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

"Pfft... Hahaha, what are you doing, Yue-chan?"

On the other side, Su Shi, Deng, and Li hope, who had been silent, all laughed after hearing what Yue suddenly said.

Seeing that everyone had finally emerged from their low spirits, Yue smiled and said, "I noticed the atmosphere was a bit gloomy, so I decided to lighten it up a bit."

After Yue's actions, the somewhat dull atmosphere in the private room finally eased up a lot. Su Shi emerged from the low mood and began to take the initiative to start conversations.

"I wonder what song Aine-chan will play? I'm really looking forward to it."

The light cheered for Aine, saying, "Aine-chan, you can do it!"

"Hehe~ Su Shi-chan, just you wait!" Aine quickly selected the song she wanted to sing.

A rapid drumbeat erupted, the dense, interwoven rhythms resonating throughout the space. As the drumbeats rose and fell, Ai Yin's voice finally broke through the silence. Her singing was clear and powerful, like a spring bursting through the stillness, bringing boundless vitality and hope.

"I can't forgive myself for that day. Give me back those days when I made the wrong choices."

Your words are like a shadow, I cannot leave them, I cannot escape them.

"Swim over there, don't worry about the cold night, it's at the end."

Tsuki quickly recognized the song Aine was playing from her voice. "Ah, it's 'Swim'!"

"Hundreds of millions of rays of light vie to shine and dazzle."

"Wandering from billions of light-years away to today."

"Hundreds of millions of rays of light vie to shine and dazzle."

"When you're troubled, swim in the direction you like."

As the song grew more intense, she casually picked up the maracas on the table and, in time with the rhythm of the song, Yue Shun gently swung the maracas, striking precise beats.

Su Shi was listening to Ai Yin's singing and had already forgotten what had just happened. She was about to immerse herself in the song when...

The sound of Yue swinging the maracas made her turn her head, and she saw her swinging the maracas. Suddenly, it reminded her that it seemed to have been like this before...

Xiangzi, the keyboardist, organizes a karaoke session for practice. Mu, the guitarist, responds to Xiangzi and is the first to request a song. Xiangzi cheers for Mu by waving a maracas.

Now, Yue, who is also a keyboardist, suggests going to karaoke, and Aine, who is also a guitarist, is the first to sing. Everything seems so similar.

"I will definitely get everything back on track. This band doesn't need the two of them."

Unaware that her unintentional act had strengthened Suze's resolve to rebuild Crychic, Yue was engrossed in supporting Aine.

"Hundreds of millions of rays of light vie to shine and dazzle."

"Wandering from billions of light-years away to today."

"Hundreds of millions of rays of light vie to shine and dazzle."

"When you're troubled, swim in the direction you like."

"Then come over together."

As the last line of lyrics was sung, Ai Yin put down the microphone, wiped the sweat from her face, and asked everyone with a smile, "How was it? I sang pretty well, right? This is a song I sang when I was in a band in junior high school. I guess I'm really best suited to be a guitarist and vocalist." (Note 1)

Lixi was the first to comment on Aiyin, "But in terms of singing, you sang well, but it's still not as good as Deng's performance."

The light directly encouraged Aine, saying, "Aine-chan! You sang very well."

"Thank you so much, Little Lamp." After thanking Lamp, Aine looked at Lixi and said, "I wish that some tsundere could praise me as directly as Lamp does."

Hearing Aine's pointed remark, Lixi retorted unhappily, "You jerk, is that tsundere talking about me?"

Faced with Li Xi's slander, Aine smiled and sat down next to Deng, replying to Li hope, "I didn't say it directly, whoever answered is the one I'm talking about~"

"You bastard..."

Finally, Su Shi spoke up to smooth things over, saying, "Alright, alright, Li Xi, calm down a bit. Ai Yin sings so well, it's okay to just praise her."

Seeing that Su Shi stood up for her, Miss Ai Yin seized the opportunity and said to Li hope again, "That's right, that's right, Li hope, you can just praise me directly, no need to beat around the bush."

Faced with the combined onslaught of Su Shi and Ai Yin, Li hope could only succumb, saying in despair, "Fine, fine, Ai Yin, you sang very well, okay?"

After receiving praise from Riki, Aine immediately ran to Tsuki's side and said, "Tsuki-chan, Tsuki-chan, listen, Riki praised me!"

Seeing Li hope's discomfiture, Yue smiled and thought to herself that Li hope was probably regretting coming to the KTV today.

"I heard you." Yue patted the head of the pink-haired dog, and then said, "Aine-chan, you sang very well, but you need to improve your breath control. However, it's already very good for a high school girls' band."

Her occupational habit, stemming from the moon, made her subconsciously point out Aine's shortcomings.

When faced with Tsuki's correction, Aine adopted a completely different attitude than when she corrected Ritsuki, humbly accepting the mistakes Tsuki pointed out: "Thank you, Tsuki-chan. If I become the lead singer, Tsuki-chan, please guide me well~"

Upon seeing Ai Yin's blatant preferential treatment, Li Xi immediately exclaimed, "Hey, you're a hypocrite too!"

