."

Is she sick...? Something feels off, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I'll just have to leave it at that for now...

-------------------------------------

"I'm so sorry~" The middle-aged man dressed as a Polar Bear courier said apologetically to the handsome young man who was also dressed as a Polar Bear courier, "My mother suddenly fell ill, so I have to ask you for help."

"No, it's alright." The young man was none other than Momoi Taro. He shook his head and said, "My family's health is more important. What about the product catalog?"

"Here it is." The uncle quickly handed a booklet to Taro: "I've already talked to the supervisor, so I'll give you all of today's wages. Please take care of it."

After the other party left, Taro picked up the directory, glanced at it, memorized the names, planned his route, and then went to deliver the package.

Today's work was supposed to be relatively easy; all I had to do was deliver the goods to the branch office in Shimokitazawa Ward. However, the branch office's deliveryman's mother suddenly fell ill, so Taro had to deliver the goods instead.

Taro's work speed is naturally very fast, but due to the vehicle's speed limit, it was almost 4:30 pm by the time he delivered the goods.

"This is the last item, right..." Taro stopped the car, took out the last item from the car, which was a music textbook listed on the catalog. It was a cash-on-delivery item. He walked to the door and pressed the doorbell.

A moment later, a girl's voice came from the doorbell: "Excuse me, who is this?"

"Miss Kita, the courier from Polar Bear Express, your cash-on-delivery package has arrived. Could you please come out and sign for it?"

"Yes! Just a moment!" Soon, a red-haired girl carrying an instrument came running out of the house. She smiled brightly and said, "I'm Kita~ This is cash on delivery, thank you!"

"I have received it. Please sign or stamp it." Taro habitually handed out the pen and cardboard box together and placed them on the signature form, while the red-haired girl named Kita took out a stamp and stamped it.

It's strange... that a young person would use a stamp or something, but Taro wasn't too keen on delving into other people's affairs, so he handed over the box and put away the delivery slip.

"That's how we're connected." Taro took the delivery slip back.

"Thank you!" Kita expressed his gratitude again. Although he felt this person was a bit strange, perhaps he was a good person? Kita thought to himself.

"Well then, keep up the good work with your bass practice," Taro said, before turning to leave.

But Kita's face froze upon hearing this. She quickly grabbed Taro, who was about to leave, and said with a dark expression, "Deliveryman, this is a guitar, not a bass!"

Pulled back to his senses, Taro looked closely at the instrument in Kita's arms and said earnestly, "This is a bass."

"No, no, no, I'm not that ignorant. I can tell the difference between a guitar and a bass!" Kita eagerly showed off his instrument: "Look, it has exactly six strings, right? A guitar has four strings! They're completely different!"

“No, basses can also have six strings; they’re called multi-string basses.” Taro, seeing how certain she was, looked at it again seriously: “Yes, that’s right, this is a multi-string bass, model Ibanez-BTB866SC.”

"Huh...? What's that?" Kita's expression instantly plummeted, her body went limp, and Taro grabbed her arm to support her: "Ugh—I asked Dad for two years' worth of allowance and New Year's money in advance—"

"I see. You wanted to learn guitar but ended up buying a bass instead?" Taro closed his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "This bass has a market value of about 13 yen. I bought it back at 9% depreciation, for 5000 yen. What do you think?"

Kita looked at Taro with teary eyes and asked, "Mr. Deliveryman, why did you help me like this?"

"Because I'm not just delivering goods," Taro said with a confident smile and a strong sense of conviction, "I'm also delivering happiness."

"Thank you! Deliveryman!" Kita grabbed Taro's arm, his face full of gratitude. "May I ask your name? At least the name of my benefactor—"

"Taro Momoi! That's my name!" Taro proudly announced his name, then calmly looked at the other person and said, "Put the bass back in your bag and take it out."

"Yes! Thank you very much, Mr. Momoi!" Kita jogged back to his room, carefully packed up the bass, then ran back to hand the bass bag to Taro. Taro took it and handed the money to Kita: "Well, anyway, good luck with your guitar practice."

"Yes! Speaking of which, is Mr. Momoi playing in a band?" She looked at Taro curiously, waiting for his answer.

Taro simply took out his phone, opened his band's account interface, and showed it off, saying, "This is my band."

"Can I follow them?" Kisato's eyes lit up again. He took out his phone, searched for the account, and followed it: "And maybe add them on LINE too..."

Taro nodded and said, "It's alright!"

"Thank you," Kita thought. Taro really felt that Taro was a very reliable adult who had pulled him back from hell to earth. Although he had fallen into hell because Taro pointed out that it was a bass... no, the root cause was actually that he had bought the wrong bass, so he couldn't blame others.

"By the way, does Mr. Momoi have any instrument recommendations?" Kita skillfully scanned Taro's friend code. After adding Taro as a friend, he asked curiously, "Also, does Mr. Momoi play bass in the band?"

"For guitars, I recommend this one... It's great for beginners." Taro sent over the guitar model number and advised that it was best to buy it from a physical store before answering Kita's question: "No, I'm a keyboardist and vocalist."

