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

After a while, the airship flanks.

The three people with dusty faces were surrounded by eight people with unfriendly faces. Except for PAREO who looked a little scared, the other two were neither humble nor arrogant, and looked at the others nonchalantly.

Although it's hard to tell his expression since he's wrapped in the mecha.

silence.

As they looked at each other, the atmosphere became heavier.

Yukina kept her eyes on the huge armor. As expected, the laser beam she saw earlier came from it. The person inside was reluctant to show up. Did he not trust them? Or was there no one inside at all?

"Who are you?" There was no way to stay in a stalemate. Although they grabbed a large experience pack as soon as they appeared, they might also be partners that could be cooperated with.

After hearing Yuki's words, CHU? reluctantly spoke. A girl's mechanical voice came from the armor: "Nice to meet you, I'm CHU?, a producer. They are..."

PAREO stood up straight and made a cute gesture: "Yes! I am PAREO!" Even though his expression was a little unnatural, PAREO still maintained his usual demeanor.

"...This is MASKING." CHU?'s arm slightly bent towards MASKING as a gesture. "Hey." MASKING casually greeted the others.

"Minato Yukina-san, and Roselia, everyone who finished the band, I recognize you." She continued.

CHU? It's not surprising to know them. After all, their faces have appeared many times in the news.

"The disappearance of a big girl". That's what the news said. During this period, the disappearance of a large number of girls in the Tokyo area caused a sensation. The victims were basically young girls, and most of them were related to music. Therefore, many parents even began to forbid their children from playing musical instruments. Because of this, the "big girl band era" that was originally on the rise was also affected. Conspiracy theories, supernatural theories, alien theories, parallel world theories, there are all kinds of arguments about this incident, but they are all just jokes. After a period of time without new cases of missing girls, the discussion about this incident gradually subsided. CHU? The only reason she could recognize them was because the video Roselia left on the Internet had attracted her attention.

Ichiri and Shizi will whisper: "Do you recognize them?"

"Yes. RAISE A SUILEN, and Yukina and the others share the same worldview." When Shiko found out that the newcomer was someone she knew and her favorite, she was already opening a bottle of champagne in her heart. Of course, she didn't show it. But in a corner of her heart, she felt a little bit of disobedience.

While the two were talking, Youxi was still talking: "...Yes, one of us is seriously injured and is recuperating in the room. There is another person who is taking care of her, but he is not here either. I have learned about your general situation. But CHU?, are you not going to show your true face?"

CHU? snorted coldly: "Who knows if you will attack me after I leave the armor." It seems that the previous bombing left her with some very bad impressions.

"CHU? Sir, if they had this intention, they would have started fighting a long time ago~" said PAREO.

"Which side are you on?"

"I'm sorry, Master CHU?!"

The two of them quarreled without caring about the occasion. The people around them didn't know whether to watch or interrupt, and their faces were a little embarrassed. "Ah - okay, then I'm out." CHU? didn't insist for long, but his tone was still reluctant, as if he was just giving PAREO a way out. The black iron armor began to deconstruct and change, and a small girl with reddish-brown hair and neat home clothes walked out of it. She had a rebellious expression as if she was born that way. The armor kept folding and shrinking, and finally turned into a pair of black cat-ear headphones, which were worn on the girl's head. This is the true face of CHU?.

Unlike the tattered clothes of the other two, CHU?'s clothes were relatively neat, thanks to the armor. She basically didn't need to come into contact with the outside world, and she didn't exercise much.

"Eh... a child...?" Kita was a little surprised. She didn't expect to see a child here. CHU? At most, just a junior high school student.

"What did you say?" CHU? had a very good hearing and could hear Kita's quiet sigh clearly.

"Ah - she means CHU? Really cute." Shizi quickly stood between the two of them, "By the way, would you three like to take a shower and eat something first? I'll lead the way." She looked at Yukina. Yukina nodded in agreement.

Shi Zi held a jade slip in his hand and led the three people to the dark accommodation area.

Along the way, Shizi played the role of a tour guide very well and briefly introduced the situation of the airship to the three people.

