Dragon Raja: Oh no! Lu Mingfei has been diagnosed with depression!

Ginza, Kabuki-za.

This Kabuki theater has a history of over a hundred years. It has been burned down and rebuilt several times. The current building is even more magnificent and has a distinct Momoyama period style.

Only Kabuki actors who can perform on this stage and achieve a high attendance rate are called masters. Usually, the actors who perform here are national treasures. But tonight, a newcomer is performing on the Kabuki-za stage. It is said that he came from another industry, from being a host, to perform Kabuki. People in the industry are not optimistic about the newcomer and think that the attendance rate tonight will probably be a disaster.

But the tickets sold out early on. The people buying tickets were all stylish young women, each with a radiant face, celebrating their success in getting tickets and proudly holding them up at the ticket window. They didn't look like traditional Kabuki audience members at all, but rather like people attending a pop concert.

The stage was shrouded in darkness with curtains drawn low. Guests whispered among themselves. The names of tonight's performers were displayed on the side of the stage, with the large, bold characters "Kazama Ruri" visible to almost every guest who looked up.

There is no title for the play, supposedly because the performer claims that the play was inspired by the countless guests who support him, so he doesn't want to define its name with his own will. Therefore, he plans to randomly select someone from the audience to name the play after the performance.

The girls became even more excited upon hearing the news. One of them tore a piece of white cloth off her skirt and used lipstick to draw the words "Kazama Mikoto" on it. The others suddenly realized what was going on and followed suit, removing pieces of cloth from their clothes that could be used as straps and tying them around their foreheads or arms.

The sound of tearing filled the air. Erii looked up blankly, wondering why people were tearing her beautiful dress. She thought it was some kind of special ritual. She looked down at her shrine maiden outfit, hesitated for a moment, and then decided not to tear her dress.

The lights suddenly went out, and someone started playing Sakuragi's little drum. The drumbeat was hoarse and low, as if a ghost was lingering among them.

The sudden change made Erii a little panicked, and she subconsciously moved closer to Lu Mingfei, but she still couldn't help but open her eyes wide and look at the stage.

"I'm here, don't be afraid."

Lu Mingfei gently patted Erii's hand.

Erii looked up and met his gaze, nodded obediently, opened her purse, took out a plastic Ultraman model, and handed it to Lu Mingfei. Then she pulled his hand and hugged it to her chest.

Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment, then realized that because he felt that he was a little monster Ultraman and wouldn't be able to protect her, he put Ultraman in his hand. That way, as long as she held his hand, Ultraman would know that they were teammates when he appeared, and perhaps he wouldn't want to kill her.

The curtain rose, and a woman in pure white stood quietly in the center of the stage, her long, black hair flowing freely, casting eerie shadows under the lights.

Lu Mingfei frowned, suddenly regretting bringing Erii here. He had thought that Japanese Kabuki performances would be like Peking Opera, but in reality, it was such a grotesque performance that he couldn't appreciate it and was worried that Erii might be frightened.

Erii simply stared quietly at the stage, showing no sign of fear whatsoever.

"Isn't Erii scared?"

Lu Mingfei asked in a low voice.

Erii turned her head and winked at him, then pulled out her notebook:

"With you here, there's nothing to be afraid of."

This was a repetition of what he had said. It was just something to comfort her, but the girl didn't doubt it at all because he had said that she didn't need to be afraid as long as he was there. So she wouldn't be afraid of any monsters or demons that appeared in front of her.

This trust is truly inexplicable.

The singing echoed all around. Without even looking at the stage, one could imagine a sorrowful woman dancing gracefully on stage, singing a mournful tune, surrounded only by loneliness.

The audience was deathly silent, and the guests were on the verge of tears.

Lu Mingfei and Erii, however, were completely unaffected.

Lu Mingfei couldn't grasp the meaning of the sorrow and grief in the song. In his view, all the sad things in the world were caused by his own weakness. When a person is strong enough to change the world, even the saddest things can be reversed.

Erii couldn't understand it. The reason she was so focused at first was because she was curious about seeing such a performance for the first time, but now that her enthusiasm had faded, she was just bored.

Fortunately, the performance was coming to an end, and the voice-over sang Ruri Kazama's low voice, which sounded as desolate as walking in a wasteland.

After a brief silence, the girls stood up and applauded, the applause thunderous. Everyone was amazed at how wonderful Kazama Ruri's performance was. The performance was undoubtedly a huge success, and countless ribbons were thrown from the audience onto the stage.

Ruri Kazama bowed to the guests, the curtain fell, and the guests, still wanting more, let out soft sobs that echoed like the tide in the audience.

"Congratulations to you two for being tonight's lucky guests."

The waiter handed Lu Mingfei a white envelope. "Master Kazama Ruri invites you two to visit backstage and would like to ask you to help him come up with a suitable title for the play."

Lu Mingfei raised an eyebrow, showing no interest in the invitation.

"Master Kazama Ruri has prepared a thank-you gift for the guests."

The waiter could tell that the two were not very interested, but he had come prepared and pulled out an exquisite wooden mustard seed doll from behind his back.

Erii's eyes lit up immediately, but instead of taking the doll directly, she looked up at Lu Mingfei. If Lu Mingfei said he didn't want to go, she would turn around and leave without hesitation, no matter how much she liked the doll.

"Lead the way."

Lu Mingfei took the Mokusake doll and handed it to Erii. The girl's eyes lit up with joy, and she immediately took out a marker from her purse and wrote "Erii & Lu Mingfei's Mokusake" on the bottom.

The winding corridor led them deep into the backstage area. A waiter led them to the door at the end, behind which was a bright and spacious Japanese-style house. Kazama Ruri was removing her makeup in front of the mirror when she heard the door open. She stood up and bowed to the two of them.

Please forgive my intrusion in inviting you two guests.

Kazama Ruri raised her head, her gaze lingering on Erii for a moment before turning to Lu Mingfei:

"Actually, I was paying attention to the expressions of the guests when I was on stage. Because it was my first time performing on stage, I was worried that I would not perform well and disappoint the guests. When I was on stage, I saw that two guests seemed to be dissatisfied with my performance tonight, so I could only invite them backstage to talk in detail. I hope that the guests can point out my shortcomings and give me a chance to improve."

After he finished speaking, he bowed again.

"I just don't really like this kind of traditional art."

Lu Mingfei frowned. "Your real guests shouldn't have left yet. If you want to hear other people's opinions, it's not too late to invite them now."

"I see. But there's no need to invite other guests. I'm already honored that you two have accepted my invitation."

Kazama Ruri smiled slightly, "Please wait a moment while I remove my makeup before chatting with you two."

Kazama Ruri instructed someone to bring over two chairs, along with hot tea and delicate refreshments, before sitting down again to continue removing her makeup.

Lu Mingfei scrutinized the face in the mirror; the person in the mirror was somewhere between a pale-faced young man and a sorrowful, beautiful woman.

"You still don't know the guest's name?"

Kazama Ruri noticed Lu Mingfei's scrutiny through the mirror, smiled gently, and met the sharp eyes in the mirror.

Lu Mingfei remained silent for a long time, then smiled slightly:

"My name is Yuan Zhisheng."

Kazama Ruri's smile froze on her face, her hand holding the hairpin paused, and the next moment the iron hairpin broke in response, shattering into countless fragments.