Anime Crossover: There are a lot of beautiful girls who like me.

only......

I don't dislike it, but that's a completely different matter from forming a band!

"Oh, right—"

Kitagawa Yu was just about to refuse.

However, at that moment, he suddenly felt that the sleeve of his school uniform jacket was being pulled by something, and he subconsciously turned his head to look.

Then he saw that the kind-hearted Karen Himegami and Anina Hachimi beside him had been moved by Shoko Toyokawa's seemingly plain but actually very emotionally charged words, and their eyes were filled with sympathy as they looked at Mutsuki Wakaba.

And then......

"Yu~~ Shall we let them try?"

"..."

We were ready to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?

At that moment, it seemed as if crows with long black spots were flying overhead, and Kitagawa Yu's lips twitched slightly.

Chapter 108 Unexpected Decisiveness and the Sudden 'Judgment of Fate'

"Is this what they call 'big but brainless'?" Kitagawa Yu was speechless.

Although he knew that, with very few exceptions, most of the beautiful girls in romance anime were quite innocent, kind, and very compassionate.

I would go up and pat the head of any stray dog ​​I saw on the roadside, and help it find a new owner.

On rainy days, she might even foolishly leave the umbrella for the puppy and go to school in the rain herself, or simply carry the puppy home in her school uniform jacket.

But aren't they too easily moved? Didn't they ever consider that Toyokawa Shoko might be lying?

However, the thought of Shirakawa Tsukiai and comparing him to her made him feel a little better.

At least, neither Himegami Karen nor Hanami Anna is smarter than Shirakawa Tsukiai, is she?

After realizing that Himegami Karen and Hanami Anna had once again united their forces and expressed their support for Toyokawa Shoko and Wakaba Mutsu's attempt to join, Kitagawa Yu looked at Toyokawa Shoko again.

"These are Karen Himemiya and Anina Hachimi, who are in the same class as me. They are also going to join my band as drummer and assistant guitarist."

"If Toyokawa-san and Wakaba-san want to join the band, I can give up my keyboardist position and let Toyokawa-san take it."

"Then Wakaba will be the bassist, I will be the lead guitarist, and my teammate Tsukimi Eiko will only be the lead vocalist."

"However, there are some things I need to say in advance. What I value most in forming a band is that we try to stay good friends for life."

"Although we consider 'music' and 'band' as our main career in the future, we don't actually have much ambition for success or making money."

"For example, we won't accept commercial performances, advertisements, or variety shows unless we are really interested in them, even if they are very profitable."

"In addition, whether or not I want to do live performances, hold fan meetings, concerts or the like depends entirely on my mood. I will never make myself too tired or overworked."

"To put it simply, we're pretty laid-back. So, Toyokawa-kun, please seriously consider whether you'd like to try joining my band!"

Kitagawa Yu looked directly into Toyokawa Shoko's eyes and said with utmost seriousness.

Although he knew that with the memories of his past life, he would eventually be able to stand at the very top of the Japanese music scene in this anime crossover world.

However, he was unsure just how great Toyokawa Shoko's "ambition" or "career aspirations" were, or how much money or how much achievement she needed to be satisfied.

He doesn't want to take on some commercial performances or advertisements, but Toyokawa Shoko values ​​these opportunities to increase fame and income and encourages everyone to take them on.

This will inevitably cause trouble for him and even the atmosphere within the band.

For example, even if concerts and live performances are very profitable, he would never do them frequently because it would damage Tsukimi Eiko's voice.

As you may have noticed, after the anime "Crying Girl Band" made Rina, the voice actress of the protagonist Isaura Nina, famous, she frequently performed live shows and held small concerts for a period of time in order to strike while the iron was hot and consolidate and increase the band's popularity, almost ruining her voice.

Therefore, even if it meant giving up important opportunities that could increase his fame and income, he would never allow that to happen to Tsukimi Eiko.

"Is this so..."

