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

"Takamatsu Todora...please...please take care of me."

Faced with the still gloomy Deng, Yue felt a bit helpless. Back in Shengxiang, everyone performed on stage and had very outgoing personalities. She really didn't know how to deal with Deng, whose singing on stage was so touching, but who was so gloomy and withdrawn in reality.

Fortunately, the speeches on stage ended quickly, and the next part was for everyone to go back to their classes and introduce themselves to their classmates.

Like a mother, Yue walked to the classroom door with the still dim light.

A girl with blue hair tied in twin ponytails with black ribbons, who was walking towards them, suddenly changed her expression when she saw them.

Yue could also sense that the light behind her seemed to react slightly when it saw her. Before she could figure out what was going on, the other person nodded slightly and walked into the adjacent Class 1B.

"I remember she was the keyboardist for Crychic, right? Did you guys disband because you had a falling out?"

The lamp lowered its head, tears welling up in its misty eyes, streaming down its cheeks and dripping onto its arm, turning into tiny water stains.

"lamp?"

Yue turned around and saw Deng's teary-eyed face. She looked around and the students in the corridor began to notice what was happening and started whispering among themselves.

Yue realized that if she didn't do something, her normal school life might be interrupted by strange rumors.

"Lights! Let's go to the classroom first!"

Before Deng could answer, Yue pulled Deng into the classroom of Class 1-A, found two seats in the second-to-last and third-to-last rows, and sat down one after the other.

The classroom was noisy, and no one seemed to have noticed what had happened at the door. Only a few people glanced at Yue and Deng after they came in, and then started chatting with their classmates again.

Yue breathed a sigh of relief, took out a tissue from her pocket and handed it to the other person. After the two incidents, she didn't dare to mention Crychic to Deng for the time being.

"Thanks……"

An awkward silence fell between them. On one hand, they had both ruled out the common topic of "crychic," and on the other hand, neither of them had mentioned anything of value in their self-introductions. Now, Yue felt it would be strange to suddenly ask the other what they liked or to introduce themselves again.

Fortunately, the homeroom teacher opened the classroom door, breaking the awkward atmosphere between the two.

"Alright, everyone, please sit down."

"Well then, let's start with our introductions, beginning with the one at the door and going back to the last student by the window."

"Hi!" xn

"my name is……"

……

"My name is Hinasaki. I used to be a member of Sweet Pleas. I dropped out of Seisho for some reason and took a year off before returning to Haneoka. My hobbies are music and drama. I hope you will take good care of me for the next three years."

As soon as Yue finished her introduction, several students in the classroom started discussing it.

"I knew this was Hinasaki. I never thought I'd be classmates with my idol."

"Seisho? That famous school that plays supporting roles in stage plays? I'm really looking forward to seeing Yue-san perform at the school!"

Finally, the teacher spoke up and quelled the increasingly heated discussion in the classroom.

"Alright, if you have any other questions, please ask Hinasaki after class. Now, please introduce yourself."

"I am Takamatsu Akari, and I like to collect cute band-aids and all kinds of stones... Nice to meet you."

The lamp's self-introduction was very short and concise, and it probably left a strange impression on the classmates, but this did not seem to have any impact on the lamp.

The subsequent introductions from her classmates didn't leave much of an impression on Yue, but out of politeness, she roughly remembered the faces and names of her classmates.

After the homeroom teacher confirmed that everyone had finished their self-introductions, she announced that the opening ceremony was almost over. Everyone could now go and check out the clubs that interested them, and just remember to attend class on time tomorrow morning.

Before the Stage Opens: Chapter Two - Taking Office in the Astronomical Department

"Hinasaki-san! Please give me your autograph!"

"Hinasaki-san! I really love Sweet Pleas' songs! I'm your biggest fan!"

"Thank you... thank you everyone for your support, but I'm no longer a member of Sweet Pleas, and I probably won't be an idol anymore, so having my autograph is useless."

"The school festival performance? I'll decide based on the specific circumstances at that time. I can't give you a definite answer right now."

As expected, after the teacher left, those in the class who recognized her as an idol immediately surrounded her seat and asked her all sorts of questions.

After finally managing to deal with her fans, Yue was completely exhausted and collapsed onto the table, limp and lifeless.

Despite being prepared, she couldn't very well refuse so many of her classmates who were fans, since they might have to get along for another three years.

"Idol, you must be exhausted." Deng sat in the row behind Yue and watched as Yue skillfully answered all the requests and questions from her classmates.

"That's right. Besides, I'm only a former idol now. When I was an idol, organizing autograph sessions and fan meetings was much more tiring than this."

"Let's not talk about that now, Light. Is there any club you'd like to join?" Light turned around and slumped onto Light's desk, turning her head to ask Light.

“I don’t know either, but I’m very interested in stars,” the lamp said after thinking for a moment.

"How about we check out the astronomy club?" Yue picked up the club directory that a classmate had given her earlier and found a club related to stars. The classmate had originally brought this to ask if she could join the drama club, but Yue had politely declined.

"Mmm." The little gray-purple head nodded up and down, just like a cute little animal.

"Too cute, too unfair!"

Tsuki was charmed by Takamatsu Akari's unconscious behavior. If this were an anime, she probably would have fainted from blood loss by now.

"Let's go together then, since I don't have any clubs I'd like to join."

"Moon, aren't you going to the drama club?"

"Haha, after I dropped out of Shengxiang, I didn't really want to do anything related to the stage anymore, so I decisively passed on the drama club. I'm not very interested in those sports clubs either. I might as well go to the astronomy club with Deng to see the moon, since there is the character for moon in my name."