"So you built this airship yourself..." Even CHU? had to admit the efforts made by Shizi and the others, "But why is it so dark?" The only light source in the corridor was the jade slip in Shizi's hand. Shizi had already adapted to this environment, but the other three still had to walk by feeling the walls. CHU? touched his earphones and wanted to go back to the armor to turn on the night vision, but he thought that he had just come out and it would not be a good idea to change back now, so he gave up.

Shizi walked in front, leading the way and answering. "I wanted to make a circuit system and designed a wind turbine, but I don't know what went wrong, so this is the only way." She shook the jade slip in her hand, "When I become stronger, I can install this on the entire airship. Speaking of this..." She suddenly stopped and turned her head. Her expression looked particularly scary under the dim light, "You... stole a huge head of mine——"

There was a flash of light in her hand, and a flying sword appeared in her hand. The big words "The human-headed dog must die" were particularly eye-catching.

In the dim light, she had a cold smile on her face and her eyes were cold. The faint murderous intent seemed to lower the temperature a little.

"So it was you who did it..." CHU? suddenly became nervous, his hands on the headphones. A shadow seemed to appear behind MASKING, and PAREO also froze and shrank next to CHU?.

Shizi's smile suddenly turned gentle, and the flying sword flashed, turning into a pile of cards that fell from Shizi's hand: "Just kidding, just kidding, why are you so nervous."

The tense atmosphere just now seemed to disappear without a trace. Shizi continued to lead them forward. However, the three of them unconsciously distanced themselves from Shizi.

"(I feel like... this person is more suitable for the name PAREO than PAREO...)" CHU? thought, "(A person who hides his true feelings and desires...)"

In fact, Shizi felt a little regretful in his heart.

“(I shouldn’t have acted so arrogantly all of a sudden… Now I’m acting like a villain boss. That’s RAS! I’ve ruined the first impression!)”

Thus, the four of them maintained their casual conversation and reached the accommodation area.

Chapter 22 Captain's Duties

"The room on the left has windows, so at least it's bright during the day. The room on the right has no windows, so don't choose it if you don't have lighting." Shizi pointed out several still vacant rooms to the three people.

Chu? took a quick glance and walked towards a door at the edge of the accommodation area. It was obvious that she still didn't trust this place. Her hand was already on the door handle: "Can I use everything in the room as I please?"

After getting permission, she said "excuse me" politely and pushed open the door.

PAREO naturally chose the room next to CHU?. MASKING counted the number of rooms. The room of these two people was also separated from the nearest room of others by three doors. She sighed deeply and chose the middle one among the three doors.

"Thank you." Before entering the door, she turned around and nodded to Shizi.

Shizi put down his hand in farewell, and his smiling expression just now returned to calm.

Sure enough, something was wrong.

With this doubt in mind, she quietly waited at the door. She would be needed to lead the way to the restaurant later, so she couldn't leave for the time being.

Shizi couldn't leave, but Liang and the others were free. Liang was in Hongxia's room. To be more precise, she was just wandering around. From her relaxed expression, it was hard to see any trace of her previous rage.

Hongxia's room is similar to Liang's, except that there are a few more dolls at the bedside.

"If Yamada-san is alright, can you help me get a basin of water?" Yukina was beside the bed, clumsily wiping Hongxia's face. She came with Ryo. As soon as they entered the room, Lisa made a "hush" gesture to them - Hongxia fell asleep. Except for a little heat on her forehead, everything was fine.

Yukina gestured to Lisa, hoping that she could take over her job. Lisa didn't say anything. She simply explained some key points of nursing care, then gently closed the door and walked towards the kitchen. She needed to cook for 13 people at the welcome party in the evening, so she needed to get busy from now on.

The bathroom in the room was very clean, but of course there was no running water. CHU? took some effort to understand the primitive device designed by Shizi, and simply took a shower. Although it would be more convenient to use a bathtub, she just didn't want to take a bath. When she walked out of the bathroom, she found that there was an extra set of clothes on the bed. She turned her head and looked at the door of the room. The door was still tightly closed. She walked to the bed suspiciously. The clothes were very ordinary, but surprisingly, it looked very much like CHU?'s own school uniform. But this is normal, there are so many similar uniforms in this world. After checking that it was indeed just ordinary clothes, CHU? put it on. It was very close-fitting. Then, do you want to go out directly? Is that person still waiting outside?

