Tokyo Psychic

Page 196

Both bands went to their assigned recording studios, each carrying their own thoughts.

It wasn't until Shiina Tatsuki saw the sheet music in front of him that he was horrified to discover that the guitarist who should have been beside him was missing.

"Where did that stray cat go again?!"

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(After watching episode 11 of Ave Mujica, I suddenly felt inspired and wrote a "two-in-one" piece to insert in the middle. The "three-in-one" piece for Rana's personal episode also needs some minor revisions... Don't worry about my schedule, I have no classes tomorrow, Friday, so I can sleep in until I naturally wake up.)

(By the way, I find it quite surprising... how come someone who married Toyokawa Shoko had so many maids as part of their dowry?)

162. Cats can easily fall in love with someone (three-in-one)

（加更：3/5、4/5、5/5）

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"Your band practices in the next room."

Akira Kurusu watched as Kaname followed her all the way to the recording studio and tried to shoo away the curious stray cat.

Kaoru seemed completely unable to understand human language, silently following behind Akira Kurusu while holding her guitar.

Even when the phantom thief pulled out the matcha-flavored cheese candy he had stolen from the counter, it only made Kaorunai's eyes follow the candy from side to side, without making her stop in her tracks.

Akira Kurusu thought for a moment, tore open the candy wrapper, and stuffed the candy into Kaname's mouth.

This is what I remembered from our first meeting—this girl named "Kaname" really liked matcha, matcha-flavored desserts, and drinks...

The girl bit into the candy, the bitterness of matcha and the sweetness of cheese bursting in her mouth. Her eyes widened immediately, and it felt as if an invisible tail was standing tall behind her.

Then she became even more unwilling to leave. Even when Momoka Kawara cooperated and opened the door to the recording studio, the girl still stayed by Akira Kurusu's microphone, staring at Akira Kurusu's hands without blinking, her eyes seemingly glowing.

The door opened, and Morgana, whose fur was now a mess after being ravaged by Ijichi Hoshika, slipped in through the crack in the door.

It rolled over behind the door, then lay down on the ground and began licking its messy fur. It noticed its "kin" next to the microphone, which was brazenly sending affectionate signals to Akira Kurusu, and its eyes grew increasingly contemptuous.

Morgana felt he couldn't associate with such a "sycophant," so he stopped grooming himself, put on an arrogant attitude, and squeezed through the door to leave the recording studio.

"Mona!" Yoru Nai suddenly turned around and whispered in the direction Morgana had left, as if annoyed by the cat's rudeness.

The girl's voice was very high-pitched, similar to the soft, weak whimpers of a small animal playing with its companions.

Akira Kurusu finally lost her temper. "You're the guitarist for your band. With both bands standing here, it's impossible for them to practice properly."

At this moment, the girls in the recording studio all focused their attention on Yoro Nai.

No one can continue practicing while having "kidnapped" the lead guitarist of another band.

Kaoru finally understood what Akira Kurusu was talking about, and then tilted her head strangely to look at him, "...Are you leaving?"

“That’s right, you should go back.” Akira Kurusu coaxed gently, “You still have a live show to do later.”

“Live…” Kaoru murmured the word, but her gaze involuntarily lingered on Akira Kurusu’s hand. Then she muttered to herself with conviction, “The smell of a guitar, matcha milk candy, an interesting boy, home, Nina…Live?”

After muttering this to herself for a few cycles, the girl stood there holding her guitar, seemingly caught in some kind of complex dilemma.

Before she knew it, Kaoru was getting closer and closer to Akira. This was a distance that a normal girl shouldn't be too close to a boy she had only met a few times. Her slender figure was easily visible through her loose T-shirt, and further down, her thin legs were visible beneath her shorts and her black ankle boots.

Her shoulder-length white hair swayed back and forth, and those rare heterochromatic eyes that shouldn't appear on a human were getting closer and closer.

Then the girl's small nose poked at Akira Kurusu's hand, twitching slightly twice, like a cat remembering a friend's scent, while her unseen tail began to wag restlessly.

It wasn't until Ishigaki Nina, who was secretly peeking at them with the lyrics in hand, felt inexplicably irritated and depressed, and started unconsciously stomping loudly on the floor with her sneakers... that Kaname Rakuna finally reluctantly picked up her guitar and prepared to leave.

"Bye-bye." She left with light steps.

When Kaname said "goodbye," everyone assumed she was saying goodbye to Akira Kurusu. Only Akira Kurusu knew that Kaname meant "I'll come find you again later."

"Did you put catnip on yourself?" Izana asked, covering half her face with a printed sheet of lyrics and approaching Akira Kurusu with a puzzled look.

"It has to be matcha."

"Hmph, we've only known each other for a few days and you've already remembered that Rakuna likes matcha." Izayoi said sourly. This was the first time she had been so concerned about the distance between Kurusu Akira and other girls.

"I remembered clearly from the first day I met you that you liked milk coffee."

