After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

"Cutting through the clouds, sparkling, sparkling~ as my heart fills up, it overflows. Gradually, my cheeks, sparkling, sparkling~ grow hot, hot and wet..."

A livehouse somewhere in Tokyo Shinjuku.

The spotlight overhead cast down, outlining the singer in white light.

Ai Cheng Hua Lian held the microphone, performing on stage.

Her singing voice was clear and ethereal, quite distinctive, and what was more rare was that she knew how to immerse herself, embedding emotions in her song, making the tune extremely infectious.

The audience stood packed below the stage, quietly waving pink light sticks.

More than a quarter of them were there for the Red Pepper Band.

It had been over three months since their first performance, and the members of the Red Pepper Band had completely meshed together; backed by their already decent skills, they had quickly risen to fame in the underground band circle.

Female bands tended to attract attention, and even more so if they sounded good.

But the real reason for the full house was the guitarist on stage, playing the lead guitar while wearing a black mask—the hired guitarist, Kagura Hikaru.

As a rare underground music scene bigshot, he always drew a crowd, and those in the know would find out in advance where he was performing that day and make sure to be there on time.

Even passers-by who stumbled upon him, if they had been coming to the livehouse for over half a year, could recognize his lake blue Fender guitar at a glance.

"Thank you, thank you everyone~! See you next time!"

At the end of the song, Ai Cheng Hua Lian and all the band members bowed and waved to the audience, then quickly jogged off stage.

"Ah, I sweated a lot!"

"My clothes are all wet."

"Pfft, I can't see your bra strap, did you not wear one?"

"I'm wearing two layers of clothes, even if it's wet, it wouldn't soak through to my underwear!"

The band members chatted about girl things, completely oblivious to Kagura Hikaru, the boy standing next to them.

He picked up a water bottle from the table and drank from it, pretending not to hear.

"Here, have something to eat, Mr. Kagura." Ruzaki Mami handed him a chocolate bar tenderly, her eyes glued on him, "Thanks to Mr. Kagura, the live performance went really smoothly today, thank you for coming."

"It was nothing, you all performed well," Kagura Hikaru replied without any false modesty, taking the chocolate.

The Red Pepper Band had a busy schedule of performances today, and he had been hired as the temp lead guitarist, playing continuously for half an hour, so his body was indeed a bit low on energy.

Ai Cheng Hua Lian, fanning the sweat off with her hand while pulling at her collar to cool down, leaned in and asked, "Kagura, do you want to go to the victory feast later?"

"Karen-chan, that's not proper! It's rude," Ruzaki Mami, who had been smiling gently, suddenly glared, slapped away the hand pulling at her collar, and then took out her own handkerchief to wipe Ai Cheng Hua Lian's sweat.

"Thank you, Mami, suki~smooch~~"

"Don't do that, everyone is watching," Ruzaki Mami said, shyly bowing her head and stepping back from Ai Cheng Hua Lian's playful attack.

"Eh~ what does it matter if they look...." Ai Cheng Hua Lian joked with her best friend for a moment, then looked back at Kagura Hikaru, "Kagura, about the victory feast, do you want to come?"

"No, I think I'll go home to rest."

"Oh, so you mean you're free later?" Ai Cheng Hua Lian said, scratching her neck awkwardly, "There's something I would like to ask for your help with, if that's okay....."

"What do you need help with."

"Uh, actually, I want to start learning electric guitar, but I haven't bought one yet, so I thought I'd ask you, Kagura, to come with me to the music store and help me decide..."

This topic came up quite suddenly, and Kagura Hikaru couldn't help but look over in surprise, "You want to play guitar? Is it a personal interest or does the band need it."

"It's for the band." the female guitarist of the Red Pepper Band interjected, "We want to enrich our band's style. Currently, the sound is still too thin. Having another guitarist would really help."

"But good guitarists are hard to find, and you never know if they're reliable." said the female bassist, chiming in, "So, Karen decided she would teach herself guitar. After all, many band leaders play while they sing, and she thinks it's cool and a good way to attract guys."

"Hey!" Ai Cheng Karen stomped her foot, both embarrassed and angry.

"And, it also means having more in common with Mr. Kagura," the female bassist teased her with an elbow nudge, whispering into Ai Cheng Karen's ear with a chuckle, "Right, little wolf cub?"

Ai Cheng Karen didn't argue back and just blushed stammeringly.

It's just mixing a bit of personal interest with business, right?

She wasn't asking for much; going out alone together was already enough to make her happy.

Since it was about choosing a guitar, Kagura Hikaru felt he indeed had some authority on the matter, but he had a question before that, "If it's about choosing a guitar, wouldn't it be more convenient to leave it to your band's guitarist?"

Unexpectedly, the female guitarist of the Red Pepper Band quickly turned her face away, "I can't, I work three jobs a day; I don't have time to accompany her."

Working three jobs a day and still having time for a band; are you also a master of time management?

Kagura Hikaru wasn't sure if she was really busy or just making excuses, but after thinking it over and realizing he didn't really have any pressing matters, he nodded in agreement, "Alright, then. No celebration dinner, I'll take Ai Cheng to browse the music store."

"Really? Thank you~!" Ai Cheng Karen beamed with joy.

Ruzaki Mami puffed out her cheeks jealously, "I want to go too!"

"Hmm?"

"When you guys go to pick a guitar, I want to come along too—mmph—mmph!"

The female bassist covered Ruzaki Mami's mouth with her hand, and the female guitarist pinned her from the other side.

"We know you don't want to be away from Karen, worried she'll fall for some guy."

"But trust me, if Mr. Kagura takes the initiative, she'd be very happy."

"Getting in the way of your friend's romance is a serious crime, you know."

"You don't want to see Karen go all three years of high school without finding a boyfriend, right?"

They whispered in Ruzaki Mami's ear from both sides, almost breaking her down completely.

Ruzaki Mami was on the verge of tears.

Please no, Karen-chan with Mr. Kagura... I don't want that kind of thing to happen!!

"Mami must be tired; we'll take her to eat and head off first!"

"Feel free, feel free."

Working together, the bassist and the guitarist easily lifted the petite and light Ruzaki Mami and started walking out, her flailing arms and kicking legs futile against their efforts.

Kagura Hikaru watched them leave in a rush, with Ai Cheng Karen's head sinking to her chest behind him.

This bunch... their intentions are too obvious!

"Ahaha... my friends like to joke, don't take them too seriously..."

Ai Cheng Karen smiled awkwardly, her toes twisting frantically as if she could dig out a three-bedroom apartment with an extra large bathroom in this livehouse.

"...No worries, let's go."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Yeah!" Your adventure continues at empire