People in Mygo are emotional firefighters.

"It's...it's just..." Chihaya Aine stammered, her eyes darting around, the blush on her cheeks still lingering. On one hand, she felt a little embarrassed to mention that "exclusive love song" in front of the light, but on the other hand, she couldn't help but feel a little smug—look, Mayu-kun sang a song especially for me!

Chapter 119 Piano Practice Diary

Ishikawa Mayu found it amusing to look at Aine's embarrassed yet secretly smug expression, but she remained outwardly composed.

He calmly took out a handwritten lyric sheet from his backpack and spread it out in the center of the table.

“This is the song.” He said calmly, tapping the lyrics paper with his fingertip. “This is the song I hummed to Aiyin yesterday. I think the melody is quite catchy, and it’s not bad as supplementary material for our initial contact with Donghuang language. This is one of our next learning goals.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Aiyin and Deng, and added in a natural tone, "Aiyin, weren't you curious about what this song was about yesterday? You can check it out with Deng first."

"You guys take a look first, I'll look for where I put the pinyin materials."

While Mayu was looking down and rummaging through her bag, Chihaya Aine, her cheeks still flushed, turned her gaze, along with Takamatsu Akari, who was also somewhat curious, to the lyric sheet in the center of the table.

However, when Chihaya Aine's gaze fell on the lyrics sheet, she froze for a moment.

Ok?

These characters... seem... somewhat different from the characters in the scrolling lyrics I remember from the video?

With a sense of doubt, she quickly browsed the Japanese translation below the lyrics.

Piano Practice Diary

It's about to rain, I need to hurry back...

[Inside the violin case, there was a pick case and new tablature...]

If I need to practice a new piece tomorrow, I'll pick up my guitar, even if my fingers hurt a bit right now...

[When I started learning this song, I read it along with the rhythm; it only helped me remember the chord names...]

Practice chord progressions a few more times, work through scales a few more times, and no bottleneck is insurmountable...

[I started learning this song, reading it to the rhythm. It simply helped me overcome my stage fright...]

Carefully tune each string and practice every day…

……

"puff--"

Chihaya Aine couldn't help but laugh out loud again. This time, she quickly covered her mouth, but her shoulders shook even more violently than before.

She finally realized what was happening!

That idiot, Makoto! To cover up yesterday's love song, he actually changed the lyrics overnight into a complete "The Blood and Tears History of a Guitar Trainee"!

From "I want to give you happiness" to "Memory chord name", from "giving up the world for you" to "overcoming stage fright"... this range is just too outrageous!

As Takamatsu looked at the translated lyrics, her light brown eyes shone with understanding and empathy. She said softly and earnestly, "This song... is very realistic. Aine... my fingers would hurt when I practiced it before."

She completely believed it.

When Ishikawa Mayu heard Aine's laughter, her heart skipped a beat. She forced herself to remain calm, looked up, and asked, holding the phonetic materials she had just found, "...What's wrong? What are you laughing about all of a sudden?"

Chihaya Aine looked up, her eyes still holding a lingering smile and a hint of moisture.

She looked at Mayu's feigned composure, then glanced at Takamatsu Akari, who was completely oblivious and staring at her with innocent eyes. A thought flashed through her mind like lightning—

What would happen if we exposed him now?

No.

Almost subconsciously, this thought took over.

She didn't want it to be like this.

They didn't want this special "cat and mouse game" that existed only between them to end.

She wanted this tenderness that Shin'u revealed because of her, this adorable way he fumbled to cover up his lie, to be known only to her.

So, Chihaya Aine tried her best to put on an innocent expression of just being a little confused, tilted her head and asked, "It's nothing... I'm just a little curious, why did Mayu sing to me yesterday... why did she specifically choose such a... um... 'inspirational' song? Or was it a song about practicing guitar?"

Ishikawa Mayu almost crashed; he hadn't prepared a contingency plan for this problem at all!

His brain instantly went into high-speed mode, but his face remained calm as he answered in a matter-of-fact tone, as if to say, "Is this even a question?"

"Weren't you tired and a little frustrated from practicing guitar yesterday? That's why I thought of this song that's about practice and encouragement, and I thought it was quite fitting. Otherwise, what song did you think I would sing for you? Honestly."

He deliberately added a slightly disdainful rhetorical question at the end, trying to seize the initiative, while secretly praising his own quick wit.

