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

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The plot of Xiang's father wasn't explained in too much detail, since it's coming out next year.

I think Bushido is about making dumplings.

They should be able to reconcile...

...Would...would it? (Doubtful)

For Cheung's father's ending, would you like something a bit melodramatic or a bit more traditional? (laughs)

Climax Stage: Chapter Seventeen - The Aftermath of the Performance

"My ranking is a bit low..." Yue lay on her sofa, holding up her phone and looking at yesterday's Bang Dream competition rankings, her brows furrowing slightly. Her fingers lightly swiped across the screen, a hint of helplessness flashing in her eyes.

She secretly compared herself to the winners of the first Bang Dream competition, Roselia, Ras, and Popipa, who were already tied for the top three with a score of one thousand votes.

Their strength and fame are clearly beyond Mygo's current reach, but she didn't expect there to be so many top performers on the first day, and their rankings have already fallen out of the top 100.

However, although she was anxious, there was nothing she could do. Their band's next performance was in three days, and even if she wanted to encourage everyone to perform, she couldn't find a venue.

"I should go practice on my own." Yue sat up from the sofa, preparing to go to the basement for some extra practice, but the message from Li Xi interrupted her.

"Moon, did you see yesterday's trending topics?" Shiina Tatsuki's panda avatar flashed on the screen.

"Trending topics? Is that band trending again?" Because of the recent Bang Dream competition, when Li hope asked her to check the trending topics, her first thought was that the band had made a big splash to garner votes.

"Let me see." Yue opened her social media platform, which she hadn't used in a long time, and searched for topics that Li hope might be talking about on the trending topics list.

"Former president attacked during speech?" This was the first trending topic I saw on the internet. "I don't think Li hope was referring to this..."

Yue had absolutely no interest in political content, so she continued scrolling down until she saw that familiar name at number ten: "Ave Mujica performance?"

She knew the name Ave Mujica; it was the band that Taozi and Xiangzi had formed. They had mentioned before that they would participate in the Bang Dream competition, and she had wondered if she would run into them.

"Was there a performance yesterday? Why didn't they even give me a ticket to go see it..." Yue complained as she clicked on a video trending on social media.

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When the video ended, Yue's expression wasn't particularly pleasant, mainly because the filming of this performance segment was too noisy, and it looked like it was secretly filmed by some audience member.

The video was shaky and the sound quality was very poor. Although she could feel the enthusiastic atmosphere of the scene, it was far from the pure musical enjoyment she wanted.

She had hoped to enjoy Ave Mujica's music, but all she heard were cheers from the audience.

Dolores sang beautifully in the video, but her voice was drowned out by the screams and shouts of the surrounding audience. As the music reached its climax, the audience's reaction became even more intense, the noise becoming so loud that the performance itself was almost inaudible.

"Honestly, this kind of voyeuristic filming is completely worthless... no wonder it was released," Yue complained.

However, she could roughly guess what Lixi wanted to tell her. Lixi knew quite a few people in the band that Toyokawa Shoko had formed. Apart from that Miaomeng who appeared out of nowhere, Lixi knew the other five members.

"Speaking of which... Ms. Sakura should have the official video source, right? I wonder if we could get it beforehand and take a look." Yue pondered silently.

Although it was just for my own viewing, the advantages of having connections became fully apparent at that moment.

"I've already seen the trending topic you mentioned, Lixi. Quite a few familiar faces are in it." Yue quickly typed this message and sent it.

Soon, Li hope's panda avatar started flashing again: "I'd better come over and talk to you in person. By the way, can I stay here for a few days?"

Yue raised an eyebrow and quickly replied, "Of course."

About half an hour later, the doorbell rang. Yue hurried over, opened the door, and saw Lixi standing there with a travel bag slung over her back. She was clearly prepared to stay for an extended period.

"You came so quickly," Yue said with a smile. "Come in."

Lixi walked in, put her travel bag at the door, and stretched her limbs a little: "The journey was pretty smooth, and I didn't encounter the same situation as Su Shi and the others where I missed my stop."

Yue glanced at Lixi's travel bag and smiled, "Looks like you're really prepared for a long battle."

“Of course,” Li hope said seriously, “we are facing a formidable enemy, and we cannot afford to be unprepared.”

"Xiangzi and the others?" Yue asked curiously.

Li hope shook his head, not explaining directly, but instead took a USB flash drive from his pocket and handed it to Yue: "Is there anywhere I can play this? This is a collection of band recordings with fewer performances that I've gathered in order of ranking."

Yue took the USB drive, looked at Lixi, her eyes filled with dissatisfaction and worry: "Lixi! You stayed up late again? How many times have I told you not to stay up so late? Your body won't be able to handle it."

She had expressed her dissatisfaction with Lixi's lack of care for his body many times, but now it seemed that he hadn't listened at all.

“I know, but our ranking is too low right now.” Li Xi looked a little too nervous. “If we want to go to the martial arts gym, we need to be in the top 32 at least, and right now the gap is too big.”

"Then you need to rest well. If your health deteriorates, you won't be able to stay with the Little Light Group band for the rest of your life."

Yue poured Lixi a glass of ice water and handed it to him, saying, "Drink some water and calm down a bit."

Lixi took the water glass and felt the cool touch on her palm, which calmed her anxious emotions a little.

She took a sip of ice water, feeling the cold water slide down her throat, bringing a refreshing coolness. Whether it was the effect of the ice water or Yue bringing up their agreement with Xiaodeng, Lixi was no longer as agitated as before.

"Have you calmed down?" Yue looked at Lixi, a hint of worry in her eyes.

“Yes.” Li hope nodded. “I was indeed a bit too hasty.”

Seeing that Lixi had calmed down, Yue didn't say anything more, but silently connected the USB drive to the TV.