"What's a keyboard...?" Hito thought back to her previous band setup and realized there wasn't a keyboard there. Taro could only explain its function to her.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Momoi. I'm sorry to have wasted so much of your time," Kita said, a little embarrassed.

"No, one thank you is enough. You've already said a lot today. Anyway, I'm leaving now."

After saying that, Taro left the place, returned to the branch office to collect his wages for the day and pay the outstanding amount, and then went straight back to the train station and Ikebukuro, before heading directly to RiNG.

Chapter 46, He was captured.

Taro pushed open the door to the practice room, and what greeted him was Aine's accusations.

"Ah~ here we go again, you betting maniac!" The pink-haired girl pointed at Taro.

Taro raised his arm, looked at his watch, and was about to say something when Aine preemptively shrugged and said, "I know, I know. You came in before five o'clock, so you're not late, right?"

Taro nodded and said confidently, "That's exactly right!"

"But everyone's waiting! Can't you take care of those who arrived early?" Aine said, hands on her hips, with a straight face. "Normally, the boys would arrive at the agreed location earlier, right?"

"By the way, I was the first one here~" Meow Dream chimed in, tapping her drumsticks.

"Huh? Band, aren't you going to start yet?" Le Nai tilted her head in confusion, while Xiao Mu sat in the corner, a faint sadness on her face.

"As far as I know, such conventional rules only apply when the man has feelings for the woman." Taro raised his head, arguing his point, then pointed to each of them with his fingers, saying, "But I don't have those feelings for you, you... none of you!"

"Ugh! You're infuriating!" Aine gritted her teeth. Hailing stepped forward, trying to smooth things over: "Shouldn't we be starting to practice instead? By the way, I just arrived."

“That’s true.” Taro put his bass bag down in the corner, then picked up his keyboard: “Alright! Ladies and gentlemen! Practice begins!”

Hearing Taro's words, everyone consciously returned to their seats. Aine reluctantly picked up her guitar and hung it on her body, praying in her heart that Xiaolanai wouldn't suddenly change the sheet music again today.

However, before practice even began, Taro took out several new scores and placed them on everyone's music stand: "I noticed this yesterday. Given everyone's skill level, the original scores are no longer sufficient, so I've added a bit of difficulty. Take a look at them for ten minutes to familiarize yourself with them, and then we'll practice!"

Aine glanced at it; the score wasn't significantly different from before, except that Taro had marked some parts in red with a marker, indicating that those parts had been altered.

This was after many revisions were made in collaboration with Xiaolena yesterday. As for the difficulty... she thought she could barely keep up. She nervously tried to silently follow the score once.

"Time's up!" Before Aine could even process it, Taro was already calling everyone to start practicing.

"Ugh! I'm not confident yet, can't I wait a little longer!" Despite complaining like this, Ai Yin still slung her guitar over her shoulder, ready to wait for Miao Meng's 2-7: 9. Yin Meng's 2-1 rhythm.

After the familiar sound of drumsticks striking the drum began, everyone started playing.

[So this is how the music sounds when played together... Wait, if it's like this here, maybe...]

But... is it really okay for someone like me to alter Taro's sheet music without permission...?

"Only when the five of us are together can we be called the Dong Brothers Group, so the song should naturally reflect the personality of each of us."

She couldn't help but recall Taro's words, but without Xiaolan's ability, could she really incorporate her own personality into her music? No, ultimately, did her music truly have a personality?

As Aine thought this, the chords in her hands broke free from her inferiority complex and changed according to her own ideas.

[Wait... how could I change Taro's sheet music...!]

She quickly changed the chords back to the state on the sheet music... and then, she was shocked to find that the drums and bass of Miaomengqin and Hailing, and even the guitars and keyboards of Xiaolenai and Taro, were all in disarray to varying degrees.

[Is it all my fault...? I changed the score without permission, so...!?]

"Stop!" Taro decisively called for a halt. Everyone stopped playing their instruments. Taro looked around and calmly said, "Let's take a break and get back into the swing of things!"

Ai Yin placed the guitar on the shelf and slumped into a chair, while Le Nai tilted her head, took out a matcha candy, and chewed it gently.

Miaomeng put down her drumsticks, glanced at Aiyin with concern, then looked away and said in a very relaxed tone, "Speaking of which, didn't the general change too much of the score?"

Hai Ling's gaze sharpened, and she remained silent.

“I already said, this is necessary to integrate everyone’s personalities.” Taro repeated very seriously, then looked at Aine, his voice rising slightly: “Aine! Just now—”

Aine's body trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but Meowme beside her...

"General—" Meow Dream interrupted Taro's words, drawing out her words and closing her eyes as if she were pleading, saying, "Even so, those who find it difficult will still find it difficult!"

"Don't say such sweet things! At your rate of progress, this sheet music will be no problem for you!!" Taro's tone rose slightly as he turned to Aine and said seriously, "I'll say this to you too, Aine."

Upon hearing Taro call her name, Aine lowered her head and said somewhat ashamedly, "I'm sorry."

"That's not what I want to hear! Aine!" Taro's expression didn't change, but he questioned, "Why do you lack confidence in yourself! Did you slack off during practice?!"