After dropping out of school, I chose to join a girls' band.

Yue felt inexplicably afraid of Oba-senpai, like a hunter and its prey.

Compared to Yue's reserved demeanor, Aine enthusiastically went up to talk to Ooba Nana.

"I didn't get a chance to say hello to Nana-senpai and Hikaru-senpai when I went to the show last time. I thought I would miss them. I didn't expect that Nana-senpai would actually come to see our show."

Hearing Aine's words, Nana Ohba smiled and said, "Didn't we already say that on the phone before? If we have the chance, we will definitely come back to see your performance. Good luck, Aine, and of course, Tsukiko too!"

"We will work hard! We will definitely bring the best performance to the audience on stage."

Yue's reply was full of passion.

"Then I'll go with everyone to the audience seats and wait for your performance~"

After saying her piece, Nana Oba bid farewell to everyone and left the backstage area.

"call……"

Seeing that Nana Oba had left her sight, Yue finally breathed a sigh of relief. Logically speaking, it wasn't that she hadn't met the seniors from the 100th and 101st classes before, but for some reason, Nana Oba made her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles, and she didn't know where to put her hands and feet.

"Xiaoyue...are you nervous?"

Gao Songdeng noticed Yue's tense expression earlier and asked her with concern.

"Hmm... there was a little bit just now, but it's fine now."

Yue didn't intend to tell everyone her feelings; she had a premonition that the sense of danger Nana Ohba gave her was definitely related to the giraffe again.

————Two flowers bloom, each telling a story——————

Today is the weekend, and Xiangzi, who should have been at work, took a rare day off. She still remembers the surprised yet knowing look on the director's face when she asked for leave last night.

Although she was still wearing the same exquisite dress she had worn for a long time, she had put on a delicate makeup look for the first time in a long time, trying her best to show off Toyokawa Shoko's most beautiful face.

"..."

Xiangzi looked up at the Live House in front of her. Looking at this familiar building, the wonderful memories of Crychic came flooding back to her, as if it were yesterday.

"...Xiang?"

Noticing that something was wrong with Shoko beside her, Wakaba Mutsu took the initiative to ask her what was wrong.

It took Xiangzi a while to react after hearing Mu's shouts.

"...Ah...Mu, what's wrong?"

"Xiang... is acting a little strange."

Mu said expressionlessly.

"It's alright... everything should be over today."

Toyokawa Shoko stared at the Crychic website homepage on her phone, a hint of hesitation in her eyes. Her finger hovered over the unfollow button several times, but she couldn't bring herself to press it.

"Xiang?"

Ruo Ye Mu was clearly unaware of her childhood sweetheart's recent activities.

"I promised a friend that I would answer one of her questions after today."

A hint of hesitation flashed in Xiangzi's eyes.

"Although I haven't figured out what my answer should be yet, let's go in anyway."

In reality, Xiangzi still hadn't figured out what her answer should be; the wonderful memories of Crychic still lingered in her mind.

Until last night, a person claiming to be Sakura Sakura's manager called her and asked if she would like to join a band project.

After some investigation, it was discovered that the band the other party was talking about was the same band that Yue had introduced to her before.

Moreover, the other party seemed to know her very well. Before she said that she hadn't thought it through yet, they told her in a very mystical way that she would get the answer after today's performance.

Before Xiangzi could ask what the other party meant, the manager, named Sakura Sakura, hung up the phone.

"Is it really reliable for Hatsuka to work with this kind of manager?" That was Shoko's first impression of Sakura Sakura last night. However, countless cases in their subsequent interactions proved that Shoko's first impression was quite accurate.

--------

Just as Xiangzi and Mumi entered the Ring, Kurosawa Momoko had already bought her tickets and entered the performance stage.

It's not time for the show to start yet, but there are already quite a few audience members under the stage. They are all gathered together in a lively atmosphere, and it's obvious that they are probably friends who have come to see the show together.

"Looks like there are quite a few familiar faces? Siegfried's five are here too."

Peach noticed that there seemed to be quite a few people she knew among them. After scanning around, she spotted a familiar yet unexpected face.

"That blonde girl over there wearing a baseball cap looks like... Mitsumi Hatsuka? I didn't expect her to come? This is quite a pleasant surprise."

However, when she saw the next familiar face, her smile froze instantly, and she even broke out in a cold sweat.

"The seniors of Group 99? They shouldn't be here in my script. What went wrong? Yue shouldn't have any interaction with the seniors of Group 99."

In reality, aside from that conversation backstage a few days ago, Yue and the seniors from Group 99 had no further interaction.

However, Aine's prior acquaintance with Nana Oba and Hikaru Kagura in London was something that wasn't recorded in the original script given by Giraffe, so Momoko Kurosawa, as the playwright, naturally had no way of knowing about it.

Moreover, even without the connection between Aine and Popipa, the members of Group 99 are actually good friends with Popipa, so it's not surprising that they're here.

If she had taken a closer look at Seishang's performance records from the previous years, she would have seen Popipa's name on the list of performers, thus preparing for this matter.

