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

Is it divided? (Do you understand?)

ねえ本気出そうよ(Now, show your true skills)”

Standing on the stage, Yue's face was slightly indifferent. She was looking forward to Shiina Tatsuki showing the same dazzling brilliance she had displayed in her previous performance. She was looking forward to an even more intense and exciting performance, but now it seemed that this battle would definitely not satisfy her.

"If this is all the ability you have, Lixi, then this battle can only end here."

Yue held up her broadsword, intending to sever the rope connecting Shiina Ritsuki's cloak. But just as her blade was about to touch the rope, Shiina Ritsuki, who had been keeping her head down, reached out and grabbed the blade despite the excruciating pain. Blood seeped from between her fingers and dripped onto the floor.

At that moment, Yue's expression froze. She stared at Lixi in astonishment, unable to believe what was happening before her eyes. She had never expected him to make such a choice and immediately grabbed the blade with her hand.

Although all the injuries sustained on stage would heal completely upon leaving, Yue clearly remembered that she had never told Riki about it, meaning that the other party chose to grasp her blade at the risk of ruining her hand.

"It's so noisy... Yue... She's been telling me to show my true abilities since just now. Isn't she just trying to tell me not to care about Xiangzi and my sister, and just to do my best? Is it really necessary to beat around the bush like this?"

Shiina Tatsuki muttered to himself.

Shiina Riki's hand was cut by the blade, but he did not flinch. He looked at the moon with a determined gaze, as if he could not feel the pain in his hand. He just gripped the blade tightly and stared at the moon.

"I never said I was giving up!"

Shiina Tatsuki forcefully flung the blade away, blood dripping from her palm, but she didn't care. Her eyes gleamed with unwavering determination. Taking advantage of Tsuki's momentary daze, she picked up the weapon that had just been knocked away from her.

"The song is only in the chorus now, it's not over yet." Li hope's voice regained its calmness and firmness. After being mocked by Yue just now, she had figured it out.

Even if she can escape from one stage to another, she will inevitably encounter those who are stronger than her. But as long as she shows her determination and does her best, the stage will respond to her.

"We're going to fight like this!" Shiina Riki's voice was full of fighting spirit and echoed throughout the room.

"Moon...come and kill me!" Her voice was full of provocation and determination as she fearlessly challenged Moon.

Looking at Shiina Riki, who had perked up, Yue smiled again. Although she didn't know why Riki had suddenly cheered up, it seemed that the other party still had some problems with the essence of this Revue.

"The fighting... it's not that serious..."

This weakened Hinasaki's momentum. Although no one died after being stabbed by Momoko Kurosawa on this stage, she still had some psychological trauma.

Lixi didn't pay attention to Yue's words. After all, Yue had been the one who had the most fun hitting her just now. Now that she had finally made up her mind, Yue said it wasn't that bad. Her hand was still bleeding.

Shiina Riki rushed forward, her movements as swift as lightning, gracefully dodging the horizontal slash of Yue's broadsword. Without hesitation, she closed in on Yue's body, and in that instant, her gaze locked onto the cloak draped over Yue's shoulders.

With her right hand gripping the short stick tightly, she precisely threaded it through the gap beneath the cloak, then pulled it outwards with force. Under her manipulation, the cloak instantly lost its balance, slipped off Yue's shoulders, and fluttered to the ground.

"Ah?"

Before the bewildered Moon could react to what was happening, her buttons and cloak fell to the ground, signaling the failure of her Revue attempt.

When the performance begins: Chapter 51 Where is the magical cat?

"terribly sorry……"

Inside the Yuzawa Cafe, Yue sincerely apologized to Shiina Tatsuki, who was sitting opposite her, leaning slightly forward. Her voice conveyed apology, and her eyes were full of remorse.

However, Shiina Riki's serious expression did not soften at all. She looked at her hand, which had been restored to its original state, and then stared at Yue. Everything that had just happened was too illogical. After she knocked off Yue's cloak, the two of them pushed open the door to leave the underground theater and found that the outside was actually the tram station next to their house.

"So Yue had this superpower very early on...?"

