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

—————Girls in training———————

"That's enough for today," Shiina Tatsuki announced, concluding today's practice.

Upon hearing Li Xi's words, Ai Yin collapsed onto the sofa: "Ugh! I'm so tired..." Her voice was tinged with exhaustion, clearly indicating that the practice had drained her energy.

"Because tomorrow is the start of the preliminary rounds, and we're about to hold our first performance."

Yue took out several bottles of water and handed them out to everyone. As soon as Ai Yin received the water, she immediately unscrewed the cap and drank it in big gulps.

"We've only practiced for a little over an hour, less than two hours. We're going to be doing several live shows in a row after this." Li Xi took the bottle of mineral water from Yue's hand, unscrewed the cap, and immediately took a few sips. Water droplets dripped down the bottle neck onto her chin, looking particularly tempting.

“But we have to be in top form for tomorrow’s preliminary round!” Ai Yin looked up at Li Xi after finishing her water. “If we keep practicing like this, I’m starting to doubt whether I’ll be able to get out of bed tomorrow.”

“The stray cat’s performance schedule is much bigger than yours, and she’s in much better shape than you,” Li hope said, looking at Yao Le Nai, who was covered in sweat but full of energy.

"Live! I can't wait!" Lenai was completely unfazed, her face beaming with anticipation and excitement.

Aine glanced at Ronai, then at Riki, and at Yue, who showed absolutely no sign of anything amiss, and couldn't help but smile wryly: "You guys are really... each one more energetic than the last."

"Some people seem to need to work out more," Su Shi said, looking at Aine sprawled on the sofa with a hint of teasing in her voice.

“Xiao Ai… is already very strong.” Xiao Deng sat to the side, eating the throat lozenges Yue had given her, and softly defended Ai Yin.

Hearing Tomorin's support, Aine smiled and looked up at Lixi, saying, "See? Tomorin says I'm already very strong."

“Tomorin?” Lixi raised an eyebrow when he heard Aiyin’s nickname for Xiaodeng.

Climax Stage: Chapter 8 - An Unexpected Incident Before the Performance

The atmosphere at Live House Ring was completely different from usual. Although it was usually lively, it was nothing compared to the sea of ​​people in front of us now.

The hall was packed with all sorts of young female band members, dressed in various performance costumes, making it feel like a grand music carnival.

There were also many people carrying various promotional materials and CDs, enthusiastically promoting their music to passersby. It seemed they intended to use CDs and videos to promote their bands and garner votes.

Although they were prepared for a large crowd to gather here on the first day of the competition, they were still somewhat shocked when they actually saw the scene in front of them. Even though Ring is considered one of the larger live houses in the vicinity, it felt like it was packed with people.

"Wow, so many people?" Yue stood at the door, looking at the packed Ring, and truly felt the real value of this "era of big female bands".

The once spacious hall was now packed with people, and the band members moved around in the cramped space, greeting and encouraging each other.

"Xiaoyue...is here!"

Looking in the direction of the sound, Yue could barely make out Ai Yin waving and greeting her from the second-floor railing through the crowd.

She clutched her instrument tightly and carefully pushed her way forward. In the crowd, the edges of various instruments would occasionally brush against her body, forcing her to dodge them cautiously.

After a difficult trek, Yue finally arrived at the second floor. Even with her stage presence and idol stamina, she felt extremely exhausted. Panting, she asked, "Are all these people here for the performance on the first day?"

Just then, Li hope, dressed in work clothes, walked over and explained to Yue, "Actually, most of them are audience members. Not many bands signed up to participate, but quite a few are here to promote their work and scout out the 'enemy's situation'."

"Reconnoitering the enemy's situation?" Yue looked down and saw that many of the people below had brought musical instruments, and a few question marks appeared on her head.

Lixi followed Yue's gaze and understood perfectly what Yue meant: "Because many of them have performed in other places before coming here. Or they plan to watch the show here and then go to other live houses to perform."

Yue looked thoughtfully at the bustling crowd downstairs, feeling a sense of pressure.

