How can my simulation be a real love?

Kazami Mei slowly raised her eyes and quickly scanned the audience from her high vantage point.

A cluster of incredibly beautiful cherry blossom pink hair outside the crowd immediately caught his attention.

Chihaya Aine, standing at the very back, also had an excited smile on her face. She opened her small mouth to reveal her cute little tiger teeth and waved vigorously in this direction along with the other Mygo members.

"Ok?"

It was only then that he suddenly noticed that Brother Lixi had also come.

Standing next to Ms. Aine, Shiina Ritsuki crossed her arms and adopted a rather indifferent posture, but her incredibly sharp, light purple eyes were still fixed on him on the stage, as if she would be tortured if she asked a question.

As for Miss Suze, she smiled gently and waved to him as always, her face showing no sign of what had happened yesterday. Seeing her like this, Kazami Naruto felt much more at ease.

"Then please listen to our original song—'Guitar, Loneliness, and the Blue Planet'!"

As Kita tried to warm up the crowd with a few words, Nijika, sitting at the back, squeezed her drumsticks tightly, her hands trembling slightly.

bang bang-

The stage lights suddenly went out, and the moment they came back on, the sound of several instruments playing together immediately began.

Without the 'No. 5 paper bag' on his back, Goto Ichiri slowly lowered his head and began to rapidly sweep the plectrum up and down the strings with his right hand, immediately displaying a steady melody in the intro of the song.

Kazami Mei's beautiful and melodious keyboard sounds blend seamlessly into the roar of the guitar, while the timing of the bass and drum beats is also very precise. There were almost no problems at the beginning of the song!

Even the most nervous Kita only had a slight tremor in his voice.

"sharp……"

Takamatsu Todori, sitting in the audience, stared blankly at the performance on stage.

Kita Ikuyo, the lead vocalist, was a complete newcomer performing on stage for the first time, yet she was able to sing her own voice without any stage fright. Even Aine, who was standing next to her, opened her mouth in surprise.

She knew that Kita would secretly compete with her during guitar practice, but she never expected that Kita would actually be secretly competing with her, singing and playing so steadily at the same time!

"..."

Kazami Mei still showed no signs of letting up.

His slender hands danced lightly on the electronic keyboard, while his calm, water-like gaze observed his surroundings.

Kita's voice was still trembling slightly, but the guitar played without any problems.

Although guitar fingering techniques cannot be mastered overnight, she had already trained intensively with Chihaya Aine for a long time, and she must have also been secretly training on her own.

Even though it was her first time on stage as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Kita's guitar playing was flawless.

The audience members below the stage also began to notice the excellence of the song. Some people who were chatting quietly stopped talking and began to listen to the song attentively.

"It's full of feet... Who is it?"

However, just as the song entered its most exciting part, perhaps due to the tension and nervousness, Kita Ikuyo, as the lead singer, clearly took a beat too far in terms of rhythm.

Realizing that his breathing was unstable, Kita immediately tried to return to his original rhythm.

However, Nijika, the drummer who is most sensitive to rhythm, followed Kita's rhythm and sped up her own drumbeat a beat, probably intending to help Kita change the rhythm.

One side wants to speed up the pace, while the other tries to slow it down.

This will naturally lead to a disruption of the rhythm on both sides.

Ms. Yamada, who was already prone to getting lost in her own performance, frowned. As the bassist, who was supposed to play along with the drums, was also affected by the disordered drumbeats, she could only continue playing according to her own rhythm.

The fact that there were problems in all three positions immediately made the flaws in this performance extremely obvious.

"Isn't it a bit chaotic?"

Chihaya Aine spoke with a hint of doubt in her eyes.

Feeling a little strange, she slowly turned her head to look at her side. She saw that Su Shi's smile seemed to have become more tense, and even Le Nai, who was holding a matcha parfait, stopped what she was doing and looked up.

there is a problem.

