“Aine.” Shirakawa Haru closed his eyes, “Won’t others say something about you taking up someone else’s chair like this?”

“No, Chairman, let me tell you, I have a very good relationship with my classmates now. It’s very easy for me to ask them to borrow a chair to sit on.” Chihaya Aine covered her mouth and laughed.

“Chairman, please open your eyes!” Chihaya Aine dragged a stool over to Shirakawa Haru. She asked Takamatsu Deng to sit a little to the side, then picked up her phone and pointed it at Shirakawa Haru. “Great! Deng, come and see, the chairman just opened his eyes and looks so stunned!”

As the flash on the mobile phone camera lit up, with a “click”, Chihaya Aine captured the picture of Shirakawa Haru just as she opened her eyes.

She took out her cell phone and showed Gao Songdeng the photos she had taken.

“…Haru-kun,” Takamatsu Deng looked at the photo on Chihaya Aine’s phone and compared it with Shirakawa Haruki’s current appearance in real life, and exclaimed, “So cute…”

“Is that so?” Chihaya Aine laughed out loud. “I never thought that the usually serious chairman would have such a side to him.”

“Aine…” Takamatsu Deng said, “Could you please send me a copy of the photo of Haru-kun you just took…”

“Hmm…” Chihaya Aine put a finger on her chin as if thinking, “No, Touma. This is a photo I took of the chairman at that contrasting moment. This photo is unique in the world, so… I want to keep it for myself. If Touma wants to see it, just come to me directly.”

Chihaya Aine looked at the photos on her phone, and recalled how the chairman defended her last night. A sweet feeling welled up in her heart. She felt that this taste was sweeter and longer-lasting than the best malt candy she had ever eaten.

Wrapped in this sweet taste, Chihaya Aine rejected Takamatsu Touma’s request.

Originally, she would not refuse Takamatsu Teru’s request. After all, they were in the same band and their relationship was even closer than some distant relatives who were not good at maintaining relationships. However, when it came to the matter of the chairman, Chihaya Aine took actions that were contrary to her personality.

“Is that so…” Takamatsu Deng looked at the photo on Chihaya Aine’s phone and felt a little uncomfortable. She smiled tiredly.

She hoped that this photo was taken by her for Shirakawa Haru.

“Alright, Aine,” Shirakawa Haru said, “I’m going to check on the high school department’s preparations and the live stage. When are you going to rehearse with the band? You’re going to perform on the small live stage today.”

“Ah!” Chihaya Aine glanced at the message on her phone, “Oh no! Riki and Sushi said in the group chat that they’re already at the school gate and asked me where I am.”

“Deng, let’s go pick them up now.” After saying that, Chihaya Aine grabbed Takamatsu Deng’s hand and ran out of the classroom.

Shirakawa Haru looked at their backs and wondered what Xiangzi was doing at the moment.

If she was not busy, he would call her to work with him.

Chapter 70 Cat’s Lips

Shoko Toyokawa’s cell phone was placed on the desk, wired headphones were connected to the headphone jack, and a song was playing.

The background of the song is endless piano sound, like an endless heavy rain, which makes the listeners feel that they are standing in the rain transformed by the piano sound.

Turning over on the table in annoyance, Toyokawa Shoko raised her eyes to look at Suho Yuki who was in the center of the classroom.

At this moment, Yuki Suho was surrounded by a group of classmates, all of whom had smiles on their faces. It was a pleasant thing to chat with Yuki Suho.

Yuki Suho noticed Toyokawa Shoko’s gaze, she turned her head to look at Toyokawa Shoko and smiled at her.

Shoko Toyokawa closed her eyes. She thought about the conversation between her and Yuki Suho in the garden, and wondered what her feelings had brought to Haru Shirakawa.

He got nothing and was always giving, while he was taking this abnormal relationship for granted.

