You are Toyokawa Shoko, then who am I?

The sound of reality interrupted Toyokawa Sho's thoughts and pulled him out of his abstract inner world.

Toyokawa Sho came back to his senses, looked at the black-haired girl in front of him who had kindly reminded him, closed his eyes and smiled.

"Thank you. Let's go in together."

The black-haired girl didn't reply, but the frown that had been there just now deepened.

Her name is Shiina Tatsuki, the drummer mentioned in the narration just now.

Her opinion on Toyokawa Shoko's escape was very simple.

Incomprehensible.

It was you who said you would aim at the Budokan, reach the top of the Red and White Songs Contest, and cling to the lights to death.

Now you say you want to quit the band and don’t want to live together anymore, and you also criticize Deng as the worst person in the team. It’s you too.

what.

It's simply unreasonable.

The above is the simplest and most crude summary of the renegade ninja Toyokawa Shoko's defection from the village by Tatsuki Shiina.

To put it nicely, there is some grudge.

To put it bluntly, it is unforgivable.

But now when she went out to look for a job, she saw a person who looked almost 90% like Toyokawa Shoko standing behind her. One can imagine how confused and puzzled she felt.

Who is this person?

What is his relationship with Toyokawa Shoko?

Why is he here?

The numerous questions piled up in his mind, disrupting Shiina Riki's calm mood.

If possible, she would like to grab Toyokawa Sho and make him answer all her questions.

But this was not a suitable place to talk, so she could only suppress this thought and spend every second in agony.

I thought about talking to other people in the band, but after sending messages for a long time, I found that there was no suitable person to talk to.

There are only five people in the band, excluding herself.

Shoko Toyokawa has been expelled from the band.

Wakaba Mutsushi and Toyokawa Shoko are wolves and rats.

Deng has been in a bad mood these days and doesn't want her to be troubled by this matter anymore, so he can't tell her. It's definitely not that he is deliberately hiding it from her.

As for Nagasaki Suyo, I always feel that I don’t get along with this person, and what I say to her will definitely make things more troublesome... I’d better think about it carefully before making a decision.

After reviewing the composition of Crychic, Shiina Riki found that there was no available soldier around him, so he silently put his phone away and deduced the identity of the unknown man alone.

She finally came to the conclusion.

This person should be a very close relative of Toyokawa Shoko.

After all, their faces look so similar that it would be an understatement to say they are relatives. In her expectation, this person should be Toyokawa Shoko's brother, or even a twin.

The reason why they say they have a good relationship is, on the one hand, because in Japan, where sister-con is rampant, the relationship between siblings can’t be that bad; on the other hand, it’s because this person said he knew me.

He had never met the other person, nor had he seen him at the last performance, so the only possibility was that Toyokawa Shoko told him.

In Shiina Riki's opinion, matters like the band should be private topics that should only be shared with close friends.

Because for most ordinary students who are already overwhelmed by just dealing with their studies.

The word "band" itself represents modern life.

It is transcendent and abnormal.

It is colorful and does not match the normal boring life.

Therefore, whether it is brought up actively or passively, everyone will think that this is showing off, which will inadvertently bring a lot of trouble to oneself.

Of course, if there are those who are too concerned about face and are vain, that is another matter.

Shiina Riki has always disliked those idiots who only have fame and reputation in their eyes, have an empty mind, have no idea what connotation and depth are, and most likely have terrible musical instrument skills.

Just keep reasoning.

It was Shiina Riki's turn for the interview.

Seeing the sign saying enter in groups of two, she called Toyokawa Sho, whose thoughts were still wandering, and walked into the room with him.

The room was quite spacious inside. Judging from the effects pedals and drum kits stacked at the back, it must have been a rehearsal room that was temporarily used as an interview location.

The person in charge of the interview was an old lady who looked very old. She sat in the middle seat with an expression that looked neither happy nor sad.

It just makes people feel a kind of suffocating severity, as if facing a huge mountain.

Shiina Riki recognized this stressful old lady.

She is the boss behind this live house, her name is Tsuzuki Poetry Ship.

Although she has a very elegant and beautiful name, I heard that this old lady is not easy to get along with.

Different from the kind-hearted Bodhisattvas and simple old men commonly seen at this age.

She is undoubtedly the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, the Mara who terrifies everyone and makes them tremble just by standing in front of him, the Satan who can stop children from crying at night and whose two big hands can suppress the ten heavens and nine earths.

It is said that a very popular rock band that prided itself on being the best in the industry once performed in front of her, but was criticized by her with extremely sharp and pointed comments, which made them question their lives.

The rock band refused to accept the result and challenged her with all their courage!

(□: This refers to the state, which can be simply understood as solo.)

You cool bastard! Come up and challenge me if you dare!

(□: The smelly old woman’s empty ears, Jotaro’s famous saying.)

Tsuzuki Shisen raised his eyebrows, and the bloodthirsty image of Acala slowly appeared behind him.

No one knows the final outcome of this game.

All people knew was that since that day, the band had disappeared like the flash of Hassawi, and had never appeared again.

