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

Yue replied, "At least for now, I don't want it to disband."

"Really..." Momoko paused for a moment, then said, "I don't have any good ideas about this either. Why don't you try going out with them first, to build up your team spirit? Maybe if you create more experiences for your band, Suze-chan will forget about her past band?"

If Su Shi could let go so easily, she wouldn't be worrying about this now.

"I will give it a try."

------

On the other side, Lixi boarded the tram with a lamp.

Lixi was in a state of confusion, as if everything on the road had become somewhat unfamiliar. Although the scenery around her was the same as usual, she could not calm down when she was with the lamp.

“Light…” Li hope called out to the petite girl beside him.

“Lixi?” Gao Songdeng turned her head and stared at Lixi, her amber eyes flashing with doubt.

Lixi looked at the lamp, but swallowed the words she wanted to say. "Lamp, it's getting colder tonight. Are you cold?"

The lamp shook its head. "Thank you, I'm not very cold."

"That's good..." Li hope turned her head and looked out the car window, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"?" Deng looked at Lixi, who seemed a little strange, and a question mark appeared above his head.

The two maintained this awkward yet harmonious atmosphere as they walked from the tram stop toward Deng's house. When they passed the pedestrian overpass in front of Deng's house, Lixi knew that if she didn't speak up now, she would never have another chance.

Lixi stopped in her tracks, and the lamp stopped as well, its gaze falling on Lixi, who had been behaving strangely all evening.

"Lamp, what do you think of our band?" Li hope's gaze fell on the bustling traffic below the overpass.

"I'm so happy that everyone can get back together." Deng smiled slightly as he thought about the band members getting together today, his tone revealing a hint of joy.

"I see..."

Lixi was conflicted. In fact, she knew perfectly well what Su Shi wanted to do, and she felt that Yue should have noticed this to some extent as well.

She had originally intended to talk to Deng about Su Shi and Xiang Zi today, but after hearing Deng's happy speech about forming a band, she had to abandon the idea.

"What Su Shiqi wants to do... is none of my business. I just want to see the lights shining on stage again."

Lixi hypnotized herself, thinking that all she wanted was for Deng to be happy. She didn't need to do anything that would make Deng unhappy, so she didn't need to point out to Deng that the band's current state was very strange.

As long as this band can get Deng to sing on stage, that's enough... As long as the band members are her and Deng, that's fine... The rest... don't matter?

Lixi was caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, she felt that all she needed was a light, but on the other hand, she felt that it was wrong to deceive others like this.

"Wait...it seems like I didn't fool anyone? It looks like only Chihaya Aine got hurt?"

Lixi belatedly realized that, given Yue's knowledge of Su Shi's problems, the one who would ultimately be most hurt was probably Aine.

Lixi glanced at the lamp and rejected his guess.

"No... if the band falls apart again because someone leaves, wouldn't Light be very sad?"

After a period of inner struggle, Lixi finally made up her mind that she would never let Deng be sad again, no matter what.

"Light, I'll definitely be in a band with you for life, so please sing for me and everyone else for life, okay?"

Although Deng didn't know why Lixi would suddenly say those words, her feelings had undoubtedly reached her heart.

Deng grasped Lixi's hand, his gaze fixed firmly on her. "Lixi, I promise you, I will sing for this band for the rest of my life."

This was the first time Lixi had been stared at so intently by Deng. She felt a warm current surge through her heart, and her cheeks flushed. She stammered, "Deng, see you...see you tomorrow!" and then hurriedly left.

As Deng watched Lixi's departing figure, she softly said, "See you tomorrow."

--------

After Yue delivered the peaches back to Shengxiang Starlight Museum and chatted with some old friends, an hour had passed by the time she returned home; it was almost nine o'clock.

However, Yue saw a familiar person standing at her door. At first glance, she wasn't quite sure, but after rubbing her eyes and pinching herself, she realized that the girl was still in front of her, and she knew she wasn't dreaming.

"When did my house become a shelter for troublesome girls? Why are all these girls coming to my house? Is it too late for me to turn back and stay at the Starlight Pavilion for the night? Or maybe I could go to the Touka's house?"

Just as Yue was contemplating whether she should ask someone else for lodging that night, the girl at the door finally spoke.

"Moon, I really am."

Shiina Riki looked at Tsuki, who was standing there rubbing her eyes and pinching herself, and said with some dissatisfaction.

After hearing Li hope's words, Yue realized that her chances of escaping today were probably gone.

Her helpless expression seamlessly switched to a smile as she looked at Riki and said, "Riki, what brings you to my house tonight?"

When Riki heard the nickname Chihaya Aine gave him from Yue's mouth, veins popped on his forehead. "Huh? Yue, don't call yourself Riki like that guy."

"Sorry, sorry, I just thought the name Riki was cute." Yue was still very tactful and immediately apologized to Riki after seeing her slightly annoyed expression.

Yue took out her key, opened her front door, and said to Lixi, "What's the matter? Come in and sit down to talk. Although it's summer now, it's still a bit chilly at night lately."

--------

When Yue opened her refrigerator door, a blast of icy cold air hit her. White light illuminated the spacious interior, where only a large bottle of barley tea and a large glass of cola were placed.

"It's about time to go buy some drinks," Yue thought to herself as she asked Lixi.

Barley tea or cola?

“Barley tea will do,” Lixi replied.

