The wind chime of the instrument shop rang once more, seeing off that pink creature who was giggling while holding an effect pedal.
Ai did not leave immediately; instead, he turned back toward the counter.
The long-haired shop manager raised his eyelids with some surprise, rolling two walnuts in his hand.
“What? Did you change your mind, kid? What’s done is done; if you want to act cool in front of a girl, you have to pay the price.”
“No.”
Ai shook his head expressionlessly.
The “gift-giving” maneuver just now had directly drained most of the 50,000 yen he had just acquired.
In Tokyo, where prices weren’t cheap, a brand-new entry-level electric guitar cost at least twenty or thirty thousand yen, and big brands like Fender or Gibson were astronomical.
With his current finances, wanting to buy a decent guitar was simply a pipe dream.
“Boss, do you have any of those…”
Ai paused, organizing his words.
“The kind abandoned by their previous owners, with aging circuits, warped necks, or even ‘Corpse Guitars’ that are about to be disposed of as industrial waste?”
The manager froze for a moment, then revealed a meaningful smile and put down the walnuts.
“Kid, you know your stuff. Looking to pick up scraps and assemble one?”
“I’m just broke,” Ai answered honestly.
Ten minutes later.
The manager dragged a tattered cardboard box out of the dusty back warehouse.
“This whole box is junk I planned to strip for parts. Take your pick; if you find one that can still make a sound, you can have it for ten thousand yen.”
Ten thousand yen.
Although a bit expensive for junk, it was rock-bottom for a musical instrument.
Ai squatted down and rummaged through a pile of broken necks and rusty pickups.
Relying on his experience from before transmigrating and the sharp intuition granted by the system, his gaze locked onto a black Stratocaster-style guitar.
The brand logo on this guitar had been rubbed off, the body was covered in scratches and adhesive residue from peeled-off stickers, and the bridge was rusted—it looked pathetic.
However, when Ai gripped the neck, he felt that the wood was solid.
Although the neck was slightly warped, it was still salvageable.
“This is the one.”
Ai paid the money, bought a set of the cheapest strings and some cleaning tools, completely emptying his wallet…
The Chiba City park at night was excessively quiet.
Only the buzzing current of the streetlights could be heard, attracting a few suicidal moths.
Ai sat on a bench deep in the park, the tools he had just bought placed by his feet.
Cleaning the fretboard, polishing the frets, adjusting the neck relief, changing the strings…
every movement was meticulous.
Although the original owner had some basic guitar skills, to master this “industrial waste,” he still needed the system’s assistance.
“System, open the exchange list.”
The pink interface expanded once again.
Ai glanced at the Affection Value in the top right corner.
[Current Affection Value: 148]
(The bulk was contributed by Miko, plus Bocchi-chan’s sudden surge just now, and the daily bits and pieces.)
He searched the skill column for a while and finally locked onto a skill.
[Skill: Soul Resonance Performance (Lv. 1)]
[Price: 120 Affection Value]
[Description: You don’t need top-tier shredding speed or complex music theory knowledge. This skill will grant you the ability to “inject emotion into notes.” Every time you pluck a string, it will trigger an emotional resonance deep within the listener’s heart.]
[Side Effect: Performing consumes a large amount of mental energy and easily attracts strange creatures (including but not limited to Eccentric Girls, “heavy” girls, and certain spiritual entities).]
“Emotional resonance… It suits this broken guitar well.”
Ai didn’t hesitate and chose to exchange.
[Ding! Purchase successful.]
[Skill loading… Integrating muscle memory…]
In an instant, a numbing current surged up his spine straight to his brain, then flowed into his arms and fingertips.
The feeling wasn’t painful; instead, it was as if countless invisible hands were guiding his muscles and adjusting his technique.
His once somewhat stiff fingers became flexible and powerful, and his understanding of notes transformed from “hearing” to “feeling.”
A few minutes later, the transformation was complete.
Ai took a deep breath and picked up the old guitar with its newly changed strings.
There was no amplifier, only the thin, metallic acoustic sound of the electric guitar.
But in the silent night, this sound was exceptionally clear.
He closed his eyes, his fingers resting lightly on the strings.
What should I play?
In this crossover anime world, there was no Jay Chou, no Xu Wei, no Beyond.
Those melodies etched into the DNA of the Huaxia people were a treasure belonging only to him here.
*Clang—*
The first note rang out.
It was an arpeggio.
It was a variation of the intro to Xu Wei’s “To Your Former Self.”
But he played it slower, heavier. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
No lyrics, only melody.
Every note was like a stone, crashing heavily into the night, carrying a sense of loneliness and detachment after experiencing the vicissitudes of life.
“Once dreamed of traveling the world with a sword, to see the prosperity of the world…”
Although he didn’t sing it out loud, the sense of “on the road” loneliness contained within the melody, with the activation of the Soul Resonance skill, turned into invisible ripples spreading in all directions…
In another corner of the park.
The bushes made a rustling sound.
A figure was crouching in the grass, holding a small flashlight, seemingly searching for something.
The girl wore a slightly oversized school uniform, her short gray hair was a bit messy, and her eyes were empty yet focused.
Takamatsu Tomori.
A “weirdo” who always drifted outside the crowd, enjoying collecting stones, band-aids, and dead cicadas.
She was lost again today.
Or rather, she just didn’t want to go home and wanted to find more “things that belong to her” outside.
Just as she was about to pick up a heart-shaped pebble, the sound of a guitar reached her ears.
The sound wasn’t pleasant.
Without the coloration of an amp, the electric guitar’s acoustic sound was thin and sharp, even carrying a hint of fret buzz.
But…
Takamatsu Tomori’s hand stopped in mid-air.
She heard it.
Behind that thin sound, someone was shouting.
It was a melody she had never heard before, carrying a sense of vastness that she couldn’t understand but was deeply shaken by.
That feeling was like a person walking on an endless wasteland, pressed hard against the ground by gravity, yet still wanting to reach out and grab the sky.
“It’s… the sound of being lost.”
Takamatsu Tomori muttered to herself.
Her body reacted before her brain.
She stood up and, like a moth attracted to a certain frequency, slowly walked toward the sound.
Passing through the bushes, she saw the boy under the streetlight.
Ai lowered his head, his messy black hair obscuring his expression.
He held the yellowed, worn-out guitar in his arms, his fingers pressing hard on the fretboard, bending the strings.
The song ended.