Chapter 94: Rain, Falling at Night

"[Although you were eventually 'caught' by Eden, but... it was somewhat unexpected, or perhaps not surprising, that you two got along very well. Although you didn't communicate much verbally, your relationship was rapidly getting closer.]

[That makes sense. Your daily behaviors are very similar, your personalities are compatible, and you both share a passion for music. It makes sense that you became close so quickly.]

[But even so, you still keep your distance from Eden... Just as you said, she is too dazzling and it is not suitable for you to get close to her. Besides, the gap in status between you is there. If you get too close... it will be bad for you.]

[You know very well that if you get too close to Eden in your current situation... you will definitely get yourself into trouble. Others may not look for Eden because of her identity and family background. At most, they may gossip about her in secret. But if it's you, they can bully you at will.]

[Anyway, at most you are just asking for help from the school. As long as you do it covertly, it will be fine. At worst... some people's backgrounds can make the school afraid to punish them too much.]

[So at school, you still try to avoid Eden as much as possible, on the one hand, to avoid causing more trouble for yourself, and on the other hand to prevent Eden from getting involved in some unfounded rumors - you are very familiar with this routine.]

[It's just that Eden doesn't seem to care about these... or, she didn't notice these?]

[No... You looked at the other students who were behaving cutely and politely around her, and rejected your previous guess.]

[Eden may not care about those rumors, but... she doesn't need to care, because other people won't show it in front of her. They won't even show their disgust towards you in front of her... This is just to avoid Eden having a bad impression of them, that's all.]

[It's really…disgusting.]

[However, compared to other people, Eden does prefer to communicate with you, preferably just you and her... because here, you are basically the only one who is "similar" to her, and after vaguely sensing the students' rejection of you, she actually hopes to communicate with you even more.]

[Because if she's with you, you can avoid most verbal communication and instead use simpler music that can convey emotions to "communicate"... This is undoubtedly the happiest thing for Eden.]

[Although you and Eden usually don't exclude other people from joining in, but... whenever you see others need to ask specifically and you can understand the meaning directly, Eden can't help but smile at you and show others a little bit... of "partiality" towards you.]

[But this often leads to another consequence... When others see Eden staying with you and even having a good time with you, they will inevitably feel a little... "jealous" towards you.]

[Especially when they try to join you, but after one song, when they want to speak, they will get a somewhat lost look from Eden, and you will just go along with the flow and continue to play, and Eden will turn to look at you with eyes full of joy, and join in your music...]

[Anyone can see that the relationship between the two of you is rapidly getting closer, and anyone can see that Eden prefers to be with you... and as more and more people try to join, Eden becomes more and more obvious in her desire to be alone with you.]

[There's nothing you can do. Compared to you, who can understand her quickly and communicate with her through music, the brilliance of others has become somewhat dimmed, and the colors of others also seem a little dim compared to you... This is what is called "no comparison, no harm."]

[Of course, their disgust towards you deepens... You are used to it and don't care, because compared to them, your focus is more on Eden.]

[You can feel Eden's kindness towards you, and her growing closeness to you as time goes by... because she has found someone "like her", a "companion" who can be said to be walking on the same "road."]

[And you are willing to respond in a friendly way, and as time goes by, you are willing to get closer to her...but in comparison, you still keep some distance.]

[Nothing else, it's simply because of the malice emanating from other people... They naturally won't target you too much in front of Eden, but... it's another story when you're out of Eden's sight.]

[Even if Eden could occasionally sense that something was wrong, even if Eden had already noticed other students' rejection of you, even if Eden was trying to persuade others not to be too prejudiced against you, but... it was useless.]

[They are still the same. They behave a little better in front of Eden, but they still radiate malice towards you behind your back. Because of Eden's words, this malice is gradually deepening and is showing signs of getting worse.]

[And this deepening malice... after reaching a certain point, will eventually lead to very, very bad consequences.]

————————

Hmmmm~

"Hmm~"

The cheerful tune and happy singing echoed in the hall. People who lived under the same roof sat around Nozomi, listening to his cheerful tune and playing around.

It was just a song, but everyone applauded and cheered happily, which made Nozomi feel a little embarrassed... But over the past few days, he has become accustomed to everyone's enthusiasm.

"Has anything good happened to you recently, kid? You seem to be very happy these days?"

Someone asked with a smile.

"Of course, [Record Player] must have had something good happen to him! And it must be related to a girl. I tell you, every time [Record Player] goes to the piano store to practice, he is so happy. It's obvious that he has a companion!"