Chihaya Aine was secretly delighted to see him spouting nonsense with such a straight face, but on the surface, she readily agreed with a smile: "Oh~ I see! The 'Piano Practice Diary'... Mayu-kun is so thoughtful!"

It's "Why Not"! It's a love song, you idiot! What else could it be!

She mentally complained, but seeing that Zhenyu was clearly relieved because she "believed" him, she decided to let him off the hook for the time being.

Especially in front of the well-behaved lamp, she had to maintain her image as a "good student".

Seeing her expression of complete acceptance, even a hint of appreciation, Ishikawa Masahiro felt the huge weight in his heart finally lift with a thud. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Great, he had successfully fooled her! This girl really didn't understand the Eastern language at all; he had easily fooled her.

With the crisis resolved, he resumed his "teacher" persona and distributed the found pinyin materials to Aiyin and Deng.

“Alright, now that we’ve seen the song, let’s start with the most basic pinyin.” He pointed to the initials and finals on the material. “The pronunciation of Donghuang language is very different from Japanese. There are many sounds that don’t exist in Japanese. You need to listen carefully and imitate them diligently.”

He demonstrated a few basic syllables and had the two repeat after him. Takamatsu Akari studied with exceptional seriousness, her little mouth trying hard to imitate the unfamiliar pronunciations. Although it was a bit difficult, her eyes were focused. Chihaya Aine also put aside her playful thoughts and recited along, but her eyes would occasionally glance at the altered lyrics paper, a faint smile playing on her lips.

After giving a preliminary explanation of a few basic syllables, Ishikawa Mayu decided to put the "textbook" into practice.

“Let’s try reading the first line of this song using pinyin now.” He pointed to the first line on the lyrics sheet, “Read after me, pay attention to the tone— ‘sky—sky—quick—to—rain.’”

“The sky is about to rain,” Ai Yin and Deng chanted, their voices echoing in the quiet activity room.

“Very good.” Zhenyu nodded and pointed to the second sentence, “Continue, ‘I—have—to—hurry—back—’.

He had barely finished speaking when Chihaya Aine suddenly raised her hand, her face displaying an expression that was a mixture of innocence and cunning, and said:

"Mahiko-sensei~ I remember... it wasn't like this yesterday? I... I remember it was..."

She tilted her head slightly, pretending to try to remember, and then attempted to clearly pronounce a few words in her broken Chinese:

"'I really want to live next door to you'?"

Chapter 120 I Really Want to Live Next Door to You

Although her pronunciation was strange and her tones were all over the place, she clearly imitated the outline of the words "I really want to live next door to you"!

The composure on Ishikawa Mayu's face froze instantly, as if struck by an invisible lightning bolt. He felt as if his blood had stopped flowing, and a fine layer of cold sweat instantly seeped out from his back.

How could she remember?! Wasn't she half asleep yesterday?! Is this girl's memory some kind of monster?!

Takamatsu Akari was also drawn to the sentence that Aine suddenly uttered, which was completely different from the lyrics on the lyric sheet. She blinked in confusion, looked at the lyric sheet, then at Ishikawa Mayu, and whispered, repeating Aine's words: "...Live... next door...?"

"What's the difference between staying next door and rushing back?"

Those pure, inquisitive eyes, in Zhenyu's eyes, were more threatening than any question.

No! Absolutely not!

Ishikawa Mayu screamed inwardly, but outwardly she forced herself to remain calm, even deliberately frowning, and denied it decisively in a tone that was slightly dissatisfied and corrective:

You misheard me.

His voice was slightly higher than usual, carrying an undeniable certainty, his gaze fixed on Aine's silver-gray eyes, which gleamed with a cunning light.

“What I sang yesterday was ‘I have to go back quickly.’ ‘I really want to live next door to you’? What kind of strange lyrics are those? You must have misheard it while you were half asleep, or you imagined something weird.”

As he spoke, he prayed frantically in his heart: Please, just believe me! Forget about the "I live next door" part!

Chihaya Aine was overjoyed to see the fleeting panic in his eyes and the slight blush on his ears, despite his forced composure.

As expected! As expected!

This big liar! He's trying to keep fooling me!

but……

Looking at Zhenyu's stubborn expression and then at Xiaodeng beside him, who looked completely innocent and oblivious to the undercurrents, she decided to let him off the hook for the time being.

It won't be fun to expose him now.

She wanted to treat this secret as her most interesting toy, slowly and gradually seeing how many more outrageous excuses he could come up with.

