Girls' Wishing Tree

Sakura felt something unusual for the second time today.

She had sensed Xiangzi's sense of urgency before the live performance began, and now she felt Su Shi's attachment to the band.

There is nothing wrong with members feeling attached to the band, but Crychic has not been together for long, and unlike Afterglow, the members are good friends whether they are in a band or not. How can there be such a strong attraction?

You know, Momoka dropped out of school with DiamondDust to form a professional band, and when it really came time to quit, she didn't get as emotional as Su Shi.

Ying still didn't point it out. Then the few of them talked about the future and then went home.

It was already night when she returned to the shrine.

But now, no matter how late it is, there will always be someone waiting for her at the shrine.

Sayu saw Sakura come back and immediately came out to greet her: "Sakura is back! Did your performance go well today?"

"It's okay, it's just a song, and there are less than two hundred people in the audience. Did anything happen at the shrine today?"

"Toruko and Mashiro from Morfonica came over, and Mashiro insisted on taking a look at the excavated basement."

"Just take a look, there's nothing shameful about it."

The underground space of the shrine was actually dug out bit by bit by Sakura using tree roots, but she dug in the middle of the night so no one would find out. As long as no one saw the digging process, she could pretend that it was repaired by the engineering team.

"Yeah, I was there the whole time. Mashiro didn't do much, just picked a few mushrooms from the roots of the tree."

"Ah?" Ying suddenly became nervous: "She took it away?"

"Take it away. Are the mushrooms poisonous? Then I'll call Mashiro right away—"

Sakura looked at the panicked Sayu and raised a hand to interrupt her: "It's okay, just take it away."

There was still half of the sentence that Sakura didn't say.

The inspiration mushroom that I spent my magic power and time to cultivate is gone.

It seems that next time I have to find a more secluded place to cultivate inspiration mushrooms.

Now I just hope... that Mashiro takes it home to grow as a succulent and doesn't stuff the inspiration mushroom into his mouth.

"Sakura, is it really okay?"

"It's okay. Those mushrooms are ornamental mushrooms I grew. But they're failures anyway, so it doesn't matter if I give them to Mashiro."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was Sakura who planted it—" Sayu immediately bowed to Sakura.

"I told you it's okay, go to bed early." Sakura walked past Sayu and entered the bedroom.

Chapter 143 Spring, Sakura and Crychic: 45, This is consuming Crychic

In April, students go back to school and the cherry blossom season is over.

Visitors to the shrine had decreased significantly, and Sakura officially let the construction team in to begin the renovations. In a little over a month, a three-story building with a basement would go from blueprint to reality.

There are many residents in Tokyo who build their own homes. It is not difficult to find such construction teams. As long as the price is right, there is no problem in asking them to build with relatively high standards.

Sakura actually spent quite a bit more on the exterior—she had to keep the house's style consistent with the rest of the shrine. However, she used better materials for the structure, so the cost didn't go over too much.

Ying was watching workers hoisting steel beams on the second floor at the construction site when someone suddenly tapped her from behind.

In the shrine, her perception ability is very strong, and to some extent she can share her perception with her original body.

She felt that the person patting her from behind was Miyazono Kaoru.

"Xun? How come you have time to come here?" Sakura turned around in surprise.

"Now I have more than three hours of wakefulness every day, and I can go out for a walk." Xun 2氿五吓企1(三) took out a box of candy and handed it to Ying: "Thank you, it was the god of this shrine who let me know that I still have a chance to recover."

Sakura couldn't help but sigh at the influence of willpower on a person - the last time she saw Xun, she still looked like a nocturnal animal, but now she looked like an ordinary JK with a sickly look.

"I've been so busy over the past six months that I've had less time to practice the violin," Ying said a little embarrassedly. "Actually, I even joined a band as a violinist, but I still don't have much time to practice."

"The Sakura Club plays a lot of instruments, guitar, bass, and more." Xun laughed. "With so many instruments to practice, it's normal for a band to not have time to play just one."

Xun's words are indeed very pleasant to the ear.

Ying pointed to the small building under construction and said, "Once this is finished, Xun can come and play more often. Even if you don't feel well, you can sleep here before leaving."

"Yeah." Xun nodded. "Being with the God-sama might be good for my recovery. I told Kousei about this, but he didn't believe me."

The corners of Ying's mouth twitched twice - even in this world with some supernatural powers, it was a bit difficult to judge whether people would believe in the powerful gods in a small shrine.

"Even gods depend on fate. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not." Sakura turned her gaze back to Miyazono Kaoru: "Is he good to you?"

Xun paused before answering, "Not bad. We have a common language when it comes to music."

If Arima Kousei and Miyazono Kaoru were truly close, Kaoru would definitely not have responded like that. Miyazono Kaoru was incredibly thoughtful—how could someone who spent a month weaving lies when they felt they might be in trouble be foolish?

