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

To meet her mother's expectations, she strives to be a well-behaved and sensible daughter; to fit in with her classmates in the Moon Forest, she studies music.

However, everything I do seems to be done to conform to others, rather than as a choice from my heart.

It wasn't until Su Shi met Xiangzi and everyone at Crychic that her life took on a different hue.

She felt an unprecedented sense of belonging and passion, which was the stage and music she truly longed for.

Crychic helped her find her place, giving her a deep sense of excitement and fulfillment.

Su Shi reminisced about her time with Crychic—the laughter and tears, the hard work and perseverance—all becoming the most precious memories deep within her heart. She understood that there was only one thing she truly wanted to do—to rebuild Crychic.

Her gaze gradually hardened, and a strong determination welled up within her. She looked up at Momoko, "Thank you, Momoko-senpai... I think I know what my brilliance is now."

Watching Nagasaki Momoko leave, Kurosawa Momoko silently sighed in her heart, thinking that she had done another "good deed" today.

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Today's ballet lesson for Wakaba Mutsu was as rigorous as ever. She stood in her own dance studio, surrounded by tall mirrors that reflected her elegant figure.

In the center of the dance studio stands an old and elegant piano. The teacher sits on the piano bench, gently plucking the keys to create beautiful melodies.

Wearing a close-fitting practice outfit and pink dance shoes, Mu danced to the teacher's piano music. Every movement of hers was precise and graceful, her toes lightly touching the ground and her arms softly tracing arcs.

After finishing her lessons for the day, she stood in front of the mirror, breathing softly, a faint blush on her face, and fine beads of sweat on her forehead.

Seeing that Mutsu's dance class for the day had ended, a maid from the Wakaba family walked up to Mutsu and said, "Miss Wakaba, Miss Toyokawa Shoko is here to see you."

Wakaba Mutsumi's usually placid face once again showed a look of astonishment. Since that incident, Shoko hadn't visited her home.

"Su Shi... Xiang Zi..." Xiao Mu silently murmured the two names, feeling a surge of complex emotions welling up inside her. She suddenly felt that everyone around her seemed to be plotting something. Whether it was Su Shi's strange question today asking if she would help her rebuild Crychic, or Xiao Xiang's sudden visit today, both made her feel that something was very wrong.

"Hmm... let Xiang in," Xiao Mu replied calmly, trying to make her voice sound as natural as possible.

Ruoye Muku glanced at her ballet practice clothes and the sticky sweat on her body, thought for a moment, and continued, "I'll go change my clothes first... and ask Xiang to wait a moment..."

The maid nodded and turned to greet Xiangzi.

Xiao Mu walked into the dressing room and saw her slightly flushed face and sweat-drenched hair in the mirror.

I quickly cleaned myself up, changed into a nice set of clothes, and gently combed my hair, making sure every strand was neatly aligned with the back of my head.

After making sure she had no issues with her appearance, she left the dressing room and walked briskly towards the reception room.

“Xiang…”

As Xiao Mu entered the living room, she saw her childhood sweetheart sitting on the sofa, holding a cup of hot tea, looking somewhat nostalgic.

"Xiao Mu..."

Xiangzi looked at Mu with a complicated expression. She had learned more about the new band project from Chuhua and had also obtained a more detailed list of selected members.

To her surprise, Xiao Mu's name was also on the list.

In the reception room, the setting sun shone through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating Xiangzi's face.

She gently put down her teacup, pondered for a moment before organizing her thoughts, and asked, "Xiao Mu... has anyone recently wanted to invite you to participate in a band project?"

Ruoye Mu nodded, a rare hint of doubt appearing in her eyes, "Hmm... How did Xiang know?"

Xiangzi revealed the truth, "Because... I was also invited to join this band..."

Xiao Mu's eyes widened slightly, looking somewhat surprised. "...What is Xiang going to do?"

“I want to join…and I also hope that Xiaomu can join this band…”

After saying that, Xiangzi realized that his words might have sounded a bit coercive, so he quickly added, "Of course, it's okay if Xiaomu doesn't want to. After all, once you choose to join a band with this kind of commercial project, you're basically going to be involved for a long time, or even for a lifetime."

