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

"Pochi-chan, Pochi-chan." Hongxia gently shook Pochi's shoulder, her voice gentle, bringing her back to her senses.

"Ah... um... sorry..." Pochi, snapping out of her reverie, hid behind Niji once more, her cheeks slightly flushed and her eyes filled with a hint of panic.

“That’s how Pochi-chan is.” Nijika gave an apologetic smile, her eyes full of concern. “Everyone, please sit down inside Starry for a bit.”

Lixi and Yue nodded, followed Hongxia and Boqi down the stairs, pushed open the door with the 【Starry】 sign hanging on it, and entered. The bell on the door rang softly, making a crisp sound.

Starry's overall decor is a typical modern minimalist style, with black floors and walls forming the main color scheme, paired with metal elements commonly found in rock music, and the overall look isn't bad. The walls are covered with posters of various bands and concert records, creating a strong musical atmosphere.

Unlike Ring and Circle, which I've visited before, Starry seems more like Galaxy, only smaller. The performance area is almost completely visible. The stage isn't large, but it's exquisitely decorated, and the lighting equipment is professional enough to make the performance truly impactful.

Behind the bar, a woman resembling Nijigasaki (or similarly, a woman with long, straight black hair) was talking to another woman. Nijigasaki was wearing a black rock-style T-shirt and jeans, looking very capable. The woman with long, straight black hair wore a simple white dress, exuding elegance and a gentle smile.

Upon hearing the door open, "Da Hongxia" turned around, and after recognizing the person who entered, waved and greeted them: "Yo, Boqi, Hongxia, you're here so early? And who are these two?"

"Sister, these are Mygo's drummer, Shiina Tatsuki, and keyboardist, Hinasaki. They're also fans of our band and came to see our performance today," Nijika introduced the two to her older sister.

At the same time, she didn't forget to introduce Yue and Lixi: "This is my older sister - Ijichi Seika, the manager of this Live House, and that is PA-san, the sound engineer."

Yue and Lixi nodded slightly and greeted Xingge and PA-san.

Xingge looked Yue up and down, feeling that the other person seemed somewhat familiar, but after thinking about it carefully, she couldn't recall it and had to give up.

He then greeted the two of them, saying, "Oh, welcome, welcome!"

"I didn't expect you guys, Hongxia, to have fans of other bands already," Xingge teased Hongxia.

"What? You have fans?"

The door closed again, and what came into view was a handsome and beautiful girl with short hair, olive eyes, wearing a black shirt and pants, and a beauty mark at the corner of her eye.

If you ignore the ¥ symbol that popped into her eyes when she heard there were fans, Yue thought the other person must be a cool girl who was no less handsome than Li Xi.

But now, the comedic aura emanating from him is completely at odds with his handsome appearance, creating a stark contrast.

The other person's gaze instantly locked onto Yue and Lixi, two people they didn't recognize.

"Hello, I'm the bassist from the End Band. Would you like to learn about our band's merchandise?" The other person took out a few straps and showed them to Yue and Lixi.

"Unsigned version: 500 yen; signed version: 800 yen; signed version: 1800 yen. Which one would you like?"

"Is this... robbery?" Yue complained, looking at the cable ties in front of her.

But then she thought about it and realized she'd sold autographed boards before... so she didn't really have the right to say anything.

Hongxia immediately stepped forward to punish him, gently patting Liang's back: "Don't talk nonsense. We stopped having this kind of merchandise because we ended the band!"

"Sorry, sorry." Ryo looked dejected as she put away the straps, then stood up straight and adopted a docile posture.

Nijika formally introduced Yue and Riki: "This is our bassist, Yamada Ryo."

"They're really something else..." Yue said, forcing a smile as she watched the girls interact.

“This is pretty much the atmosphere like usually,” Hongxia said with a smile. “We all work very hard and enjoy playing around together.”

"Is there a problem, Yue?" Hongxia asked, somewhat puzzled, seeing Yue's thoughtful expression.

