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

A little cold.

Sure enough, I still can’t sleep.

I've been feeling this way these past few days.

Shizi got up, put on his coat and closed the curtains.

I can’t use the sunrise as my alarm clock tomorrow, so I’ll get more sleep.

She paced, opened the door silently, and walked along the corridor at the edge of the airship.

The night sky without moonlight was filled with stars. Thousands of colorful stars gently shone on the wings of the airship, the window frames, the screws, the floor, the vines, and the various decorations arranged by Yazi.

Shizi's hand brushed against a rib. "If it were in my previous life, the fact that 'this decoration was placed there by Azi herself' would be enough to excite me to the heavens."

However, I have slowly gotten used to it now.

There was a slight noise in the distance, which was clearly audible in the quiet night.

Shizi walked over silently and saw a pair of bright yellow waist-length hair.

"Can't sleep either?" she called softly.

Hongxia turned her head.

Shizi was in a trance for a while, as if he had returned to the night after his first live performance with Roselia.

Hong Xia seemed to have the same feeling, but she just nodded slightly, turned back, and stared at the starry sky quietly.

"Hongxia looks a lot like the store manager even with her hair down," Shizi said. Finding topics to talk about was no longer a problem for her.

Hong Xia turned her head in confusion: "You haven't met my sister many times...Oh, I forgot."

She seemed to be in a better mood: "Xiao Shizi, since you are a time traveler, you know about my past... right?"

Shizi nodded.

Hongxia lost her mother when she was a child. Her father was always busy supporting the family and they rarely saw each other. She and the store manager Xingge, the two sisters, depended on each other for survival.

Having lost his mother and his sister, what should the store manager do now?

Seriously, in reality right now…is Starry still in business?

Hong Xia stared blankly at the starry sky: "Where...are they?"

"Hmm?" Shizi asked, but she didn't expect an answer.

However, Hongxia still said: "Mom, and Miss Marina."

"Before, to me, the starry sky was where my mother was, and my mother was naturally one of the stars." Her voice was dreamy. "Later, Miss Marina also joined in. They must be watching us from there now."

"Where are they?" Hong Xia asked again, "I want to see them."

Shizi thought for a moment and said, "If you really can't find them, just take in the whole sky. They must be there."

Hong Xia was amused by this sentence: "How cunning! Do you always choose ABCD when answering multiple-choice questions?"

"When I really don't know how to choose, I will indeed write like this." Shizi answered seriously.

However, the sentimental atmosphere was indeed dispelled a little.

"Hey, little Shizi," Hongxia turned her head, "what are stars to you?"

"Hmm..." Shizi thought for a moment, "It's you."

"what?"

"To me, the stars are you," Shizi walked to the window, "You are always shining in the sky, and I am watching you on the ground."

"Just watching?" Hong Xia tilted her head. "Have you ever thought about riding on a hot air balloon or something, flying into the starry sky, and then you can become a star too."

"A hot air balloon can't fly that high, right?" Shizi smiled and shook her head. However, she stretched out her hand and pointed at the tall tower in the distance. "But if we climb up from there and go all the way to the top, we might be able to reach the sky."

Hongxia's eyes followed Shizi all the way to the top of the tower: "Then, we all have to work hard."

They talked for a long time.

It was not until a gust of cold wind from nowhere made Shizi sneeze that Hongxia urged Shizi to go back to bed.

Looking at Shizi's departing back, Hongxia laughed at herself: "No way..."

"If I had met you earlier, I might have been able to rely on you a little more." She changed her posture, "But, before that, I had already..."

She was still lying by the window, standing alone for a long time.

early morning.

"I'm full... Uh, didn't you say that just now?" After finishing breakfast (croissants and coffee-flavored cookies) in the room, Shizi looked at Liang across the table in surprise. Liang didn't know when he came over, and at this moment he was writing something on the paper with a pen, without even raising his head: "Yeah, I didn't say that."

Her empty plate was still beside her, and there were bread crumbs in the corners of her mouth.

"It's not fair!" Shizi yelled, "I've been infected by you for so long that I finally got used to saying this, but you, a pure Japanese, don't even say it!"

Liang looked up at Shizi and said, "You don't have to tell me. I don't care."

"No one would care about such a boring thing..." Shizi said, "Even Sayo wouldn't care..."

"Indeed not." Liang lowered his head to write and draw again, "But she gave me a strange look last time."

"Luckily I'm not Japanese... So," Shizi slumped back, "What are you doing here? First of all, let me make it clear that Hongxia and I didn't do anything last night."

"Who asked you?" Liang looked up again, and the action of her hand was just completed. "The composition is done, you write the lyrics." She handed Shizi a stack of papers.

"What composition?" Shizi was puzzled.

“New song.”

"When did you say that?"

"Can't you?"

"Well..." Shizi took the manuscript, looked at it, stood up, took a shoulder-mounted keyboard, and started playing.

When he opened his eyes, Shizi found that Liang had left at some point.

"..." She looked at the empty seat across the table, "This is not your style."

This confused and bitter tune.

ps: I don’t have much confidence in the next part of the story… maybe I’m trying too hard…

Chapter 37 I Won't Come Back

Yukina stood in the command room "Hokutosei", folded his arms, and looked carefully at the sand table on the table again.

For convenience, Shizi recently printed a rough map in the form of a sand table in the command room, using various markers to mark special places, people's locations, and the airship itself, and updates it regularly every day.

The return route they had decided on a few days ago had been marked on the sand table, but they had only walked less than one-tenth of it.

