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

Meanwhile, inside the Haneoka Astronomy Club, Akari and Tsuki had finished lunch. Akari was continuing to improve the club's activity log, recording the starry sky she had seen the night before in the club's activity logbook.

Yue, who was helping Deng draw a star map, saw a message pop up on her phone. The sender's profile picture was a familiar peach icon.

"Did Yue-chan's school have any transfer students today? (smiley face emoji)"

Yue raised an eyebrow and replied, "How did you know? The transfer student happens to be in our class. Tell me quickly, which classmate in our class is your spy?"

"I won't tell you. If I do, I won't be able to keep track of your whereabouts, Yue-chan."

"I'll kill you. (Draws knife emoji)"

"That sounds terrifying!" Peach followed up with an emoji of a vampire girl (?) huddled in a corner, crouching with her head in her hands.

"If you're scared, then confess honestly. Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely. As long as you hand over the undercover agent, I'll consider giving you a lighter sentence." Yue's phone was rapidly tapping on the screen.

"Okay, enough joking. It was that senior from England I mentioned before who told me about it. She knows the kid who transferred to your school, and I happened to have talked to her about you too, so she messaged me asking me to help her ask. I just didn't expect you two to be in the same class." Peach followed this text with a "What a coincidence!" emoji.

"Is there really such a coincidence in this world? I have a feeling that some guy with an unusually long neck might be up to something again." Yue keenly sensed a conspiracy.

"Mr. Giraffe will cry if he finds out. Can't you just call him by his name properly?" Momo couldn't help but laugh when she saw Yue describe the giraffe as a creature with a very long neck, which caught the attention of her roommate, Yurisaki Aoi.

"So does the giraffe have a name? We've always just called it giraffe," Yue replied.

"To be honest, I really don't know, and no one has ever asked the giraffe."

"See? You don't even know the name of the giraffe."

"I might ask about it next time I see a giraffe."

"It never ends well when I see a giraffe, Peach. You actually want to see her again."

"Hey, okay, that's enough chatting. Anyway, I'll leave it to you, Yue." After sending this message, Peach's profile picture quickly went dark, changing from a pink peach to a gray-black peach.

"Moon, is there something you need?" asked Light, who had been sitting obediently waiting ever since Moon started replying to Momo's messages.

"Nothing much, it's just that Peach wanted to chat with me." What Yue didn't tell Deng was that she always felt that Giraffe was behind it all, since such a coincidence was just too much in line with the story development on stage.

What Yue didn't know was that while the giraffe might have been behind the scenes in the previous incidents, this time she had truly wronged the giraffe. However, Mr. Giraffe, who was keen on watching the drama unfold, probably wouldn't mind taking the blame.

When the Stage Opens: Chapter Two - Let's Form a Band Together

"I did pretty well today, and I also made some friends." Aine lay on the sofa in her room, reflecting on her day.

"But... are all high school girls forming bands these days?"

Aiyin remembered seeing her classmates taking out musical instruments from their lockers in twos and threes after school that afternoon.

"Is everyone forming bands?" Ai Yin asked curiously.

"Yeah, quite a few people at our school play in bands."

"Because an amazing band has emerged among the senior students. There's a band called Afterglow in the third year, and even the student council president is a member."

"Although Paspale has already graduated, there are still senior students from Roselia and Lock from RAS in the second year."

"Everyone's really forming bands." Ai-yin looked at her classmates, almost all of whom were carrying musical instruments.

"By the way, Aine, if you don't mind, would you like to come and play together?" Classmate A invited Aine.

"We want to sing Afterglow's songs, but we're missing a guitarist."

"A guitar?"

Ai Yin considered the typical guitarist's role in a band.

"So you mean you have to stand in the corner?"

"Sorry, I need to think about it first."

------

"Phew—my face is almost frozen from smiling, but for the first day, I did pretty well." Back home, Aine leaned back on the sofa, rubbing her slightly stiff face.

"Oh right, the guitar, the guitar, I remember it was... I got it!"

Ai Yin took out her guitar, which had been sitting idle for a long time. It was covered in a layer of dust, and the strings, which hadn't been tuned in a while, were a bit loose.

She casually plucked a few strings, and the faint sound produced by her fingers was very different from what she remembered.

"Ah?"

Ai Yin was puzzled. Although she hadn't touched a guitar in a long time, she had formed a band as the student council president in junior high school. Although the tune she played was very simple, she could still hear the changes in pitch.

With her remaining memories, Ai Yin roughly knew that she needed to tune the guitar, but she had already left most of her guitar knowledge in junior high school with her graduation ceremony.

Having no other choice, Ai Yin opened her iPad and went to a video website to search for how to tune a guitar.

Among the numerous search recommendations, Ai Yin randomly clicked on the video with the highest number of views.

"Hmm, oh, I see! It's very simple!"

Following the video's instructions, Aiyin downloaded a free mobile tuner and quickly tuned her electric guitar.

After tapping the guitar a few more times with her fingers to confirm that the sound was exactly the same as what she had heard before, Ai Yin put the guitar back in her bag and lay back down on the sofa.

