People in Mygo are emotional firefighters.

"...Actually, Aine... didn't want to perform, did she?"

Taken aback by the sudden question, Ishikawa Mayu subconsciously looked up, her gaze passing over Suze and towards the front desk—Chihaya Aine was clinging to the edge of the counter, leaning forward and arguing with Ritsuki about something, her face still showing reluctance.

He opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to answer.

Nagasaki Motoyo took in Mayu's momentary hesitation and her subconscious glance at Aine, a clear hint of resentment flashing in her pale blue eyes.

See, Mayu-kun, your mind has already wandered to Aine-kun again.

However, this resentment lasted only a moment before being replaced by a quietly emerging thought. Perhaps... this is an opportunity?

An opportunity to make that noisy, pink-haired guy who always attracts Shinba's attention back down, or even... leave the band?

This thought, like a vine sprouting in the darkness, carries a chilling allure.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the base stirrings in her heart, and her face regained its gentle and considerate expression. She gently reached out and softly enveloped Zhenyu's slightly clenched fist, which rested on her knee.

Zhenyu felt a soft, warm touch on the back of her hand, and couldn't help but tremble slightly. She turned her head and met Su Shi's reassuring gaze, which was very close to hers.

"No, light."

Su Shi's voice was as soft as a feather. As she spoke, as if to enhance the comforting effect, she naturally and gently leaned against Mayu's arm. Through the thin summer school uniform, they could clearly feel each other's warmth.

“Aine… she’s just a little nervous and scared.” She tilted her head slightly, looking at the lamp, her tone firm and gentle, as if stating an undeniable fact. “But since she promised, she will definitely try her best to do it. We should believe in her, shouldn’t we?”

Her fingertips gently caressed the back of Mayu's hand in a soothing manner.

As Zhenyu felt the comforting warmth from Su Shi's fingertips on the back of her hand, and the gentle warmth of Su Shi's body as she leaned closer, her initial bewilderment due to Deng's words seemed to find a reasonable explanation.

He turned his head and gave Su Shi a grateful, understanding smile. Then, he gently patted Su Shi's hand twice with his other hand to comfort her, before subtly withdrawing his hand.

Su Shi felt a brief but clear pat on the back of his hand, followed by his natural withdrawal, and his heart stirred slightly.

Although the lack of further contact left her slightly disappointed, the fact that Zhenyu-kun didn't directly pull away but responded in this way was already much better than she had expected. She obediently withdrew her hand, her fingertips seemingly still warm from the back of his hand, and her smile remained gentle.

Shinba refocused his attention on the oppressive atmosphere around him, looking at the top of his head, which was almost buried in his laptop. His voice was gentler than usual, carrying a resolute attempt to dispel the fog:

"Don't worry too much. Su Shi is right, Aine is just habitually nervous and complaining."

"Once she gets into the swing of things and truly gets into practice, things will be fine. We need to have some faith in her."

After hearing Mayu's words, Takamatsu Akari's pen paused almost imperceptibly, and she stopped trying to express anything.

Beneath her light brown bangs, a faint, almost despairing sadness flickered in her eyes, which always held a mixture of timidity and innocence. Then, she buried her head even deeper, almost completely hiding it in her arms, and the pen in her hand came to a complete stop, no longer struggling futilely in that labyrinth of despair.

Chapter 149 (3k) Aine's Overly Hard Work

Friday, May 22nd.

When the lunch break bell rang, Ishikawa Mayu, as usual, wandered around Xiangzi's place before returning, picked up the Donghuang language textbook she had prepared, and looked at Chihaya Aine and Takamatsu Akari.

"Aine, Lamp, it's time to go to the Astronomy Department."

Chihaya Aine was looking down at her fingertips when she heard this. She looked up and forced a smile, but it seemed a little forced. "Ah, let's put the Eastern language practice aside for today?" She shook the guitar she was holding. "Let's just go to the Astronomy Club to practice guitar. Time... is a bit tight."

Looking at Aine's smile, which wasn't as genuine and bright as usual, Takamatsu Akari's light brown eyes flashed with worry. She quietly hummed in agreement.

