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

After everyone confirmed that their instruments and physical condition were ready, Xiaodeng picked up the microphone and briefly introduced their band name and the song they were going to play: "We are the Mygo band, please enjoy 'Starry Night's Call'."

The song begins with Lixi's drumming; her drumsticks trace an arc in the air before landing precisely on the drumhead, producing a powerful rhythmic sound. Yue's keyboard playing follows immediately, her fingertips dancing across the keys, creating a beautiful and dynamic melody. Aine, Lena, and Suze simultaneously stroke the strings with their picks, while guitar and bass join in, creating a powerful musical impact.

Xiaodeng stood in the center of the stage, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then sang the first line of the lyrics in a clear and powerful voice: "交差点の真ん中急ぐ人に纷れて [In the middle of the crossroads, I blend into the hurried crowd]".

As the music progressed, the stage lights began to change, with bright beams intertwining like stars in the night sky.

Xiao Deng's singing gradually rose in pitch, and her emotions became increasingly intense: "The Song of the Lost Star"

The guitar sounds of Ai Yin and Le Nai, along with Xiao Deng's singing, created a powerful musical impact.

Su Shi's bass steadily supported the rhythm of the entire music, bringing a profound power to everyone.

The sound of the keyboard shone through the gaps in the music, bringing a refreshing touch.

The members of the Thorn Gang had already changed their clothes and were standing in the audience. Momoka looked at the little lamp singing on the stage and said, "Not bad~"

"Seriously, Momoka-nee, whose side are you on? They're going to split the votes with us," Nina complained after hearing Momoka's words.

"Alright~ Even though we're competitors, we still need to face the issues that need to be addressed." Momoka said, ruffling Nina's hair next to her.

“However… they really could be a strong competitor to us,” RUPA said with his usual smile.

"Our goal is the Budokan; all the top 32 bands are our rivals," Ash added.

"Zhen え kun に PU も い る shout ぶ よ [You are trembling and I am singing and shouting beside you]"

As the sound faded, thunderous applause and cheers erupted from the audience, who stood up to applaud and cheer for Mygo's wonderful performance.

Climax Stage: After the Twelfth Performance

Mygo's performance came to a successful close, and the audience's reaction was no less enthusiastic than that of the thornless and thornless performers. In fact, riding on the coattails of the other's performance, the cheers from the audience were even more enthusiastic.

"Our performance was another great success!" Chihaya Aine exclaimed eagerly as soon as she returned backstage, her face beaming with excitement and satisfaction.

"Of course, Akari's singing is the best!" Shiina Riki praised Akari without hesitation, her face beaming with a smile and her eyes filled with the pride of a mother seeing her child succeed.

"Eh~ How does it compare to Afterglow?" asked the question that made Riki a little embarrassed.

As soon as she finished speaking, a hint of embarrassment appeared on Li hope's face.

"It's so noisy!" Li hope retorted, her face flushed. Her voice carried a hint of embarrassment and annoyance, clearly indicating she didn't want to face this awkward question.

"Um... Xiao Ai (Ano-chan), Riki, please stop arguing." Takamatsu Akari tried to mediate between the two, her voice gentle and delicate, attempting to resolve their quarrel.

But in Lixi's eyes, this was undoubtedly a torpedo already aimed at her.

"Ano-chan?" Shiina Riki suddenly turned her head to look at Kodama, her eyes filled with disbelief, clearly very surprised by the name.

"Hehe~ This is the nickname Tomorin gave me~" The pink-haired girl was still dancing on Lixi's sore spots, her smile carrying a hint of smugness, as if she was showing off her special treatment.

"And what about me?" Lixi pointed to herself and asked Xiaodeng in a trembling voice. Her eyes were full of anticipation and nervousness, clearly showing how much she cared about the nickname Xiaodeng used for her.

After thinking for a moment, Xiaodeng looked up and said, "Taki-chan."

"Huh?!" Shiina Tatsuki was hit by a torpedo from Takamatsu Penguin.

"It's Rikki!" Aine exclaimed, trying to alleviate the plight of the Shiina Riki, but judging from Riki's lifeless expression, the Shiina Riki had probably already been sunk.

"Ugh... I'm tired." Kaoru leaned weakly against Yue. The performance had clearly taken a toll on her energy, and the running she had done before the show had exhausted even the "stray cat's" stamina.

Yue smiled helplessly, gently helped Le Nai, and led her to a place to sit down.

