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

Riki was baffled by Aine's words, and Nagasaki Motoyo also asked in confusion, "Is that so?"

Of course, Yue knew what Aine was worried about. This sudden performance opportunity was indeed too rushed, just like those unexpected changes in stage plays to create conflict between characters.

She felt that if the already terrible band were forced to participate in this performance, it would only fall apart, and she had to do something.

Yue shared her analysis with everyone: "I also feel that our band is not ready yet. Although this opportunity is hard-won, opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared. We are completely unprepared. We haven't even had a formal rehearsal, and the members haven't been finalized yet. Can we really go on stage like this?"

Seeing that Yue supported her point of view, Ai Yin immediately chimed in, "Xiao Yue is right, we haven't even had a single group practice session."

Li hope had clearly thought about this issue: "There's still some time before the performance. If we start practicing now, we shouldn't have too much of a problem performing on stage."

Yue certainly knew that if she practiced harder, she could indeed perform on stage, since they were just a support band filling in the gaps in the performance.

The audience's expectations for this band are probably not particularly high; perhaps they can gain the audience's approval simply by playing two complete pieces.

However, as a former stage girl with pride, Yue actually despises the behavior of performing perfunctorily on stage.

So, in the end, the key point still lies with Aine?

Yue turned her head to look at the key point: as long as Ai Yin could improve her guitar skills in time, they could perform on stage.

At this moment, Aine was looking down at the hem of her skirt, her slender, white hands resting on her thighs, her thumbs rubbing together incessantly, her gray eyes filled with a variety of emotions.

Su Shi continued to ask Li hope for specific details: "What about the time we were allocated?"

Li hope replied, "It should take about ten minutes, and I should be able to sing two songs."

After not hearing Li hope's reply, Su Shide also started to think. "Hmm... we haven't practiced together yet. We should probably focus on practicing one song together."

Ai Yin still tried to persuade everyone to give up on the performance: "Wait a minute! We don't have enough practice time right now."

Riki clearly ignored Aine's thoughts and looked at Takamatsu Akari, who had been silent all along: "Akari, where's Akari?"

The lamp, like a student who was daydreaming in class and was called on by the homeroom teacher, suddenly raised its head, then slowly lowered it again, continuing to stare at the patterns on the table.

Lixi continued, still thinking about Deng, and asked, "Deng, do you want to participate in the performance?"

"me……"

Deng glanced at Ai Yin, then turned to look at everyone, and finally focused her gaze on Li hope. She recalled that night when Li hope stood on the pedestrian overpass and talked to her about what she had said. Li Xi's expression at that time was still vivid in Deng's mind.

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

The lamp clenched its fist and nodded. "Mm."

When Lixi saw that Deng had agreed to participate in the performance, his face instantly turned into a smile.

After seeing that Akari had agreed to participate in the performance, Su Shi said, "Then it's decided!"

After Tsukino decided to participate in the performance, she didn't voice any further objections. Now, she was silently pondering whether there was any quick and effective way to learn guitar that she could use for Aine.

In the end, only the adorable pink-haired Chihaya Aine still expressed her feelings about the fait accompli of participating in the performance: "Eh? Are we really going to participate in the performance?"

However you look at it, even including the month's dissenting votes, the vote for the nameless band to participate in the performance was still three to two in favor.

Unable to change this fait accompli, Ai Yin could only accompany Li Xi to the front desk to reserve a time to use the recording studio.

Li hope said to Lin Linzi, "Lin Linzi-senpai, we will participate in the performance to fill that gap in the time slot."

Upon receiving Li hope's reply, Rinrinko's worried expression finally disappeared, and her tone returned to normal: "Understood. I will convey your message to Poppin'Party and Afterglow."

Riki politely thanked Rinrinko, saying, "Thank you for your help."

"Also... can we reserve a training room?"

"Of course!" Rinrinko showed Tatsuki the available time slots on her computer.

"Huh? You've already made a reservation?" Aine was clearly surprised by Shiina Tatsuki's decisive actions. She had only just decided to participate in the performance, and she was already deciding on the practice room's usage time without even asking if anyone had time.

