Chapter 389

"Phew! That feels great! You really have to shout it out when you're hiking!"

After shouting, she quickly returned to her previous playful demeanor, grinning and giving him a peace sign with her hands on her hips.

"Then I'll too... Aaaaaaah--!!!"

He shouted down in a moderate, measured way.

It's unclear whether the sound can penetrate the urban white noise permeating the air and the obstruction of the terrain to reach the ears of the three people resting below.

"You really do have a very androgynous voice..."

Tanaka Asuka retorted with disdain.

"It's just how it is."

"Yes, it's something you're born with, there's nothing you can do about it."

"..."

Tsk, so that's why you clever people always like to use metaphors and double entendres when you speak...

"Go downstairs, or they'll get impatient. You've finished reading, haven't you?"

She turned and walked back up the steps she had come from, then looked back and asked tentatively.

"Okay, let's go. I still need to book a hotel later... Any recommendations?"

"Don't ask me that. Do you think locals would stay in local hotels?"

"That's true..."

"However, as for famous hot spring inns..."

"..."

After descending the mountain, she returned to the parking spot with the others. After giving them a final snack as payment, she parted ways with them. Himemiya Chihaya checked into a well-known inn recommended by Tanaka Asuka.

The name is Uji Hanayashiki Ukifune-en, which sounds expensive, but it is actually a 4-star hotel. The rooms have panoramic views of the Uji River, and the owner provides yukatas and Uji matcha.

This is on the other side of the river, a five-minute walk from Byōdō-in.

The trip was for two nights. According to his plan, he only intended to stay in Uji for two days before heading to other places.

After soaking in his room, which had a private hot spring bath, to relieve the fatigue of the day, he began to process the backlog of information accumulated throughout the day.

After a quick change of clothes and some padding under his yukata, he began to remotely instruct his "disciples," Chihaya Aine, on musical techniques.

Oh dear, there's never a moment's rest! Is this the price of becoming Master of Time Management?

While others travel with their girlfriends and do naughty things together at night, I, in order to complete my mission and cut back on time, am left alone in this huge hotel room. It's so frustrating...

"Huh~ Why is Asahi- senpai wearing a yukata? The background looks like a hotel room, hmm... are you traveling?"

Hearing that familiar Sugar Tone, even his slightly dazed mind, still a bit confused from soaking in the hot spring, cleared up.

"Yes, I'm taking advantage of Golden Week to relax. I'm in Kyoto now!"

Ogura Asahi smiled faintly and replied, "I just finished a run in the hot springs."

"Wow, Kyoto! I want to go out and have fun too! I want to soak in a hot spring..."

Chihaya Aine's enthusiasm for studying instantly dropped by ninety percent, her eyes filled with longing to go on a trip.

"No, you need to practice your guitar to a certain level first. Do you want your teammates to call you a burden?"

Ogura Asahi remained expressionless.

"Uh... they didn't say that! But they're right, out of them, my skills are the worst..."

Chihaya Aine slumped against the sofa in her room, her large, bespectacled eyes staring up at the ceiling.

Her house is a beautiful two-story detached villa. One side of the house has a pitched roof, and a ceiling is inserted between the two pitched roofs, which is then divided in half by the wall.

Chihaya Aine's room is one of the two halves.

It features both standard horizontal windows and sloping windows on the pitched roof, allowing for ample natural light and making it quite unique.

The space is also quite spacious, with not only desks, bookshelves, and wardrobes, but also sofas, storage cabinets, and other furniture.

The bed, of normal size, with screens on two sides and walls on the other two, only occupied a tiny corner of the room... which shows just how big her bedroom was.

It's a private space that could make some people cry their eyes out.

At this moment, she was sitting on the sofa, holding a guitar, with her phone mounted on a stand in front of her.

"Yoshi!"

After her initial disappointment, she mustered her strength and sat up again, her fighting spirit rekindled. "Please train me hard, Senior Asahi! I beg you!"

"I can do it without you telling me. So, first play the chords I had you practice before, and then play the few simple songs I gave you..."

"Good doctor Ling" art together is five leeks nine"!"

"..."

"..."

Twenty minutes later, the guitar music gradually stopped.

"How is it?"

Sweat beaded on her forehead as she nervously watched the stunning beauty on the screen, fearing she might utter some cruel words.

On the other end of the call, Ogura Asahi tugged at his skin, unsure of what to say.

He remembered that only two or three days had passed since he last taught her, not two or three weeks or two or three months... How could she have become so proficient so quickly?

Tsk! So this is what you guys from the Bang Dream! fandom are all about!

"Very good! I didn't expect you to improve so quickly. It seems you'll soon reach an average level. Keep it up... keep it up!"

He coughed lightly, picked up Uji Kintoki from the side and started eating to calm his agitated emotions.

"Real?!"

Chihaya Aine cupped her cheeks, her face beaming with joy, then proudly put her hands on her hips.

"Well, as long as I'm willing to practice, this is nothing at all!"

"Good, good, it seems the band-aid you applied wasn't a waste of time."

