They are in the music show, but I am a stranger to them

"Does Brother Chen Qi have other activities?"

"Really? I'm really looking forward to this performance. If Brother Chen Qi isn't here, what's the point of it?"

"..."X4

The whispers from the audience were clearly heard by the four girls on the stage. Although there was some nervousness and uneasiness on their faces, they managed to calm themselves down after looking at each other.

Xingge and Chen Qi breathed a sigh of relief when they noticed that the four girls looked uneasy but not panicked.

Fortunately, it seems that their condition has not been affected by Chen Qi's absence...

"Oh! There it is!"

However, just as Chen Qi and Xingge were rejoicing in their hearts, and the four girls on the stage were holding their breath and preparing to start their performance, and everything was silent, a sudden exclamation from somewhere broke the peace.

It was this exclamation that unconsciously attracted the attention of everyone on and off the stage, and soon everyone's eyes were cast towards the source of the disturbance.

Chen Qi, with his outstanding height, clearly saw the familiar figures of five girls in dark Gothic-style clothing walking towards the backstage in the dim light not far away...

"Is it Roselia 04?∪⑻咝⒉ 5仲←《Qun:Aaaaaaah!!!"

Accompanied by someone's surprised scream, finally, everyone present reacted and let out cheers that were no less shrill than the girl's just now!

"It's Roselia! It's really them! Are they here to participate in the trials for the Budokan as well?!"

"That's the real Roselia! That grey-haired girl must be the lead singer Yukina Minato, right? And the tall, chestnut-haired beauty behind her must be Lisa!"

"And Hikawa Sayo, Ako, and Rinko! Finally we meet them in person!"

“I’m so lucky this time! I didn’t expect to be able to watch Roselia’s performance!”

"The first place this time will definitely go to Roselia! No one else can do it, I say!"

"...It's really them." Chen Qi looked at the five girls from Roselia not far away who seemed not to notice him, and his expression became a little more complicated...

For those of you who have ended your band, this counts as being targeted, right?

No, to be precise, the one being targeted should not be Hongxia and the others. It might be him that Youxi and the others are targeting.

The last time I met Mitakeran and the others, it might have been just a coincidence, but this time with Youkina and the others it was definitely not a coincidence.

There is no doubt that Youxina and the others came here specifically to snipe after hearing about Afterglow, with the intention of competing with Chen Qi and everyone who had ended the band.

No, maybe it wasn't just Yukina. I'm afraid this matter has already spread throughout their circle. Kasumi, Kocai, Kokoro, Mashiro, and Ruijie are all staring at him.

It’s just that the luck of the band members who finished their performance was really bad this time. They didn’t expect to meet the strongest Roselia in the second round…

“It’s Roselia.” As a former musician, Xingge had certainly heard of this strongest band of the new generation.

Even Xingge had to admit that although she had been in the music industry much earlier than Roselia, in terms of achievements, her original band had not reached Roselia's level.

This also made Xingge start to worry about her sister... Can they really deal with such a powerful enemy that even her past self would tremble in fear?

Feeling uneasy, Xingge involuntarily cast her eyes towards the stage. At this moment, all her attention was taken away by Roselia, and no one was paying attention to the four girls...

“…It’s so noisy.”

On the other side, the lead singer of Roselia, Yukina Minato, who had long grey hair and was not tall but had a very cool aura, couldn't help but frowned amid the noise and sighed in a low voice.

"There's nothing I can do. I'm used to this kind of thing." Hikawa Sayo, who is much taller than Youxi and has beautiful green hair, also spoke to Youxi helplessly.

At the same time, she was also paying attention to the girls on the stage who were stunned by their appearance and were finishing the band. She couldn't help but frown and asked:

"Are they just going to end the band? But why does Xiao Qi seem to be gone?"

"Could it be... that Mizuki-san is playing a joke on us?" The youngest and shortest drummer with purple hair and twin ponytails, "Udagawa Ako", asked in surprise.

"...Shouldn't it be?" At this time, Lisa, who had long chestnut hair and a face as gentle as the Madonna, also speculated: "Maybe something happened to Xiaoqi? After all, he is a big star, it is normal for him to miss the selection."

"But, but...it seems that Xiaoqi also held a performance in Hanasaki River last week." Keyboardist Shirogane Rinko also answered this question in a soft voice.

“…I was underestimated.”

However, after gathering all the information, the captain, Yukina Minato, made her own judgment. She frowned and suddenly said:

"Xiao Qi, don't you think that just relying on these four people who finished the band, you can successfully advance to the next round of performances?"

