Chapter 75: To Mikami Ai: Thank You

"Mikami Classmate, can we chat?" Qingshan Li said.

Mikami Ai crossed her arms and gazed into the distance at the Seiten Band.

【At the other end of this bridge】

【If it is joy, it represents the arrival of summer】

Her fingers tapped lightly along with the rhythm.

It seems she has no intention of listening to him speak.

Qingshan Li's lips parted, but in the end he still picked up the unfinished cola and swallowed his words down.

The ice melted, the cola with not much fizz left, bland and tasteless.

Ono Mizuki sang for a while, then ran over and gulped down water.

Mikami Ai took out a wet wipe and handed it to her.

"Thank you, Senior Mikami~" Ono Mizuki smiled sweetly, wiping the sweat from her snow-white forehead.

"You two sing this well? Never discovered it before." Qingshan Li laughed.

"You think living together means you can discover everything about the other person?" Ono Mizuki hmphed, as if saying he was shallow.

"Junior Miyuki, you should also watch out for your brother." Mikami Ai reminded.

Sowing discord?

Qingshan Li noted down this grudge.

【Love Daily Life - Mikami Ai, Miyase Yaeko: 85%】

—System, I have a grudge with her now, can't you tell?

【Whether to terminate 'Love Daily Life - Mikami Ai, Miyase Yaeko' Material Collection】

—Let me think

The result of thinking it over was to write it out first, then decide; if it's too blunt, just shelve it.

"Thank you, Senior Mikami, by the way, Senior!" Ono Mizuki braced her hands on her knees and bowed deeply, "The matter of the novel, thank you."

"It's nothing." Mikami Ai's tone was gentle, "In this transaction, I didn't lose out; on the contrary, I gained a lot."

"To Senior it might not count for much, but to us it's equivalent to a life-saving grace."

"Where's there such exaggeration." Qingshan Li said.

Even if there really was a life-saving grace, Miyase Yaeko has a share in it too.

"Shut up!" Ono Mizuki glared at him directly.

She continued to Mikami Ai: "Senior, you don't understand the situation, you don't know how important this is to our family.

"Actually our family is very poor, Sister has to work part-time every day, and recently she lost her job.

"It's precisely because of Senior, trading with Li-ge before the novel was even published, that let us live our current life, truly thank you so much!"

Mikami Ai's face showed a pensive look, then an expression of wanting to say something but not knowing where to start.

She looked at Qingshan Li.

"The moonlight is truly beautiful tonight." Qingshan Li sipped his cola.

"Kuze Oto-sensei told you not to forget to look at the moon when studying, not to change the subject when you need to express gratitude, hurry over, say thank you to Senior Mikami!" Ono Mizuki dragged him.

"No, no need, actually——, I didn't do anything special either!" Unable to expose Qingshan Li, Mikami Ai could only keep saying no need.

Qingshan Li was lazily dragged up by Ono Mizuki, a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Mikami Ai Classmate." He bowed.

Mikami Ai's face turned extremely red.

Originally someone with nothing to do with cuteness, at this moment she was very cute.

Being thanked and still this shy, Ono Mizuki suddenly felt goodwill toward her.

"I'll go sing for a while longer, share some pressure for my sister!" But the excited expression on her face showed she just wanted to go play more.

Found the karaoke feeling in the street performance?

By the water pool only Qingshan Li and Mikami Ai remained.

This spot has no lighting, very inconspicuous——Qingshan Li's rich life experience told him, if he stands in one position long enough, a girl will definitely come strike up a conversation, so he chose here.

Mikami Ai standing beside him might also be for this reason.

"That," the elegant girl arranged her beautiful hair, hesitantly opened her mouth, "You, rushing to get money, is it because Senior Mika lost her job and the family has no money?"

"There's some savings." Qingshan Li said.

"Can't last four months?"

"How could it possibly not last four months?" Qingshan Li smiled.

"Then?" Mikami Ai was puzzled.

"What about university? One person's entrance fee alone is more than our current savings."