"Are you already this nervous on the first day?" Yue couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. Compared to these bands, they felt like they hadn't done anything at all.

“Doing more of this kind of thing won’t make much of a difference.” Li hope shook his head. “These small details can be caught up when the strength of the two sides is not much different, like Popipa and Ras.”

Yue nodded. She understood that the final decision on victory or defeat was based on skill and musicality, but looking at these busy girls in front of her, she still felt the pressure.

“But it seems that apart from having original songs, we’re not much better than them, are we?” Yue pondered. Their band didn’t have the top-tier musical talent of Roselia and Ras, and they couldn’t compare to other well-known bands like Afterglow and Poppin’Party in terms of fame. They also couldn’t compare to Pastel*Palettes in terms of resources.

“Um…” Lixi also realized this fact. Although she felt that Xiaodeng’s singing was no worse than Yuxina’s or any other band’s lead singer, the objective difference still had to be acknowledged.

"So this kind of publicity is still very necessary..." Yue sighed and concluded.

“Hey! Let’s start filming a promotional PV for the band after the show! We can put it on our official band account.” Chihaya Aine volunteered, but was met with puzzled looks from Tsuki and Riki.

"Aiyin...when did our band get an official account?" Yue asked in confusion.

"I just created it! Look!" Ai Yin excitedly took out her phone and showed the two the band's newly created official account.

Yue and Lixi took a closer look and discovered that the account was named "MYGO," with the bio reading "A newly formed band, we will keep moving forward even if we are confused." The page was empty, but it already had a few followers.

"If we shoot a PV, everyone's cuteness will definitely attract a lot of fans," Aine said with a smile, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

The pink-haired girl was secretly thinking, "If MYGO becomes famous, I, as the guitarist, will definitely become famous too." She hoped that this newly created account would be their first step towards success.

As a former idol, Yue knew all too well how murky these accounts were, and that the ones she was following were probably some kind of automated bots. However, she didn't want to explain the situation directly to Aine, as that would be too discouraging for her.

"I feel... it will succeed." Yue's face showed an expression that said, "Isn't this good enough?"

"Then it's up to you." Shiina Ritsuki didn't say anything to refuse when she saw that Tsuki said so. Since Aine wanted to do it and it wouldn't do any harm to the band, she was willing to cooperate.

"Rikki actually agreed like that?" Chihaya Aine seemed a little surprised.

"What? Are you happier if I reject you?" Li hope raised an eyebrow and said irritably.

"No, no!" Ai Yin quickly waved her hand, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face.

"Let's discuss our PV shoot together after today's performance."

Yue glanced down at her phone and realized that there wasn't much time left before the performance started.

She frowned, looked around, and finally asked, "Speaking of which, isn't it time for our agreed meeting? Where are Xiaodeng, Su Shi, and Le Nai? Why haven't I seen them yet?"

Lixi glanced at the crowd below but did not find any trace of the three of them.

"I hope nothing's happened to them?" Ai Yin asked worriedly. Logically speaking, they shouldn't be the ones who are late.

"Why don't we call and ask?" Yue said, taking out her phone to call Su Shi.

"Su Shi? Where are you?" Yue asked anxiously.

Su Shi's slightly helpless voice came from the other end of the phone: "Yue, we've run into a little trouble..."

"What?" Yue frowned.

“The subway was so crowded that we could barely stand. When we got off, my bass guitar was knocked off the train.” Su Shi’s voice sounded tired. “We just got it back through the subway company and are on the train back now. Xiao Deng and Le Nai are with me.”

"How long will it take you to get there?" Yue asked.

"About ten minutes more," Su Shi said.

After hanging up the phone, Yue turned to Lixi and Aiyin and said, "They missed their stop and are on their way back. It will take them about ten minutes to get there."

She asked Lixi, "Lixi, what is our performance order?"

“The third one…” Li hope replied, frowning.

Stage Climax: Chapter Nine - Thornless and Thornless Reappear

"The third one?" Yue frowned. The joint performance allotted each band ten minutes, but that was only a theoretical time standard.

