20demayo Page 133
Page 133
"Good progress," Taro nodded in satisfaction, raised his head and commanded, "Now that the joint training is over, we'll practice again tomorrow, and the individual training after the break can't be missed either."
"Yes~" Aine replied weakly, dragging out the sound. Taro ignored her, put down the keytar, and left the practice room.
"Hey! Wait! Taro!" Aine tried to call out to Taro, but found that he had already gone far away.
She said angrily, "They used to send me back."
Miao Meng chuckled and patted her shoulder, saying, "Perhaps the general thinks that Aine-chan is already capable of handling things on her own."
"Thank you for your hard work. I'll head back now." Hai Ling said goodbye to the others after packing her things without any expression, and then went back on her own.
Ai Yin sighed again: "Our band is really too individualistic."
"You'll get used to it." Miaomeng shrugged and sat back down on the drum stool. "I'm going to practice here for a while. Xiao Aiyin, you can go back now."
"Hmm... okay~ Little Renai, let's go together." Aine called to Renai, intending to take her home.
Taro walked out of the Dong Brothers group and headed straight home. On his way home, he passed by Asukayama Park and unexpectedly saw a blonde girl. He hesitated for a moment, but still went up to talk to her.
"We meet again, Chuhua."
That's right, Taro saw Mika again. Hearing Taro's greeting, Mika turned around, saw that it was Taro, and showed a surprised smile: "Taro! We meet again."
Taro gave a faint smile and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for bugs," Chu Hua replied with a smile. "If you can see the Big Dipper in Tokyo, I think you might be able to see bugs too. Actually, I saw them the other day, but I came here specifically to look for them today."
"I see. Please have a seat." Taro pointed to a park bench and said, "I have something I'd like to tell you."
Seeing Taro looking quite serious, Hatsuka was a little confused, but she still obediently sat down.
Taro leaned back in his chair, looked up at the silvery full moon in the sky, and felt the refreshing night breeze. He said softly, "Actually, there are two Triangular Blossoms, aren't there?"
"Ah, have we been exposed?" Chu Hua remained calm, revealing a faint, sweet smile, without denying Taro's words.
She also looked up at the moon, remaining silent, and Taro patiently accompanied her as she admired the moon.
After a long while, Chu Hua said softly, "Taro, I don't actually like stars and constellations."
“But now you understand.” She held up her finger, pointing to the brightest star in the sky: “That’s the Morning Star…”
Then, she began to trace the outlines of several stars, whispering, "Ursa Major, Cassiopeia..."
“I didn’t understand any of this before.” Chu Hua lowered her fingers and said with a wry smile, “Now I understand to this extent, but I still don’t understand what my sister is thinking?”
“My mother…married my father after giving birth to my older sister. Throughout all of this, my mother has valued my older sister more than I have.”
"She often whispers to her sister, but when I want to talk to her, she always tells me in a perfunctory tone that she wants to whisper to her sister."
"So, I've always been jealous of my sister." As she said this, Chu Hua looked up at the moon, its light casting a particularly cold and desolate glow on her face.
"But even so, I really like my older sister. I've always thought she was really cool because of her calm and collected demeanor. My mother often says that my sister is like the matriarch of the family."
Chu Hua lowered her head slightly and said with a wry smile, "I just can't do it. I can't be as cool as my sister. But I don't want to be inferior to her, so I made a wish: I want to become an idol—"
She looked at Taro and said enthusiastically, "Hey, Taro, you know what? Idols are people who burn brightly on stage, illuminating others. They're completely different from your sister—"
"I want to become as powerful as my sister, or even more powerful, but completely different—if my sister is the moon, then I want to be a star. That's what I think."
"Me too, telling my sister about my dreams."
"My older sister is the matriarch of the family and has always stayed at home. I was afraid she would be lonely, so I shared everything that happened to me when I went out with her, down to the smallest detail. Chatting with my sister was really enjoyable—"
Hatsuka's voice became excited, but Taro knew that there would be a turning point, because the person who would become an idol was a different Hatsuka, not the Hatsuka in front of him.