Toyokawa Shoko frowned slightly, but did not avoid Kitagawa Yu's gaze.

She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she always felt that Kitagawa Yu seemed to know her very well, which puzzled her greatly.

However, the questions raised by Kitagawa Yu do indeed conflict with her current thoughts.

Are the band members meant to remain good friends for life?

This is the kind of naive idea that only the innocent girl she once had would hold.

Having experienced drastic family changes and harsh realities in society, and having to work as a customer service representative every day to earn a living, she no longer harbors such naive ideas.

Of course, if Kitagawa Yu and the Shirasa Band can really become her 'tools' to achieve her goals, she will definitely protect Kitagawa Yu, the Shirasa Band, and the relationships between each member more wholeheartedly than anyone else, even if it means humbling herself to kneel down and beg them.

But can Kitagawa Yu, who is so casual and even willful, accepting commercial performances, advertisements, and variety shows depending on her mood, and holding live performances and concerts also depending on her mood, really help her achieve her ambitions?

At this moment, Toyokawa Shoko really wanted to ask Kitagawa Yu what made him so confident that he could make everyone in the band live well with such a laid-back attitude.

She also wanted to listen to other songs written by Kitagawa Yu to give her more information to make a decision.

Unfortunately, if she really did that... even an idiot would be able to see through her previously deliberately hidden ulterior motives, right?

Shoko Toyokawa subconsciously glanced at Karen Himegami and Anana Hanami beside Yu Kitagawa, pausing briefly, especially at Karen Himegami's two enormous Devil Fruits, before suddenly wavering.

"If it's that fierce...maybe..."

Toyokawa Shoko quickly shook her head inwardly, trying to dispel her wild thoughts.

Then, just when Kitagawa Yu thought she would go back and think it over carefully, Toyokawa Shoko, who had been considering it since last night, made a very decisive decision.

“I understand. Kitagawa-kun is not only the band leader, but also the soul of the band. So when we have different ideas, Wakaba and I are willing to listen to Kitagawa-kun! Please allow Wakaba and me to try joining the Shirasa Band!”

Toyokawa Shoko looked directly into Kitagawa Yu's eyes, her gaze firm and sincere.

According to her original plan to form her own band, she was confident that by utilizing all available resources, Ave Mujica could break through the 'underground' level and become a third-tier band within two or three months, and then rise to the 'bottom-tier' level within the next two years.

Because she knew very well that Sumii's popularity growth had stagnated, stuck in the 'mid-tier of third-tier idols' category. It wasn't because the lead vocalist, Mikami Hatsuka, wasn't pretty or sang well; it was simply because they lacked good material, and their agency wasn't very capable.

If she can write a few more songs of the same caliber as "Spring Shadow", coupled with the singing ability of Misumi Hatsuka, as well as the popularity of sumimi, Yutenji Wakanagi, and Wakaba Mutsu herself, it wouldn't be difficult for her to rise to the bottom of the second tier.

However, after being promoted to the 'bottom of the second tier' level, she was not confident about advancing further.

Because bands are different from idols, once you reach that level, it really comes down to a real competition of creative ability.

Moreover, having only one or two representative works is not enough; one must be able to continuously create excellent works, and at least two or three masterpieces are required.

Just like the anime "MYGO" and "Crying Girl Band" in the previous life, which made the bands MYGO and TOGENASHI TOGEARI famous, allowing them to reach a relatively high level among third-tier bands in a very short period of time.

Even so, with the full support of their talent agencies and music companies, they still failed to cross the threshold between third-tier and second-tier bands and become a second-tier band.

In particular, the group, encouraged by their ambitious agency, impulsively went to the 'Tokyo Dome City Performance Hall' (not the main Tokyo Dome, which can only accommodate 3000 people at most) and held a special performance.

After a long period of anticipation, the occupancy rate couldn't even reach two-thirds, which was quite embarrassing.

