Tokyo Psychic

Page 181

As for the "Haha, I'm not jealous at all" message that Mishima Yuki sent out with his neck stiffened, it was instantly drowned out by the overwhelming noise.

Nobody cared about Yuki Mishima at all...

In fact, it seems that some people do care about him.

A gymnasium near Ishiwa Onsen Station.

A young man named Narukami Yu reached out and caught the falling volleyball. He looked at the boy who might have been hit by the ball and noticed his distraught state. He asked with concern, "Mishima-kun, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Narukami-senpai," Mishima Yuki wiped away the tears welling up in his eyes with his sleeve, "I got sand in my eye."

“It’s quite far from the beach here,” Narukami Yu said with a smile. “If you want to go to the beach, I can give your teacher a suggestion before I leave.”

“As for now…” Narukami Yu tossed the volleyball in his hand to him, “I think you need this more.”

Yuki Mishima quickly put his phone in his pocket, then caught the volleyball that Yu Narukami threw to him. Looking at the other person's super trendy and popular appearance, but without any women around, he guessed what kind of sacrifices the other person had made to achieve his current success. Moved to tears, he said, "Senpai! I will try my best to learn from you!"

"Huh?" Narukami Yu immediately looked puzzled, feeling that Mishima Yuki seemed to have misunderstood something, but still smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Then you should... keep trying."

150. Coach, I want to go pro (two-in-one)

(Second Confession: The problem with Chapter 149 actually lies in the "photos." I started writing at 2 AM, originally planning to show off to my new harem, but by the time I got to that part it was already 5:54 AM. I was rushing to meet the perfect attendance requirement, which resulted in the writing being disjointed. Please forgive me...)

After all, I had tried my best to avoid any plot holes in the preceding plot, such as clearing the beach, closing shops, and making promises... But with only a few minutes left before the deadline for perfect attendance, I started haphazardly filling in the blanks in order not to miss it. In a daze, I wrote nearly 800 words that I was short of the perfect attendance requirement and submitted it. This resulted in incoherent and disjointed writing... This is not only irresponsible towards the work itself, but also a perfunctory attitude towards the readers.

(I apologize to all readers who followed the story, and to those who didn't.)

(The problematic parts in Chapter 149 have been corrected. The editor has reviewed and confirmed that there are no issues before republishing. You can refresh this chapter by clicking "Refresh Chapter Content". In the future, if this happens, I will directly send a leave request instead of forcing myself to meet a deadline.)

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(The above is the free word limit...)

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【PM. 12:15】

The white sand beach is reminiscent of unopened letters, and the waves repeat futile rhetorical exercises on the rocks.

Seagulls swept across the clouds, their black tail feathers undulating against the vast blue sky.

"It's so sunny," said Izanagi, raising her hand to shield her eyes. She was wearing a sun-protective sports jacket and didn't encounter a single passerby on her way to walk on the beach.

Akira Kurusu used a dead branch she picked up from the bushes to draw the Phantom Thieves' symbol on the beach.

Jing Qinrencai kept turning around, then suddenly stopped. "I really want to awaken my Persona too."

Akira Kurusu reached out and scraped off the drawn pattern. "That day will come."

"real or fake?"

“In the end, this problem still depends on yourself,” Akira Kurusu stood up, facing Serina Izayoi, and straightened her expression. “Stretch out both hands, arms straight, fingers together, palms up.”

Jingqinrencai obediently followed instructions.

Lai Xixiao solemnly placed the branch in her hand.

“This is…” Jingqin Rencai blinked, quickly thinking of mythological stories like “King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone” and “Wu Zun plotting to obtain the Kusanagi sword”, and looked at him warily, “Is the organization testing me?”

"Take this branch, and from now on you will be the most capable student in the surrounding villages."

"Why are you treating me like a child again!" Jing Qinren threw away the branch in her hand.

But looking at it more closely, its shape seemed to resemble a magic wand from Harry Potter, so he bent down and picked it up.

"I'm hungry, when is dinner?" Ishigami Renna asked before Kurusu Akira could speak.

Akira Kurusu swallowed back the words she was about to say, and patted her forehead, "Now."

The two walked on the beach one after the other, the waves leaving a long trail of footprints behind them.

Footprints often overlap, and if you look back unintentionally, you'll see that the footprints, some deep and some shallow, have spread over a long distance—the road they've traveled together to this day.

......

Several beach mats were pieced together, and a simple sandwich and sushi platter was placed in a bamboo basket.

Wakaba Mutsumi took a bite of the rice ball carefully wrapped in seaweed.