To put it bluntly, if Miyazono Kaoru hadn't gotten over it, she would have been Arima Kousei's "white moonlight" for the rest of his life. The things he didn't do with Miyazono Kaoru would have been a lifelong regret for Arima Kousei.

But now, Miyazono Kaoru is lying on the hospital bed like Sleeping Beauty, and can only wake up for a limited time every day, which adds a layer of uncertainty to their relationship.

"Do you want me to help you...repair...no, improve your relationship?" Sakura asked Xun.

She was still very optimistic about the relationship between Kousei and Kaoru. It could be said that their fates had been intertwined since they were very young. Moreover, even when Kaoru became so sick that she couldn't even stand up, Kousei didn't give up on her.

"No need, Sakura. I'll take care of it—" Xun forced a smile and changed the subject: "It's really great to be able to visit the shrine in person. When I was unconscious, I vaguely felt that I was in the shrine, but my world was surrounded by darkness. Only the cherry tree planted by the god was like a beacon to guide me."

"You can come anytime you like. You'll definitely get better and better." Ying walked into the training room. "By the way, let me make you some tea."

"No need." Xun raised his hand to stop Ying: "Just play a piece of violin with me. I can't stay too long. I need to leave some time to eat and wash up when I get back."

Sakura took out her violin, and the two girls stood under the cherry tree and played a piece of music together. The intertwined sounds of the two violins witnessed their friendship.

They all have a good sense of music and had no problem singing a song that had been performed at the Sakura Festival.

At that time, their performance was a pipa and violin version, but now it has been changed to a double violin version, and the feeling is subtly different.

After playing a song, Xun put the violin back into the case reluctantly and said goodbye to Ying.

Ying didn't see him off, but picked up the phone that was ringing.

The information came from the Crychic band chat group.

Suyo Nagasaki: We will be rehearsing at the LiveHouseRing rehearsal room at 4pm. I hope everyone can arrive on time.

After the message was sent, it quickly showed that 3 people had read it.

Ying sent an "OK" emoticon, and as soon as the emoticon was sent, Xiangzi followed up with a message.

Shoko Toyokawa: It’s not very convenient today, I may have to ask for leave.

Ying saw the message, but as soon as she finished reading it, Xiangzi withdrew the message.

Soon, another message popped up in the group: Shoko Toyokawa: I can’t come because of something urgent, you can rehearse first.

After a while, Xiangzi's message was read by 5 people, but no one replied in the group.

Ying wiped the sweat from her forehead - it was a little hard to guess what these little girls were thinking.

There was no response in the group. Although everyone had read the message, they all seemed to have tacitly chosen silence.

Sakura thought for a while, and finally calculated the time to leave the shrine. She also called away Satoshi Ebizuka, who was also taking on the job of shop assistant downstairs.

Xiangzi's keyboard skills are indeed superb, but he is not irreplaceable. It would definitely be enough for Zhuazhi to make a "guest appearance".

When Ying and Zhi arrived at the rehearsal room, they discovered that besides Xiangzi, guitarist Mu, bassist Sushi, and lead singer Deng were already there. A sense of oppression hung in the air, and everyone had their heads down, either playing with their phones or tuning their instruments.

"Everyone's here," Sakura said softly, trying to break the awkward silence, "I brought a temporary keyboard player with me. Let's start rehearsing."

However, the girls weren't particularly enthusiastic about rehearsing. Mu's fingers slid back and forth on the guitar strings, making a slide-like motion, but no melody emerged. Sushi's bass guitar was leaning casually against the wall, her gaze bent over her phone. Deng leaned against the wall, clutching her green-covered lyric notebook. Lixi twirled his drumsticks in one hand while swiping his phone, which rested on the tom-tom.

Sakura tried to cheer everyone up, but the depressed atmosphere among the girls was like an invisible fog that could not be dispelled.

Ying had no choice but to walk over to Lixi: "Lixi, what happened today?"

"It's okay, since Sakura brought a keyboard player, we can start. How about we start with "Haruhi Shadow"? " Li Xi suggested.

"No!" Su Shi shouted, "Xiao Xiang hasn't come yet! This is the song she wrote!"

Mu glanced at Su Shi and said, "Xiao Xiang...something happened."

Ying could see that Mu was definitely helping Xiangzi hide something.

Although Mu is the daughter of an actor, her acting skills in covering up for others are a bit poor.

"Or we can rehearse a song written by Red Ginger. Zhi is a member of Red Ginger, and she probably won't mind practicing it for a while." Ying made a suggestion.

This proposal obviously did not satisfy any of the girls, but it did not cause strong resistance either.

Zhi sent the music score to Ying and asked her to forward it to everyone, but as the music started, the sense of emptiness caused by Xiangzi's absence became particularly obvious.

Although Sakura tried hard to adjust the performance and tried to get everyone to find their place, the entire rehearsal seemed disorganized.

The sound of the lights was intermittent, as if the lyrics written by Zhi were a bit hot to the lips; Su Shi's bass could not keep up with the beat; Mu interrupted his performance frequently, making the playing sound stuttering.