Ogura Asahi expressed his helplessness at her smugness.

"Ah, this..."

She covered her Hands, her face flushed with embarrassment, and awkwardly hid them behind her back with a forced laugh.

Her rapid progress is certainly due to her exceptional talent, but it is also related to her tireless practice over the past few days.

"By the way, what is Senior Asahi eating? It looks delicious!"

She quickly put the topic out of her mind, leaned forward, and stared at what he was holding, drooling.

"Uji Kintoki, the local specialties here... even if you just look at me like this, you still won't be able to eat them."

"Ah ha 29 abandoned Liuzhou then billion Shaanxi dad six, ah hum hum~ hum~..."

She let out a mournful cry that was difficult to decipher.

"Alright, don't get cocky after just one compliment. You still have a long way to go. Now for some advanced exercises... Please point your phone at the textbook and turn to..."

"Mmm mmm mmm~"

Chihaya Aine pouted and reluctantly opened the textbook recommended by Hana-dono Tae, then suddenly remembered something, "Oh right! Recently, when our band was considering a name..."

"So, what do you think of AnonTokyo, Ano-ne, or Aine as team names? I think they're great! "Tokyo

[Note: The above pronunciations are all variations of the Aine (あのん).]

"I feel like I want to beat you to death for your teammates! What kind of taste do you have in naming things? Stop talking nonsense and get back to practicing!"

"..."

The next morning, he got up very early.

On one hand, I wanted to see the scenery of the Uji River in the early morning and have some morning tea; on the other hand, I also wanted to prepare for my trip to Kitauji.

With nothing else to do, he decided to go to Kitauji early in the morning.

Because he needed to bring his musical instruments, he went straight back to the hotel Parking Lot and drove to his destination.

Even though Kitauji is relatively far away, much farther than Mount Daikichi yesterday, the straight-line distance is still about the same.

After parking his car nearby, he slung his guitar case over his shoulder, carried his belongings, and walked toward the gate of Kitauji.

It's already May, and the Sakura that were blooming and falling along the roadside are long gone, leaving only empty Sakura trees.

The school was closed for the holidays; there wasn't a soul in sight, not even a sound...

"Um?"

--It's not that there isn't one.

"Is that sound from Oboe?"

He rested his chin on his fingers, recognizing the voice as its owner.

Why? Because the school's Wind Ensemble Club only has one Oboe player.

It's a little past seven o'clock now. Even on a normal day, let alone a holiday, there aren't many people around at this time.

"They're really diligent... though that's not all they are."

He chuckled softly, and instead of immediately following the sound, he placed the stereo and musical instruments beside the steps of the teaching building before beginning his tour of the school.

"This must be the accident hotspot, right? It really does look quite old."

"This is the playground... It's so basic, there's not even any rubber track."

"The classrooms and club activity rooms are pretty ordinary, and the building is quite old. No wonder Asuka said this is a school in a small town..."

"..."

In summary, this place can't compare to Haneoka or Tsukinomori, or even Hanasakigawa.

After spending more than ten minutes touring the exterior of the school buildings, he picked up his things and entered the teaching building, following the sound of the Oboe to his destination.

Although he didn't bring indoor slippers, thankfully there were guest slippers available at the shoe cabinet—though he didn't really want to wear them.

Next time, I'll bring my own things.

He went straight to the top floor of the teaching building, and through the glass of the corridor, he could see the rooftop terrace between the two opposing buildings.

If I had to pick a good spot at this school, besides the mountain scenery and lush greenery, this would be it.

His gaze left the room and soon he found the girl sitting in the corridor bathed in the morning sunlight, with a music stand in front of her.

Her long, bluish-gray hair barely reached her waist. She had large, amber eyes, and her smooth, delicate face was a little chubby, making her look round and adorable.

[Note: Tsuruzuka Mizore has blue hair in the TV series, while in Liz and the Blue Bird series, her hair is more black.]

She stared intently at the music stand before her, playing her dark Oboe, her face devoid of any emotion, seemingly uninterested in anything.

Naturally, no one noticed his barely perceptible movements.

Himemiya Chihaya put her things down, crossed her arms, leaned against the wall, and listened quietly to her practice.

Her skill level is more than enough by high school standards, and even surpasses that of some music university students.

Looking at the entire Kitauji Wind Ensemble Club, her skills are among the best.

But... it's just so-so.

Technically, it's mediocre, with nothing particularly outstanding. The emotional expression is stagnant, the notes are stiff and lack any flexibility or richness. There's a lot of room for improvement.

A few minutes later, after finishing practicing a piece of music, Tsuruzuka Mizore stopped playing, put down her instrument, blinked her big eyes, and looked away from the music stand at the all-too-familiar campus scene and the rolling hills in the distance.

"Your playing is pretty good. What's your name?"

The sudden sound startled her, causing her to quickly avert her gaze and turn her head slightly—from an outsider's perspective, it was impossible to tell that she was frightened.

In an instant, she spotted that familiar figure.

White hair, red eyes, that voice...