The cheap headphones suddenly emitted a crackling sound, followed by a pause in the continuous piano music. Toyokawa Shoko rose from her desk, a puzzled expression on her face as she opened her phone. She repeatedly plugged and unplugged the headphone cable. The music app showed the song was still playing. This suggested it wasn’t a problem with the phone or the software, but rather a broken headphone.

“What bad luck!” thought Toyokawa Shoko. Today was Hinomori Academy’s annual school festival, and not only had she broken her lover’s heart yesterday, but her headphones had also broken this morning. She suddenly felt her life was bleak; aside from piano and music, she had never possessed anything. She had originally been in love with Shirakawa Haru, but now even he was being pushed away. She hated herself for being like this.

I don’t know what attitude I should have towards Qing now. Please, Qing, I don’t have enough courage now, please give me some more courage.

Toyokawa Shoko put her phone in the desk, took off her headphones, and lay face down on the desk. It seemed that if no one came to talk to her, she would stay there until her shadow also drew a thin black line on the desk.

Or I should just stay away from Qing. I still have a lot of debts on my shoulders, and I can’t have a normal relationship with him in this state.

As soon as this thought came into her mind, Shoko Toyokawa felt as if her heart was being torn apart, and she quickly dismissed the idea.

No one in the classroom could understand Toyokawa Shoko’s mood at the moment. Most of them were chatting aimlessly, their postures were much more relaxed than usual, and their faces were filled with youthful laughter.

“Shoko~Are you still sleeping?” Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in her ears, and Toyokawa Shoko woke up. She keenly caught the gentleness and a hint of uncertainty in his tone. She thought Shirakawa Haru must have thought that she had disturbed her rest. “Hmm…it seems she is still sleeping.”

“No, I’m just resting on the table for a while.” Toyokawa Shoko stood up from the table. “We have to go inspect the high school department’s preparations later, right? The live stage set up in the school auditorium is particularly important. It’s the top priority in the early preparations. Our high school students have decided to make the band’s live performance the highlight of this school festival. I’ve written all these things down in my notebook so I won’t forget.”

“You are very serious.” Shirakawa Haru praised her.

“Thank you for the compliment, President.” Toyokawa Shoko said. The moment she saw Shirakawa Haru’s face, she couldn’t help but want to smile, especially when she saw the tenderness flowing on his face. But as soon as she turned her eyes, she could see Suho Yuki looking at her coldly, “This is what I should do.”

“One thing is for sure. Although you said these are what you should do, your seriousness is also worthy of praise.” Shirakawa Haru said softly, “It would be great if Aine could devote a little time to the student council like you do.”

“She was recruited into the student union to lighten your burden, but she’s been busy with the band lately and hasn’t had much time to focus on student union work.” Shirakawa Haru smiled at the classmate who greeted him in front of him. “I’ll catch her when I have time and ask her to treat you to a meal.”

“No need.” Toyokawa Shoko’s mind flashed through Chihaya Aine’s face with an innocent smile, and a look of dissatisfaction appeared on her face. “I will criticize her when we go for the inspection later.”

She thought about Shirakawa Haru’s tone towards Chihaya Aine, which was much softer than usual, and an inexplicable hostility towards Chihaya Aine arose in her heart.

It seemed that something had happened between Haru-kun and this transfer student with long pink hair, unknown to him.

“She was rehearsing the band in the school’s music room this morning and didn’t have time to do student union work,” Shirakawa Haru said. “Originally, these things could have been handed over to other student union members, but I’m a little worried about leaving it to others, so I’ll have to trouble you.”

“It’s not hard…” Toyokawa Shoko was secretly delighted. Qing said that he was uneasy about entrusting these things to others, so he had to let her do it. Does this mean that she is special in his eyes?

“Let’s go.” Shirakawa Haru winked at Suho Yuki. She had just greeted him, and this was a return gesture.

“Yeah.” Toyokawa Shoko was very gentle. She felt that there seemed to be no change in the relationship between her and Shirakawa Haru. What happened last night did not exist. Those negative thoughts when lying in bed at night were just a dream that would be forgotten after waking up the next day.

