My daily life in various anime crossovers can't possibly be this sci-fi.

"Seriously, what the hell is that thing?" A soldier's palms were sweating as he stared tremblingly at the tin can that was going berserk on the city center street with the muzzle of his stun grenade launcher. "That thing... is it ship-mounted equipment?"

“It doesn’t look like it.” Another soldier, cold sweat beading on his forehead, said, “Where in the world is there ship armor with so many armor plates…”

At this moment, the steel monster, covered head to toe in armor plating and estimated to weigh one or two tons, was wreaking havoc on the street like a drunken elephant. Three small cars were nearly overturned, and five stalls had already been overturned. However, it seemed the driver inside the tin can was struggling to control its movements, as the tin can's actions had actually slowed considerably since the alarm was received.

"Hey! I recognize it!" a soldier pointed to the emblem on the tin can's chest. "That's the Foundation's mark!"

"The Foundation? That's the bizarre, interdimensional organization? Is that a traveler?" The captain exclaimed in shock. "Ceasefire! Ceasefire immediately!"

"Nobody's firing anyway, so why should we stop?"

The tin cans finally calmed down and could walk freely on the street without knocking things over.

"Damn it! This is going to be really bad!"

Jiang Jinghua looked up at the sky and sighed from inside the power armor.

……

After that comical little incident, Jiang Jinghua was finally able to drive the Foundation's standard power armor around the streets, although passersby kept giving him strange looks and pointing at him.

Fortunately, the armor doesn't show the face, otherwise Jiang Jinghua would probably be on the front page of today's Hong Kong Daily.

Although everyone's gazes towards him became somewhat subtle, few people bothered him out of respect for the foundation. As for the cleanup work, it was handled by the foundation's staff; Jiang Jinghua himself only lost some academic credits, which was not a serious matter.

Through this incident, Jiang Jinghua learned a valuable lesson: power armor is not easy to drive.

Even though this training-specific powered armor greatly simplifies operation and introduces a fairly advanced artificial intelligence system to assist in operation, it is still different from playing a video game, which can be mastered in just a few minutes.

It looks like I'll have plenty of work to do all day...

……

at the same time.

After morning training, the afternoon was μ's free time. It was 3 PM now. Honoka was playing games downstairs with Minami Kotori, the three third-year students were taking a walk on the beach, the two first-year students were surfing the internet on their smartphones, and the last two remaining, Sonoda Umi and Nishikino Maki, were diligently trying to compose music at their desks...

"Hmm..." Nishikino Maki looked quite annoyed.

After pondering for nearly three minutes, Maki finally decided to completely abandon the score in front of her, which was no longer composing. She vented her frustration by scribbling on the paper with a large marker, completely obscuring what was originally written on it, leaving only the characters "Boku" and "Hikaru" in the title.

"What's wrong?" Umi put the drink bottle on the table. "Have you hit a creative block?"

“Yes.” Maki Nishikino sighed. “This song… I have no inspiration at this stage. I get inexplicably frustrated while writing, and no matter how hard I try to arrange the music, the melody just doesn’t sound right.”

“In that case, we’ll have to give up.” Umi sat down next to Maki. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

"Ah, even though that's true, giving up is a bit of a problem..." Nishikino Maki picked up her drink and took a big gulp. "I guess I still have to give up. I don't think I can ever do this piece well no matter what I do."

Just then, Koizumi Hanayo suddenly pushed open the room door.

"Something terrible has happened!" Koizumi Hanayo gasped for breath as she stared at the two people at the table with eyes that burned with a strange light.

"What's wrong? Hanayo-chan, you're scaring me!" Umi was caught off guard.

"It's...it's that...the one where the preliminaries have started!" Koizumi Hanayo shouted, "That Love Live!"

what

Section 54, Chapter Fifty-Four: Love Live

Just half an hour later, the people who had been going about their own business in different places suddenly gathered around a large table in the cafeteria below the dormitory building, as if drawn by a black hole, and their expressions were all very solemn.

At this moment, the one who was leading the conversation at the table was none other than Koizumi Hanayo, who had always been quite shy and inconspicuous among the nine people.

At this moment, Koizumi Hanayo seemed like a completely different person. Her eyes behind her brown half-rimmed glasses shone brightly. Originally, she should have been a timid character according to the setting, but now she seemed to be possessed by Martin Luther King Jr., and every word she uttered was filled with unparalleled passion and inflammatory power.

"Yes, that's it!" She slammed her hand on the table excitedly. "It's Love Live! It's that legendary national tournament that has an emperor-like reputation in the school idol world!"