Ever since.

Everyone became more respectful to this legendary old man.

Facing Tsuzuki Shifune's sharp gaze, Shiina Riki's body suddenly became quite stiff.

She recalled all the legends about the other party and the poor band that never appeared in Tokyo again.

All of a sudden.

Anxiety and panic crept into my heart.

She tried hard to calm her nervousness, standing there in a daze, unable to utter a word.

Until Toyokawa Sho beside her said:

"Hello, boss. Thank you very much for taking the time to give us an interview. My name is Toyokawa Sho, and the person standing next to me is Shiina Riki. We heard that RiNG is holding a grand opening event next week and is short on staff, so we wanted to see if we could contribute a little to our live house."

"!?"

Shiina Riki turned his head in surprise, his purple eyes, as if finely ground with the petals of late cherry blossoms, now filled with an expression of surprise.

Why is this person so skilled?

He was not at all stage fright and spoke very fluently.

He even helped me finish my words. It felt like I had been interviewed hundreds of times.

And his name...

He looks so much like that guy Toyokawa Shoko.

Sure enough, this person was her brother.

After the interview, I must find a way to detain him, at least to find out about Toyokawa Shoko from him.

Deng was so sad, thinking that Crychic disbanded because of her.

I must stop her from thinking like this, no matter what method I use...

Toyokawa Sho noticed someone's intense gaze, and his eyes glanced over and theirs crossed in the air.

Shiina Riki was stunned. He didn't expect the other party to look at him, so he immediately looked away.

"You two are students, right?"

Tsuzuki Shifune tapped the table lightly with her fingers, her eyes moving back and forth between the two of them, and then she spoke.

"Live House does allow students to come and work part-time. I've hired a few girls to help with the work before, and I'd occasionally give them some pointers..."

"But now, more and more students come here to work out of vanity, or with romantic intentions. Today alone, I've met more than fifty students like you."

"As students, your main job is studying. You have very little time to help out in the store. Compared to working professionals who can work full-time, you're neither cost-effective nor competent. Moreover, the store has to take responsibility for your safety. From my perspective, do you think I need students?"

"..."

Shiina Riki was stunned by the question.

She had too little social experience, and Du Zhushichuan was unable to make her feel confused with just a few words.

She didn't think about why Tsuzuki Shisen said those words.

She just felt that what Tsuzuki Shifune said made a lot of sense. From the boss's point of view, these students were really just here to eat and it was not cost-effective at all.

"If you've figured it out, please leave. I don't want to be a temporary worker."

As Tsuzuki Shichuan's final words fell.

Shiina Riki's breathing stagnated, thinking that he couldn't leave like this, but when he met Tsuzuki Shifune's unquestionable gaze, the words that came out of his heart were suddenly stuck in his throat.

She lowered her head, which was usually cold and arrogant towards others, and the inferiority complex hidden deep in her heart grew even stronger.

The reason why she wanted to work in this store was, firstly, because she was inspired by Toyokawa Shoko and wanted to see how other bands got along through Live House, and secondly, to improve herself.

She had heard of the reputation of Tsuzuki's poetry ship and felt that this legendary old man was just like her, the kind of person who had extremely high demands on others and also on himself.

She saw the shadow of her future self in the other person, and thought that maybe she could become such a person in the future, an adult who did not need to be pressured by anyone and would not lose to anyone.

Because of this longing and expectation, I walked into this room with a little hope.

But Tsuzuki Shisen's words shattered the little hope in her heart into shattered glass on the ground.

Those glass shards are prickly.

The prick made her fingers hurt.

Having lived in the shadow of her sister for many years, she has a high degree of acceptance of her own failures. She does not think that failure is something impossible, but rather thinks it is natural.

Because she is a person without talent.

So, the band broke up, the interview failed, and so on.

These things are normal.

Just as Shiina Riki was thinking negatively about the pain in his heart, he wanted to bend down, say sorry for disturbing him, and then leave the room.

An unexpected big hand suddenly came into her sight.

Stopped her who was once again overwhelmed by inferiority.

"Wait a moment, could you give me a chance to ask a question?"

"Okay." Tsuzuki Shifune nodded with satisfaction. Finally, someone dared to speak out in resistance. He was an interesting young man.

"Before the interview, the waitress downstairs mentioned to me that if anyone didn't have a band next Saturday, they could randomly pick a few of them to come on stage to help out. In other words, most people working here should have some musical ability, otherwise she wouldn't have said that they could just pick anyone.

"So I'd like to ask you, is your interview criterion based on instrumental ability? If so, Taki and I... ahem, this Shiina-san and I, would like to bravely give you a try and have you decide whether to stay or leave us."

Boom, boom, boom.

Silent war drums began to roar inside the room.

The Asura evil ghost that came from hell straightened her sitting posture.

Her gaze was as sharp as a knife or a sword, and in an instant it seemed as if lightning and thunder were flashing, and sparks were flying.

Among the students she interviewed, almost most of them left in disappointment after listening to her speech.

There were only a handful of people who dared to question her, but they were all good-for-nothings and none of them could fight.