Girls' Wishing Tree

Gao Muying saw that the girl's middle finger raised was probably not malicious, so she didn't dwell on it. Instead, she spoke directly to Momoka: "I want to invite you to record an interview program with guitarists. Would you like to participate?"

"Compared to Tsuzuki Shifune-senpai, I'm still too young. Wouldn't doing this kind of show affect the ratings?"

"You're the guitarist of DiamondDust, and I've also invited the guitarist of PasPale. I mainly want you to talk about the role of guitar in the band." Gao Muying made a "please" gesture: "It's a bit inappropriate to talk on the overpass. Let me buy you something to eat."

"I, Momoka Kawaharaki, am no longer the guitarist for DiamondDust." Momoka didn't move, but tilted her head to the side. "If you want to be interviewed in this capacity, forget it."

"I'll call you Momoka. Let's go and talk while we eat." Takagi Sakura took Momoka's hand and walked under the overpass.

I can't invite Huayuan Duohui and Bingchuan Sayo, but I can't let this guy slip away.

(0) Suddenly, I let out a loud “Gu——” Coincidentally, the unknown girl with the dialog box sent out an “assist” with the protest from her stomach.

Takagi Sakura put her hands behind her back and smiled like the spring breeze when cherry blossoms bloomed.

"Momoka, I didn't ask you to be interviewed as the guitarist of DiamondDust. I just invited two guitarists who have been in the band to talk about the coordination between guitar and other parts. The last video earned more than 200,000 yen, and I gave about half of it to GuitarHero." Sakura first gave Momoka a way out, and then brought up the issue of remuneration.

Taoxiang was tempted when she heard there was so much money.

After she left DiamondDust, she moved out of the dormitory provided by the firm and shared a shabby house with a male student.

It was remote, run-down, and poorly soundproofed, but it was cheap. If she could indeed get 100,000 yen, it would be enough to cover half a year's rent, and she could stay in Tokyo and look for more opportunities, without having to work part-time and perform to support herself.

"That's fine, but don't mention DiamondDust on the show."

"Why don't you mention Diamond Dust? It was Diamond Dust's songs that inspired me, it was Momoka's songs that inspired me, that gave me the courage to come to Tokyo—" Before Takagi Sakura could say anything, the girl half a meter behind Momoka shouted.

"I've already quit DiamondDust." Momoka turned around and looked at Takagi Sakura helplessly, pointing to her backpack: "Once these discs are sold, I will have nothing to do with DiamondDust anymore."

"That's not the case! DiamondDust is only DiamondDust when Momoka is here. What is it after Momoka leaves—"

"It's considered a qualified commercial idol band. They are currently operating in a similar model to PasPale. You can watch PasPale's live performances online." Taoxiang's tone was as if she was talking about something that had nothing to do with her, so cold that it didn't contain a trace of emotion.

The girl held the DiamondDust album in both hands, biting her lower lip lightly, unable to say anything for the time being.

When she was bullied at her hometown school, it was Diamond Dust's songs that helped her overcome the difficulties and strengthen her beliefs.

Never compromise.

Just like what is sung in "Empty Box"——

"There is no right answer to life, and no wrong answer to life. (There is no right answer to life, and therefore no failure. I will always be myself throughout my life.)"

Use the sharpness of self-assertion to pierce this suffocating world.

"What are you talking about? Momoka just left the group, not quit music." Takagi Sakura glared at the girl who seemed a little puzzled. "It's really troublesome when fans go to the extent that you do."

"No, it's okay." Momoka took a deep breath and stood between Ying and the girl again: "I'm the one who disappointed everyone, please don't quarrel over me."

Seeing that Momoka was so protective of her little fan, Takagi Sakura didn't say anything else. Instead, she brought the topic back to her show: "Momoka, I wrote a song and I'd like you to sing it and premiere it on the talk show. Can you lend me your guitar?"

Momoka handed the guitar to Sakura.

On the pedestrian bridge, Ying hung Momoka's guitar on her body, connected it to the portable rechargeable speaker that Momoka carried with her, and gently plucked the strings with her fingers.

After this period of training, her guitar playing was already very close to the intermediate level recognized by the system. Now she just needed an opportunity to make a breakthrough. The Jazzmaster's unique mellow tone emerged from the speakers as the cherry pick plucked.

"NO.1, special Only One, flower shop first, Hanami... (It doesn't matter if I'm not No.1, I'm already special Only One, there are all kinds of flowers placed in front of the flower shop...)" Takagi Sakura's sweet voice and the sound of the guitar blended together, appearing firm and powerful, and even attracted a passerby girl with a dialog box to stop and watch.

“…Servant, there is only one flower in the world, and each of us has his or her own seed. Hanasaki, my life depends on it… (…We are all the only flowers in the world, and each of us has his or her own seed. As long as we try our best to make the flower bloom…)” When she sang to this point, Takagi Sakura seemed to be glowing, and her smile seemed to be able to dispel all the haze in the world.