“That’s right, absolutely.” Yazawa Nico interlocked her fingers, rested her chin on her hands, and looked serious and solemn, as if she were speaking to a pile of black stone tablets. “Let alone winning the championship… even just making it into the top 64, no, even just gaining the right to compete nationwide through the regional preliminaries, is already an unparalleled honor for a school idol… an unparalleled honor worth risking one’s life for!”

"Well, I think exchanging one's life for it might be a bit too much..."

“I heard that the very famous A-RISE…” Honoka Kousaka’s expression was more serious than ever before, “when they first participated in Love Live, they only got a national ranking of 47th.”

"Huh?" Hoshizora Rin was utterly astonished, even though she wasn't wearing glasses at the moment. "That... even that scoundrel..."

"Although those were their results when they had only been debuting for six months, it would be very easy for them to achieve a higher ranking now," Sonoda Umi said calmly with her signature (to outsiders) cool and aloof expression. "However, this is enough to show just how brutal the battlefield is for idols in Love Live!"

"Well, even so, I believe that as long as we work hard enough..." Minami Kotori said with a smile, her attitude was still quite optimistic, "...at least making it into the top 64 shouldn't be a problem, right?"

“Optimism is a good thing, but blind optimism is not.” Eri shook her head. “Don’t be fooled by our current online popularity. We must face reality: μ’s is still essentially a makeshift group. We can’t be called real idols at all, not even real school idols. At most, we are just ‘temporary’ types.”

"...What temporary worker?!" Yazawa Nico seemed very unhappy about this, gesticulating wildly as she argued, "I'm the cutest idol in the entire galaxy..."

"You're not only an idiot, but your ** is also very small, so please don't interrupt." Ayase Eli glanced at Yazawa Nico, and this extremely damaging sentence (especially the middle half) made Yazawa Nico collapse helplessly onto the table like a broken **.

“If we really want to achieve outstanding results in Love Live, then we must start today…” A resolute glint flashed in Eli Ayase’s eyes, “…and begin unimaginably high-intensity targeted training to address the format of the preliminary rounds. Hanayo-chan, please tell us exactly what the format of the Love Live preliminary rounds is.”

"Roger that!" Koizumi Hanayo looked full of energy. "Hmm, from what I understand, the preliminary rounds are being held in various regions of Japan, and one of the most important characteristics is... 'starting from scratch'! During the month-long preliminary rounds starting October 1st, all participating groups can hold up to three live performances under the supervision of the organizers, and all popularity data used as the final evaluation criterion will be based on these three live performances! Although we have already qualified to participate in the preliminary rounds, we still have to stand out from hundreds of similar groups in our region!"

"In addition, all songs used in these three live performances must be 'never-before-released' songs!"

As soon as Koizumi Hanayo finished speaking, everyone began a heated discussion about the competition format.

"In that case, we have to urgently create a lot of songs during this period of time, and we also have to rehearse them thoroughly..." Minami Kotori lowered her head and began to mutter to herself, "It's a huge challenge."

"Preparations should begin today." Sonoda Umi nodded. "Whether it's me writing the lyrics, Maki composing the music, or Eri-senpai in charge of choreography, we all need to start working hard."

"In addition, promotional efforts targeting our existing fan base must also begin!" Nico Yazawa said.

“It’s not just about the existing fan base,” Nozomi Tojo shook her head. “We also need to start promoting to other casual fans as soon as possible. Once we get back to Earth, we’ll have to start distributing flyers. Also, it seems like Akihabara’s newest ace maid, Nana-chan, could be of some help in this regard?”

When she finished speaking, Tojo Nozomi gave Minami Kotori a teasing look, as Minami's expression was quite awkward.

"Ah...haha, you all...you all know?" Minami Kotori's smile was quite forced at this moment.

"I already knew!" Honoka shouted happily, "And I even secretly took some super cute photos!"

"Eeya!" Minami Kotori let out a melodious cry like a startled bird.

“So, there’s really no need to hide this kind of thing.” Sonoda Umi sighed, looking at her best friend with a “I can’t do anything with you” look. “We don’t think this kind of thing is bad at all. On the contrary, it’s great that Kotori-chan was able to muster up the courage to do something she felt embarrassed about.”

"No...whatever, let's not talk about that anymore..." Kotori said, blushing. "Let's focus on Love Live!"

“Well then, let me briefly explain the recent schedule.” Ayase Eli tapped the table slightly to attract everyone’s attention. “We have half a day free tomorrow, but starting the day after tomorrow, we must put in 200% effort into rehearsals.”

