After being elected as the governor of Tokyo, he will debut as a band!

This includes various cute light sticks, light bulbs, signs, and shirts.

Then a group of burly men with a cute and quirky style appeared in the exhibition hall, their appearance completely out of place with the people around them. Other audience members would occasionally look at them with strange eyes.

Normally, these yakuza members would have glared back or even cursed back, but today, with Ryougu Takumi standing up for this performance hall, they could only swallow their anger.

Suffocated!

The yakuza, who were usually so arrogant, were being stared at like trash by a group of ordinary people today.

They could already sense that after today, these underlings who followed them would disappear from their side—they would no longer want to join the Ogawa Group like they used to. Who would want to join such a shameful yakuza organization?

"Hahaha, what's that! Sawamura? Love? Is some Mr. Sawamura going to confess to me? No way! Miss Hiroi, I'm a staunch bachelor, but if anyone wants to buy me a few drinks, I'm all for it!"

When Hiroi Kikuri saw the signs held up by the Ogawa group members, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

She didn't think about supporting idols at all, since idols and Sickhack are completely unrelated.

However, Iwashita Shima understood the meaning behind those glowing support signs—

When did Sickhack become that kind of idol band with this saccharine support style?

And who is "Sawamura-dono"? Could these people be someone else's fans who have wandered into the wrong theater...? Should we remind Gintoki to give them a refund?

But Eliza seems to like this, so let's leave it at that. Those fans all look smiling... they must be quite happy. If all else fails, I'll apologize to them after the show.

Eliza was really into it. Her initial dream when she came to Japan was to become a girl idol like those in anime about girl bands, and these sweet and saccharine ways of showing support really gave her the feeling of becoming that type of idol.

Therefore, she put in extra effort during her performance, which perfectly complemented Hiroi Kikuri's crazy and lazy attitude.

As for Aoyama Mukai, he is not currently on stage.

The opening piece was an original song by the band Sickhack, which he wasn't familiar with. Even though he was able to play the song very smoothly in a short time thanks to his extraordinary talent, Iwashita Shima, the ballast of the band, was not comfortable letting him participate in the official performance directly. He wanted to practice for another two or three days.

However, when it came time to perform classic pieces, it was Aoyama's turn to appear. After the group performance, he also had a virtuoso solo. For a musician, it's most appropriate to introduce himself with a performance that best showcases his personal style.

Soon, saickhack's performance of his three original pieces came to an end, and the music in the performance hall fell silent for a while.

"Mr. Ijichi, it's your turn."

The young man working at the FOLD showroom reminded him outside the lounge door.

Aoyama was initially reluctant to accept the surname "Ijichi," but since Fold required prior registration of performers' names, and Hiroi Kikuri had preemptively filled in "Ijichi Yoshima" in the registration book, Aoyama simply didn't bother to change it.

It's just a pseudonym anyway. As long as it doesn't easily lead people to associate it with "Aoyama Mukai," there's no need to change it.

"I see."

Aoyama got up, took the guitar that Yoshida Ginjiro had lent him, and after thinking for a moment, clipped a pair of drumsticks to his belt.

Okay, let's begin.

……

Noda Kazuzo was in a really bad mood today.

He is a mid-level manager at a small manufacturing company, responsible for managing workers on several production lines.

Everything was fine until recently, when his company was reported by a Japanese cleanup group for harboring people with overstayed visas. The company not only paid a huge fine, but also had its production line workers reduced by almost 40%, resulting in orders not being delivered on time. The president directly shifted all the blame onto him.

Fines, demotion, and a year-long overseas assignment—to serve as a supplier manager for a distributor in the Philippines—when Noda Kazuzo received this news, he felt like the sky was falling.

With this happening, his future is definitely over, his wife will divorce him, and the house he's been paying off for over twenty years will be gone. Besides, given the Philippines' terrible security situation, it's uncertain whether he'll even make it back to Japan alive.

This life is over.

After leaving the company, he dazedly took the train to Kamurocho, thinking of the bar he frequented when he was promoted to manager, where he drank himself into a stupor.

But when he came to his senses, he found himself inexplicably in a line that stretched for dozens of meters, and then, in a daze, into a performance hall called Fold. Even the money for the tickets was paid for by the young man with the pompadour behind him.

There seemed to be some kind of live performance going on in the exhibition hall, but Noda wasn't interested. Fortunately, they also sold alcohol there, so he simply treated it as a noisy little bar and started drinking one glass after another.

As the saying goes, "Wine brings a hundred knots to the heart," and after a few glasses of strong liquor, Noda felt increasingly uncomfortable as he looked at the people swaying and cheering in front of the stage.

Why am I treated like this when I work so hard for the company? You guys do nothing all day and yet you live such happy lives.

