Why play in a band if you don't form one for life?

"Okay..." Lisa spread the ketchup aggrievedly.

"It is true that growth gained through hard work is more respectable," Shizi said, "but the improvement gained through tricks can also provide guidance for subsequent practice, right?"

"Indeed." Hong Xia swallowed the food in her mouth, "After that song, the way I play drums is completely different from before."

In the following discussion, Shizi kept talking, as if she was still immersed in the joy of being successful. Kita looked at her like this, and felt a little heavy in his heart.

Shiko's behavior, tone, movements, and attitude were all normal. However, Kita always felt that there was something wrong. It was as if there was a chaotic undercurrent lurking beneath the calm sea.

Moreover, she still remembered the emotion she felt when she first refined [Undertaking]. At that time, she felt that she was only one step away from completely losing control. How could she feel nothing when Shizi just refined her own [Love Separation]?

She nudged Shizi with her elbow under the table. Shizi turned her head and Kita leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Are you really okay?"

Shizi's eyes flickered slightly. She also leaned over to Kita's ear and said, "I'm much better now, thanks to everyone."

Kita sighed and continued biting her ear: "It's okay even if you show your true self."

"Well, unfortunately, I still don't know what my true self is." Shizi said with pride. At first, she just wanted to get along with Ichiri, but gradually it became her hobby. Now, she is a little confused about the concept of "true self". Which one is the real me? Is it the self who is almost as socially anxious as Ichiri when she first met him? Or the self who tried every means to get Kita to join the band? Or the self who gradually became more active after the second time travel?

Shiko's thoughts slowly wandered to this question. Suddenly, she looked past Kita and saw Ichiri, who was looking at the two people clinging to each other with a silly smile on his face.

"What a great relationship..." Ichiri said.

"It's very good." "No!" The two people had completely opposite reactions.

Sayo looked at the empty plate in front of her. She had finished her fries. She glanced at Shizi. Food like fries was simple, so she originally wanted Shizi to just give them a bunch. But the atmosphere over there seemed to be just right, so she shouldn't disturb them.

"Come on, Sayo, there are more over there." A new plate of fries was placed in front of Sayo. Sayo looked up and saw that it was Lisa. She had just stood up to pour a drink and saw Sayo's embarrassment, so she filled a plate with it. For the food that everyone liked, the dining car had already prepared it.

"Thank you." Sayo blushed slightly.

After dinner, Sayo returned to the accommodation area with the others, carrying the oil lamp used in the live show. She said goodbye to everyone and returned to her room away from the hustle and bustle. She opened the door and found the simple room empty. Of course. But Sayo still felt a little lonely. She glanced at the neatly folded quilt. It was still early to go to bed. She put the oil lamp back on the table. There were two piles of stationery on the left and right corners of the table. The pile on the left was smaller, as it was planned to be written to another Shizi, and would be handed over to Shizi for safekeeping on a regular basis. As for the pile on the right -

Saya randomly pulled out a piece of letter paper from the pile on the right. This one was written to Hinata. She didn't know if she could bring these letters with her when she returned to reality, but even if there was only a slight possibility, she still needed to record everything during her trip in this way.

"This way, my sister and I will never be apart!"

"(If it was Hinata, she would definitely say that.)" Saya thought bitterly. She could only imagine Hinata's words and deeds to comfort her growing longing. If we don't count the dreamlike experience that night, how long has it been since she and Hinata separated? Saya didn't want to count.

"(Forget it, don't think about this. Let's finish today's part quickly.)" Saya thought, but she didn't take out new letter paper from the drawer, but opened the letter in her hand. She wanted to read the previous letter again before writing a new one.

However, when she saw the first line, her expression changed to shock.

Chapter 15 If you don't improve the level, the style will turn into pico

Saya reread the first line of the letter:

To Mr. Wu

"(Is this letter... for Wu? What about for Hina?)" Sayo flipped through the pile of letters. Two minutes later, she looked gloomy and stared at the letter in front of her for a long time.

"(It seems that the letters were mixed up at some point. The one for Hinata was given to Wu, while the one for Wu is still here.)"

