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

As a blue-haired girl with pigtails passed by Class A in the corridor, she heard a commotion inside the classroom. Curious, she glanced over and saw everyone gathered around Deng and Yue.

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Meanwhile, inside Hanasakigawa Girls' Academy, Shiina Tatsuki closed her eyes, listening to upbeat music through her headphones. She tapped her fingers lightly on the table, while her feet tapped the floor in rhythm, creating a steady beat. She seemed completely absorbed in the music, oblivious to her surroundings.

Completely immersed in the world of music, Shiina Riki forgot that she wasn't at home. Her beat became stronger, and her footsteps became slightly heavier, which inadvertently caused a small accident. Her footsteps, keeping time with the beat, accidentally bumped into the table, causing the tabletop to lift up slightly. The chocolate panda milk jelly placed on the edge of the table was also shaken and slid down.

Realizing something was wrong, Riki reached out to catch it, but Hachiman Kairin caught the falling drink first and put it back on the table.

"Does Lixi want the drink to spill?"

"Eh... Ah... Thank you." Li hope took off the Bluetooth earphone from her ear and placed it on the table, then looked at Hai Ling.

Hai Ling looked Li hope up and down and said, "You seemed very excited this morning."

"What excitement am I having?" Li hope retorted stubbornly.

"Is it Lixi's daily routine to play air drums at school first thing in the morning?"

Lixi knew he probably wouldn't get the better of Hailing, so he glanced at the bass case she was carrying and changed the subject, "Hailing, which band is it today?"

“notoria, jasmine & husky and disrupution.”

Hai Ling read out the names of several bands, none of which Li hope had ever heard of.

Li hope said he didn't know them, "If you just mention the band names, I don't recognize any of them."

Hai Ling glanced at Li hope, "You're the one who asked me, aren't you?"

"Is Lixi going to work today?"

Li hope fiddled with the Bluetooth earphones on the table with his fingers and replied to Hai Ling, "I'm not working today, but I'm still going to Ring."

Hailing, who knew Lixi's situation very well, guessed that if Lixi wasn't working and still went to Ring, it was probably either to attend a concert or something related to the band.

As a legendary mercenary bassist who frequents various bands every month, he has some knowledge of which bands perform every day. Since Afterglow, which Lixi likes, is not performing today, the answer can only be something related to bands.

After Hailing finished her analysis, she asked Lixi, "Lixi, have you found new band members yet?"

“That’s not how it is,” Li hope said, turning her head to look at Hai Ling.

"Really? So that was a former member?" Hai Ling did know that Li hope had attended Yu Qiu Middle School and had been in a band.

"That's wonderful." Hai Ling was genuinely pleased that Li hope had a band to move forward with. After expressing her blessings to Li hope, she returned to her seat.

"Heh..." Li hope sighed softly, without any intention of chasing after him to argue.

--------

In the garden of the Horticulture Club at Tsukimori Girls' Academy.

Ruoye Mujun Yierlin 3 Erlin Qisipa gently twisted the watering can in her hand, letting clear water droplets fall beside the thriving cucumbers. Water droplets sprayed from the spout like silver threads, shimmering faintly in the sunlight. Her movements were light and skillful, each drop landing at the base of the cucumber, nourishing this vigorous life.

Nagasaki Motoyo stood beside Wakaba Mutsumi, picked up a watering can, and helped water the cucumbers. Her movements were slightly clumsy, but full of enthusiasm and effort. Water flowed from her hands, soft and even, like a light rain, gently covering the soil and bringing life and vitality to each plant.

"I've roughly found out where Xiangzi is. The person I saw in the Moon Forest last time is very likely Xiangzi."

Nagasaki Motoyo subtly shifted her gaze from the cucumber, turning her head slightly to observe her in a seemingly casual manner.

Meanwhile, Wakaba Mutsumi's expression remained calm, revealing no unusual behavior. Her face showed no fluctuation, as if Suze's words had no effect on Mutsumi.

