svetikya Page 10
Page 10
"Cat ear hairstyle, but you can search it online, it's quite famous." Taro stopped walking. "I'll leave you here. You need to practice more at home. Right now, you need to practice the most."
"Okay~" Ai waved goodbye to her good friend.
...They must be good friends, right? To be honest, Aine doesn't really understand Momoi Taro. He's so straightforward, like a fool, and he's also the kind of fool who tells others what he'll play when playing rock-paper-scissors.
They were very strict, especially when the training officially began. It felt like they really treated me like a servant, and they would scold me or even physically punish me. I felt that this was really too much!
If there were any situation where she needed to swear allegiance, Aine had no doubt that the other party might just shove her head away.
Aine thought about it carefully in her mind, and thought, "Yes, definitely! That guy will definitely push me aside while laughing! That guy! He's absolutely capable of doing that!"
Idiot, idiot, idiot!
Meanwhile, Taro sent a private message to ask if Meowmee had returned home safely. Meowmee quickly replied, saying that she had arrived home safely.
So now it's my time... I still have three hours until my scheduled bedtime. I should go and find out about this Ichinose Motoyo... no, Nagasaki Motoyo, or some Motoyo who has since remarried.
However, it's too late now, so going to the door at night would be more troublesome. Wouldn't it be better to pay more attention to see if there are any such packages when sorting the parcels?
Thinking this, he passed by Moon Forest Academy... Hmm?
He remained silent and slowly walked to the edge of the bridge. He leaned against the railing, looking down at the bustling traffic below: "We meet again. We really are destined to be together."
A gray-haired girl with an animalistic air, who was staring blankly at what might be the moon or a tree, seemed to be startled awake from her own world.
"Um... Momoi... Mr. Taro...?" The little animal murmured a few words, then, like Taro, lowered its head and looked at the traffic flowing under the bridge.
"Good evening. Come to think of it, I still don't know your name?" Taro greeted him casually, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
The little animal breathed a sigh of relief and greeted softly, "Uh... um... good evening, I... um... I'm Takamatsu Tō, nice to meet you."
The child named Takamatsu Akari, like a fledgling bird emerging from its shell, greeted Taro with a mixture of anticipation and fear.
"Ms. Takamatsu, what are you doing here so late?" Taro turned to the side, looking at Takamatsu Akari who was looking down, and asked, "Aren't your family worried?"
“Um…” Takamatsu hesitated for a moment before answering, “Flowers.”
Taro, as if by telepathy, looked up at the small white flowers blooming on the tall trees. Bathed in the silvery moonlight, they appeared so lonely.
Taro, however, didn't understand these things. He understood loneliness all too well, and could only calmly reply, "Is that so?"
silence.
After a long pause, Taro spoke first: "Did you seize the opportunity? The Fragment of Fate?"
"Hmm!" Hearing this, Takamatsu Touka, who was like a little animal, finally smiled and nodded heavily. Her speech became more fluent: "I thought I wouldn't be able to find a penguin-shaped stone, ah, and a star-shaped stone. Both are very rare. Thank you, Momoi-san."
"Hmm...that's good then." Taro tilted his head up again: "Does Miss Takamatsu like stones?"
"Hmm..." She lowered her head again and said weakly, "I guess... it's just collecting."
"I see, I understand. I also enjoy connecting with all sorts of people. If we're talking about collecting connections, I guess I am too—the connections between people."
Takamatsu Akari looked up with interest and asked in a weak voice, "Um... Mr. Momoi, what is fate?"
“That’s a really difficult question,” Taro said frankly. “My understanding is that there are all kinds of connections. Saying hello when you pass by is a connection, and a stumbling block is also a connection. To me, a connection is a mutual relationship, whether it’s tangible or intangible, and there are countless such connections. When they intertwine, miracles are born.”
"Then..." Takamatsu Akari gripped the edge of her clothes tightly and asked softly, "The band... what kind of fate do you think it is, Mr. Momoi?"
“Good question.” Taro looked up, a smile spreading across his face. “The band is the curse of fate.”
"The curse... Mr. Momoi means..." Takamatsu Akari lowered her head sadly, tears welling up in her eyes: "Shouldn't the band... exist?"