Even Zhi looked at Ying with confusion, as if wanting to ask her why she joined such a problematic band.

"That's enough!" Ying suddenly put down her bow. "If you don't want to rehearse, then go back. Now we're not rehearsing, we're just draining everyone's enthusiasm for the band Crychic!"

After saying this, she pulled Zhi out of the rehearsal room, leaving the originally noisy rehearsal room in silence.

Chapter 144 Spring, Sakura and Crychic:46, After the Disbanding

After leaving the rehearsal room, Takagi Sakura waited at the door of LiveHouseRing for a while - and sure enough, Zhi soon caught up.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time today." Ying took the initiative to apologize to Zhi.

For a musician like Zhi, high-level rehearsals are for honing playing skills, average-level rehearsals are for relaxing, and poor-level rehearsals are torture—if it weren't for Sakura's face, Zhi would definitely have left earlier.

What Sakura didn't expect was that Zhi started to persuade her: "Sakura, it's normal for teammates to have some problems sometimes. Do you want to go back and tell them? I just scolded my teammates, and then... the band disbanded."

"It's their attitude problem." Ying gestured to leave. "No matter how bad it is, those guys can't be like they're in elementary school music class. They scheduled a rehearsal, and I asked you to help, but you refused to perform 'Spring Shadow' and substituted Red Ginger's song. And you're all slacking off."

Zhi didn't say anything else - even though she was just there to help, she could sense that something was subtly wrong with the atmosphere within the team.

The two of them tacitly agreed not to mention the rehearsal, but instead talked about the music festival.

"The music festival is in four days, right? How are Momoka's preparations going?"

"It's okay. We've prepared four songs, so we should be able to put on a good show. The one under the most pressure right now is Hong Xia. She's twice complained in the group chat that the drums are too difficult. We've also made a simplified version of the drum sheet. If she really can't practice it, we can use the simplified version." Zhi was still a little unwilling to give up, and extended another invitation to Ying: "Can't we just let Sayu watch over the shrine? We're only going for three days, why don't you come with us, Ying?"

Sakura currently had no way of leaving Tokyo. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't. But the fact that she was a tree demon wasn't something she could talk about openly.

So, she could only continue to make excuses: "After you leave, Sayu will go downstairs to look after the store, so I will have to guard the shrine. I also have to supervise the progress of the construction team here. Now is the critical period for structural construction."

Zhi sighed softly: "Ying, I'm just worried. I'm worried that if you're not around, Momoka won't be able to adjust emotionally. If Momoka quits, Renai might not be able to stay either. I like this band very much and don't want it to break up like this."

"Momoka is just a little lost. She was really hurt when she left DiamondDust. It's going to take time for her to resume her career as a professional musician. I already counseled her last time. Even if she goes, there's nothing she can do. The most important thing is for you to give her confidence in the future."

"I understand." Zhi nodded and followed Ying to the subway station.

The night breeze was a bit chilly, and Ying's long hair fluttered gently in the breeze. She took the initiative to move to a position that was out of the wind to help Zhi block the wind, and the two of them hurried to catch the subway. The lights inside the car were dim, and since it was not rush hour, it was not crowded. Most of the passengers were looking down at their phones or closing their eyes to rest.

Ying took out her phone and found the screen flashing with unread messages. She hesitated for a moment, then finally clicked on the chat history with Su Shi.

[Sakura, are you still there?]

[Ying, things are really bad in the rehearsal room. I don't know what to do.]

[Ying, you must come back! We are all waiting for you to come back and take charge of the situation!]

[......]

Message after message came into view, each one filled with anxiety and anticipation. Ying's fingers lightly swiped across the screen, but there was still no reply. Looking at the densely packed timestamps of the messages, Ying was speechless. Su Shi's typing speed was a little too fast. Was this the strength of the bassist?

She leaned back in her seat, watching the lights speed by outside the window. From the train came the sounds of subway station announcements, a few teenagers discussing football, and the coughs of the passenger next to her. These sounds intertwined, making her feel even more exhausted.

Looking at Zhi from the side, he had already closed his eyes and was listening to music with headphones on.

Ying recalled the scene during today's rehearsal: Xiangzi's absence dampened everyone's spirits, and everyone's state was a little indescribable.

Perhaps because Ying had marked the message from Su Shi as "read", Su Shi started sending a large number of messages again.

[Ying, please don't be angry. I promise to bring Xiangzi to the next rehearsal.]

[I won't let you down like this again. It's all my fault.]

[Sorry, I'll go talk to Xiangzi. She can't be so careless about the band's affairs anymore.]

[......]

Not only talkative, but also humble.

Sakura suddenly felt a little tired and decided to ignore Su Shi, but after returning to the shrine, she called Deng.

The phone rang several times in succession, and then suddenly became busy.

This means that Deng did not answer Ying's call.