Mygo, the band legend of Tokyo handsome guy

It sounds like Lena is quite familiar with them.

Lenai's protruding tongue retracted, and she became timid and hesitant.

"Haha... Alright, Toyama, go out first, and take Rakuna with you."

Du Zhushi raised his hand in a gesture of greeting.

Kasumi Toyama stuck out her tongue, raised her hand in an OK gesture, waved to Rakuna Kaname, and the two of them quickly retreated, closing the door with a click.

The sound of the door lock closing was rather loud in the room.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Shisen Tsuzuki turned to look at Shoko Toyokawa, his gaze steady: "You're the pianist Mofonica found, right? Your piano skills are very solid. The girls just do whatever they want, I'm sorry to have put you through that."

Toyokawa Shoko lowered her eyelashes and shook her head slightly: "How could this be..."

"Heh." Tsuzuki Shisen glanced at the mask on Toyokawa Shoko's face, waved his hand as if it were just a casual remark, and then his gaze fell on Narusawa Kaede.

"You're SickHack's guitar, right?"

Mingze Feng had just nodded when she continued, "Your bassist... has a very unique style. This competition is yours."

"what?"

Mingze Feng paused for half a second, blinked, and was completely bewildered: "Wait, wait a minute, isn't this just the preliminary round?"

Tsuzuki Shisen looked at him with a half-smile, and said in a gentle tone, "This is the final."

Naruzawa Maple: "?"

"There should have been one more round, but in the final where only one of the two teams could advance, Team M couldn't make it, and the investors were unhappy, so the competition format was changed at the last minute... Hah."

Shisen Tsuzuki leaned against the table, a hint of barely perceptible sarcasm in his voice: "Several parents and directors from Tsukimori approached the organizers and used the money meant for holding two more competitions to have the votes counted directly from now on. Team M is now in third place."

Toyokawa Shoko's throat bobbed, "Could it be that..."

Du Zhu Shichuan: "...If you can gain attention, traffic, and money by taking off this mask, then who would want to wear it?"

She paused, her gaze shifting from Narusawa Kaede to Toyokawa Shoko: "Moreover, many people have never realized these things, and never even considered wearing a mask from the beginning."

"Of course, it's not their fault. People who have done their best are not wrong. Everyone has their blind spots."

"..."

Mingze Feng unconsciously rubbed his index finger.

He'd seen this kind of thing before. But every time he heard about it, he still felt disgusted.

In addition, he remained silent because he could see the attitudes of the other two people present.

Toyokawa Shoko was merely a spectator; in this farcical competition, she was simply a mercenary paid to do her bidding.

The bigger question is, why did Shifune Tsuzuki tell us all this... or rather, what does she want us to do...?

Ming Zefeng withdrew his gaze and nodded to himself: That's right, he had thought the same thing just now.

Toyokawa Shoko glanced over almost imperceptibly, reminding Narusawa Kaede to be careful.

Mingze Feng met her gaze, nodded, and tacitly confirmed each other's thoughts; there was indeed something strange about this matter.

Tsuzuki Shisen must have something he wants the two of them to do.

Toyokawa Shoko stood to the side, her back ramrod straight, her gaze fixed on Tsuzuki Shisen's face, trying to discern the deeper meaning in her words.

The atmosphere in the room gradually became quiet, as if even time had stopped.

In the silence, a sense of oppression was spreading, as if thunder was brewing.

That's the Tsuzuki Poetry Ship, and it's angry.

Naruzawa Kaede was able to understand this emotion even better than Toyokawa Shoko.

If he were a few years younger, he would have definitely torn this store down.

Although she didn't utter a single angry word and even smiled as she spoke to the two of them, Tsuzuki Shisen was now chatting with them with suppressed anger.

Silence is empty and meaningless.

The most strategically minded people could no longer wait.

Shifune Tsuzuki glanced at Roselia's performance schedule; some things needed to be said soon enough. She looked at Shoko Toyokawa and asked, "Your mask..."