"Our vote count should be pretty high, right?" Su Shi walked past the noisy Ai Yin and Li hope to Yue's side, asking with a hint of concern and expectation.

While casually running her fingers through Rakuna's slightly messy hair from the performance, Yue pondered, "The voting can only begin after this joint performance ends, but... we should be able to get a decent number of votes."

Lena sat in the chair, her eyes closed, a satisfied expression on her face. She leaned slightly towards Yue, enjoying his combing. Yue's fingers gently ran through Lena's hair, tenderly tidying up the messy strands.

Su Shi sat down next to Yue, looking down at Le Nai, who had a comfortable expression on her face, a hint of emotion flashing in her eyes: "The atmosphere here is really nice... it's like..."

Su Shi didn't finish her sentence, but Yue understood what she meant. She smiled slightly and said, "Is Su Shi missing Crychic again?"

Su Shi frowned: "That Ai Yin guy..."

“There’s nothing wrong with reminiscing about the past,” Yue said gently, continuing to comb Rakuna’s hair while her mind drifted to the final Revue scene, where Momoko Kurosawa stabbed her with her sword.

"There's something I can never forget," Yue said softly, her voice tinged with bitterness.

Su Shi turned to look at Yue, about to ask her a question, when she was interrupted by Ai Yin's voice: "Yue, Su Shi, Le Nai-chan, Li Xi is planning to go to the concert hall to listen to the remaining bands' performances. Do you want to come along?"

Yue nodded and said to Su Shi, "Okay, we'll be right there." She looked at Su Shi, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated, and stopped stroking Le Nai. She said gently, "I probably will never forget everyone in Mygo."

Upon hearing this, Su Shi showed a relieved expression: "Me too... Whether it's Crychic or Mygo, I probably can't forget them either."

Yue laughed and joked, "If it stays in your memory forever, it can be considered a lifetime."

Su Shi chuckled softly and nodded: "Yes, for a lifetime."

Just then, without Yue's caresses, Lena groggily woke up. She opened her eyes slightly and looked blankly at Yue and Suze, who were smiling at her: "Hmm?"

----------------

As the performance ended, the last band on stage was packing up their instruments and leaving, while the audience below continued to enthusiastically discuss the entire performance, showing no sign of leaving.

"Everyone is so strong..." After listening to the entire performance, Ai Yin looked worried. Her brows furrowed slightly, and a hint of anxiety and unease flashed in her eyes.

Led by the bands No Thorn, Thorn and Mygo, the atmosphere in the entire performance hall was ignited. The bands behind them seemed to be influenced by them as well, all giving 1000% of their strength. The atmosphere never cooled down throughout the entire performance, and the cheers from the audience rose and fell, as if they were going to lift the ceiling of the entire Live House.

In the end, the only ones who got hurt were the first band to go on stage, an unknown band. Yue silently mourned for them for a while.

Yoro's eyes lit up, all traces of sleepiness gone. She looked at the stage with great enthusiasm and exclaimed excitedly, "The live performance was amazing!"

Yue stood beside them, her gaze following Lena as she looked at the band on stage, and nodded gently: "Everyone of you really shines."

Lixi, meanwhile, was intently watching the voting interface. Voting was valid for one hour after the performance ended; after that, voting was no longer possible. Her eyes were glued to her phone screen, her fingers swiping rapidly as she anxiously awaited the updated results.

"Ah! I've got it!" Li hope suddenly exclaimed, her voice filled with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

"Let me see, let me see!" Ai Yin squeezed through the crowd to Li hope's side, eagerly looking at the other person's phone.

Yue also came over, a hint of anticipation and unease flashing in her eyes, while Su Shi and Xiao Deng stood aside, holding their breath and waiting for the result.

Lixi tapped the voting results page lightly, displaying the vote counts for each band. Her eyes quickly scanned the names, finally settling on "Mygo".

Ring's performance hall has a capacity of 500 people, and today is the first day of the competition. Everyone is very enthusiastic, and all the performance tickets are sold out, so today's ticket pool is 500.

“We…” Lixi’s voice trembled slightly. After confirming several times, she announced Mygo’s ranking, “We have 168 votes, second place in this performance!”

Climax Stage: Chapter Thirteen - The Chicken and Rabbit Problem (laughs)

"Really?" Yue's eyes widened. She hadn't expected the bands that followed to perform so well, and she hadn't thought they would get three digits of votes. The final result was much better than she had anticipated.