Li hope glanced at Ai Yin and said matter-of-factly, "Of course, we don't have much time right now, so we have to make the most of every available moment, right?"

“Miss Rinrinko, I would like to reserve this time slot, and there are still some available slots.” Riki said, pointing to two blank time slots on the screen.

Aine immediately objected to the time slot chosen by Riki: "This time slot isn't quite right. I, Kodama, and Yue also have to take care of the Astronomy Department's daily activities."

"And I don't think we need to book so many time slots at once, right?" Ai Yin looked at the full schedule of recording studio time slots that Li hope had chosen, which meant that practice could hardly end until evening.

Shiina Tatsuki, who works at Ring year-round, is well aware of the fierce competition in recording studios: "If you don't hurry up and book now, the rooms will be booked up by others very quickly."

Not far away, Deng was drawing strange, maze-like patterns on his notebook. Scattered around the patterns were various words and phrases. Compared to what he had seen at noon, the words and phrases now had the beginnings of lyrics.

Su Shi glanced at the lamp, then looked back at Li hope and Ai Yin, and got up to walk towards them, who were about to start arguing: "Are you alright? Can't decide on a time?"

After Su Shi left, only Takamatsu Akari and Yue were left by her side. Yue sat down next to Akari and asked, "Akari, can I take a look at you?"

The lamp, engrossed in its painting, was clearly startled by the moon's sudden question, and it trembled as it tried to move away from the direction of the moon's voice.

"Huh? What?"

Yue pointed to the notebook on the table and said, "These are the lyrics. This is the new song that Xiaodeng wrote for our band, right?"

"Hmm... but it's not finished yet." Lamp showed the notebook to Moon.

Scattered throughout the lamp's notebook were many sentences, and numerous lines seemed to be trying to connect these words and phrases.

Although Yue tried to understand it from the perspective of the lamp, the twists and turns of the lines still defeated her. She could only try to understand it from the sentences that had already been written, and then sort them.

As Yue watched, she unconsciously recited: "You've always been by my side, yet I didn't notice... I didn't realize what was going through my mind... Would you be willing to listen to the feelings I express through this song..."

Although she didn't know the exact order of the lyrics, just from these few lines, Yue roughly conceived that this was a song sung by a young girl to those who had always been by her side and supported her, based on the help she had given them.

"But... why does it feel so familiar..."

Yue looked at Riki, who was still discussing the scheduled recording studio time with Aine and Suze, and then looked back at the lamp.

"Is this song for Li Xi?"

The lamp nodded, then seemed to remember something and shook its head again.

"This song... was inspired by Lixi. She said that my song gave her salvation and made her feel that the lyrics of Spring Shadow were just like her."

“My song conveyed my feelings to Lixi… so I wanted to write it down and turn it into a new song. I wanted to convey my feelings to Lixi… but not just to Lixi.”

"Kodama... she's definitely suited to be a stage girl... no... Kodama is probably more suited to be a band girl."

If the performance of the stage girl is to express her emotions on stage...

The girl band members would then imbue their emotions into the lyrics, conveying them to everyone who hears the songs.

Yue handed the notebook back to Deng, saying, "I think this song will be a great one. Good luck, Deng!"

The lamp nodded: "Yes, I will try my best."

Just as Yue finished communicating with Deng, the three people who had booked the recording studio on the other side finally completed their booking and returned together.

"Xiaoyue! Do you know what? Riki booked a ton of time slots in one go, she barely has any rest time at all!"

Aine, sobbing, opened her arms and rushed towards Tsuki. Tsuki played along and caught her, gently stroking Aine's pink fur, comforting her like a mother: "Alright, little Aine, stop crying. Crying won't change this fact. You'd better think about what to do for tomorrow's practice."

Upon hearing Yue's cruel words, Aine pulled away from Yue's embrace, her face filled with disbelief: "Eh? According to the script, Yue, shouldn't you be comforting me?"

"I might not have received this script~ Aine-chan, you should face reality."

Li hope cruelly added insult to injury: "You're the one who needs to practice the most. Every day, besides rehearsals, you need to practice your guitar properly."