When Toyokawa Shoko passed by carrying a bamboo basket, he casually flicked the grains of rice off her cheek.

Yamada Ryo had been kneeling for a while, looking down at the Wagyu beef sandwich in his hand, and asked Ijichi Nijika, who was sitting next to him, with some uncertainty.

"How much is this again?"

"Sixty thousand yen."

"Sixty thousand yen for a sandwich..."

“But we don’t have to pay anything; the hotel’s kitchen provides this for us free of charge.” Ichiji Nijika exclaimed with some emotion, “They heard that we weren’t interested in the restaurants in Atami, so they actually drove all the way here to deliver this.”

Yamada Ryo glanced at Kurusu Akira, who was in the corner of the beach mat playing Monster Hunter with An and Subaru, holding a Switch. "No wonder he said he would take care of all my meals during the study tour."

“It’s already expensive to stay here, so it’s normal to provide free meals,” Ichiji Nijika coughed twice, reminding Yamada Ryo that the focus was on the total cost of the “hotel group contract”.

Yamada Ryo picked up a sandwich and took a bite. "The thought of that guy becoming a tycoon makes me feel no guilt at all."

"Haha..." Ichiji Nijika quickly changed the subject, "When we were shopping together earlier, I think I saw a music instrument store."

"Do you want to rent instruments for rehearsals?" Yamada Ryo immediately guessed what his friend was thinking.

“It’s a bit boring, after all,” Niji Natsumi’s smile faded slightly, “And…the sheet music for the new song is really hard to write.”

“Then we definitely need to practice hard.” Yamada Ryo nodded.

"That hurts!" Ijichi Nijika grabbed Yamada Ryo's shoulders and shook him repeatedly.

He stopped abruptly halfway through the action.

Because Toyokawa Shoko actually sat down next to Kurusu Akira and Anwa Subaru, carrying a bamboo basket.

Thinking about the emotional relationship between the three, the girls who were sharing lunch on the beach mat all cast considerable glances at them.

Just when they thought a plot as dramatic as a soap opera was about to unfold in real life, an unexpected turn of events occurred—

There was no pungent smell of gunpowder, no tense atmosphere of impending conflict.

Shoko Toyokawa asked the two people opposite her with genuine curiosity, "Can I try this?"

"Xiangzi probably hasn't played video games before, right?" Akira Kurusu was gritting his teeth and struggling against the Zinogre with his katana, and it was already a great effort for him to squeeze out time to answer his girlfriend's question.

"You seem to be having a lot of fun, so I'd like to try and learn more about it."

Forced into a corner, Akira Kurusu abandoned his tactic of rolling and dodging, and instead activated "Water Moon Stance" to begin fully automatic defense against the Thunder Wolf Dragon's pursuit.

An and Subaru frantically fired arrows from the side while controlling the light crossbow, and together with Akira Kurusu's Iai Slash, they quickly depleted the remaining health of the Zinogre.

Toyokawa Shoko waited patiently.

Akira Kurusu reluctantly handed the game console to her, saying, "Then you can try it out."

"A new player has joined, so we have to start a new game!" Anwa Subaru naturally accepted Toyokawa Shoko's addition. Although he complained, he silently began to switch save files.

Originally, Izare Jinna was discussing the lyrics of their new song with Kawara Momoka, but seeing them playing the game so enthusiastically, she quickly joined in to "learn".

Akira Kurusu took out her phone, replaced Serina Izayoi, and sat next to Momoka Kawaharaki, pulling out the song "All Nameless" that was going to be performed at the Seibu Dome.

"Do you want to discuss the lyrics or the score?" Momoka Kawahara asked him somewhat irritably.

"What, you look down on professionals?" Lai Xixiao is now a professional singer who has officially debuted, so she said this with a lot of confidence.

Kawahara Momoka had no choice but to look closer, finally shifting her attention from the screen to the phone as a whole. "This doesn't seem to be your phone."

After she finished speaking, the phone was pushed into her hand by Akira Kurusu.

"You really should replace that phone of yours that can even be mistaken for a kaleidoscope."

At the same time, a data cable and a SIM card ejector tool were also packed in a waterproof bag and handed to Momoka Kawaragi.

Momoka Kawahara was visibly taken aback. "Did you buy this while you were shopping just now?"

"It suddenly occurred to me, so I bought it."

Kawara Momoka wanted to refuse, but remembering their time alone last night, something as solid as a chain in her heart seemed to shake violently, so she could only sigh and accept the phone.

The distant waves crashed against the rocks, sounding like the trembling of chains dragging heavy balls against each other.

