What?! My anime figurines have all come true!

If this were one of those Azur Lane ship girls whose minds are only on their commander (Chen Xiao), they would probably be showing off their rings right now, instead of being as reserved as they are.

Azur Lane: Don't generalize!

Among them, perhaps... maybe... probably... only a portion of the ship girls would do this!

"Ah Xiao, I didn't know you knew so many beautiful girls. Seriously, I'm jealous."

Once she had recovered a little, Ding Jiafang pulled Chen Xiao aside, lightly punched him in the chest, and said through gritted teeth.

Is it a lot?

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiao thought about the display case full of female figurines at home and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

"By the way, where's your friend who can sing? Since the other person stood us up and didn't show up, I really have to drag you up with me to embarrass myself!"

Ding Jiafang looked left and right, but couldn't find anyone else besides Ijichi Nijika and the others.

Clearly, he never imagined that the beautiful girls around Chen Xiao were in a band.

"Ahem! Jiafang, let me introduce you... This is the guest singer I invited for you."

Chen Xiao brought Kita Yu over on his behalf.

"Hello~! My name is Kita Ikuyo!"

Because there is no homophonic pun in the Chinese language like "来兮归去", Kita Ikuyo generously introduced herself to Ding Jiafang.

That smile was so bright, so intense, like direct sunlight, that it almost made Ding Jiafang feel ashamed, just like Boqi Jiang.

Do such perfect young girls really exist in the world?

But what I want is a singer!

"Dude, you can't just fool people like this, can you?"

Ding Jiafang pulled Chen Xiao aside again.

Although Kita Ikuyo's horn-shaped power left him speechless, he couldn't just go on stage and act cute all the time, could he?

"Don't worry, Kita is the lead singer in the group!"

Chen Xiao answered with great pride.

"The band? The lead singer?"

Ding Jiafang was stunned at first, then realized what was happening and pointed at Ichiji Nijika and the others.

"In a band?"

Chen Xiao didn't answer, but just nodded silently.

"This is the first time I've ever seen a girl play music... Is this even possible?"

Ding Jiafang scratched his head.

Wait a minute! What did Chen Xiao call Kita Ikuyo just now?

Kita?

Such an affectionate way of addressing someone.

Could this be his girlfriend?

It's so small, isn't it a bit illegal?

However, before Ding Jiafang could ask any more questions, the phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated.

I picked up my phone and took a look.

It turned out to be a message sent by the back-end staff.

[Teacher Catgrass, where are you now? It's almost your turn on the show!]

"Oh no! It's my turn!"

Ding Jiafang was startled by what she saw and quickly led Chen Xiao and Ichiji Nijika into the backstage area of ​​the comic convention.

"Teacher Catgrass, who are these people...?"

The staff member backstage was completely bewildered when she saw Ding Jiafang leading a group of people in.

"Oh... these are the performers I invited! Yes, yes! This is the singer I invited! The others are her friends."

Ding Jiafang quickly explained.

This little girl?

When the staff member saw Kita Ikuyo, she was first amazed, then suspicious.

"Teacher Catgrass... are you sure you want to let this young lady come on stage?"

Upon hearing this, Ding Jiafang hesitated for a moment, then looked at Chen Xiao beside her.

"Don't worry about it, big sister!"

Without Chen Xiao needing to say anything, Kita Ikuyo, who was already prepared, took the initiative to step forward and gave the female staff member a cute look.

"Wow……"

The staff member was taken aback at first.

Realizing he had lost his composure, he quickly raised his hand and pretended to cough.

"Ahem, I know, it's this one..."

"My name is Kita Ikuyo."

A four-character name?

"Alright, Ms. Kita, the host will call your name in a moment. Please go on stage to perform as we have arranged."

As she spoke, the staff member led Kita Yu to the backstage area on the other side of the stage, where they waited for the host to call her name.

"Phew... I can finally breathe a sigh of relief."

At this moment, Ding Jiafang, who had been on edge the whole time, finally felt relieved, or at least temporarily relieved.

"You're exaggerating a bit too much, aren't you?"

Chen Xiao chuckled and made a sarcastic remark.