However, by placing too much faith in the script provided by the giraffe, she missed the opportunity to correct the unexpected events that occurred within the script.

As Momoko noticed the members of Group 99, Nana Oba, who was talking to Junna Hoshimi, seemed to notice Momoko's gaze and turned to look at Momoko.

When the performance begins: Chapter 84 Backstage Anecdotes

Back to the present, Yue and the others have just finished their instrument tests. Although there were a few minor hiccups because it was the first time for a few of them to perform on stage, and Xiaodeng was a little nervous and couldn't sing, overall there shouldn't be any problems...?

Yeah, right! It's already a serious problem that the lead singer can't sing at all!

In the backstage dressing room of the band, Li hope covered his head, not knowing what to do. Should he pin his hopes on Xiao Deng's outburst on stage?

Or should we take this opportunity to relieve Xiaodeng's stress? No, no, no... saying anything now would only increase Xiaodeng's stress...

In short... we need to calm the lamp down first...

"Is the lamp... alright?" Lixi looked at the lamp with some concern, while unscrewing a bottle of mineral water and handing it to the little lamp.

"...No problem..." Xiaodeng's words lacked confidence.

Although they usually rehearse very well, for some reason, after standing on the stage just now, they felt extremely flustered, as if their hearts were about to escape from their chests.

"I'm going to use the restroom again..."

It's clear that nervousness is contagious; the tension permeating the lounge made Aine, who wasn't particularly nervous before, start to get nervous too.

Yue felt she needed to say something, otherwise, no matter how well they practiced, if they maintained this kind of mood, a big problem would arise later.

She sat down next to Takamatsu, gently stroking the back of the little lamp with her palm.

"Xiaodeng, there's no need to be so nervous. We're only responsible for the transition time. It's just a very ordinary performance. Even if we fail, not many people will say anything to us. We just need to bring the same energy we had during rehearsals and do our best."

The lamp looked up at the moon and nodded gently.

"...I will do my best."

Not long after comforting Xiaodeng, the music and cheers of the audience could be faintly heard coming from outside the lounge.

Hearing the sounds outside, Yue stood up. Although she had seen the band perform a few times before, this was the first time she had been able to watch backstage, and she felt it was necessary to go out and take a look.

So she extended an invitation to Lixi.

"Afterglow's seniors have already gone on stage to perform, Lixi, do you want to go watch them together?"

Upon hearing the name Afterglow, Riki was clearly tempted, but after glancing at the still somewhat nervous Deng clutching a bottle of mineral water, Chihaya Aine who had gone to the restroom and hadn't returned yet, and Ryuna who had just disappeared, she could only shake her head.

"Moon, you can go and see for yourself. Also, check if Aine is back, and bring Rana back with you."

Yue glanced at Xiaodeng. Compared to the tension that had just overflowed and permeated the entire dressing room, Xiaodeng's current nervousness was within the normal range. Even someone as experienced as her would feel nervous before stepping onto the stage.

If Yue felt absolutely no tension, she would think that something big was about to happen.

"Then I'll go take a look and bring Aine-chan and Rakuna back with me."

----------

As soon as Yue pushed open the door to the dressing room, she saw Yao Lena not far away. Yao Lena was standing in front of the bread and snacks provided for the band, carefully selecting the food she wanted.

"Lanna-chan! These are for everyone, so don't eat too many!"

Yue stepped forward and saw the mountain of chocolate snails and other breads and pastries piled up in front of Lena. Fortunately, it seemed that none of them had the matcha flavor that Lena liked, so she didn't have to worry that Lena would devour all the food.

"Um……"

Seeing that there wasn't actually anything that Lena liked to eat here, Yue stopped paying much attention to the kitten and continued walking towards the stage.

Then she saw Aine watching Afterglow's performance backstage.

"Ain, aren't you going to take a break? Our performance is coming up soon."

Yue went up and greeted Aine.

Aine shook her head and said, "No, I want to see Afterglow's performance. Yue, what about you? Why did you come out?"

"I also want to see Afterglow's performance up close."

Yue stood beside Aine and looked at the five members of Afterglow performing on the stage. Although she had heard Afterglow's songs a few times before, this was actually the first time she had seen them up close.

"It's so dazzling..."

Looking at the crowd sweating on the stage, Yue couldn't help but sigh.

"Right, right! Xiaoyue, do you also have that 'kirakira, dokidoki' feeling?"

Hearing Yue's sentiments, Kasumi Toyama, who had somehow appeared here, grabbed Yue's hand and said excitedly.

"Kasumi-senpai, do you feel the same way?"

Yue watched as Kasumi Toyama, who was beaming with excitement, replied to the other person with equal enthusiasm.

"The way everyone gave their all on stage was truly dazzling!"

"Yeah, yeah! I know, I know. Seeing everyone's 'kirkakira' on stage really makes me want to dokidoki!"

Aine, who was standing to the side, watched the two people who seemed to be having a private conversation and said that she couldn't understand what they were saying at all.

"Ah! Kasumi, you're here."