Momoi Taro wants to form a "don" brother duo, but it's a music anime.

Page 45

She thought for a moment, then decided not to send it. After deleting the entire message above, she typed it again:

"I have something I'd like to discuss with you, is that alright?"

send.

Not long after, Nina received a reply from Taro.

"Taro Momoi: We're still practicing with the band at 6 PM. It's Yoshinoya, the place we met last time."

Rencai breathed a sigh of relief, feeling inexplicably at ease.

After that, she came here and sat there studying while keeping an eye on her phone for any changes. She stayed there for over four hours.

"You said you needed to talk to me. What is it?" A familiar voice came from outside the door. The three people in the shop looked towards the door. The handsome young man in red, Qun San Si Ling Qi Er ④VIII Si, walked in calmly and sat down next to Ren Cai.

"Tsk—" The petite girl clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, turned around, and walked into the kitchen.

"Would you like to order?" A tall, blonde, dark-skinned girl walked over, her smile beneath her mask so gentle, though no one could see it.

"No, I need to talk to Jingqin about something, I'll be leaving right away," Taro replied curtly.

“Okay, feel free to call me anytime if you need anything.” Rupa wasn’t angry at all. She had a very deep impression of this man from her last experience, and she didn’t dislike straightforward people like him.

“Actually, it’s like this…” Nina told Taro about what had happened recently: “This is what happened, and now I don’t know what to do.”

"I see. You couldn't decide between the band and your studies." Taro leaned back with his arms crossed, looking very relaxed, and said, "I only have one piece of advice: give up!"

"Give up...?" She was stunned for a moment, then slammed her hand on the table and stood up, saying excitedly, "But, if I give up my studies, wouldn't I be..."

She didn't say the rest of her words. Momoi Taro didn't know about her situation, but she still wanted to express her opposition.

"Don't misunderstand!" Taro's voice rose slightly, drowning out Nina's. He said coldly, "When I said give up, I meant give up the band."

"Eh...?" Nina sat down as if all her strength had left her, her expression turning heavy. She seemed lost in her own world, and asked in a somber voice, "Why did you say such a thing..."

“It’s a very simple thing, yet you’re hesitating.” Taro glanced at Nina, who was lost in her own world, as if she were a hedgehog with her back to him, rejecting him: “The reason for your hesitation is that you don’t really believe you can do it well.”

"In the end, you don't have a real determination to study hard, and you're getting involved in the band. You're bound to fail, whether it's the band or your studies."

Taro's cold, hard voice pierced Nina's heart like a nail. She felt a sharp pain in her heart. She trusted him so much, so why did he say such a thing?

“No!” Renna exclaimed softly, arguing in a gloomy voice, “I left home because I refused to admit my failure. I want to prove to my father that I… can get into university even without following the path he suggested.”

“What you’re saying is completely meaningless. If what you’re saying is true, then there’s even less reason to play in a band.”

Taro's rebuttal made Nina's face darken even more, but she found it hard to refute what he said; she truly didn't know why she wanted to be in a band.

The atmosphere became extremely awkward. Taro was about to say something when a loud bang came from beside him. He turned his head and saw that the petite waitress named Satoshi had slammed a medium-sized bowl of beef rice onto his table.

“I didn’t order anything,” Taro stated calmly.

"It's my treat, eat up," Xiao Zhi said, closing his eyes, crossing his arms, and turning his head away, looking impatient.

Nina looked over curiously, which at least eased the awkward atmosphere.

Taro reached for his chopsticks and calmly said, "Then I won't be polite. I'll start eating."

He quickly finished the medium-sized beef rice bowl. Xiao Zhi looked at him, his voice slightly nervous, and asked, "How was it?"

"It's improved a lot compared to last time." Taro nodded in agreement, saying, "The onions and beef are cooked just right, very delicious, 35 points!"

"Hmph—" Xiao Zhi didn't say anything and went back to the kitchen.

“Speaking of which, Mr. Momoi, judging from your age, you should be in college, right? But you yourself haven’t continued your studies, have you?” Nina looked at Momoi Taro. After the little incident, her mood had finally recovered a bit. At the beginning, when Taro was dressed, he seemed to be wearing a deliveryman’s uniform.