With his hazy, drunken eyes, he searched for someone he could vent his frustrations on, and finally chose those idol otaku who looked weak.

Otaku have always been at the bottom of the power hierarchy, and even middle-aged office workers like Noda Kazuzo feel that they can crush them.

Unfortunately, these seemingly harmless and cute guys are actually a group of biker gangs, motorcyclists, unemployed people, and delinquent students led by yakuza members. Their combined fighting strength is probably second to none in the exhibition hall. So, it's best not to cause trouble when you have poor eyesight, or you might suffer a great loss.

Noda Kazuzo spotted one of the thinner-looking young men, bumped him with his shoulder, and then started hurling insults:

"You disgusting bunch, can't you get out of my sight? You take your parents' money and live like parasites in a civilized society built with the money of us noble taxpayers! You should be thanking us! Kneel down and thank me, you bastards!"

The members of Ogawa's group were already seething with anger because they had mistakenly chosen the wrong person to support, but they dared not let it out because of Takumi Suzumiya.

But now someone is provoking them, and they are just retaliating. Even Ryougu Takumi probably can't say anything about this situation.

The battle is about to break out.

Make way for me: 028 Killer Rock

If it were an ordinary person, and a drunkard said something offensive, they would at most complain a couple of times and then quickly walk away.

But yakuza members won't indulge alcoholics like that.

The thin young man who had been knocked down by Noda grabbed his collar, yelled "Bastard!" and punched him to the ground.

At the same time, the other members of the "Sawamura Support Group" also gathered around.

Noda's senses were also numbed by alcohol, and the dim lighting in the performance hall prevented him from noticing the people gathering around him.

So his resentment turned into anger, and he got up from the ground and started fighting with the thin young man.

The disturbance quickly caught the attention of the shop assistants. Several employees walked through the crowd, bowed to the group surrounding Noda, and pleaded with them not to engage in any violent acts so as not to affect other customers.

The Ogawa group didn't want to escalate the situation, so they sent three people to try and take Noda outside the performance hall to resolve the matter. However, Noda, who was extremely drunk and in a bad mood, was not going to be manipulated by them and managed to put up a fight with the three men.

Under normal circumstances, these three yakuza with extensive street fighting experience could easily subdue Noda and drag him outside like a dead dog. However, today the Fold showroom was 50% more crowded than usual, which severely limited the yakuza's performance.

In their minds, this is the territory controlled by Suzumiya Takumi. It's okay for someone to provoke them and fight back, but it's not appropriate to hurt others.

But making a big move would inevitably affect others, and since they were hesitant and couldn't do anything about Noda, the four of them were stuck in a stalemate.

Gradually, more and more people noticed the commotion and their attention shifted away from Sickhack's performance.

During live performances, audience interaction is crucial. However, as a disconnect emerged between the atmosphere of the performance and the atmosphere the performers intended to create, the members of Sickhack gradually began to lose control of the performance's rhythm.

Eliza Shimizu was the first to panic, because the center of the riot was the "idol otaku" she valued. Soon after, Shima Iwashita's drumbeats also became less steady.

But just as the two were about to make a mistake in their movements due to a change in mindset, Hiroi Kikuri's energetic voice and the deep, controlled bass strings almost single-handedly stabilized the rhythm of the performance, preventing it from falling apart.

But that's very tiring.

Moreover, no matter how outstanding an individual's performance is, it is difficult to reverse the rapidly disorganizing atmosphere in the performance hall. In the case of a typical band, they would have already stopped performing at this point and would only continue once the commotion subsided and the audience's attention returned.

Hiroi Kikuri's ability to control the atmosphere of a performance is indeed far superior to that of the average musician, but she can't carry the show alone. Eliza and Shima can't get into the zone as easily as she can, and the performance is about to become unsustainable.

When Iwashita Shima heard a few abnormal gasps in Hiroi Kikuri's singing, she knew she should do something, but looking at the drumsticks and drumhead, she felt at a loss.

Just then, a large hand patted her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Qingshan standing behind her.

Hiroi Kikuri seemed to sense something as well, turning her head slightly to meet Aoyama Muto's gaze and seeing his lips move—

Keep up with my pace.

She instantly understood what Aoyama meant, and the bass in her hand immediately changed its key.

Aoyama then began playing the drums while standing.

First, there was a burst of intense drumbeats that lasted for several seconds, almost distorting the professional microphones on stage, briefly capturing everyone's attention. Then, it transitioned into a fast, continuous, rhythmic funk beat.

The rhythm wasn't loud, nor was it particularly emotionally charged, but under Qingshan's swift wrist movements, it unleashed an almost magically powerful sense of rhythm.