"That's what you're supposed to do as a barista!"

"Are you jealous?"

"I...I would be jealous of a middle school student?!" Izayoi Reina reacted so violently, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, that she almost jumped up.

“You know she’s a middle school student, look at Xiaoxiang over there, she hasn’t reacted yet.” Akira Kurusu pushed Serina Iza’s shoulder and pressed her next to the microphone. “'MYGO' is going to sing five songs in total, and after them it will be our turn... We have to quickly go through both of the band’s songs completely. This is our first official performance in a livehouse, and someone will be recording it, so we can’t embarrass ourselves.”

Akira Kurusu placed her hands on Serina Ii's shoulders, feeling her petite and slender figure, which was almost identical to that of Kaname Rakuna, and let out a silent sigh.

It's hard to believe that 17-year-old Nina Izare is only 152cm tall, while 14-year-old Rakuna is about the same height...

The Persona "Dioscuri" flashed past Akira Kurusu, and the height chart he saw at the entrance of Disneyland last month immediately appeared next to Nina Izare, along with the phantom of Kaname Rakuna... After a simple comparison, it was immediately clear that Kaname Rakuna's real height is 150cm.

Is it possible that a three-year age difference is only a two-centimeter height difference?

Akira Kurusu patted Serina Ii's shoulder forcefully, her words unspoken.

The phantom thief, unusually, did not make fun of the petite and adorable girl.

It's hard to tell whether it's because the rice in Kumamoto isn't enough to satisfy cats, or because the sashimi in Tokyo is too cat-friendly...

"Let's start practicing."

Ichi Nijika raised her drumsticks and struck them together. The crisp sound drew everyone's attention to the performance.

Seeing that the farce of the boys and girls had finally come to an end, Momoka Kawara looked sadly at the band whose relationships between men and women were gradually becoming chaotic, and then picked up a pick from the shelf with the sheet music in front of her.

......

【PM. 7:51】

"It's finally over."

Jingqin Rencai only noticed the cheers from customers below the stage after she instinctively turned off the microphone after the two original songs by the band were finished.

Excessive excitement led to a surge of adrenaline, causing her to almost forget that it was her first time performing on stage during the high notes she was hitting.

Ishigami looked at Kurusu Akira with eyes seeking praise, and soon received a thumbs-up from him.

This child is truly a natural singer.

Akira Kurusu felt that Serina Izakura was indeed talented in rock music. Despite not having received any formal training, she could use all sorts of fancy singing techniques as if they were second nature. Her vocal range was frighteningly wide, and she could switch smoothly from low to high notes as easily as a pendulum ride in an amusement park.

So, Igarashi Renna immediately turned around and looked at the girls in the band with a happy smile. The tension and awkwardness they had felt when they connected the microphone on stage a few minutes earlier had all vanished.

It's time for him to step down.

Just as Jingqin Rencai was feeling hot all over and began to savor the tension and excitement of the performance, she suddenly heard a spirited shout from the crowd below the stage.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a familiar face... I couldn't recall the name, but the handsome red-haired junior high school student was wearing the uniform of "Private Jigu Academy" and was shouting loudly, "One more song!"

Akira Kurusu wanted to refuse, and even the customers around the boy were puzzled. Why could he arbitrarily disrupt the Livehouse's performance schedule? Everyone has their favorite bands, so why should he take up the nighttime without explanation?

But the next moment, the red-haired junior high school student put his backpack in front of his chest, unzipped it, and took out a bundle of 10,000 yen notes tied with a rubber band and threw it onto the stage.

Then, with some difficulty, he threw the entire backpack onto the stage, along with a copy of the first volume of "No Game No Life".

A very dull sound echoed from the stage.

The lobby of STARRY fell silent in a very short time.

The boy shouted loudly towards Akira Kurusu on stage, "Akira Kurusu-sensei! I'm your fan! Can you sing 'All Nameless' again?!"

"I'm the lead singer, I won't sing if I don't want to"—that's what I originally wanted to say, but when she saw the large bundle of banknotes that fell out of her backpack after it tipped over and rolled all the way to her feet, she looked at Akira with a questioning gaze.

Under Ichiji Nijika's pleading gaze, Yamada Ryo had already raised his bass.

Hey, drumming is tiring!

In the end, she could only look at the legitimate young lady, Toyokawa Shoko, with pleading eyes. She never expected that the wealthy young lady of the Toyokawa family would be tempted by such a small gain. She had turned off the microphone and then turned it back on... The young lady had learned to be thrifty half a year ago. Even though she had mentally returned to her status as a young lady when she saw the pile of money, she still couldn't remain indifferent to the idea of ​​"playing for a few minutes and picking up money".

Akira Kurusu and Momoka Kawaragi exchanged a glance, and then began to play.

As the song "All Nameless" ended, applause erupted from the audience. Only Ichiji Nijika, who had accidentally missed a few beats, nervously looked around, afraid that someone had turned the video recorder back on.