Yue thought about the difficult journey her band had gone through in the past month or two, sighed and said, "No... I was just thinking, I was right when I felt something was off on set."

Shiina Tatsuki nodded in full agreement.

"???" Several question marks appeared above Hongxia's head, not quite understanding Yue's meaning.

Just then, Starry's door was pushed open again, and the last member of the band finally arrived.

"Sorry I'm a little late."

"It's alright, Kita, the performance will take a while longer," Nijika said with a smile to the person who came.

"This is our guitarist and vocalist, Kita-chan!" Nijika introduced.

Kita's gaze swept over Riki and Yue, and when she saw Yue's face clearly, her eyes instantly lit up. As the epitome of a popular girl, she immediately recognized Yue's identity, stepped forward and grabbed her hand, excitedly saying, "You...you...you're Hinasaki Yue? The Hinasaki Yue from Sweet Pleats?"

"Huh?" Nijika, who wasn't very familiar with idols, clearly showed shock upon seeing Kita's reaction. "He's a celebrity?"

"Tsuki-chan is the most famous member of Sweat Pleats, Nijika, how could you not know her?" Kita earnestly recommended to Nijika.

Kita was still holding Tsuki's hand, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "I really liked your songs, Tsuki-san. I never thought I'd get to meet you in person today. I'm so happy!"

"That's all in the past." Yue scratched her head awkwardly. "Actually, I retired from the industry a long time ago. Now I just play in a band with my friends."

"I...I actually saw a celebrity on TV!" After hearing Kita's words, Pochi lay peacefully on the ground, and something white could be vaguely seen flying out of her mouth.

"Pochi-chan!!! Are you alright? Quickly put Pochi-chan back in!" After seeing Pochi-chan's condition, Kita and Nijika immediately ran to her side and tried to put her soul back into her body.

"Celebrities... they must be very rich... if I put a photo of myself with them on the band's homepage, I'd definitely make a lot of money." Yamada Ryo thought to himself as he looked at Tsuki.

"...Sweat Pleats isn't very well-known outside the industry, and they don't really overlap with girl bands... Sorry, Ms. Ryo, your wish might not come true." Tsuki thought to herself as she heard Ryo's abacus.

Climax Stage: Chapter Twenty-Three - The End of the Band's Performance

"Oh... so it's that person..." Reminded by Kita, Hoshika obviously remembered that she had seen the person on a TV program before.

She looked at the two of them and said, "Oh, right, even though they are celebrities and friends of Hongxia, you still need to remember to buy tickets if you want to watch the show."

"Of course." Yue smiled and nodded, then took out the ticket money for herself and Lixi from her bag and handed it to Xingge.

"Is there anything you'd like to drink?" Starry is still operating on the model of buying drinks to watch the show.

Originally, it wasn't actually planned to be included in the live house that Bang Dream's organizing committee could use, since it was actually a restaurant on the business license.

However, since the number of bands that signed up later exceeded expectations, these live houses were allowed to join.

After thinking for a while, Yue said, "Hmm... orange juice will do~ Lixi, you should have chocolate milkshake? I wonder if they have any here."

"Huh? Yue, how did you know?" Li hope was a little stunned when she heard Yue's words. She remembered that she had never drunk that drink when she was with the band members.

"Hmm...it's a secret," Yue said to Lixi in a rather cute way.

Actually, she was just guessing because the drink had a panda design that Lixi liked, so she tried to guess, and to her surprise, it turned out to be exactly as she thought.

"We don't have any homemade drinks, but would a boxed one be okay?" Ijichi Hoshika rummaged behind the bar and took out a boxed drink from under the counter. It had a panda pattern printed on it, which happened to be the kind of drink that Riki liked.

only……

Yue saw a hint of expectation flash in Li hope's eyes and knew that she really wanted it but was too shy to ask.

She smiled slightly, took her orange juice, and handed the milkshake to Lixi: "That's fine."

Lixi took the milkshake and whispered, "Thank you..."