Ishikawa Mayu paused slightly, looking at Aine with a strange feeling in his eyes. He subconsciously asked, "Hey, weren't you the one who looked forward to this 'Eastern Language Intensive Class' the most?"

He still remembered how Aine used to whine and act cute in order to learn more.

Ai Yin avoided his gaze: "Because...practice is more important, right? The performance is coming up soon, and I have to make the most of every minute." Her tone carried a deliberate emphasis on "being sensible," which made her lose her usual liveliness.

Looking at her lowered head, Zhenyu felt an even stronger unease. But he didn't say anything more, only nodded: "...Okay."

When they arrived at the Astronomy Department, Ai Yin was indeed uncharacteristically quiet. Instead of putting her guitar case aside and chattering away as usual, she went straight to the corner by the window, quietly opened her guitar case, took out her guitar, connected it to her portable amplifier, and then lowered her head to practice the main melody and several key transition sections of "Here the World" over and over again.

Her fingertips moved across the strings with more force than usual, as if she wanted to pour out all her unease and pressure through her fingertips.

If she accidentally presses the wrong note, her brows will furrow tightly, her lips will purse into a line, and she will repeat that passage with even more force and almost obsessively until she no longer makes the mistake.

Ishikawa Mayu and Takamatsu Akari sat at the table behind her.

Akari watched Aine's tense back quietly, her light brown eyes filled with clear worry. She whispered to Mayu, "Aine... is very anxious."

Zhenyu didn't speak, but just watched silently.

Without Aine's usual noisy questions like "How do you play this, Masahiro-sensei?" "Am I doing it right?" "Ahhh, this is so hard!", the Astronomy Club activity room was filled only with the monotonous and repetitive sound of guitar practice, which made it seem unusually quiet, even... a little depressing.

As Zhenyu watched Aine's back, which was noticeably stiffer and more strained than usual, her fingers unconsciously rubbed the edge of her Donghuang language notebook, her thoughts drifting back to last night.

After finishing his work and assignments at Win-Wing, he sent Ai Yin a message as usual saying, "I'm done."

As is customary, Aiyin will immediately send a series of voice messages or text messages, either complaining about how difficult the practice is or sharing interesting things that happened during the day.

But last night, she only replied with a brief "Okay, I got it. I'll keep practicing too.", without even using her usual emoticons.

At the time, he thought she was just too engrossed in practice and under pressure from the upcoming performance, so she was being more serious than usual.

But now, looking at Aion, who was unusually silent and seemed to be completely engrossed in practice, Ishikawa Mayu felt that something was wrong more and more clearly.

What's wrong with this guy?

Is it just because of the pressure?

Even when she was under a lot of pressure before, she would always come over to him to complain and seek comfort and guidance, instead of isolating herself as if she were sulking.

He looked at her fingertips, slightly red from the exertion, at her tightly pursed lips and her downcast eyes that refused to meet anyone's gaze, and felt inexplicably...uncomfortable.

A subtle sense of loss, which he himself was not clearly aware of, quietly spread.

It turns out that once you're used to having a noisy, always-around-the-edges person around, it can feel strange and even... a little empty when she suddenly becomes quiet, "sensible," and "independent."

He clicked his tongue softly, shook his head, and tried to shake off the strange feeling.

Maybe... I'm just overthinking it. Aine is right, the most important thing right now is practice, for the sake of a successful performance. It's a good thing that she's suddenly become so hardworking.

Just then, as Aine quickly switched to a barre chord, her fingertip slipped, and the string emitted a piercing noise. She cried out in pain and instinctively pulled her hand back.

Ishikawa Mayu, who had been watching her closely, immediately noticed this detail. He got up and quickly walked to her side, his gaze falling on the fingers of her left hand—due to continuous high-intensity practice, the fingertips, which were originally only slightly red, now had two places where the skin was clearly chafed and tiny beads of blood were oozing out.

"Hey!" Zhenyu's brows furrowed immediately, his voice carrying an undeniable authority, "Stop, stop practicing."