"(Damn it, why did I make such a stupid mistake...)" Sayo pressed her forehead "(Have I been too idle recently? It seems that I need to increase the intensity of my daily training. Both in music and combat.)"

Saya picked up the messed up letter on the table, picked up the oil lamp and walked to the door. She had to quickly replace the letter. According to Saya's memory, it was still early for Shizi to go to bed.

“(If it was Minato who did this...it seems quite normal?)” Such thoughts popped up in my mind uncontrollably.

Saya put the folded letter into her trouser pocket and knocked on Shizi's door with her free hand. There were hurried footsteps from inside, the door opened, and Shizi's face appeared behind the door.

"Saya? What's wrong?" She moved aside to let Saya in. She hadn't changed into her pajamas, so it wasn't time to go to bed yet.

"It's just..." Sayo's cheeks turned red, and she didn't go in, but stood there and explained what happened.

"This feels like something Yuki would do..." Saya was sure she heard Shiko muttering to herself. She pretended not to hear.

Shiko went back to get the letter with a "tap tap" sound. Saya was waiting at the door. There were footsteps again from the corner. Saya looked in the direction of the sound and saw Yukina, who was holding an oil lamp like her. Yukina's other hand also held a piece of letter paper.

"Minato-san is...?"

"I accidentally mixed up the letter to my family with the letter to another classmate Wu." Youxina's expression did not change.

"..."

After exchanging the letters, the two went back to their rooms while Shizi was trying to hold back his laughter.

"It seems that we all need to increase the intensity of our training." Saya said.

"Right," Yukina agreed, "Speaking of practice, I remember that we've been slacking off on our combat training these past few days."

Most of the threats encountered by the airship can be completely resisted by the [Daniel Smart Shield], and they don't have to fight. The needs of combat training were also taken into consideration when designing the interior of the airship, but considering the durability of the enchanted materials, it was eventually abandoned.

"Want to land and practice?" Saya asked.

"That's not necessary. Airships land and take off more slowly than hot air balloons. If we repeat the same process all the time, there's no need to build airships."

"What you gain you lose." Saya sighed.

There was a sound of hurried running behind them. The two turned around and saw Shizi running over with a torch. She didn't even have the luminous jade slip she used.

Shizi stopped behind the two of them. She took a brief breath and told them the information she had just discovered: "The map is responding!"

Everyone gathered at the bar urgently. Everyone gathered around the round table, waiting for Shizi's report.

Shizi pressed his temple, and a sand table gradually appeared on the round table. With their current location as the center, the nearby hills, forests, rivers, and lakes were marked. It can be seen that they are flying over a basin. The mountains around the basin are not high, but very steep. The basin is lush with vegetation, and there is a lake in the center.

Shizi pointed to the lake and said, "Here, a light spot suddenly appeared on the map."

"Light spot? Has it appeared before?" asked Youxina.

Shizi said without hesitation: "No."

"Didn't the map come from a...giraffe?" Hong Xia said, "Have you asked it?"

"If only I could find it easily." There was resentment in Shizi's words, "If it doesn't want to see me, I can't find it."

"Then... do you want to go and take a look?" Lisa looked at Yukina.

"Also, among the five newcomers detected previously, three have been wandering around this basin." Shizi added.

"Then I'm definitely going." Sayo said, "Mr. Wu, you still can't see their specific information?"

Shiko nodded. Everyone looked at Yukina.

Yukina did not hesitate. "Let the airship sail to the vicinity of that area today," she stood up, her eyes bright, "and leave tomorrow."

Shizi stood at attention and saluted: "Yes, sir!" She turned around, raised her fists to her waist, leaned forward, and ran away while silently counting "one, two, three, four" in her heart.

Yazi also stood up, propped up his hands on the edge of the table, and black smoke rose behind him: "Hmph~Hmph~Hmph~Yazi has seen it... the lost ancient capital, the buried conspiracy and blood..."

Liang had already stood up and was about to leave. Rinko caught up with her: "Should we... practice that song a few more times... so that we can be more proficient in it..." Seeing this, Ako also hurriedly chased after her: "Wait for me, Rinlin!"

