166. After-School Afternoon Tea Time

Back at home, with no need for a part-time job that evening, Jiang Yu leisurely began preparing dinner for himself and Doma Umaru.

After sharing their meal, the two naturally went their separate ways to attend to their own affairs. Umaru sat in front of her game console to resume her campaign, while Jiang Yu seated himself before his computer, staring blankly at the familiar RC interface.

For some inexplicable reason, he didn't feel like working on it tonight.

Sighing, Jiang Yu abandoned any further struggle. Often, if you force yourself to do something you currently have no appetite for, you get half the results with twice the effort. Thus, he stood up, walked over to his bed, and threw his entire body onto the soft mattress.

Picking up his smartphone, he unconsciously tapped into LINE, only to find himself added to a newly created chat group.

"After-school... Teatime?"

Muttering the strange name somewhat bewilderedly, Jiang Yu opened the member list, while inwardly grumbling about the app's user interface. He thought that given the chance, he would definitely redesign LINE's UI to be more user-friendly... or rather, make it more akin to the QQ or WeChat he was used to in his past life.

Then, upon spotting Tsumugi Kotobuki's name, he more or less understood what this chat group was for. However, out of a desire for confirmation, he decided to break the silence in the quiet group first.

Tusu: "Excuse me, what is this...?"

Soon enough, someone replied, though it wasn't Tsumugi, but a girl whose group nickname appeared as "Yui Hirasawa".

Yui Hirasawa: "The Light Music Club's chat and communication group... Wait, you're neither Tsumugi, nor Mio, nor Ritsu! Who are you?!"

Following that, the girl sent a "vigilant" sticker, leaving Jiang Yu rather amused and exasperated. After a moment of thought, he typed a reply: "My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself first. My name is 'Jiang Yu'. Didn't Kotobuki-san mention me to you all?"

Yui Hirasawa: "Ah! It's here! Tsumugi's mysterious boyfriend!"

Tsumugi Kotobuki: "...Yui, if you keep running your mouth like that, I'm going to get angry, you know?"

Yui Hirasawa: "I'm sorry..."

Mio Akiyama: "Tsumugi actually has a boyfriend?! ..."

Ritsu Tainaka: "Ooh~~~~"

At that very moment, Tsumugi Kotobuki was lying flat on her back on her bedroom bed. Seeing this exchange, her signature thick eyebrows drew tightly together, her cheeks puffed out involuntarily, and while swinging her legs back and forth, she muttered to herself, "Really now... Mio and Ritsu are doing it too..."

Amidst the bewildered expression of Jiang Yu, who had inadvertently started the topic, the girls plunged into an endless, rambling chat—ranging from the indispensable romance topics among young women to the recent developments in rock music and internationally renowned master musicians...

Jiang Yu subconsciously wiped a non-existent cold sweat from his forehead. He truly hadn't expected these girls to have such boundless stamina for conversation. After a long while, Tsumugi, fighting three opponents single-handedly, finally seemed to snap back to reality and remember the original starting point of the topic.

Tsumugi Kotobuki: "Apologies for keeping Jiang-kun waiting so long. This is the Light Music Club I mentioned to you earlier. Everyone has changed their nicknames to their real names."

Tusu: "Hello everyone..."

The other three also returned the greetings one after another. After the pleasantries, Tsumugi brought up the main business.

Tsumugi Kotobuki: "I'm so sorry for taking until today to give Jiang-kun an answer... After looking at Jiang-kun's sheet music, everyone unanimously decided to participate in recording the song! After all, looking at such an outstanding piece of music right before your eyes, anyone's heart would pound with excitement, right? (Smile)"

Yui Hirasawa: "Yeah, yeah! Yesterday, after watching Tsumugi play it, I was genuinely moved, you know?"

Played it? Jiang Yu raised an eyebrow, roughly guessing the reason why she had delayed her answer until today. It seemed that in order to persuade her clubmates, Tsumugi had put in a tremendous amount of effort, personally performing the "Butter-Fly" he had sent her right in front of the Light Music Club members.

Tusu: "Is that so... Then I truly must thank Kotobuki-san."

Mio Akiyama: "We're just trying it out for now, you know? Although I heard a few things about you from Tsumugi, if your standards aren't up to par, the cooperation will naturally be called off."

Ritsu Tainaka: "Mio... isn't it a bit harsh to put it that way? But, well... anyway, if Jiang-kun's skill level meets everyone's expectations, the next step will be joyful joint practice!"

Tsumugi Kotobuki: "As the old saying goes, 'Seeing is believing.' Let's find a time during Golden Week to meet up. Although I've already witnessed it myself, we should probably all let everyone see each other's skill levels. Does Jiang-kun have any issues with that?"

Tusu: "Understood. Tomorrow won't work, though; I have some personal matters to attend to. May 2nd is a school day, but any other time should be fine."

Jiang Yu, who had just been about to readily agree, suddenly remembered the promise he made to his father yesterday and replied accordingly. Then he hurriedly leaped off the bed, walked over to his computer, logged into his past self's email account according to his memory, and at the top of a pile of junk promotional emails, found the message from Jiang He.

He clicked it open, and what presented itself before his eyes was... a photo of a little girl?

The little girl in the photo was seated on a green wooden bench, her large orange eyes staring straight at the lens as if someone had suddenly called out to her, causing her to shift her gaze right as the snapshot was taken.

She wore a blue floral dress with a delicate pattern, a large sun hat on her head, and beside her sat half of a small bear plush toy that had stealthily snuck into the frame. The photo appeared to have been taken in a garden; lush flowers bloomed all around, scattered petals drifted through the air, and there were even a few tiny flower fragments resting upon the girl herself.

Jiang Yu stared in bewildered astonishment at the email from Jiang He, even going back to the previous screen to confirm whether it really came from his father. The result, of course, was affirmative.

A sense of absurdity welled up in Jiang Yu's mind. So the person his father wanted him to go pick up was actually a little girl who looked unmistakably like a primary school student? No wonder he said she might need a little extra care. To be completely honest, though, I haven't the slightest idea how to get along with children...

It was precisely for this reason that in his past university days, Jiang Yu would deliberately avoid any volunteer activities that required interacting with kids.

Naturally, the email contained more than just a single photo; it also included a short message from Jiang He.

"Though I'm not sure if I mentioned it to you earlier, I'll introduce her again just in case. As you can see, the girl in the photo is the child I want you to pick up. Her name is 'Shiina Mashiro', and she's from the UK. We agreed to meet outside the airport at 10:00 AM the day after tomorrow. Don't you dare be late, you brat!"

"PS: Take good care of her. If I hear she's not doing well... you know what that means, right?"