Heavy girl? I feel worse than Black Hole Trigger!

Shoko Toyokawa clapped her hands lightly, attracting the attention of everyone at the table.

"Could you please lend me Lixi for a few minutes?"

Li Xi was stunned for a moment, "Huh? Ah, it's okay...what is it?"

She remembered that on Su Shi’s birthday before, Xiangzi had borrowed Su Shi’s time in the same way.

Last time, it was Toyokawa Shoko who announced the confirmed dates for CRYCHIC's first concert. Then came her abrupt departure, and the band's near disbandment... well, that's all in the past now. As for now, CRYCHIC just held their second live concert before summer vacation. They shouldn't be scheduling a third concert so soon, right?

Moreover, Toyokawa Shoko has been emphasizing these days that she is a "support keyboard player," and it is unlikely that she would act like a leader now.

Xiangzi smiled mysteriously, put his finger to his lips and blinked gently.

"Please allow me to keep you in suspense for now."

"..."

Li Xi glared at her coldly: This guy's expression has a flavor of Nagasaki Suyo, so annoying!

Initially, he'd felt a bit like Toyokawa Shoko in Sushi, but lately, it's been the other way around. But to say they're similar isn't entirely true—it's just that these two women just happen to have different qualities that both make Riki very unhappy.

"Is it related to LIVE?" asked Takamatsu Deng.

Even though he had two performance experiences, for Deng, singing on stage still required a lot of mental preparation.

"Hmm? Um..." Xiangzi hesitated for a moment, then nodded hesitantly and said, "If you want to say it's related, then it is somewhat related. However, I'm bringing this up today as a 'nascita employee', not a 'CRYCHIC member'. Or should I just ask for everyone's opinion? So don't worry too much, Deng."

"Eh...?" As a "nascita employee"? What was Xiaoxiang talking about?

Gao Songdeng's small eyes were filled with big question marks.

She quietly looked towards the counter not far away, as if hoping to get an answer from Baodeng Zheli.

But what I saw was Zhe Li also had an expression of "What is this kid talking about?"

"..."

After going through so many things, Takamatsu Deng has grown up a lot now.

She looked at Toyokawa Shoko with a worried expression.

Xiaoxiang...are you going to do something big this time?

Chapter 33: Autumn frost and falling maples, snow and clearing: Chapter : Sounding the horn of revolution

Then there was another rambling conversation.

The clock hands moved slowly, and it was finally approaching the time when Nascita was ready to open for business.

Baodeng Zheli stood up from his seat in the corner and stretched. He was about to go over and tell them to clean up and take down the party decorations when he saw Shiina Riki stand up. He nodded to him from a distance, then turned to the CRYCHIC people and said, "Let's call it a day. Thank you for your hard work... And, uh, thank you."

At the end of her speech, the girl showed a somewhat embarrassed expression.

Zheli subconsciously glanced at Nagasaki Sushi. As expected, Sushi had an Anya-like expression.

Li Xi deliberately turned her face away from Su Shi. She was silent for a moment, then sat back down in her seat and turned to Toyokawa Shoko and said, "So what was it you wanted to say?"

"Ah. Thank you, Lixi." Xiangzi stood up after Lixi.

"While everyone is here, I have something to announce—"

Her face was smiling just a moment ago, but after she straightened up, she could no longer suppress a smile that looked like excitement.

"Before I formally explain my proposal, could you please give me a helping hand, Mr. Manager?"

"...Me?" And my business?

Although I had expected this when I heard Xiangzi say, "As an employee of Nascita."

As if sensing the doubt on Zheli's face, Xiangzi smiled and said, "Please don't worry, Mr. Manager. I really just need a helping hand from you - please open the door for us."

Su Shi heard this and widened her eyes slightly, "Now?"

Xiangzi had indeed told her and Zheli that he hoped she would be the one to explain the "Gate" to everyone at Crychik. It was true that Xiangzi possessed more leadership qualities than Sushi, and was more suited to discussing such unconventional matters—but did it really have to be on Xiao Lixi's birthday?

All I can say is that Toyokawa Shoko is still Toyokawa Shoko. Her ability to take action is nothing to be underestimated.

Zheli also understood the meaning of Xiangzi's words and couldn't help laughing.

"Indeed, the facts before our eyes are more convincing than empty words."

After all, they both used the same method to "tell" Toyokawa Shoko.

