Teacher Daxiang, let’s form a lifelong band!

"Well, it's me."

"Wow, I was thinking it was Anon-chan, I looked a lot like him before!"

"And the admission list for the University of Tokyo, you're one of the top students in the Art Department, right?!"

"Yep."

"Wow!"

The two girls cast envious glances at Chihaya Aine, and feeling these glances, a smug smile appeared on Chihaya Aine's face.

"Anon-chan, you're amazing."

"Yeah, it's Anon-chan as expected, you're really amazing, you play in the band so well, and you even got admitted to the University of Tokyo! By the way, Anon-chan, do you have time now? We just decided to attend a junior high school class reunion, can you come with us? Everyone wants to hear your story, okay?"

"Mygo!!!!! I have a performance tomorrow and I need to go check the venue now."

"Eh? What's there to inspect at the venue, Anon-chan? The people at the party are all our friends from junior high school. The student council members are all here too. Come on, Anon-chan, you're doing so well these days, and everyone wants to hear about your life."

......

You returned home and, as you told your girlfriend, you have a solo performance tomorrow. As the only male member of the band, you have a lot to do, so you need to rest well today.

"Brother, the performance is tomorrow, right?" You returned home and saw your sister waiting for you.

"Yes, tomorrow."

[“It will be very busy, do you need my help?”]

"No need. Actually, everything is almost ready. Just wait for you to come to the concert tomorrow evening."

"Got it, Onii-sama. How are the tickets selling?"

"Soyo said it's selling pretty well."

"That's good, Onii-sama. I'll bring a few more friends to watch tomorrow."

"Thank you, Lian."

"By the way, Brother, how is your relationship with Anon going?"

"It's still the same. Wait until I win the award. Then I'll propose marriage."

"It's almost time, I see. Onii-sama, please go to bed early."

"Okay, I'll go rest now."

"Good night, my brother."

"Good night, Lian."

You slept soundly and had a wonderful dream. In your dream, your work won both the Akutagawa Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Then you became famous overnight, gaining both fame and fortune. Meanwhile, your band was also doing well, and your solo performances were a huge success. Then, with everyone's blessing, you married your beloved, and you lived a wonderful life together until old age.

You opened your eyes and it was daybreak. You sat up from the bed. Today was mygo!!!!!'s independent performance, and you gathered your energy.

There are many things to prepare for your independent performance. You get up, wash up, get ready, change into a new set of clean clothes, and start your busy day.

Pre-performance preparations, rehearsals, and shopping for items that needed to be purchased that day—you were busy as a top that day. Of course, the rest of the mygo!!!!! crew was just as busy as you. It was in this atmosphere that night fell, and mygo!!!!!'s first solo performance officially began.

The performance went very smoothly. It's been a full year since we formed the band, and you've practiced every song countless times. With skills ingrained in you, you can't go wrong.

Amidst the audience's applause, you concluded mygo!!!!'s first solo performance. It was a truly flawless performance, with each of you giving your all. The applause was thunderous, and everyone in the audience was energized by you. As the audience cheered for an encore, you knew you had successfully taken your first step into the professional world.

[After the performance, the five of you stood in the center of the stage, holding hands and bowing to the audience.]

Your attention-seeking girlfriend took the microphone and started talking to the audience.

"Thank you so much for coming to our concert, Arigato. We will come back to you in the future..."

[However, just as she was smiling and about to talk to the audience about the future, suddenly, some strange sounds came from above their heads.]

As a highly professional thief, even with the audience cheering, you still accurately captured the source of the strange sound. You looked up and saw a chandelier that was dangling precariously, hanging right above Chihaya Aine's head. At this moment, no one else noticed except you.

[Seeing this situation, you made a decision almost instantly. Without any hesitation, you took off and jumped!]

[Accident? Now You See Me's reaction speed is 114514 times faster than a human's. In front of you, let alone a chandelier, even a falling ceiling wouldn't be a problem for you.]