"Could it be that Mr. Momoi's academic ability is so poor that he couldn't get into university?" Nina felt a secret sense of vengeful pleasure; she was still quite upset when she was mocked like that before.

"My academic ability is undoubtedly 100 points!" Taro's expression was full of confidence.

"Then why didn't you go to university?"

"I've been expelled from school." Taro's voice and expression were both very calm.

For some reason, Nina felt a slight stirring within her, and she asked, "Why...?"

"In school, I will point out the teacher's mistakes without hesitation," Taro said, arms crossed, a hint of melancholy in his voice. "Then I'll tell them the correct way to do it."

"In the end, all the teachers in the school stood up against me and demanded that they either resign or I be fired." He said, "The school can continue without a single student, but it cannot function without all the teachers."

“After this happened many times, I stopped going to school.” Taro’s words were so calm, as if he didn’t care about anything that had happened in the past: “After that, I taught myself all the knowledge I needed.”

"Is that so..." Nina stared blankly at Taro. His seemingly unwavering face must have been hurting inside.

I know all too well what it feels like to be rejected by everyone. I did the right thing, but I was ostracized by everyone, not even my most trusted family members.

And what about Momoi Taro? How does it feel to be ostracized by everyone when he's always doing the right thing? She couldn't imagine it; even just imagining it felt as cold as being doused in mud.

“Um… Mr. Momoi, you just asked me why I wanted to start a band, right?” Nina looked at Taro’s profile and said in a low voice, “I didn’t know why I wanted to start a band either, but after hearing what you just said, I feel like I understand now.”

"Huh? Interesting! Tell me about it!" Taro was still leaning back with his arms crossed, but his eyes were already locked on Nina's face, as if he were scrutinizing her.

“I…have experienced being ostracized like Mr. Momoi…” Nina said in a soft but firm voice, “That period was really painful, really painful. In the end, I was even injured and hospitalized because of it.”

"But my family all advised me to keep quiet and not make a fuss about it. It must be a mistake! But the feeling of not being recognized is really painful."

“Back then, it was Ms. Momoka’s song that saved me.” Nina smiled slightly. “Ms. Momoka said before that my songs are very powerful, and I think that’s probably it.”

"I also want to use my songs to save others like me, just like Ms. Momoka... Even though I'm still stuck in the mire myself, that's what I think... I guess!" Her voice trailed off towards the end.

"Isn't that great?" Taro smiled slightly. "It's much better than how useless you were just now. So, what's your final decision?"

“I promised my father when I left home that I would definitely get into university, and I don’t want to give up on my studies.” Nina squinted, but her tone was firm: “However, I don’t want to give up on the band either. I want to try to stick with both.”

"It might be tiring, and I might feel frustrated... but I want to give it a try!" Nina finally stood up, looking down at Taro who was playing on his phone with great determination. Just as she was about to say something, she heard the phone make a "de" sound.

She picked up her phone and looked at it, only to find that Taro had sent her two apps in a private chat.

Taro stood up and said, "These two apps, the first is an image-to-text app, which I wrote myself, and the accuracy is very high. The second is a meeting app. You just said you wanted to go to university, right? Which university are you planning to go to? University of Tokyo? Waseda University? Keiho Women's University?"

"I haven't decided yet..." Nina replied weakly to Taro.

"Take your time to think about it. You can contact me if you need anything."

"That? What do you mean?" Nina asked, looking somewhat uncertain.

"What I mean is, I can be your tutor whenever you need me." Taro started off calmly, then his voice turned reprimanding as he shouted, "But! It's not free!"

“If I were to be the teacher, I would teach two to three classes a day, one hour per class, and each class would cost 3000 yen,” Taro said, not wanting Nina to develop a habit of relying on him. “My teaching is 100-point teaching. As long as you study diligently during this time, your studies will not have too much of a problem.”

"If I become your teacher, you can cancel your current tutoring institution." Taro's words were full of confidence. Although he didn't know how good Nina's tutoring institution was, he was sure it couldn't compare to his own.

"Anyway, think it over carefully. I have something to do afterward. Oh, and here, this is for you." Taro slipped two pieces of paper into Nina's hand: "It's my treat."