Momoka's eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly - she had never heard this song before.

Such a nice song would definitely be popular if it was released.

She had an even bolder idea.

The piece is most likely an improvisation by Sakura.

Because the lyrics seem to be encouraging her to leave DiamondDust.

If she didn't truly love music, she wouldn't have dropped out of high school with the members of DiamondDust and come to Tokyo as a band.

If she didn't truly love music, she could easily choose to go with the flow instead of leaving the band that she once had high hopes for with her own persistence.

She is a unique flower.

Next to Taoxiang, the other two girls were speechless.

Of these two girls, one is a little fan of Momoka, and the other looks familiar to Sakura Takagi, but she can't remember who she is.

As soon as the song ended, Momoka's little fans immediately started clapping: "Amazing! Your songs... inspire me just like Momoka's! What band are you from? I... I want to buy your album, too!"

"I'm not a singer, I'm a shrine maiden from the Short Hill Sakura Shrine." Takagi Sakura turned her gaze to Momoka: "How about it? Would you like to sing this song?"

"Yes." Taoxiang answered simply.

"Can I... join in playing this song?" The girl who had been silent came over and spoke during the performance.

She looked like she was still in junior high school. Her face was full of childishness, and her long hair couldn't hide her inferiority complex. Her inferiority complex was not manifested in timidity, but in a very strong sense of "self-protection", as if she had set up a barrier between herself and the world.

When the girl asked this question, she was actively "breaking" the barrier, but Takagi Sakura, who was good at observing humans, was still very keenly aware of the existence of the barrier.

"What musical instrument can you play?" Takagi Sakura saw that she also had a dialogue box and chose to give her appropriate guidance.

"My name is Riki... Shiina Riki." The girl gave her first name, very strangely, and then reluctantly gave her last name as well. This was a behavior very different from Tokyo customs.

In Tokyo, people usually introduce themselves by using their last name or full name, and calling each other by their first name is only suggested after the relationship has progressed to a certain level.

"I... have been learning drums since junior high school."

"Drummer, sure, let's change the contact information." Gao Muying took out her phone: "I'll send you the score later. It's recorded at Sakura Shrine. I'll notify you in advance."

Takagi Sakura added Kawahara Momoka and Shiina Riki as her friends. Just as she was about to put her phone away, one of the remaining girls took out hers and said, "Miko, I want to add you too! My name is Isen Jinna! Please agree to this!"

"Oh, sure." Takagi Sakura added a contact number and added her to the group with the note "Other dialog box girls".

"Ms. Shiina, would you like to have some midnight snack with us?" Since they had agreed to record a show together, Takagi Sakura casually extended the invitation.

"No...that's not necessary." Shiina Riki rejected Takagi Sakura's invitation and left the overpass alone.

It’s a pity that these three guys all have dialog boxes, but there is no trigger option for the time being.

When Ying, Momoka and Nina walked into a Western restaurant, Riki ran towards his home as if escaping.

"A comparison between servants? One by one, one by one, one by one, one by one?" (If that's the case, why do we humans compare ourselves? We're all different, so why do we still compete for first place?)

These lyrics were simply sung for her.

Because her sister Shiina Maki was too brilliant in wind instruments, she gave up wind instruments and switched to learning drums, hoping to leave her own mark on another path.

But her older sister's shadow still looms over her. All of her classmates at Haneda Junior High School, with the exception of Takamatsu Touma, treat her like a "Shiina Maki" pendant.

If she does something well, it is "what Maki should do"; if she does not do something well, it is "after all, there is a difference between a younger sister and an older sister."

Shiina Riki is not and does not want to be the shadow of Shiina Maki.

She has made plans to change high school, make new friends and start a new life.

Shiina Riki returned home looking a bit embarrassed. She said "I'm back" with a guilty conscience and quickly went into her room.

Pack a change of clothes, take a shower, change into pajamas...

These are all daily things I have to do, but after listening to the shrine maiden's song today, the figure of the shrine maiden always appears in my mind when I do these things.

Curled up in bed, Shiina Riki discovered that her good friend Takamatsu Teru was right.

This shrine maiden is not using the ritual to deceive people, but is really very powerful.

Thinking that he had asked his sister to "identify" whether Takagi Sakura was a liar, Li Xi's cheeks turned as red as a monkey's butt.

Just when Li Xi wanted to dig out a three-bedroom apartment from the bed with her toes, her cell phone vibrated.

I picked up the phone and saw it was a message from Takagi Sakura.

[Ms. Shiina Tatsuki, this is the sheet music. Please practice according to it. Please be careful not to post the sheet music online before the song is released.]

Just three hours later, the sheet music arrived, already divided into five tracks: vocals, two guitars, bass, and drums. It was obvious it had been hastily written: only the chords were marked for the rhythm guitar, only the root note for the bass, and no lyrics for the vocals.

Lixi picked up the phone and it was already 11 o'clock in the evening.

But there was one thing she had to confirm with her sister.