Hua Lian's little head popped out from behind You Xi: "We've only walked this short distance?"

Youxi heard her coming from a distance and was not surprised.

"It's indeed far from the final destination, but it's not far from Shengxiang." Youxi replied indifferently.

When planning the return route, there are two options: one is to basically return along the original route, with the Tower of Babel as the central axis, returning to the plateau in a counterclockwise direction, and finally returning to the original site of CiRCLE, using it as the center to search for traces of the Black Mountain; the other is to cross the desert, moving in a clockwise direction, which will also return to the plateau, but the trek on the plateau will be a little longer.

Each has its own advantages: they have already taken the first route once, so there will be no additional risks, while the second route is still unknown. Moreover, according to the first route, they can quickly reach CiRCLE after returning to the plateau. They don't know whether Heishan has a range of activities or can leave the plateau. They can only guess that it has been active in the plateau area based on its size. Therefore, the longer they move in the plateau area, the greater the chance of encountering Heishan before returning to the original site of CiRCLE. However, they also want to visit Miss Marina's grave before encountering Heishan and be mentally prepared for revenge. So the first route is conducive to this purpose.

The second route would pass through the area where Shengxiang and his group were active. With Hualian around, there was a high chance that they would be able to unite, which would be beneficial for both revenge and the final battle in the Tower of Babel.

"Shengxiang..." Hua Lian looked at the seven spots of light on the map and fell into an inexplicable emotion.

“Even if you don’t intend to negotiate,” Youxina looked at her, “Are you really not going to go and take a look? If you just take a look from a distance, they probably won’t notice.”

When choosing the route, Hua Lian unexpectedly chose to "return along the original route".

"Don't you miss your friends?" Yukina asked at the time.

Hua Lian had hardly ever shown a negative expression since she gave birth. But at that time, her expression looked very complicated. She nodded, then shook her head.

"I... am not ready yet." Hua Lian said.

In the command room, Hua Lian silently looked at the light spot on the map that was separate from the seven people of Shengxiang.

"If I meet them, I will basically know who the lone person is." Hua Lian said at the time, "I am not ready to know the answer yet."

Could it be Xiaoguang? Did Xiaoguang leave because of his previous death?

She had always hoped so. Even though she knew it was an extremely selfish hope and that such thoughts would be a constraint for Xiaoguang, she still hoped so.

Because she couldn't accept any other possibility.

If it was Xiaoguang who died at that time, I would definitely not accept her death so easily. Even if others repeatedly objected, I would definitely leave everyone else and go look for Xiaoguang who might exist somewhere in the world.

Would Xiaoguang think so?

You must think like this.

If we really meet everyone from Shengxiang, this possibility will be confirmed.

Yes, or no.

Destiny can be changed.

On that stage, the problem was already understood.

But what about the future that we saw at that time?

It is because we have resisted fate that we know how terrible it is.

I don’t want to face the answer so early.

Yukina stood next to Karen: "Even if you can escape here for a while, we will have to reunite with them sooner or later."

"That's enough." Hua Lian said softly, "Before that, I will try to adjust my mentality."

Yukina took one last look at Karen and left the room.

She was not good at consoling others, and it would be better to leave this matter to Lisa. However, she herself did not dare to face Lisa recently. After all, she heard that kind of thing when she was choosing a room with Poppin'Party.

Like Karen, Yukina is still unable to face the answer in her heart.

However, she herself couldn't be sure what the answer was.

As I was thinking, I passed by a recording studio.

From inside came the sound of guitar and singing.

It was Kita. She stood there and listened for a while. As if she noticed someone outside the door, the sound of the guitar and the singing stopped, replaced by footsteps. When the door opened, Kita stood sideways behind the door, with the guitar still hanging on her body, hitting the door frame again and again, which made Youxi frown: "Kita-san, you are not treating the guitar well."

"My name is Kita Kita Ikudai Ikudai now." Kita Kita Ikudai Ikudai corrected.

Yukina tilted his head in confusion.

"Just kidding, let's call you Kita." Kita didn't care. "Anyway, I made this guitar myself, it can't be broken. Let's not talk about this, Senior Minato, can you give me some advice?"

Yukina thought about it and said, "Was that a new song? I don't think I've heard it before."

"Yes." Kita nodded, "Ryo-senpai composed the music, and Shiko-chan wrote the lyrics. It's just been completed, and I plan to sing it at a future live."

"Live..." Yukina chewed on the word. Originally, he had decided to hold a celebration live after returning from the Golden Country, but he had already held a small one for Miss Araki before. After returning, the Poppin'Party seemed to be still looking forward to it, especially Toyama-san, but he didn't seem to mention it much.

Kita was still talking to himself: "Ah... I know everyone is not in the mood to do a live show right now, so I'm just preparing..."

"Kita-san," Yukina suddenly interrupted, "you should have deeper feelings about ending the band, right? About the reunion with Ms. Araki."

Kita's face froze for a moment. "Ahaha... so that's it." She looked away, "There's a group photo in each of our rooms."

"It was taken when Ms. Araki left CiRCLE," she said. "That was also our last photo with Ms. Marina and Ms. Araki."

"It is placed in the most conspicuous place. We see it every day. Sometimes, we talk to them."

"We always thought that the two people in the photo had passed away and left forever, but now we find that one of them is still alive."

Kita half closed his eyes: "How should I put it... Although I am very surprised, I also feel..."

In a room one mile away.

Yili hugged the photo frame and curled up in the dark closet.

"Ms. Marina, I really won't be coming back."

Chapter 38: Rain of Wheel Talismans