Even Aine, who knows the least about music, noticed something was wrong. Not to mention Shiina Tatsuki, the drummer who is most sensitive to rhythm. She immediately realized that there was a problem with the whole piece, but she just kept a cold face and didn't say anything.

The drum kit is the rhythmic core of a piece of music, and this is the part that cannot afford to have any problems.

"There was some degree of chaos, including with the bass, drums, and guitar."

A familiar voice suddenly came from beside him, and Shiina Riki was clearly stunned for a second before turning his head to look.

"Hailing?"

Suddenly, Hachiman Kairin, carrying a bass box in her right hand, appeared calmly standing beside them.

Judging from her demeanor, Shiina Ritsuki probably guessed what was going on. She was probably at STARRY as a 'mercenary' to work, likely to help one of the bands perform today.

However, no one had time to greet Hachiman Kairin, who had suddenly appeared, because the rhythm on stage seemed to be heading in a direction that was getting out of control.

"Ming..."

Takamatsu Akari gripped the hem of her skirt with worry in her eyes, her gaze fixed on Kazami Mei.

What happened...

The electronic keyboard in Kazami Mei's hands remained at the original speed.

However, the simultaneous mistakes around them caused the rhythm of the entire song to become a complete mess. Even though Pochi was desperately plucking the strings to try to help everyone adjust, the effect was minimal.

It's clear that what a guitar can do now is simply not enough.

Kazami Mei seemed to feel that the surrounding air had quieted down, with the low, muffled bass and the piercing electronic roar of the guitar constantly filling her ears. The somber atmosphere made the air seem to solidify.

The role of a keyboardist is to polish the songs played by the band.

The keyboard's rich timbre and wide range can make a song more perfect. Although the lead vocals are usually on the guitar, keyboardist Kazami Mei doesn't think that's all he needs to do.

He has always felt that he needs to take on more responsibility here.

[Use the '[Master Pianist Kazami Ichihime] 10-minute trial card']

Kazami Mei's hands moved quickly, but she suddenly took a deep breath.

In that instant, sounds coming from all directions seemed to be automatically blocked by the body.

The entire space became silent and dull, but the moment his fingers touched the keyboard, the smooth black and white keys seemed to become a part of his body, as if Kazami Naru could perform at will with his eyes closed.

The notes seemed to pass through the gaps between the fingers and dance on the piano keys.

hum!

As time went on, the song began its interlude—

A sudden burst of bright, high-pitched piano notes sent a shiver down the spines of the girls, whose minds were in disarray. They were all involuntarily drawn to the music beside them, their eyes wide with astonishment.

Beside him, Kazami Mei slightly opened her calm eyes, her slender fingers directly taking over the lead role in the piece.

The smooth, continuous arpeggios, combined with the highly difficult octave strumming, are extremely penetrating. The fingers, spinning lightly like a roulette wheel, rapidly move across the keys, like a palette blended with snow-white, where countless bright colors and notes outline the lines of the melody—

Goto Ichiri, who was the lead vocalist, was the first to react.

A resolute glint flashed in her eyes, and her right hand, her palm slightly sweaty, gripped the pick tightly once more.

opportunity!

Goto Ichiri didn't even look up, but simply followed Kazami Naruto's pace, quickening his strumming motions. His left hand, gripping the fretboard, rapidly changed chords one after another, while his right hand seemed to become a blur.

The compressed timbre, completely different from the one on the sheet music, is perfectly combined with the electronic keyboard. The rapid and impactful piano sound brings an incredibly strong appeal to this interlude without lyrics!

"...?"

Kita Ikuyo was clearly taken aback when she saw Kazami Naru's sudden change.

Fortunately, it was during the interlude where singing wasn't required, and the momentary pause in explaining gave her enough time to react.

The three, who were simultaneously interrupted and confused by the arpeggio, immediately turned their heads and exchanged glances. Then, Hongxia quickly and accurately regained her composure on the drums, and Liang, who played bass, also immediately recovered and followed suit.

Yamada Ryo's bright golden eyes were filled with astonishment, but his hands moved without slowing down at all.