Ai-yin seemed not to hear, merely shaking her stinging fingers, taking a deep breath, and then stubbornly pressing down on the strings again, muttering under her breath, "It's okay, this little injury... I can still do it..."

"Aine...don't continue." A soft, worried voice came from the side.

Gao Songdeng had quietly approached without anyone noticing, her light brown eyes filled with clear heartache. She looked at Aine's fingertips, where blood had seeped, her small hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes.

Ai Yin froze, stopped by the two of them, her head bowed, her voice barely audible, tinged with grievance and stubbornness: "But...time is running out...I have to..."

She muttered to herself, "I don't want to disappoint Zhenyu."

Zhenyu didn't quite hear him, but seeing her stubborn and headstrong attitude, he felt both helpless and inexplicably soft-hearted. He sighed and softened his tone: "You don't need to push yourself so hard. There are still a few days until the performance. Just take it one step at a time."

Aine looked up, forcing a smile, but it looked fragile and strained. "I know, Ms. Mayu, I know what I'm doing." She tried to make her tone sound relaxed. "See, my part just now was much smoother than yesterday's, right?"

Gao Songdeng silently turned around and walked quickly to the cabinet in the corner of the activity room—where she kept all kinds of stone specimens she had collected, as well as a tin box filled with all kinds of band-aids that she had specially placed there.

She skillfully opened the box, carefully selected a few items, and then ran back with a super-thin band-aid with an emperor penguin pattern that Ai Yin liked.

She didn't say anything, but simply handed the band-aid to Ishikawa Mayu.

He reached out and took the band-aid that the lamp offered.

"Give me your hand." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable air of authority.

Aine instinctively wanted to pull her hand away, but under Mayu's calm yet persistent gaze, she finally slowly extended her injured left hand, her fingertips still trembling slightly.

Zhenyu didn't immediately put on a band-aid. He first took out a wet wipe he carried with him and gently wiped away the fine beads of sweat that had seeped from her forehead due to pain and concentration. The slightly cool touch made Aine tremble slightly, and her tense shoulders seemed to relax a little.

Then, he lowered his head and, even more carefully, used the edge of a clean, damp cloth to gently clean the tiny stains and bloodstains from the cuts on her fingertips. His movements were very gentle, as if he were afraid of hurting her.

"Hiss..." Despite his extreme caution, the slight stimulation of alcohol still made Ai Yin gasp.

Zhenyu paused, glanced at her, and said nothing, but his movements seemed to soften. He tore open a band-aid and carefully and gently covered her injured fingertip with the adorable emperor penguin design.

He knelt down in front of Aine again and, without a word, took her injured hand.

"Don't move." His voice was low, but it carried an irresistible force.

Aine trembled slightly and instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but Mayu gently grasped her wrist. She watched Mayu lower her head and carefully wipe her broken fingertips with a wet wipe. The cool touch mixed with the slight stinging of the disinfectant made her hiss softly.

"Aine... does it hurt?" Deng asked softly from the side, her brows furrowed as if she were feeling his pain.

Chihaya Aine shook her head, but her gaze remained fixed on Mayu in front of her.

Ishikawa Mayu released her hand, raised her head, and looked at her calmly but seriously: "I know your level. At your current pace, as long as you practice step by step, you will definitely be able to go on stage."

He paused, his tone carrying a reassuring certainty: "So, there's really no need to rush. I believe you can do it."

However, the words "I believe in you" sounded like an even heavier boulder to Ai Yin at that moment, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.

She looked at her well-bandaged fingers, then at Zhenyu's trusting face, and then at Deng's still worried eyes beside her. Her nose suddenly stung, and a strong sense of grievance and pressure almost burst out of her throat.

"Trust me...trust me..."

"It's precisely because you believe in me like this... that I can't afford to fail..."

"If...if I mess up on stage, play the wrong notes, and disappoint you...if the 'belief' in your eyes disappears because of me..."

She abruptly lowered her head, concealing her expression even more deeply, biting her lower lip tightly, and did not respond to Zhenyu's words.

