Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

When Miya pushed open the bathroom door, a cloud of steam billowed out from behind her, and the floral scent of shampoo and shower gel instantly filled most of the dormitory room.

She was wearing a light blue nightgown, the neckline loosely tilted to one side, revealing half of her shoulder, which was pink and rosy from being soaked in hot water. A half-wet towel was draped around her neck, and water droplets from the ends of her hair dripped down her collarbone and into the neckline.

Xiao Ye's hand, which was holding potato chips, froze in mid-air. His eyes, hidden beneath his short red hair, accidentally glanced at Mi Ye, and then his entire face turned red at a visible speed.

She suddenly turned her head, the movement so large that she almost knocked over the cola in Asase's hand.

"You, you, you should put on some clothes before you come out!"

Mi Ye looked down at herself; her nightgown was perfectly fine, covering everything that needed to be covered.

"I wore it."

Xiaoye refused to turn back.

Asase, standing to the side, calmly sized up Miya.

"Miya, do you want to become an idol?"

"……what?"

Miya tilted her head, and water droplets from the ends of her hair dripped onto her shoulder.

"I'm serious. If you put your face on the MikuFans homepage and just made a mindless dance video, it would easily make it into the top 20 of the trending list."

"What...what is it all..."

Miya scratched her still-dripping head, completely baffled as to what the two were talking about.

She walked to her bedside in her slippers, hung the towel on the headboard to dry, then climbed onto the bed, sat cross-legged, and continued drying her hair.

Before she came out of the bathroom, she had been thinking about the spot. Lu Yue had given her two, she would use one, and who should she give the other to?

Her gaze swept around the dormitory room.

Xiaoye lay on the bed with his legs crossed, humming the song that Zhenye had just sung while scrolling through his tablet, though he was off-key by at least three notes.

Asase sat on the lower bunk, holding a bottle of sparkling water. Her phone screen displayed an auction page for limited-edition Nekomoku merchandise, with a starting bid of 2,800 Loren. She calmly typed in a bid of 3,500.

One spot, two roommates—this problem has no solution.

Miya decided to hold back for now and dry her hair first.

She picked up her phone and habitually opened MikuFans. Sure enough, the familiar avatar was still lit up, and Little Ghost was live streaming.

It was almost 1:30 a.m., and with the game promotion livestream taking up almost all the site's traffic in the middle of the night, Xiao Youling's livestream room seemed even quieter than usual.

When Mi Ye clicked in, it showed that there were only a dozen or so people online, and the comments were sparse, with only one appearing every now and then.

The little ghost on the screen was wearing her signature white nightgown, and her tone sounded somewhat downcast.

The little ghost was thanking the viewers in the live chat when his gaze swept over the user list, and he suddenly paused.

"Welcome, Flos! Good evening, still awake?"

Her voice sounded noticeably happier. Mi Ye typed back, "Just finished showering and came to see you." Then Little Ghost smiled and said, "Then I'll sing you a song. It's perfect that you're here."

So he played a piece that Mi Ye had never heard before. The dozen or so viewers in the live stream listened quietly, and a few simple comments like "It's nice" and "Goodnight" floated across the screen.

After she finished singing, Little Ghost was silent for a while, with a smile still on her face, but Miya noticed that something was wrong with her.

Mi Ye typed in the public chat, asking what was wrong. Little Ghost tilted his head, his tone feigning nonchalance.

"It's a bit of a shame, you know that really popular game lately? But I didn't get a spot in the first closed beta test. I was thinking that if I could sing in 'Starfall', the effect would be amazing, and I could see it clearly... but the official announcement said the second closed beta test won't be until February..."

As she said this, a crack finally appeared in her smile.

Then he lowered his head, his fingers unconsciously plucking the guitar strings, producing fragmented, melody-less sounds.

"Actually... I'm thinking about something much further ahead. The official team also announced an event for this first test, saying that idol groups that have access to the first test can do live streams and make videos in the game. The group that gains the most fans within a month will get the qualification to perform at the Kohaku Uta Gassen."