"What are you talking about?" Li Xi couldn't help but frowned.

He'd assumed it was just another one of Xiangzi's whims, but he'd never expected Sushi and Zheli to be among the insiders. If it were just Xiangzi alone, Li Xi felt confident he could handle it, given his experience. But with the equally formidable Sushi and the store manager, Zheli...

"If you force the light again, I won't sit idly by."

"Eh? Reluctantly?" Xiangzi blinked and tilted his head. "I just wanted to show you something."

Deng Ye hurriedly said, "Lixi, thank you for your concern. But Xiaoxiang won't do anything bad."

"Haha." Li Xi laughed coldly a few times.

No matter how long they've been together, she'll never forget what Toyokawa Shoko did. Just because she can now accept it doesn't mean she's forgiven him. Rather, Shoko's insistence on calling himself a "support musician" plays right into Riki's hands: if he had the audacity to just run back to CRYCHIC, Riki would probably be even more furious.

"Oh, it seems Riki-san has a lot of complaints about me."

However, Xiangzi's skin seemed to have become thicker after experiencing so many things.

She shrugged slightly, with a smile that was almost an unconscious mockery. She looked at the door of Nascita's shop from afar and said:

"However, I hope Li Xi will read it first before drawing any conclusions."

Li Xi snorted, "I'll just see what you have up your sleeve—"

……

Shiina Riki's face was stiff.

The sea breeze and slanting sunlight were bullying her skin and eyes at the same time.

Still wearing her Nascita uniform, Toyokawa Shoko gently caressed her chest with one hand and lifted her skirt with the other, saluting the crowd as she stood in the swaying breeze. The slight smile on her lips, amidst the dislocated landscape of the times around her, lent her a mysterious aura.

"Welcome to 'Inazuma'."

Her gaze lingered for a moment on Lixi's confused expression, Deng's naiveté, which seemed to have not yet caught up with reality, and Mu's eyes, which remained calm and unsurprised, as if she thoroughly enjoyed their expressions of surprise. In this respect, Lixi's assessment of her was absolutely correct—

The current Shoko Toyokawa really has the same annoying bad taste as Nagasaki Suyo.

"As you can see, Nascita has now experienced a new 'birth'."

She opened her arms, as if to catch the sunshine from this completely different world in her palms, and slowly clenched her raised fists.

"The door to another world. This is a potential crisis, but also an opportunity—"

"In this world where rock culture doesn't exist, how about starting our own 'revolution'?"

Gao Songdeng opened his mouth in a baba way, speechless for a moment.

Xiaoxiang has returned to her original state... Although I am a little happy, I still can't understand what she is saying.

"So, Xiaoxiang wants CRYCHIC to perform here, right?"

Su Shi carried out a wave of Xiangyu translation.

Xiangzi's words may sound groundbreaking at first, but if you think about it carefully, spreading a new culture in a culturally backward world is indeed a very romantic thing.

...But, does Inazuma have electricity?

"Exactly."

Xiangzi nodded vigorously, then turned his gaze to the lamp and extended his hand to her.

"Deng, this is the idea I want to propose to everyone: Would you be willing to hold a concert here?"

The light flickered. She opened her mouth to say something, but her thoughts were a little confused.

"It's okay if you don't answer right away." Xiangzi smiled at her, this time turning to look at Li Xi. "... Earlier, I'm sure everyone had the same confusion about Miss Chinana as I did. In fact, Miss Chinana also came from this magical other world. So, I thought-"

Chinana Hiiragi said that Takamatsu Tou's performance was worthy of a place at the festival.

However, Shoko Toyokawa originally believed that the word "lamp" had the potential to "go global."

"If it's the song of the lamp, it can convey the 'voice of the heart' to everyone even in another world."

Her eyes shone with a light that was very similar to "that day".

"If it's a lamp, it can definitely be done."

Right here, I will prove to everyone—

That voice completely dispelled the haze in her heart.

Where did it originate, where did it "be born" (nascita).

Chapter 34: Suddenly the intrigue begins

CRYCHIC didn't cause much commotion and soon returned to nascita.

Even after everyone had packed up the decorations in the store, Shiina Riki and the others still had dazed expressions.

Whether it was the door to another world or Toyokawa Shoko's whimsical thoughts, it took time to digest and accept them. They would probably have a sleepless night after returning home today—ah, except for Wakaba Mu. She still looked like she didn't feel anything.