While scolding Lixi for staying up all night, she also pondered why Lixi collected this information.

After all, music is highly subjective once you disregard pitch and sheet music. Analyzing esports videos can help you develop strategies, but what can you do by analyzing band performance videos? Do you analyze what chords the opponent used?

Since it wasn't from the band's perspective, Yue quickly came up with a word—musicality.

As mentioned before, many bands have a preference for live houses, and thus have a group of loyal audiences in those live houses. Even if they are not die-hard fans of the band, they will still have some preference for the music style.

The simplest example is that if you play a lyrical country song in a heavy metal-style live house, you're unlikely to get many votes.

If it were a well-known band, many fans would go to see it, but a band like mygo, which isn't very famous, obviously doesn't get that kind of treatment.

Stage Climax: The Roselia members finally appear in Chapter 18

"I'm exhausted..." Yue leaned back, letting the soft sofa catch her. She closed her eyes slightly, let out a long sigh, and tried to relieve her fatigue by feeling the softness and comfort of the sofa.

On the coffee table in front of them, several sheets of white paper were covered with dense writing and various symbols.

The band's name, song analysis, audience reaction, characteristics of the live house, and all other information were recorded in detail.

On the coffee table were a few empty pens, a few crumpled pieces of paper, and a few half-empty bottles of mineral water. A stack of newly bought sticky notes next to it had also been used up and turned into various annotations pasted into notebooks.

Lixi sat on the other side of the sofa, staring at the notebook in his hand with a furrowed brow and a focused expression.

"Now I have good news and bad news," Li hope said, his voice clearly showing fatigue.

"Let me tell you the bad news first." Yue opened her eyes and looked at Lixi beside her.

“We just dropped about twenty places again.” Li hope looked at the rankings on her phone, a hint of helplessness in her voice. She handed the phone to Yue, which displayed the latest band rankings.

This was actually still within Yue's acceptable range, and she immediately asked, "Then what's the good news?"

“The bands performing in our next three shows this week aren’t very strong, and their music style is similar to ours, leaning towards Japanese rock. The things we’re worried about are unlikely to happen.” She pointed to a page in her notebook, which detailed the bands she would be performing with.

Yue glanced at the notebook in Li hope's hand: "So, we still have a chance?"

Li hope nodded: "Yes, as long as we perform at our best, plus some publicity and audience support, we should be able to get around 300 votes as planned."

“Publicity…” Yue repeated the word softly, pondering how to maximize the use of existing resources.

Although she has been out of the entertainment industry for two or three years, she still has many fans and followers. If she were to announce that she is forming a band, it might attract some fans to come and support her.

A strange sound rang out in the room. Yue frowned subconsciously, and after confirming that the sound was not made by herself, the answer became obvious.

She looked at Shiina Riki, whose face was flushed with embarrassment. Riki's cheeks quickly turned red, and she avoided eye contact with Yue.

"Hungry?" Yue asked with a smile, her voice tinged with a hint of teasing.

If it were anyone else, Lixi would definitely refute her fiercely now, but she is unusually frank with Xiaoyue.

She blushed and nodded without saying a word, but judging from the steam rising from her head... it shouldn't be the air conditioner at Yue's house that's broken.

“It’s getting late, let’s go out for dinner,” Yue said to Lixi as she sat up from the sofa.

Normally, she would choose to go to the kitchen to cook for Lixi as a host, but she was just too tired, so it was better to eat out.

"Hmm..." Li hope agreed verbally, but a complex emotion welled up inside her. She realized that it seemed like it had been a long time since she had eaten with Yue. The last time they ate alone together felt like ages ago.

Yue smiled slightly as she looked at Li hope's thoughtful expression. "What are you thinking about? Let's go, let's fill our stomachs first."

Lixi nodded, the blush on her face gradually fading, but a faint sense of anticipation and warmth remained in her heart.

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"I didn't expect you to choose a place like this, Yue?" Li hope and Yue walked into W's. Li hope looked around and saw the fast food restaurant filled with the aroma of fried food, and showed a surprised expression.

Li hope originally thought that Yue, as a former idol, would be very strict about her figure and wouldn't eat much fried food.

Yue glared at Lixi and complained, "What kind of prejudice is this? I've already gone to eat barbecue with you guys two or three times before. Besides, I'm not an idol anymore. Can't I eat some fried food that I like?"

"Besides... isn't there another idol over there?" Yue pointed to two blue-haired girls queuing up not far away.

"Hikari-senpai?!" Riki exclaimed as she followed Yue's hand and saw the two girls.

As a student who had attended both Haneoka and Hanajo, Shiina Tatsuki was quite familiar with the two girls in front of her.

One of them is Hina Hikawa, the former student council president of Haneoka and also the idol guitarist of Pastel*Palettes.

The other is Hikawa Saya, the former disciplinary committee member of Hanasakigawa Girls' Middle School and the guitarist of Roselia.

"Ok?"

"Hmm?" It seemed that Li hope's voice was a bit too loud, disturbing Bingchuan Shaye, who was purchasing strategic materials for the Bingchuan family.

The other person looked over at the sound and found Yue and Lixi queuing in another line.

Saya frowned slightly and nodded to them as a greeting.

"Is that Riki and Yuki? You're here to eat too?" Hina spotted them and waved excitedly, completely unaffected by her sister's presence.

“Yes, I’ve heard from some other band friends that the fries here are pretty good,” Yue replied with a smile.

The mere mention of French fries seems to flip a switch in the Iceberg family.

Hikawa Hina's eyes lit up, and she exclaimed excitedly, "The fries here! They're super~~~ sizzling!"

"It seems that Nichi-chan has a special fondness for the fries here," Tsuki said with a smile.

Hikawa Saya sighed softly: "Yes, she always makes a point of buying it every time."