Riki led Shiina Rikki, whose cheeks were still flushed, and said, "I didn't expect them to engrave our names on them. But there's nothing we can do about that. Let's just treat them as exclusive rewards for beating the Haunted House game together. One for each of us."
Riki handed one of the rings to Shiina Rikki.
"Ah... okay." Shiina Rikki nodded stiffly. She instinctively started to put it on her finger, but realized something was off and hurriedly hid it in her pocket.
Riki didn't think much of it. He was just about to continue exploring the school festival when his phone buzzed. He saw that Shiina Rikki had taken out her phone too.
Nagasaki Sose had sent a message in the group chat.
Nagasaki Sose: [Everyone, our performance will be starting soon. Let's meet at Ring tomorrow and practice again.]
I sent out a call for votes.
Chapter 43: Shioka: Riki, Come Hear Me Sing Next Time
Looking at the message Nagasaki Sose had sent, Riki couldn't help feeling that this pure-hearted, scheming woman was up to something. He was about to message her when, just two seconds later, she sent another message.
Nagasaki Sose: [There's something I want to talk to you about. Come find me later.]
Hoho~ So, instead of running away, you're coming closer to me?
Nagasaki Sose, I acknowledge your Nagasaki bloodline.
The Nagasaki clan once withstood an atomic bomb, and now you're actually planning to face me, a former friend?
"Are we practicing tomorrow? Akari should be fine with it," Shiina Rikki said. "I just don't know if that stray cat will show up. You'll come tomorrow too, right, Riki?"
Shiina Rikki looked at Riki.
"I'll be there, but why are you so concerned about me? You five are the ones performing onstage," Riki said.
"Uh..." Shiina Rikki froze, then quickly waved her hands. "It's just that you're usually there when we practice. If you weren't there, it'd feel a bit strange. Yeah, that's it!"
As a music god, Riki was on a completely different level from a few high school girls like them. It was like Faker going to play in the LDL. You couldn't exactly call it a stomp; he just had the tiniest bit of an advantage.
After all, Riki was a freshman who loved the people like a father. Doing good deeds was as natural to him as it was to Lei Feng. Besides, helping them meant helping Sakiko and helping his own future. If Sakiko was happy, then becoming her husband wasn't far off.
But jokes aside, Rikki, why were you blushing?
Riki glanced at the time on his phone and suddenly realized it was already... game five—no, lunchtime. It was time to take a break. The other students had temporarily left their stalls to wander around the festival too.
"Does your school have anything good to eat?" Riki asked.
Shiina Rikki hesitated. "Something good... The yakisoba bread is delicious, but it's probably all gone by now. There's also... the principal?!"
You could eat your school principal?
Why couldn't we eat the principal at Haicheng University? Was Japan really strangling Haicheng University by the throat over technology?
Seeing Shiina Rikki's expression change, Riki followed her gaze. A middle-aged woman wearing rimless glasses and looking every bit like an imposing school administrator was walking toward them, her face icy.
Riki knew that look well. It was the deepest fear in every student's heart. One glance from her could cause a heart attack and make you confess every bad thing you'd done since childhood.
Most obviously, Shiina Rikki's legs had already gone weak.
"Our school doesn't allow dating. If the principal sees me walking with you, she'll definitely take me away and make me write a reflection. Then I won't be able to practice tomorrow," Shiina Rikki said in a panic.
We weren't dating. What was there to panic about?
Wait. Your school didn't allow dating, so why were couple rings being given out as prizes?
Riki looked back and saw a student Sakura girl swiftly changing the prize's name to "Friendship Rings."
Good. That really was something students would do—sneak around behind their teachers' backs.
Though I'd like to make a small suggestion: why not change it to friendship badges?
Riki glanced around, then pushed Shiina Rikki into an empty classroom nearby before the principal had fully reached the stairs.
Principal Komiro Keiko's gaze was as sharp as a torch. Everyone she looked at gave an awkward smile.
She frowned slightly. Had she just seen a boy push one of Hanasakigawa's students into a classroom nearby?
