Zongman: Kulaixiku, resurrection!

"Mana..."

The corridor of the staff passage was too quiet. The flashing fluorescent green safety light pointed to the stairs leading to the stage. The dim corridor made it almost impossible for Chuhua to see Mana's expression. Only the regular and slow-paced footsteps indicated that Mana was still willing to pay attention to Chuhua.

The dressing room was at another corner of the last intersection. Xiangzi and Su Shi chose to go ahead and find a suitable performance costume to cope with this live performance which was a bit sudden for them. Chuhua chose to follow Mana who was just moving forward but didn't know where to go.

Unable to bear the atmosphere of being ignored by his good partner, Chuhua quickened his pace and stopped Mana, who was walking forward in silence. Her lifeless brown eyes met Chuhua's gaze, making the latter feel somewhat panicked and guilty.

"Mana, are you angry? Will it make you feel better if I apologize?"

It seemed like Chuhua was saying some nonsense, but Mana just smiled and waved her hands. Her usually gentle and sunny smile now looked a little scary to Chuhua. Was Mana actually very angry?

"No, what are you thinking about, Hatsuka-chan? Why am I angry?"

"because……"

Chuhua found that he seemed unable to speak. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his head humbly. He did not give way, but just stood quietly in front of Mana.

"I am indeed very angry." Mana clapped her hands lightly. The sound-activated lights in the corridor lit up instantly after receiving enough decibels. The expression on Mana's face finally became visible...

...are tears.

"I'm a bit selfish, too. I possess all those things, like possessiveness and control, that don't sound good."

"Why did Chuhua leave Xiangzi and me to go home? Why didn't Chuhua pay more attention to me? Why couldn't Chuhua look at Xiangzi less and look at me more... I had these thoughts too, but I just hid them."

"I'm not as perfect as everyone thinks. I'm actually the most selfish person in the world. I'm very selfish right now... I just want a hug from Chuhua."

As she spoke, Mana, with tears as big as beans gradually filling her face, trembled a little as she opened her arms towards Chuhua, who was completely speechless. But when Chuhua slowly walked to her, she withdrew her arms.

"I'm sorry... Chuhua, I'm too selfish. Please forgive me."

"There's nothing selfish about it. I was just too ignorant and didn't consider your feelings..."

Chu Hua wanted to say something more, but was immediately silenced by the contract agreement that Mana took out. The big words "Withdrawal and Termination of Contract" at the beginning made Chu Hua's heart churn like a storm.

"The band has been out of money for a long time. After this Budokan live, the funding chain will be completely broken... Doctor and Xiangzi's families are rich, so I have already sold my contract to them. Otherwise, this performance probably wouldn't be possible, hehe~"

I have money. I have 6 million yen that my mother gave me. I can ask the doctor to return you to us. Ave Mujica doesn't need to disband at all.

Chu Hua couldn't say such words at all, because the name on it was not the doctor's, but a firm that he had never seen in the industry. The doctor probably just had an angel investment contract to lend money in exchange for future profits.

Was it just Mana who was asked to sign this unreasonable transfer contract, or did everyone do it?

Chu Hua would rather be the latter. At worst, he could just run away and join in.

So the two of them just remained silent. Finally, Chuhua leaned Mana's head on his shoulder, and the latter did not resist. The two of them warmed each other, but their hearts were cold.

……

The good news is that, excluding those who have not appeared in front of Kashiwa Miki yet, everyone's contracts are complete, so if nothing unexpected happens, everyone will have to work for that little bastard Toyokawa Shoko and her family for two years.

Even Su Shi and Xiangzi, who had just returned from a long journey and hadn't had a chance to drink a sip of water, did the same without much hesitation when they heard that everyone, including the doctor, had signed their respective economic contracts. Wouldn't it be nice to be colleagues with everyone?

As for Hai Ling, she was indeed not used to this kind of contract worker life that put her on a leash. Even when she was at Ave Mujica Office, it was not this kind of on-and-off contract. But since the doctor was there, it didn't matter if she gave it a try.