"Alright, it's about time to go backstage and get ready." After giving Yuexi and the other girl their drinks, Xingge checked the time and said to the band members who had finished their performance.

Nijika, Pochi, Kita, and Ryo nodded in agreement and headed backstage.

----------

As the performance time drew closer, more and more bands and audience members gathered at the Live House Starry.

Fortunately, Li hope and Yue arrived early and found a relatively good spot near the front.

"Wow... hardcore fans?" Yue thought to herself as she noticed the two girls standing next to her wearing two cable ties on their wrists, and they were even autographed.

Seemingly noticing Yue's gaze, the two girls turned their heads and looked over, then paused in surprise upon seeing Yue's face.

Yue was slightly startled, thinking that the other party had recognized her identity and had already prepared her explanation.

However, to her surprise, the other party asked with a hint of doubt, "Are you two new fans?"

"Huh? Why would you ask that?" Li hope asked, somewhat puzzled, after hearing the other person's words.

"We know most of the band's fans, but we don't think we've seen you two before," the two explained with a smile.

Upon hearing the other person's words, Li hope could only sigh silently, "Is the band's cohesion really that strong?"

From her perspective, Starry is essentially to Ending the Band what Galaxy is to Popipa, and Dub is to Ras—it has become their home turf.

——————The girl goes on stage——————

As the first band to perform, the End Band was greeted with cheers from the audience as soon as they stepped onto the stage.

"Poke-chan!!"

"Kita-chan!!!"

"Hongxia's mom!!!"

"Senior Liang, please take my friend's allowance for this month!!!"

Hearing the shouts, Lixi stared wide-eyed in disbelief: "Did something strange get in there?" She turned to look at Yue, her face full of confusion.

Yue tried her best to maintain a smile, but her expression seemed somewhat forced: "I guess so..."

They stood in the audience, surrounded by excited crowds waving glow sticks and chanting the names of the band members. The scene was incredibly lively and breathtaking.

Lixi's gaze shifted from the stage to her surroundings, and she noticed that many audience members were wearing T-shirts with the End of the Band logo.

She couldn't help but think to herself, "These are truly passionate fans... Now I think I understand why they have such a strong dominance in the votes."

Just then, Kita, the lead singer of the End Band, stepped forward, picked up the microphone, and his clear voice resounded throughout the venue: "Hello everyone! We are the End Band!"

A burst of enthusiastic cheers immediately erupted from the audience: "Kita!! Love is hot!!!" The shouts almost lifted the ceiling, and Tsuki and Riki couldn't help but clap along.

"Thank you all for your support." Kita bowed slightly, a bright smile on her face. She waited a moment, until the applause from the audience gradually subsided, before continuing, "Thank you all for coming to Starry to support the Ending Band today. Remember to vote for us!"

After speaking, she smiled sweetly and made a heart shape with her hands towards the audience. That adorable gesture immediately drew even more enthusiastic cheers and screams from the crowd.

"Oh my god!!!! I'll definitely vote for the band's end!"

"Please listen to our first piece today! 'Guitar, Loneliness, and the Blue Planet.'"

As Hongxia's drumbeats served as a guide, the song's intro began, with powerful and rhythmic drumbeats striking the hearts of every audience member like a heartbeat.

Liang's bass playing followed closely behind, deep and powerful, perfectly matching the drums, as if laying a solid foundation for the song.

Then, the guitar melody joined in lightly, and Pochi's fingertips danced across the strings, playing a smooth and emotional melody.

Kita, who was playing the guitar, slowly began to sing along to the rhythm: "Suddenly falling evening rain makes me fed up with not having an umbrella."

……

Nijika's drumming maintained a steady rhythm throughout, providing solid support for the entire song. Pochi's guitar showcased her superb skills in the interlude, while Yamada Ryo's bass steadily carried the entire piece, completely different from her frivolous style.

"Lixi, how are you feeling?" Yue turned her head and asked.

"From a musical point of view, it's just average. The lead singer's guitar skills aren't even as good as Ai Yin's," Li hope commented very seriously.