Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 399

Sayaka reached out and placed her hand on Kyoko's waist, a mischievous grin on her face. Her ten fingers gently stroked Kyoko's ticklish spots like she was playing the piano.

"Hehehe... Now you can scream your lungs out and no one can save you!"

"Hey, wait—hahahahaha—I—I have something else to say—hahahahaha—"

"It's alright, you've conveyed what you wanted to say." Xiangzi gave them a thumbs up. "You can continue to celebrate your youth."

"No! Hahaha! Help me! Hahahaha! I—"

"Ha, trying to escape!"

"Singing..."

The farce on the other side might continue for a while, but Xiangzi, on the other hand, began to seriously consider the suggestion that Xingzi had just made.

"Hmm, would you like to sing a cappella?"

Xiangzi cleared his throat.

"Alas my love you do me wrong~ahem..."

She squeezed her throat a little awkwardly.

"It's been so long since I sang a song, my voice isn't warmed up yet..."

Xiangzi then shifted his gaze to the side. Mu's eyes were fixed on the campfire, seemingly lost in thought, completely absorbed.

Forget it.

She still remembers Mu's performance at the karaoke bar. It wasn't that she sang badly; Mu's voice was quite good, but she was a bit tone-deaf. She would sing ten out of ten lines of lyrics without being in tune. The reason she went up to sing that time was because everyone was making excuses and no one was actually going up to sing. She volunteered to break the deadlock.

Singing is still a bit too much for her.

Forget it, I might as well do it myself. Even if I sing badly, it's okay. At a time like this, I can just sing whatever...

“Xiang, I remember now.” Just then, Mu suddenly spoke up, “I brought a musical instrument.”

As she spoke, she took out her Soul Gem and pulled out... a wooden guitar?

what?

Mutsu usually keeps his guitar in his magic bag—wait, I mean, inside the Soul Gem?

Xiangzi widened his eyes.

"You can play the folk guitar however you like." Mu said, holding the guitar and looking at Xiangzi.

"Where did this come from?"

"Xiang Ge—I bought it myself." Mu quickly corrected himself, "I had nowhere to put it, so I put it in the Soul Gem."

Xiangzi shrugged and said okay.

After fiddling with their instruments for a while, the red-clad and blue-clad musicians returned to their seats. They were sweating profusely from playing, but the cool evening breeze made them shiver, so they quickly ran back to the ice to warm up.

Xiangzi looked at the group of them.

"What do you want to hear?" she asked.

"I don't know, you decide, senior."

"How can you throw the problem back at me?" Xiangzi pouted. "Never mind, let me think about it."

Tonight, everyone has temporarily put their worries aside, and she doesn't plan to sing those folk songs that always carry a touch of melancholy... or maybe, um...

Xiangzi habitually raised his head and looked up at the distant starry sky; inspiration came suddenly.

thump.

despair.

Xiangzi suddenly started tapping his feet to the beat.

Thump, tap.

Thump thump thump, tap tap.

Thump thump thump, tap tap.

Let's sing an impromptu song.

"Hmph hmph hmph hmph~ Hmph hmph hmph hmph~"

Xiangzi hummed a casual tune and patted the chair under his bottom as if it were a drumbeat.

Mu understood what Xiangzi wanted to do almost instantly, and after the tune started, he followed with a strumming motion.

"Crimson wings unfurl from behind—and now, light will descend upon them."

Improvised melodies, improvised guitar, improvised lyrics.

"You are the reason I exist~ You are my only one~"

Every note, every lyric, is something Xiangzi thought about as he sang, emphasizing spontaneity. But even with such spontaneous lyrics and melody, Mu's guitar still kept up with Xiangzi's rhythm perfectly, without missing a single step.

Xiangzi sang with such passion that his brain cells were all thinking about how to come up with the next line of lyrics before he even sang it.

She didn't notice that Mu had been watching her the whole time.

The notes played were accidentally off-key by one or two. Mu pressed down on the strings and brought his attention back to Xiangzi.

That day is almost here.

Mu bit her lip.

My own ending is... coming soon.

The Tale of Reincarnation: The Shore of Oblivion: Chapter 520 Five Hundred Miles

Three or four minutes passed quickly, and the melody faded away as the lyrics ended. The applause from the four members of the Mitakihara group erupted as the last note stopped.

Xiangzi stood up and gave everyone a very standard and graceful bow.

Yan clapped his hands vigorously until his palms turned red.

She had always admired Xiangzi, and from the bottom of her heart, she felt that Xiangzi was capable, handsome, and all-around talented. She always wished she could become like Xiangzi.

Singing at a bonfire party was also on her "must try it if I get the chance" list.

That's really amazing...

Flame's eyes sparkled as she looked at Xiangzi, and she thought to herself.

"Senior Xiangzi, what's the title of this song?" Xiaoyuan asked curiously.

"Hmm, it doesn't have a name yet." Xiangzi blinked. "This is a piece I just improvised."

