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

"Peach Jam, we're going downstairs now. Be careful not to make too much noise."

As Momo's roommate, Yuri Saki looked at Suze in front of her and had already imagined a whole bunch of things in her mind. She smiled and gave Momo some instructions.

Sakuya Konohana, who was also Momoko's classmate, gave Momoko a thumbs-up before being dragged away by the others.

After the school went on stage for the next performance, they listened to the sounds from the stage outside.

Nagasaki Momoko finally couldn't help but ask Kurosawa Momoko, "So... why did you send me backstage alone? To better understand the script you wrote about disbanding Crychic, so you could mock me for making my plan to reunite Crychic impossible?"

Having just watched the entire stage play, Nagasaki Momoko still didn't know how Kurosawa Momoko in front of her knew so much about Crychic's disbandment, or even that the other party knew the reason for Toyokawa Shoko's departure, which even she herself didn't know.

However, the meaning expressed in the other party's stage play was very clear, and even someone like her who knew nothing about stage plays could understand it.

Although the re-enactment of the plot in the middle was a bit too fantastical, the meaning it conveyed was definitely that he would be unable to achieve his goal of reorganizing Qiling Dad Five Deaths Liu (Eight) Chess 7Crychic because of Aine.

After looking at Suze for a while, Momoko Kurosawa finally spoke to Suze Nagasaki and asked, "What do you think, Suze-kun?"

Upon hearing Taozi's seemingly random words, Su Shi frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

"If the scripts for the stage play were all based on real events, what would you do, Motoyo Nagasaki?"

When Momoko Kurosawa said those words, the scene on stage, featuring Lei Yu, had just reached the point where thunder was about to strike.

The thunder projected on the stage seemed to resonate directly in Nagasaki Motoyo's heart.

"Kurosawa-kun, I'm not joking right now."

"Nagasaki Motoyo said indignantly."

“I wasn’t joking with you, Nagasaki-kun.”

Momoko Kurosawa's expression remained that gentle smile, but Momoko Nagasaki always felt that there was a conspiracy in her smile, giving her a feeling of a knife hidden in a smile.

Su Shi had a premonition that if she accepted the other party's invitation, she would fall into their trap.

"Nagasaki-kun, do you have any better options right now? This band doesn't even have a name yet, but everyone except you is getting closer and closer."

Like Faust tempting Mephistopheles, Momoko Kurosawa kept uttering words that led Motoyo Nagasaki down into the abyss.

Indeed, as Momoko Kurosawa said, the relationships among the band members, apart from her, have become increasingly close.

Aine, Tsuki, and Akari are from the same school and usually practice together, so it's perfectly normal for them to be close.

Lixi and Yue didn't know what had happened before. Even though Yue was late, Lixi, who was always strict, didn't say anything to Yue. It was obvious that Lixi also had a certain bias towards taking care of Yue.

Even Rakuna, who joined the band later, was originally a "stray cat" who often didn't come to the band's rehearsals. She didn't think that Rakuna could fit into the band and that she might leave after a while because she lost interest.

Unexpectedly, after Li hope's outburst, Le Nai actually started participating in training almost every day.

It seemed that everyone in the band had quietly formed connections, leaving her all alone and abandoned.

However, this is also related to her deliberately keeping her distance from Yue, Rakuna, and Aine, who were not originally part of Crychic in the band.

She originally planned to kick these people out of the band after a while and didn't intend to have too much of a connection with them. However, she didn't expect their relationship to develop so quickly. In this way, she might actually be the one kicked out of the band in the future.

Although Nagasaki Motoyo knew that she was in a very difficult situation, it was not a reason for her to blindly trust Kurosawa Momoko.

Her eyes swept over Momoko Kurosawa warily once more, her voice filled with suspicion: "What exactly is your purpose...?"

"Su Shi, I have no ill intentions. All I want to see is a perfect performance."

Momoko Kurosawa delivered the lines she had prepared beforehand. Facing someone like Suze, a master of ideas, she couldn't directly reveal her true intentions. What if Suze suddenly came up with some outrageous idea that would ruin her plans?

Following the pre-written script, she gradually guided Su Shi, changing her way of addressing her from "Nagasaki-kun" to "Su Shi-kun" and now directly calling her by her name, Su Shi.

She gradually narrowed the distance between the two, making the other person more likely to believe in her proposed plan.

Faced with Momoko Kurosawa, a true idea queen for writing scripts, our Tsukimori idea queen, Motoyo Nagasaki, was clearly no match for her and was completely outmaneuvered.

"So... you want me to be an actor? Are you going to play the giraffe who gave the bassist his abilities?"

After thinking it over, Nagasaki Momoko realized that if she really wanted to reunite Crychic, no, if Kurosawa Momoko's words were true, the only way to prevent Crychic from disbanding was to believe what the other party said.

------

I didn't work overtime this weekend qwq

Bonus chapter, meow!

When the performance begins: Chapter Sixty-Seven - Meeting an Old Friend

Seeing the small fish in front of her take the bait, Momoko Kurosawa was overjoyed, but she still maintained a restrained expression on her face.

"Then, after today's match is over, please come to this place to find me."

Momoko Kurosawa handed an address to Motoyo Nagasaki.

"Saint Seisho Music Academy?"

Su Shi read out the address on the note and asked doubtfully, "Can Shengxiang let students from other schools come and go as they please?"

