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

The meeting room was silent, everyone's eyes fixed on Michelle, who appeared on the projector. Her image was incredibly lifelike; her furry body seemed to come alive as she waved her arms.

"Is this the kirakira, dokidoki that Marina-senpai was talking about?!" Kasumi suddenly stood up from her seat, her hands on the table, her eyes filled with barely suppressed excitement.

“That’s right!” Standing next to the stage model, Tsurumaki clapped her hands lightly, her smile as bright as the sun. “This is the key to our final stage! Let’s use it to create the most perfect stage!”

Hinasaki never expected that with these words from Tsurumaki Kokoro, she would witness the most "desperate" event in the history of girl bands.

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"Wait! Wait!" Peach suddenly raised her hand, interrupting Xiaoyue's story. She frowned slightly, her eyes full of doubt. "Wait a minute, doesn't all of this sound pretty good? Why would you use 'despair' to describe it?"

Hinasaki was taken aback by what she heard, then turned to look at Momoko, as if only then noticing her presence. "Eh? Momoko... you're still here?"

These words instantly deflated Peach, her hands falling limply to her sides, her face filled with hurt. "I've been here the whole time! Why can't you see me?!"

"Ahaha..." Hinasaki chuckled dryly, scratching the back of her head, trying to ease the awkwardness. "Sorry... I really didn't notice you just now."

"Do you think I'm invisible?!" Peach glared at her with exasperation, then sat up straight and added seriously, "Tell me, what exactly makes you feel hopeless?"

"Don't rush, let me finish." Hinasaki shook her head helplessly and continued her story.

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As a member of the participating band, Xianjuanxin was ultimately unable to stand on the stage to host, so the important task of hosting was handed over to the ladies in black.

In the center of the conference room, after the equipment had been tested and adjusted, the woman in black stood in front of the microphone.

She glanced around at the members of the meeting room, paused slightly, and then spoke in a calm tone: "Everyone, the equipment is ready. Next, we will listen to your ideas about how you want to shoot the PV tomorrow."

"First, please welcome the representative of Poppin'Party to the stage for a demonstration."

After speaking, the woman in black stepped aside, making room for Kasumi Toyama.

"Hi!" With a spirited response, Kasumi stood up abruptly from her seat, swept across the conference table like a whirlwind, and walked confidently and energetically toward the microphone.

BangDream: Chapter Twenty-Six - Explosive Performance

Kasumi Toyama stood in the center of the stage, her hands resting on the table holding the microphone. Leaning slightly forward, she looked excitedly at the audience. Her eyes seemed to be filled with stars, sparkling brightly, and her voice was firm and passionate: "Everyone! I want to create a stage that's kirakira, dokidoki!"

“Here we go again…” Ichigaya Arisa leaned back in her chair with a helpless expression, her lips twitching slightly, revealing an “I knew it” look. She was clearly used to Kasumi’s usual passionate remarks.

She muttered to herself, "I knew it would turn out like this."

Kasumi Toyama's next words plunged the entire venue into a moment of silence: "We at Poppin'Party want to fly on stage and perform!"

Even though it was a closed room, a breeze seemed to drift in from somewhere below the stage, making it so quiet that even the audience's breathing seemed to stop.

"Slap!" Ichigaya Arisa suddenly covered her face with her hands, her expression filled with despair, and muttered under her breath, "Please... I thought she had forgotten about it..."

Hina, standing to the side, nodded excitedly, her eyes sparkling: "That sounds like a really cool idea! A performance while flying, how kirakira, dokidoki!"

"No!" Hikawa Saya immediately turned around upon hearing this, her expression extremely serious. "You absolutely cannot have the same idea as Kasumi, Hina!"

"Eh—but sister," Hina pouted slightly, looking a little dissatisfied, "don't you think performing while flying is really interesting? Just imagine, spinning and flying through the air—"

"Stop thinking about it!" Saya decisively interrupted her daydreaming, her tone even revealing a hint of tension. "We Roselia would never do such an absurd thing!"

Hina pouted slightly and muttered softly, "It's really juicy..."

The projection device performed its duty without complaint, faithfully projecting a performance scene onto the model. In the image, the members of Poppin'Party were suspended by wires, playing instruments in the air, seemingly fulfilling Kasumi's "creative" wish.

However, in stark contrast to the other members who were floating in the air, Saya Yamabuki remained firmly on the ground, holding a drumstick in one hand and gently tapping the drum kit with the other.

Her expression was somewhat helpless, yet also carried a hint of a smile.

"A drummer really can't levitate." Ichigaya Arisa sat in the audience, looking at herself holding a portable keyboard on the projection, and couldn't help but make a comment.

