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

"If Su Shi-san really wants to form a new band, then I'm sorry, I said something unnecessary," Yue said, taking a step back to apologize.

"It's alright. Yue's analysis has given me a new perspective on Xiangzi's situation. By the way, may I ask why you know so much about Xiangzi's situation?"

Su Shi once again seized control of the conversation and posed another question to Yue.

"I had discussed Crychic with Deng and the others before. After all, as a Crychic fan, it's normal for me to be curious about the reasons for Crychic's disbandment."

Yue answered Su Shi's question with composure, showcasing her acting skills.

"Is that so?" Su Shiyi asked, giving Yue a meaningful look.

It seems that the last time was when this Yue-kun agreed to help find clues about Xiangzi in Haneoka. Speaking of which, looking at it carefully now, Yue-kun seems to have a very similar figure to the Haneoka student I saw in the Moon Forest.

If Yue and Xiangzi knew each other, then many things could be explained.

After thinking about this, Su Shi felt that some things would be easily resolved.

"Lixi, could I have a cup of Darjeeling tea?"

Su Shi wasn't in a hurry to bring this up. Yue had already analyzed Xiangzi's current situation for her. Although she didn't know how good Yue's relationship with Xiangzi was, it could at least reflect Xiangzi's current situation.

After Lixi brought out the black tea, Su Shi took a sip. The tea's flavor lingered in her mouth, gradually making her feel more relaxed.

Su Shi put down her teacup, a slight smile playing on her lips, and said to them, "Let's get back to our previous topic. Li Xi, Deng, let's form a new band. Of course, Yue Sang and this Aine Sang are welcome to join if they want."

"Yay, Su Shi-san love!" Aine cheered happily after hearing Su Shi's words.

"By the way, I haven't properly gotten to know Su Shi-san yet. My name is Chihaya Aine. Nice to meet you."

"Aine-chan, nice to meet you."

Su Shi-chan's gaze fell on Yue. Although her purpose in coming to find Li hope today had deviated slightly, she had unexpectedly gained another person with whom she could practice with Xiangzi.

To prevent her from escaping, let's tolerate Aine joining the band for now.

Su Shi considered himself to have a pretty good eye for people. He thought that Yue and Aine were probably good friends. If he only brought Tama into the band, Yue might think it was a reunion of Crychic and not choose to participate. That would make it difficult to get information out of Xiangzi later.

If you bring Aine into the band, Yue will probably join as well, and then you can slowly extract information about Xiangzi.

Thinking she had seen through everything, Nagasaki Motoyo picked up her teacup again and took a sip, completely unaware that her analysis was fundamentally flawed—Aine and Tsuki's relationship could only be considered more than classmates, but not quite friends.

However, Suze's analysis based on the wrong premise unexpectedly yielded the correct answer. If only Akari and Riki participated, she would indeed likely choose to give up. But if Aine was also brought into the band, Tsuki would indeed participate, but only out of a sense of responsibility to take care of Akari and Aine.

After all, only Yue knows information about both Xiangzi and Su Shi at the moment.

After watching the performance at Tsuki no Mori, on the way back, Shoko mentioned to Tsuki why she was avoiding Su Shi.

The specific information was provided by her childhood friend, Mutsumi Wakaba, and it was at that time that Yue learned that Motoyo Nagasaki had always wanted to reorganize Crychic.

Su Shi looked at Yue, "Yue, what about you?"

Therefore, Yue was skeptical of Su Shi's suggestion to form a new band, and sighed when she saw Ai Yin Gao's new announcement of joining the band.

Everything had deviated from her planned process of forming the band, but since things had already turned out this way, she said helplessly.

"Su Shi, let me make this clear first: I haven't played the electronic keyboard in a long time, so don't have too high hopes for my keyboard skills."

After seeing that Aine and Tsuki had both accepted the invitation to form a band, Teng said something incredibly heavy with a smile on his face.

"Everyone... this time we must form a band that lasts a lifetime."

"A lifetime?" Su Shi was shocked by Deng's unexpected words.

“Hmm…I don’t want to do that anymore,” the lamp said.

Upon hearing Deng's words, Lixi immediately replied, "I swear! I'm willing to stay with Deng for the rest of my life."

'...! ...

Looking at the scene before her that resembled a confession, Yue's inner voice made a screaming expression.

"Even though I'd heard it before, I still have to admit, am I really out of touch? Isn't this a confession? High school girl evolution has definitely left me behind."

“Then I’ll swear too.” Nagasaki Motoyo raised her hand and told a lie with a smile.

"Huh?" Aine was somewhat shocked by Lixi and Sushi's reactions.

As Yue looked on with relief that someone was finally acting like a normal person, Aine exclaimed in surprise, "Wait a minute, it's a lifetime? A lifetime!"

"What's wrong?" Li hope looked at Ain, who was completely oblivious to the atmosphere, with some impatience.

“Lixi…this is a lifetime!” Yue also echoed Aine.

“Yeah, this is a lifetime. Based on the average lifespan, when we become grandmothers, we’ll be over 90 years old. Will we still be in a band together? Lixi, will you still be playing drums when you’re 90?” Aiyin asked.

“Keep fighting!” Li hope replied without hesitation.