Wakaba Mutsu nodded, but what came to mind was Nagasaki Motoyo's words earlier that day about needing her help to rebuild Crychic.

On one side is her childhood sweetheart, and on the other is her best friend who has always taken care of her at school. Ruoye Mu is unable to make a choice for the time being.

Shoko Toyokawa noticed the hesitation on Mutsu's face. "Mutsu... I hope you can think it through before giving me an answer... I don't want to force you to do anything."

When the Stage Begins: Chapter 104 Is this what BangDream is all about?

Inside the park, the afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the green grass, casting a warm golden glow over the entire scene. Yue stood in the distance, holding her phone, making a call to Nana Ohba, who had already returned to London.

Not far away, Gao Songdeng squatted under a big tree, intently watching the ants crawling back and forth on the ground. Her eyes shone with curiosity and innocence, as if these little creatures were the center of her world.

Shiina Riki stood next to Kodama, his hands in his pockets, glancing down at her every now and then.

"Okay... I understand, thank you Nana-senpai..." Yue hung up the phone and walked over. Her brows relaxed slightly, and her steps became much lighter, clearly indicating that she had obtained useful information.

"So, what do you know, Senior Ohba?"

Li hope turned slightly to the side, withdrawing his gaze from Xiao Deng, and turned to ask Hinasaki, who was walking over.

Yue nodded and said, "Well... to be precise, Nana Ohba-senpai knows everything about Aine, and even told me why Aine has become strange."

"how?"

Lixi raised an eyebrow, a hint of curiosity and concern flashing in her eyes. She really wanted to know why Aiyin, who often bickered with her, had become so depressed.

Xiaodeng was clearly very concerned about Aine. "Could you tell us about it?"

After organizing her thoughts, Yue relayed what Nana Ohba had told her to Kodama and Riki: "In short... Aine studied in England before transferring schools, but after staying there for a while, she had to... return to Japan because she couldn't communicate with her classmates or keep up with her studies."

Li Xi frowned slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. "Studying abroad... Ai Yin, is she really that strong?"

She clearly hadn't expected that Chihaya Aine, who looked like an ordinary high school student and whose guitar playing wasn't even particularly smooth at first, had actually studied abroad.

“Going abroad to study alone... Aine must have had a tough time.”

Xiao Deng's eyes were filled with sympathy and heartache.

Li hope frowned and continued to ask, "But this matter has little to do with Aine's current depression, right? ...She was doing quite well before."

Yue continued, "Well, it's quite a coincidence that Nana-senpai saw Aine talking to two other people with a strange expression on her face when she got home after watching the performance. She looked very uncomfortable."

"Based on what Nana-senpai overheard, those two should be Aine's junior high school classmates. They don't know that Aine has returned from England; they think she's just back for vacation..."

"..."

Having said that, considering Aine's usual personality, Shiina Tatsuki could roughly guess why Aine had become depressed.

However, even after knowing the reason, they didn't have any particularly good ways to help Aine get through it.

----------

The next morning, Hinasaki, dressed in her neat school uniform and carrying her schoolbag, walked slowly along her familiar route to school.

Her brows were furrowed, and she kept thinking about whether she should go to Ai-yin's house again today to force Revue to have a heart-to-heart talk with her.

When she pushed open the classroom door, she was surprised to see that familiar pink hair. Chihaya Aine was sitting in the classroom, chatting with her classmates who cared about her.

"Aine-chan didn't come yesterday, is something wrong?" a classmate asked with concern, her eyes full of worry.

Ai Yin smiled slightly, trying to appear more relaxed, but her voice still carried a hint of fatigue, "No... I was just feeling a little unwell, so I took a day off to rest and I'm fine now."

The students gathered around, their faces full of concern. One girl said gently, "Aine-chan, I went to see your, Xiaodeng's, and Yue's performance. It was really wonderful."

A hint of relief flashed in Ai-yin's eyes, and her smile softened even more. "Really? Thank you!"

