Girl band, because of the shining heart

"Well, how much is this?"

Bending over to look at the fresh vegetables that had just been picked today, which still carried the fragrance of soil and morning dew, Jiuchong Qianxiao looked at the uncle who greeted him and asked about the price.

"Hey, why don't you just take it, Brother Qianxiao?"

"...No, you should still pay, right?"

"It's okay. You've helped us a lot in the past, and everyone is very grateful to you."

"No, no, no, you have to pay anyway, right? What are you hiding? Show me your price list!!!"

Seeing that the uncle was hiding something behind his back, Jiuchong Qianxiao looked around the stall and didn't find any sign with prices written on it. He immediately understood what the other party was hiding.

Even though he had helped the uncles and aunts in the commercial street a lot in the past, and they once said that Jiuzhong Qianxiao didn't need to pay him, Jiuzhong Qianxiao thought that there was nothing wrong in helping, but payment was a must.

Can......

Looking at the vegetables in his hand, Jiuchong Qianxiao sighed. He had already weighed them and paid for them, but the other party still secretly gave him a little more.

Jiuchong Qianxiao didn't want it at first, but the other party acted as if to say, "If you talk about money again, I won't sell vegetables to you anymore." Jiuchong Qianxiao had no choice but to accept it.

The vegetables have been bought, and next is the meat.

Finally, looking at the meat in his hand, Jiuchong Qianxiao sighed again. The old lady who sold the meat even cut a little more for him.

When he was carrying the vegetables and preparing to go home, a slightly vicissitudes of life voice called him.

"Qianxiao, this box of bluefin tuna was sent to me by my old friend from Hokkaido. You can take it back."

Before he could come to his senses, a large box was stuffed into his arms. He opened his mouth and was about to say something, but the other party had already returned to his stall and ignored him.

"Really."

Knowing the other person's character, there was nothing more he could say. He sighed and could only carry the box, a large bag of vegetables and a large bag of meat and return home.

“This isn’t just mackerel.”

When the box was opened, there were not only fresh bluefin tuna, but also other aquatic products such as processed shrimps.

"So what should we cook for lunch?"

Although he said he didn't know what to do, Jiuchong Qianxiao already knew what to do at noon.

Because he moved here alone, he also practiced cooking, and given his talent, his cooking skills naturally improved.

noon.

On the table was a dish of mackerel miso, which was made with white miso, red miso and Shinshu miso, as well as fried shrimp tempura and a simple miso soup, and a bowl of white rice. That was all the food for lunch.

He used chopsticks to tear off a piece of mackerel meat and put it into his mouth. The delicious taste spread in his mouth. After putting two mouthfuls of white rice into his mouth, the corners of Jiuzhong Qianxiao's mouth slightly raised.

As expected of it being sent from Hokkaido, it tastes quite good. I'll make one for Mitakeran and the others later. By the way, I'll also make one for Yamabuki Saya.

After eating a whole bowl of fried shrimp tempura, Kunou Chisho thought.

There wasn't a lot of mackerel, so after it was cooked, there were only about eight servings. After all, it was given to me after someone else had given it to me. To be honest, it was pretty good to be able to have about eight servings of it cooked.

After he ate it himself, there were seven portions left. There were five of them, including Mitakeran, and Ako, a total of six portions. Finally, he made one portion for Yamabuki Saya, which was just right.

Let's wait a little bit longer, after they get out of school, and have them come over to eat together.

After washing the dishes from lunch and cleaning up the kitchen, Jiuzhong Qianxiao went out.

After school in the afternoon.

In front of the café outside CiRCLE.

"I see, Youxi, she has met you since then."

"Well, right when she opened her mouth she told me that her father's music was no worse than mine. At first I didn't understand why."

After taking a sip of mocha coffee, Chisato Kunou nodded and talked to Lisa Imai, who was sitting opposite her and wearing the Yugaoka school uniform, about what happened after she met Yukina Minato last night.

"Youxi, she is a little too obsessed with her father's affairs. Lisa, won't you try to persuade her?"

"I don't know how to persuade her. After that incident, I haven't seen her talk to anyone other than me. Many times when I called her and wanted to go with her, she would leave me."

Looking at Lisa Imai who was still forcing a smile despite this, Chisato Kunou frowned slightly.

"and......"

"And what?"

"After that, music was never mentioned again in Yukina's home, and I never saw her smile again."

"...That's it."

After hearing what Lisa Imai said, Chisato Kunou was stunned for a moment, then closed his eyes and recalled last night. After he saw Yukina Minato perform on stage, he didn't see that she seemed to enjoy being on the stage at all.

That cold look gave him a strange feeling, as if the other person was out of tune with the stage, but had to go on stage for some purpose and sing.

It was as if someone was forcing her to sing.

"Did she tell you what she wanted to do?"

"Well, she said she wanted to be on the stage of that music festival, FUTURE WORLD FES, to have her music recognized by everyone."

"Really? She's forcing herself to go to that stage."

The Xingluo band had participated in that huge music festival before. Originally, Jiuzhong Qianxiao was still wondering why Minato Youxi participated in that festival, but now.

"She wants her music to be recognized by everyone and to prove her father's ability, so she is forcing herself to stand on the stage."

Chapter 20: Lisa, the Lost Girl

"Why do you say that?"

After hearing what Chisato Kunou said, Lisa Imai was stunned. After she came to her senses, she asked Chisato Kunou in confusion.

She just felt that Tomoki Minato's frequent performances in livehouses were a bit too tiring, but she never expected Chisato Kunou to say that.

"I remember that music festival required three-person teams, right?"

"Ah."

"Lisa, how far do you think you can go for Yuki?"

"Eh?"

