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

After looking around, Lena pointed to the moving building and led the way. On the way back, her body had gradually recovered, and she could walk on her own without support, although she was still a little unsteady.

Seeing this, Aine and Akari could only follow behind Rana and walk towards Rana's house.

"Bang bang bang—"

As Lena knocked on the door, a familiar female voice came from inside the building.

"Wait a moment, I'll be right there."

Footsteps came from inside the room, followed by the sound of the door lock turning.

A familiar face appeared in front of Aine; it was the "shop manager" that Rinrinko, whom she had met briefly at Ring, had mentioned.

Although I later learned more about it, the other party was the former store manager of Space. Rinrinko used to work at Space, which is why she called him the store manager, rather than saying that the other party was actually the store manager of Ring.

However, Aine never expected that the other party would be Ryuna's grandmother. After all, she had personally witnessed Ryuna's grandmother scolding Kasumi in the ring. If it weren't for Saya and Rinko pulling Kasumi away in time, she would probably have been nagged for half a day just for being late.

"Grandma is so authoritative, she can scare Kasumi-senpai into silence, so why did Rakuna have to see a doctor because she ate too much matcha parfait? Or is it that the manager wasn't involved in Rakuna's upbringing at all?"

"No, no, no... There seems to be a saying now that grandparents are very close to their grandchildren. Grandfathers and fathers, and fathers and sons, aren't very close, but grandfathers and grandmothers are very close. Could it be that Rakuna-chan is also close to her grandparents? If so, then it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with that?"

Xiao Deng tilted her head and looked curiously at the bubbles that appeared above Aine's head. Le Nai lay on the shopkeeper's lap like a real cat, while the shopkeeper stroked Le Nai's hair with a doting expression.

When the Stage Opens: Chapter Seventy-Six - The Cat in the Closet and the Nighttime Training Camp

"Thank you for bringing Lena back. Please come in and have a seat."

Yoru's grandmother, Tokiwa, extended an invitation to Aine and Kodama.

"Then I'll take my leave?"

Even though the homeowner had already extended an invitation to Aine and the others, Aine's words were a question, and she seemed very reserved. This might be because the manager had previously reprimanded Rinko and Kasumi-senpai, giving her the impression that the manager was a strict person.

So, at the invitation of Tsuzuki Shisen, Aine and Kotomi entered Rakuna's house.

As for why Lena wasn't mentioned here, it's because the cat had already run into the room when her grandmother opened the door.

"You can go to Lena's room first, and I'll go prepare some snacks and tea for you."

As the host, Tsuzuki Shisen addressed the two young guests before him.

"That's troublesome."

Aine replied to the shopkeeper's words, and then she and Akari went to Ryuna's room.

Pushing open the door with Rana's name on it, the two entered the room and found that the furnishings were surprisingly simple—there was only a messy desk, a guitar and an effects pedal case, and nothing else, not even Rana herself.

"What a simple room..."

Looking at the simple furnishings, Ai Yin couldn't help but sigh, but she always felt that something was wrong with the room, as if something was missing.

"Lanna-chan's room... doesn't have a bed?"

Xiaodeng looked around Lenai's room but couldn't find a place to sleep.

"Huh? Really!"

Aine realized what she had been thinking was wrong after being reminded by Xiaodeng. It turned out that there was no bed in Ryuna-chan's room.

However, she noticed the closet in the room and speculated, "Is Lena probably... sleeping on the floor?"

Just as Ai Yin finished speaking, she saw the closet suddenly make a creaking sound.

"what!!"

A gasp escaped her lips; she was startled by the noise from inside the closet, her body trembling slightly. Her eyes were fixed on the closet, and she instinctively took a step back, keeping her distance.

"It's probably...something like a rat, right?"

Xiao Deng also heard the noise coming from inside the closet and guessed the source of the sound.

"Rats are also a bad sign!"

Aine made a complaining sound; she hated it whether it was a ghost or a rat inside.

Despite saying that, Aine still went forward. During this process, the closet door kept making noises, as if someone was eating inside.

Ai Yin took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and yanked open the closet door.

"Well?"

Kaoru was startled by Aine's sudden action. With a cake fork in her mouth, she turned her head to look at Aine.

"Raku...Rakuna-chan?"

When Aine pushed open the closet door, she had expected to see some kind of mouse eating something, or a ghost like Kayako, but she never expected to see Rakuna-chan inside, and it looked like she was eating something.

Lenai held up the plate she was holding, on which was a matcha cake. Judging from the condensation on the plate, it must have just been taken out of the refrigerator.

"Hmm...do you want some?"

"Ah... thank you." Aine replied politely, but then realized that this wasn't the time to talk about that: "Wait... Ryuna-chan, why are you in the closet?"

"Hmm... because this is my home."

Aine felt a headache coming on when she heard what Rana said; Rana's reply had absolutely nothing to do with what she had asked.

"What Renai-chan means is... this is her bed?"

As a fellow radio-wave type spirit, Lantern sensed Aine's distress and took the initiative to help her translate what Rakuna-chan was saying.

"ha--?"

Ai Yin asked the same question as Li hope, but when she looked inside the narrow closet, there was indeed a layer of bedding and a quilt for sleeping, with a lamp inside as a light source.

The last time she saw someone sleeping in a closet was with Doraemon.

