"STOP!"
Cain plugged his ears as Fifi screamed. It was the first time he had heard her raise her voice, and in contrast to her calm demeanor, she could really scream.
"What? You're hurting my ears," Cain growled.
"You're the one who's hurting my ears! Just what in the world are you doing?"
"Singing," Cain answered nonchalantly.
"S-singing?" Fifi felt an indescribable dread that slowly boiled in the pit of her stomach until it reached her heart and crushed her spirit. "Y-you . . . don't tell me that you . .
. you're tone-deaf!"
[NOTE: A tone-deaf person is someone who has difficulty or inability to perceive pitch accurately, making it hard for them to sing in tune or recognize differences in musical notes. This condition is also known as amusia. It means they can't distinguish between different pitches and often sing off-key, making their musical perception and performance sound unpleasant to others.]
"Huh?" Cain raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who asked me to sing."
[NEW Skill Acquired!]
[SINGING LV. 1!]
"Oh. I've acquired a skill," Cain said. "So this is how it works. I just have to try once, and it appears in my list of skills."
"Don't be so happy!" Fifi reprimanded. "What's so good about a singing skill at level one?!"
Fifi lamented. She thought everything would be smooth sailing because of Cain's handsome face, but could it be that he's like the majority of the population here? All appearance with no real talent?
"What's wrong with level one?" Cain asked, unperturbed. "At least I acquired the skill."
Fifi rubbed her temples. "It's a very low level, meaning you have to start from the very basics."
"Come to think of it. How do you increase these skills?" Cain asked, tapping at his skills on the screen.
"You have to practice and do it repeatedly for it to increase," Fifi explained with a lack of enthusiasm.
"I see." Cain looked at his clenched fist. That means that even his fighting skills will increase, right?
"Why do I get the feeling that your grin is about increasing your fighting skills rather than your singing skill?"
"I don't know how to act or play an instrument," Cain said, thinking. "Maybe if I saw one playing . . ." He recalled that his members play a guitar, but he didn't give it much thought then.
"You don't even have a guitar in here," Fifi deadpanned.
Cain stood and went to the door. He opened it and yelled, "Someone get me a guitar right now!"
Within seconds, the gang members scrambled to their feet and found a guitar for Cain. They had guitars and drums downstairs because some of the gang members liked to play. They had a lot of free time.
"B-boss . . . what do you need a guitar for?"
Cain's answer came with a hard glare, followed by the loud bang of the door.
Joker and Bones exchanged a look.
"What's gotten into Cain?" Joker asked. "Did he hit his head or something? Don't tell me that he's going to break that guitar. That cost a lot too, even if it's only secondhand."
Bones laughed. "Ohohohoho. Maybe he's going to learn to play it."
"Cain? Playing?"
There was silence for a moment before they burst out laughing.
"That guy couldn't even sing the alphabet," Joker laughed. "He's tone-deaf. How could he play if he doesn't know the tunes?"
"He's probably confiscating that guitar. You know how he hates it when we play downstairs."
Everyone laughed again.
Joker got up. "Alright, we're wasting time here. Let's go out and have some fun!"
"Yeah!"
"But what about the boss?"
"Don't worry about him." Joker waved his hand dismissively. "If he's shutting himself up in his room, then he's probably doing something important that he doesn't want anyone to disturb him."
". . . Masturbating?"
Silence hung heavy in the air before they all laughed again.
Joker and Bones exchanged knowing looks before they sighed. If only Cain was indeed into those things, they'd be really happy.