Mu continued to hold the watering can, gently watering the cucumbers. The water flowed slowly from the spout, forming a soft stream that sprinkled on the roots of the cucumber seedlings. If it were Xiangzi, he would have been able to keenly notice that the angle of the water stream had subtly changed, and that the water flow to each plant was a bit too heavy.

However, Nagasaki Motoyo, immersed in the fantasy of Crychic's imminent reconstruction, was completely unaware of the possibility that something was amiss.

"Lixi and Deng have already joined the band. After finding Xiangzi, we should be able to invite her back soon."

Nagasaki Motoyo possessed an inexplicable confidence. While Wakaba Mutsu had completely stopped watering the flowers, Motoyo continued to water the flowers in front of her.

"Xiao Mu, please wait a moment. I will invite you after everyone returns."

Ruoye Mutsu lowered her eyes slightly, a hint of melancholy in them. Faced with Su Shi's promise, she remained silent, her lips slightly pursed. She knew that Su Shi's wish might not be fulfilled, but she also understood that she couldn't easily reveal Xiangzi's true situation. Caught between her two friends, Ruoye Mutsu struggled to decide which side she should lean towards.

If Ye Mu silently decided in her heart that she only needed to convey Su Shi's matter to Xiangzi, and Xiangzi would make a decision, whether for her sake or for Xiangzi's sake.

--------

After school, in the café on the second floor of Live House Ring, six people, including an uninvited guest named Peach, sat around a table, each with their pre-ordered drinks in front of them.

Yue took the initiative to explain Kurosawa Momoko to Aine and Suze, "Aine, Suze, let me introduce you. This is my friend Kurosawa Momoko. She is currently studying at Seisho. She is currently preparing an original stage play and wants to write about music, so she wants to come here to gather material."

Yue selectively concealed some of the content, after all, she couldn't tell everyone directly that Taozi thought our band would break up sooner or later, which was very dramatic and had the potential for adaptation, so she came to gather material.

"Ahem!" Ai Yin put on her glasses, cleared her throat and began to speak, "There are many things to decide today. First of all, there's what Yue-chan mentioned before, the band's goal. We already talked about this last time. The current goal is our first live performance. I hope everyone agrees on that."

Everyone nodded, having no objection to Aine's words. The only exception was Lixi, who was propping his chin up and looking at Aine with some displeasure.

"I have no problem with the goals, but why are you in charge?"

“I’m quite good at this kind of thing. I was even the student council president in junior high school,” Aine said.

As Aine spoke of the lights, her inner voice thought, "Because we finally formed a band, I got a little carried away and almost forgot that I absolutely cannot give up the center position to anyone else."

Little Aiyin turned her head and looked around at everyone sitting at the table. None of them had the superpower to read minds, so they had no way of knowing what Aiyin was thinking. Only Little Lantern seemed to see the image of the little Aiyin in Aiyin's heart and tilted her head in confusion.

Currently, everyone agrees that Xiaodeng is the lead singer, so if we want to take the center position, we have to start with Xiaodeng.

Ai Yin asked the lamp, "Little Lamp, can you play the drum bell?"

Gao Songdeng, seemingly out of nowhere, pulled out a drum bell and started banging it.

"The triangle seems pretty good too..."

Yue stared in surprise at the lamp, then pulled out a triangle from under the table. The sight of such superpowers made her bend down and search for hidden compartments under the table.

Ai Yin continued, "The castanets aren't bad either."

However, after searching around without success, Yue looked up and saw that a castanets had been taken by Deng at some point.

She turned back to Peach with a pleading look, but Peach responded with a calm gaze. Having experienced so many unscientific things with the giraffe, Yue could only regard this as a stage setup. Perhaps the stage would respond to the band girls' needs and conjure up musical instruments.

"I will give it my all, no matter what instrument it is."

It's clear that Deng is genuinely working hard to keep the band going.

"Then it's decided. I'll be the guitarist and lead vocalist." Ai Yin tried to subtly shift her identity back to guitarist and lead vocalist.

