The goal of life is to break up all couples

After all, it has always been their wish to perform live again. It is impossible for them to be unhappy with the great success this time.

Ku Lai Xi Ku is an extremely half-baked little band that disbanded once and even has not even got all its members together. It really took a lot of effort for Ku Lai Xi Ku to get back to where they are today.

Besides, what Matsueda Azusa said was true. If Riki hadn't recruited the highly skilled Hachiman Kairin and hadn't had connections within RING... Matsueda Azusa wouldn't have been able to participate in yesterday's performance on her own. Perhaps she wouldn't even have had a chance to make the roster, right?

It is no exaggeration to say that Li Xi is the biggest contributor to Ku Lai Xi Ku.

Lixi, did you save crychic? You are so gentle!

"Cough cough..."

Shiina Riki pretended to cough a few times and turned his head away. "Well... speaking of which, if Hailing isn't here today, it seems like rehearsal won't be very easy. I'm still composing the music for the new song you wrote, so it might take some time before I can give you the finished product..."

Songzhi Zi waved his hand: "There's no rush, we still have plenty of time."

Shiina Riki breathed a sigh of relief: "That's true. But then, it seems like we don't have any plans for today. Should we just go with the usual training?"

"Hey! Wait, I have a good idea."

Songzhi Zi stood up and slapped his head: "Let's go sing on the street!"

"Eh?! Street singing?"

Shiina Riki was surprised by Matsueda Azusa's sudden suggestion, but didn't refuse. "The two of us? Sure, we can... but it seems a bit inconvenient to move the drum set out. Do you want me to call someone to help?"

"No need! What I mean is... Li Xi, you should also be the lead singer!"

Matsueda Azusa gave Shiina Riki a thumbs-up. "There will definitely be many more songs we'll write together in the future. I can't sing them all by myself. Who says a drummer can't be the lead singer? We're not all together anyway, so why bother with all this formality? I remember Phil Collins, the drummer of Genesis, was also the lead singer, right? Riki, you can do it too."

"Huh? Lead singer? Me...me?"

Shiina Riki pointed at himself in surprise and said, "But I've never sung that before."

"I've never sung that before, have I?"

Matsueda Azusa casually slung his guitar bag over his back, grabbed Shiina Riki's wrist without a word, and ran out. "Don't they say I'm all emotion and no technique? Even with all that, I dare to sing on stage. What are you afraid of, Riki? You're definitely a better singer than me."

Shiina Riki was dragged out of the RING by Matsueda Azusa, attracting the attention of several familiar store employees along the way.

She subconsciously wanted to resist and say that she could walk, but for some reason she didn't resist at all.

"Okay... okay! So what should we sing? The song we sang at the live show isn't enough to last us through the whole street performance."

"Don't worry, at worst I'll just cover someone else's song. And..."

Matsueda Azusa turned around and smiled at Shiina Riki, "I wrote a song a while ago, but no one else knows about it yet. I'll sing it to you later."

"Eh?!"

Shiina Riki's eyes widened. "I've never heard you mention that before... What song is it?"

“It’s experimental.”

"The name of the song is... "死ぬのがいいわ" (It's better to die)"

19. Better to die

The sun shines through the mottled shadows of the trees and onto the busy streets.

Pedestrians are in a hurry.

Near the street around the square, Matsueda Azusa took the guitar out of his bag.

Shiina Riki placed his left hand on his waist, looking around subconsciously, and then began to worry: "Is it really possible? We haven't prepared anything except a guitar... We don't even have the most basic stand, microphone, and speakers. And Azusa, you didn't even report to the police station in advance, right? Without a roadshow permit..."

"Don't lose heart, drummer!"

Songzhi Zi tuned his guitar and said with a smile, "Why should music be so inconvenient? If there's no speakers, there's no speakers. If the patrol comes, we'll run away and see who can run faster - this is so rock and roll."

How dare you say you are a rock musician if you have never been chased by the police?

And usually, the noise from street performances is too loud and disturbs the surrounding residents, so people call the police to deal with it.

Azusa Matsueda and Tatsuki Shiina didn't even have a speaker, so there was almost no possibility that they would seriously disturb other people. Unless they were extremely unlucky, they would never be inspected.

"The lyrics and music have been sent to you."

Azusa Matsueda shook her cell phone at Tatsuki Shiina.

"Eh? Wait..."

Shiina Riki realized a problem: "Who did you ask to help you compose this song?"

Strange, why didn’t Matsueda Azusa look for her?

Is there someone else helping him arrange the music? I haven't heard Matsueda Azusa mention it at all.

This kind of thing...isn't it impossible?

Shiina Riki subconsciously clenched his fists.

Songzhi Zi scratched his cheek and said, "No, I made it up myself and tried it a little."

After hearing Matsueda Azusa's explanation, Shiina Riki finally breathed a sigh of relief. As far as she knew, among the people Matsueda Azusa knew who could compose music, besides her, the only other person left was Toyokawa Shoko.

She thought that Matsueda Azusa was still in private contact with that guy, and was really shocked.

"Why don't you come to me for help?"

Shiina Riki complained tentatively.

"This song? If I ask you, Lixi, to arrange it... it's not quite suitable. You'll know when you listen to it."