The other man took out a cigarette from his pocket while joking, put it in his mouth, and was about to light it.

"[Record Player] wants to sing, Yin is here too, if they both cough I'll beat you up."

Li, who was standing by, walked up and took the cigarette out of the man's mouth. He broke the cigarette with his fingers and threw it into the trash can.

"No!! Boss, you can't do this!"

"Why are you howling? I didn't even slap you."

"Boss, you are just seeking revenge! And what's in your mouth, boss?!"

"Lollipop, what's up?"

With an expressionless face, Li pulled out the stick from his mouth, revealing the light green candy on it, and then reached out and hit the man on the head.

"I told you not to smoke at this time. Don't smoke at this time. You don't learn your lesson, do you? You're asking for a beating!"

"Ahahaha...Brother Li, you don't have to be like this...I don't particularly hate the smell of cigarettes."

Nozomi said with a smile while packing up his musical instruments.

"Don't worry about them."

Yin, who was sitting on the sofa nearby, said this in a voice with almost no inflection.

"You want to sing. If you stay in a smoky environment for a long time, it will hurt your throat and lungs. You can't let them ruin your future artistic career."

Curling up her petite body slightly and adjusting the laptop on her lap, Yin spoke as she tapped on the keyboard.

"And I don't like the smell of cigarettes either...it's good to get them to quit smoking."

The almost motionless light blue pupils shifted slightly and looked at Li beside her.

"At least my body won't smell so bad anymore... My mouth won't smell so bad anymore, it's sweet, which is nice."

"Wow—"

"What are you looking at? What are you making a fuss about? Are you looking for a beating?"

Facing meaningful looks from everyone, Li held a lollipop in his mouth, clenched his fists, and waved them in the air, pretending to be threatening.

"If you keep yelling, I'll beat you up and kick you out... Also, be careful, smoke somewhere else, don't indoors, understand? Don't make me say it a second time."

"What if you smoke indoors, boss?"

One of them raised his hand high and asked loudly with a teasing smile on his face.

"It's okay, I'll beat him up."

Yin's eyes stayed on the computer screen, and then she spoke in a calm tone, as if nothing had happened, words that everyone liked to hear.

"Yeah!!!"

"If you make any more noise, I'll beat you up!"

Li waved his fist again in annoyance, trying to maintain his deterrent power... Unfortunately, it was useless, at least not now. After all, Yin and Nozomi were here, and Li would not beat them directly.

Although other people didn't quite understand why Li liked Nozomi so much... even though he often helped out and had learned some cooking skills so he could cook for everyone from time to time, and when he had spare money he would make some small items for everyone, and he would sing for everyone whenever he had time, and he also supported song requests, and if he encountered a song he didn't know, he would specifically learn it and sing it for everyone.

In order to take everyone's status into consideration, he even went to find Li to learn the language, just to be able to understand some of the "proverbs" spoken by everyone in their hometown dialect... Well, having said that, Nozomi is indeed very likable because his efforts are seen by everyone, and everyone also enjoys the help that Nozomi gives them.

Therefore, everyone was willing to respond with kindness and make some changes for Nozomi... Even though the boys here were more or less addicted to smoking, after knowing that the strong smell of smoke might damage Nozomi's voice, everyone accepted the new rule set by Li: "No smoking indoors"... They had received so much help from Nozomi, so they should at least give something back to Nozomi, and at least not ruin Nozomi's future path because of them.

But... it's not so easy to quit smoking. It's still difficult to get them to completely change this bad habit. But asking them to give up listening to music around Nozomi and go out to smoke... they are unwilling to do so.

There was no other way. Many of them wanted Nozomi to sing specific songs. If you wanted to listen to the song you wanted to hear, you had to stay next to Nozomi and "order a song" from him, otherwise, the song would definitely be replaced by others.

It's similar to the feeling of [ordering songs in a KTV, then going to the restroom in the middle, when you come back to find that the song you ordered has been replaced by someone else, resulting in you not being able to sing the song you like, and if you order a song again, you will have to wait at the back of the queue, and you may not even get to sing the song by the time you leave].

Basically, people are in a state of "I feel uncomfortable if I don't smoke for one song, and I feel uncomfortable for the whole day if I smoke", so they would rather endure their urge to smoke and run outside to smoke after the song they ordered is over, rather than miss their own song to relieve their urge to smoke.

But... sure enough, it's still a bit uncomfortable when the urge to smoke comes back.

"Boss, do you have any candy?"

