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

Yue said helplessly, "Haha... Well, I don't know what the giraffe was thinking. It seems that according to her, it should be a blessing given to the stage girls as they move on to the next stage."

"However, according to the normal script development, when the main characters resolve their internal conflicts, shouldn't a very powerful villainous BOSS appear?"

Peach excitedly told Yue, "Then, because of this villainous BOSS, the protagonist's group split up, and in the end, the protagonist had to talk to each of them to bring his friends back and finally defeat the evil villain."

"We're in reality here! And to be honest, this is a band anime like K-On!, so how could there be villains?"

Having been influenced by Momoko, Yue is naturally a veteran anime fan herself, and she is very familiar with all the anime-related terms that Momoko uses.

"But we have giraffes in our world, and it's normal for there to be some supernatural things, isn't it? Didn't you tell me a ghost story about Yuqiu last time?"

Peach said something that Yue couldn't refute.

"In short, there's definitely no big villain here. Instead of worrying about us, let's worry about the upcoming multi-school joint drama performance."

Yue signaled to Taozi to stop talking about this topic.

"How did Yue find out about this? I thought Yue had stopped paying attention to this kind of thing after leaving Shengxiang."

Peach picked up another apple, took a bite, and asked.

Yue explained, "It was the president of the drama club at school who told me. It seems that the performance I directed last time won an award, which qualified us to participate in the amateur group competition."

"What is Shengxiang preparing for this year? Is it Starlight again? Although Starlight writes new scripts every year, the core essence remains basically unchanged. I feel it's about time to submit some new scripts for the competition."

Peach shook her head: "This year is different. We have a new script to perform. If you're interested, you can come and take a look later. There might be some unexpected surprises."

When Peach said this, a bright smile appeared on her face, but Yue felt a chill run down her spine.

"I'll go if I have time."

------------

This chapter was inspired by the official short animation.

There will likely be many cameo appearances by characters from Retsuka Yakuza.

When the Stage Opens: Chapter Sixty-One Let's Go to See a Stage Play Together

In fact, the new script that Peach mentioned was a script she had been collecting various inspirations for, plus a bit of the script given by Giraffe, resulting in a completely new script.

However, since many of the contents of these scripts were things she had never experienced, her previous trip with Yue to attend the band meeting was to cover up for this performance.

"is it?"

Upon hearing that this year's performance would no longer be Starlight's, Yue, who hadn't cared much before, suddenly became interested and asked Momoko with a curious expression.

"So what are the shows being performed this year?"

"This..."

It was obvious that Momoko Kurosawa, who was well-versed in Chinese military strategy, easily piqued Yue's interest.

"You'll know when Yue comes to the scene herself. Isn't part of the fun of the stage the unknown?"

That's the truth, but what Momo really wants to see is the genuine emotion that Yue will show on his face when he sees the performance.

"The expression on Yue's face will definitely be interesting then."

Seeing that Taozi was deliberately keeping him in suspense, Yue couldn't say anything, since what Taozi said made sense and she was indeed in the wrong.

"...Peach, who taught you this? You never used to keep people in suspense."

Yue felt that Taozi had indeed become a bit... cunning lately? She used to be such a sunny and cheerful girl who would answer any question, but now she's started to keep people in suspense.

"Hehe~ Maybe it's because I've been learning some scriptwriting and stage logistics stuff from the people in Class B lately."

Peach sweetly explained with a cute gesture.

But it's clear that Yue has absolutely no faith in Peach's explanation.

"...Don't push everything onto Class B. They're only in charge of the stage script and other script-related matters. They're not psychologists who can change people's personalities."

"Moon, don't you know? There's a saying that writers are all black-hearted, so screenwriters are no exception."

Seeing Peach unleash another area-of-effect attack, Yue's burning spirit of吐槽 (tu cao, a form of witty retort) finally couldn't hold back any longer: "That saying goes, 'Those who play tactics are all black-hearted.' You should apologize to all the fellow writers!"

The two bickered and argued all night. The next day, Yue looked at the six tickets in her hand and stared at the dates on them. They were cleverly placed two days before their performance.

"Did you guys rush to organize this competition? You had even less preparation time than we did for our performance..."

However, upon closer examination, it does make sense, because the schools participating in this stage play competition have already performed the play once. If they were to perform the same play again, the rehearsal time would be compressed.

However, this puts a tighter timeframe on schools that need to put on new productions. But there are risks and opportunities. She had carefully read the competition rules and knew that there would be extra points if she put on a production that was different from the one that was shortlisted.

"But if I go to see a performance... I have a feeling I'll encounter some interesting things..."

