Why play in a band if you don't form one for life?

"Hua Lian..."

"Xiao Guang." Hua Lian's lips moved as if whispering, "Do you know why I died at that time?"

Xiaoguang nodded gently. She also saw it the moment Hualian saw that scene.

She didn't dare to move too much, in case her cheek touched Hua Lian's. Although this distance was not uncommon in stage plays, she was still a little timid in this situation.

"Xiao Shizi said she wanted to change her fate." Hua Lian suddenly changed the subject, "I don't know if she succeeded, but I believe she will."

"Xiao Guang, I also want to change my fate." Hua Lian's voice gradually trembled, "I don't want Xiao Guang to leave..."

She was holding something in her right hand: "This is the only way I can do it..."

There was a slight sound. It sounded like the rattling of chains.

Shizi 10086 is still undergoing repairs.

Although it has high performance, it is ultimately just an advanced AI without self-awareness.

This means that she does not have the ability to filter information.

And, unfortunately, she has a high ability to gather information.

After all, she is high-performance.

After returning to her original body, she would definitely report all the information she had collected to her original body in detail.

No embellishment is needed.

Chapter 63 Returning Home

The interior of the airship has also been basically restored.

Ten days had passed since the voyage resumed.

The desert area is very vast, but not endless. Since yesterday, Shizi has seen dots of green on the ground, and on the map, they are constantly approaching the plateau.

"Even though I said that, I'm not nervous at all." Shizi frowned slightly, but there was a smile on his lips. He sat by the window in the command room, took a sip of coffee, and looked at the blue sky in winter.

Is it because you just went through a crisis?

Or is it because of another good news?

The good news is: on the map, although slowly, Hua Lian and the others are getting closer to the airship.

I don’t know when they will catch up, but the fact that they can do this is a sign that “all is well”.

"That's probably because," Yukina, sitting opposite her, took a sip of coffee. Her cup had an excessive amount of sugar cubes added to it. "We can't stay tense all the time."

"That's right." Shizi nodded. "After all, once we get to the plateau, there's always the risk of encountering Black Mountain."

"Eh? Didn't they say we would encounter it after returning to CiRCLE?" Hina's voice sounded out of nowhere.

As she finished speaking, she appeared beside the table, picked up a piece of sugar and chewed it, adding, "Oh, I just saw it in Kasumi's mind. She should come and tell you about it."

Shizi pressed his heart which had just started beating but suddenly stopped: "No sudden spoilers! And no peeking into other people's minds!"

After Hina's fair and square attack during the Kuroshio, she made up a random excuse to explain her reproduction, and everyone accepted it. Since then, she has occasionally jumped behind others, scaring the timid ones - such as Lock, Satomi, and even Lisa - to scream. Even Shiko couldn't stand it sometimes, but now, she was concerned about what Hina just mentioned.

"Can I beep? It's not my place to click... Oh, it's here." Hina's mouth was filled with snacks without her noticing, and she looked towards the door.

The next second, the door was smashed open with a bang, as if it was about to be renovated, and Kasumi's shout was heard before anyone saw it: "I heard it! Good news!"

However, as soon as she showed up, she saw the three people at the table, and her thoughts immediately wandered away: "Are you having a tea party? Add me in!"

Youxi's expression remained normal, and his coffee cup didn't even shake: "Let's talk business first."

"Oh!" Kasumi came back to her senses, "That's right, I heard what happened when we officially faced Black Mountain! At that time, someone said, 'We have already returned to CiRCLE', which means we can definitely return to CiRCLE first before encountering it!"

"That's good." Shizi smiled. Not only did this allow her to relax for a long time, but the order of going to CiRCLE first and then fighting the boss would help everyone get in a good mood, which was also beneficial for the revenge battle.

The next day, the airship crossed the mountain pass and entered the plateau area.

"I miss it a little bit." Hong Xia lay on the porthole, looking at the Gobi Desert below.

Shizi also felt that every pore in her body suddenly relaxed. She grew up in the plains and has always lived in the city, but in just a few months at CiRCLE, it has become her second home.

Now, she is back here to put an end to that shining but extremely short daily life.

After that, three more days passed. As expected, we did not encounter Black Mountain, but we could occasionally see its traces, and the monsters on the ground were still in a weak state.

As I was staring out the window in a daze, I suddenly had a sense of déjà vu.

She stared at the hill opposite for a long time before she remembered that they had been to that hill before.

Once, they wanted to test how far they were from the tower, so they walked the longest distance at that time, and their end point was the hilltop.

She realized that they were back.

The corners of my eyes suddenly started to get wet.

On the top of the hill, Kita sat on the stone where he had sat before and looked around.

"It was here that Ijichi-senpai decided to return," she murmured to Saaya behind her.

"Is it a very important decision?" Sha Ling asked.

Kita shook his head: "It's just a very ordinary thing."

"However, no matter how ordinary things were at the time, they are still beautiful when you recall them." Liang continued.

"Is that so?" Sa Ling unconsciously revealed a lonely smile and quietly stepped away so as not to disturb the band's nostalgic time.

"That's the canyon we ran back to, right?" Yili pointed in the other direction opposite to the tower.

Following her finger, Shizi saw the canyon. It was like a wound carved on the earth, quietly recording the night when everything collapsed.

"It was Xiao Shizi who first reacted and ran back." Kita's face showed a complicated expression, "Fortunately, Miss Araki is fine."

Shizi and Hongxia could only remain silent.

The ending of Miss Araki was secretly told to the two of them by Hina, and they tacitly did not tell it.

Not far from the canyon, there was a large piece of charred land. From there, a terrifying dragging trail stretched straight into the distance.