Everyone, including the four people currently engaged in combat, couldn't help but start shaking their legs under the influence of this rhythm.

What a slap in the face.

Regardless of the type of fight, leg power is essential, but the current situation is that no matter what they do, one leg is always not quite obeying their commands.

Seeing that Aoyama's moves were effective, Hiroi also picked up his bass to match the drumbeats, further enhancing the rhythm, and Eliza followed suit.

Now everyone wasn't just moving their legs; their heads were shaking involuntarily too.

Only a normal person like Shima felt that his worldview was about to be shattered by the chaotic scene before him.

What the hell is this? Hamelin's Pied Piper? This is way too outrageous!

Sensing that the atmosphere was getting better, Aoyama suddenly increased the force of his drumsticks, and at the same time, Shikijima used a pedal to add the bass drum to the performance.

The heavy yet powerful voice made the audience feel as if their hearts were being gripped by something, and even their breathing became somewhat difficult.

Their bodies and ears were captivated by the music, and the next step should be to use an extremely exhilarating and free piece of music to allow the audience to release all the emotions suppressed in their hearts.

Aoyama nudged Shima's shoulder with his elbow, signaling her to continue playing in the same rhythm. Without hesitation, Shima perfectly picked up the rhythm as Aoyama stepped back.

Aoyama threw down his drumsticks, turned around, picked up his guitar, and walked to stand next to Eliza.

He gestured to Eliza with a "rapid strumming" gesture, while he himself used an extreme vibrato technique, creating dramatic changes in pitch between his fingers, like waves crashing against the shore.

The duet between the two guitarists was like a supple bowstring paired with a sharp arrow, which then shot into the audience's brains, practically churning them out of their minds.

Finally, there is the human voice, which blends the sounds of all the instruments together.

This time, without Aoyama's special reminder, Hiroi Kikuri, whose consciousness had already soared with the rhythm, hugged the three standing microphones placed in front of her, and started howling while playing the bass.

Yes, howling.

Her mind was already shaped by the song; even the concept of lyrics had disappeared from her mind.

At this moment, Kikuri Hiroi transformed into a rock and roll beast.

……

Even the most dazzling explosions will eventually burn out, with the last sound...

As the talisman fell, the entire performance hall fell silent.

Fighting and brawling were long forgotten by the Ogawa Group and Noda Kazuzo.

Sweating profusely, the entire Sickhack group took their bows and left the stage, returning to the dressing room to recover their almost depleted energy.

Of them, only Aoyama was still full of energy, Shima's hands were trembling, and Eliza and Hiroi Kikuri could not even stand steadily.

And just three seconds after the four disappeared from the stage,

"Plop," "Plop," "Plop"

People in the audience began to collapse.

Little Lonely and Yamada Ryo were also among them.

Make way for me: 029 There's no such thing as "killer rock" in reality.

As soon as she returned to the lounge, before she could even catch her breath, Hiroi Kikuri pounced on Aoyama Mukai.

"Oh my god!!! Yi-zhen, you jerk, I love you to death!!!"

Beautiful music and successful social activities can both promote the release of dopamine, making people feel happy and excited.

The performance just now was undoubtedly near perfect in both aspects. Although an unexpected incident occurred, Aoyama completely reversed the situation after taking the stage.

With a happy ending, the twists and turns along the way are just the best seasoning. Therefore, the three original members of Sick Hack all experienced an unparalleled sense of exhilaration from this performance.

This kind of intense emotional fluctuation, which directly affects a person's hormone levels, can easily evolve into emotional throbbing. Not only Hiroi Kikuri, but even Eliza and Shima had moments when they felt they had fallen in love with Aoyama Kaname, who seemed like the band's "savior."

However, they quickly sobered up after the performance. Only Hiroi Kikuri, who was drunk and audacious, was completely unrestrained. From the moment she entered the dressing room, she clung to Aoyama Muto's body and wouldn't let go.

"That performance was absolutely amazing! How can you be so good, you bastard?! I almost got into it too!"

She brought her mouth close to Aoyama's ear and spoke shamelessly, while one hand tightly gripped Aoyama's shirt, crumpling his expensive shirt that cost tens of thousands of yen.

"I almost let down Ijichi-senpai!"

Upon seeing this, the seasoned otaku girl, Shimizu Eliza, couldn't help but cover her eyes, but her fingers were wide open, as if she wanted to collect some material for her future comics.

"I don't understand what you're saying... Get out of here! And the smell of alcohol is unbearable! Do you know how agonizing that smell is for non-drinkers?!"

Aoyama grabbed Hiroi by the back of the neck, and the woman immediately became limp like a cat, and was thrown onto the sofa.

"If you continue to act out while drunk, you won't get a spot at tonight's celebration party."