"Whether it's composing, arranging, physical and technical training, or familiarity with the songs, these are all problems that must be solved. We must be able to perform our first show before October 1st," Eri continued. "After all, we are a new group, and if we want to get a ticket to the national competition, we must win by sheer volume, so the maximum of three performances is a must."

"One...three times a month?" Honoka Kousaka's eyes widened. "We've only had two concerts in the last month! And both times there was only one song!"

“If it’s for the preliminary rounds, of course there can’t be just one song.” Ayase Eli shook her head. “So, as I said, the situation is very serious. Our vacation is down to just tonight and half a day tomorrow.”

"Ugh—!" Honoka Kousaka slumped weakly onto the table. "This is so troublesome..."

what

Section 55, Chapter Fifty-Five: Why Do People Fan Idols?

“I think the purpose of this competition format is to test everyone’s ability to perform under pressure and organize events,” said Maki Nishikino. “If you can organize three concerts that are above average within a month, then you can put on a perfect concert if you have enough time.”

"But three times a month is just too unreasonable!" Rin Hoshizora protested. "It'll break!"

“Well, after all, it’s a national-level school idol competition, so it’s normal to come up with this kind of extreme competition format.” Nozomi Tojo nodded.

"Yeah!" Honoka Kousaka slammed her hand on the table and stood up. "But no matter how troublesome it is, we must maintain 100% enthusiasm and keep going! What's a mere national tournament? I'm going to be the woman who conquers the galaxy!"

"Alright everyone!" she declared energetically in a high-pitched voice, "Starting the day after tomorrow—no, starting today! Let's all fight together!"

……

The air suddenly became very quiet.

"Hey, you guys..." Honoka's expression gradually turned awkward, "Wouldn't it be better to give a little response..."

"Although I really wanted to respond, after thinking about it..." Minami Kotori looked at Honoka with a mischievous smile, "I guess I'll just leave it at that. This kind of reaction is not bad either."

"Are you kidding me?!" Honoka puffed out her cheeks angrily, like an amphibian.

“Oh right, I have a strange feeling…” Tojo Nozomi squinted her eyes, “…it’s like someone is watching us.”

"If you're asking who's watching us, there's really only one possibility." Sonoda Umi turned around to look at Jiang Jinghua, who had somehow appeared at the door. "We've finished our business. Feel free to speak if you'd like. Oh, by the way, did you hear what we were talking about?"

“Of course I heard you clearly.” Jiang Jinghua nodded. “I don’t know much about Love Live, but I do know that it’s a famous idol competition. I have nothing to say except to wish you good luck in the competition.”

In fact, according to Jiang Jinghua's own thinking, competitions at the level of the "National Tournament" are not suitable for newcomers like μ's. For μ's to compete with groups that are already popular nationwide is tantamount to sending Israel into a nuclear war with the United States; the outcome will not be favorable for them no matter what.

Conversely, smaller competitions are more suitable for them to gradually hone their skills and build a fan base. However, since he wasn't related to them, if they were determined to participate, he couldn't say anything beyond offering his support.

Hmm... But to put it bluntly, a setback at the national tournament might actually be a boost to their future development...

"Alright, everyone, that's it!" Honoka said. "Let's make the most of this last night of vacation and have some fun!"

The nine people scattered like birds and beasts.

After everyone left the restaurant, Jiang Jinghua sat down at the table where the nine people had been sitting and began to ponder various questions. While listening to their conversation, he had accumulated a lot of jumbled thoughts, and he wanted to sort them out.

I feel like I've inexplicably become a die-hard fan of the nine of them... I even have a feeling that I want to go beyond being a fan and treat them as "comrades." On the other hand, although he holds the position of director in the Nameless Society because of Tomoya's request, he can only regard the people in the society as "collaborators" rather than "comrades."

So I really am the kind of person who values ​​romance over friendship... Oh no, this seems to have gone too far off track.

Be serious. Why do I want to consider everyone in μ's as my comrades?

Was it just because of that song? Or because of Honoka's seemingly childish but actually quite noble ideal? Or because of the nine members' innocent and adorable personalities, or... well, just the effect of male hormones?

Forget about all that nonsense. Let's focus on writing the shipboard equipment trial report from this morning.

Doing your job well is more important than anything else.

Jiang Jinghua stood up, intending to return to his room.

……

I still can't calm down.

After writing a report of about three or four hundred words, Jiang Jinghua sighed and closed the word processing software in front of him.

He's in a terrible mood... he doesn't know why. Ever since he heard the word "Lovelive" during the conversation, he's felt inexplicably irritable. What the hell?

……