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

As soon as Aoyama entered the backstage area of ​​RinG, he encountered Rinko, who worked there. (The receptionist from MyGo)

"Mr. Hack, you're so late! Ms. Hiroi and the others have been performing on stage for quite a while now. If you hadn't come soon, the third song would have been over."

While complaining, Rinrinko served Aoyama a glass of freshly squeezed grape juice.

She knew that Aoyama also had a rather busy day job. In her simple worldview, having to be a corporate slave and perform live shows meant that his eating habits must be irregular. Mr. Hack probably ate a small plum rice ball for lunch and has been working until now.

To prevent Aoyama from fainting on stage, she prepared a glass of grape juice rich in sugar to help him quickly replenish his energy.

What could Aoyama say? He could only say "thank you" and accept her kindness. Otherwise, was he supposed to tell her, "My Lexus LS has a built-in refrigerator, and I ate my fill in the car on the way home"?

That would really discourage a young girl from taking initiative.

It's just a glass of grape juice. I'll burn off those calories by twisting and turning a few times when I play the guitar on stage later.

Thinking this, Aoyama downed the grape juice in his glass in one gulp. Before he could put the glass down on the table, a matcha cookie was stuffed into his mouth.

He looked down and saw that Yoro was holding a plate of miscellaneous snacks in one hand and struggling to stuff food into her mouth with the other.

"Lenai, what are you doing?"

Aoyama struggled to chew and swallow the cookie. It had a rich aroma of butter and matcha, and the taste was not sweet but slightly salty and bitter, which effectively neutralized the sweet and sour taste of the grape juice left in his mouth.

"Grandma told me to take good care of you."

When Lena said this, she had a very straightforward expression on her face.

Are you serious?

Aoyama pondered that Grandma Tsuzuki's original intention was probably to let Rakuna watch more of his performances and learn more—after all, in her eyes, each performance of his was one less to watch, and he might retire one day when he had enough fun, since she wasn't afraid of not being able to afford the penalty for breach of contract.

"Alright. Rakuna, did you come with Hiroi today too?"

Kaoru quite enjoys following Hiroi around. If Grandma Tsuzuki hadn't emphasized the importance of class attendance, she probably would have been wandering around with Hiroi during the day, the two of them performing for money whenever they had free time. They would use the tips from passersby to buy alcohol, matcha, and snacks, living a carefree and happy life with their cat...

Although Hiroi Kikuri might end up in jail for "abducting minors and profiting from it"—that would give Toyokawa Shoko connections in both men's and women's prisons.

“No,” Kaoru shook her head and turned to look at the rehearsal room. “I’m here to join the band of Interesting Women.”

Is she another "interesting woman"? She's so young, yet she falls for someone else so quickly.

Aoyama recalled that today was exactly three days after Rakuna accepted Toyokawa Shoko's request to join the Light Band, which was the day she had promised to attend the band's rehearsal.

"Then why aren't you going to rehearsals? Why are you slacking off here?"

"The blue woman wouldn't let us play that interesting piece. After the guitar part of another piece was changed, the woman who gave me candy couldn't play it smoothly. Then we had to go on stage to perform again, so the blue woman went back to the original version. That version wasn't interesting, so I came out."

As she spoke, Lenai took out a matcha-flavored marshmallow from her pocket, stuffed it between two cookies, and then shoved it into her mouth, chewing with her mouth bulging.

Hmm? Are Gao Songdeng and the others going to perform on stage later?

That seems to be the case. The reason why Toyokawa Shoko disagreed with having Rakuna participate in the band rehearsal today was because they were going to perform on stage today, and if they only rehearsed for a few hours, the team members might not be able to coordinate well enough.

However, doesn't this overlap with Sickhack's performance?

Just then, Rinrinko, worried that Ryuna might choke if she ate too much at once, brought over a glass of water. Aoyama then asked her about the performance schedule for Takamatsu Akira's band.

"You mean the band 'We Who Are Lost in Gravity'? Because Xiao Le Nai is also in this band. After discussing it with them, we arranged their live performance after Sickhack."

Because Yao Lena has been frequently attending and participating in Sickhack live performances recently, Sickhack fans are already quite familiar with her. Scheduling her band's performance after Sickhack will not only effectively increase the willingness of the audience in the previous show to continue buying tickets, but also leverage the existing audience base to bring greater popularity to the new band's debut.

This arrangement makes a reasonable sense, it's just the band name...

"Was this band name created by Ms. Toyokawa?"