"And Teacher Catgrass... So that's your online name? I'll have to find your account carefully..."

Hey! Stop spying on me!

Ding Jiafang grabbed Chen Xiao's hand and begged him not to search her account.

It's simply because his account has too much of anime/manga style.

I dare not show this to anyone other than those who share the same interests. If Chen Xiao were to spread it, I would truly be spiraling into the heavens at the third cosmic velocity!

[Next, please welcome Ms. Kita Ikuyo, invited by Cat Grass Teacher from AC Station, to the stage to sing...]

"Oh! Is it Kita's turn already?"

The two who were really playfully fighting stopped abruptly.

However, the host suddenly went silent halfway through his sentence.

[What do you mean the sound system is temporarily unavailable? Ah… Ms. Kita Ikuyo, would you like to continue singing, or have Mr. Nekokusa cancel this performance?]

Ding Jiafang: ?

What, what did you do?

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The End of the Band! Making a Grand Entrance!

"Why is there a problem with the playback device?!"

In such an important place as the Shanghai Exhibition Center, the probability of a sound equipment malfunction is not zero, but it is still lower than blindly sniping a smoke grenade area in a shooting game and instantly killing five people at the same time!

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any problems.

"Is it because of me?"

Chen Xiao couldn't help but have doubts.

After all, his own character is similar to that of the protagonist in a novel, and the protagonist is often a troublemaker.

You'll run into trouble wherever you go.

Even if I stayed at home and did nothing, I would still be approached by criminals just because I saw a news report about a crime committed by someone with superpowers. This time, I helped a classmate by asking my sister to sing on stage, but we encountered equipment failure. It made things even more difficult than we thought!

That's a true classic!

"What exactly happened?"

Ding Jiafang, Chen Xiao, and others followed the staff to the edge of the stage and found a group of people surrounding the playback equipment, making it look like a crime scene.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the problem lay in a wire that had been chewed beyond recognition, and Jerry, who had attempted to ascend to the realm of electricians but died halfway through.

"Where did this rat come from?"

Ding Jiafang asked the question.

Everyone else shook their heads, looking bewildered.

"Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any rats in the venue, let alone one that would bite through the power cord of the sound equipment so conveniently."

The staff member standing nearby was completely baffled.

What a coincidence!

One can't help but wonder if there's a superhuman involved in this event.

After all, why did nothing go wrong in other areas, but their stage's sound equipment was chewed up by rats?

"Is there no backup line?"

Ding Jiafang continued to ask questions.

"The one that was bitten off happened to be the only one available as a spare."

The staff member shrugged helplessly.

If they could replace it, they would have done so long ago; there's no need to wait here for someone to fix it.

"Hmm... there must be something fishy going on here."

Chen Xiao, who had followed, looked around for possible suspects.

Then he saw a young man standing outside the crowd, who was standing there like Light Yagami, his face almost bursting with laughter.

I guess he counted down thirty seconds in his mind before declaring his victory?

"Jiafang, do you know that person?"

Chen Xiao pointed to the 'Light Yagami' who was trying not to laugh.

"What do we do... Ah? Who is it?"

Ding Jiafang, who was in a dilemma, was taken aback when she heard this, and then looked at the person in the direction Chen Xiao was pointing.

"We met once, I think. I only know that he is a blogger on AC Station like me, and I think his name is [Today's Flower City Young Master]... He is also an attendee of this comic convention."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiao took out his phone and opened the box...

Oh no, I mean searching for this person's blog account.

It was discovered that the videos posted by this guy were very similar in type to those posted by Ding Jiafang, both being anime and manga-related videos, including manga reviews. The two often gave different evaluations of the same work.

'This person seems to be the most suspicious...'

Of course, the other party might not actually be the criminal, but simply gloating.

However, Chen Xiao is not a famous detective. Rather than playing a deduction game as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, he should focus on getting through the performance on stage.

Are you really going to have Kita Ikuyo sing without any music?

"Ah Xiao, Ah Xiao..."

Just as Chen Xiao was pondering, Ichiji Nijika behind him showed an eager expression and gently tapped his shoulder.

"what's up?"

Interrupted from his thoughts, Chen Xiao turned around.