Seeing Chihaya Aine lower her head in even greater silence and with a hint of resistance, Ishikawa Mayu was slightly taken aback, and the feeling that "something was wrong" in her heart reached its peak.

What is this guy hiding in his heart that he hasn't noticed?

Takamatsu Akari stood to the side, quietly watching the scene. She looked at Aine's tense back, as if she were bearing a huge burden alone, and then at the confused and worried expression on Mayu's face. Her light brown eyes clearly reflected her concern for the two of them.

She seemed to understand something, but didn't know how to express it in words.

The Astronomy Department's activity room fell into a strange silence once again, with only the faint noise coming from outside the window making the silence inside seem particularly heavy.

Chapter 150 The Lamp: I Speak for Aine

After school, the tram carriages swayed gently as they moved, emitting a rhythmic rumble.

Chihaya Aine had her head down, her fingers unconsciously swiping across the phone screen, which displayed the sheet music for "Here the World," but her eyes were unfocused, clearly not really paying attention.

The Emperor Penguin Band-Aid from Takasatsu Denko, stuck to my fingertip, is like a silent reminder, bringing both warmth and pressure.

As usual, Ishikawa Mayu had already left on her motorcycle ahead of time.

At this moment, only she, Gao Songdeng, and a few other passengers remained in the carriage.

Takamatsu Akari sat next to Aine, clutching her schoolbag tightly. Her light brown eyes were fixed on the rapidly passing street scene outside the window, yet it seemed as if nothing was taking in her gaze. Her lips moved slightly a few times, as if she had made a great decision, before she finally turned her head, her voice soft yet clear, reaching Aine's ears:

"...Aine".

Aine was startled from her thoughts, looked up, and forced a smile: "Hmm? What's wrong, Xiaodeng?"

Lamp took a deep breath, as if drawing courage. Avoiding Aine's gaze, she stared at her hands, which were clasped tightly together on her knees, and whispered in a voice almost drowned out by the sound of the tram:

"I...don't want to participate."

"Huh?" Chihaya Aine suddenly raised her head, her silver-gray eyes widening slightly in shock.

-----------------

The train arrived at the station, and the two walked in silence to the entrance of RiNG. Pushing open the familiar door, Chihaya Aine immediately saw Ishikawa Masahiro waiting in the first-floor rest area. He was looking down at his phone, seemingly checking the time.

Hearing the noise at the door, Mayu looked up, her gaze instinctively falling on Aine first, then noticing Takamatsu Akari, who was almost shrinking into herself behind her, and the obviously strange expression on Aine's face.

"What's wrong?" He put away his phone, walked over, and asked with natural concern.

Aine took a deep breath, as if gathering her courage, but still dared not look Mayu in the eye. Her voice was a little weak as she spoke, "Um... Mayu... about the performance... maybe... we should just call it off?"

Upon hearing this, Ishikawa Mayu subconsciously frowned slightly.

Just a few hours ago, in the astronomy department, this girl was practicing relentlessly even with her fingertips bleeding from blisters; her stubborn and determined spirit was still fresh in his mind. How could she suddenly make a 180-degree turn on the way here and choose to give up?

To him, the Popipa and Afterglow stages, the rare opportunities for exposure—none of it mattered as long as the important people around him were doing well. If Aine really couldn't handle it, giving up was fine too. He just... wanted to understand the reason for her sudden change.

However, his subtle expression was instantly interpreted as disappointment and dissatisfaction by Aine, who was already sensitive and anxious.

Chihaya Aine felt as if she had been pricked by a fine needle, a sharp pain shooting through her heart. She dared not look into those eyes that she had always longed for approval.

"what?"

Shiina Tatsuki uttered a short syllable, her tone filled with disbelief and absurdity. Her eyes widened as she looked at Aine, then glanced at Takamatsu Akari, who was practically hiding behind her, her brows furrowed.

Nagasaki Motoyo paused slightly in her teacup, a hint of surprise flashing in her pale blue eyes. Then, her gaze unconsciously and inquisitively turned to Ishikawa Masahiro, carefully observing every change in his expression.