You snorted coldly.

【Step over me and talk about the future! 】

A huge noise echoed throughout the venue, and you heard panicked cries. It seemed that besides the stage, some people in the audience were also hit.

[Looking at the somewhat chaotic situation at the scene, you narrowed your eyes. This chandelier, it seems a bit too coincidental...]

......

"Brother, you haven't had a good rest for several days. Let me take over today."

In the quiet ward, Lian sat beside the bed and looked at her brother, feeling a little distressed.

"..."

As if he didn't hear Lian's words, Lu Li didn't react at all. He didn't even look at Lian. Lu Li's eyes stayed on the person on the bed from beginning to end.

"anon."

"Brother, Sister Anon is fine. The doctor said that the chandelier didn't hit Sister Anon. She is probably in a coma because of shock."

"I know." Lu Li nodded.

Of course Lu Li knew Chihaya Aine's situation. Such a big chandelier almost hit her. Any normal person would be scared, let alone a girl who just graduated from high school.

"Lian, I'm thinking about something." Lu Li's voice was a little cold.

"whats the matter?"

"The venue lessor for this performance said they had inspected the venue multiple times. How could the chandelier possibly fall? And the timing of the fall was too coincidental. Although there is always a coincidence, we are in reality now, not writing a book, so I think there is a problem."

"Brother, what do you mean..."

"It's not interesting. That's a story for later. Let's solve the current situation first."

At this moment, the door of the ward was pushed open and a middle-aged woman wearing a white mask walked in. Judging from her dress, she was a doctor.

As soon as she entered the ward, the middle-aged woman asked, "Which of you is the family member of the patient Chihaya Aine?"

"I am. I'm her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? Where are her parents or other immediate family members?"

"Just left."

"I see." Upon hearing this, the doctor nodded. "Boyfriend is fine. The patient is fine. He has some minor scratches and has temporarily fallen into a coma due to excessive shock. According to our estimation, he will wake up tonight or tomorrow. Then you can prepare for discharge. Now, please come with me to handle the relevant incidents."

"Yeah." Lu Li nodded.

"Lian, I'll go with the doctor to deal with Anon's matter. Can you help check on Anon's condition..."

"I understand." Lian nodded slightly.

Following the doctor, Lu Li came to an office. After entering the office, the doctor explained Chihaya Aine's condition and some matters after discharge from the hospital. Then, the doctor spoke.

"I heard that you saved your girlfriend? You noticed something unusual in that situation, and then you practically jumped up and kicked the chandelier away?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious how you did it."

"Exercise more and eat more sea cucumbers, so you won't be outplayed 7-0, and then you can kick the chandelier away at the crucial moment."

“…” The doctor was speechless.

"I really hope you're not being sarcastic. Seriously, I'm surprised by your physical fitness. Are you interested in participating in some medical experiments? There's a hefty reward for that."

"No, I don't need money."

"I think you will be short of money next." The doctor sighed.

"why?"

"You know those patients who came in with you, right? I heard you're a band? Something happened during the performance, right? You're really amazing, using the best solution to save your girlfriend in that situation, but the other patients weren't so lucky..."

"what's the situation?"

"Don't you know? Yeah, I see you've been guarding your girlfriend here the whole time. Those in the other wards are your band members, right? They probably didn't tell you that the conditions of those patients are pretty serious. While not life-threatening, they're mostly severely injured, and a few even have broken bones."

"Oh...thank you, but why would a regular hospital like yours have medical experiments?"

"Why not? Everyone is making progress. There are many people in the world who want to study a superhuman like you. Are you interested? The reward is negotiable.

......

【An accident occurred during the performance and the chandelier fell.】

【Luckily, thanks to you, Chihaya Aine was not hurt. 】

Unfortunately, even Now You See Me can't solve all the problems by itself, and the falling chandelier still hits several spectators.