Aine, who had been doubly hurt by Yue and Lixi, pitifully turned to look at Nagasaki Motoyo.

Su Shi's reply shattered Aine's illusions: "Aine-chan, look at me, there's nothing I can do~"

Finally, without any hope, Aine turned her gaze to Takamatsu Akari.

After receiving Aine's gaze, Akari timidly replied, "Aine-chan... I'll practice with you."

The Aegis was ultimately sunk by the harsh reality of its inescapable training.

When the performance begins: Chapter Thirty - Band Practice

That night, Yue sat down in front of the electronic keyboard she had bought but hardly ever used, and gently placed her hands on the black and white keys.

After taking a deep breath, her fingers began to dance across the piano keys, moving nimbly from the high register to the low register. Each key was pressed skillfully by her, producing crisp and melodious notes.

As her movements gradually became more familiar, the speed at which her fingers danced on the piano also gradually increased, and the notes intertwined to form a moving melody.

After the performance, Yue felt a sweat dripping from her forehead, the warmth lingering on her skin. She gently wiped her forehead with her hand, removing the beads of sweat.

Since Yue asked Ai Yin to practice guitar today, she certainly wouldn't neglect her own technical practice.

Although her basic skills are much better than Ai Yin's guitar technique, she hasn't played any challenging pieces for a while, and she has forgotten a lot of skills. She has to practice constantly to regain her feel and technique.

At this moment, Yue's face was slightly flushed, but her eyes sparkled with excitement and satisfaction; she was quite happy playing the piano.

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However, unlike Yue, who was enjoying playing the piano, Aine was sitting on the sofa, her eyes fixed on the tablet in front of her, her brows slightly furrowed, and fine beads of sweat on her forehead, reflecting her bitter expression.

She was trying hard to understand and learn the playing techniques described in the guitar instruction videos on the screen. However, while the teacher's fingers could easily move on the strings and press the corresponding strings in the instruction videos, Ai Yin's fingers were also constantly moving on the strings during her rehabilitation exercises. The frequent mistakes and errors undoubtedly undermined her confidence.

Despite her efforts to imitate the movements in the video, she was completely unable to master the correct techniques without real instruction. Her fingers kept moving across the keys, but the sounds she produced were always different, which made her feel frustrated and helpless.

The sudden performance schedule put a lot of pressure on her, and the lack of progress in her practice only intensified her anxiety. Sweat gradually poured from Aine's forehead, soaking her hairline, but her hands remained focused, constantly changing their movements on the strings.

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The same thing happened at Lixi's house. She was wearing headphones, lying on the table, listening to the intro coming from the headphones, and swinging the drumsticks to hit the drum placed in front of her.

The drumsticks danced lightly in her hands, each strike carrying power and precision. Her wrists and arms moved in coordination, like a precise, high-speed machine, hitting the drumhead accurately with every blow, making the sound echo throughout the room.

Having just returned from university, Shiina Maki passed by Riki's room and heard the sound of drumming practice coming from her younger sister's room, a sound she hadn't heard in a long time. She glanced in surprise at the room with Shiina Riki's name on it.

"Li hope?"

Shiina Maki's questioning voice was completely drowned out by the drumming in the room.

"Well, I don't know what happened, but my little sister has finally cheered up."

Shiina Maki gave up on the idea of ​​continuing to ask questions and silently walked away from Riki's room.

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Gao Songdeng sat at her desk, her hands moving rapidly across her notebook. A pen swept across the paper like a whirlwind, turning all the inspiration in her mind into words.

Her eyes were fixed on the paper, intently watching each stroke of the pen. Her thoughts followed the movement of the pen tip, constantly generating new inspirations and ideas. Her mind was filled with musical melodies and lyrics, and every word she wrote was a cry from the bottom of her heart.

Gradually, Takamatsu's creative gestures slowed down. As the pen tip drew the last period on the notebook, her eyes remained focused on the notebook, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned, and a hint of satisfaction and pride shone in her red eyes.

Takamatsu slowly reached for the notebook in front of her, her fingertips gently touching the words written on it, before slowly closing it.