Although Yue had a smile on her face when she said these words, it always gave people the feeling that it was a business transaction.

Deng sensed that Yue seemed to be intentionally avoiding the topic of the stage, but she didn't ask her. After packing her things, she picked up her schoolbag and walked out of the classroom side by side with Yue.

—————On the way to the instructors' duty room———————

"Is this the key to the Astronomy Department? Thank you so much, teacher. Okay, okay, we'll make a final decision and let you know later."

After asking the teacher in the office and getting the key to the astronomy club, Yue and Deng finally entered the astronomy club's activity room as they wished.

A thin layer of dust covered the table, suggesting that it hadn't been cleaned since the seniors graduated.

Yue glanced around the Astronomy Club's activity room. The small room could be seen at a glance. Various items were piled up on the floor, and the Roselia posters on the walls seemed somewhat out of place with the name of the Astronomy Club. Yue guessed that it was probably a personal hobby of the former president or a member.

The telescope and globe used for observation were placed in a corner of the room, and various miscellaneous items were placed haphazardly, making the room look somewhat messy. Therefore, the notebook on the unusually empty table stood out.

"Was this left behind by a senior?"

Lamp also found the notebook, walked up and opened the cover. Inside were all sorts of star observation diaries, but the content had a fairytale feel to it, which was different from the rigorous observation records in Moon's impression.

"It seems there really isn't anyone else here, which means if we're to join the astronomy club, you'll be the president."

"Yes, I want to join the Astronomy Department."

"Then fill this out first. The teacher gave it to me when I went to get the keys."

Yue took out two club application forms from her bag. Although the Astronomy Club was currently empty, she could probably get approved as long as she wrote an application, but she still had to go through the proper procedures.

After writing their club application together and submitting it to the teacher in charge, and being instructed to keep good activity records, the two successfully became the only two club members in the Astronomy Club. Takamatsu Akari became the club president, and Hinasaki Tsuki was probably the vice president.

--------------

At night, Yue lay alone in bed, looking out the window at the pitch black night sky, where not a single star could be seen, only a solitary moon hanging in the sky.

"In a cosmopolitan metropolis like Tokyo, there are probably very few days when you can see the stars."

Looking at the night sky, Yue thought of the Astronomy Department, and then of the Roselia poster hanging on the wall of the Astronomy Department.

I rolled out of bed, opened the bedroom door, and found a game console, sofa, exercise equipment, and a piano in the minimalist-style living room.

This is the instrument that Yue has been taught to play since she was a child. The fact that she was selected by Sweet Pleas and successfully received resources to become one of the more famous ones among the 110 contestants is not only due to her good looks and stage presence, but also because the management created a persona of her as a classical music beauty for her.

Although she is only proficient in a few classical music pieces, one of which is "Moonlight Sonata" which she is playing now.

As the piece ended, Yue closed the piano lid, took out the electronic keyboard, and after a few simple adjustments, the prelude to Spring Shadow began to play in the room.

Over the course of the year, Yue listened to the Crychic rehearsal videos several times. Although she couldn't yet accurately extract the keyboard parts from the later ensemble sections to transcribe the score, she could already play the intro to Haruhi Kage with ease.

"Let's ask about the lamp again tomorrow."

I opened my phone and expertly scrolled through my private photo album, which contained only one photo.

That was a photo from Crychic's first and only performance last year.

On stage, five girls are performing with all their might, shining brightly with all their might.

"This is the right thing to do."

Before the stage opens: Chapter Three, Let's Go See the Stars Together

In the morning, after finishing her daily exercise, Yue set off for school. In the classroom, some students were already gathered in twos and threes, chatting.

"Good morning, sir."

Good morning, Yue.

After finishing their morning routine, the two tacitly refrained from disturbing each other. Deng lowered his head and scribbled in his notebook, while Yue took out a literature book from her bag and began to study it.

Since the start of the semester, some time has passed, and Yue and Deng have gradually become familiar with each other, and their relationship can barely be called friendship.

The reason for using the word "reluctantly" is that the two of them do not know enough about each other's past experiences, but they do know that the other has a difficult past to talk about, which makes their relationship feel like there is a fishbone stuck in their throat, putting them in a delicate situation.

As the light fell and the mechanical pencil was put down, Yue placed a bookmark in the book to mark it.

This is a game of tacit understanding that the two have developed over the past few days. Deng often writes and draws in her notebook. Yue saw it before and tried to understand the meaning of these writings as if she were reading a script, thus reading Deng's inner thoughts. So this has become an unspoken understanding between the two.

Looking back, the notebook in the lamp contained drawings of pill bugs and butterflies hiding in the shadows.

“This is me,” the lamp said, pointing to one of the pill bugs.

"Is this butterfly me? Is it saying that we are all avoiding the sun?" Having often looked at Xiaodeng's paintings these days, Yue quickly understood the meaning that Xiaodeng's paintings wanted to express, thanks to her ability to understand the symbolism of characters in stage plays.

“Hmm…” the lamp nodded. “The moon is a butterfly, hiding from the sun’s rays.”

"How fitting...a lamp might unexpectedly suit a stage girl."

Despite not being good with words, she always manages to see through people's true nature at a glance. This talent, when applied to understanding characters in a script, may make her far more capable of understanding scripts than most people she knows.

"It's too humble for a lamp to call itself a pill bug or something."

Yue picked up a pencil and casually drew a broken pupa next to the butterfly.