"The guitar is tuned. Tomorrow we'll find a band that's missing a guitarist and lead singer."

———Aine-chan's Fantasy———

How is everyone?

Under the stage spotlight, Ai Yin and several other band members whose faces were not clearly visible stood on the stage.

"I am Chihaya Aine, the guitarist and lead vocalist of the band. Thank you all so much for coming to the anon tokyo concert. Please enjoy our performance."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Hehe, hehe.

Ai Yin indulged in unrealistic fantasies, while simultaneously letting out a silly laugh.

"It's decided! I'm going to find a band at school tomorrow to be the guitarist and lead singer!"

Chihaya Aine seems oblivious to her own skills, still fantasizing about becoming a guitarist and vocalist and leading the team to success.

The next day, at school dismissal time, Aine said apologetically to the classmate who had invited her the day before.

"I'm sorry, I'd also like to form a band, but I'm not very familiar with Afterglow yet."

"There's nothing to worry about anymore," her classmate comforted Ai Yin.

"I'm really glad everyone invited me to participate, and I'm truly sorry." Aine's words were full of apology.

Not far away, Tsuki, who was chatting with the lamp, turned around and glanced at Aine after hearing her words.

Generally, transfer students who want to quickly integrate into the established small groups in the class will try to cater to their interests and participate in most activities.

But judging from Aine's initiative to talk to them yesterday, this pink-haired girl must really want to fit in with the class.

Now, faced with their invitations, Yue chose to refuse, and could only think of two possibilities.

One type is Ai Yin, who doesn't play any musical instruments; the other type is Ai Yin, who has her own goals or pursuits.

"But what does all this have to do with me? I'd rather spend my time thinking about my homework today."

Yue pulled her thoughts away from the transfer student and continued chatting with Deng about the new style of band-aids she had recently seen.

------

Ai Yin acted very quickly. After apologizing to her classmates for not being able to participate, she left the classroom to try to find a band that lacked a guitarist and vocalist.

If Yue knew what Aine was thinking, she wouldn't know whether to say that Aine lacked common sense about forming a band or that she was too naive.

What band is so well-organized that it's missing a lead singer? Either they're instrumentalists looking to transition to other genres, or the lead singer has been replaced due to an accident. It's highly unlikely that a guitar novice like Ai Yin would be chosen to participate in either of those situations.

"Speaking of music, the first thing that comes to mind should be the light music club, right? Let me see..."

Aine looked up and began searching for the name of the Light Music Club on the club display board in front of her.

However, Aine searched the whole place but couldn't find the name of the Light Music Club.

"Eh! There's no light music club? Then all that's left is..."

His gaze swept across the notice board, finally settling on the wind band. "Should I check out the wind band? It doesn't seem to be very close to the band, but I'll go take a look anyway."

"Piano music?"

Just as Ai Yin was still struggling with her decision, faint piano music drifted from the teaching building.

Not far behind Aine, Tsuki and Akari walked out of the building, intending to cross the atrium to head to the Astronomy Department.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yue spotted Chihaya Aine swaying back and forth in front of the notice board, carrying a bag.

Just as I was about to greet the other person and ask if they had any clubs they wanted to join, and if I could take them there, I realized...

Ai Yin turned her head and followed the sound of the piano into the building.

Yue also heard the piano music and, after thinking about its location, determined that it was probably the piano from the wind band.

"Wait a minute, at this time... shouldn't Xiangzi be inside?"

After figuring out that the piano music was coming from the wind band, Yue quickly realized that the only person still practicing in the wind band at this time was probably Toyokawa Shoko.

"Lamp, shall we go take a look?" Moon asked Lamp.

Although, after what happened in Tsukimori, Tsuki and Shoko's relationship could barely be considered as that of friends.

But it wouldn't be good to suddenly leave the lamp here, not to mention that Xiangzi's relationship with the lamp is much closer than her relationship with Xiangzi.

"Huh? What are you looking at?" Although the adorable little animal, Takamatsu Akari, is an eccentric girl, it was still a bit too much for her to ask whether the answer was right without even giving the question.

"Ah, sorry." Yue also keenly realized that her seemingly random words would be incomprehensible to others.

"What I mean is that the person playing the piano in the band right now should be Shoko. Chihaya probably went there following the sound of the piano. I was wondering if we should go and take a look."

This time, Yue explained the whole story to Deng in detail, starting from the beginning.

"Yue, how did you know Xiangzi was in the band club?" Deng asked a crucial and fatal question.

"Oh no! I haven't told Akari about meeting Xiangzi before and going to the show with her in the Moon Forest. I'm worried that telling her now will hurt her feelings."

Yue thought that if she told Akari the truth, Akari, given her personality, would probably think that since Shoko could go to the Moon Forest with Yue to see the performance, she must still be interested in the band. She concluded that it was indeed her fault for not singing well, and then she would fall into endless self-doubt and self-criticism.

If I don't tell Deng the truth, I have to come up with a reason in a short time that Deng can accept without causing her to fall into self-doubt and internal conflict.

Yue felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead, and she couldn't help but frown. She tried to clear her thoughts, but found herself feeling a strange and heavy pressure.