“A lifetime… how about we set a short-term goal first?” Tsuki chimed in, trying to help Aine out of the predicament.

“Yes, yes, let’s start with a week,” Aine suggested immediately after hearing Yue’s words.

However, upon hearing this, Deng immediately lowered his head, looking dejected.

After noticing Xiaodeng's condition, Ai Yin quickly changed her mind and said, "How about we continue until the end of the concert?"

"I don't know if I can be in a band forever, so let's start with concerts. Let's all give it a try, okay?" Ai Yin said, looking at everyone and waiting for their reactions.

After listening to Aine's words, Yue smiled and said, "I agree with Aine's opinion."

Lamp glanced at Aine, then lowered her head and said, "Well... you absolutely can't break your promise before the first concert, okay?"

"Deng, you always sound so heavy when you speak."

“If you say you’ll stay for life, then stay for life. If you can’t keep your word, then don’t come here,” Li hope said to Ai Yin.

“My name is Aine, not this guy,” Aine protested to Riki.

"I didn't hear you."

"Yue, look at Lixi!"

"Alright, Lixi, stop trying to upset Aiyin."

While everyone was fooling around, a white-haired girl with heterochromatic eyes was eating a matcha parfait and watching the commotion from a short distance away.

Her gaze lingered on the lamp, a slight smile playing on her lips. "An interesting woman."

--------

What a bizarre day...

Lying on her bed, Yue thought about what had happened that day. She had only wanted to help Ai Yin understand the band correctly, to let her know that being in a band was not something to be taken lightly or played around with.

Unexpectedly, Nagasaki Motoyo suddenly appeared out of nowhere, forcefully forming a band and even pulling her into it.

"We still need to tell Xiangzi about this..."

Yue picked up her phone, opened the messaging app, and briefly sent Xiangzi a summary of what had happened that day, warning him to be careful.

A moment later, Xiangzi's reply came through: "I know, I'll be careful these next few days."

"Now that I've joined this unknown band, I have to work hard."

After reading Xiangzi's message, Yue sat up in bed and went to the piano at home. She hadn't practiced the piano for a while, and she would need some rehabilitation to reach the level required for performance.

"But if it's for performance, wouldn't we need to buy an electronic keyboard? We can't exactly bring a piano onto the stage."

Sitting on the piano bench, Yue looked at the heavy piano in front of her and suddenly realized that she didn't seem to have bought an electronic keyboard yet.

"If I had known, I would have brought back my own things when the project was disbanded and I was packing up."

The instrument she used during her idol activities was provided by the company, and she didn't bring it back with her. Later, her manager told her that it seemed to have been sold at a high price as a used instrument, and she received a considerable share of the profits.

"Let's go to the nearby music store after school tomorrow."

Yue has set her plans for tomorrow.

When the performance begins: Chapter Seven: The Music Store

"So, are you planning to go to the music store later, Tsuki-chan?"

Aine, from the Astronomy Department, looked at Tsuki, who was browsing an online shopping mall on her phone, and asked.

"Well... this is the plan for now."

Yue sighed, her tone full of regret and sorrow.

"Moon? Why are you sighing?" Deng asked, puzzled, looking at Moon's worried expression.

"I feel like I missed out on a lot of money," Yue said, looking depressed as she stared at her phone screen.

"Let me see?" Aine curiously moved closer to Yue, their faces almost touching.

Being pressed so close by Aine, Tsukishiro felt her cheeks slightly warm and a blush rise to her face.

"Aine... seems to lack a strong sense of boundaries."

"This electronic keyboard is too expensive! It's ridiculously expensive. Who would buy such an instrument?"

Aine exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the electronic keyboard on her phone, which displayed a price of 150 million yen.

"Yeah, who would buy something like this..." Yue sighed, propping her cheek up. When she sold this instrument, it only sold for around 90, but in just over a year, the price had risen to 150 million, and someone nicknamed Triangle Plum even bought it.

If she had known this would happen, she might have earned more if she had waited a few years to sell.

Aiyin carefully read the text description below, then turned to Yue in surprise and said...

"Let me see... Hinasaki Tsuki used an electronic keyboard, and it even has her signature on it! Tsuki, this is your instrument."

"Hey! Come quick, the musical instrument Yue used can sell for 150 million!"

"If that's the case, we can go to a music store and buy some cheap instruments for Yue to use during her performances, and then we can make a lot of money!" Ai Yin excitedly indulged in fantasies about auctioning off instruments after each concert in the future.

Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and her face wore an expectant smile, as if she could already see success.

The moon stretched out two fingers and slowly explained to Ai Yin.

"Although Aine's imagination is wonderful, the reason why this instrument can sell for such a high price is firstly because this instrument was originally very expensive, and secondly because it was sold as a commemorative item when I retired."

Aine was slightly disappointed, but then a look of excitement flashed across her face.

"Is that so? Although we can't make money using ObaV's 'The Moon', we can still use 'Moon' to make our band famous!" Her eyes revealed a hint of expectation, and her expression was enthusiastic and excited.

Yue thought for a moment, her brows furrowing slightly, her expression becoming somewhat somber. "Aiyin, you've reminded me. I'll need to consider disguising myself to prevent others from recognizing me."

Ai Yin tilted her head, her brows furrowing slightly, her expression showing confusion and bewilderment.