Qingshan Li took a sip of cola, continued:

"This isn't a matter of a few months, the key is 'persist', as long as life still needs persistence, Mika will keep looking for work; Miyuki who doesn't need to work also can't wholeheartedly enjoy school life.

"Mika is already in Senior Year, four months later, no matter how much money, for her high school life it's all too late."

Mikami Ai didn't speak for a long time.

Although she was racking her brains searching for suitable words, no matter what she said, she felt it would make the other party feel she was being frivolous.

"Apology." In the end, she said.

"Why apologize?" Qingshan Li asked with a smile, "Moreover Miyuki's right, you have grace toward us."

"I can split half of my share from 'Detective A' with you."

"Mhm mhm~" Qingshan Li drank cola while making a refusing sound, "Enough, one novel letting us live the current life is already enough for me, don't need too much."

"You don't intend to accept my apology?"

"Why do you say that? I'm serious. I truly think you don't owe me anything. There's just one thing I want to make clear: I really don't like you."

"."

"It's not that I hate you, either. Like I said before, we're an F relationship."

Mikami Ai fell silent.

After a while, she said: "Whether you accept it or not, I have to apologize to you for misunderstanding you."

"How about we call it even?" Qingshan Li said with a laugh. "You helped me a lot before, including transporting equipment this time. You took care of me in many places. Of course, the ten thousand yen I owe you doesn't count. I'll pay you back when I get my pocket money next week."

Mikami Ai nodded silently.

After making things clear, Qingshan Li immediately felt a sense of openness in his heart, as if the air had become fresh, like a stubborn cold that wouldn't heal suddenly getting better.

The time approached eight o'clock, and Seiten Band's performance ended.

After the audience had all dispersed, Qingshan Li walked over and said to the six: "You worked hard! Amazing! We succeeded!"

Bass Sakurako said while wiping sweat: "It feels like a perfunctory line from some inspirational book."

"Hey, Senior, emotional value should be given mutually to be sustainable, just like a transaction. It can't be just me giving to you, and you not giving to me!" Qingshan Li complained.

Everyone laughed.

The girls of the Sunny Band Club felt happy for some reason.

Was it because of the first performance? Or because they met the Ono Sisters, met Qingshan Li?

F·Rino thought, if this joy could be written into a song and conveyed to the listeners, then they would be the true Seiten Band.

The next moment, the girls' smiles restrained a little. Mikami Ai walked over from afar and stood beside Qingshan Li.

The youth was sunny and carefree; the girl was elegant and pure.

If the two looked at each other and smiled, even someone with ulterior motives would feel these two were well-matched.

But the youth didn't look at the girl once.

"Everyone, you've worked hard today," he said to everyone. "However, the battle has only just begun. Tonight's video must be edited as soon as possible and handed to the Student Council, to strive for them to revoke the disbandment decision."

"So tired." F·Rino rubbed her shoulder.

"Yeah, we performed for three and a half hours, and we have exams tomorrow." Agatsuma Haruka said.

"No matter how hard or tired, it's only for tonight. We must get the video done!" Drummer Mumi raised her drumsticks high.

"The key is none of us knows editing. If it's simple photo editing, I do know a little." Bass Sakurako mused.

"Leave it to me." Qingshan Li said.

"Eh?" Everyone looked at him in doubt.

"I'm the manager, odd jobs, logistics, performance planner, lyricist. What's the problem with leaving editing to me?" Qingshan Li retorted.

"But," Agatsuma Haruka hurriedly said, "Qing Shan Jun, you've worked hard too."

"You have exams tomorrow too." F·Rino said.

"I'll act within my abilities. Don't worry." Qingshan Li finished speaking and smiled faintly.

If it were before, Mikami Ai would have thought this was Qingshan Li deliberately doing something gentle in order to have something happen with Sakurako and the others.

But now.

She looked at Ono Mika, Ono Mizuki.

So it turns out, everything Qingshan Li did was for his family.

Then what about myself before... Mikami Ai felt a bit like leaving.

(Chapter End)