The piece they were playing here was not the 'simple version' of the score they originally planned to play, but the highly complex and complete score that Kazami Naru and she had written together at the beginning!

I thought that people weren't yet capable of playing this piece, but I never expected—

Both Pochi and Kazami Naruto suddenly displayed such exaggerated skills.

"Why did it happen so suddenly..."

Motoyo Nagasaki seemed somewhat taken aback; the sudden change in her performance was hard for her to believe.

She looked at Kazami Mei, who was completely immersed in the performance on stage, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling.

"Wow, that's amazing! Mingming is incredibly strong!"

Chihaya Aine, who hadn't thought that far ahead, was already beaming with excitement.

All she knew was that Kazami Naru's cool solo immediately stabilized the rhythm of the entire song, and the second half had a significantly richer timbre, allowing listeners to directly experience this auditory feast that flooded their brains!

The surrounding audience seemed to have noticed this as well.

The audience members who were playing on their phones in the corner were also wide-eyed in surprise. The exquisite and highly technical keyboard fingering technique and the perfect tone complemented each other as naturally as breathing.

It's like a double shock, both visually and aurally!

"That guy... is he joking?"

Only Shiina Riki was the most shocked person in the audience at this moment.

During training sessions, she noticed that Kazami's music theory knowledge and emotional expression seemed somewhat mismatched with his keyboard skills, leading her to believe that Kazami was a genius in music theory.

But now, in his first live performance, he displayed a series of continuous arpeggios that even professional keyboardists would find difficult to play, and the overflowing emotion flowed out as smoothly and gently as water.

I thought his technical skills couldn't keep up with his music theory level.

But who knows.

He was a true genius not only in music theory, but also in performance.

Standing on the stage, his face showed no emotion whatsoever. At that moment, he was incredibly dazzling in Shiina Tatsuki's eyes, and she felt an unprecedented sense of loss.

……

The performance is coming to an end.

Even after the band members came off the stage, their expressions still seemed to show that they hadn't recovered, especially Nijika, the drummer, who felt it most directly.

Her arms, which were gripping the drumsticks, still tingled with a trembling numbness.

"Phew, I almost thought we were doomed..."

Ichi Nijika felt as if she was also infected by the heavenly sound that dominated the band, and eventually she was completely immersed in the pure music performance.

Even while holding the drumsticks, he seemed tireless, continuously striking high-intensity, fast-paced drumbeats.

Everyone worked very hard! The performance was a great success!

Even though her hands were trembling from exhaustion, Ichiji Nijika immediately began to encourage everyone.

"I'm sorry! I rushed the beat earlier..." Kita Ikuyo's voice was a little hoarse, perhaps because she had sung too hard and even cracked her voice.

"Your singing and breath control were incredibly steady from the beginning. I even wondered if this was your first time performing on stage, Kita."

Seeing her like this, Kazami immediately handed her a glass of water and casually gave her a small compliment. Kita-san's tense expression instantly turned into joy, and her eyes showed a hint of relief.

Although this performance was very tiring, everyone had a great time.

"The guests seemed very excited in the end; I saw a lot of people clapping!"

"Yeah, yeah~ Even though it was just a debut performance where they were the opening act, it was really successful!"

"There's going to be a victory celebration later, right?! Yay!"

After drinking water, Kita Ikuyo gradually recovered from her fatigue, and her face was once again filled with a bright and energetic smile.

The panic and unease that had been hidden in her heart seemed to have transformed into joy and elation. This irrepressible excitement made Kita unable to resist pulling Nijika aside and chattering away.

Although no one said it, everyone knew the truth.

It was Kazami Mei, the keyboardist, who turned the originally chaotic music around in one fell swoop.

"It hurts! It's all Ming's fault for suddenly using so much force."

"It's happening so fast all of a sudden, it's unbearable."

Miss Liang touched her fair fingertips with a hint of resentment; there were already very obvious red marks on them, but this was just a minor problem for her.

He even had time to tell jokes.

"Haha~ Try harder next time."