Another classmate said with concern, "But Aine-chan might feel uncomfortable because she's too tired from practicing? Now that the performance is over, she should take a good rest for a while."

Ai Yin nodded, a hint of gratitude in her smile. "Yes, I will. Thank you everyone for your concern."

"Ah! Tsukiko, you're here." Aine, who was chatting with her classmates, saw Hinasaki Tsukiko standing at the door with a surprised look on her face and immediately waved to greet her with a bright smile.

Looking at Chihaya Aine's cheerful expression, Tsuki felt a mix of emotions. She couldn't see any trace of the sadness from Aine's face yesterday; it was as if, overnight, she had completely recovered.

Yue frowned slightly, thinking to herself, "Aine is quite suitable to be an actress; her acting is flawless."

She walked slowly into the classroom, trying to appear natural. "Good morning, Aiyin."

Aiyin flashed a bright smile, as if she truly had no worries at all. "Good morning, Xiaoyue."

The two tacitly avoided mentioning yesterday's events, simply exchanging greetings before Yue returned to her seat.

Although she had a thousand words she wanted to say to Aine, she knew that now was not the right time.

At that moment, Takamatsu Akari appeared at the door. She stood there, looked around, and immediately noticed Aine sitting in the classroom. Her amber eyes lit up with joy.

"Aine-chan! Are you alright now?" Akari walked quickly towards Aine, her face full of worry.

"Ah! Little Lamp, thank you so much for visiting me at my house yesterday."

Upon seeing Takamatsu Akari, Aine had a bad feeling and quickly took control of the conversation to prevent Akari from saying anything she shouldn't.

"Ah! Xiaodeng, did you go to Aiyin's house to see Aiyin yesterday?" a classmate asked curiously.

"Does Xiaodeng know where Aiyin's home is?" Another classmate chimed in, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"They're all in the same band, so they must have visited each other's homes," a classmate chimed in.

“I heard from Flower Girl’s friend that Popipa’s lead singer lives at the keyboardist’s house every day and you can see the two of them going to school together every day.”

"????"

Several question marks popped into Yue's mind.

"So this is what girl bands are like? Does joining a band mean you can just go to anyone's house?"

Yue thought about it carefully... and it seemed that there really was no problem. Apart from the Su family, they even knew where the most elusive Yao Le Nai family was. Moreover, she and Li hope had personally witnessed the rumor about Popipa.

When the Stage Opens: Chapter 105 I'm Just Vain

During lunch break, while Kodama was having lunch in the Astronomy Club, Tsuki and Aine found excuses to slip out one after the other and talked in the stairwell.

"Aine...are you really alright?" Yue looked at Aine with concern. Although Aine looked no different from her fragile state yesterday, she seemed normal today.

Aiyin stood in the dimly lit stairwell, sunlight streaming through the cracks in the window and falling on her face. She forced a smile, the corners of her mouth turning up but unable to conceal the weariness and pain in her eyes. She gently shook her head, pretending to be relaxed, and said, "Of course I'm fine, Xiaoyue, don't worry."

Yue frowned, her doubts undiminished. She took a step closer, carefully observing Aine's expression. A shadow lingered in Aine's eyes, clearly indicating she hadn't yet recovered from yesterday's blow.

"Are you really alright?" Yue's voice carried a hint of uncertainty.

Aine sighed helplessly, leaned against the wall, and tapped her toes on the floor idly. She lowered her head, her long bangs obscuring her eyes, but Yue could still sense her vulnerability.

When she looked at Yue again, the cheerfulness in her eyes was gone, replaced by the same fragile look as yesterday. "...Yue's senses are still so sharp." She smiled bitterly, her eyes revealing deep helplessness and vulnerability.

"We both tacitly agreed not to mention yesterday this morning, so why bring it up now?" Ai-yin's words carried a hint of coquettishness, her eyes slightly glaring at Yue, but a smile playing on her lips.

Yue breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Aine had finally returned to some semblance of normalcy, her tense mood eased slightly. She looked at Aine and gently explained, "Because... Aine is the most important person in our band. Without Aine, our band wouldn't have been able to be formed."