152. Light Music Club

At these words, Jiang Yu’s originally modest smile froze. Then, with a hint of cautiousness, he verified, "You’ve been to... Katou-san’s cafe?"

Kotobuki Tsumugi nodded and said with a smile, "I went there with the entire Light Music Club! Everyone thought Jiang-kun’s performance was amazing. No wonder even Maki had to admit defeat~"

"Um... You know Nishikino-san as well?" Jiang Yu wore a subtle expression.

"Eh? Yes, of course! Is something wrong? We used to take piano lessons together from Aunt Chinatsu when we were little." Kotobuki Tsumugi blinked, her gray pupils revealing a clear look of confusion.

"Ah... N-Nothing at all. I was just thinking what a small world it is..." Jiang Yu twitched the corner of his mouth, his tone somewhat strange.

*The Light Music Club? If I recall correctly, 'light music' in Japanese basically means rock, right? This girl... plays rock?*

At the same time, Jiang Yu muttered to himself inwardly.

It wasn't that girls couldn't play rock or anything of the sort, but it was simply a bit hard to imagine this elegant, young-lady-type figure performing rock music on a stage...

Perhaps this could be considered a kind of gap moe? Jiang Yu drifted off into a daze, his thoughts wandering.

Kotobuki Tsumugi naturally noticed Jiang Yu's distraction, but her good upbringing prevented her from rushing to snap him out of it. It was precisely at that moment that Kotobuki Chinatsu suddenly asked, "Mugi, you joined the Light Music Club at school?"

Kotobuki Tsumugi nodded and asked somewhat quizzically, "Yes, is there a problem?"

Although she came from a musical family, Kotobuki Tsumugi never worried that her family would oppose her joining the Light Music Club; the thoroughly open-minded family environment she grew up in gave her this confidence.

Upon hearing this, Kotobuki Chinatsu fell silent, her expression turning somewhat peculiar, as if she were recalling some unbearable memories of the past.

Seeing Kotobuki Chinatsu's reaction and combining it with her own understanding of the woman, Katou Anko formed a guess in her mind, though she still needed a bit of verification.

Thus, she asked Kotobuki Tsumugi, "Mugi, do you attend the same high school that Chinatsu went to?"

Although puzzled as to why Katou Anko would ask such a question, Kotobuki Tsumugi politely replied, "Yes, is there something wrong, Aunt Anko?"

"Pfft—! Ah... No problem at all. It's just that when you go back to school, Mugi, you might want to flip through the club room's photo albums of former members. You might just discover a pleasant surprise~"

Katou Anko held back her laughter, striving to keep her voice steady as she spoke to Kotobuki Tsumugi.

"Oh..." Kotobuki Tsumugi nodded, understanding only half of it, and then cast a puzzled gaze toward the deep-in-thought Kotobuki Chinatsu.

Recovering her senses, Kotobuki Chinatsu glared at Katou Anko, sighed, and averted her gaze from Kotobuki Tsumugi, clearly unwilling to dwell on the matter any longer.

Yet finally, after a moment's hesitation, Kotobuki Chinatsu uttered a cryptic remark to Kotobuki Tsumugi: "Say hello to Sawako for me. I recall she must have gone back there to work as a music teacher by now."

With that, Kotobuki Chinatsu copied the audio recording she had just made, exchanged brief farewells with those present, and walked straight out of the recording studio.

Meanwhile, the idle Katou Anko seemed utterly bored and hurried after Kotobuki Chinatsu, seemingly intent on verifying her newly deduced hypothesis with the person involved.

In an instant, only Jiang Yu and Kotobuki Tsumugi were left in the entire recording studio. After staring blankly at each other for a long while, Jiang Yu conceded first. He retrieved a nearby chair, sat down, and said, "If it's not too much trouble, could I listen to Kotobuki-san's music?"

Kotobuki Tsumugi had no objections. After offering a polite "Please treat me well," she walked into the recording room Jiang Yu had just vacated and began to play.

Jiang Yu hurriedly put on his headphones. The piece was a fairly standard Chopin Etude, yet one could still discern the performer's solid foundational skills through it.

When Kotobuki Tsumugi came back out, Jiang Yu took off his headphones and, after a moment's hesitation, asked, "Does everyone in the Light Music Club that Kotobuki-san joined possess this level of skill?"

Kotobuki Tsumugi thought for a moment and answered earnestly, "The guitarist might be a little worse off, perhaps."

*Well, rather than saying that, she's actually a pure beginner. But given Yui's talent, if she puts in a bit more effort, she'll become amazing, right?*

Kotobuki Tsumugi mused to herself.

Jiang Yu fell into contemplation upon hearing this. If only the guitarist was somewhat lacking, he could step in to fill the role, and if everyone else was roughly on par with Kotobuki Tsumugi... that should be enough, shouldn't it?

So, he spoke up, "Is Kotobuki-san interested in recording some songs?"

"Eh?" Kotobuki Tsumugi tilted her head slightly, wearing a baffled look.

Jiang Yu slapped his forehead and explained, "That was rather abrupt of me. To be more precise, I have a few rock songs on hand that I'd like to record. Would you and your Light Music Club be interested?"

It wasn't entirely impossible to ask Kotobuki Chinatsu for help in finding a professional rock band. However, driven by the selfish desire to perform those tracks himself, and feeling that Kotobuki Chinatsu had already helped him immensely and he shouldn't burden her any further, Jiang Yu decided to sound out Kotobuki Tsumugi instead.

"Eh—? Us? But none of us have any performance experience, you know!" Naturally, Kotobuki Tsumugi was quite astonished.

"Um... I know this might cause trouble for you all, but I really don't know anyone else in rock bands. If Kotobuki-san could agree to this, it would be a tremendous help."

Faced with Kotobuki Tsumugi's doubt, Jiang Yu said earnestly.

"Then wouldn't it be fine to just ask Aunt Chinatsu to help you find a professional band? There's no need to specifically ask a student band, is there?"

Kotobuki Tsumugi quickly came up with a solution for Jiang Yu, while simultaneously growing suspicious inwardly, beginning to ponder what his true motive was for insisting on asking her.

"Uh..." Jiang Yu's words caught in his throat. After a long silence, he said with some embarrassment, "...I want to sing them myself, and asking a professional band would probably be a huge hassle, wouldn't it?"

Kotobuki Tsumugi stared directly at Jiang Yu's slightly awkward expression. Hearing his reasoning, she began to seriously consider the feasibility of the matter.

Feeling rather uncomfortable under her stare, Jiang Yu tried hard to maintain his inner calm while suppressing the urge to turn his head away from her gaze.

After another prolonged silence, Kotobuki Tsumugi finally spoke, "I can't make this decision alone. I need to discuss it with the club members tomorrow first."

As if granted a pardon, Jiang Yu wiped the nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh of relief. "That's fine, discussing it is definitely necessary."

"Then please give me your contact information, Jiang-kun. Once we've discussed it tomorrow, I'll let you know the result." Kotobuki Tsumugi thought for a moment and added.

"Uh... alright."

Thus, amidst Jiang Yu's subtle expression, Kotobuki Tsumugi became the third girl to proactively request and obtain his contact information—though, truth be told, that was nothing to be particularly proud of.