As a principal, she absolutely couldn't allow improper relationships like that. Especially with the principal of Sakurazaki right beside her—she couldn't let the other school laugh at them.
Komiro Keiko's legs kicked up a fierce wind as she pushed open the empty classroom door. Sure enough, there were two people inside, except... they were playing the piano?
"P-Principal...!" Shiina Rikki was so stiff she didn't know what to do with her hands.
"Hello." Riki was seated in front of the piano.
"You're Rikki, aren't you?" As a Showa-era woman, Komiro Keiko had memorized every student's name on her first day as principal. Her glasses seemed to flash with a deadly glint as she fixed her gaze on the trembling Shiina Rikki. "And who's this young man?"
"My name's Riki. I'm Rikki's cousin from China. I came to visit her during the school festival, and I'm also teaching her a little music," Riki said without batting an eye.
Komiro Keiko had seen countless couples use a family relationship as a cover. She coldly raised a finger to adjust her glasses and studied Riki with a keen eye, but all he did was offer her a friendly smile.
Riki was handsome and had a gentle air about him. Komiro Keiko couldn't help softening a little and giving him a small nod.
But she was still skeptical.
"Can you play music?" Komiro Keiko asked.
Those delinquent boys without any real skills liked to watch an hour of instrument tutorials online before trying to pick up girls. In front of a real professional, they looked like clowns doing a ritual dance. Komiro Keiko suspected Riki was one of those boys.
After all, handsome guys were always associated with the words "good at flirting."
Komiro Keiko noticed the faint smile on the Sakurazaki principal's lips, and her face darkened.
What a fake school sisterhood. Even the two principals were fake besties.
"I know a little," Riki said modestly. Then, under their skeptical gazes, he played a dazzling rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee. The piano music was astonishingly fast, drawing students from outside to come watch. But under the suppressive presence of the two school-principal bosses, no one dared approach, afraid of drawing aggro.
Still, they were all curious. Who had just started a fight with these two top-tier bosses? Had he lost his mind? What gear was he wearing?
Komiro Keiko's eyes lit up. That was some fine piano playing. As a woman born in the Showa era, she had always been a pragmatist. Seeing how skilled Riki was, she decided she wouldn't mind if he had a girlfriend from Hanasakigawa.
If this were any other time... But the Sakurazaki principal was here, and she absolutely couldn't allow that to happen.
Still, he really did play well.
Riki felt a pang of unease. Why was the principal looking at him so intensely?
I really don't know what the language of steel wool balls is.
Just then, a beautiful girl with light golden hair walked in from the crowd outside. The moment the outstanding student Mikumura Shioka appeared, Komiro Keiko's expression softened considerably.
"Principal, Riki filled in for the band earlier and helped us beat Sakurazaki's band," Mikumura Shioka said with a smile.
Komiro Keiko's eyes lit up, while the Sakurazaki principal's face darkened.
All right, all right. I knew this handsome boy was born to belong to Hanasakigawa.
"You're Rikki's cousin, right? Remember to let a teacher know before you visit next time. After all, our school doesn't allow dating," Komiro Keiko said sternly, though she smiled as she continued strolling around with the Sakurazaki principal.
Principal, that smile of yours is harder to suppress than an AK.
Only then did Riki turn to Mikumura Shioka. "Thanks for helping me out."
"No need, no need. Your performance just now made a lot of students curious. I didn't know you could play so many instruments," Mikumura Shioka said curiously.
Miss Shioka, please move that magnificent face of yours away from me.
I'm about to rise.
I mean, I'm trying to stand up. You're so close that I can't get up; the chair won't even slide out.
"Oh, sorry. I'm standing too close, aren't I?" Mikumura Shioka suddenly realized and apologized.
So you can hear my pure and wholesome inner thoughts too, huh?
I like Sakiko. I like Sakiko. I like Sakiko. Sakiko likes me. We're married...
Hmm, looks like mind-reading really isn't a thing.