"Forehead……"

When asked this question by Su Shi, Momoko Kurosawa realized that Seisho, normally, doesn't allow students from other schools to enter or leave.

However, Momoko hasn't eaten the "tomato" that represents the shining stage girl yet, and she can't start a stage anywhere else. The only way is to ask for help from the giraffe under Seisho, or to find Andreu or Elu-chan (Note 1).

Momoko Kurosawa looked slightly flustered. After thinking for a moment, she said to the vegetarian:

"Anyway... come and wait for me backstage after Su Shi's performance. As for how to get in, I'll figure it out."

Seeing the fleeting panic on Taozi's face, Su Shi's initial unease subsided.

"I thought you were a master strategist, but it turns out you can make mistakes too."

Momoko's previous masterful control over the image she envisioned, coupled with the other party's claim of reversing time to reenact Crychic, almost led Nagasaki Momoko to believe that Kurosawa Momoko possessed some kind of superpower or was a deity.

However, seeing that even the other person had overlooked something, Nagasaki Motoyo's heart gradually calmed down.

"So verbose..."

Taozi blushed slightly upon hearing Su Shi's words, and defended herself, saying, "I'm not some kind of deity, isn't it normal for me to have a few minor problems?"

"Oh my, isn't this my junior?" (Part 5)

At this moment, the members of Group 99 had just changed into their Starlight performance costumes backstage, but they didn't expect to find that Taozi and Su Shi were still backstage.

"Ah, Kaori-senpai."

When Momoko saw the person who had arrived, she realized that the person was Hanayagi Kaori, the inheritor of the Kyoto Hanayagi-ryu traditional Japanese dance and also a graduate of Seisho 99th class, so she greeted her respectfully.

"Little Peach, you don't need to be so polite. Your script is really interesting. If you'd like, I'd like to discuss it with you another day."

Following closely behind Hanayagi Kaori was Ooba Nana, who greeted Momoko with a smile. But for some reason, Momoko felt that Ooba's smile was similar to her own.

"We have no grudge against each other... Senior wouldn't harm me, would he...?"

Although she was still quite unsure, she was happy to ask her senior for advice since he had invited her to discuss the script.

"I'm so happy to have received guidance from Nana-senpai!"

"Peach, you really shone on stage just now!"

Karen Aijo peeked out from behind Nana and praised her.

"Yes, shining on stage."

Kagura Hikaru added, following Karen's lead.

"Alright, if you have anything you'd like to chat with the younger generation about, let's do it another day. Now it's our turn to go on stage."

Maya Tendo, as the leader, interrupted everyone's conversation with Momoko.

"Let's add each other as friends, and when I have time before I go back to England, let's meet up and chat again."

Nana Oba quickly took out her phone and added Momoko Kurosawa as a friend, then went on stage with the rest of the 99 group.

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

What was happening backstage was completely unknown to the people in front, while Yue was still enjoying the stage play "Thunderstorm" from a foreign land.

"The emotional entanglements here are just too complicated... but why do I find it surprisingly good?"

She had never seen a stage play with such complex emotional entanglements before, so seeing it now was breathtaking, and a strange sense of joy arose in her heart.

However, compared to the thunderstorm, she was more looking forward to the next two programs: one was the classic song "Starlight" by the seniors of the Seisho 99 group, and the other was a classic song by the Siegfried Music Academy.

"Next, please enjoy a special program presented by alumni of Seisho Music Academy, Starlight!"

As the host announced the start of the show, the stage curtain was slowly drawn back, and Claire, played by Ai Cheng Hua Lian, stepped onto the stage.

————Stage play dividing line (Don't ask why, the answer is that Bushido didn't provide any content)————

After the match, Aine smiled and said to Riki, who had initially objected to coming to watch the movie.

"Hey, Lixi, today's stage play was definitely worth it! Everyone on stage was so dazzling, shining brightly!"

"Stop rambling. What does this have to do with our band? You can't expect to borrow strength from their brilliance and suddenly be able to play the guitar perfectly... right?"

Halfway through her story, Li hope suddenly realized that she had been pulled into that strange theater by Yue before. When Yue explained the reason to her, she said that the theater was originally a selection venue for competing for Shining.

"I have this feeling... that all of them, those who perform in stage plays, are in pretty much in danger..."

Aine retorted, "Maybe it's possible? Don't the protagonists in those manga always shout about the bonds of friendship and then go and defeat the Demon King?"

"You said it yourself, it's a manga... Yue, you should also talk about Aine... What about Yue?"

Lixi then realized that Hinasaki, who had been with them just moments before, had suddenly disappeared.

"As for Yue-chan, she seemed to have seen an acquaintance earlier, and told us that we could leave first, as she needed to go backstage."

Xiao Deng said to Li hope.

"In that case..."

Just as Li hope was about to suggest that they leave, she noticed that Le Nai had grabbed her clothes.

"stomachache……"

Lenai was completely devoid of her usual energy, clutching her stomach and looking at Lixi with a pained expression.

"ha?……"

Lixi looked at the stray cat, first letting it sit down on the chair, then carefully examined the area the cat was covering, thought for a moment to estimate the time, and then asked, "Stray cat... how much matcha parfait did you eat just now?"

“3 cups…” Lena’s voice was very weak.