"This is... a ticket...?" Nina looked at the ticket in her hand curiously. Taro said, "It's a ticket for RING's performance at the end of next month. Come and see my show."

The tall shop assistant, Rupa, asked in a gentle voice, "Um, can we have two? We'll pay for them."

“No, it’s a return gift for the beef bowl. It’s on you.” Taro slammed two tickets on the table without further ado, then turned to Nina and said, “Give the last one to Kawaharaki. That’s all. You can contact me anytime via Line.”

After saying that, Taro left the shop...

Chapter Forty-Four, I can't think of a title.

Shortly after Taro left.

"Ugh... I feel like I've been exaggerating," Nina said, grabbing her hair and rubbing her head in frustration. "What's going on? What's going on?!"

After finally calming down, she took a deep breath and then exhaled heavily.

"Rock and roll is about singing your own words." —Momoka

"But... I really want to try, like Ms. Momoka said, to try singing out my feelings?"

She patted her face and quickly ran out.

Now, she needs to seriously consider her future.

After watching Nina leave, the two shop assistants whispered, "She's a tough person, though I don't dislike that kind of toughness."

"Hmph... I hope his musical talent is about as good as his cooking skills." Xiao Zhi looked at the ticket left by the other party with some dissatisfaction.

Not long ago, in RiNG's practice room

"It's almost time..." Ai Yin picked up her phone, glanced at it, and realized it was almost six o'clock. She had to get ready and head over.

As Aine was thinking this, her phone beeped. She looked up and exclaimed in surprise, "Ah! It's Miaomeng's new video..."

"Ah... but it's already 5:30. I'll watch it after I finish singing karaoke with Kasumi-senpai." Aine thought for a moment, put the guitar on the clip, and left her bag in the practice room without even unpacking it.

"Hmm... this is the practice room for the Dong Brothers, so it shouldn't be a problem to leave it here, right?" She gently stroked the body of her guitar and walked over.

Some time after Aine left, the practice room door was pushed open again.

Miao Meng, as if returning to her own home, habitually turned on the lights in the practice room. She saw the guitar on the shelf and looked up in confusion, saying, "Huh? Is this Aiko's? How could you be so careless?"

She carefully picked up the guitar, put it back in its case, and placed it in the corner. Then she sat back down on the drum set. She knew she had dragged the team down today, and although she was very unwilling, that was the truth.

Hai Zi's bass playing was impeccable, Le Nai Zi's guitar playing was so free and powerful that it moved me deeply, and even Aiko's performance today was mostly flawless...

Only I am the one who clearly made a mistake. Of course, I could say that Rakunako's sudden change of melody caused my mistake, but that explanation simply doesn't convince me...

"A band is five people with their personalities combined? Are you kidding me?" Miao Meng pounded on the drums, venting her inner fear: "Am I going to be left behind? Are you kidding me!"

Miao Meng remained silent, only continuing to beat the drum.

She tapped out the revised sheet music over and over again until her muscles ached before she stopped.

To be honest, she felt like she was going crazy. There was never any other option she could have chosen, and she could do so many other things. Why did she have to stick to being in a band?

She didn't understand, yet she knew exactly what this feeling that arose from the depths of her heart truly meant.

She took out her phone and checked the data of her newly posted video... Ah, sure enough, the data had dropped drastically.

After all, that's how the internet has always been; you might like it yesterday, but get tired of it today.

She'd reduced her update frequency because of drum practice; this was the consequence she deserved. A sarcastic smile played on her lips as she scrolled through the comments. Her gaze was drawn to the first one.

"Tokyo-Anon: Updating a video at this time is so sneaky! I really want to watch it (T_T), Tokyo-Anon is so cunning! I'll watch it as soon as I get back!"

Miao Meng's smile became genuine as she replied, "Just come back after you've finished your own things. What's wrong today? Didn't you bring your guitar?"

Ai Yin seems to be different from ordinary fans. She is always so enthusiastic, having followed me for a long time. I even remembered her account before I joined the band...

It wasn't until she joined the band that she discovered her teammates were actually her fans, and well... she was secretly quite pleased with that.