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

"Lixi, these are the cookies I baked. Although you said you didn't need them, I thought about it and decided to bring you some anyway."

"...Thank you, but why is it packaged in a gift bag?"

After receiving the gift bag from her sister, Lixi asked a question.

Maki Shiina explained, "Because I baked a lot, I plan to bring some to share with the other members of the band."

Maki seemed to remember something and quickly added, "By the way, I baked this one separately, and the ingredients I used are different from the general version for everyone else."

Lixi picked up the gift box and examined it carefully. She didn't say anything more, but simply nodded to indicate that she understood.

Seeing that her younger sister remained silent, Maki continued with concern, "It's a good thing that Riki has a new band, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. If there are any problems you can't solve, you can always come to me for advice."

Her older sister's actions were still perfect. She considered everyone's perspective, even those who were unknown and usually invisible in the band. Maki could accurately call them by name.

So even though she hadn't seen her younger sister for a while, she was still able to notice Shiina Ritsuki's unusual state and promptly offered her care.

However, this concern felt like an invisible layer of pressure on Lixi.

Even though her older sister genuinely said those words out of concern, Lixi always felt that it was because of her own lack of ability. If she were capable enough, she wouldn't need anyone else's help, and her sister certainly wouldn't have needed to say those words.

“…Yes, my friends will help me,” Li hope replied calmly.

"Lixi's friend? I'd love to meet her too. By the way, Lixi-chan, when is your band holding a concert? Can I come and watch?"

“…Eh?” Li hope looked surprised.

She never expected that her sister would suggest going to their performance.

"Why aren't you welcoming me?"

Seeing her younger sister's surprised expression, Shiina Maki asked a question.

"No... Sister, you can come if you want."

Lixi knew she couldn't stop her older sister from watching their performance. All she could do was try her best to write her own songs, rehearse well, and then prove her abilities to her sister on stage.

"Then I'll be looking forward to Lixi's performance!"

When the Stage Opens: Chapter Thirty-Seven - Is Shiina Ritsuki a Delinquent Girl?

Late at night, Shiina Riki sat on a stool, her fair legs curled up in front of her, slowly sipping a packet of coffee from her mouth, wearing headphones, her eyes fixed on the software on the screen.

Outside the tightly drawn curtains in Lixi's room, the sun had slowly climbed into the sky, dispelling the darkness of last night, and the rising sunlight dyed the sky a pale pink.

A few rays of sunlight shone through the gap in the curtains, illuminating Ritsuki's room and making him, who was engrossed in composing, realize the passage of time.

"Ah...it's dawn."

She worked overtime all night to compose the music, without closing her eyes once.

"I think I still have to go to school... Never mind, I'll skip it for now. I'll ask Hailing to help me ask for leave later."

Ms. Shiina Tatsuki did not forget her identity as a student, but she did not seem to care much about it. She casually picked up her phone and sent a text message to Hachiman Kairin asking for leave for me, and then buried herself in revising the sheet music.

Hachiman Kairin, who had just gotten up, looked at Riki's request on her phone but didn't ask any questions. Instead, she started thinking about what reason to use to ask Riki for leave.

After all, if Shiina Ritsuki had a problem, she shouldn't have been asked to take leave; the reason should definitely be something related to her.

Therefore, the first thing that Yawata Kairin thought of was that Riki had stayed at her house and was sick.

"So, Lixi stayed at my house last night and stayed out too late, so he caught a cold because he wasn't properly covered up?"

This interface would probably be suspected of having some problems if it were placed in other schools such as Hanasakigawa Girls' Academy or Tsuki no Mori, but it seems perfectly normal at Hanasakigawa Girls' Academy.

After all, there is a famous senior in this school, Kasumi Toyama. The day after she met Arisa Ichigaya from Class B next door, she went straight to Arisa's house for a free meal. Later, she often stayed overnight at the houses of various band members.

Not to mention that Kasumi-senpai's influence extends beyond her own band. According to reliable rumors, Kasumi Toyama has close relationships with, but is not limited to, Ran Mitake of Afterglow, Yukina Minato of Roselia, Aya Maruyama of Pastel*Palettes, Kokoro Tsurumaki of Hello, Happy World, and Rikka Asahi of RAS. Even members of Morfonica of Tsukimori-sama no Otome have suffered at Kasumi-senpai's hands.

Therefore, the only reason Lixi stayed at her house was that her classmates would say it was out of friendship, and they wouldn't suspect anything else.

However, when Yawata Kairin used this interface to help Shiina Tatsuki ask the teacher for leave, a classmate happened to overhear the news in the teacher's office.

Hai Ling didn't expect that the past is the past, and the present is the present. What could be called "friendship" back in Poppin'Party has become somewhat ambiguous in the new era of girl bands.

So, on the day Shiina Ritsuki skipped class—or rather, took a day off—the news of her and Hailin sharing a bed spread throughout the class. Many classmates even started shipping Ritsuki and Hailin as a couple, which rivaled the later Ritsuki and Rakuna couple.