"Completely wrong!" Taro retorted loudly. "On the contrary! That's how it is with bands. If you don't have the corresponding awareness to bear this curse, the fate will slip through your fingers. On the contrary, if you have such awareness, you will be able to grasp a very remarkable fate!"
"So... the band's disbandment... was it because I wasn't aware enough...?" Takamatsu Akari lowered her head even further.
So, was the band's breakup really my fault...?
"Completely wrong!!" Taro denied this statement: "The curse of the band cannot be borne by one person alone unless one is as strong as me! That's why everyone must be prepared to bear it together."
Taro's words sounded narcissistic, but Takamatsu Akari heard an undeniable confidence in them.
“Someone as powerful as Mr. Taro?” Takamatsu Akari looked up, and without realizing it, she changed how she addressed Taro. Mr. Taro was clearly not the “ordinary” and “obvious” person she knew, but… he clearly felt out of place with everyone else.
"Taro-san..." Takamatsu Akari said cautiously, "Can a broken bond... be found again?"
“What you think is a severed bond actually still maintains an invisible connection. Bonds aren’t so easily broken!” Taro’s tone was very matter-of-fact. “However, if it’s a cursed bond like a band’s, there are only two ways: for everyone in the band to bear this cursed bond, or for someone as powerful as me.”
As expected, Mr. Taro. There is absolutely no such thing as "ordinary" or "taken for granted" in him. Rather, his "ordinary" and "taken for granted" are completely different from those of other people.
Why, why is it so dazzling...? Takamatsu Akari's instincts told her that Mr. Taro was not lying... Is it permissible for someone as extraordinary and unconventional as Mr. Taro to exist?
[Can someone like Mr. Taro really protect the band...? I don't want the band to disband; I want them to come back.]
In Takamatsu's mind, the response to that person flashed through his mind, and he remembered the things he had done with that person here before...
[Shout it out. This is my inner voice.]
"I..." She slammed her hand on the railing, facing the bustling road, and shouted with all her might, "I... want to become someone like Mr. Taro!!"
[Can her voice be heard...?]
"It's impossible!"
Ah...it was rejected.
In the eighth chapter, it was sung.
"Hehe..." Ai Yin lay on the bathtub, letting the warm bubble bath wash away the fatigue from a day of guitar practice. She reflected on her experiences that day.
I made friends at school, including Miaomeng, and even became friends with a bandmate. It seems my own lead singer is unexpectedly popular; he's so familiar with the guitarist and lead singer of that popular band.
If only he could be a little gentler! The big pink dog rubbed its head. Although it no longer felt any real pain, it still felt a phantom pain as if its head had been pinched by fingers when it recalled the practice during the day.
"Hehehe..." Then she thought of the photo she had just uploaded to SNS with Miaomeng, which would definitely get her a lot of attention. Thinking of this, Aiyin couldn't help but hum softly again.
After coming out of the bathroom and drying her hair, Aine sat on the bed and her gaze fell on the green guitar next to her.
"I'll leave you here. Keep practicing at home. Right now, that's when you need to practice the most."
"Ah..." It's true that I haven't touched the guitar since I got back. But it's already very late, and I've practiced for a long time today.
Okay, I'll watch Miaomeng's video for a while and then go to sleep.
the other side.
"I... want to become someone like Mr. Taro!!" In response to Takamatsu Akari's desperate shout, Taro responded instantly.
“I can’t do it!” he replied. Gao Songdeng felt her courage shatter. She lowered her head and stammered, “Why…”
"There is no me outside of me." The confident, unquestionable tone reached Takamatsu Akari's ears. Indeed… how could someone like herself become someone like Taro-san?
"Thank you...!" She turned around and took a step. Unable to become an "ordinary human being," and unable to become an "extraordinary human being," what was she supposed to do? She was so tired; she didn't want to think anymore.
Will I feel better if I just go back to my room and write all of this down...?
Something warm enveloped her wrist, holding her firmly and powerfully. She turned her head, her blurred vision obscuring the other person's face, but the ever-present confidence told Gao Songdeng who it was.
"Why become someone else?" Taro grabbed Takamatsu Akari's wrist and asked, "Why do such a meaningless thing? You should understand this best, right? No matter how similar two stones are, they are not the same piece."
"Ah..." She abandoned her thoughts of running away: "Then... how exactly can we get the band back?"