The goals she set for this band should have been very clear; there's no reason to add the word "Lost" to the band's name.

“Well… at first, Ms. Toyokawa only used the song title ‘Straight to the Sky’ as a temporary band name, but later, Chihaya pulled the others over and said, ‘A band that successfully holds a live concert will have a name that many people will remember, so we can’t be unsure of a catchy band name.’ Then, Takamatsu stared at the words ‘Straight to the Sky’ and said that name…”

Lena's eyes lit up. After swallowing all the food in her mouth, she said:

"If the goal is the sky, then we shouldn't get lost, right? The sky won't disappear, and it will always exist in the opposite direction of gravity..."

She then laughed.

"But we are all flightless penguins. Although we can look up at the sky like other birds, we are destined to be lost in gravity for our entire lives..."

"Let's become penguins together."

What the heck? How did another penguin appear? Did you see a stand-in or something?

Qingshan was somewhat baffled.

And what's so great about "becoming penguins together"? You seem quite excited about it.

“Oh, right,” Rinrinko realized and explained, “What Rana just repeated was what Takamatsu said to the others in the band after he said the name ‘Child of Lost Weight’. I didn’t understand it, but Rana seems to understand Takamatsu’s thoughts very well.”

"..."

Rakuna didn't answer. Instead, as if she realized something, she looked up and stared at Aoyama's face.

Well, if those two sentences were what Rakuna thought, Aoyama would not understand them at all, but if they were what Takamatsu Akari thought, he could understand a little bit of it.

after all

He, too, had once been lost, just like Takamatsu Teng.

But penguins?

Penguins can't fly, so they can only get lost in gravity?

Not necessarily.

Penguins that dive underwater can defy gravity and soar freely, just like birds in flight.

And isn't that blue in the ocean just a reflection of the sky's color?

Who would have thought that for penguins, the direction in which gravity points is their sky?

Igomachi Music Awards: 048 They're already a bit slow, and you guys are still teasing them.

Just as these inexplicable thoughts were swirling in Aoyama's mind, Kaname suddenly blurted out these words—

"It's coming out."

Aoyama hadn't reacted yet, but Rinrinko's expression changed slightly, and you could almost see the word "Nani" in her wide eyes.

"Rakuna-chan, you can't just say things like that... What have you been learning from Hiroi-san these past few days?! Luckily the boss isn't here, otherwise she probably would have chased Mitsuki-san all the way from RinG to Shimokitazawa with her cane!"

Rakuna completely ignored her and continued staring at Aoyama, repeating herself again:

"It's coming out."

Aoyama then realized that Rakuna was talking about him.

Rinrinko realized she had misunderstood, blushed, and glanced at Aoyama, but since he was wearing a mask and her expression was not visible, she couldn't guess what he was thinking. So she pretended nothing had happened, said "I have other things to do," and ran away.

Aoyama, oblivious to Rinrinko's reaction, asked with a slightly nervous expression.

"What, it's coming out?"

"Your other color."

Rakuna's words sounded strange, but Aoyama was able to understand what she meant.

Although the two souls within one's body have perfectly merged, a phenomenon similar to a "style" switch occurs when dealing with situations that are too contrasting.

This makes him appear in completely different states when he's on the rock stage and when he's sitting on the throne of power, which is why few people can recognize him on stage.

Today, perhaps because I had just finished a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's official residence, I was on the verge of performing on stage, and from Takamatsu Akari's words, which I asked Lena to relay, I felt an emotional throbbing similar to psychedelic rock.

The contrast between the two sides is so great that the phenomenon of "style" change is particularly obvious.

Then, in the eyes of Yoro Nai, this kind of change is just a change in color?

"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm not Michael Jackson, how could I have another color on me?"

Aoyama patted Yoru Nai's head, not wanting to delve further into the topic with her.

Yoro Nai probably felt that the person in front of her was not very honest, and for once, she showed an expression of looking at him with her eyelids down.

Just then, the music from the direction of the stage gradually stopped, and applause surged up like a tide.

"Alright, Hiroi and the others' performance is over. Next, it's my turn. You should also hurry back to the band to prepare. In about ten minutes, it will be 'Children of Lost Weight''s' turn to perform."

……

Aoyama Mukai took the stage as the drummer, teaming up with Iwashita Shima for a stormy double drumming rhythmic frenzy.

Then, as the accent fell, he picked up the electric guitar that had already been wired, switched places with bassist Kikuri Hiroi, and as the lead singer, used his clear yet powerful voice to bring his new song "Bremen" to the audience.