I don’t know whether Mu was really calm in the face of the crisis, or if he was actually saying “OvO!?” in his heart but just didn’t show it.

……

After the birthday party was successfully concluded, it was time for the cafe to open.

Xiangzi, already dressed in his uniform, went straight to his post, while Sushi also switched to his usual mascot mode. Seeing that everything was ready, Zheli walked to the door and flipped the tag from "CLOSE" to "OPEN."

A few days ago, right after I turned the sign, a customer from Inazuma opened the store door.

He guessed that perhaps for the "door", the switch that determines whether it will connect to the other world is the small tag on the door: for example, from the day when Fengyuan Manye first visited the cafe, that is, the day they first discovered that the door of the store would connect to the other world, Zheli stayed in the store for three consecutive days after closing time and did not observe any movement from outside the "door".

Although he was not completely sure whether this was true or if it was simply because no one would pass by Nascita late at night, Zheli temporarily regarded this as part of the "door" rules and felt a little relieved.

At least, the cafe will be relatively safe during closing time.

Otherwise, if he went shopping or simply accompanied someone out, and an uninvited guest from another world broke into the coffee shop and made a mess of the store, who would he go to for justice?

"Speak of it."

After Zheli returned to the counter and waited, Su Shi asked while there were no customers yet:

"Xiao Xiang's proposal just now, how exactly do you plan to do it?"

As for the purpose, Toyokawa Shoko has already explained it clearly.

One is to promote the performances of Takamatsu Tomori, or CRYCHIC, to another world and develop them in a pure blue ocean, instead of trying to turn the tide of the girl band era that is currently in its heyday on Earth.

Even if they weren't drawn together for fame or fortune, having formed a band, it would certainly be nice to have more performance opportunities. Furthermore, in Inazuma, they're a unique girl band, whereas in Japan, they're destined to be compared to their predecessors and predecessors—just because they don't care about fame or fortune doesn't mean they enjoy being criticized.

The last time CRYCHIC fell apart, it was when Takamatsu Deng was hurt by an online comment...

Secondly, Xiangzi didn't say it explicitly, but Sushi could tell: she also wanted to "leverage" CRYCHIC's performance to expand the "nascita" brand on the outlying islands, or even throughout Inazuma. In other words, she wanted to use music to advertise the cafe. This is why she claimed to be proposing this "as a nascita employee."

Similarly, even though Zhe Li obviously doesn't care about the business of his own store, Su Shi still cares a little about whether the store can continue to operate.

After all, this is their...

"Specifically? For example?" Xiangzi asked back.

Su Shi thought for a moment, then pointed out an example, "For example, it seems like the outlying islands don't have a stable AC power system. If we want to perform there, we can only do an acoustic live performance."

An unplugged live performance is one that doesn't use electronic instruments. It typically uses vocals and instruments with built-in speakers, such as acoustic guitars, basses, and cajons. However, in venues of a certain size, the volume of the instruments and the singer alone is often insufficient, so microphones and other recording equipment combined with speakers are often used for sound amplification.

Thus, if the band were to return to a relatively primitive society like Inazuma, its performances would be limited by the venue.

Without a stable power supply, they can only use portable speakers as a substitute; considering the battery life issue, the quality will naturally be compromised: after all, they are far from being a professional orchestra, and it is impossible for them to completely avoid rehearsals and sound checks.

In short, the actual performance environment, at least not like the Live House in Japan, is a professional venue that can accommodate a large audience and allow everyone to make noise and drown out the music.

"Yeah. That's what bothers me the most. However, I think we can use a lot of small-scale flash mob live performances to cover up the lack of speakers." Xiangzi spread his hands and said with a hint of resignation, "It's very difficult to build a music culture from scratch. At least in the beginning, we won't have many listeners. In this case, small-scale street performances are perfect for this."

That way, even if you don't use a loudspeaker and perform a true acoustic performance, it won't affect the performance results too much.

Su Shi's worries were not dispelled by this explanation: "But, Xiao Deng..."

From the very beginning of the band's formation, Takamatsu Touma had a vocal problem. While the other members played instruments, Takamatsu Touma was fine, but without a microphone... it was hard to imagine her singing on the busy street.

Xiangzi was also a little distressed. "Well, I can only use a portable speaker instead for now."