She knocked gently on Shiina Maki's door: "Sister, are you resting?"

"Xiao Lixi, what's the matter so late?" Maki's door opened.

"Um... Sister, didn't I ask you to watch the Sakura Festival at Sakura Shrine last time? You told me then that the shrine maiden named Takagi Sakura was very powerful, right?"

"Yeah, it's amazing." Shiina Maki nodded. "It was beyond my expectation to see such a performance at the shrine."

"How powerful is that?" Li Xi leaned forward and asked anxiously.

"It's amazing that she'll be widely recognized by professional musicians—why are you suddenly asking about her?"

"Um...sister, I would like to ask you to help me take a look at this music score. What do you think?" Li Xi took out his mobile phone.

As an active member of the school's wind band and a frequent participant in regional competitions, Shiina Maki has a wide repertoire. If she approves of this piece, it speaks volumes about the quality of the piece.

Maki picked up her phone and hummed the vocal melody to the musical score on the screen. "This song is good. The melody is very pleasant to listen to. If you can write songs like this, you can help people write songs and make money - huh? Did the miko Takagi Sakura send it to you?"

"Oh, don't go back to the chat interface!" Li Xi snatched back his phone with a red face, and felt his heart beating faster again.

"I'm sorry, my sister didn't mean to." Maki clasped her hands together. "Did she want to take you to play with her?"

"This is my business." Li Xi bowed slightly to his sister: "Thank you for helping me with the music."

Maki was about to say something, but Riki had already slipped back into his room and closed the door.

Chapter 53 Shrines, Festivals and Monsters: 13. Let’s go to the shrine together

When Lixi walked into the classroom, he glanced at the situation inside.

More than half of the classmates had arrived. As usual, only a few classmates around him greeted him, and Li Xi also responded.

Fortunately, no one noticed my dark circles.

Two minutes later, Takamatsu Deng walked in. She wanted to go up and talk to him about the shrine, but other classmates "intercepted" Takamatsu Deng's attention. Li Xi could only sit in her seat and wait for the bell to ring.

Lamps that look like small animals are very popular in the class.

Finally, during lunch break, Lixi found a chance to be alone with Deng.

"Deng, the shrine you mentioned—when did you start going there?"

"When I was a child." Deng had visited several shrines, and she knew which one Li Xi was talking about.

This is the tacit understanding between them.

Last time, Riki asked Maki to help "expose" Takagi Sakura's "deception", and ended up seeing an excellent performance that sparked a lot of discussion on campus. After the Sakura Festival, Riki and Deng hadn't talked about the shrine.

This is also their tacit understanding.

When the words came to his lips, Li Xi didn't know what to say.

"You're right, the shrine does have something special, and the shrine maiden even invited me to play drums." or "Have you seen the shrine maiden's guitar interview program? She invited me to appear in the next episode." Neither seems right.

Finally, Li Xigong managed to utter this: "Deng, have you been to the shrine recently?"

Deng shook his head slightly: "It used to be very quiet there."

Her subtext is that the Sakura Shrine is not as quiet as it used to be.

After the old priest passed away, the shrine was closed for over a month. I went there twice, but once I couldn't find Sakura Takagi. The deity gently persuaded her to sing at the next year's festival. Another time, seeing Sakura still hadn't returned, I didn't enter the shrine. Then, I went there again and heard Rakuna practicing the piano, but I still didn't go in.

"God" wanted to talk to him about words, but he felt that he needed a quiet atmosphere to do this. Deng, who was not good at expressing himself with words, could not clearly explain his thoughts in front of Li Xi.

"I want to go to the shrine after school...Deng, do you want to come with me?" Li Xi had to talk about the shrine in his own way.

"...Go." Deng glanced at Li Xi, stood up and walked towards the classroom.

After school.

Riki and Deng went to the Sakura Shrine together.

Now the sign refusing visitors has been removed. At first glance, the shrine looks no different from when the old priest was there, but the details are different - a sign thanking the performance at the Harvest Festival has been hung, and a QR code for following the shrine's account has been posted in a prominent position next to the shrine.

There are many ema related to the girls in the band hanging on the ema stand. Some are praying for a smooth live performance, some are praying for improvement in instrument playing, some hope to find teammates, and more are fans hoping that the band they support will get better and better.

"Deng, Li Xi, you're here." The two were still standing in front of the ema frame when Takagi Sakura walked out from behind them. Sakura was playing the violin in the tree. When she found the two coming, she found an opportunity to slip out of their blind spot.

Deng's eyes widened a little at Sakura's sudden appearance, but the expression was fleeting and then Deng lowered his head.

Li Xi, on the other hand, didn't see anything strange about Ying's coming in, and took the initiative to talk to her: "Takagi Miko, I've already looked over the music score you sent me, and there shouldn't be...any problems."

Ying nodded and turned her gaze to Deng: "Deng, do you know how to read musical notation?"

"Huh? Did the teacher teach us how to read music..." Deng was obviously not prepared for the topic to shift to himself.