Furthermore, according to reliable sources, the famous idol from Class 1-B, Mitsuka, once stated that she is a shipper for Tachibana x Hailin.

But that's all in the future. Anyway, now that Lixi has sent Hailing a message, he doesn't care whether his teacher will approve his leave and just "skips school" to stay at home and continue composing new music.

----------

As afternoon approached, the four people besides Li hope arrived at Ring's recording studio on time.

They were surprised to find that Shiina Tatsuki, who was usually the first to arrive, had not come to the recording studio.

"It's rare to see Riki late."

Ai Yin looked around the recording studio but couldn't find Li hope anywhere, and said with a sigh.

"I'll go ask Ms. Rinrinko to see if Riki is busy in the back."

Yue pushed open the door to go find Rinrinko. What she didn't notice was that Rina, who was pulling her guitar equipment, walked in through the door after she went out and witnessed Yue walking out of the recording studio.

A sly smile appeared on Yoro's cat-like face.

Not long after, Yue pushed open the recording studio door again and walked in, shaking her head and saying, "I just asked Ms. Rinrinko, and she said that Tachibana took the day off this morning, so she probably hasn't come here yet."

"I hope something happened to Riki-chan."

The little lamp looked worried.

"We don't know anyone else in Hanako and Riki's class who might know the situation..."

Su Shi couldn't help but worry about Riki's safety, after all, Crychic couldn't be without Shiina Riki.

"Actually, it does exist..."

Yue remembered seeing Sanjiao Chuhua not long ago; she and Lixi were classmates.

Just as Yue was about to ask Chu Hua Li Xi about her situation, Li hope walked in wearing casual clothes.

"Sorry I'm a little late."

"Did Lixi go home to change her clothes before coming over?"

Su Shi noticed that Riki was not wearing Hanasaki River's usual school uniform.

"I didn't go to school."

Li hope's voice revealed a hint of fatigue.

"Huh? No class?"

For Motoyo Nagasaki from Tsuki no Mori, skipping class was still too exciting, so much so that her words were full of shock.

"Riki is still a delinquent girl."

In contrast, Aine, who attends Haneoka Girls' Academy, teases Ritsuki more about his truancy.

"I asked a classmate to help me ask for leave."

Lixi put down her bag and took out her phone, which contained the results of her late-night work last night and today.

"I composed the music."

"So fast? Lixi, you didn't sleep at all, did you?"

Yue was shocked by the speed at which Li hope had produced the demo in just one night. Even if Li Xi had skipped class today, he shouldn't have been able to do it so quickly. Combined with the visible fatigue on Li Xi's face, Yue reasonably suspected that Li hope had stayed up all night to create the piece.

"I took a short nap, and I had some coffee."

As Li hope spoke, she took out a bag of coffee from her bag, unscrewed the cap, and started drinking.

"Seriously, Lixi needs to take better care of her health. How can she stay in the band with Xiaodeng Group for the rest of her life if she keeps going like this?"

Nagasaki Motoyo condemned Riki's lack of care for her own body and used her promise with Kodama to persuade Riki.

"I understand... I'll be more careful next time."

There was no remorse in Ling Ling's words.

When the performance begins: Chapter Thirty-Eight - The drummer is going a little too far.

"I understand. Would you like to hear the new piece?"

Lixi held up her phone and spoke to everyone.

"Ah."

The lamp nodded.

"Hurry up, hurry up."

Ai Yin urged Li hope to play the music urgently.

As Lixi pressed play, a brief guitar melody was followed by rapid drumbeats.

As Yue listened, she frowned and looked at Lixi with some concern.

Nagasaki Motoyo shared the same expression as Tsuki, looking at Riki with some concern.

Yue originally thought that such a rapid drumbeat was just a fragment, but she did not expect that the drumbeats throughout the entire song were almost very dense.

"This bpm should be over 150... no, it feels like it's already over 200? And this drumbeat, Lixi, are your hands really okay?"

Yue had no idea that Li Xi's measure to reduce the burden on Aine was to increase the presence of the drums. Just by listening to the dense drumbeats in the demo, Yue could hallucinate Li hope's hands waving in phantom motions.

She recalled seeing comments in the Crychic comment section about the lead singer working too hard. Now that she saw it, it seems that not only the lead singer worked hard, but the drummer also worked very hard, whether it was composing all night or putting pressure on himself in the songs.

"And will this song with a bpm over 200 really ease Aine's burden?"

Although Yue could hear from the demo that Aine didn't need to play many of the vocal parts in the intro, and that most of the guitar parts were concentrated in the transitions between lyrics and key sections, Yue still felt a little worried about Aine's guitar playing.

Once the demo had finished playing, Nagasaki Motoyo immediately clapped, "Excellent!"

"The music was really composed in just one day..."

Aine was shocked by the sheer effort Riki had put in to write such a piece in just one day.

"Lixi... It's a wonderful piece of music."