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

"Oh, that's alright. We'll definitely be able to go back to how things were before, make up, and form a band together again. Leave it to me!"

Nagasaki Motoyo's smile was perfect, with the corners of her mouth slightly upturned. The smile seemed so natural and smooth, as if it had been carefully designed.

However, her eyes did not light up with her smile; instead, they appeared somewhat empty, as if some unknown emotion was hidden behind the smile.

Her smile was like a meticulously polished mirror, smooth and shiny on the surface, but unable to reflect her true inner feelings.

"We can't go back to the past..."

Knowing Xiangzi's current situation, Ruoye Mutsu silently recited this sentence in her heart, her face expressionless, as if wearing a cold mask, completely hiding her inner emotions.

"Xiao Mu just needs to wait for my scar removal news."

--------

After school at Haneoka Girls' Academy, in the Astronomy Club activity room.

Looking at Chihaya Aine's smiling face, Tsuki asked curiously, "Aine-san, have you thought of the answer to the question yet?"

After hearing what Yue said, Deng looked at Aine with anticipation, her eyes sparkling with curiosity, eager to hear Aine's answer.

"Hehe, I haven't decided yet." Aine's words surprised Tsuki.

"So, what brings Aine to the Astronomy Department today?" Yue asked.

"Of course, it's to join the Astronomy Club." Aine handed Akari a fully filled-out application form.

"Huh?" Yue had no idea that Aine had come today to submit her application to join the club.

Generally speaking, if a question is raised the day before the anime's development, the next day the question will either be answered to recruit the other person into your team, or a bunch of nice words will be used to recruit them into your team.

Wait... why am I only thinking about being pulled into the team? Is this supposed to be a harem anime? Isn't this a band anime?

Yue shook her head, throwing the jumbled fantasies in her mind into the trash can, and then saw Deng take Aine's application form.

"Welcome to the Astronomy Club, Aine-chan."

"Thank you, little lamp!" Ai Yin hugged the lamp affectionately.

Watching Aine and the light interact, Tsuki didn't know what to say.

--------

Live House Ring

Lixi was practicing making coffee at the front desk. She picked up a bag of freshly ground coffee beans, tore open the packaging, and poured them into the grinder, making sure the beans were ground to a suitable coarseness for brewing.

Place the filter paper on the spout of the pot, then pour the ground coffee into the filter paper. Gently tap the coffee grounds with your fingers to distribute them evenly on the filter paper, ensuring that the water can penetrate evenly.

Then, Lixi took out the kettle, poured water into it, and waited for the water temperature to be suitable before slowly pouring it onto the coffee powder to start brewing coffee.

She gently swirls the pot to fully mix the water and coffee grounds, releasing a rich coffee aroma.

"Lixi is getting more and more skilled; he's making coffee better and better," Ms. Rinrin praised, watching Lixi's coffee-making movements.

"Lixi learns quickly at work and is a great help. It would be perfect if she could be a little better at greeting guests," Rinrinko said with some regret.

“I’m not very good at interacting with people, so let me be in charge of the drinks at the front desk.” Lixi poured the brewed coffee into a cup and placed it on the counter. “The customer’s coffee is ready.”

"Honestly, Riki is not cute at all in this respect." Rinrinko puffed out her cheeks and served the coffee to the customer.

Just when Lixi thought he could relax a little, Yue and Deng walked in with Aine and went straight to the bar to sit down.

"Lixi, two cups of hot Earl Grey tea, please. Aiyin, you can order whatever you want," Yue said to Lixi.

"Then I'll do the same as Yue-chan." Aine decided to trust Yue's preference.

"Lixi, please change it to three cups of hot Earl Grey tea." Yue held up three fingers in front of Lixi.

"Okay, just a moment." Li hope glanced at Ai Yin, who was sitting there looking around, and turned to the bar to start preparing drinks.

"Is this the live house? This is my first time here. Where is the performance venue?" Aine looked around curiously, her eyes scanning the surroundings with barely suppressed curiosity.

"The performance is in the outdoor performance hall. This is the drinks area, but thanks to the recent rise in popularity of girl bands, many people now come here to find band members to form a team or to rent the recording studio for practice," Yue explained to Aine, pointing to the performance hall in the distance.

Upon hearing Yue's introduction, Aine's eyes lit up with excitement, and she couldn't help but ask, "Can we find people to form a band here?"

Yue smiled and explained, "Of course you can. If you give up on forming a band with us, you can come here to find bands that are short of guitarists and vocalists."

When Tama heard Yue mention the word "give up," a clear sadness appeared in her eyes. However, thanks to Yue's preparation for Aine's departure the day before, Tama didn't show it too obviously.

"Here you go, your hot Earl Grey tea." Lixi placed the brewed tea in front of them one by one.

"Oh, right, let me introduce you. This is Shiina Tatsuki, the drummer for Crychic. This is Chihaya Aine, the new transfer student in our class." Tsuki suddenly remembered that Tatsuki and Aine didn't seem to know each other yet, so she took the initiative to introduce them.

"Hello." Li hope greeted Ai Yin with a cold face.

Lixi had overheard part of their conversation and knew that the pink-haired girl wanted to form a band again with the lights on, so she didn't give her a very friendly look.

If she weren't currently working, she probably would have gone up and yelled at the other person right now.

"Hmph, Tsuki-chan... Is Riki's face always this pale?" Aine asked Tsuki quietly, noticing Riki's disgusted expression.

Yue sighed softly. She noticed Lixi's expression and knew that he was not friendly to Aine.

She gently reminded Lixi, "Lixi, watch your expression. Aiyin doesn't mean any harm."

"Huh? If there was no malice, why would you invite the Light Group Band?" Li hope retorted, his brows furrowed and his expression displeased.