As expected, Chu Hua's voice lowered slightly, and she said softly, "But everything changed on the day my father died."
"Even after Father's death, my sister remained as calm as ever; her face remained unchanged. I can't understand it—"
"This is the person most important to us who lost their life. How can my sister keep such a face? Did she never consider Father family?"
"To put it another way, I have developed a habit of telling my sister everything, big or small. So, without thinking, I said such hurtful things to her. I felt very embarrassed at the time and was unable to apologize to her on the spot."
"So, I ran away... The next day, I wanted to go find my sister and apologize for what I said yesterday, but she had disappeared and I couldn't find her anywhere."
“My mother and I depended on each other for survival. After my father passed away, my mother’s health deteriorated due to grief, and she passed away from illness not long ago. Before she left, she told me to go live in Tokyo and gave me a bank card, saying that money would be deposited into my account continuously.”
“So, I set off. And then…” Her tone grew increasingly dejected as she whispered, “After arriving in Tokyo, I saw my long-lost sister. She became an idol, fulfilling my dream—but what does Mikami Hatsuka’s name mean—”
Chu Hua became agitated again, and she retorted, "That's my name! Why would you do this, sister? Same face, same name. If I use my own name, wouldn't I become an imposter?"
"I didn't want to do this, so I used my older sister's name, Mitsu Miku, but I'm still resentful. Why did my sister take away my name..."
"It wasn't until that moment that I realized I had never really understood my sister. I couldn't understand what she was thinking."
"But I remember what my sister said. She said she loves looking at the stars the most. I thought that if I could learn about her hobby, I might be able to figure out what she was thinking."
"So, I went to the planetarium to look at the stars. I heard that my sister was looking for a bassist, so I learned to play the bass. But I still can't understand my sister's idea. Taro... what do you think?"
As a listener, Taro listened to all of Hatsuka's complaints without saying a word.
"Want to hear my opinion?" Taro said calmly.
"Please tell me," Chu Hua looked at Taro with utmost sincerity, clutching her heart with her hand, "I want to understand my sister..."
In the twenty-fifth episode of "Dong," even the stars are liars.
"Want to hear my opinion?" Taro said calmly.
"Please tell me," Chu Hua looked at Taro with utmost sincerity, clutching her heart with her hand, "I want to understand my sister..."
“Then let me tell you!” Taro raised his head, stood up abruptly, and looked up at the moon as well: “You said before that the moon can lie.”
"Yes...? So what?" Chu Hua nodded, looking up at Taro with his head held high, and asked softly, "What I was thinking about was... my sister..."
"Then let me tell you, even stars can lie, how about it?" He turned to look at Chu Hua and said calmly.
Hearing Taro's words, Hatsuka was a little shocked and said softly, "Even the stars are liars?" Clearly, she didn't quite understand what Taro was saying.
"Stars appear so small to us, but in reality, they are much larger than the moon." He looked at Chu Hua earnestly, and Chu Hua nodded, indicating that she understood.
"You who call yourself a star are not saying that you can, you can surpass your sister."
"Is that what I think?" Chu Hua murmured to herself. The fact that the stars are bigger than the moon is true; she had known this since she was very young.
In her mind, a scene flashed through her mind: she and her sister talking about what they saw outside when they were little, and her sister pointing to the sky and introducing the stars to her.
She seemed to remember that it was around that time that her sister had told her:
"Chuhua, did you know? The stars may not look that impressive, but they are actually bigger than the moon."
She said exactly the same thing as Momoi Taro. Some time later, she secretly made such a wish.
Did she actually want to surpass her sister? She was a little confused.
Taro smiled and said confidently, "You know what? Language is the voice of the heart. With such determination, you can definitely convey your innermost thoughts to your sister—"
Chu Hua looked at Taro with a bit of confusion and whispered, "Does Taro mean I should tell my sister directly?"
“That’s right, this is the best solution.” Taro smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “I think this is the best solution.”
He repeated it, his tone earnest. Chu Hua nodded blankly, remained silent for a long time, and then smiled and said, "Thank you, Taro, but I'm not ready to face my sister yet..."