"I want to... go see what Shizi is doing, maybe she's staying up all night again..." Ichiri said to Kita. Then the two of them left together.

"Then I'll go prepare some breakfast so you can eat more tomorrow morning." Lisa waved and left. "I'll help too~" Hongxia followed her.

Only Yukina and Sayo were left. They looked at the sand table on the table and fell into a brief silence. On the sand table, the small lake looked no different from the surroundings, but who knows what danger was hidden.

Sayo crossed her arms across her chest, "Looks like I can fight well now."

"That's right." A barely perceptible smile appeared on Youxina's lips. "You need to use all your strength."

"If we are going to fight, we must fight with all our strength..." Saya stood up.

“…This is Roselia.” Yukina continued.

Outside the command room, Ichiri and Kita peeped in through the crack of the door. Shiko stood in the middle of the dark room, giving orders to his nonexistent subordinates in an impassioned manner: "Turn on the main searchlight! All boats enter the first level combat readiness state! Search and destroy! Search and destroy!"

"She seems to be having a lot of fun." "Let's not disturb her..." The two of them quietly slipped back into the shadows.

Far away, somewhere in the basin.

"Are we running out of water?" A blond, fierce-looking girl looked into a wooden kettle. She was wearing a young lady's indigo school uniform, which was torn a long time ago, but a snowflake logo could still be seen.

In front of her stood a person-high armor made of black metal with a cyan LED ring. A slightly arrogant voice came from the armor: "PAREO~"

"Yes! Master CHU?" Another petite figure jumped down from the tree next to her. "There seems to be a lake in the distance!" She had black twin ponytails, a white coat, a purple T-shirt with a keyboard pattern, and a pink skirt with sky blue lace. Although there were some holes, it was still possible to see that her owner had taken good care of her in a harsh environment. Compared with the blonde girl, she had more decorations: beads on her wrists, a magical girl-style pendant on her neck, and pink ball-shaped braids. Even if she had nothing on hand, she was trying her best to stay cute.

"But, Master Chu?, you can see farther at night anyway, right?" The girl called Pareo called Master Chu?, but her words were not respectful. The difference in status between the two did not seem so strict, more like a game.

"It's so noisy." CHU? raised his head, as if he noticed something, and looked towards the corner of the sky.

"I'm sorry, Master CHU?~"

"Wait." CHU? raised his hand to ask PAREO to be quiet. Inside the armor, an unnatural object appeared on the display screen. "It seems like there's a big guy over there."

She zoomed in on the object that appeared on the horizon, and AI automatically processed the image, allowing CHU? to barely recognize it.

It was an airship.

Chapter 16 Even if I carry the abyss on my back, I will forget about it later

In the airship that CHU? saw, inside the control room.

Shizi lay in front of the porthole, staring at the lake in the distance with the help of several searchlights. The lake surface was as smooth as a mirror, without any monsters or any abnormalities worth noting.

However, this was the biggest anomaly. Shizi's mind moved, and the searchlight focused on the bottom of the airship, illuminating the swaying black shadows everywhere in the forest. Several black shadows were startled and screamed at the airship in vain. Some others spread their wings, jumped up directly, and even threw part of their bodies directly at the airship. Without using a shield, Shizi's eyes flashed, and the metal growth on the monsters blocked them all in the air.

Shizi stretched out her hand, and as her palm moved, a dense mass of flying swords appeared in the air outside the airship. She suddenly clenched her palm, and with this command, the flying swords in the sky slashed down at the same time, and there seemed to be a wailing sound, and the black fog rising from the forest almost buried the forest itself.

Shizi watched all this expressionlessly, feeling the increase in numbers.

"Even without the jade slip, I'm still the protagonist." She didn't know who she was talking to. She cast one last glance out the window and turned to leave.

The airship turned off all the searchlights and hovered in the air. From the outside, it seemed that the airship had no interaction with the outside world, like a blurry projection from another world. Only when a monster occasionally hit the shield and the rising fire illuminated the "Roselia" or "End of the Band" logo, people would realize its existence.