"Lixi, don't you also want to see the lights sing again and shine on the stage again?" Yueyu said gently, trying to calm Lixi's dissatisfaction.

“Lixi… I don’t mind,” Deng said at the right moment.

"Since Deng has said so," Li Xi's expression softened slightly after hearing Deng's words.

"That's right, Lixi's attitude is really bad!" Aiyin said.

"Huh? Don't you even think about who it's because of?" Lixi glared at Aiyin again, her eyes full of dissatisfaction.

"Aine, tone it down a bit. Although Riki looks really cute puffed up like a pufferfish, we still need to be careful not to let the pufferfish Riki explode." Yue said, suppressing a laugh as she watched the two interact, trying to smooth things over.

“Aine, you need to understand that if you want to find a light to form a band, you’ll have to rely on Riki-chan for the drummer,” Yue continued, her tone serious.

“Huh? I would never form a band with this guy.” Li hope immediately retorted, her eyes flashing with disdain.

“I don’t want to be in a band with you anymore, Yue-chan, Xiao-deng, can’t we find a different drummer?” Aine said.

"Even if you participate in the lantern festival?" A cunning glint flashed in Yue's eyes. Although she had only known Li hope for a month, she quickly learned how to manipulate him.

"Tsk...whatever, but if the lanterns come, I'm open to being the drummer." Li hope had no idea how well her words fit the anime/manga definition of a tsundere.

"Xiao Deng, Li hope... are you talking about reforming the band?" Nagasaki Motoyo arrived unnoticed, standing behind the group with a forced smile on her face and a slightly trembling voice.

When the Stage Opens: Episode 6 - The Band of a Lifetime

"Xiao Deng, Li hope... are you preparing to reform the band?" Nagasaki Motoyo, who had appeared at some point, stood on top of the group, forcing a smile and her voice trembling slightly.

"Su Shi, when did you arrive?" Li hope asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I came here as soon as I heard you were talking about reforming the band. Can I participate in forming the band?" Su Shi recovered from her surprise and returned to her normal state.

"Su Shi...does he also want to rebuild the band?" Deng asked.

"Yes, Mutsu and I have always wanted to return to the relationships we had before," Su Shi said on Mutsu's behalf as she sat down.

"Has Su Shi He Mu always thought this way?" Deng's voice trembled slightly.

“That’s right.” Su Shi looked at Li hope. “Li hope must also want Deng to return to the stage to sing.”

Nagasaki Motoyo cleverly shifted the focus, not asking Riki if he wanted to reform the band, but instead asking if he wanted to hear the light's voice.

Ai Yin tugged at Yue's sleeve and leaned close to Yue's ear, asking curiously, "Yue, who is this?"

Tsuki lowered her voice and said to Aine, "Nagasaki Motoyo, the bassist for Crychic."

"So, they were all in the same band before? I haven't seen the guitarist yet." Ai Yin's eyes lit up when she heard this.

In her opinion, isn't this the perfect band? Bassist, drummer, and with Yue-senpai as the keyboardist, isn't this the perfect band she envisioned, lacking only guitarist and vocalist?

However, if the cute little lamp is the lead singer, she could also consider being the lead guitarist, or a dual lead singer.

"Tsk..."

Li hope mumbled something and remained silent, not answering Su Shi's question.

However, sometimes silence may also be an answer.

Nagasaki Motoyo pressed her advantage, launching a further offensive against Riki and Akari, saying, "I believe that the disbandment of our band before must have been due to some misunderstanding between us. As long as we can clear things up properly, we will definitely be able to reunite the band."

"Wait a minute, Su Shi-san." Yue felt that the other party had completely taken control of the situation, and in order to prevent Su Shi-san from leading the way, she interrupted him.

"Is there something you need, Yue?" Su Shi didn't show any displeasure at Yue's interruption; instead, she asked her with a smile.

Looking at Su Shi's smile, Yue couldn't help but marvel at the other person's extraordinary control over facial expressions, and at the sheer terror of the students of Tsuki no Mori.

Although Su Shi was very annoyed that Yue had interrupted her, she still talked to her with a smile. If it weren't for the other party's subtle hand gestures, she really wouldn't have been able to tell what she was feeling.

"Su Shi-san, is the real reason Crychic disbanded really because of a misunderstanding between you?" Yue asked Su Shi.

Su Shi looked at Yue, and even though the other party had only asked a simple question, she felt a sense of unease.

“Of course, if we had made things clear back then, we would definitely have been able to rebuild the band,” Su Shi replied with a smile.

"Su Shi Sang, do you still remember the reason why Xiangzi quit Crychic?" Yue asked the same question she had asked Li hope and Deng before.

"Eh?"

Su Shi was stumped by Yue's question, and her thoughts drifted back to that rainy day, recalling what Xiangzi had said back then.

"Xiangzi probably said that her departure from Crychic was due to her own reasons."

Yue helped Su Shi answer this question.

"Hmm, is there a problem?"

Even though the air conditioning was on indoors, Su Shi's forehead was already starting to sweat.

"Is it possible that Xiangzi wasn't lying to you? Xiangzi really left the band because of her own problems. If it were just because of a misunderstanding, she wouldn't have transferred from Tsukinomori, would she?" Yue continued.

After listening to Yue's words, Su Shi remained silent for a while before speaking.

"Moon-chan, your analysis makes a lot of sense. I had never considered this aspect before."

“But I don’t think I mentioned Xiangzi or Crychic just now. Weren’t we discussing forming a new band?” Su Shi changed the subject and threw the question back to Yue.

Yue stared at Su Shi, and seeing that Su Shi was not flustered at all in the face of her gaze, Yue wondered if she had misunderstood Su Shi. Did Su Shi really want to form a new band?