However, considering that Doraemon is a cat-type robot, and that Renai-chan's usual behavior is very similar to that of a cat, it seems quite reasonable that she likes to curl up in such a corner or enclosed space.

What Ai Yin didn't know was that Ras's chu2 actually stayed in the closet for a long time, which could be considered a kind of inheritance between cats in a way.

After barely managing to convince herself to accept the fact that Ryuna was living in the closet, Aine continued, "But... even if you're living here, you shouldn't be eating in bed, right?"

"It's okay, it won't spill on the bed."

Lena clearly seemed very confident about this matter.

"Lena...is it okay for her to eat this?"

Instead of Aine, who was concerned about whether Lena should eat in bed, Kodama asked Lena with concern if she could eat a cake that had just been taken out of the refrigerator since she had just received an injection.

"That's right! The doctor already said we need to be careful about our diet lately!"

Ai-yin swiftly snatched the cake from Lena's hands and casually placed it on Lena's desk.

Lena wanted to say something, but she seemed to recall the stomach pain she had just experienced, so she stopped arguing.

"Lena! You've been sneaking food out of the fridge again?"

Just then, Shifune Tsuzuki, who happened to be bringing drinks over, saw the cake that Aine had placed on the table. Knowing her granddaughter's personality well, she naturally knew what she had done.

"I really am sorry to have made you laugh."

Shisen Tsuzuki skillfully grabbed Rakuna and pulled her out of the closet.

"It's okay, it's okay, Renai is cute even like this."

Aine watched as Rakuna was skillfully pulled out by Tsuzuki Shisen. Although she still spoke politely, what she was thinking was, "As expected... there's always someone who can subdue another..."

"My granddaughter has been taken care of by you all, and her training must have been quite difficult for her."

Shifune Tsuzuki looked at her with affection. After she let go of her hand, Kaname Rakuna, who was curled up on the ground like a cat without caring about her image, said, "After Space disbanded, Rakuna-chan has been looking for her place. Although she has auditioned for many bands, she doesn't seem to be very satisfied with any of them. She has stayed with your band the longest, and I really hope that your band can become Rakuna's place."

"Huh? Is that so?"

Clearly, Tsuzuki Shisen's words were somewhat unexpected for Aine; she hadn't anticipated that the shopkeeper would bring up such a heavy topic. Thinking of this, she looked back at Kodama. In a way, "a place to call home" and "a lifetime" seemed... quite fitting indeed.

"However, although I shouldn't interfere with my granddaughter's choice of partner in principle, as a parent, I can't help but want to examine Lena's choice when the time comes."

Upon hearing Tsuzuki Shisen's words, Aine sat up straight, a hint of doubt in her eyes. She asked hesitantly, "Manager...does that mean you want to come see our performance?"

"Well, you don't need to be too nervous, just do your best."

Shisen Tsuzuki clearly noticed that Aine's body was extremely stiff due to tension, and spoke up to comfort her.

Aine looked like she was about to cry when she heard what the shop manager said: "Shop manager, you make it sound so easy... but Kasumi-senpai was so stressed by you that she lost her voice and couldn't sing anymore."

----------

Back to the present, Yue had just finished listening to Aine recount what happened last night when they took Rakuna home.

"So... is the store manager also coming to see our performance?"

She asked Aine somewhat uncertainly, after all, if she had to say, there were far too many people coming to see their performance.

Seisho's former classmates and alumni from the class of '99, the few Ziegfeld knew, Mitsumi Hatsuka, Toyokawa Shoko...

It can be said that apart from the classmates who have said they will come to support them, almost everyone else who is going to watch the performance is quite famous.

In some ways, their band doesn't even have a name, but they're probably quite famous.

Aine said, "If I understand correctly, that's what the manager meant."

However, she didn't completely rule out the possibility of a performance. After all, the store manager didn't directly say whether she would come to watch the performance in person, and it wasn't impossible that Rinrin-senpai might take the assessment in her place.

"The performance is tomorrow, but there's still a big problem in the band... and now they've told me something even more troublesome. This is really giving me a headache."

Yue rubbed her head, which was already a bit sore from not sleeping all night, and the pain intensified when she heard that the store manager was going to give them an evaluation.

"The previous team-building activities were completely ineffective. It seems simply going to karaoke together isn't enough? I feel like we need some kind of heart-to-heart talk, like in those anime."

She now deeply understands that if she doesn't resolve Su Shi's problem now, then it will become a Schrödinger's cat scenario, with a 50% chance of success and a 50% chance of failure.

As for which half it is, we'll only find out after the performance; we'll have no idea before then.

"But time is running out... I only have tonight to talk to Su Shi... What should I do? Should I go to Su Shi's house?"

Tsuki continued to ponder how to resolve Nagasaki Motoyo's problems.

Little Lamp looked at the troubled, thoughtful expression on Yue's face, her mouth slightly open as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't say anything.

After repeating this several times, she finally spoke: "Yue... a few days ago... you told me about inviting everyone in the band to come to the astronomy department to stargaze..."

"Eh..." Yue searched her memory and realized that she had indeed said those words before, but she didn't know why Xiaodeng would bring it up at this time.

Xiaodeng placed her hand on her chest, thought for a moment, and then said, "Could we... do it today? Let's all come to the school for a dorm together, just like before?"