The man who just wanted to smoke but failed smacked his lips and asked.

"It's okay not to smoke now, but it's uncomfortable to have nothing in my mouth."

"It's gone, go buy it yourself ."

Oak curled his lips and refused mercilessly.

"Ah, I have some here..."

"Don't give them [record player.] Let them buy it themselves."

"It's okay. I love sweets, so I buy a lot... But I can't eat them all the time, it's bad for my teeth. I can share them with everyone."

Nozomi smiled and put a box of candy on the table, intending to leave it there for anyone who needed it or was craving it in the future. He then took out a bag of lollipops and gave one to everyone present, earning everyone's thanks.

"Thank you [record player]."

Yin naturally had one as well, but she just said thank you and then reached out without looking back and handed the candy in her hand to Li who was standing beside her.

And Li also understood, so he helped her unpack the food and then fed it to Yin's mouth... This action naturally caused another commotion.

Seeing such a harmonious atmosphere, Nozomi smiled happily, and immediately moved his musical instrument back to his room. Then he said hello and went out to the piano store to practice.

"......"

When Nozomi left, the whole room fell into a brief silence, and then everyone quickly moved, packed up their things, and sat together.

"Hey, [Record Player] is going to participate in a competition soon, right? He will definitely win a place. What do you think we should prepare as a celebration gift?"

"Musical instrument? Hasn't he been saving money to buy a cello? Should we buy one for him?"

"Then he definitely won't want it."

Yin said quietly at the side, and at the same time used her tongue to slightly adjust the lollipop in her mouth, and continued to speak in that calm tone.

"You know the character of [Record Player], and when the time comes he will definitely give you the money he has saved and buy it from you... In that case, you might as well not give it to him."

"Just don't collect it when the time comes."

"When [Record Player] gets anxious, he'll cry in front of you."

"Ah? Really?"

"…I was just kidding. And don't look like you want to see it so badly. Don't bully others, or we'll beat you up."

"You're talking as if you don't want to see it..."

"I want to see it, but that doesn't stop us from beating you up. It was you who suggested it."

"Ha ha--"

Everyone burst into laughter again.

"Prepare him a musical instrument that he can take away, and it shouldn't be too expensive. Then find a suitable excuse for him to accept it."

Li said casually.

"Don't even think about the piano and the violin. He can't take the piano with him, so he definitely won't take it. He still needs the violin, so he definitely won't take it. He's planning to buy a cello, so even if he takes it, he'll definitely pay us... and give us something else."

"As for the others... the first thing that comes to my mind is the guitar. Will he collect the [record player]? He didn't learn this, did he?"

"How about... an accordion?"

"Are you serious?"

"Or a harmonica? It's easy to carry and not too expensive. I think [Record Player] will accept it, right?"

"How about giving him something else, like... a camera? Or helping him get a new terminal?"

"Why are you giving him a camera? Just to take pictures? Or do you want to lead him into SLR hell?"

"I think the guitar is fine."

Ying spoke up.

"When the time comes, we can just say that we want him to sing for us on guitar, and the price of the guitar is right."

As she spoke, Yin turned on the projector in the living room and projected the screen from her laptop onto it.

"Hey, Big Sister, you didn't say anything nonsense... Have you already picked out several for us to choose from?"

"You're obviously well prepared, Big Sister~"

"Why is there a shamisen mixed in there? A record player isn't suitable for playing this, right? Big sister, even if you are partial to your family, you can't be so partial..."

"There's a guitar body, a guitar neck, and strings... Confirmed! It's a guitar!"

"Are these two different?!"

"If you think it's not appropriate, we can discuss it again."

Yin took the lollipop in her mouth, pointed at a few at random, and continued.

"In addition to giving him musical instruments, you can also think of other things, mainly things that he can use in the future."

"...money?"

"Well said. Don't say it again next time. Li, hit him!"

Boom!

Before Yin could finish his words, Li punched the man on the head.

"What else can I do? Isn't money the most practical thing?"

"When the [Record Player] gets angry, we'll push you out and see how he scolds you."

"We can provide him with some ways to make money... Hey, what do you think? If we record his singing and post it online, will anyone listen to it?"

"There should be, right? The number of views should be very high."

"Then we can just give the proceeds to him. Well, this way, even if it's the money that [Record Player] earned through his talent, it won't be directly given by us... What do you think?"

"Awesome, this is a good idea, Boss, Big Sister, do you want to implement it?"

"...Can."

After thinking for a while, Yin nodded in agreement.