Miao Mengqin was probably tired of being poor, so after bargaining with the old man for a while, he raised the salary to 300,000 yen, and then signed and handed it over to Hong Xia quite decisively.

Even Xiaomu and Zhizhi, who arrived late, hesitated for a moment before joining. The former adhered to the principle of "wherever the doctor is, I am there", while the latter just saw that everyone in the Assassin Group was kidnapped by the gravity lamp and he couldn't go solo, so he worked with Taoxiang and the others.

"Now the only one missing should be Chuhua, right?"

Kashiwa Sanhui covered his nose in annoyance. The smells in this locker room were simply too complex. There was the sweat left behind by Aine and Deng after running for ten minutes in thick clothes in the middle of winter, the scent of Meow Mengqin's makeup, the smell of the sea on Su Shi and Xiangzi, the smell of disinfectant and damp closets left behind by Ichiri never changing his gym clothes, the smell of Lenai's matcha parfait, and the uniquely rich, oily sauce of hamburger patties...

Oh my God, I will never be able to enter the laboratory with a good nose in this life. I am really sorry to my younger classmates, your external paper plug-in is gone.

Hongxia and Baihe Sanhui leaned against the door frame. The two managers looked at the noisy people in the locker room with some sadness, and thought about the future with some melancholy.

"Hongxia, how far do you think we can go?"

"If it were just our band, I don't know... but now that we have so many people helping us, we can definitely keep going."

"I didn't ask about your band. I was asking about us—just like Deng said, can we all be good friends for life?"

"I thought you were an adult, so you wouldn't think that a lifetime is something you can achieve. I didn't expect the doctor to be so idealistic."

"I think I can definitely outlive you guys, so a lifetime or something is definitely possible—"

"Ouch... Doctor!"

Baihe Sanhui's knife attack made Hongxia realize who is the boss of this family. Seeing that Hongxia, the big mother who usually controls everything, was rarely humiliated and got angry at him in a very spoiled way, Baihe Sanhui turned his head and laughed secretly.

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps coming from far away. Chu Hua, with tears on his face and panting, rushed in and was looking for something like crazy in front of the stunned crowd.

"The original... the original contract must be there, right? Doctor, can you tell me where it is?"

This is an unprecedented reaction. I have seen people sign contracts immediately and people hesitate, but I have never seen anyone so eager to sell himself to Xiangzi.

Baihe Sanhui quickly signaled with his eyes that Hongxia should quickly give a contract to Kuangbao Chuhua. If it was any later, everyone would probably be torn to pieces by this girl.

"Um...Chuhua, the contract is here."

Hong Xia carefully handed over the contract, carefully took the contract with Chu Hua's name written almost wildly, carefully helped Chu Hua up who suddenly collapsed against the wall, and then carefully put this last contract back into the suitcase.

"That's great... Mana, Ave Mujica hasn't disbanded, we're all together..."

What a strange development.

But it’s great that no girl in the band was hurt in this live performance, and everyone lived happily together... What a weird fairy tale unfolding?

But Hongxia likes it very much.

(End with flowers)

……

Well, listen to my explanation. I really didn’t mean to have a bad ending. In fact, I had a reason (reaching an agreement - extremely difficult).

One reason is that I won’t be able to update for about a month due to academic matters. By then, I’ll definitely be out of ideas... Well, I already have no ideas now (laughs).

The second one is the same as the previous one. The Hen in the Grooves is indeed a stage where fate is unpredictable. Episode after episode of the band's mud truck has shattered my ideas. Revising the outline three or four times within two weeks has already exhausted my patience and desire to create.

Although a lot of foreshadowings were not resolved and the ending was quite forced, it was Shushu's first novel after all, and I will remember it for the rest of my life.

Of course, this doesn't mean I won't continue writing band novels. After I finish my studies, I'll reflect on the mistakes I made in this novel. I'll probably start writing the next novel around mid-May or June this year at the latest. I hope you all will support me then...

Rat will come back!

(April 20, 2025, by a shrew who was driven crazy by the school's experimental projects that forced students into the laboratory starting in their sophomore year.)