The simplest way is to use even greater capital to crush the capital that breaks the rules.

Zhu Shichuan has no idea how powerful oblivionis is. But sometimes, the inability to find out about it means it might be incredibly powerful.

Toyokawa Shoko didn't answer; she simply shook her head.

She could be Oblivionis, she could be Xiangzi, but she wouldn't be the eldest daughter of the Toyokawa family. Xiangzi put on the mask and started from scratch; what would happen if she took it off now?

This is a separate price.

The two foxes, one big and one small, looked at each other.

Shisen Tsuzuki laughed; she was quite certain what Toyokawa Shoko's look meant.

That means the compensation isn't attractive enough, but the deal is negotiable.

Tsuzuki Shisen said, "Since it's a matter of music, let's decide the winner with music."

Oblivionis and Mingze Feng's skills are evident to all.

Toyokawa Shoko frowned, as if pondering the subtext of her words, but Tsuzuki Shifune continued, "You two, form a band and take third place."

Mingze Feng blinked. This really did seem like an idea that a rock musician would come up with. He was a man of few words, but a truly ruthless one.

There are many bands in Ring who can do this. For example, the PP group made up of store staff completely blows M-group out of the water.

But not every musician can afford to offend music festival sponsors like this.

In comparison, it might be easier to complete the mission with a sniper rifle.

"I did it!"

Mingze Feng did not hesitate; he enjoyed this kind of adventure.

"You!" Toyokawa Shoko tugged at Narusawa Kaede and quickly said, "This isn't how you do things."

"To be honest, I'm a little itchy, and it's hard for me to resist."

"At least wait until I've finished negotiating the compensation..." Toyokawa Shoko muttered. She just couldn't do anything about Narusawa Kaede; she couldn't dislike his stubbornness either.

Du built a poetry boat: "It doesn't matter, we won't mistreat you."

“Okay…” Toyokawa Shoko gritted her teeth, “I have one more request—that cat, that Rana, must come up with us.”

Toyokawa Shoko had seen that guy's guitar solo; his technique was quite good.

Most importantly, only by getting Kaname to join can we effectively bind Tsuzuki Shisen to the war effort, rather than just making a verbal agreement like Nuwa coaxing Daji.

Tsuzuki Shisen nodded in agreement, having anticipated this.

"Then it's settled. Let's get started now."

After saying this, Du Zhushi's expression turned serious.

“I’ll find you a drummer, with Lena as the backing vocalist, and my favorite bassist is also in the ring. I’ll organize the gathering and the only rehearsal in thirty minutes, and Roselia and Toyama will handle the stage. I’ll take care of the music.”

Du Zhu Shi Chuan said in a deep voice, "Code name: Break the cauldrons and sink the boats, take action!"

They quickly moved to the rehearsal room, where Narusawa Kaede and Toyokawa Shoko had already overcome the awkwardness that had arisen from not seeing each other for so long. They were currently pinching each other's cheeks, with Toyokawa Shoko playfully scolding Narusawa Kaede for agreeing so quickly.

This is not how business negotiations are conducted, Toyokawa Shoko emphasized again.

Naruzawa Kaede: "Actually, I wanted to go on stage with you, Shoko..."

Toyokawa Shoko: "...So cheesy."

Shoko Toyokawa brushed a blush from behind her ear, then turned around and pressed the electric piano keys one by one.

Ring's rehearsal room was fully equipped, and Shifune Tsuzuki was quick to find people.

Before Toyokawa Shoko and Narusawa Kaede could exchange more than a few words and finish setting up their equipment, the new bassist and drummer arrived.

But as Tsuzuki Shisen said at the beginning, they didn't have much time left, only... twenty minutes.

......

When Kasumi Toyama received the notification that she could start preparing, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just now, to calm the fluctuating morale, she had even given a heartfelt performance.

At that moment, she took out an instruction card and temporarily took on the role of host.

"Shiina Maki is said to be the head of the Tsukimori String Club, a regional award winner, and the temporary bassist. Yamato Maya... is the drummer, very experienced, and supposedly knows a little bit of everything."