CHU?'s eyes fell on the side of the room, where there was a wall marked "Emergency Use". She pressed the headset, and a layer of cyan projection enveloped her eyes. AI detection showed that there was a secret door there. Do you want to open it? After that, it was most likely PAREO's room. Although she didn't see PAREO choose a room, she was sure of it.

Should I discuss this with PAREO before facing the others again? The answer is of course. But... CHU? Looking at the "Emergency Use" sign, he hesitated.

Before she could make a decision, the secret door opened from the opposite side. PAREO, who had changed a lot, ran over and said, "Master CHU, their clothing taste is really great! This outfit feels just like my usual outfit!" She happily spun around, admiring her cream-cake-like dress and pink and blue wig in front of the mirror.

"..." CHU looked at her in silence. Indeed, even PAREO's clothes were very similar to her clothes in real life.

so similar.

Even the pink and blue wigs were identical. How did the other party know what they looked like in real life? By intuition? By the tattered clothes they were wearing? Or was there something they didn't know yet?

In PAREO's room, another secret door opened. MASKING walked in. She was also dressed in her usual style. She looked around and found no one, only an open door on the opposite wall. So she walked into CHU?'s room in the same way.

The corner of Chu's mouth twitched. She waved to the three people and walked to the farthest place in the room from the door.

When the three of them came out of their respective rooms, Shizi found that they looked at him with a layer of wariness. MASKING and PAREO were fine, but CHU? had "distrust" written all over his face. Shizi laughed dryly and continued to lead the way.

When Shizi took the three to continue visiting the airship, Hongxia woke up.

When Youxi changed Hongxia's towel for the umpteenth time, Hongxia's eyelids seemed to move.

Hongxia slowly opened her confused eyes.

The first thing she saw was Youxina and Liang, who were sitting at the head of the bed, trying to hold back their laughter. Liang held up a small mirror. In the mirror, Hongxia was wearing yellow cat ears and had cat whiskers drawn on her face with a marker.

"..." Hongxia was still half asleep and half awake, and didn't feel anything about it. She reached out to take off the cat ears on her head. Youxina quickly held her down: "Don't move." She handed her a glass of water.

Hongxia took it obediently and sipped it, like a cat. But Youxina had no time to appreciate it.

She stood up and solemnly apologized to Hongxia: "I'm sorry, Ichichi-san, I didn't protect you well."

Hongxia's mouth left the cup and remained half open for a while, then she looked down at her abdomen. Under her pajamas, she could feel the bandages, and the stars could be vaguely seen through the layers of gauze.

"Ah..." Hongxia regained consciousness. She looked at Yukina. Yukina's expression was still as cold as an iceberg without any emotion, but she was sure that this was a look she had never seen before.

"Well... I stayed there on my own initiative," Hong Xia smiled warmly again, "As captains of two bands, isn't it normal for us to get hurt a little in order to protect everyone?"

She looked at Yukina with equal seriousness: "If something like this happens again in the future, we will still be the last to leave, and if Yukina-senpai gets hurt at that time - I will not apologize."

Yukina's pupils trembled slightly, and the corners of his eyes relaxed.

"Then, I'll take back my apology." She stood up and looked Hong Xia straight in the eyes. "Next time, we'll fight together."

"Yeah, together."

Looking at the two of them, Liang felt that she shouldn't be here. But she was not Ichiri, and she would never leave at this moment. She just stood silently beside the dining cart that Lisa had just pushed over, and ate the food that was originally reserved for Hong Xia. The dishes on the dining cart were all double portions, and they were the same as the ones at the welcome party later, except that some dishes with heavy oil and salt were removed and replaced with healthy meals for patients.

Two pairs of eyes locked onto her. Liangmian put down her chopsticks without changing her expression and pushed the food cart over as if nothing had happened. There was still grease on the corners of her mouth.

It’s a double portion anyway.

Yukina seemed to understand her thoughts: "Lisa just said that she will not attend the welcome party. She will come here to have dinner with Ijichi-san."

Liang's face twitched slightly.

Hong Xia remembered something: "Um, it seems like you guys had a fight before?"

Since both of them were here and she was the cause of the quarrel, she naturally wanted to reconcile them quickly.

"Ah? That? It's all right now." Liang said. Her expression didn't change at all.

"Yeah." Youxina also nodded.

