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

The intense conflict between reality and memories made her feel as if she were standing at a crossroads in her life, lost and confused, unsure of which way to go.

"Xiangzi!"

Following closely behind Xiangzi, Chu Hua finally found Xiangzi's location.

Before Toyokawa Shoko could react, Hatsuka rushed forward and hugged her tightly.

"Chuhua..."

Xiangzi felt a sense of comfort from Chu Hua's warm embrace, and her body involuntarily pressed tightly against Chu Hua's chest.

As if finding a sliver of support, Toyokawa Shoko, who was "drowning," involuntarily and tightly gripped Hatsuka's clothes. Tears welled up in her eyes and uncontrollably slid down her cheeks, dripping onto Hatsuka's clothes and seeping into the fabric.

Chu Hua felt the shoulders gradually getting wet. Although she had many questions about Xiangzi's experiences, she knew she didn't need to say anything. She simply hugged Xiangzi tighter.

Chu Hua felt the trembling between Xiangzi's fingers as she gripped her clothes, and Xiangzi's sobs seemed to pierce her heart.

"Chu Hua... let me forget everything."

However, when Xiangzi uttered those shocking words, his heart almost stopped beating.

She turned her head and looked into Xiangzi's moist eyes, a surge of indescribable sadness and heartache welling up in her heart.

She couldn't imagine what Xiangzi's mindset was when he said those words to her.

——————The dividing line of forgetting everything————————

Yue and Lixi escorted Deng back home. The two walked together to the familiar pedestrian overpass and stopped at the same time, looking down at the endless stream of cars.

Recalling the still red eyes of the lamp when she said goodbye to them, Lixi wanted to say something many times, but she felt as if her voice was blocked by something, and she could not make a sound.

Lixi's lips moved, but he couldn't form a complete sentence.

"Lixi... just say what you want to say, you'll get sick of holding it in like this."

Of course, Tsuki noticed Shiina Riki's strange expression and her awkward attempts to speak but being unable to utter a sound.

"Can the band... continue?"

Finally, Li hope spoke up and asked Yue.

Yue shook her head and replied.

"I don't know either……"

Lixi looked at Yue and found that her eyes were filled with indescribable sadness and anxiety.

In fact, after what just happened, both of them already knew that Su Shi and Aine were very likely not going to return to the band.

Moreover, judging from Deng's attitude, it is undoubtedly impossible to replace them.

That's why Li hope asked Yue whether the band could continue.

"..."

Standing on the pedestrian overpass, Yue and Lixi's figures appeared pale and lonely in the moonlight.

The evening breeze gently blew by, but it could not dispel the sorrow in their hearts. Cars flowed endlessly on the overpass, and the neon lights in the distance shone brightly, but these prosperous scenes were just a blurry background in their eyes.

What happened tonight felt like a huge rock was pressing on their hearts, making it hard to breathe and speechless.

"Lixi...is coming to my house tonight?"

Yue suddenly asked a question that seemed completely out of place in the atmosphere; in fact, she didn't even know why she had asked it.

Just thinking about how sleeping with Lixi yesterday was one of the few nights she hadn't had insomnia, she subconsciously asked Lixi a question.

However, she regretted asking the question as soon as she asked it, and could only silently pray that Li hope would not dislike her.

But Lixi understood what Yue wanted to express; in fact, yesterday was also a rare day when she fell asleep quickly.

Adding to the fact that the band is already on the verge of falling apart, Li hope felt that even if she went home alone, it would probably be a sleepless night. 〆医貳冷山&（二）铃企思齡

"...Okay...okay."

Lixi's answer was somewhat hesitant, but for Yue, who was merely praying that Lixi wouldn't hate her, it was an unexpected delight.

--------

Rewind to half an hour earlier, when Ai Yin had just walked out of the Ring carrying her guitar.

Su Shi's words still echoed in her ears.

"So... I'm unwanted?"

In fact, Aine felt some regret after she came out of the situation.

After all, Yue, Lixi, and Xiaodeng never said such a thing; it was all just Su Shi's side of the story.

However, since I've already left there in a huff, there's no reason for me to go back.

"Anyway... let's clear our heads first, and apologize to Yue and the others when we go to school in a few days."

Although Aine understood what had happened, understanding and acceptance are two different things. The current situation left her in a state of mental confusion. She didn't want to go back to the band for the time being; she needed some time to process everything.

However, things don't always go as planned. Just as Aine was walking home, two people she didn't want to see at the moment came towards her.

"Chihaya Aine...san?"

There was a hint of uncertainty in the other person's tone, but they seemed to recognize Aine's identity quickly and continued to ask, "Chihaya! You're Chihaya, right?"