Kunou Chisato has probably figured out Minato Yuukina's current situation.

After commercialization, my father's band gradually began to go with the flow and lost its own characteristics. Then, due to problems with the agency, it was forced to imitate the style of the band Starfall. This led to gradual dissatisfaction among the fans who had accumulated because of the characteristics of this band.

However, because of the imitation, ordinary fans of the band feel dissatisfied. Some people listen to this band for its characteristics, while others listen to this band simply because their music is good.

But since you chose to imitate, why don't I just listen to the music of the band you imitated? Besides, can a band you imitate beat the original?

So the original fans left all of a sudden, and after seeing that the band had no fans and had lost its commercial value, the agency naturally stopped paying attention to the band, and would not allocate any resources to it. So who was to take the blame in the end?

It's the band itself. After losing the support of its original fans, the support of its agency, and its own characteristics, the band could no longer continue and naturally had no choice but to disband. This kind of thing happens to bands all too often.

So Yukina Minato was probably speaking up for her father, which caused her love for music to deviate from her original intention.

If the Minato Tomokina that Kunou Chisho had seen before was passionate about music, then the Minato Tomokina that she sees now has an attitude towards music that has become exploitation.

She lost her passion for music and just wanted to use music to reach the top. She thought that apart from music, she could give up everything else. She couldn't see the band clearly, her own music clearly, the people around her, and even less her own heart.

Just because I can sing, I think that I can only sing, and then I force myself to sing.

She stood on the stage, cutting off all her retreat routes. If she didn't move forward, she would die.

You can't fail, you must never fail.

"I see."

After listening to Chisato Kunou's analysis of Tomokina Minato's current mentality and thoughts, Lisa Imai was a little dazed and surprised. She never expected that Tomokina Minato would become like this.

"So, let me ask you again, Lisa, how far can you go for Yukina Minato?"

If one wants to bring Yukina Minato back and give her a chance to experience the price of failure, then Lisa Imai is undoubtedly the best candidate. If Lisa Imai is unwilling, Chisato Kunou will not say much.

If Tomokina Minato continues to act on her own will, she cannot afford to fail even once. She, Tomokina Minato, has no way back.

"If possible, I want to protect Yukina's determination until the end, and I want Yukina to smile again."

She gritted her teeth, and the memory of the smile that bloomed because of the music when they sang together as children appeared before her eyes again. For the sake of her friend's dream, for her determination, and more importantly, to make her smile, Lisa Imai raised her head and stared into Chisaki Kunou's eyes.

"I can give up everything for her."

She was already prepared to give up everything for Yukina Minato.

"Really? Then take off your manicure first, and if you're free after school, come here, and I'll reserve a practice room and help you practice your bass again."

After hearing these words and the determination contained in them, Kunou Chisho finally laughed, then looked at Lisa Imai's fingers and told her what she was going to do next.

"Do you want me to join Yukina's band after I practice bass?"

"Well, if nothing unexpected happens, the band that Youxi wants should have a guitarist, a drummer and a keyboardist in addition to her as the lead singer."

This is a similar configuration to his band, except that in addition to him as the lead singer, Jiuzhong Qianxiao's band also has a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, a keyboardist and a DJ.

Although it turns out that he was the one playing the guitar in the beginning.

"Is that really okay?"

"what?"

"I mean, I gave up bass after middle school, so isn't it a little too late to start playing it again now?"

"It's okay. Your original foundation is very good. Once you have mastered it, I will teach you personally."

Chisho Kunou was not worried at all about Lisa Imai's skills.

"Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me, Lisa. I think if I hadn't told you, you would have joined Yuki's band later, right? And you would have known the other things later. I just told you some of my guesses in advance."

"But no matter what, I should still thank you for letting me know so many things in advance."

"I already told you, no need to thank me."

Chisato Kunou still shook his head. In his opinion, as long as Lisa Imai was willing to stay with Yukina Minato, she would know these things soon. All he did was to let Lisa Imai know it in advance.

Seeing him resisting so much, Lisa Imai couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth, and then she said, "You are still the same as before, you don't like to accept other people's thanks."

Hearing this, Jiuchong Qianxiao curled his lips. He just did what he thought he should do and what he could do. Why should he need others' thanks?

Just like he led his band members to fulfill their dreams, there was no need to thank them at all.

And wait until the two of them separated.

Jiuzhong Qianxiao watched her leave.

While walking on the way home, he suddenly stopped and caught a glimpse of a slightly familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

This caused the person behind him to not realize that he had stopped and accidentally bump into him.

"Oh hey, sorry."

After realizing that he had bumped into someone, the other person took two steps back and bowed to Jiuzhong Qianxiao to apologize.

"Ah, it's okay, I stopped first, sorry."

After being bumped, Jiuchong Qianxiao turned around and apologized to the other party. After all, he was the one who stopped first and the other party didn't notice and bumped into him.

"Hmm? Um, if you want to go to this place, you shouldn't go this way."

After watching the other party bend down and pick up a small piece of paper from the ground, and noticing the address written on it, Jiuchong Qianxiao thought about it and reminded the other party out loud.

"Huh?! Why did we take the wrong road again?"

Hearing this kind reminder, the girl with sky-blue hair let out a sad wail.

From what she said, it was clear that this was not the first time she had been lost.

"To get to this place, you should turn left at the intersection, then turn right after you see a clothing store and walk about a hundred meters to get there."

After hesitating for a while, Jiuchong Qianxiao still showed her how to go.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Seeing that Jiuzhong Qianxiao was not angry at all and was very patient in showing her the way, the girl quickly bowed to him to express her gratitude.

"I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry. I'm very sorry. I have to go now."

The girl apologized to him and walked quickly towards the place he had pointed.