Then, a look of sudden realization crossed her face, and she patted her head with a touch of embarrassment:

"Ah! I must have misheard! I was probably just too sleepy and hallucinating!" She chuckled and quickly corrected herself, "Sorry, Ms. Mayu~ Let's continue! It was 'I—have—to—hurry—back—', right?"

Her "well-behaved" and "understanding" behavior only made Ishikawa Mayu feel more uncertain.

This guy... really believed it so easily?

Why does he feel... a chill on his back?

But in any case, the apparent crisis seemed to have passed once again. He nodded stiffly, trying to bring his attention back to teaching:

"Okay, continue. Notice the tone of the word '赶' (gǎn), it's the third tone, falling then rising..."

He patiently corrected their pronunciation, especially Ai-yin's deliberately drawn-out, slightly playful "go back~". Gao Song-deng studied very seriously, her little face tense, trying her best to imitate every unfamiliar syllable.

After teaching the pronunciation of the two sentences "It's going to rain soon, I have to hurry back" to the beginning, Ishikawa Mayu took out her phone and found the instrumental version of "Why Not" - of course, it was an instrumental version without the original singer.

“Okay, let’s try singing these two lines along with the melody. That will help us get a better feel for the language.” He pressed play, and the light and gentle melody flowed through the activity room.

He first demonstrated, singing the altered lyrics clearly in his clean and gentle voice: "It's about to rain, I have to hurry back—"

“It’s your turn, together.” He gestured to Ai-yin and Deng.

Gao Songdeng immediately pursed his lips nervously and sang softly, word by word, along with the melody: "The sky... is... about to... rain... I... have... hurry... back..."

Although it was stiff, the pitch and rhythm were being worked on.

It's Chihaya Aine's turn.

She watched as Zhenyu feigned composure, her eyes subtly darting around, and a sly smile curved her lips. She took a deep breath and began to sing along with the melody, the first half of the line behaving properly:

It's about to rain—

However, as she sang the second half of the line, her silver-gray eyes sparkled as she looked at Mayu, deliberately drawing out the melody, and with her not-so-standard but incredibly clear pronunciation, she sang the original lyrics again:

"I—really—want—to—live—next—to—you~~~"

"——!!!"

The upbeat accompaniment continued, but Ishikawa Mayu felt her heart skip a beat the moment Aine sang "I live next door to you," and then it started racing wildly, almost bursting out of her chest!

His cheeks and ears flushed crimson at a visible speed, and even his neck felt hot.

"Aiyin!" he whispered, almost embarrassed and annoyed, his voice trembling slightly with guilt. "Didn't I just teach you the correct pronunciation?! It's 'I have to go back right now'! You got it wrong again!"

He tried to hide his panic by emphasizing his words, but his bright red ears betrayed him.

Takamatsu Akari was also stunned by this sudden turn of events. She gently tugged at Aine's sleeve and whispered, "Aine... Mayu-san said... it's 'Go back quickly'... You, you sang it wrong..."

Chihaya Aine was being pulled by the lamp's sleeve, but she remained completely calm.

She tilted her head, a cute expression of innocence and inquiry on her face, and looked at Ishikawa Mayu, who was clearly flushed, and said in a sweet yet slightly self-righteous tone:

"But...I feel that singing it like this..."

She tilted her head, her silver-gray eyes sparkling with an innocent yet mischievous light, twirling a pink strand of hair with her fingers.

"It sounds... a little better, doesn't it?"

"Heh...hehe..."

Mayu forced a distorted expression, barely deserving of a "smile," her voice strained, attempting to reason with this little devil who was about to run wild and bring her back on track.

"Maybe... the melody itself is quite smooth, so it sounds good no matter how you sing it."

He first downplayed the issue by affirming the melody, then immediately changed the subject, his tone regaining its "teacher's" seriousness as he pointed to the altered lyrics sheet on the table:

"However, Aiyin, our primary goal now is to learn the correct pronunciation of Donghuang language and understand the meaning of sentences."

He deliberately avoided Ai Yin's all-seeing gaze, pointing to the lyrics "I have to go back quickly" on the lyric sheet, trying his best to make his voice sound steady and convincing:

"Look, the theme of this song is 'Practice Diary,' which tells the story of a guitarist who is worried about rain and has to rush home to protect his guitar and picks, and then he is determined to practice hard. The logic is very sound."

“But if you insist on singing it as ‘Wohaoxiangzhu Nigebi’…, then you lose the meaning of the lyrics, do you understand?”