Lisa: "Ah... My head hurts. Yukina seems to be getting serious."

Several friends who had known each other for a long time and had a tacit understanding quickly recognized the subtle change in Youxi's expression at this time. That was the prelude to her starting to get serious. This time, she might have to give it her all.

But, there is no other way...

Although it's not obvious on the surface, when Youxin heard the news from Mitake, she was so excited about the chance to fight with Koki that she couldn't control herself.

She had been looking forward to this fight for so long, but she didn't expect it to fail. With Yukina's personality, she would definitely be angry.

In the end, the commotion did not subside until the five girls from Roselia completely entered the backstage and the staff blocked the backstage entrance to prevent fans from passing through.

At this time, when all the audience's attention was once again focused on the four girls in the band's final performance on the stage, although they had regained the attention they deserved, they could all feel that what the audience was most looking forward to now was not their performance...

Roselia's arrival caught everyone off guard. In the panic, Kita forced himself to regain his rhythm, pretending that he was not affected at all, and said immediately:

"This time we are playing our new song! 'That Band'!"⑷

After that, Kita took a deep breath and forced himself to concentrate again. Pochi-chan, who reacted second, also plucked the strings again with full concentration.

Roselia? That's a real professional band, so cool!

However, the person I admire the most is now in the audience witnessing our performance.

I can't be afraid.

Hongxia has taken on so much pressure and wants us to grow up as quickly as possible. Senior Qi also expects us to grow into a real band, rather than a band that will collapse without him.

This time, I must also shoulder that responsibility!

"Pochi-chan..."

Offstage, Chen Qi, who could only be a spectator this time, also showed some surprise at Pochi-chan's transformation. He was worried that Roselia's appearance would overwhelm the already unconfident Pochi-chan.

But now it seems that Pochi-chan, Ryo and Kita are not frightened at all. Their cooperation this time is remarkable, which is a lot of improvement compared to the last time they played "Flying Boat".

The only one who was obviously affected... was Hongxia.

"Roselia, you've put a lot of pressure on Hongxia." Xingge looked at her sister who was obviously extremely nervous and almost messed up the drum beats several times, but still had to pretend to be calm. She couldn't help but reveal a look of pity and pity.

"I know she wants to grow, but if she is crushed by pressure first...it will be easy for her to fall into despair."

Chen Qi did not respond to this. He just stared quietly at the four girls on the stage until the new song, which he had not participated in, was finally finished with Pochi's equally stunning guitar solo today.

This time, the performance of the Ending Band was also met with warm applause. Even a small number of audience members who were originally just looking forward to Roselia were amazed by the performance of the Ending Band and gave them heartfelt praise.

Soon, the final number of votes for the band was announced, 497 votes.

With a total of 600 audience members, the performance of the band that received this number of votes can be said to be very good. They have surpassed the votes of all previous bands and won the highest number of votes so far.

⑷ However, no matter whether it was Hongxia, Liang, Kita and Bochi-chan, or Chen Qi and Xingge in the audience, no one showed much joy because of the number of votes.

Because they all know that the real "monster" is about to appear!

Temple: "Huh... This time, it shouldn't be a problem to advance, right?"

Behind the stage, Kita, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, couldn't help but say to everyone with relief.

But before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, on the other side, the five figures of Roselia walking towards them made their breathing pause again, and they couldn't help but focus their eyes on Youkina and others.

At the moment when the two bands passed by each other, Minato Yuki's cold and sharp eyes quickly swept over everyone who finished the band, and suddenly said calmly:

"...Not bad, huh?"

"At least, your performance and awareness are barely worthy of Qi's trust in you."

However, the next second, before Hongxia and the others could accept Yuki's words as a compliment, Yuki suddenly changed the subject and declared coldly:

"But you are still too immature, and there is still confusion in your performance."

"You are no match for Roselia. Let me show you our absolutely 'pure' performance."

After saying that, the pretentiously cool Minato Yuki strode towards the stage without even turning his head. Only Lisa gave an apologetic smile to the girls who had just finished their band performance before leaving, saying:

"I'm sorry, Youxi is just a picky person. She's in a bad mood today. Please don't be offended."

"However, we must take first place in this performance. We will not be defeated so easily before we meet Xiaoqi."

Lisa explained with good intentions, not realizing that her "kind translation" of Yukina's words still brought invisible pressure to the four girls.

Especially for Hongxia, whose performance this time was not perfect and even had flaws, when she heard the implicit words of Lisa and Youxi, and found that they still did not care about ending the band like Mitakeran, her heart couldn't help but tighten.