"Let's prepare the equipment and then talk to [Record Player] about the profit sharing issue so that he won't get angry with us again."

"Actually, I really want to see the record player crying..."

"You are still thinking about that? I told you it was a lie."

"I just think that record player is pretty cute, eh hehe…"

"... Could this guy be gay? Boss, do you want to beat him up so he can wake up?"

"......"

"...Boss?"

"Li, what's wrong?"

"...nothing."

Li looked at the message on the terminal and frowned.

"[Record Player] said he would be back later today. He has something else to do."

"Hey? It's rare. Is that good boy [Record Player] finally going to be late today? Who is he going out to play with? The girl named Eden he mentioned before?"

"Recently, he doesn't even mention the word 'classmate' when he mentions that girl's name~"

"It seems like the relationship has become much closer~"

"But if he comes back later, we'll have more time to discuss..."

"...Li?"

"... it's fine."

Noticing that Li hadn't spoken for a while, Yin looked up at him and asked a question, but Li just frowned, thought for a while, and then shook his head, indicating that nothing was wrong.

Looking down, he took a look at the lollipop that Nozomi gave him. He spit out the plastic stick in his mouth, opened the packaging, and then put it into his mouth.

"...I hope I'm just overthinking it."

Feeling the sweetness in his mouth, Li frowned and whispered to himself.

......

.........

Tick-tock——

It's the sound of rain falling.

At night, the sky was filled with slightly thick rain clouds, covering the twinkling stars. Even the moonlight had difficulty coming through, and could only barely squeeze out a little cold light from the gaps in the rain clouds, bringing some light to the dark night.

Tick-tock——

It was late at night and the rain was still falling.

In the somewhat deserted street, only the building where Li lived had lights on.

"What's going on..."

"Why haven't he replied yet..."

"Is he going to spend the night outside? But he has never done such a thing, right? Or is he going back to the school dormitory?"

"Even if this is the case, you will tell us, right?"

"I can't get in touch with him...no reply to the message..."

"Nothing will happen, right?"

"Don't talk nonsense! If you say that, we will beat you up!"

"Okay, stop arguing."

Holding a lollipop in his mouth, Li stopped everyone from talking in a stern voice.

"Go back to bed, you still have classes tomorrow."

"..."

"Don't make me do it again."

"All right..."

Everyone returned to their rooms with worried feelings.

"…Yin, go back to sleep first."

"No, I'm here with you."

"Sleeping in late is a girl's enemy, isn't that what you said?"

"It's normal for computer science students to go to bed a little late, and staying up all night is also the norm."

Yin stretched, holding her computer, moved to Li's side and sat down next to him.

"And I told you, I'm here with you, don't make me say it a second time."

"And...if you're in a bad mood, you can smoke, but only two."

"...Thanks."

Tick-tock——

The surroundings fell into silence again, with only the sound of rain falling outside and the night wind hitting the doors and windows.

......

.........

"Uh... Good morning, Boss... Hmm? Boss, you're up so early today?"

"......"

Li did not answer him.

"Wow... What a strong smell of cigarettes... Boss, aren't you trying to quit smoking? Why do you still smoke so much... Big Sister? You're here too, why don't you talk about Boss?"

"......"

"…What's going on? Did something happen?"

"Don't make any noise yet."

With bloodshot eyes, Li glared at the man who was still babbling on about nonsense, then took the half-smoked cigarette from his mouth, stuffed it into the ashtray full of cigarette butts, twisted it with his fingers, and put out the cigarette butt.

"......"

In response, Yin did not stop him at all, nor did she even blame him. Li habitually blew out a smoke ring, then waved it away, took out the terminal, and made a call.

"...Hello? Uncle, it's me, Li... Um, I want to ask about the record... No, did Nozomi go to class?"

"Oh... um... okay... thank you, I see, I'll go, thank you."

"...Boss?"

Noticing that after Li hung up the phone, his expression seemed to be bad, the man who had just woken up shouted cautiously.

"…It's okay, go to class. If you're late, I'll beat you up."

"oh oh..."

Everyone went out in a hurry, not daring to bring bad luck to Li... But they were sure of one thing, that is, [Record Player]... or Nozomi must have encountered something, and Li was very unhappy, even a little... angry.

"...Do you need help, Li?"

"Well, help me contact [Old Thing], I need to communicate with him later."

"… Angry?"

"Somewhat."

"So... where is the record player now?"

"Hospital."

"...I understand. Go ahead, I'll help you make the contact."

"Thanks."