Upon hearing the words "Red and White Song Festival," Miya paused in her act of drying her hair.

She remembered the name.

In Bella Vita, the Red and White Song Battle is a sacred place for all idols and singers. It is held every six months, and the entry requirements are ridiculously high. Basically, only the most influential top idol groups can step onto that stage.

The previous Kohaku Uta Gassen had 270 million viewers, and the broadcast covered all three major cities. Even the cafeteria TVs at a magic academy like Tsuki no Mori were broadcasting it. Asase said that she started watching Mayo Shita after seeing Nyan Mutsu's performance at the previous Kohaku Uta Gassen.

The little ghost twirled her long white hair that hung over her shoulder with her fingers, making circles and circles.

"My dream is... to perform on the Kohaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Battle), even if it's just standing in the corner of the stage and singing a short song, it would be worth it in this lifetime."

Then she smiled awkwardly, as if afraid that her seemingly unrealistic dream would be ridiculed.

"But it's probably impossible. Look at me, I only have a little over a thousand followers. Top streamers can gain hundreds of thousands of followers with just a preview live stream. This kind of event is not even in the same league as small streamers like us."

"Besides, I didn't even get a spot... I'll just keep it as a hope. It's better to have something to hope for than nothing."

She played another slightly melancholic slow song, then said goodnight to the camera.

Before ending the live stream, Little Ghost took one last look at the online list. When he saw that the ID 【flos】 was still lit up, the corner of his mouth curved slightly.

Goodnight, Flower, see you tomorrow.

"..."

After the live stream screen went black, Mi Ye stared at the black screen for a long time.

Without hesitation, she switched directly to WW to find Little Ghost's account and typed rapidly.

【Are you there?】

What's wrong?

Are you going to sleep?

[I was just getting ready to sleep, what's up?]

Mi Ye stopped typing and directly sent over the screenshot of the activation code that Lu Yue had sent her, cropping out the one that she had already activated, and the complete screenshot of the other one.

I have two spots available, wanna play together?

【…? 】

Is this true?

There's really no need to comfort me like that; my dream was a bit unrealistic to begin with...

Without wasting any words, Mi Ye sent over a screenshot of the activation success confirmation page, which also displayed the official anti-counterfeiting watermark of Qianjing Group.

It's really true!

There was a long silence on the other end, and then the message notification sound exploded. Mi Ye turned down the phone volume, opened the voice message, and Little Ghost's voice burst out from the earpiece.

【ah?!】

【Miss, are you a god?! My god!!!】

【Ahhhh, I thought you were joking! I almost said you didn't need to comfort me—cough cough cough! But you actually did it!!】

[Waaah—thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll sing you ten songs tomorrow! No, twenty! You can hear whatever you want, I'll sing them all for you!!]

[Wait, does this activation code expire? I'll activate it now!]

Miya heard a flurry of activity coming from the other end of the voice chat, as if something had been bumped into. The little ghost cried out "Ah!" and then made a couple more casual noises.

Miya couldn't help but bury her face in the pillow and laugh out loud.

By the time the little ghost finally finished activating and returned to WW, almost ten minutes had passed.

Miya and Miya made a promise in the chat box that they would explore the game together later.

The little ghost sent a series of "uh-huh" emojis, along with a little white cat crying while holding its phone.

Miya simply smiled and replied with a head-patting emoji, and then the two said goodnight to each other.

She turned off her phone and placed it on the bedside table, then turned over and pulled the covers tighter around her.

A sliver of pale blue light shone through the gap in the curtains from the glowing vines of the peach tree outside the window, falling onto the headboard railing.

Miya closed her eyes, and the plan in her mind grew little by little, like a flower sprouting.

She had secured the first test qualification, and she also had a general idea of ​​how high the threshold for the Red and White Song Festival was.

But what if?

What if she can really help Little Ghost get onto that stage?

She huddled under the covers, her lips still slightly upturned, and soon her breathing became even and deep.