Ai Yin's already somewhat chaotic state of mind was further exacerbated when she encountered two of her former junior high school classmates, her thoughts becoming a jumbled mess.

"Didn't Chihaya say she was going to study in England? Is she just back for a visit?"

Fortunately, because of the performance, Aine did not wear Haneoka's school uniform, so she was just mistaken by her former classmates for someone who flew back to Japan for vacation.

"I heard that British food is terrible? Is Chihaya-san finding the food in Britain alright? British lifestyle must be quite different from Japanese lifestyle, is Chihaya-san finding it alright?"

"Chihaya is still playing guitar? Has she joined any bands in England? Could she sing some English songs for us?"

Seeing that they had finally gotten to see Aine again, the two students were in high spirits and asked Aine all sorts of questions one after another.

"Ah ha ha……"

Chihaya Aine's eyes darted around. Although no one had discovered her lie about studying in England, seeing them reminded her of her experiences studying in England.

Ai Yin was in very bad shape; her face was pale, and her forehead was covered with fine beads of cold sweat, as if she had just been pulled out of the water. Her eyes were confused and fearful, as if she were trapped in an inescapable predicament.

Just as Aine was about to faint, Nana Ohba's reliable voice rang out.

"Chihaya-kun, if we don't leave now, we'll miss the performance."

She took Aine's hand and, while leading her away, made sure to politely say goodbye to Aine's two former junior high school classmates.

"I'm very sorry, Ai Yin has a performance to give, so I'll have to take my leave now."

Before the other party could answer, Nana Oba used her strong physical abilities to pull the bewildered Aine along and start running.

The two ran into the park, and Aine quickly sat down on the ground, panting heavily without regard for her image.

Her breathing was rapid and irregular, her chest heaving violently. Her clothes were soaked with sweat.

"Huff...huff...Nana-senpai...I'm carrying a guitar...was it really necessary to run this fast with me?"

"Ah... I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time."

Compared to Chihaya Aine, Oba Nana was clearly in much better condition. She was only slightly out of breath and recovered after wiping the sweat from her forehead.

After Aine had almost recovered, she thanked Nana Ohba.

"But speaking of which... I still have to thank Nana-senpai."

"It's okay. I was just passing by and saw that you weren't doing well, so I came to help you get away."

After considering for a moment, Nana Ohba decided to ask Aine for the specific reason: "Does Aine have any grudge against those two?"

"It's nothing... It's just that my former classmates thought I was studying in the UK, and I was surprised to see them in Japan now."

"Is that so...? Didn't Aine tell them that you've returned from studying abroad?"

Aine shook her head and said, "How could I possibly say something like that..."

"It seems... Ai-yin is still haunted by her previous failure to study abroad in the UK..."

Nana Ohba didn't have any solutions for this kind of situation, since her relationship with Aine wasn't that close, and her comfort would most likely be of no use to Aine.

"Little Aiyin, I've told you before, sometimes you don't need to care about what other people think."

However, Aine's current situation reminded Nana of a friend she once had, except that the friend's situation was more complicated.

"Nana-senpai makes it sound so easy..."

Aine couldn't help but complain when she heard Nana Oba's words of comfort.

"Hmm, I'm relieved to see that Ai-yin still has the energy to complain. I need to prepare for our return trip with Hikaru. Is Ai-yin able to go home by herself? Or do you need me to call the band members for you?"

When Nana Ohba mentioned the band, Aine's eyes drooped again.

"No... I can go back by myself."

"Wasn't the performance pretty good? Why is Ai-yin making that face?"

Nana looked at Ai-yin's dejected expression and was a little at a loss. Judging from the performance she had just seen, Ai-yin and Xiao-yue's band's performance, although there were some flaws in the bass, was definitely at an 80-point level.

Chihaya Aine's expression at this moment definitely didn't look like the joyful expression of people performing kung fu together after a performance; rather, it looked more like they had just had a fight.

"Could it be that bassist?"

Nana Ohba unexpectedly guessed the truth.

"Little Aiyin... are you really alright?"

Aine forced a smile at Nana Ohba, but the smile was so strained that even a three-year-old could tell that Aine was hiding something.

"Don't worry, Nana-senpai, I'm really fine."

--------

"As a result, you've given me a lot of trouble. You'd better make sure that the band you're forming earns at least three times the PR costs I need tomorrow."

Inside the Yuzawa Cafe, Sakura Sakura's fingers flew across her phone.

The commotion that Sanjiao Chuhua caused in the performance hall and on the street has already generated some rumors online, and she is now frantically contacting the public relations department to suppress the rumors.

"Miss Sakura, the value of this Miss Toyokawa Shoko's surname alone is enough to cover your public relations costs for today. What more could you want?"

Momoko harshly criticized Sakura Sakura's insatiable remarks.