Finally, he put down the guitar and picked up the electric violin, adding a melodious touch and gradually rising bass to Hiroi Kikuri's singing. When Hiroi Kikuri reached the climax of her song, she seemed to be flying. That's right, in order to concentrate all her strength on the line of "lungs-trachea-vocal cords", she even jumped up while singing. When the last syllable fell, she even flipped backward. If Aoyama hadn't opened his arms in time and supported her head with his chest, she probably would have done a backflip and then fallen to the ground with a "thud".

This performance, which was both technically impressive and displayed a hysterical emotional outburst, ignited the atmosphere of the entire audience.

It is foreseeable that both Sickhack's new work "Bremen" and his explosive stage presence, which uses three instruments in a single performance and achieves top-notch performance with each instrument, will cause a sensation on the internet after tonight.

Chihaya Aine, who watched the entire performance from the "VIP seats" backstage, was visibly envious.

"Um, Su Shishi, if I'm on stage later and do something like Ms. Hiroi, could you catch me with your broad chest like Haksan did?"

As Aine spoke, she made a motion as if she was about to leap backward, which startled Shiina Tatsuki, who quickly pulled Takamatsu Akari two meters away like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

"sure."

Nagasaki Motoyo said with a smile.

"Eh? Really?"

Chihaya Aine exclaimed in shock, "Then I'll really do that later."

“No problem, but you need to think this through… Hakusan was playing the violin in one hand and the bow in the other, so he could easily open his arms to catch Ms. Hiroi. But I was holding a bass, you know. When you fall, you'll break my bass before you hit my chest. As for compensation,” Nagasaki Motoyo held up four fingers, “it’ll be 400,000 yen.”

"……I knew it."

Chihaya Aine sighed, but she didn't lose her confidence in making a show. She turned her face to the light and said.

"Why don't you learn from Haksan, and I'll catch you from behind with my broad chest?"

“…I don’t need to,” Gao Songdeng said hesitantly. “I’m afraid I’ll get hurt…no, I’m afraid the pebbles in my pocket will hurt you.”

"Hey? Lantern, are you carrying pebbles on you too?"

"Ah."

A little while later, after the four members of Sickhack finished their performance and returned backstage, Chihaya Aine went over and pulled them aside, asking Motoyo to take a picture of the successful live performance. She said she wanted to "share in their luck, maybe we can hold such a popular live performance someday." After taking the picture, she even uploaded it to LINE. (Aine's inner thoughts: I can brag about this at school tomorrow, hehe!)

"Alright, alright, everyone from 'Mizhong', please make your final preparations, we're about to go on stage."

Rinrinko, who was standing beside the band and guiding them, clapped her hands and said.

Upon hearing this, Chihaya Aine, who had seemed completely at ease just moments before, suddenly panicked and grabbed her guitar in a flurry of activity.

"Let me think, it should start with a C chord, then switch..."

"Wrong, it doesn't start with a C chord."

He asked Lena to come closer and whispered something in her ear.

"Eh?" Chihaya Aine took out the sheet music and looked at it for a moment. "It's clearly a C chord! Rakuna-chan, take this candy and go eat it over there. Don't cause trouble here."

Rinrinko suppressed a laugh.

What's wrong with this girl? She seems a bit silly, like everyone in the band is just teasing her.

It's one thing for Rakuna to be like this... but even that seemingly introverted Takamatsu was joking with her in a very serious manner.

Should I go over to her?

She said that the guitar piece she just played in the rehearsal room was actually quite decent.

In short, nervousness doesn't slow down the flow of time. Soon, a bewildered Ai-yin followed her teammates onto the stage, and then, with her eyes wide open, she played the first syllable of her first live performance.

Isogachi Music Awards: 049 The Band of Bonds Saves the Day

When the band "Children of Lost Weights" took the stage, Toyotaka Shoko was standing in the third row of the audience, a position that was neither too far forward nor too far back, allowing her to immerse herself in the excitement of watching the performance.

She could watch the show from the "VIP seats" backstage, but that would make her feel like she was part of the band.

If the live performance is a great success, Xiangzi worries that when she is being cheered by the audience as "Child of Mystery," and when her three former Crychic friends, Takamatsu Akari, Nagasaki Motoyo, and Shiina Tatsuki, turn around to look at her, she will be unable to resist rushing up to them and laughing and celebrating with them.

How could I possibly return to that gentle haven now?

Toyokawa Shoko resolutely severed her hopes for that bright future and cheered up to watch the performance.