Shiina Tatsuki asked with a slight hesitation in his voice.

"No, it wasn't that. I learned this ability after I accidentally entered Giraffe's audition after high school, and then, through a series of coincidences, I happened to eat an ice cream."

Yue waved her hand and said to Li hope.

"Moreover, this ability is actually quite limited. It's not as simple as you think, Lixi. First of all, the user must have the ability to shine or have a desire for the stage."

"Secondly, it's quite tiring to use it even once. The energy to start this stage is either to shine or to meet the audience's expectations. Like just now, after using it once, all I want to do is go home and lie in bed."

"Finally, if this ability hadn't been initiated by the giraffe during the selection process, it wouldn't have had any real impact on reality. In essence, this ability is just a forced heart-to-heart talk."

Yue explained the limitations of her ability to Lixi one by one.

"I see... So Yue, you used this ability on me because you saw I wasn't in a good mood today, to tell me that there's no need to compare myself to Xiangzi and my sister?"

Li hope said.

"Hmm... that's roughly the idea. After all, I think Lixi is a very talented person. It would be a shame if she couldn't recognize her own brilliance because of other people."

After listening to Li hope's summary and thinking for a while, Yue nodded in agreement.

"Well... Yue, you're the first person to say I have talent."

As Lixi spoke, a blush rose on her cheeks, as if she felt a strange sense of satisfaction and shyness under Yue's praise.

"But even if you don't come to comfort me, I can get through this on my own..."

Li hope's attempt to make amends made Yue feel a hint of arrogance.

Then, as if remembering something, she said helplessly, "And...we now have an even more serious problem..."

“…Hmm…” Yue quickly realized who Lixi was referring to after noticing Lixi’s constant changes to the score during practice over the past few days.

"Rakuna-chan's problem is really troublesome... She's too independent... Even though I told her to come to practice before..."

Speaking of Lena's problem, Yue also felt a headache coming on. He could hardly get a reply to the messages he sent her, and he had never seen her wearing a school uniform. He couldn't find her at her school either.

"...Without the stray cats...Aine has improved a lot, but she still can't carry the whole song...But if we modify the score to accommodate Aine, the atmosphere of the whole song will fall apart..."

Lixi explained to Yue the predicament they were facing, her voice tinged with helplessness and contemplation. She gently rubbed her forehead, clearly troubled by the problem, her brows furrowed slightly, highlighting her inner anxiety.

Yue listened quietly, her eyes revealing a hint of understanding and sympathy, while she thought of the time she had met Lena at Space.

"How about we try to find Lena? I saw her in front of Space before."

Lixi thought about it and it seemed that there was really no breakthrough at the moment. It wouldn't be a bad idea to look for Lena in the places where she had appeared before.

"...Okay, let's go take a look."

Both of them were clearly action-oriented. After deciding on their destination, they each picked up their bags, got up, and walked out, though they did settle their bills properly.

----------

The two arrived at Space. Li hope looked at the former live house, which had now become a parking lot. Many girls in the bands once thought they would stay here forever, but now everything had changed.

Overwhelmed with sadness at the sight of the object, Li hope then thought of the promise she made with Deng to be in a band for life. Could she really be in a band with Deng for the rest of her life?

"I was about to give up just now... Honestly, Riki... I almost made Akari sad again."

"It's still not here..."

While Lixi was feeling melancholy, Yue had already searched the surrounding area thoroughly, but she couldn't find Lena-chan, or even the cats that had been there before.

"Without the cat, Renai-chan probably wouldn't have come here..."

Yue made a judgment on her own, a judgment she didn't realize was wrong until much later, but that's another story.

"Rinrin-senpai also said she hasn't seen Ryuna, so it seems we still need to think about whether there are any other solutions..."

Seeing that he couldn't find Le Nai in the places she usually appeared, Li Xi had no choice but to seek another way.

Yue nodded gently, helping to think of a solution. The image of the black-haired mercenary Beth, whom she had encountered on the tram, suddenly appeared in her mind.

How about we find a senior colleague to help us out temporarily?

Li hope's eyes lit up slightly at first, but he quickly shook his head again.