"Improvised?!" Flame exclaimed. "Were the melody and lyrics both improvised?!"

Xiangzi nodded.

"Amazing!" Flame's eyes lit up.

Xiangzi scratched his cheek sheepishly:

"It's alright..."

"Are you alright? But I think you're really amazing!" Yan looked at Xiangzi with teary eyes, almost kneeling down in front of her, holding her hand and begging her to sign her autograph, even on her clothes.

Xiangzi's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.

Yan's praise made Xiangzi feel quite embarrassed, and Yan's adoring gaze made Xiangzi feel somewhat at a loss.

In the past, there were always people surrounding her, saying similar things to Yan, but at that time Xiangzi felt that those people had other purposes. The people of Yuezhi Forest were either noble families, or the children of big merchants or celebrities—of course, she was one of them, so she had no right to criticize others.

However, when everyone's social interactions are purposeful, Xiangzi feels a sense of alienation. This alienation stems from her dislike of such social interactions and, on the other hand, from a desire to protect herself from investing too much emotion in these activities.

In short, she has her own set of methods for dealing with formal social interactions.

However, this was the first time Xiangzi had met a junior like Yan who truly admired her, and for a moment she felt, well, she didn't know how to repay such a person.

Her eyes darted around twice, and Xiangzi seemed to have come up with a solution. She smiled, tucked her hair behind her ear, and reached out to Mu.

"Mu, can I borrow your guitar?"

Mu obediently handed the guitar to Xiangzi.

After Xiangzi took the guitar, he walked to Yan's side and gently strummed the strings.

"Improvisation is a bit too difficult, but if you can sing at my level, you can too," Xiangzi said. "Want to give it a try?"

She was telling the truth. After all, she was an instrumentalist. She just had a better voice and her singing pitch was a little more accurate than Mu's. In terms of technique, she couldn't compare to someone like Chu Hua who had specifically studied how to sing.

Upon hearing Xiangzi's invitation, Yan immediately lowered his head.

"But...I only know...very few songs..."

“I can accompany you; you can just sing what you remember.” Xiangzi patted Yan’s shoulder from behind. “We have to take it one step at a time.”

She lowered her head and whispered in Yan's ear.

"I used to be too shy to play the piano in front of others, but you get used to it."

Yan suddenly widened her eyes and turned to look at Xiangzi:

"Senior, do you...do you know what I'm thinking?"

"Hmm~" Xiangzi didn't say anything, but gave her a wink, played a few of the simplest chords to liven up the atmosphere around the campfire, and then said to Yan, "Come on, give it a try, it's okay."

Yan swallowed hard and looked at Xiaoyuan for help.

"Xiaoyuan, shall we...sing together?" she asked tentatively.

Xiaoyuan made a cheering gesture for her from the side—but she had no intention of helping her. She could see the envy and admiration in Yan's eyes more clearly than anyone else. If Yan wanted to become like Xiangzi, she couldn't help her.

As for the other two, they maintained a spectator's expression, and like Xiaoyuan, they gave Yan a thumbs up.

You can do it, Homura!

Sayaka spoke with her eyes.

Flame let out a whimper like a small animal and nodded helplessly.

"I...I can sing for five hundred miles..."

"Oh~ that very famous song, '500 Miles'."

This song is so famous that as soon as Xiangzi heard Yan pronounce the name in Japanese, she immediately knew which song it was and made the same gesture with her hands.

"Is this the song?" Xiangzi asked.

Flame nodded.

This was a song she often heard playing while she was hospitalized. The elderly people in the hospital liked to sit with their guitars and sing it together—of course, it was the localized version. Whether it was the original or the localized version, the lyrics were simple and catchy, and over time, Yan learned it.

This song is so simple, it should... it should be fine, right?

Yan raised her head and looked at Xiangzi.

She wanted to see something in Xiangzi's eyes.

Xiangzi did not disappoint her. He slightly raised the corners of his mouth, opened his mouth, and made a "three" shape with his mouth.

Three, two.....

Following Xiangzi's melody, Yan took a deep breath, and when the count reached "one," she opened her mouth:

"I'll leave this city after the next bus."

At the beginning, Yan's singing was very hesitant; she would often forget the lyrics or go off-key.

Xiangzi deliberately slowed down the song's BPM, providing harmonies for Yan and reminding her when to sing and when not to sing when necessary.

Soon, Flame found her own rhythm.

Just like when you ride a bicycle for the first time and someone pushes you from behind, but after a while you realize that there's less support behind you and you can still ride smoothly, Yan found that she could sing again.

Flame's original voice was very clean and cool, but because of her personality, she always liked to speak with her voice slightly lowered, making it sound soft and a little indistinct.

But when she really opened her mouth and brought out her original voice, her clean and clear voice quickly replaced her original soft and slightly hoarse voice.

Seeing that the other three little ones in Takihara were gradually widening their eyes and looking at Homura with new respect.

Xingzi didn't even notice that the marshmallow in her hand had burned.

A song is fleeting.