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

! ...

Upon hearing Rakuna's words, Shiro was deeply disturbed. If it weren't for her usual composure, she probably would have instinctively shouted out.

She first turned her head to look at her young mistress, and then carefully checked Lena's appearance. After Shiro's repeated comparisons, she had to admit that the two looked somewhat alike.

"Could it be that one of my elders did something wrong?"

Looking at Lena's white hair, Shiro began to investigate which of his elders was the most suspicious.

Just as Shiro was pondering which of her elders had made a mistake that led to Rana's appearance, Stella had already bought the local specialty dumplings and sat down next to Rana.

“I am Stella Takachiho, the noble queen of Siegfried Academy. Since our voices are so similar, why don’t we become friends?”

Lena tilted her head and looked into Stella's eyes, seeing a sincere look in them. A cat-like smile appeared on her lips again: "I want Lena, a third-year student at Flower Girls."

"Ah, it's Renai-chan! Renai-chan, there's a special bread here that's really delicious. I ordered one, let's try it together."

After saying that, Stella handed the Japanese-style matcha dumplings to Lena.

Lena glanced at the skewer of glutinous rice balls in Stella's hand, then sniffed the aroma. After confirming that there was absolutely no problem, she took the skewer from Stella and put it in her mouth. A sweet taste of matcha mixed with glutinous rice balls filled her mouth.

"good to eat!"

After receiving the dumpling that Stella shared, Lena pushed one of her two remaining cups of parfait in front of Stella.

"Matcha parfait, delicious!"

Stella looked at the matcha parfait that Lena had pushed towards her and asked, "Is this for me, Lena-chan?"

"Yes! Because Stella gave me something delicious."

Yoro nodded, looking on with anticipation as Stella tasted the matcha parfait she recommended.

"Thank you, Renai-chan."

Stella scooped up a spoonful and put it in her mouth. The creamy flavor of the ice cream was mixed with a hint of the bitterness of matcha, giving her a refreshing feeling.

"Mmm—the one Lena recommended (Part 2) 2, the shrimp and shrimp dish is so delicious!"

Seeing that Stella also liked her favorite food, her smile became even brighter.

After checking all the possible elders in their family, Shilu found that no one had done such a thing, which could only mean that the girl in front of her had a similar voice to Stella, which was purely coincidental.

She checked the time and realized that there wasn't much time left before the show started, so she stepped forward to remind Stella.

"The performance is about to start, Miss, we should go."

At the same time, the restaurant door was pushed open, and the people who came in were Yue and her group of four. Li hope, who had just returned, immediately joined the search for the cat after learning that Le Nai was missing.

"Ah! It really is here!"

Ai Yin pointed to the spoon holding a matcha parfait that was sitting there, looking innocently at her bandmates.

"Ah, isn't this Xiaoyue?"

Stella, who hadn't had a chance to leave yet, saw Hinasaki Tsuki among the four of them and took the initiative to greet her, saying, "It's been a long time. The person who came to exchange this year is different. I was very surprised at the time. After I learned that you dropped out of school, I thought it would be difficult to see you again. I didn't expect to meet you here. I'm really looking forward to your performance on stage."

"Haha, I just happened to receive tickets to a performance this year. I didn't prepare any performance program."

Yue shook her head and explained to Stella, while gesturing for the other three to go check on Lena.

Shi Lü helplessly covered her head. The performers needed to arrive backstage in advance. Her young lady had only been a noble queen for a short time, and if word got out that she was late, it would probably damage the reputation of the entire Siegfried Music Academy.

But judging from Stella's enthusiastic and lively conversation with Yue, this matter is probably not something that can be resolved in a short time.

While Shiro was worrying about how to get Stella to the venue in time, Aine looked at the pastries in front of her, pondered for a while, then took four and came back to put them on the table. After happily taking a picture with her phone, she waved to Kodama and said...

"Xiaodeng, come and have some cake. Taozi and the others have several school performances ahead of them. If you don't eat now, you might get hungry again later."

Just as Aine and Akari were eating their cake, Riki scolded Lena: "Didn't the stray cats say not to act on their own? We've been looking for you for ages, and here you are, enjoying your matcha parfait."

"Hmm... Lixi, would you like some?"

It seems that Stella and Lenore's act of exchanging food earlier inspired Lenore. No one knows why, but the clever little brain of hers suddenly realized that sharing food with others could make her happy.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant that you should have told us you were coming here, Lena, so we wouldn’t have worried about you.”

Lixi pointed to the group chat interface on his phone and said to Lenai.

"Yes, I'll be more careful next time."

Lena nodded to indicate that she understood, but based on what she had heard from her seniors in Ring over the past few days, Lena was as free as a cat, so whether what Lena said could actually come true was still a question.

"Okay, Lixi-chan, don't be angry anymore. Want to try the cakes here? They taste really good."

Seeing that Li hope had finished lecturing Le Nai, Ai Yin pointed to the three extra cakes in front of her and said to Li hope.