"So, why do you think the band broke up?" Taro still held the other's wrist, his tone flat as if he were talking about a trivial matter.
"Hmm...it's probably my fault..." Takamatsu Akari lowered her head, her not-so-long bangs falling down to cover her eyes, and a few drops of water appeared on the ground: "I didn't sing well...that's why I left."
"Oh? Then sing for me." Taro looked up at the sky, grabbed Takamatsu Toki, and walked to the underside of a nearby house. "How was your singing? Let me judge."
"...I can't sing anymore." Gao Songdeng shouted in a voice that was about to cry, "I can't sing anymore."
"Like this? You still want a band?" Taro leaned against the wall, watching the rain fall from the sky and shatter on the ground: "If you don't even have the courage to sing, how can you bear the curse? I can say that with certainty."
Taro turned around and looked into her eyes. Takamatsu Akari instinctively avoided his gaze, but Taro ignored her reaction and said, "Your band is definitely going to fail."
"Then..." Did the wind bring the rain in? She felt liquid sliding down her cheeks. She didn't know, and could only shout in a evasive manner, "How... how can we get the band back?"
"I just can't think of a solution..."
"So, sing it," Taro commanded, arms crossed. "You'll understand once you sing it."
Did Taro's words only make Takamatsu Akari more confused? What good would singing do? She couldn't figure it out no matter how she thought about it, so she loudly sang her most familiar song:
"悴んだ心ふるえる灗世界で..." She sang with a tearful voice: "Servant はひとりぼっちだった."
Taro closed his eyes and listened to her singing, which was full of emotion but lacked any technical skill.
However, as she sang, the sounds that were initially just noise gradually became more organized.
"光はやさしく连れ立つよ..."
In her singing, she seemed to forget herself, venting loudly in the rain, releasing emotions she couldn't usually express... grievances, sadness, longing... until the very last line.
“I can’t leave…” As she finished the last syllable, she braced herself on her knees with both hands and gasped for breath.
After calming herself down a bit, she said, "Mr. Taro...? How are you?"
"Hmm." Taro opened his eyes and commented calmly, "Out of 100 points, 5 points."
One act of taking initiative resulted in a lifetime of shadows. That's probably how Gao Songdeng feels right now. Tears welled in her eyes: "As expected... it's because I didn't sing well..."
“I don’t think so,” Taro said. “Although I don’t know what kind of band you are, the emotion in your singing just now suggests that you’re not a band that’s that fragile. Besides, the second half of your performance was good enough for an amateur band.”
Comfort? No, if it were comfort, he wouldn't have rated his own song a 5. Probably? Takamatsu Akari's mind couldn't process that many thoughts; she simply followed her instincts and found the most accurate answer: that man wouldn't lie.
"Then... what should we do?" Takamatsu Akari looked at Taro with teary eyes. She never liked to seek answers from others, but she had a strong sense of trust in Taro, who acted differently from others. Even Takamatsu Akari could tell that his eccentricities were completely different from the "ordinary" rules of social interaction, yet he was still a person who shone brightly.
So she wondered if Mr. Taro was someone like herself, only much stronger. Therefore, she wanted to ask him for answers: "What exactly do I need to do to... to get the band back?"
"Hmm...it's very simple." Taro smiled confidently: "Just become strong enough."
“Strong enough…?” Takamatsu Akari tried hard to understand Taro’s words, her tone revealing confusion.
"Yes, as long as you're strong enough." He was as confident as ever: "Strong enough to bear the curse of fate, and incidentally, to bear the curses of the other members as well."
Taro raised his head high: "To achieve this level, you don't need to be as strong as me."
Looking at the still bewildered lamp, Taro took out his phone, opened the LINE interface, and displayed a QR code.
"Huh...?" Lamp paused for a moment, then seemed to realize what was happening. She took out her phone from her pocket, scanned a QR code, and added Taro as a friend.
"Come to RiNG tomorrow at 5 PM to watch our band rehearse." Taro looked at the rain that was slowly stopping. "See for yourself how I managed to bring two newbies together in a band. I'll tell you the location on Line later."
"It's getting late, it'd be better to go home soon." Taro left the shadow of the eaves and, under Takamatsu Todoroki's gaze, walked towards the path paved with moonlight. The shattered moonlight lingered quietly on his red coat, as if the moon had woven a silver cloak for him.