Rayen backed up, sweat trickling down his forehead. Xi Huan closed in on him with a mysterious smile on her face. She scrutinized Rayen’s face closely.
"You’re scared?" she asked, tilting her head.
Finally, she pulled herself away from him, but it did not ease Rayen’s anxiety. What if he just thought his mind was clear, but in truth, she had already hypnotized him to hand over his music sheet?
"Don’t worry, I won’t take yours," she said.
"I said I won’t take yours," she repeated.
Just then, three sheets of paper appeared between her fingers like magic. Rayen watched in amazement.
"You see, I already have three sheets."
Rayen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"So... Wan’na do a transaction?" Xi Huan suddenly offered with a wide smile. "I have three sheets, but one of them is from another song. So, if you have a music sheet from the same song set as mine, I’ll gladly trade with you."
Xi Huan handed Rayen the three music sheets, which Rayen read immediately. His eyes briefly paused at the two music sheets which were from the same set.
Coincidentally, it was part of the same set of the music sheet he had found and kept. Xi Huan had found the 2nd and 8th parts of the song.
Then, Rayen read the music sheet that wasn’t from the different song set.
Rayen first read the lyrics of the song.
"Yo, whenever there’s a song,
I can’t help but dance to the beat."
From the lyrics itself, Rayen could see it was an upbeat song. He even imagined in his head how it would sound based on the given melody. It wasn’t complete, but as an experienced band member, he could imagine and make-up some impromptu melody to guess what kind of song it was.
Overall, he liked the song — if he was right about the melody.
However, what Rayen didn’t like was the part itself. It wasn’t really a long part, occupying just half of the page. Rayen believed this part was after the chorus; the first two lines of the second verse.
If his made-up melody was close to how the original song was, the chorus was probably a powerful one. But the start of the second verse... It was when the song returned to its calm state.
It wasn’t flashy enough.
Since the first time he had come to this show, his sponsors had always pointed out to him that he must stand out. So, for a two-line part of a song... If it was a little longer, he might’ve considered it.
And besides, the music sheet he had found himself was better. It was the start of the chorus. Why would he switch to a more obscure part of another song?
"I’m sorry," Rayen said. "I don’t want to trade."
Rayen didn’t specify why he didn’t want to trade. What if he told Xi Huan that his original music sheet was from the same set as hers? He might end up duped like those participants earlier.
However, Rayen had forgotten about
the others with Xi Huan.
"What song did you get?" Adrian asked out of nowhere.
Rayen stiffened. Right, he had forgotten that Adrian and Xu Jiji were with this strange magician.
He wanted to glare at Adrian, but as if he realized it would reveal his intentions, he held himself back. Instead, he raised his eyebrows toward him.
"Why? Wanna trade too? I don’t want to," he said.
Before Adrian could even speak again, Rayen shut him up.
’Better to avoid them for now.’
Rayen quickly shuffled his feet toward his original destination — the interview room. He didn’t know if Xi Huan and the other two had scourged up this place already, but he just wanted to get away from them as fast as possible.
Yet, when he entered the room, he was accompanied by the three. Rayen turned around to see them also searching the place.
"I only have one sheet," Adrian said, noticing his expression.
"I-I’m just tagging along with my teammates," Xu Jiji said.
A look of puzzlement showed on Rayen’s face, but he realized what Xu Jiji meant after thinking about it for a while.
’He must have gotten the same set as them.’
Rayen gazed at Adrian to try to confirm his thoughts, but the guy was busy searching the whole place. Surprisingly though, Adrian seemed to have noticed him staring.
"I gave it to him," Adrian said, looking back with a lazy smile.
’Do you have eyes on the back of your head?’
"What did you demand from the kid?" Rayen asked.
He knew that despite Adrian’s pretty outgoing nature, he had a shrewd side to him. It was definitely possible that Xu Jiji might have been threatened by him.
"What do you take me for?" Adrian said, acting as if he was hurt by Rayen’s words. "I gave it without asking anything in return."
Rayen’s face definitely said he didn’t believe him.
"It’s true, brother," Xu Jiji defended Adrian.
Still, Rayen couldn’t believe it.
Adrian sighed. "I coincidentally found two sheets from the same song. How lucky, right?"
Just earlier, Rayen had also found two sheets from the same song. Maybe it wasn’t coincidental at all. The sheets from the same set were probably hidden near each other.
It must not have been that way for the entire song, though. After all, Xi Huan and Adrian were a bit far from where Rayen had found the two music sheets.
But that didn’t disperse Rayen’s doubts about Adrian’s intention of giving Xu Jiji a free music sheet. There must be something to it.
So, he turned to Xu Jiji.
"Can you show me your part?" Rayen asked.
"S-Sure..." Xu Jiji said despite his confusion.
"Heh, you can’t even trust your friend? I gave him a good part, you know," Adrian said with a pout.
"Quit acting like you’re hurt. It’s disgusting."
As he handed Rayen the music sheet, Xu Jiji’s gaze flitted between them. He hadn’t seen Rayen act during their practices. Silently, he giggled in his mind.
Meanwhile, Rayen observed the music sheet in his hand. He lifted his gaze to look at Adrian, still with a look full of doubts.
"I gave him a good part, right?" Adrian asked, full of smiles.
True enough, it was a good part.