At this moment, the middle school student who had requested the song had disappeared.

Akira Kurusu picked up her overly heavy schoolbag. Inside, there was no student ID or pencil case, only bundles and bundles of 10,000 yen bills.

As he stepped off the stage, he saw the girls from "MYGO" looking at the backpack in his hand with awe.

"They've already got sponsors right after their debut..." Chihaya Aine exclaimed enviously, "That's amazing!"

Shiina Tatsuki, who often had to work part-time, watched as Izare Nina and Yamada Ryo ran around with bundles of 10,000 yen each. After hesitating for a long time, he finally blurted out, "Be careful, minors will be refunded," which startled Izare Nina so much that her hands trembled.

"It's alright, you can keep the money," said Ijichi Hoshika as she approached.

She comforted the girls who had finished their band performance, saying, "That boy is a frequent customer of the store. He comes from a very wealthy family and claims to be a fan of Amamiya-san, so he keeps saying he wants to sponsor you."

“Then we should call Amamiya’s office directly…” It was Iji Chikatsu’s anxious voice.

This was the first time Ichika Niji had ever seen such a large sum of money in real life.

"Maybe it's because only a band like yours, who's doing this out of interest, needs sponsorship?" Ijichi Seika said helplessly. "They were even afraid you'd return the money, so they ran away halfway through the live performance. Before leaving, they told me they wouldn't be coming back for a while, and then begged me to send them the recording of your live performance."

Do you have their contact information?

"He added STARRY's MSN for business collaborations."

"Please be sure to send me a copy."

"Remember to thank them properly." Ichiji Hoshika watched Kurusu Akira open the copy of "No Game No Life" by the counter and begin skillfully signing the title page, so she gave this increasingly remarkable boy some advice.

Ruoye Mu sat by the counter all night acting as a mascot. The young female customers who saw her all thought she was some kind of teenage idol who collaborated with the performance hall, and asked for photos with her several times, but without exception, she was refused.

Seeing that the band's performance had finally ended, she stood up and followed Akira Kurusu.

Ruo Yemu still has no intention of going home.

But she didn't want to go to the Toyokawa family again; she just blindly trusted the phantom thief, so she decided to leave with him.

After listening to five songs by "MYGO", Toyokawa Shoko enthusiastically sought out Shiina Tatsuki, who was now in charge of composing the songs. She praised Shiina's progress and began to talk about the sources of inspiration or ideas in the creative process. Shiina Tatsuki was initially a little embarrassed and self-conscious, and even mistakenly thought that Toyokawa Shoko was being sarcastic. But all the barriers and suspicions quietly disappeared in Toyokawa Shoko's sweet smile that made it hard to look away.

It was as if everything had returned to the original "CRYCHIC"... But everyone knew that "CRYCHIC" had truly disbanded, and the warmth that lingered between the two across time and space was called "friendship".

Nagasaki Motoyo tried to strike up a conversation with Toyokawa Shoko several times, but seeing how happily she and Shiina Tatsuki were chatting, she felt she couldn't get a word in edgewise, or rather, she couldn't bring herself to interrupt their conversation.

Toyokawa Shoko surprisingly noticed Nagasaki Motoyo's hesitation, so she turned around and smiled gently at her, "Motoyo, do you have any thoughts on the bass part we were just talking about?"

As a bassist, Motoyo Nagasaki understood perfectly well that Shoko Toyokawa was deliberately trying to create a topic for herself.

She approached the girl in front of her step by step, raising and lowering her hand, and finally a joyful smile bloomed on her face. "Yes."

"Shall we talk about it together?"

After leaving STARRY, the girls in the band said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Those going the same way can go home together, and those not going the same way should try to travel together.

......

Summer nights in Shimokitazawa are sticky.

If dusk is like matcha that is gradually diluted, then the night after the sun sets is like the darkening matcha after it has dried, a bittersweet taste.

But that kind of bitterness clearly didn't belong to the cat that followed the boy with its guitar.

Because she could smell the lingering sweetness of the candy in the boy's hand, she tried her best to escape that night of beer and barbecue that was about to fill her life with boredom.

The guitar case was fixed to a stand with wheels, which made a very loud noise as they hit the uneven asphalt.

Clang, clang clang...

Yoroi seemed completely unconcerned about whether her behavior was polite or not.

Human social rules are irrelevant to cats.

This amazing girl, whose behavior and way of thinking are almost indistinguishable from a cat, naturally followed behind Akira Kurusu.

Even though Wakaba Mutsu kept turning around, Kaname Rakuna remained unconcerned, holding her head high and chest out.

Aren't you going home?

Akira Kurusu finally stopped after Mutsu Wakaba tugged at her sleeve several times, turned around to face Rakuna Kaname, and made a gesture as if she was about to chase her away.

Kaoru was startled by Akira Kurusu's sudden movement, and took a few steps back, looking at him nervously.