"Wow! Can it really be done?!" Kasumi's eyes widened as she stared excitedly at the projected image, her voice filled with incredible surprise.

"Of course!" Shin smiled brightly, patting her chest confidently. "Don't worry, Kasumi! As long as we can demonstrate the scene here, the actual stage effect will definitely be achievable!"

The moment those words were spoken, a commotion erupted in the audience. Hinasaki Tsuki subconsciously glanced around and noticed a gleam in the eyes of many people, as if they had just heard some incredibly good news.

"Shin-senpai...are you serious?" Ichigaya Arisa pushed up her glasses with a hint of disbelief. "Performing while suspended by wires, that's no easy feat..."

"Of course it's true!" Shin nodded vigorously, her long golden hair swaying gently, her tone filled with excitement. "The stage technology of the Tsurumaki family is no joke! It's technology designed to make the stage even more kirakira, even more dokidoki, and to make all the audience laugh!"

“Well… Tae told me before that she wanted to perform with the bunnies! And Rimi, didn’t she say she wanted to throw chocolate shells on stage?” Kasumi enthusiastically brought up some of the “whimsical ideas” that Poppin’Party had discussed in private.

Without the slightest hesitation, the projection device faithfully visualized all these imaginative ideas onto the stage model.

In the center of the stage on the model, Tae, dressed in an adorable bunny costume, was "dancing" hand-in-hand with a group of bunny dolls. Her smile was as bright as the sun, and she waved to the audience from time to time, as if she were truly sharing this fairytale-like joy with them.

Meanwhile, Rimi, holding a large basket of chocolate snails, tossed them into the audience with astonishing speed. The chocolate snails drew graceful parabolas in the air, landing precisely in the small hands of the audience models—who even cheered and caught them in unison, creating a comical and harmonious aesthetic.

"Wow... this scene is really... so beautiful." Hinasaki's eyes widened as she looked at the projected image in front of her, trying her best not to burst out laughing.

"Haha! That's super kirakira!" Kokoro clapped and laughed beside her, her blonde hair swaying lightly.

"P-Please don't actually do that!" Ichigaya Arisa covered her forehead in frustration. "Who would hand out chocolate snails at a concert?! Don't tell anyone about this!"

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Amidst a lively discussion, Kasumi Toyama finally stepped down from the stage, still feeling quite engaged. Although the brainstorming session was over, her imaginative stage designs had already been thoroughly entered into the system.

"No...it won't actually be adopted, will it?" Hinasaki wiped her forehead, her expression full of complexity.

This is a martial arts dojo! Are they really going to perform flying around here and throw chocolate shells? Just thinking about it makes me cringe.

However, the woman in black on stage seemed completely unaffected by the farce that had just occurred.

She remained as calm as ever, and with a blank expression, picked up the microphone and announced, "Next up is Roselia."

As soon as those words were spoken, the atmosphere shifted abruptly. The lively and cheerful atmosphere, previously filled with Kasumi-esque energy, instantly settled, replaced by a sense of solemnity and reverence.

The lights dimmed, blue-purple beams of light sliced ​​through the air, and the stage setup was quickly changed thanks to the seamless coordination of the backstage team.

Hinasaki Tsuki watched the scene change rapidly and breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help but complain, "Isn't it just about... going on stage to make your own performance plan? Why is there lighting coordination involved?"

“However… Roselia should be more reliable, right…” Hinasaki looked at Minato Yuuki as she slowly walked onto the stage, her tone somewhat uncertain.

"Probably..."

She watched as Yukina slowly picked up the microphone and said, "I would like to try performing in a costume designed by everyone at Roselia."

"That sounds pretty normal." Hinasaki breathed a sigh of relief.

The moment Hinasaki thought that, the huge object projected onto the stage made her smile freeze.

BangDream: Chapter Twenty-Seven - Roselia's Evil God Costume

“I would like to try performing in costumes designed collaboratively by everyone at Roselia.”

Yukina Minato's voice was as calm and solemn as ever, as if she were announcing some grand plan. As soon as she finished speaking, the stage projection screen slowly lit up, revealing a "costume" that left everyone speechless.

Hinasaki felt it was difficult to describe the outfit. She could only vaguely make out that Yuuki-senpai at the top was wearing a crown with white wings, Hikawa Sayo had cat ears on her head and bat-wing-like items on her body, but her lower body was like octopus tentacles.

The most outrageous part of the entire "costume" is that the lower bodies of these members are all hidden under a huge piece of fabric, as if the five members of Roselia are connected by some indescribable entity, forming a bizarre scene that is somewhere between "fused creatures" and "surreal art".