Shizi knew what it was. The other four also knew what it was.

"It's still so obvious after all this time." Kita said calmly.

"After all, the terrain is not that easy to recover." Liang said.

Kita stood up and said, "Let's go back to the airship. Let's go see Miss Marina."

It used to take them almost a whole day to get from that hilltop to the original site of CiRCLE, but now it only takes a few hours.

The scenery on the ground became more and more familiar, and the more familiar it became, the more silent the five people who finished the band became. Their silence infected the others, and a solemn atmosphere enveloped the airship.

Yukina stood in front of the window for a long time. She was about to see the last remains of CiRCLE and the burial place of Ms. Marina.

Just thinking about this made her heart rate, which had always been calm, become unbalanced.

Kasumi stood beside her, her face also heavy.

Suddenly, she raised her hand and pointed in a direction: "Well, could it be..."

Yukina looked over.

In the middle of a flat rocky beach, there is a pile of stones.

At first glance, it looks no different from the naturally formed rocks nearby, but if you look closely, you can see rotten wood, steel bars, and shiny broken glass buried inside.

Shizi's voice sounded behind them: "Yes, that's CiRCLE."

Shizi stood beside them and stared at the pile of stones with them. She moved her lips as if she wanted to say something, but swallowed it back.

For her, CiRCLE was her former home. But for Yukina and Kasumi, how much less does CiRCLE mean?

Their feelings don't need to be conveyed through words.

After clearing out the surrounding monsters, the airship stopped about one kilometer away from CiRCLE.

Everyone wants to walk the last distance.

The five members of RAS stayed in the airship. They were not familiar with CiRCLE, and going there would only disturb the atmosphere, so it was better for them to stay.

So, the remaining sixteen people headed towards the ruins of CiRCLE.

Or return.

Chapter 64 Because It’s a Band

Walking on the rocky beach of the plateau again.

Whether it is the wind, the sunlight, or the scenery around me, they are all extremely familiar and almost engraved in my heart.

Shizi was in a trance, thinking that she had just finished a day of hunting and returned to CiRCLE with everyone who had finished the band. Miss Marina would be waiting at the door as usual, with a sumptuous meal prepared for them.

Then, looking up, I saw a ruin and two tombstones.

Everyone stopped.

Hong Xia stood at the front of the group of sixteen people. She walked forward slowly, holding a bucket of water in her hand: "...I'm back."

A lot of dust has accumulated on the two tombstones. Some of the offerings left here in the past have rotted, and some have disappeared.

Hongxia put down the clean water, scooped a spoonful with a wooden spoon, poured one spoonful on Miss Marina's tombstone, and scooped another spoonful to pour it on Miss Araki's tombstone, but after looking at the people behind her, she gave up temporarily and handed the wooden spoon to Liang.

Ryo took the wooden spoon and poured a spoonful of liquid on Miss Marina's tombstone.

Everyone stepped forward one by one and poured a spoonful of water on Marina's tombstone.

No one speaks.

After completing the tomb-sweeping procedures, she clapped her hands and said, "If we have anything to say, let's take turns to say it."

"Then I'll go first." Kita stepped forward. The others stepped aside and waited at the other end of the ruins.

Behind the ruins, Kasumi and the others were searching among the rocks, stopping from time to time, wondering what they were thinking.

After an unknown amount of time, Xiduo came back with red and swollen eyes. She said nothing and waved for the next person to go.

Just like that, one after another, people passed by silently and came back silently.

Shizi was the second to last to go.

The water marks on the stone tablet have begun to freeze.

That’s right, after all, it’s winter and we’re on the plateau.

Although someone had already brushed away the thin ice covering the inscription, Shizi still cleaned it up again. While doing so, he spoke softly: "Ms. Marina, I'm back with Roselia and Poppin'Party. Did you know that even Hibiki is here?"

"We have really become strong, stronger than Ms. Araki. If we were this strong, we wouldn't have ended up like this..." She shook her head and began to tell the story of how they left CiRCLE bit by bit. She knew that others must have told it before, but just like ending the band and Roselia's letter to her other self, everyone has their own perspective.

"…RAS was officially formed in this world. If I hadn't come to this world and inexplicably changed the fate of this world, they would have met CiRCLE normally and become a member of it. You can blame me if you want."

"...After that, we met Karen again. She is the stage girl of Seiyuu Music Academy..."

"...At that time, we knew that Miss Xinmu was not dead...But now, she should be by your side, right?" Shizi looked at another stone tablet next to him, "Miss Xinmu, when we all thought you were dead, you were alive; now everyone thinks you are alive, but you are gone. Now that everyone is here, I will come back later to sweep your grave."

"Is there a heaven after death? Since we have traveled through time and have super powers, it is normal for there to be a heaven, right?" Shi Zi thought, "Are you all there? If you can see me, can you talk to me? I... miss you so much..."

Tears were about to flow. Shizi stood up suddenly and wiped away the tears.

"I won't cry anymore." She firmly assured the two tombstones, "I came back to move towards the future."

She walked behind the ruins and passed by Hong Xia who was walking towards her.

Hongxia is the last one.

"You guys go back first." Hong Xia said softly to Shi Zi, "I may... have to stay a little longer."

Shizi nodded.

Shiko returned to the crowd, and Kasumi finally came back to her senses from the ruins: "Then... shall we go back first?"

"You guys go first. I'm worried about leaving Hongxia here alone." Shizi said.

"Then I'll stay for a while too." Liang sat on a rock.

"Then... shall we stay for a while?" Kita looked at Ichiri. Ichiri nodded.

The others understood and walked back quietly.

It suddenly became empty.