In practice, some bands only have one song, so their actual performance time is only about five or six minutes. If the two bands before them only performed one song, their time was still a bit too rushed.

Yue quickly came up with a feasible solution. She turned to Lixi and said, "Could you look up the names and members of the first two bands? I think we need to discuss this with them."

This is where the advantages of having an insider become fully apparent.

Although the performance order is announced to the public, if you haven't met the other party in person, you have no idea who the other band members are. You can't just go from one dressing room to another and ask them.

Lixi quickly pulled up the registered band information. The first band to perform on stage was basically out of the question; they were probably already backstage preparing to go on stage, and Lixi didn't have time to contact them.

So Yue looked directly at the second band that came on stage.

When I saw the name of the second band to perform that month, I couldn't help but complain, "No Thorns, Thorns? What a weird name..."

"Ah! Which band is it?!" Ai Yin exclaimed, covering her mouth in surprise. She then leaned over to take a look, a hint of surprise and excitement flashing in her eyes.

Seeing this, Li hope raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "You know him?"

“Lixi, have you forgotten? We saw their performance together at Ring last time, the lead singer of that band who publicly announced on stage that he had ‘dropped out of school’,” Aiyin said.

"Ah...which band is it..." Reminded by Ai Yin, Li hope quickly remembered which band it was.

Yue frowned, feeling as if she had just heard some particularly rock-and-roll words from Ai Yin.

"Dropped out of school?" Yue asked doubtfully, her brows furrowing slightly.

Ai Yin nodded and explained, "Yes, last time we watched a show at Ring, their lead singer announced in front of everyone after the show that he was going to drop out of school and devote himself to the band. It was really a very rock and roll thing to do."

Yue said thoughtfully, "Since you two, Aine and Riki, have seen their performances, it will be easier for us to find them."

————————————————————

Backstage at Ring, all the bands were making their final preparations for the upcoming show. Some band members were tuning their instruments, some were discussing the last details with their teammates, and some were warming up before the performance.

The backstage area was filled with a busy and tense atmosphere, making Aine, Tsukiko, and Riki's constant looking around seem out of place. They weaved through the crowd, trying to find the members of the "Needleless Yet Thorn" band.

"No thorns, but thorns... No thorns, but thorns... Ah, found them!" Ai Yin kept muttering to herself as she walked, and finally found the five people at the backstage entrance.

The five members of the Thorn Group were making final arrangements for their performance. An and Subaru happened to see Chihaya Aine walking towards them. An smiled slightly and teased, "Hey, Nina-chan, that pink-haired girl over there looks like a fan of ours~"

Upon hearing this, Nina turned around and happened to see the three people walking over, a hint of curiosity flashing in her eyes.

Seeing this, Yue quickly stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, are you the Thornless and Thornless Band?"

"Yes... Is there anything I can help you with?" Nina asked, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

However, she was thinking to herself, "Could they really be my fans? What should I do...? What should I say? Where should I sign if they ask me for an autograph?"

Yue explained, "We are the third band to perform today, and we would like to discuss with you whether we can extend the performance time as much as possible."

After hearing what Yue said, Nina's face briefly showed a look of disappointment.

Upon hearing this, Anhe Mao and Ling Mengba (Part 5) winked mischievously: "Oh? Do you want us to perform a few more songs?"

Ai Yin immediately chimed in, "Yes! Because some of our members are still on their way, it would be great if we could buy some more time."

Li hope added, "I've already spoken with the person in charge here, and we can give you half of the time we booked for our band."

"Oh my~ Momoka, what do you think?" Rupa, the bassist with thorns and no thorns, looked at the core of the team.

When asked, Momoka said, "The more songs I can play, the greater the chance of getting more votes, which I would love to do."

"Thank you so much for your understanding and help!" Yue said quickly.

Tao Xiang nodded in understanding: "It's okay, we also hope to showcase ourselves through more performances."

An and Subaru looked at the three of them and said jokingly, "Then you guys better do your best, otherwise we'll get even more votes."