“I feel… I finally understand where H.P. Lovecraft’s inspiration came from.” Hinasaki forced a smile, her eyes filled with a complexity that was almost beyond the scope of human language. “This is clearly Cthulhu taking center stage! Is there any hope for humanity…?”

She covered her forehead, trying to restore her sanity, but the scene before her clearly made her吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments) instincts completely unstoppable: "Angels, witches, deep-sea tentacles, is this a performance or a summoning of the Great Old Ones? Can the audience really handle this kind of shock?!"

"Nozomi?" Hinasaki turned her head, originally wanting to share her complaints about this bizarre "outfit" with Shiina Tatsuki, but what she saw was a completely unexpected scene.

Shiina Riki lay lifelessly on the table, her hair falling loose and covering half her face, her hands hanging limply at her sides, her whole being like an empty shell from which her soul had been ripped away.

Hinasaki paused for a second, then realized something was wrong and immediately reached out to push her shoulder: "Nozomi? Nozomi?!"

No response.

Hinasaki's gaze slid down Riki's cheek and finally noticed an extremely unusual detail: a wisp of white "smoke" was slowly drifting out of Riki's slightly open mouth, and it looked... just like the legendary astral projection.

Hinasaki's voice held a hint of tension as she shook Riki's shoulders forcefully, "Riki! Wake up! Don't die! We still have to go for the Tokyo Dome!"

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After a flurry of activity, Roselia's presentation finally came to a "successful" end.

Although it seems that not many people besides their own band members are optimistic about the outfit.

The woman in black stood by the stage as always, maintaining her professional and aloof expression. But even the observant Hinasaki noticed a subtle shift in her expression.

Perhaps it was because they were worried that their young mistress might have some strange thoughts after seeing Roselia's outfit.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Miss Yi seemed to have adjusted her mindset and regained her calm demeanor. She cleared her throat and announced in her usual composed voice, "Next up, please welcome the next group, Afterglow."

"What!" Shiina Riki, who had just been slumped on the table and looked like she had left her body, suddenly sprang up from her seat as if she had been injected with a full charge.

The paleness on his face vanished instantly, and he showed no signs of having just witnessed the "evil god."

"Is it Afterglow's turn?" She could hardly believe her ears, her voice filled with undisguised excitement.

Hinasaki watched Ritsuki's miraculous "full recovery" with a complicated expression and a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth: "Hmm, it's Afterglow..."

Hinasaki had mentally prepared herself for some outrageous idea from Afterglow, given that today's presentation had already repeatedly redefined her understanding of the stage presence of girl bands. However, to her utter surprise, Afterglow's proposal was unexpectedly...normal?

She listened carefully to Afterglow's design ideas, and apart from the suggestion of "wearing bread costumes on stage," the whole plan was surprisingly simple and efficient.

"That's great..." Hinasaki breathed a sigh of relief, almost slumping back in her chair. Her heart was filled with a long-lost sense of comfort, and even a smile appeared on her lips. "Thank goodness, there are still normal people in the girl band."

However, her comfort did not last long.

The next moment, Morfonica's thoughts made her realize that she might have been happy too soon.

As the lights changed, a huge model appeared in the center of the stage. At first glance, it was an exquisite garden, lush with flowers and plants, dotted with glistening dewdrops, creating a romantic and tranquil scene. If it were just this set design, Hinasaki probably wouldn't have reacted much, but her gaze was immediately drawn to Kurata Mashiro's movements in the center of the stage.

Despite being the quietest member of Morfonica, Mashiro completely overturned everyone's impression of her at this moment. She raised her bass guitar high, struck a pose brimming with youthful exuberance, and shouted in a clear yet dramatic voice:

"Bloody Rose! Phosphorus Gas Barn Affairs (IV) Lu Baqi Qi"

As soon as those words, which sounded like a declaration, fell, the garden on the projection screen suddenly changed. The vines, which had been growing quietly, came to life and stretched outwards with a momentum that almost broke through the screen. Rose buds bloomed rapidly along the vines, their petals a heart-wrenching deep red, as if stained with blood.

Just then, the vines wrapped around each member in an extremely exaggerated way, "lifting" them up. The members of Morfonica stood suspended in mid-air, their toes lightly touching the vine-formed flower stand, their instruments held steadily in their hands. As the melody began to play, the vines seemed to sway to the rhythm of the music.

Hinasaki was stunned.

Watching this scene, she had absolutely no idea where to begin her critique; only one thought flashed through her mind:

"Is this still the same fresh and elegant Morfonica?"

Especially Kurata Mashiro, who was usually quiet, shy, and reserved, seemed to have completely let loose at this moment. She swung her arms dramatically on the vines, shouting out a series of phrases with a strong sense of adolescent angst:

"The thorns of the rose will judge evil!"