Joker's Band Game Story

The two ate at a ramen shop downstairs from Hailing's apartment. Most girls might have a certain aversion to ramen, but Hailing was an exception.

She didn't mind eating ramen. After ordering a bowl of tonkotsu ramen, she sat at the bar and chatted with Amamiya about the band.

"We're rehearsing a new song today. We have to create a new song every week now, and we're expected to perform at the Budokan at the end of the month, so we need to have at least four songs that we can perform. In addition, the agency will provide some songs for us to play, so the overall practice pressure is not small."

As a rising band, it's hard to say they've produced that many original songs for the Budokan, so there will be one or two cover songs.

If it were another band, they would need to prepare more songs, but ave mujica's performance style is based on stage plays, so they don't need to prepare too many songs.

More importantly, their music has a high heavy metal content. Too much heavy metal in a performance can easily keep the audience excited for a long time, which can lead to physical problems. On the other hand, it doesn't give the audience time to relax. Therefore, their performances need to be interspersed with calm and passion to achieve a performance effect with ups and downs.

The stage play was meant to be placed in the middle for the audience to rest, and incidentally to further enrich the worldview of Mujica. As for why Xiangzi was so fixated on this worldview... Hailing didn't know, and she didn't want to know.

"Let's just say it's a case of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) acting up."

Hailin's answer was so casual, but her words already made Amamiya feel that something was wrong.

If we consider a band as a company, then new members would definitely be introduced to the company culture. For Mujica, this unique stage play is part of their company culture. However, this company culture hasn't been explained to the members, which could easily lead to conflicts with them in the future.

"Conflict? There is, right? Meow has always wanted to take off her mask, but Ms. Toyokawa has always wanted to maintain the worldview of Mujica and forbade her to take off her mask... You should know about the worldview, right?"

While drinking cold water, Hailin asked Amamiya about the worldview of Mujica. Amamiya did indeed know something about it, as it had been mentioned in the game before.

Those are dolls. All five members of ave mujica are dolls, abandoned dolls who banded together for warmth, which became the band's defining characteristic.

Many bands, or rather, well-known bands, need to have certain unique characteristics in order to attract audiences and build a fan base. Mujica's unique characteristics are heavy metal, rock, stage plays, puppets, and other elements, which generally makes it easy to pique people's curiosity and then win them over with their skills.

This kind of frenetic, cathartic heavy metal rock is indeed very easy to get people excited about, and it's very convenient to build up a fanbase. Plus, their skills are amazing, and their promotional efforts are quite extensive, so it's no surprise that they're being noticed as a hidden gem of a band.

How popular is ave mujica right now? Even New Diamond Dust, which Nina considers a rival, pales in comparison to mujica. Mujica's account has already surpassed three million followers in just two weeks, and with even stronger promotional efforts, the number of followers will only increase.

With full-scale promotion and strong financial backing, getting into the Budokan is no joke.

"So, after you've reached the Budokan, what's your next plan?"

The noodles had been served, and Amamiya picked up some noodles with her chopsticks while asking Hailin and the others about their next plan of action.

As a band, they generally have short-term and long-term plans. For example, their long-term plan for ending the band is to perform at the Budokan, while their short-term plan is to first hold a live performance, then write new songs, and gradually consolidate their popularity.

What about Mujica? Their short-term plan is to perform at the Budokan, but what about the long-term plan? They can't possibly not have a long-term plan, right?

"The next step is a national tour, but it's unclear what will happen after that; Ms. Toyokawa didn't say."

"Did she have a plan but didn't tell you, or did she herself not know what to do next?"

"It should be the latter. The nationwide tour is also a way provided by the agency. I don't think she's thinking that far ahead."

While eating ramen, Hailing felt that Xiangzi wasn't the kind of girl who thought things through too much; she was more of a wait-and-see type.

Or rather, she had a clear idea about forming a band, but what happened after forming the band? What happened after performing at the Budokan? She no longer had any bigger goals.

After reaching the Budokan, going up to the Tokyo Dome? That's not difficult either. With this level of promotion and skill, getting onto the Tokyo Dome is quite easy. At most, it would take a year.

Mujica's "galactic battleship" is like playing a mini-game with a max-level character; you beat it quickly, and it loses its appeal. They achieved in a month what other bands take years or even decades to reach, so it definitely becomes less interesting later on.

"It'll probably just be a normal routine of writing new songs and going on tour. Maybe we'll try to make a splash overseas? I don't know."

Hailing wasn't interested in this; she was just a mercenary.

In other words, Ave Mujica could replace her with another bassist at any time if she wanted to. But if Xiangzi were to do that, Hailing would absolutely support it.

It costs money to kick her out, and she could easily use that money to support other bands.

but……

"Hey."

Amamiya couldn't help but sigh, a reaction that made Hailin turn her head to look at him in confusion, wondering why he was sighing.

"Hailin, I never expected you to be like this."

If it was difficult to observe and understand Hailing's situation through video calls before, then the face-to-face communication made Amamiya understand one thing for sure.

Hailing doesn't care about Mujica.

He initially wanted Hailing to join so she would have a place to belong. If she's still so indifferent, then what's the difference between her and the bands she joined before?

He had thought that Xiangzi would give her a greater sense of belonging, but it seemed that Xiangzi was the most indifferent person. She was guarded against others, and she herself could not empathize with them, let alone Hailing take the initiative to accept Mujica.