"Who came in first place?" Ai Yin looked at the voting results page on Li Xi's phone with a puzzled expression. The first place was clearly written as the Thornless Band... 170 votes.

"As expected..." Su Shi wasn't particularly surprised to hear the name of the first place winner.

As the rhythm initiators of the entire performance, coupled with them giving up half of their performance time and the lead singer's groundbreaking speech full of rock spirit, it is not surprising that they won first place.

Yue looked at Su Shi and nodded: "Their performance was indeed excellent, and they deserved to win first place."

Li hope nodded, a hint of admiration in her eyes: "The lead singer, who is both thornless and thorny, is indeed very charming, and their performance was excellent."

"Although we didn't get first place, second place is still pretty good," Ai Yin said with a smile, her face full of pride and satisfaction.

Lena was more concerned about the performance: "When is the next live show?"

"Rakuna-chan is still only focused on live performances, as always," Tsukiko thought.

“We made the reservation for three days from now,” explained Lixi, who is in charge of all the band’s affairs in mygo.

"It's so far back?" Su Shi asked.

“Well, after I booked the first day’s performance, I found that the next two or three days were already fully booked,” Li hope explained. “However, we have three consecutive days of performances after that. If all goes well, we should be able to reach the points cap for this week.”

"The maximum number of points?" Xiao Deng asked, puzzled.

Yue explained, "To prevent bands from frantically booking multiple shows at various live houses to earn more tickets, the Bangdream competition organizing committee has set a weekly ticket limit. The first week it was 1,000 tickets, and bands that reached the limit could have it increased to 2,000 tickets in the second week."

"This also gives a lot of opportunities to smaller bands. Well-known bands can easily reach their ticket ceiling in the first few weeks, and then they won't have to compete with other bands for tickets after that week. At the same time, it can also reduce the burden on various live houses."

"So that means we can get 832 tickets this week? If there are three more shows, that's about 284 tickets per show! That's impossible," Ai Yin calculated quickly.

"It's only 284 tickets. With Xiaodeng's singing, we can definitely reach that number quickly." Lixi looked at Aiyin, who was making a lot of noise there, with some displeasure.

—————Two flowers bloom, each representing a different branch———————

While mygo was putting on their first performance, Ms. Toyokawa Shoko's Galactic Battleship ave_mujica also officially set sail.

Shoko Toyokawa was still wearing her usual clothes, sitting in the car, preparing to head to the scheduled performance venue.

Although they had already received their first month's salary after signing the contract, the base salary of 100 million yen was undoubtedly a huge sum of money for her at that time.

Although I can't solve my father's problems, I can still improve my living conditions and buy myself a few more sets of clothes.

But she did not choose to do so. Before her reinstatement was completed, she could not relax or have any romantic feelings. She needed to use these to remind herself at all times.

Of course, improving one's meals appropriately and taking advantage of the free room and board provided by the company are not considered things that wear down one's will.

The only thing that bothered her was that her childhood sweetheart, Chu Hua, had been coming over every few days ever since she moved into the company-provided apartment and became his neighbor.

"Miss Toyokawa, we've arrived," the company driver said to Xiangzi, who was sitting in the car.

She shook her head, clearing her mind of all the jumbled thoughts, and said to the driver, "Thank you."

As Toyokawa Shoko entered the backstage area through the staff entrance, she greeted her manager, who was making final checks backstage.

"Greetings, Miss Sakura."

"You're here." Sakura Sakura, with a lollipop dangling from her mouth, casually pulled one out of her pocket when she saw Shoko. "Coffee flavored, want one?"

"No need," Xiangzi shook his head, declining the offer, and then asked, "Has everyone else arrived?"

“Apart from Chu Hua who is still on her way, everyone else is already backstage getting ready. Is there anything else you want to confirm?” Sakura Sakura said.

"No need, I trust your abilities, Sakura-senpai." Shoko shook her head and got up to go to the dressing room.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Inside the dressing room, Shoko only saw Wakaba Mutsu and Hachiman Kairin sitting obediently in their chairs putting on makeup, while Kurosawa Momoko and Yutenji Nyanmu, whom she was more concerned about, were nowhere to be seen.

"What about the other two?" she asked, frowning.

"Momoko was giving the final checks on the stage setup, and Nyanko seemed quite interested in those things, so she went along," said Hachiman Kairin, who was getting her makeup done.