Qi...Why is everyone paying attention to Qi?

We've all tried so hard...but there's still no way to make up for such a huge gap?

If that's the case, when will we be able to fill this huge void, and when will my voice…when will it be able to reach my mother in heaven without the help of prayer?

Is my own strength so weak...

"...Hongxia, don't be sad."

Liang also noticed the expression of Hongxia beside him, who unconsciously pursed her lips and clenched her fists tightly to hold back tears. Liang's face also flashed a little panic, and he quickly supported Hongxia's body and said softly:

"We still have chances in the future. We haven't been eliminated yet. It's too early to give up."

“…Even if we are really eliminated, it is not easy for us to get here on our first charge into the martial arts hall. As long as we try again, we will definitely succeed next time.”

"…No, Ryo, that's not the reason."

However, under Liang's gentle consolation, Hong Xia, who for the first time revealed her deep-seated weakness under tremendous pressure, gently leaned against her good friend's body and whispered in a suppressed voice:

"I just... I hate myself right now."

"Qi has helped us so much, and I know that without Qi we would never have come this far..."

“But now…why am I so jealous of Qi in my heart? I’m jealous of the person who helped us get to where we are today and gave us the opportunity to step onto this stage that didn’t belong to us.”

"I... I really want to be like him, Liang... I really want to be like Qi."

"That way, I can realize my wish and I won't have to make my mother wait so long..."

2Hongxia, who was leaning gently on Liang's shoulder, could no longer suppress the strong sense of frustration in her heart under the silent gaze of Kita and Pochi-chan. Her tears gradually wet Liang's shoulder, and she sobbed and whispered:

9 "Liang... Am I... useless? Am I... holding everyone back?"

4 Liang: "...No, Hong Xia, we never felt that way, and I believe Qi would never think so either."

0 "You are too tired. You will be fine after a little rest. It will all pass."

4 Liang gently patted the frustrated Hong Xia on the back, and couldn't help but turn his gaze towards the stage.

3 There, Roselia's performance had already begun, but what Liang was thinking about was Chen Qi who should be in the audience at this time.

5 Before she knew it... Qi actually had such a special place in Hong Xia's heart? Qi was not there just once, and Hong Xia was crushed by the huge pressure. Was his existence already like a spiritual pillar for Hong Xia?

6 She originally thought that Pochi-chan, who had always worshipped Chen Qi like a god, was the one who would immediately degenerate into a paramecium once Chen Qi was gone...

4 But unexpectedly, Hong Xia is the one who most yearns for and even dreams of becoming Chen Qi?

Zhong Qi, you must not leave the band now...even if it's just for Hong Xia, you have to keep him.

But... Liang gently patted the junior Hongxia in his arms who was so depressed that he couldn't even comfort her. After some hesitation, he sighed silently and made up his mind.

Group "...Hongxia, I will help you find Chen Qi, don't worry."

: "I will never let him leave us. Even if we are considered by others to be a drag on him countless times, I will keep him with us even if I don't have the face to do so."

PS: The main event will begin tomorrow, and let’s get excited!

Volume 168: Chapter 167 Chapter : Liang's heart is moved again, and Aiyin is recovered

"I should say, you are worthy of being Roselia. Every time you step on the stage, you are better than the last time."

Offstage, Chen Qi silently watched the wonderful performances given by the five girls of Roselia, as well as the enthusiasm and excitement shown by the audience, which was completely different from the previous band performances, and he sighed unconsciously.

The song Roselia performed this time was "LOUDER", a song from the early days of their band.

This song is definitely a classic for Roselia fans, and it received the enthusiastic response it deserved thanks to the usual high-level performance of Yukina Minato and her friends.

Especially this time, You Xina, as the lead singer, performed even harder than Chen Qi remembered, even close to breaking her voice at one point. Several difficult high notes made Chen Qi's scalp tingle.

"As expected, this is a song that was created when Yukina's father was most passionate. Now that Yukina has no more doubts, can he sing his father's song to the fullest?"

"…But why did Youxi work so hard this time? It felt like the veins in her throat were popping out from singing. Was it necessary for her to be so hard on herself this time?"

For some reason, Chen Qi felt a little uneasy when he looked at Youxina, who was burning with self-consciousness and whose throat could be vaguely seen trembling and sweating even under the dim lights on the stage...

Yukina, you're not that angry just because you didn't snipe me, right?

"…Do you know Minato Yukina-senpai? Inori."