"The only two guitarists are Mingze Feng, from the band SickHack, who has been practicing guitar for half a year and has already learned to sing, dance and play basketball. The other is Yao Le Nai, who recently picked up the guitar and often performs on Ring, with no experience on stage."

"Keyboardist oblivionis rose to prominence a month ago, officially debuting at the Tokyo International Piano Competition. As a keyboardist and vocalist, he has appeared in various livehouses and has already accumulated considerable popularity!"

Chapter Seventeen: The Fastest Team Death in History, Naruzawa Kaede's Charm Skill, and Tsuzuki Shisen's Approval

Only five people remained in the rehearsal room. Tsuzuki Shisen seemed to trust them completely, leaving behind a few full scores before instructing them to practice diligently while she went to handle other matters. She said someone would come to call them in thirty minutes.

When the drums start playing, everyone loses their place in the sound.

The drumsticks struck the edge of the snare drum heavily.

Yamato Maya's bangs flew up in front of her forehead, then slapped down with sweat. She glanced at the countdown on her phone, "Eighteen minutes left."

Yamato Maya stopped drumming, and the voices of the crowd suddenly became prominent.

"Eighteen minutes left!" Yamato Maya shouted again, glanced at the bassist over there, and then yelled to the crowd, "If you can't remember the chords, I can improvise!"

"I remember!"

Shiina Maki rubbed her hands, smacked her lips, and for a moment regretted taking on this task from Boss Tsuzuki.

Tsuzuki Shisen arranged two pieces for them, adapted from "Croatian Rhapsody No. 2" and "Moonlight Sonata No. 3," respectively. She could recognize them at a glance, and memorizing the scores was not difficult.

But memorizing sheet music and being able to play it are two different things.

The melody and harmony are so complex that they require rapid switching between different chords, with dynamic changes one after another. A gentle touch is followed by a powerful burst, which requires precise control of dynamics and timbre.

The sheet music is easy to remember, but the speed at which it's played makes the bassist's hands cramp up; it's so difficult that it takes thirty minutes to wear down both hands.

Maki Shiina has a certain level of skill, but this...

[And this arpeggio with ten fingers... it can be played, but...]

Shiina Maki glanced at Tsuzuki Shisen's granddaughter out of the corner of her eye.

A girl who is 1.5 meters tall, carrying a guitar, plays it out without showing any signs of fatigue.

It's one thing that the prodigy girl in Ring is like this, but the other guitarist also seems to be easily defeated.

Let's not even talk about those two weirdos.

Speaking of the masked keyboardist, Shiina Maki felt she looked familiar, but couldn't quite place her. The only thing to say is... her piano keys were incredibly steady.

Moreover, from the moment they met until now, this masked woman has never even shown her her face.

Shiina Maki had never been treated like this before.

...None of the three people mentioned above are normal people.

Shiina Maki glanced at the beads of sweat dripping down Yamato Maya's forehead. If there hadn't been another normal person here who was just as exhausted as she was, Shiina Maki really wouldn't have been able to hold on any longer.

Before entering this door, Shiina Maki was the renowned Shiina Captain, famous throughout Tsuki no Mori; upon entering, Shiina Maki naturally took over the responsibility of bass; after entering, Shiina Maki discovered...

A genius might just be able to see the threshold of these guys.

Shiina Maki had a fleeting thought: did her tsundere younger sister look at her with the same sense of awe and disbelief she felt towards these guys...?

Although bass wasn't her specialty, and she had her own areas of expertise that were no less impressive than these other players, this sense of frustration naturally led to confusion and disarray in her playing...

Distracted...

When noise pierces the melody.

A discordant melody resounded in everyone's ears.

The drumsticks froze in mid-air, and the piano was pressed two or three more times.

Naruzawa Kaede's guitar playing was mediocre at best; the only sound in the room was Yoru Nai's guitar playing.

“My mistake,” Shiina Maki said coldly, her face turning ashen. “Continue.”