Shirakawa Haru saw Toyokawa Shoko’s headphones sticking out of the desk. Judging from the position of the headphones, there might be a song playing in them.

He wanted to know what Shoko Toyokawa was listening to, so he reached out and tried to pick up a pair of earphones and put them in his ears.

But at this moment, Toyokawa Shoko’s words from yesterday, “Even if we’re friends, we can’t say anything!”, echoed in his ears, piercingly so. He suddenly realized that his relationship with Toyokawa Shoko wasn’t that close, and that these actions were inappropriate in public.

He had misjudged the relationship between himself and Shoko Toyokawa and could not allow her to suffer any more criticism.

Shirakawa Haru pulled back his hand, and when he couldn’t see, a look of despair flashed across Toyokawa Shoko’s face.

Yuki Suho looked at Shoko Toyokawa with satisfaction, as if he had tasted some delicacy.

“Xiangzi, let’s go?” Shirakawa Haru looked at Xiangzi Toyokawa who looked a little strange at the moment.

“Yeah.” Toyokawa Shoko forced a smile at this time. It was good this way. If Harujun took the initiative to stay away from her, then she wouldn’t have to torture herself every day.

It’s good, but it makes me want to cry.

Shirakawa Haru takes Toyokawa Shoko through the high school building. They check the layout and style of each classroom, verify the expenses they recorded in the form, and ensure that no dangerous items are brought into the classroom.

The two of them had seen many activity scenes. Some classrooms were decorated as the magic house in “Harry Potter”. The students inside were all wearing black pointed hats, and there were crystal balls, magic books, and wands everywhere; some were “murder scenes”, with a layer of red paint on the ground, and several students wearing tattered clothes and lying on the ground with hideous faces disguised as corpses; there were also many stage-style classrooms. Shirakawa Haru saw at least three of this type along the way. He could also recognize that the white half-face masks worn by others were a tribute to “The Phantom of the Opera”.

Every time he walked through a teaching building, Shirakawa Haru’s hands would be filled with more things, including plush dolls, insect specimens, cakes in paper boxes, and colorful preserved flowers…

There were so many things that Shirakawa Haru couldn’t carry them all, so he put the things he couldn’t carry on Toyokawa Shoko’s body, such as some hairpins and keychains. The female students of Hinomori were very handy, so they had a lot of small accessories.

Shirakawa Haru asked them to give all the accessories to Toyokawa Shoko.

A full hour passed, and because in addition to checking the classrooms they had to spend a small amount of time accompanying the students, Shirakawa Haru and Toyokawa Shoko only managed to walk through the four-story teaching building and less than twenty large classrooms.

“Wow… those students are so welcoming.” Shirakawa Haru took a sip of freshly squeezed lemon juice, which was handed to him by a student while he was inspecting the classroom layout. “It’s like visiting relatives during the New Year. Every time you pass by a relative, they put a red envelope in your hand.”

“Naqing, you are really popular among those female relatives.” Toyokawa Shoko was a little dissatisfied. She took out her mobile phone, turned on the camera function, and used the front camera as a mirror.

Her head was cluttered with hairpins and ties given to her by her female classmates, all of different types and styles. Normally, such a chaotic mix of accessories would only make her style look chaotic, but Toyokawa Shoko was different. Shirakawa Haru saw her as radiant and dazzling, and the colorful plastic stones hanging from her head shone like real crystals, glittering and shining.

“Xiangzi…you seem to be avoiding me today.” Baichuan Qing took out his cell phone and checked the time. “Is it because of what happened yesterday?”

“…” Toyokawa Shoko found it difficult to speak, “No.”

“Then…” Shirakawa Haru said.

“It’s my own problem.” Toyokawa Shoko lowered her eyes and bit her lip tightly. In front of her was a wide-open window, and a strong wind was blowing into the corridor. Shirakawa Haru stared at Toyokawa Shoko. He saw a strand of hair falling on her lips, and then she used her hand to gather the messy hair behind her ear.