Matsueda Azusa blinked.

At this point, it is no longer easy to explain that this song was originally written by him for Toyokawa Shoko before the disbandment of Ku Lai Xi Ku.

At that time, Matsueda Azusa had finally written this song and wanted to give Toyokawa Shoko a surprise - but before she could take it out, Toyokawa Shoko had already given them all a shock.

As a result, this song has been shelved until now and there has been no chance to release it.

There was a time when Matsueda Azusa was extremely depressed because she was dumped by Toyokawa Shoko. She even considered deleting the song and putting it to rest. After that, when he was recovering and rebuilding crychic, he still had no confidence to continue touching this song.

However, after returning to the stage yesterday, Matsueda Azusa felt that she had completely let go of the past with Toyokawa Shoko and could sing the song without any burden.

"What do you mean it's not suitable for my arrangement..."

Shiina Riki muttered and opened the file sent to her by Matsueda Azusa.

But before she could see the content clearly, Matsueda Azusa had already started singing.

[Finger cutting りげんまんホラでもBLOWING いたら]

(If you make a promise to someone that you are bragging)

【needle でもなんでも Drinking ませていただき】

(I'm willing to swallow needles or anything else)

【Monday，It doesn't matter if it's Sunday】

(Monday, even Sunday is OK)

In just a moment, Shiina Riki got goosebumps.

The slightly hoarse voice sounded very lazy, but there was some difficult-to-understand emotion hidden underneath.

And... you can tell it immediately at first listen. It is a completely different style of music from the song "Mountains and Seas" that Matsueda Azusa gave her before and the song "In" that she is currently arranging.

It cannot be said that there is a slight difference, but it can only be said that it is completely irrelevant.

Even if they were written by two people who didn't know each other at all, Shiina Riki felt that this was the correct answer.

This is not meant to be disparaging, the melody of this song is not inferior at all, it is very catchy and it gives people goosebumps when they listen to it.

【Mirror mirror よこの世で1st chapter】

(Mirror, mirror, tell me about this world)

【変わることのない爱をくれるのはだれ】

(Who gave me the most eternal love)

【No need to ask cause it's my darling】

(It’s definitely my darling)

No wonder Matsueda Azusa said this song was not suitable for her to arrange.

Shiina Riki is very sure that with his own level, or to put it more euphemistically, his arranging style, it is probably basically impossible to achieve this kind of quality.

His right hand unconsciously clenched his left arm, and Shiina Riki subconsciously took a step back.

What did Matsueda Azusa mean by singing this song to her? Was he trying to say that with his arrangement skills, he no longer needed her?

Didn't they just say they were going to form a lifelong band? Didn't they say she was the only one? Was it all a lie?

Matsueda Azusa looked at Shiina Tatsuki in confusion.

It's strange, why does she seem absent-minded?

Eh… is his arrangement for this song just terrible? So bad that even Shiina Riki couldn't bear to watch it? Not really! Matsueda Azusa was pretty confident when he first wrote it.

Or is it just that this song doesn't quite suit her taste? It seems like she's not very interested.

Shiina Riki raised her eyes and happened to meet the gaze of Matsueda Azusa looking at her.

【Private last はあなたがいい】

(I leave my final words to you)

【あなたとこのままおさらばするより】

(If I part with you like this)

【死ぬのがいいわ】

(Let me die)

【死ぬのがいいわ】

(Let me die)

Shiina Riki opened his mouth slightly in surprise.

Eh? Eh!

Wait, wait?

No... this lyric?

Shiina Riki swallowed subconsciously. It seemed like she had misunderstood?

Didn’t Matsueda Azusa just say before she sang that she would know why she was not allowed to compose the music after she heard it?

Could it be that the meaning was not to let her focus on the arrangement, but the lyrics of the song?

This lyrics...

Matsueda Azusa breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Shiina Riki suddenly became energetic for some reason.

He said that he was actually quite confident about this song, especially the arrangement of this part, which made his scalp tingle when he heard it.

When he wrote this, it was as if his inspiration had rolled the dice and his consciousness was connected to another world. It was not something he "wrote" himself, but it was as if a top musician had "pouring" this song into his head.

Sure enough, even the drum team members would be amazed when they hear this song.

When Matsueda Azusa was writing these lyrics, they were actually written specifically for Toyokawa Shoko.

But looking back on it later...I find it really hard to accept.

Not only does it sound too corny, but for Matsueda Azusa now, if this song is a hymn to "love"... it would be better to just tear it up and throw it away.

After re-examining the lyrics, Matsueda Azusa felt that this song didn't necessarily have to be written for other people, but could actually be written for her ideal self.

If I can't become my ideal self, I might as well die.

Shiina Riki probably thought the same thing, right? The two of them banded together to rebuild Kulai Xiku, wasn't it just to allow mediocre people to achieve their ideal state through hard work?

I’m sure that Tachibana Shiina can also resonate with the emotions contained in this song by Azusa Matsueda!

It was with this in mind that Azusa Matsueda decided to sing this song to Tatsuki Shiina for the first time.

【三度の饭よりあんたがいいのよ】

(You are more important than three meals a day)