Looking at the list of participating schools on the receipt in front of her, Yue accurately spotted Siegfried Music Academy.

"I'd been wanting to arrange for Renai-chan and Stella-chan to meet, and I didn't expect the opportunity to come so soon."

As for whether Ryuna-chan will participate, Yue doesn't seem to have considered it.

--------

During the daily practice session, Yue arrived at the recording studio with the receipts and explained the situation to everyone.

"Eh—is Momo-senpai inviting us to watch a performance?"

Su Shi looked somewhat surprised after hearing Yue's words, since Yue Deng, Li hope, and the other two had known Tao Zi before.

But she and Momoko had only met once before, at the last meeting, yet she was invited to participate, not to mention Rakuna, whom she had never met before.

"Wow, it's a stage play! I've never seen one before."

Chihaya Aine was clearly fascinated by this new thing, holding the ticket in her hand like a curious child.

"I haven't seen it either..."

Li hope shook his head, indicating that he wasn't particularly interested in stage plays and had never watched one before.

"Hey, let's all go see it together?"

Seeing that none of them had ever seen a stage play, Ai Yin excitedly suggested it.

"But... isn't this performance a little too similar to ours?"

Looking at the date on the ticket in his hand, Li hope said with some concern.

"Going to see this kind of stage might be beneficial for our performances later."

Aiyin explained aloud.

"No live performances, no interest..."

It's clear that Lena has no interest in stage plays.

"Speaking of which, this competition seems to offer free food, including a matcha parfait!"

Ai-yin looked at the announcement on her phone and said to Ryuna.

"I want to go!"

When Lena heard the name "Matcha Parfait," her eyes lit up, and her voice was filled with excitement and anticipation.

"Where's Xiaodeng? Xiaodeng, are you going?"

Tsuki looked at Takamatsu and asked.

"Hmm... I'd like to go to Peach's invitation."

"Okay, it's decided then! Let's go see the show together!"

--------

Although everyone has decided to go to the show together, the daily practice still needs to be done. Compared to the practice in the past few days, which showed improvement each time, everyone seems to have entered a bottleneck period.

Lixi lay in bed, reflecting on the results of her practice today.

The improvement from each practice session wasn't huge, but it was negligible. Although Ai Yin's guitar skills have improved under the guidance of Popipa and other seniors, her ensemble playing still has some issues, and she's often a bit slow to get into the game.

Su Shi's problem remains the same. Li Xi often doubts whether Su Shi has practiced properly. Su Shi's performance is completely different from her performance of Kasuga Kage a year ago.

After the stray cat made a proper agreement with the other party, there haven't been any major problems recently. However, Li Xi has to spend a sum of money to treat the other party to a matcha parfait every time he practices, which in a sense can be considered a monetary transaction.

After regaining her form, Yue's performance level was comparable to that of a stray cat. However, Yue's problems were similar to those of Aine; she didn't seem to have a strong understanding of team ensemble playing.

As for Deng… Li hope sighed as she thought of this. Although Deng tried her best to sing in every rehearsal, it just didn’t feel the same as before.

When the performance begins: Chapter Sixty-Two: The London Duo

Time marches on, and the day of the stage play competition has finally arrived.

However, before we talk about Yue and his group, we need to temporarily leave the Mygo set.

One day earlier, in London, England.

"Xiao Guang... the things you use every day really need to be properly categorized and put into the drawers."

Nana Oba was helping Hikaru Kagura pack her luggage, frantically tidying up the clothes scattered on the bed.

Her expression carried a hint of helplessness and anxiety, as if she was worried about Hikaru's messy luggage. She picked up the clothes on the ground while constantly giving Hikaru instructions.

"Well...I see."

Hikaru Kagura sat obediently next to Nana Oba.

The whole thing started because the 99th graduating class of Seisho High School planned to get together tomorrow during the Tokyo high school competition. This was something that had been planned half a month ago.

But unexpectedly, when Nana Ohba asked Hikaru Kagura if she had packed her luggage today, the answer she received was...

"Ah! I'll go right away."

Packing luggage was something that could be done quickly, so Nana didn't plan to help. Instead, she prepared the items she needed to return to her home country.

But to her surprise, when she came out of the room half an hour later with her suitcase, she found that Xiao Guang was nowhere to be seen.

Thinking that the other person might need help, Nana Oba decided to go upstairs. When she opened the door and entered the room, the scene before her made her freeze in shock.

The room was a mess, with various clothes scattered on the floor.

Amidst the chaos, Nana Oba laboriously moved her feet, carefully avoiding the obstacles on the ground, until she reached Hiro, who was diligently packing various clothes into her suitcase.

"Xiao Guang... what are you doing?"