However, Li hope had no intention of giving Ai Yin any face. She rested her face on the table with her hand and said coldly, "Deng is the lead singer."

"Backing vocalists?" Ai Yin tried to negotiate.

"Lead singer!" Li hope's attitude was very firm.

"Then I'll play guitar and sing along with the lead singer..." Ai Yin took a small step back.

"Dual lead vocals? Even with dual lead vocals, if there's a clear lead vocalist, you wouldn't put the guitarist/vocalist in the middle." Yue saw through Aine's thoughts.

"You're being too prejudiced. No one has ever said that the lead singer has to stand in the middle."

As Ai Yin spoke, a brilliant idea flashed in her mind, "How about we all stand in a row?"

Yue chuckled, "Sorry, that scene was a bit too beautiful, I couldn't resist."

"Aion, you can just stand in the middle. I'll feel more comfortable in the back." Deng decided to take the initiative to back down.

Riki, who never questioned the lamp's suggestion, did not reject Aine's suggestion to stand in the middle, and took the initiative to ask the lamp, "Then should she stand next to the drummer?"

Su Shi knew that if she didn't do something, Ai Yin might really end up standing in the middle as the guitarist and lead singer, while Deng, the lead singer, would end up next to the drummer in the back.

Su Shi proactively changed the subject, saying, "Isn't this a bit too novel? Should we discuss other aspects of the concert first?"

When the Stage Opens: Chapter Twelve - Names and Cats

“For example…” Su Shi pondered their next topic.

"For example, the band's name!" Ai Yin seemed very excited.

"Eh?"

Although Su Shi didn't originally intend to bring up this topic, she managed to shift Aine's attention away from the center position on stage and towards other things.

"Actually, I've already considered several names and made several plans," Ai Yin said, scrolling through her phone.

"For example?" Yue asked Aine in a very cooperative manner.

“For example, Unknow!” Ai Yin turned her phone over, revealing the word “unknow” written on it in blue artistic font.

“Unknown… Anon…” Yue murmured softly before realizing why Aine had chosen that name.

"And that one (あのね)."

Aine flipped the phone's pictures to the left, revealing a picture of the beach and the three white characters "あのね".

"This is also an ano... and in a sense, it's even less meaningful than an unknown."

“I think Annonimo is also very good.”

This picture is even more unbearable to look at than the previous two.

Yue now roughly knows Aine's aesthetic level, but Aine doesn't seem to realize how bad her aesthetic level is.

"These are all your names, aren't they?" Li hope said irritably, arms crossed.

"That's right."

Erlingba WulingIX Shanlianjiu nZ Ling Meng Aiyin seemed to readily admit to the idea of ​​naming the band after herself, and showed no signs of embarrassment or shame.

When Momo heard Aine's words, she looked at her with disbelief. She turned to look at Yue and saw that he had an "I knew it" expression on his face.

"Tsuki-chan, were you prepared all along?"

Peach communicated with the moon through her eyes.

"More or less, but knowing Aine as I do, it's not surprising she'd do something like this."

Yue remembered that Aine had deliberately let her classmates know that she was forming a band. Given Aine's personality, it was perfectly normal for her to make such a decision.

“This isn’t just your band.” Li hope’s tone was slightly unfriendly, revealing her dissatisfaction with Ai Yin.

"You've been so willful since just now..." Ai-yin seemed to be introducing herself, but judging from her tone, she seemed to be saying that Riki was willful.

"Well, I guess I'll just add your name, Taki, too." Aine thought for a moment, then realized she didn't know how to write "taki." "Speaking of which, how do you write Taki?"

Lixi was a little annoyed by Aiyin. She picked up the glass of ice water in front of her, feeling the cool glass in her hand, and slowly brought it to her lips, taking a small sip.

The ice water melted on her tongue, the cool liquid sliding down her throat and into her body, bringing a refreshing sensation. This coolness seemed to slightly alleviate her inner anger.