......

After a quick lunch, the girls carefully sorted and put away their utensils and food scraps in the hotel's food cart.

"Thank you for your hospitality!" Ichiji Nijika bowed deeply to the waiter who had accompanied her.

The waiter, looking rather flustered, refused her thanks and then pushed the food cart away as if fleeing.

The afternoon sun in Atami was particularly dazzling, and no one wanted to stay on the deserted beach any longer. After a brief discussion, everyone decided to rent musical instruments and continue rehearsing their new song at the hotel.

An and Subaru are not members of this band, and Wakaba Mutsumi is not currently in a band.

So An and Subaru took the initiative to take care of this new member of the Phantom Thieves, volunteering to take Wakaba Mutsumi to two "Phantom Thief Classroom" lessons.

That is, to explain to her various related knowledge such as impression space and mental palace.

The afternoon sun blazed in the hotel’s spacious lobby, and the air conditioning was blowing cool air, causing Jing Qinrencai, who was closest to it, to sneeze as she waited for the next high note.

A loud sound is amplified by the microphone into a sharp pop, and then reverberates through the speaker in the enclosed space.

The girls who were playing stopped playing, covered their ears, and looked at Izanagi Rina and Akira Kurusu beside her with different expressions.

Despite the noise, Akira Kurusu remained unfazed and continued to wield his pick on the guitar, playing the last part of the song before finally putting the pick in his pocket.

At the same time, he also had to walk to Jing Qinrencai's microphone and turn off the power to the microphone.

The band members snapped out of their daze and quickly switched off the power supply to the microphones next to them.

Looking at the few remaining lyrics on her phone screen, which was fixed in place by a stand, Jingqin Rencai felt very frustrated and wanted to apologize to her friends.

Nijika Ijichi quickly stood up to stop her, "Nina, you don't need to apologize! It was just a small mistake! We can just do it again!"

"Hongxia worked so hard playing the drums!!" Jingqin Rencai said with great guilt.

"Practicing one more time won't hurt," perhaps because of the mental relaxation, or perhaps because the efforts of the past few days had paid off, Ichiji Nijika typed out the entire song without a single mistake for the first time.

Unfortunately, the story was interrupted before it was over by Igarashi Rencai's sneeze.

“When you encounter such an accident, you can try to turn it into a shout or a long sigh,” Yamada Ryo said with his experience. “When the accompaniment is very intense, no one will care about your little ‘improvisation’.”

"Can I do it too?" Ichiji Nijika couldn't help but ask her.

“No, you’re the drummer. If you start ‘improvising,’ I might get led astray.”

“Fake bass playing for ten or so seconds probably won’t be noticed,” Akira Kurusu said, holding his guitar, adding meaningfully, “unless the cameraman deliberately points the lens at your hand to film you.”

"As expected of the man who volunteered to play rhythm guitar, his experience in fake playing is truly extensive."

"You flatter me. I'm still not as good as a bassist who's played in a professional band."

"You have a good understanding of your own limitations."

"Liang, you're getting more and more shameless."

Yamada Ryo blew on his long bangs that were partially obscuring his eyes. "Thank you for the compliment—but to be honest, the drummer is definitely the part of us that can't afford to make any mistakes."

"Wait a minute, are you just going to skip over the 'fake bullet' thing like this?" Kawara Momoka looked at Kurusu Akira and Yamada Ryo, who were exchanging knowing glances, and felt her blood pressure spike.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't fake it when it's time to perform live... Please trust my professional responsibility." Akira Kurusu gestured as she swore to her.

“I’m a former professional, so I have more responsibility,” Yamada Ryo said bluntly.

"Actually, I noticed you guys were faking it just now." Toyokawa Shoko, the keyboardist, finally couldn't take it anymore.

She was sitting right next to the speaker, and she knew best who in the group hadn't played.

Neither Akira Kurusu nor Ryo Yamada remained silent.

Akira Kurusu sensed the fluctuations in the impression space from the outside world and thought to herself that she couldn't possibly explain to them that "I was actually worried about the safety of Wakaba Mutsu and Anwa Subaru in another world, which is why I didn't play the piano."

We need to come up with a more suitable excuse.

Ryo Yamada shared similar thoughts, but she wasn't actually worried about the trivial matters of the Phantom Thieves—she only knew that Shoko Toyokawa was a Phantom Thief.

But she couldn't tell everyone that she forgot to play bass because she suddenly daydreamed that she was on a professional stage again.

The thought of going pro is just too difficult to bring up, especially with the immense academic pressure of the upcoming final year of high school...