"what happened?"

Hailin looked troubled; at this moment, she didn't quite understand what Amamiya Ren meant. Normally, she was very emotionally intelligent, but in front of Amamiya Ren, she acted like a child, completely bewildered by his intentions.

“I originally wanted you to find a band that you were willing to give everything for, but I didn’t expect that this band wouldn’t be right for you either.”

Amamiya shook his head; he had no intention of saying anything more. He had indeed miscalculated this time; he seemed to have gained a deeper understanding of Xiangzi's 'unreliability'.

But if that's all, it doesn't seem like a big problem. Toyokawa Sadaharu can definitely handle everything. Sometimes, life isn't always smooth sailing. Encountering setbacks and stumbling can also help with growth.

So Amamiya didn't intend to give Shoko any pointers, but rather to let her experience setbacks. Mujica was bound to run into trouble; having worked with so many bands, Amamiya was certain that Mujica would find it difficult to remain peaceful.

She will mature when Xiangzi can keep everyone in line.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"Never mind, it's not your fault."

Amamiya didn't criticize Hailin. The lack of a sense of belonging couldn't be attributed to Hailin; it was a matter of band culture.

Let her stay here a little longer. Maybe it will be okay once Xiangzi comes to her senses?

Instead of continuing their conversation about the band, the two switched to discussing music. Amidst their chatter, they finished both bowls of ramen completely.

After paying, the two left the shop, while the sky was filled with dark clouds and rumbled thunder.

"I hope it's not going to rain again."

Amamiya said helplessly, but just two seconds after he finished speaking, raindrops began to fall to the ground, and then the rain started again.

"Come sit at my place for a while, don't wander around in this rain."

Hailin pointed to her house. The weather wasn't cooperating, and Amamiya didn't insist on going back. Going back now would probably mean catching a cold.

Chapter Seventeen: Don't say "I like you" at this time.

"Your house is still so small."

It was raining heavily outside, so Amamiya went to Hailing's house to take shelter from the rain. He looked around and couldn't help but sigh that time hadn't changed much.

Hailing lived here during junior high school, and I never expected it to be like this in high school as well.

Nothing has changed at all.

"It can't compare to your big house, but it's convenient to live in anyway."

Hailing didn't mind Amamiya's comments. She knew that Amamiya was just saying it casually, and he was never the type to change his attitude based on the other person's wealth or poverty.

Besides, her house was only a little small, not dilapidated, so she didn't intend to waste money on a big house; it was pointless.

I'm usually the only one here, so this room is enough for me.

Amamiya put his bag on the ground and looked at Hailin's house; it was indeed quite small.

The largest room is the bedroom; the living room and kitchen are only a few square meters each, just made do with whatever space they have. The bathroom, however, is larger and has a bathtub where she can enjoy a soak.

There were no signs of a fire in the kitchen; even the pot was covered in ash. Next to it were various protein powder bars and energy bars, as well as some vitamin tablets.

"You really don't take yourself seriously."

"Eating takes too much time."

Hai Ling pouted, indicating that she wasn't particularly interested in eating and just wanted to save time for other things.

But these words made Amamiya glance at her. Is that really true?

If that were the case, she would have eaten very quickly downstairs, instead of enjoying it so much.

Yes, she enjoyed it. The way she ate made it seem like she hadn't tasted such delicious food in a long time. Even though she ate in big bites, she chewed carefully, savoring every flavor before swallowing.

Eating this kind of food too much can indeed make you feel satisfied when you eat a good meal.

"It feels a bit cold."

Hailing picked up the remote control, turned on the air conditioner, and selected heating mode.

Although it's summer, the rain outside has definitely drawn all the heat out of the house. Even though it's only around ten degrees Celsius outside, it feels freezing cold to Hailing.

"It feels like it will take a while before it gets hot."

Amamiya looked at the air conditioner. It was quite old, and it couldn't provide quick heating.

"That's true. Let's go take a hot shower first."

Hai Ling opened the wardrobe. Her wardrobe was quite large, and once opened, you could see that it was crammed full of clothes.

Her habit of retaliatory spending has brought her a lot of designer clothes, but she rarely wears them, only occasionally.

Ignoring the clothes, Hailin casually picked out a purple bra in front of Amamiya... As expected of Hailin, she was really bold.

"Want to shower together?"

Hailin launched a direct attack, pointing her thumb to the bathroom behind her and extending an invitation to Amamiya.

"That won't be necessary..."

"What are you shy about? Haven't we already met? You still smell of rain on you. Did you get caught in the rain earlier? Be careful not to catch a cold if you don't take a bath."

Hailin truly lives up to her reputation as a master of directness; she was surprisingly formidable at this moment. After saying this, she didn't wait for Amamiya's reaction and directly pulled him into the bathroom.

"But I don't have any clean clothes..."

"Then you can just do your laundry here."

When Hailin heard Amamiya say he didn't have any clean clothes, she pulled him even harder.

In her little mind, she was already thinking about how she would stay at home if Amamiya didn't have a change of clothes.

Naked? That would be fantastic.

Hailin stopped her fantasies and simply pulled Amamiya into the bathroom. Faced with Hailin's forceful approach, Amamiya reluctantly followed her in.

After all, Hailing was right about one thing: what should be seen and what shouldn't be seen, haven't we seen it all?

Since we've already seen it, there shouldn't be any problem if we just take a shower together, right?