After receiving Lixi's reply, Yue took the barley tea out of the refrigerator, unscrewed the cap, and gently tilted the bottle, slowly pouring the barley tea from the opening into the cup.

She raised the bottle opening, then set the bottle aside, picked up the cup filled with the cool, wheaty aroma, and prepared to hand it to Lixi.

"Speak, what brings you here so late? Is it something you can't tell anyone else?" Yue asked, sitting down on the sofa next to Lixi.

Lixi gently lifted the cup, feeling the cool touch in her hand.

She brought the cup to her lips, slowly tilting it to let the barley tea flow down her tongue and into her mouth. The cool liquid flowed down her throat, bringing a refreshing sensation. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then asked...

"Moon, what do you think of this band?"

Yue was stunned for a moment. She had always thought that as long as Lixi had lights, everyone else would be fine. Why was she suddenly concerned about the overall situation of the band?

"I think it's pretty good; everyone's atmosphere is quite nice."

Yue wasn't lying; she just didn't say the second half of her sentence, assuming this wasn't a band.

"Yue, is that really what you think?" Li hope frowned. Yue's answer was not what she had expected.

Could it be that I guessed wrong? Li hope wondered to herself.

Yue sighed and spoke her true thoughts: "Of course, I mean if we weren't a band, our atmosphere would actually be pretty good."

After hearing Yue's words, Li hope felt much more relaxed, at least there was still one normal person in this band.

"So, Yue, you think so too? As a band, we really lack the team spirit of a band. We're still arguing about who should be in the center position and the band name, which are unimportant things."

"Actually, I don't think the band's name is anything unimportant," Yue thought to herself.

"Lixi came to my house tonight, there must be more to it than just this."

Lixi felt that Yue had hit the nail on the head. After hesitating for a moment, she slowly asked, "Yue, what do you think of Nagasaki Motoyo?"

"The young lady of Tsukimori is very polite, gentle and considerate, and speaks with great elegance, perfectly matching the impression people have of a young lady."

Yue summarized the mask that Nagasaki Motoyo presented to the outside world.

"Did you ever think about Su Shi's purpose in joining our band that month?"

Lixi continued to guide Yue, unsure whether Yue knew Nagasaki Motoyo's purpose in forming the band. If Yue truly didn't know, revealing it directly might provoke her.

If Yue comes in the rain the day after listening to the song and announces her departure from the band, Deng will probably develop PTSD on the spot.

Therefore, Lixi only dared to guide him indirectly.

With Tsukimi Ritsuki guiding her like this, she felt too embarrassed to keep up the act any longer and directly stated Su Shi's purpose: "Ritsuki, are you trying to tell me that Su Shi-chan just used the two of us as temporary tools?"

"Yue, you really knew..."

Lixi breathed a sigh of relief. After all, if she was the only one who knew Su Shi's thoughts, there was not much she could do. She might very well be dragged into Su Shi's scheme and take the opportunity to enjoy time with Deng.

Fortunately, Yue knows Su Shi's purpose, so she can confide in someone and get help.

"I knew Su Shi's thoughts when I joined the band, after all, she was being too obvious, and her acting skills were not up to par."

At this point, Yue couldn't help but criticize Su Shi's poor acting skills. One second she was shocked by their discussion about forming a band, and the next she immediately proposed forming a band.

Moreover, most of the text focuses on persuading Deng and Lixi, and only at the end, when they are not very willing, does she specifically extend an invitation to her and Aine. In addition, given the information she obtained from Xiangzi about Su Shi's desire to reorganize Crychic, it would be difficult for her to pretend not to know.

"Moon, what do you want to do?" Lixi wanted to seek Su Shi's opinion.

Yue remained silent, unable to find a good solution to the question raised by Lixi.

"I don't know either, but what I can tell you, Riki, is that the chances of Toyokawa Shoko coming back are less than one percent, so Suze-chan's plan has basically failed."

Speaking of this, Yue remembered what Taozi had told her earlier: to find an opportunity to organize everyone to go out and have fun, create some good memories, and build team spirit, which might be able to dispel Su Shi's longing for Crychic.

"Maybe we could try going out together and creating new memories to dilute the impact of Crychic. Did you guys do any team building activities back then, Lixi?"

"Back then, we were either discussing lyrics or practicing in the performance room... As for team building..." Li Xi thought for a moment and finally dug out something that could be called a team building activity from the corner of her memory, "Back then, the light couldn't sing, so we all went to karaoke together."

"How about we try a team-building activity at a karaoke bar first? Lixi, do you remember which karaoke bar it is?"

Yue took out her phone and searched for karaoke bars in Tokyo on an app, only to find that there were hundreds or even thousands of them.

"I remember it was somewhere near Haneoka, I think it was called..."

Lixi moved closer to Yue Deng, took the phone, and easily found the KTV.

When the Stage Opens: Chapter Fourteen - The Nameless Band's Karaoke Journey

"Does everyone want to go out and play together after school tomorrow?"

Chihaya Aine saw a message notification suddenly pop up on her phone while she was at home.

Lixi actually invited us out to play!

During this period, her impression of Li hope was mostly based on Xiao Deng's decisions, so she never expected that Li hope would take the initiative to invite everyone to go out and have fun together.

"Okay, okay, where should we go?"

Shortly after Ai Yin sent the message, Yue replied with a message below.

"Let's go to a karaoke bar. Aiyin, if you want to be a guitarist and vocalist, you can go to a karaoke bar to see what your skills are like."