"Come to think of it, you know Sakiko?" Mikumura Shioka blinked at Riki. Sakiko had told her Riki was a good friend of hers, which only made Mikumura Shioka more curious about what kind of person he was.
Sakiko... Hearing that name, Shiina Rikki immediately looked at Riki.
He knew Sakiko too, and they were on good terms.
Shiina Rikki couldn't help feeling a little down.
"Would you like to come to my concert sometime?" Mikumura Shioka asked Riki with a smile.
Chapter 44: Nagasaki Sose's Family Member, Riki?
Riki held a ticket to Sumimi's concert in his hand. Mikumura Shioka had just given it to him. The ticket featured Mikumura Shioka and another brown-haired member, Sumiida Mana, who loved doughnuts.
Sumimi was a band that had recently become popular in Tokyo, and its tickets were worth quite a bit. Mikumura Shioka had even given him a seat near the stage, worth at least five thousand yen.
Riki couldn't help thinking how approachable the big star was.
Shioka was magnificent. No more needed to be said.
After spending half the afternoon at the school festival with Shiina Rikki, Riki finally left Hanasakigawa Academy.
"You're staring at his back so intently. Should I message him and ask him to come back?" Hachiman Mairin suddenly asked Shiina Rikki.
"Not at all! When did you get his contact information?!" Shiina Rikki snapped.
"I added him after the performance this morning. Are you jealous?"
"I'm not!"
Shiina Rikki watched Riki's retreating figure without a word.
It wasn't jealousy, either.
It was just that things seemed more fun when he was around.
Besides, they'd see each other again tomorrow, right? So when that happened...
"You look so happy. Thinking about something nice?" Hachiman Mairin asked again.
"Huh? Why are you always watching me?!" Shiina Rikki's face turned bright red.
Riki followed the same route he'd taken that morning. After a while, he spotted a tower rising above Tokyo, a luxury apartment building where only the Celestial Dragons could live. There were security cameras at the entrance around the clock, and there hadn't been a single crime there to date. Even Conan would say, "Check the security footage."
Riki hadn't come here to commit a crime and get the smallest possible sentence. Nagasaki Sose had messaged him earlier and asked him to come over.
Riki: [I'm here. You can open the entrance downstairs for me.]
Nagasaki Sose: [Just a moment. I'm taking a bath.]
What, did you think I was some lovesick puppy?
Wait, shouldn't you tell a lovesick puppy, "I'm going to take a bath"?
Tsk, this was a tough one.
Maybe I should video-call her and ask.
Riki naturally didn't do anything that much of a creep. He put away his phone and waited by the entrance for five minutes. After a while, the door opened. When he got on the elevator and entered Nagasaki Sose's home, he saw that her hair was still steaming. She'd clearly just finished her bath.
"Do girls always bathe this early?" Riki sat down and said to Nagasaki Sose, "You kindly announced in the group chat that we'd practice tomorrow. I don't know what you're planning, but are you still thinking about reuniting Crychic?"
Nagasaki Sose frowned. "I told you I don't want to discuss that. But we do need to talk about something related to it. You and Sakiko are... very close. Since you want to help Akari form a band, I'd also be happy to join."
Nagasaki Sose sipped her black tea, her eyes narrowing.
Her plan hadn't changed at all. She'd only changed the approach. Originally, she'd wanted to kick out Aine and Wild Cat, two people she didn't need. But now she didn't have to—she'd found a better choice: Riki.
She didn't want to admit it, but Riki was closer to Sakiko than she was. So as long as she could bind Riki to a band with herself, Akari, and Rikki, maybe she could draw Sakiko back.
Then... she'd bring Mutsumi over too, and the new Crychic would be complete.
Nagasaki Sose fiddled with her fingers and smiled faintly. The key was to make sure Riki wouldn't leave Mygo.
She'd bind him here so he could never join another band.
She'd also have Akari and Rikki get along better with Riki. The two of them probably weren't very familiar with him yet—not nearly as familiar with him as I am.
Before you continue