"While it would be possible to find a guitarist to provide temporary support, we don't actually have any suitable candidates. Popipa, one of the senior members of Hanajo, needs to participate in a performance, and Afterglow from your Haneoka group also needs to participate in a performance... We basically don't have any guitarists we can find."

In fact, when Lixi said this, the image of Sanka Hatsuka sitting behind her flashed through her mind. But after thinking about it, she realized that as a popular idol, Hatsuka often left halfway through her classes, so it was basically impossible for her to participate in their rehearsals and performances.

"Hailin... I wish you could play the guitar..."

Lixi then thought of her good friend and classmate, who was also a bass mercenary whom Yue knew. Unfortunately, they didn't lack bass players.

"But perhaps Hai-ling, as a support musician, knows some guitarists who also work as support musicians?"

Lixi took out his phone from his pocket, swiped his finger lightly, opened the social media app, found a friend whose contact name was Hachiman Kairin, and prepared to ask if the other person knew any similar guitar mercenaries.

However, just as Li hope was about to ask, Hai Ling's latest update caught her attention.

"No way... it's such a coincidence, isn't it?"

You can't keep losing forever. How could Ms. Yue be playing the same script as Xiangzi? She'll probably win back what she's losing now... (laughs).

When the performance begins: Chapter Fifty-Two: The Cat's Sleeping Place

"Moon... come and take a look, is this Lena?" Lixi said to Moon, pointing at the phone.

Lixi held the phone up to Yue. The screen displayed a photo with a line of text above it. Yue leaned closer to the phone, trying to read the information on the screen.

"I found my homework at school today, and then I unexpectedly found a strange student. Now there's going to be another incredible story on campus."

At the bottom of the phone screen was a photo. In the photo, a white-haired girl in a Hanajokyu Girls' School uniform was curled up comfortably like a cat on the trunk of a large tree in the Hanajokyu Girls' School courtyard, seemingly asleep peacefully. A few strands of hair fell on her soft cheeks, leaves swayed gently around her, and moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled light and shadow on her, adding a dreamlike atmosphere to the whole scene.

Of course, all of this is assuming that the tree is over ten meters tall. Would a normal student choose to sleep in such a place? They would fall down if they just turned over.

Before Yue saw the photo clearly, she thought that Li Xi had seen Le Nai in various strange places, such as when she got lost and was taken to the police station, when she was scratched by a stray cat and went to the vet for a shot, and also in photos of her playing guitar in other live houses.

But she never expected that the photo Lixi showed her was of Lena sleeping on a tree trunk like a cat. For some reason, she remembered that when she met Lena at Space with Taozi, Taozi had commented that Lena was a cat demon in human form.

Yue remembers complaining that Momoko had read too many light novels, but now it seems she was completely wrong, and very wrong.

Lena's sleeping posture is clearly that of a human-shaped cat. Momo's initial suspicion that she was a cat demon was actually correct.

"Peach... I was wrong. I shouldn't have questioned you. Next time I see you, I'll treat you to a meal, including what happened last time. And please teach me more ways to identify monsters in the future."

Yue has begun to suspect that Momoko Kurosawa may have some lineage of Onmyoji or Taoist master.

"That stray cat actually belongs to Hanako!"

Compared to Yue's shock at Rakuna's sleeping habits and location, Riki, a student at Hana Girls' School, was even more surprised that she had never realized that Rakuna was in the same school as her.

"Speaking of which, Takamatsu Akari, who looks like a little animal, is quite famous throughout Haneoka. Rakuna attends Hanajo Girls' School, and Ritsuki doesn't even know that..."

Once again, Yue recalled the urban legends about the Flower Girl that she had heard from Aine before...

"Haha... if those rumors are true... then it's actually quite normal that Lena isn't very famous?"

Just as Yue was pondering why such a unique person as Lena was not famous at all in Flower Girl, Lixi had already made a phone call to Hailing.

"Hello... Hailing? Could you please watch over that stray cat for me?"

"Hmm...yes, it's the one you found in the tree...okay, I'll treat you to a drink tomorrow."