The small strand of hair stuck to her lips flashed a bright red in the sunlight, and Baichuan Qing could only think that she was dazzled and had seen it wrong.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” Baichuan Qing said, “I just want to tell you that if you have anything, don’t keep it in your heart. It’s easy to cause yourself problems. If you have any trouble, you can come to me. Just like before, if I hadn’t come to your house, I wouldn’t have known you could drink.”

“That’s a secret.” The wind stopped, and Toyokawa Shoko’s messy hair fell down. She raised her head and calmed down her emotions. “Everyone has secrets.”

“Have you rested well?” Bai Chuanqing stood up and hummed, “Let’s go.”

Toyokawa Shoko picked up the small gift on the stool and followed Shirakawa Haru again. Her eyes looked at Shirakawa Haru’s heels that were constantly rising and falling, and she felt regretful again. She couldn’t control herself and answered Shirakawa Haru in a defensive and aggressive tone.

It can be expected that after today, Baichuan Qing will really be further away from her…

Toyokawa Shoko thought sadly.

“Let’s separate here.” Shirakawa Haru and Toyokawa Shoko passed through two more floors of teaching buildings. He was ready to say goodbye to Toyokawa Shoko at the club. “The two of us moving together is really too slow. Shoko, you go to the small auditorium first. I’ll go through all the clubs first.”

“If you feel that there is not enough time, you can just grab a few student union members to help you.” After adding the explanation, Baichuan Qing walked towards the various clubs in the college.

Shoko Toyokawa looked at Shirakawa Haru’s back and stood there for a few minutes.

When Shirakawa Haru passed by a music club, he was attracted by the noisy sounds inside.

Normally, there would always be the sounds of various instruments playing in the band training, but today he could only hear the playing of electric guitar and incessant cheers.

He pushed open the door and entered.

There are many music clubs in the high school department of Hinomori Academy, including wind ensembles, student orchestras that play classical music, guitar solos that prefer pop music, and some that specialize in ballads.

Nowadays, the main instrument of this music club is electric guitar.

A silver-haired, bicolor-eyed wildcat stood in the center of the music club. In front of her was an open guitar backpack, strewn with scattered Japanese yen. Surrounding her were the guitar club members, who watched her strumming the electric guitar with admiration, occasionally dropping money into the bag and brushing their fingers across the steel strings of their own electric guitars.

“You’re here.” Le Nai suddenly stopped playing, which made the members of the music club feel a little puzzled. Even those who used Le Nai’s music as background music and were fighting and playing with electric guitars in their hands stopped what they were doing and looked at Le Nai.

Le Na ignored the gazes of the people around her. She unplugged the somewhat short audio cable, put down the guitar, then jumped down from the small bandstand in the center of the club, ran to Shirakawa Haru and hugged him.

Everyone around them was shocked to see Shirakawa Haru and Lenai hugging each other. They were speechless, as if they had been cast under a spell. Even the air within the club seemed to freeze.

“Lena, why are you here?” Shirakawa Haru showed an apologetic look to the members, asked Lena to let go of her hand, took her out of the club, and sat her down on a chair at the door.

“I’m coming to your school today to perform.” Le Na leaned against Shirakawa Haru and stretched comfortably. She looked as if she had suddenly grown up. She leaned over Shirakawa Haru’s ear and said, “The matcha parfait you treated me to was delicious.”

The corners of her mouth curled up, and Lenai tilted her head to smile. Her lips were typical cat lips, very charming and girlish. The slightly upturned corners of her mouth resembled a cat’s lips, with a playful and clever look. The angle of her lips was Lenai’s most mysterious mystery. She never showed her teeth when she smiled.

“I’ll treat you to a meal next time.” said Shirakawa Haru.

Lenai took out a handful of candies from her pocket. She asked Shirakawa Haru to spread out her hands, put only one candy in her right hand, and put the rest in her left hand. Then she closed Shirakawa Haru’s left hand.