"Roselia...end the band..." CHU? recognized the words on the logo.

"Could the people in there also belong to a band? Just like us?" PAREO looked into the distance. She did not have the convenient night vision function like armor, so she could only vaguely see a black shadow on the horizon.

Two hands were placed on the shoulders of the two men.

PAREO turned around: "MAS classmate?"

MASKING's eyes were still somewhat fierce, although that was not her intention: "I say, it doesn't matter what the thing is, let's just hold on tonight, right? The hole has been dug."

PAREO looked over MASKING's shoulder and saw a new mound of earth and a dark hole next to it that was barely big enough for a person to get into.

The next day, Shizi was still awakened by the glow of sunrise. She covered her still closed eyes in a daze, but the light still penetrated through her fingers.

"(Did I stay up too late last night...)" Her thoughts were still floating around, drifting between reality and dreams. But she was used to this situation.

At times like this, this is what should happen... A cup of iced coffee appeared in her right hand and she poured it on her face.

Sober.

She sat up straight, and the ice on her face disappeared before it could slide off, and the same happened to the water drops dripping from the ends of her hair. She hunched over and rolled off the bed, kicked to the side of the sink, and washed up casually. Then, she wiped her face, instantly rubbing her expression into the shape of a lively girl, and opened a secret door next to her marked "Emergency Use" that connected to the next room.

"Ichiri! Good morning!" She pulled the quilt and shook the pink girl wrapped in it onto the sheets.

There was a knock at the door. Then the door opened and Kita, who was also full of energy, stood by the door: "Goto, it's time to get up - hey, you're here too." Kita looked at the wide-open secret door on the wall and the sign that read "Emergency Use": "You wrote this sign yourself, right..."

Yili yawned and sat up. After living together for so long, even she would not get sick when being woken up by others.

"You all got up so early... haha..." Yili glanced out the window, "It's just sunrise... please let me sleep a little longer..."

"Very early?" Xiduo's puzzlement was written on his face, "I get up at this time every day?"

"Me too." Shizi said, "Maybe it's because the summer solstice hasn't arrived yet, and the sunrise time is getting earlier and earlier. So is the summer solstice here?"

The two men left Ichiri, who had fallen asleep again, and walked out of the room, not forgetting to close the door.

As usual, there is independent practice time before breakfast.

At the breakfast table, the orthodox energetic girl Hong Xia was making a pre-war mobilization. Although Shizi also wanted to listen to what she was saying, the instinct trained by countless speeches by the principal had automatically blocked out Hong Xia's voice. While sipping hot cocoa, she recalled her experience in the battle before she got the jade slip. Although she said some cool words last night because of her second-year syndrome, in fact, she still relied too much on the jade slip in the battle. As she recalled, she gestured in the air with her fingertips.

After a while, Yukina coughed lightly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to her, only Shiko was still in a daze. Yukina glanced at her and gestured to Ichiri beside her. Ichiri poked Shiko. Shiko finally reacted and looked around, only to find that everyone had finished eating, and the bowl in front of her was empty without her noticing.

"Oh, is it time to leave?" She looked at Yukina.

"That's right." Youxi cleared an area on the table, "Mr. Wu." Shizi understood and set up a new sand table in the empty space. This time the scale was smaller, only covering the small area from their position to the lake.

It can be seen that this area is flat, with no hills or rivers. In other words, as long as there are no other obstacles, they can quickly reach the lakeshore on the ground.

"Is there any open space under the airship now?" Youshina asked.

"No. The vegetation coverage rate is very high." Shizi did cause a lot of damage last night, but it shouldn't have much impact on those old trees that have been there for who knows how many years.

"Then, Kita-san, go and burn a piece later." Youxina glanced at Kita.

"Ok."

"After landing, everyone will follow the previous formation. I will lead the way, Kita-san and Goto-san will stand on the two wings, Ako will stand behind me, and Sayo will stand behind her." Youxi made the plan in an orderly manner. "Yamada-san, are you two stronger in support or combat capabilities now?"