She thought for a moment and said softly, "Once I've mastered my bass, I'll go and talk to my sister using the surname I used for the interview."
"I see, interesting!" Taro said enthusiastically. "Alright then! Let me teach you how to play the bass... but not in the next couple of days. I'll contact you later, okay?"
"Thank you, Taro." Hatsuka nodded gratefully. Then she lowered her head and said shyly, "You are the first friend I've ever met in my life... no, in Tokyo."
Although Taro is a good person, my first friend in life is still Sho.
Taro was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. Then, he returned a sincere smile and said, "I'm very happy."
After that, the two chatted about bass techniques for a while, and then Chu Hua stopped as if she had discovered something.
She quietly walked to the tree, reached out her hand, and grabbed it—
She caught a black rhinoceros beetle in her hand, turned around, looked at Taro and smiled, "There really are rhinoceros beetles in Tokyo—they're very cool, but the rhinoceros beetles in the countryside are bigger."
Chu Hua watched the rhinoceros beetle writhing defiantly in her hand, and sighed again. She gently placed the rhinoceros beetle in her palm.
Then, she raised her arm, and the rhinoceros beetle took flight from her hand, flapping its wings and soaring into the distance.
Watching the rhinoceros beetle disappear from sight, Chu Hua smiled. She turned around, put her hands behind her back, and said to Taro with a smile:
“I actually really like insects. When I was little, I always wanted to keep one at home. But my sister was afraid of insects, so I never succeeded in keeping one.”
She looked up at the sky, gazing at the twinkling stars, and chuckled softly, "Now, maybe I'll have a chance to raise one. I don't have time to take care of it yet, but once I've mastered my bass playing, I'm going to raise a rhinoceros beetle—"
Then, she looked at Taro and asked with a light laugh, "Isn't it strange? You're a girl, you want to be an idol, but you like insects and stuff."
Upon hearing this, Taro shook his head and denied it, much to her surprise: "Not at all! It's your freedom to choose what you want to keep."
"Really... This is the first time someone has said this to me." A sense of satisfaction from being recognized filled every inch of Chu Hua's heart, and an unusual feeling of peace made her smile involuntarily.
"And I've also kept rhinoceros beetles." Taro's gaze was deep, as if he were lost in memories: "Back then, I was still living with Jin, before we moved to Tokyo."
“When I was in elementary school, I didn’t have any friends, so I kept a rhinoceros beetle as a pet. Its name was Koki.” Taro looked up at the sky and said softly, “But one day, Koki flew out of the box by itself and left me.”
"I'm still waiting for Xiaoji to come back." Taro's eyes were still shining, as if he was still looking forward to its return.
“Taro…” Chu Hua lowered her head and said softly, “The lifespan of a rhinoceros beetle is probably not that long. It’s very likely that it’s already dead.”
"Ah, I know." Taro's expression remained calm as he accepted the reality.
Seeing the subtle sadness in Taro's eyes, Hatsuka seemed to realize she had said something wrong. She tried to think of something and change the subject:
"By the way, Taro, you just said you live with Jin. Is Jin family to you?"
“Ah, he is my adoptive father,” Taro said frankly, “but he suddenly disappeared when I was a child, and there has been no news of him since.”
It's over!
Chu Hua, in her heart, clutched her head in despair and screamed loudly. Would she wake up in the middle of the night wanting to slap herself and say that she deserved to die?
"But I still believe that Jin and Xiao Ji will definitely come back," Taro said with unusual firmness.
For some reason, Chu Hua felt a jolt in her heart. So amazing…so resolute. If she could be like that, would she be able to get closer to her sister?
"Well, I'm going home now. It's late, so be careful." Taro waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care at all, and left after saying goodbye to Hatsuka.
Only Hatsuka remained, her face slightly flushed, beneath the moonlight. Indeed, Momoi Taro was a truly remarkable person.
After saying goodbye to Hatsuka, Taro went straight home. Nina told him that her band's bassist and keyboardist were moving in today.