Aine then hid behind Tsukishiro: "Who told Tsukishiro to be so gentle even when pointing out mistakes? If you, Riki, can also point out my problems properly, I will humbly accept them."

"Tsk..." Li hope obviously knew that it would be difficult for him to do this, and could only grumble unhappily.

--------

Note 1: Rin Tateishi, the voice actress for Aine, stated that she sang this song in her high school band, and later Mygo covered it. You can check it out.

When the Stage Opens: Chapter Sixteen - The Song of the Moon

After Ai Yin sang first and had a bit of a commotion with Li hope, the atmosphere among everyone gradually became more lively.

Yue glanced at the lamp but didn't seem inclined to take the microphone, so she pointed to herself and asked, "Then I'll be second?"

The lamp nodded and said, "Um... I'll be done soon. I want to hear the moon sing."

"Tsuki-chan, here you go~" Aine-chan held out her tablet to select songs. After thanking her, Tsuki looked at the songs on it and hesitated.

"They said they were going to sing... but what should I sing? Should I sing one of my old idol songs? No, no, no... that song will probably have a music video, it's just too embarrassing."

When Yue recalled the embarrassing scenes in the music videos she had previously filmed, she decisively rejected the idea.

"If I don't sing my own songs, the range of choices I have actually widened considerably."

Yue idly flipped through the songs on her tablet, trying to find one that she was good at.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, the moon's realization stopped at a certain song.

"Do you still have this one? How about this one then?"

What Yue has her eye on is "Fly Me to the Star".

The reason she chose this song is rather strange. Yue doesn't know why this song is so popular in Shengxiang. Basically, most people can sing it. It is said to be a tradition left by some senior.

After searching for a while and finding no more suitable songs, Yue selected this song.

After the melodious prelude, Yue picked up the microphone and slowly sang: "I only have you in my eyes."

"Loneliness seems to be leaving me"

"Tonight the moon is smiling at me, the moon is smiling at me tonight, please turn your head."

"Oh, fly me to the star!"

"気志きもち伝つたえることできなくて(Unable to express my feelings)"

"Many lives come to light"

"Performing a good performance (because I was attracted by your breath during the performance)"

"Oh, fly me to the star!"

"二人ふたりの动こどう重かさね合あわせて(overlapping the heart palpitations of two people)"

"I'm still uneasy for a moment because I'm still uneasy"

"あなたがいなくなりそうで (You seem to be leaving at any time)"

"Those gorgeous pupils please don't reflect anything except me."

"Oh, fly me to the star!"

The moon's song was melancholic and poignant, each note skillfully and deeply moving. Through the moon's voice, one could almost see the girl's unfulfilled feelings, which could only be conveyed to her as she flew alone into the starry sky.

As Li hope watched Hinasaki sing intently, he felt a touch of emotion.

For her, wasn't there only the lamp in her eyes? Didn't she feel that the lamp might leave her at any moment? Didn't she wish that the lamp would only have eyes for her?

"Moon...you're singing exactly like me."

Lixi sensed from the person besides the lamp that someone could truly express her inner feelings.

"call……"

Yue sighed deeply. It had been a while since she had sung properly. Fortunately, she had been practicing regularly, and this performance allowed her to show about 70-80% of her usual level.

"Tsuki-chan! It sounds so beautiful! It's heavenly!" Aine quickly handed Tsuki the water.

After taking a few sips of water, Yue smiled and said to Ai Yin, "It's not particularly good. Ai Yin, you sang very well. If you practice more, you should be able to do even better."

Li hope blushed and praised Yue, "Yue... you sang very well."

Yue looked at Lixi with suspicion, only to find that the other party didn't dare to meet her gaze at all, her eyes darting around.

Based on her understanding of Li hope, even if Li hope thought she sang very well, he would still say that there was still some gap between her singing and the light. But Li hope didn't say that now.

"Did something happen again while I was focused on singing?"

Despite not understanding what was going on, Yue still expressed her gratitude for Riki's praise: "Thank you, Riki-chan."

Upon hearing the thanks, Li hope's expression became even more strange for some reason.

"Tsuki-chan sings so well... If I could have been like Tsuki back then, perhaps Shoko wouldn't have..."

As he spoke, Deng fell into a somber mood again.

Yue finds it difficult to deal with Deng's self-pitying and entangled state of mind about the past. To be precise, both Su Shi and Deng in this band seem to be prone to getting lost in memories.

"Xiaodeng has absolutely no confidence..."

Su Shi, the only one who didn't know Yue's true identity, was sweating profusely at Yue's performance. If Yue really became the lead singer, her plan to reunite Crychic would face a major obstacle.

Su Shi tried to probe Yue's background for the first time: "Did Yue-chan have any prior knowledge in this area?"