"No need for that. Instead of studying me, why don't you go to South Korea and capture a 28-year-old mid laner who's still a dragon? And see what his body structure is like. He's much better than me."

After rejecting the doctor's invitation to participate in the medical experiment, you approached the band members: "Deng, Lixi, how are the injured audience members doing?"

[“It’s okay.” Shiina Riki said this, but you can tell from her expression that the situation is probably not as good as hers.]

"Don't hide it, I'm also a member of the band. Those audience members must be in a bad situation, right?"

"Well... everyone's very angry..." Takamatsu Deng's voice was a little low.

"It's normal to be angry. Anyone would get angry if they encountered something like this," you consoled him.

"But...everyone is really, really angry..."

"Tomori, that's not our fault at all. Things like venue inspections are the responsibility of the venue's lessor. We're just the lessors. How can we possibly control the venue?" Seeing Takamatsu Deng's expression, Shiina Riki started yelling, "If you want to scold someone, go scold the venue manager. What's wrong with us? We're clearly victims too!"

You sighed, "Lixi, calm down. This isn't what you think. In the eyes of the audience, we're all in this together with the venue's management. They won't separate us. There's nothing we can do about it."

"But they're saying it's all our fault? It's really frustrating. We've apologized, and we've been spending most of the last few days with them. We've done everything we can to make amends, but they're still saying it's the lights' fault..."

Shiina Riki is being a bit stubborn, but you know she's not trying to shirk responsibility. She's just been a bit overwhelmed by the abuse Takamatsu Touma received from the injured audience's family. This kind of thing is hard on everyone, and we can only say we've been dealt with. You're also victims, but you're also one of the organizers, so you have to shoulder the responsibility.

"Deng, let me ask you a question. Have you reached an agreement on compensation?"

[Knowing that Shiina Riki wanted to protect Deng, you didn't argue. You were more concerned about the next step.]

"Well... the venue manager has covered most of the expenses, so there's no problem at the moment, but..."

"But financial compensation alone isn't enough, is it?" you retorted.

[“Hmm…” Gao Songdeng nodded palely.]

You might have expected this answer. It's normal for the audience to ask you for compensation. Although the organizers have tried their best to compensate, it's only financial. Financial compensation isn't enough for an accident. After all, you're a band. Even if an accident occurred during your debut performance, even if it's not your fault, you still need to explain.

This is what is called an unexpected disaster.

You glanced at Takamatsu Deng and said, "Deng, if there are any financial issues or you don't have enough money, please tell me."

【"Huh?!" Gao Songdeng didn't quite understand what you meant. 】

"Although the incident is over, the follow-up process has just begun. The subsequent public opinion will be very unfavorable to us. In addition to the compensation given by the venue management, we should also prepare compensation for the injured audience members. We must find a way to get them to side with us. We don't ask them to excuse us, but at least we can't let them resent us."

[“…” Hearing your words, Takamatsu Deng was silent for a moment: “W-Will it cost a lot?”]

"I'm not sure how much it'll cost, but no matter how much, I don't think you can come up with it. This is our band's business, and we can't ask your parents to pay for it. So if you need money, just come to me."

"Where did you get the money?" Shiina Riki couldn't help but ask.

"I just won a prize and got some bonus."

Then, you told me about winning the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize. It turns out that during your time in the hospital, your work was selected as the winner of this year's Akutagawa Ryunosuke Literature Prize, and was also nominated as a candidate for this year's Nobel Prize in Literature.

"Should I say congratulations now?" Shiina Riki sighed.

【"Congratulations..." Gao Songdeng said.】

"Let's talk about celebrating after this is over. Deng, Lixi, I'll leave the injured spectators to you. I need to be busy with other things these next few days."

[“What’s going on?”]

"Regarding this accident, I'm thinking, this accident is a bit too coincidental, I think..."

"What do you think?"

“It’s hard to say what the specific situation is, but based on my feeling, I feel that there is a problem…”

Chapter 222: Ending (Revised Version, Free)