Later, it was only after performing with MYGO that I dared to hold another concert at a "second-tier" venue like the Tokyo Dome City Performance Hall, which can accommodate 3000 people.

The biggest problem here is that they lack high-quality works.

In fact, the two bands' representative works, "Spring Shadow" and "Our City," seemed very popular and sounded great, but in the highly competitive J-POP scene where good works emerge one after another, they could not even be considered small masterpieces, but only 'high-quality' works.

It's the kind of music that you can enjoy without watching the music video or animation, and you can put it on your playlist and play it on repeat dozens of times.

Songs like "The Empty Box" don't even reach the 'high quality' level; they're just okay. Aside from the fans brought in by the anime, most people who listen to music wouldn't listen to this song on repeat dozens of times.

As for the rest, including those selected as anime ending themes or insert songs, they are really just mediocre works in the J-POP scene.

Most people might hear a song once and then forget it immediately, without even bothering to find out its name, let alone remember it.

Even in anime, because the settings and art style are relatively realistic.

Having joined the 'Golden Archer' agency's assassin group, their fame has increased significantly thanks to the agency's vigorous promotion.

The number of followers on Instagram has increased from over three hundred to over two thousand.

Spotify's listener count also increased by more than 700.

His new song "Flower of Destiny" only had a paltry 103 full plays 24 hours after its release on Spotify.

Even if this is a deliberate attempt to suppress the plot, the fact that less than one-seventh of the more than seven hundred "fans" listened to the entire song reflects its quality.

As for the other songs by the band... even with the agency's heavy promotion, less than 300 tickets were sold in the final live showdown of the original anime, which also speaks volumes.

In comparison, the End Band in "Lonely Rock" is much better than them.

Although there are no masterpieces, there are three or four works that reach the 'high quality' level, such as "Youth Syndrome" and "Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet".

In addition, "Lonely Rock" was more popular than "MYGO" and "Crying Girl Band", and had more fans.

So, the band that was just starting out in the anime actually quickly crossed the threshold and became a second-tier band after the anime ended in the previous life.

Shoko Toyokawa believes she has the ability to write several more high-quality works comparable to "Kasuga Kage" and, with her band, reach the level of a "bottom-tier second-tier band".

But when it came to competing on the quantity of high-quality products, she lost confidence.

Of the two songs released by Kitagawa Yu so far, "Sunflower" can only be considered somewhere between "high-quality" and "medium-quality".

But "Horizon" is a masterpiece, a classic that has remained on the Billboard weekly chart for four or five years without falling out of the top 50, a timeless classic that has been played on repeat countless times.

This is a song she might never be able to write in her entire life.

Therefore, in her eyes, Kitagawa Yu, who was able to write "Horizon", undoubtedly had an extremely high ceiling.

Even if Kitagawa Yu is unable to write songs of the caliber of "Horizon" again, this one masterpiece alone, along with a sufficient number of high-quality works, can still elevate the band's level to the top of the second tier.

Therefore, whether it's to satisfy her own 'ambition' or to help Wakaba Mutsu, she will definitely choose to join Kitagawa Yu's Shirasa Band.

Even if Kitagawa Yu doesn't like to hold too many concerts, he can make up for it with quality if he doesn't have enough quantity.

A top-tier second-tier band can hold a concert for around 10000 people. One such concert is equivalent to five concerts by a bottom-tier second-tier band or ten concerts by a mid-tier third-tier band.

If she could become a top-tier band... Kitagawa Yu wouldn't mind if she only held one or two concerts a year.

In fact, given her clear understanding of her own strength and talent, her ambition was not as great as Kitagawa Yu imagined.

Furthermore, her rationality effectively restrained her ambition, so Kitagawa Yu's worries were completely unnecessary.

"Well... let's give it a try!"

Kitagawa Yu was unaware of these considerations in her mind.

However, since Toyokawa Shoko has already said so.

Most importantly, Himegami Karen and Hachimi Anna, whose sympathy had been stirred, also thought it was worth trying to form a group.