--------

Celebrating Aimi's successful election as company president (laughs)

And everyone should understand the joke about Lena and Stella, right?

When the performance begins: Chapter Sixty-Four - The Band's Second Performance

"what?"

Lixi then noticed that Aiyin had already started eating with Deng and Lena.

"Seriously, who said they were coming to see a stage play? How come they're eating cake here now?"

Looking at the three people who were enjoying their meal, Li hope wondered whether she had come here to eat or to watch a stage play.

"I can't help it, Lixi, the food here is really delicious."

Even while eating, Aine didn't forget to reply to Riki's words.

Is it really that delicious?

Mmm...delicious!

Just as Li hope was filled with questions, she discovered that the trio had somehow become a group of four.

"Ushigome-senpai!"

Riki discovers that the person who appeared on the table at some point is actually Satomi Ushigome, a senior from Popipa.

"Ah! Rimi-senpai! When did you arrive?"

Only after Li hope said that did she realize that Ushigome Rimi had appeared beside her at some point.

"what!"

Satomi Ushigome, who was enjoying her chocolate snail with her eyes half-closed, seemed to snap out of her reverie when Aine called out to her, and looked around in confusion.

"I smelled the aroma of chocolate snails, and then I followed the scent all the way here, and that's how I ended up here."

"I feel like... the image of my senior in my heart has been completely shattered."

Lixi looked at Ushigome Rimi in front of her, who was covering her head, and said that the problems of this band were already enough to give her a headache.

She now realizes that the senior she admired was also unreliable, which makes her wonder if all bands are like that.

On the other side, Yue had just watched as Shiro forcibly pulled her young mistress out of the restaurant by the hand, when she saw Toyama Kasumi peek in and look around.

"Ah, Xiaoyue, you're here too. Have you seen Rimi?"

"What Rimi-senpai said..."

Just as Tsuki was about to say that she hadn't seen her, she turned around and found that Ushigome Satomi had already entered the restaurant at some point.

"Ah, Rimi, you're here!"

Kasumi Toyama turned around and shouted outside, "Everyone, we found Satomi!"

Then, from the moon's edge, they saw the members of Popipa enter the restaurant one by one.

"Satomi, what are you doing here? Everyone was worried about you when they realized you were missing."

Ichigaya Arisa cares about Rimi's safety like a mother.

"Satomi probably smelled the chocolate snail, and isn't Aine-chan here too? You don't need to worry too much, Arisa."

Garden Emi comforted some of the agitated girls, including Yui, Lingyi, Qiwu, and Jiuxiao.

On the other side, Yamabuki Saya picked up the bread in front of her, squeezed it curiously, smelled it, and finally tore off a piece and put it in her mouth, savoring it carefully.

"It does taste a bit different from what I have at home, the flour seems to be of better quality... I'm not sure, I'll have to try it again."

Looking at the familiar faces in front of her, Yue was pondering a question.

It's normal for people to meet here just to watch the competition, but this is supposed to be a stage play competition, so why would everyone come to the restaurant at the same time?

I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot of familiar faces soon.

Xiaodeng, on the other hand, was clearly not used to being with so many people before, and seemed a little reserved, curling up as much as possible to minimize her presence.

"Why is Arisaki-senpai here? I remember the drama club of Hana no Yori Dango didn't pass the preliminary round, right?"

Tsuki asked Ichigaya Arisa curiously, "There's no band performing here, and no Hana no Otome drama club participating in the competition. It seems that the members of Popipa really have no reason to be here."

Of course, if the reason given is that they came specifically to get a free cake, then Yue wouldn't find it hard to believe.

"Ah... well, Karen and Hikaru invited us here."

As Arisa spoke, she pulled out a ticket, which, like theirs, was basically a ticket for section A, the closest to the stage.

"Hua Lian and Xiao Guang?"

It wasn't that Yue didn't recognize the two names; she and Aine had previously sought out the members of Popipa through her connection with Hikaru Kagura, a senior from the 99 class whom she had never met.

She had heard the name Karen from Kagura Hikaru-senpai, and what she didn't expect was that even though the seniors had gone their separate ways, they were still able to get tickets to the inside of this competition.

"Oh right, oh right, Karen and Hikari will be performing on stage! So they gave us tickets and invited us to watch."

"So the seniors have a performance... Ah!!! The seniors are coming to perform?"

Yue hadn't even realized what was happening when she said the first half of the sentence. The seniors were actually coming to participate in the performance. Wasn't this just deliberately bullying the other contestants?

"Yes, Karen and Hikari told us that they will be performing as special guests."

Yue was completely stunned. The legendary senior from the class of '99 at Shengxiang Middle School had actually returned to participate in the performance, and she hadn't received any news about it beforehand.

Originally, she just wanted to come and see what the new script her former colleagues at Shengxiang were talking about this year was, but she didn't expect to have such a pleasant surprise.

The thought of seeing her seniors perform made Yue's azure eyes sparkle with excitement. She turned to the band members who were having a food tasting session with the members of Popipa and said this.