"I was a little impulsive to begin with, but I'll be fine after the impulse passes," Liang said. He also took this opportunity to stir the food in the dish with chopsticks to make it look like it hadn't been touched.

Hong Xia looked into their eyes. Since everything was fine, she felt relieved. She quickly skipped the topic and started asking about the three newcomers.

Chapter 23 Welcome Party

At dinner time, Lisa just showed up, said goodbye to everyone and went towards Hongxia's room.

"She's working hard too." Kita sighed. Usually, it was Lisa and Hongxia who took care of everyone, but now that Hongxia has fallen, all the burdens fell on Lisa alone.

"(There are two fewer people who can liven up the atmosphere at the dinner table.)" she pondered, "(Although everyone is very interesting, most of them don't talk much. Xiao Yazi is heartless, and classmate Wu is up to no avail. The three newcomers also seem to have some ulterior motives... Okay! I'm going to work hard then!)" Kita suddenly slapped his face to encourage himself.

Liang leaned close to Shizi's ear and said, "Did Yudai stay with Pochi for too long and get infected?"

Shizi glanced over there: "Maybe..."

Although Kita had prepared for tonight, the three newcomers, the main characters of the welcome party, had not yet shown up. Yukina asked Shiko, who calculated the time and realized that it was time. She stood up and was about to pick them up. At this time, the sound of wheels came from outside the bar.

"Oh, here I come." Shizi's whole temperament changed immediately and he trotted over to greet him.

"Hongxia?" Liang looked at Shizi who was walking away. Although Shizi just now was not wearing a wig and her voice was not changed, she just gave her this feeling inexplicably.

The sound of wheels became louder and louder. A dining cart was pushed in from the door. It was Shizi who was pushing it. Next to her were PAREO and MASKING, and CHU? was a little further behind.

Have guests deliver meals?

Everyone's eyes were focused on Shizi.

some time ago.

Shizi led the three of them to the kitchen. From the kitchen came the sound of spatulas colliding and the smell of food. MASKING looked inside and saw that only Lisa was working. The firewood used for cooking made Lisa's forehead sweat. She was busy switching between several large pots and was simply too busy to handle it.

"Is there only one person in charge of food?" MASKING turned and asked Shizi.

"Originally there were two..." Shizi said, "but the other one is still recuperating in bed."

"Oh—" She stood up straight. "Then, do you need my help? I can cook, too. The cooking skill on the panel is Lv8."

"Eh? How can I ask you to help?" Lisa said. She could also hear the sound from the kitchen door.

Shizi was a little hesitant. She didn't doubt MASKING's cooking skills. It was just that from a common sense point of view, it was not appropriate to ask the RAS for help.

"It's okay, let her go." Chu looked up and said to Shizi, "We have been treated, so it's only right for us to help."

"Then please let PAREO help~" PAREO made a request gesture.

So, that's it.

Everyone's impression of the trio suddenly improved a lot.

"No, to be honest, PAREO and I didn't go into the kitchen." CHU? immediately clarified.

After all, CHU? herself could not stand going into the kitchen to help others. If she was left alone with Shizi, she would not feel at ease. So PAREO finally said goodbye to MASKING with CHU? and continued to visit with Shizi.

"That's right, it's all thanks to MAS!" PAREO agreed.

"So honest..." Yili couldn't help but mutter to himself.

After all the food was placed on the table and the bowls and chopsticks were put away, the welcome party officially began. Yukina stood up and was about to formally introduce herself. Shizi nudged her with her elbow and said, "Let them eat first. Look, their eyes are green."

Although the three of them tried their best to control themselves, everyone could see that they were eager for the food in front of them. After a long period of exposure to the elements, they finally saw civilized food. It would be too cruel to ask them to make a long self-introduction first.

CHU? Staring at the plate of beef jerky in front of him, his mouth was almost watering. PAREO had specifically reminded MASKING to bring some beef jerky before leaving, and MASKING happened to find some in the kitchen, so he brought it. Of course, this was given to Lisa by Shizi in advance.

CHU? barely managed to control her shaking hands. Under PAREO's expectant gaze, she stood up and said, "Roselia, everyone who has finished the band, thank you for your hospitality. Let me introduce you again."

Yukina glanced at Shiko and said nothing. Shiko looked at CHU with admiration but not surprise.