“I’ll treat you to some candy.” Lenai said, pointing to her slightly parted lips, “You treat me to some too.”

Shirakawa Haru knew that Lenai wanted him to tear off the candy coating on his right hand and feed it to her.

After thinking for a while, Shirakawa Haru first put all the candies in his left hand into his pocket, then tore open the candy coating of the candies in his right hand, took out the translucent reddish candy, and put it in Lenai’s mouth.

An expression of happiness immediately bloomed on Lenai’s face.

Although Shirakawa Haru felt that feeding a girl candy with his hands in public was a bit too intimate and conspicuous, he did it anyway. Many thoughts flashed through his mind. People were coming and going around them, and their eyes could be focused on them at any moment. He imagined how others would look at him if he did this: curious glances, kind smiles, or perhaps looks of misunderstanding.

He thought that such an action seemed to be somewhat inconsistent with the character he showed at Hinodemori Academy, and he was worried that such an action would bring unnecessary criticism to himself and Lenai.

However, when he saw Lenai’s eyes full of expectation and trust, the soft part of his heart was touched by her. Shirakawa Haru knew that this kind of look in a cat’s eyes would only appear in the eyes of a pet cat, because only a cat that has absolute trust in you will show this kind of intimate eyes and expression.

It’s like feeding a pet, Shirakawa Haru thought.

“So sweet.” Lenai said.

She bit the candy between her teeth, and Shirakawa Haru could hear the crunch of the candy ball in her mouth. Lenai narrowed her eyes, her languid demeanor slowly spreading like a wisp of soft smoke. In the sunlight, her long, silver hair was almost transparent, a short, flowing Milky Way of stars.

Shirakawa Haru told Le Na, “You sit here first, I still have some things to do.”

He walked into the club and strictly checked all matters according to the forms submitted by the club. After finishing his work, he put away Lenai’s gig bag and the scattered Japanese yen inside and left the club.

“President Shirakawa, who is that girl to you?” A female club member called out to Shirakawa Haru, “She hugged you just now.”

“Hmm…it’s just a strange friendship.” Shirakawa Haru said with narrowed eyes, “Don’t ask any more questions, otherwise…your club’s funding for this semester will be cut in half!”

Shirakawa Haru remembered who this female member was. She was the president of this music club.

He had come to this music club when Hinode Forest held its academy festival last time, and he was deeply impressed by the somewhat rash president.

“And tell your members not to spread rumors about my relationship with her,” Shirakawa Haru said in a somewhat mysterious tone. “As a reward, I’ll tell you something: the top three music clubs will receive permanent rights to use the new musical instruments allocated at the academy festival.”

“This is a secret. I haven’t told anyone except you.” Shirakawa Haru said, “Your club has been wanting to get new instruments for a long time, right? This is a great opportunity.”

Shirakawa Haru winked at her.

“Let’s fight!” The female president’s fighting spirit was ignited by Baichuan Qing’s words, “We have to work hard now!”

“So if you didn’t know about this, you wouldn’t be going to give your all in the performance at the academy festival?” Shirakawa Haru said.

“That’s different!” The female club president said that there was a reward, and she had long wanted to lead her club to destroy the guitar equipment next door.

“Then you’d better practice a little longer and try to get a good ranking. I wish you all the best~” Baichuan Qing said, “I’m leaving first.”

“Fight!” The female president said goodbye to Shirakawa Haru and turned to look at her members. She kicked the member who was fighting with the guitar away, then stepped hard on the audio cable, and a huge noise came out from the speakers…

Shirakawa Haru walked out of the music club, and Lenai was lying on the chair looking at Shirakawa Haru. He returned the guitar bag to Lenai, and then gave the scattered coins to Lenai.

“This money was given to you by the members of the music club,” Shirakawa Haru said. “Runa is very good at guitar. I’m afraid she’s much better than many professional players.”