Heavy girl? I feel worse than Black Hole Trigger!

She was desperate, desperately inviting herself into the light.

"..."

Because it is so warm and dazzling——

She felt even more deeply how cold the darkness she was in was.

The girl that Takamatsu Deng invited will one day completely "die".

Her blood, her name, her past, her determination... She used all of this as thorns to prick herself, thus preserving the last bit of herself in the frosty darkness.

She was very unwilling and wanted to make a final struggle before that, but it was just a struggle: precisely because she had been in such a "fate" from the very beginning, she knew that her meaningless struggle would inevitably end in failure.

They are destined to shine, and there is no need for them to join her in this doomed resistance.

...So, that's enough.

Shoko Toyokawa lowered her head quietly.

A ray of accidental dawn in this endless night.

She was satisfied just by seeing it from a distance.

At the moment the music stopped abruptly, at the moment the singing faded into the wind, the gloom that had been avoided for just a moment once again entangled her life; every breath contained failure, every sight was filled with gloom, this was the world that belonged to "her", the price she paid at the beginning of her birth.

So it doesn't matter. She has already made up her mind.

……but.

Almost at the moment she looked away.

"Yo."

A force neither light nor heavy slapped his back.

It was as if someone was embracing the thorns around him without hesitation.

The already blurred vision quietly rose.

All she saw was an indistinguishable smile blooming in the dim light.

"It's time to go."

"……what?"

"Excuse me, please make way, please make way——"

The force exerted on her back didn't feel strong, but it made her stagger forward.

A path was made through the dark crowd until it was only one step away from the light.

"..."

At the very front of the audience, in front of a stage that was only a few flights of stairs high.

Gao Songdeng looked at her bewildered expression and slowly lowered his fist.

"Xiao Xiang."

Xiangzi opened his mouth for a long time before squeezing out a few words from the depths of his throat: "...light."

The twinkling stars in the girl's eyes flickered, just like her words, just like her past, flickering uneasily, yet also expecting, praying, waiting...

"I--"

...Snap.

A small sound interrupted Xiangzi's words.

—Nagasaki Suyo came to the stairs and took her arm.

In the dim light, the girl was looking at her with a smile that was too bright.

"wait,"

Before she could recover from her shock, a force from the Su Shi world pulled her off balance. She hurriedly stepped on the stairs in the dark, and when she regained her footing, she found herself being carried onto the stage.

There were shouts of surprise from the audience. She could almost feel the burning gazes directed at her.

Xiangzi looked back hastily and wanted to stop her, but at this moment someone grabbed her hands.

...It's a lamp.

She looked at herself deeply, then pursed her lips, as if she had made up her mind, and suddenly pulled her in another direction.

"Eh? Wait, wait a minute—"

Before she could protest, the light stopped.

"......" Shiina Riki had stood up from the drum set at some point and stood in front of the two of them.

Xiangzi stared blankly at the black-haired girl.

The last time I saw her was in that rain. Back then, just like now, she was frowning deeply, staring at me with eyes sharper than a knife as I shouted I was leaving the group.

The only difference is.

This time she didn't say anything, but sighed silently, then turned around and lifted a piece of cloth beside her.

Xiangzi looked at the thing hidden under the cloth, and his mind went blank.

——Roland V-Combo VR-730.

The same model as the electronic keyboard in nascita.

Even for CRYCHIC's first LIVE, she couldn't borrow the same guitar.

Yes, that LIVE was indeed a milestone for CRYCHIC. It was the first time that the band with great aspirations stood on the stage, and it was a precious opportunity for their first original song to be released in front of the public for the first time.

But for Xiangzi…at least, for the Xiangzi of the past, what truly symbolized CRYCHIC, and "them," was that moderately sized recording studio, those inappropriate tea parties, those rambling conversations. And it was this guitar that truly connected her to them.

original……

Today's performance, from the very beginning, has been a "stage for five people".

"————."

Xiangzi slowly shifted his gaze to Lixi.

The girl who had always been cold to her just glanced at her quietly and returned to the drum set.

"...I hate rain."

Gao Songdeng's trembling voice echoed in the exhibition hall.

“Beautiful stones get covered in dirt.”

"The tiny bugs will be swept away."

It was as if it started from the wrinkled paper and quietly flowed to the tip of the tongue, one sentence after another like a poetic whisper.

“The words I want to say won’t be conveyed.”

"Hands that try to hold each other will be separated by the rain."

The girl gently grasped Xiangzi's fingertips, so weakly that it seemed as if she could shake them off with just a flick of her fingers.

"A broken heart cannot filter out the fragments..."

"Tears also dry up silently."

Ahhh.

She tilted her head back, and there was a faint glow in her amber eyes, which were the same color as hers.

"Not even a drop can flow out anymore—"

She opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to smile, but all she revealed was a face that looked even sadder than crying.

"'How ridiculous'... so funny."

There was a murmur of confusion in the audience.

That also symbolizes Shoko Toyokawa's current mood.

She looked at Li Xi, looked at Su Shi, looked at the lamp, and finally saw Mu.

In that moment when even breathing seemed a luxury.

"————."

There is a low and melodious melody, flying along with the pick lightly pinched by Mu's fingertips.

and.

Those poetic words also turned into a low song...

“In this harsh life”

"The maze of thorns that covers you"

"The darkness of this turbid world is blocking you"

"...Ahh. You're more worried than anyone else."

The girl's palm is transmitting warmth.

It was such a tiny presence that she couldn't help but breathe lighter.

Close to suffocation.

"—so now it looks like we're drowning?"

"Proper breathing saved my life"

"Now I am just living for the death that will come one day..."

The gray-haired girl's face was so bright in the stage light that it seemed as if it was engraved into her irises.

She sang the poem-like words gently and slowly, as if she was afraid that if she used a little more force, she would blow the girl away.

Then the guitar melody ended at this moment, and only the noisy sound dominated the entire exhibition hall.

Xiangzi reluctantly moved his gaze from Gao Songdeng to the green-haired girl, Wakaba Mu, who had stopped playing not far away.

and.

She was very familiar with that childhood playmate of hers, Wakaba Mutsu, who always had a calm, almost cold expression, and would only show emotions so rarely that they seemed like illusions, like a doll with no life.

Looking back at this moment...

He gave a faint smile.

"————."

From, bottom of the abyss.

From the depths of the nearly endless darkness, a melody like a gentle breeze sounded.

A repetitive chord progression—followed by an equally repetitive drum beat that adds to the rhythm.

The bass fills in the low notes on the third repetition, as if to say, "I can't do anything about you."

And they were all smiling on the stage.

It seemed as if at this moment, they were not in RiNG's performance hall, but in the small recording studio hidden in the coffee shop that carried every failure and remembered every effort they made.

"..."

It was as if memories were invading with the mud and water.

Brought her back to that muddy rainy night.

“——……!”

She gritted her teeth, took two steps to the electronic keyboard, and waved her hand as if to vent her anger.

But just before touching the white key, the fingertips, which were still moving with great momentum, suddenly slowed down.

Before she hit the note, she slowly looked up and saw the girl holding the microphone, still staring at her quietly. What emotion was contained in those eyes? Was it anxiety, anticipation, or perhaps...

I'm just worried about her.

"..."

The girl pressed down the keys absentmindedly.

Then, the clear piano sound quietly emerged from the fifth repeated melody.