Chapter 359

Ishikawa Hayato had no choice but to listen to Nijika and struggled with Ryo for a long time before successfully driving Ryo away from the hand that was trying to put into the End Stone.

She's completely obedient now.

Fans flocked to buy merchandise, and some even stopped to ask about the Ishikawa Hayato's progress and new songs.

"Ishikawa-san, it feels like you've released fewer new songs in the last six months."

"They're all playing on Unconfirmed Riot, so we can look forward to it."

"That's so bold! Looks like we'll have to wait and see."

Ishikawa Hayato chuckled twice, and then someone else asked.

When will the mini-album of the new song be released?

"Let's start working on it after the music festival, but there are still a few months left, so we can't confirm a timeline yet."

While Ishikawa Hayato was swamped with work, Ryo, amidst the noisy scene, seemed to be fast asleep, breathing heavily.

He gradually felt it was unfair, and took a moment to reach out and pinch Liang's cheek, but Liang reacted quickly and slapped his hand away.

Ishikawa Hayato smiled and continued working.

However, one fan nearby didn't buy merchandise or approach others like the other fans; she waited for a long time by leaning against the side.

She arrived just as the venue was nearly full and Ishikawa Hayato was packing up.

Having followed the Kessoku Band for months and watched their performances, Sato Aiko is no longer just a die-hard fan of Guitar Hero, but has become a loyal fan of the Kessoku Band.

She greeted Ishikawa Hayato.

"Ishikawa-san, it's been a long time."

Ishikawa Hayato stopped and turned around. He had already noticed Sato Aiko, but since she hadn't greeted him, he hadn't paid any special attention to her.

"What's wrong?"

Sato Aiko hesitated for a moment. "I heard you haven't found a record company to partner with yet. Do you need my help?"

Ishikawa Hayato glanced at the bustling venue, waved to Sato Aiko, and headed backstage.

Ryo followed beside him, and Sato Aiko followed behind him.

Ishikawa Hayato wondered in his mind whether the other party had been commissioned by a record company to invite them, or if there was some other reason, as he asked.

Why are you suddenly bringing this up?

"I've been watching your performances. You guys are amazing now. You're arguably the best band among teenagers, no, you're definitely the best one."

Sato Aiko looked directly at Ishikawa Hayato and continued with great certainty, "But after this year, I noticed that your popularity has reached a bottleneck, so I wanted to confirm whether you still need to be affiliated with a record company. I can help you find one; I've been a writer for several years and know quite a few people in record companies."

Ishikawa Hayato had a sudden inspiration and thought of a simple way to increase their current popularity by affiliating with a record company.

But after thinking about it and glancing at Liang, I decided to give up.

Their fan base is several times that of Otsuki Yuyuko, and he doesn't need to resort to those methods to succeed with his music videos. Besides, Ryo wouldn't like it anyway.

However, they can indeed take a step further in their professional careers now. If they can find a suitable record company to help promote them while Unconfirmed Riot, it will be easier for them to achieve their goals.

Ishikawa Hayato stopped and looked intently at Sato Aiko.

"We are looking to collaborate with a record company. If it's not too much trouble, could you recommend a few record companies that don't interfere in the band's internal affairs and only focus on making money through collaboration?"

"No trouble at all!" Sato Aiko replied excitedly.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Sato Aiko returned to the stage, while Ishikawa Hayato and Ryo also headed backstage.

Before entering the lounge, Ryo glanced at Ishikawa Hayato and said.

"I get the feeling you're planning some kind of trick again."

Ishikawa Hayato laughed and denied it, "I'm just acting with the idea of developing a normal band."

Liang narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched him walk into the lounge.

As the performances continued, it was already mid-May.

Over the weekend, Ishikawa Hayato and Ryo returned from outside together. Now that the weather is warmer and the sun is shining brighter, Ryo has started going out for walks, and occasionally he will ask Ishikawa Hayato to come along.

After closing the heavy doors, the two walked towards the hall. Before they even reached the hall, they could feel a stiff and tense atmosphere emanating from inside and reaching the entrance hall.

Liang paused for a moment, then turned and pulled Ishikawa Hayato along.

"Let's go browse the CD store again."

"You're all back, aren't you coming in?" Nijika's deep voice came from the hall.

Ishikawa Hayato watched Ryo with amusement as he turned and walked back into the hall.

The television in the lobby was on, but although there was a picture, there was only a faint sound.

Nijika's phone was on the coffee table. The three of them sat on the sofa, seemingly watching TV, or perhaps waiting for something.

Ikuyo looked at the two people who had returned and asked.

Where did you go?

Liang: "Let's take a stroll."

Ishikawa Hayato: "Busy something."

When Ryo heard that Ishikawa Hayato's version of events differed from hers, she glanced at him, but Ishikawa Hayato just smiled and didn't explain further.

Ikuyo, who was getting restless while waiting for the notification, asked curiously.

"What is it?"

"I looked up the record company we'll be working with later." Ishikawa Hayato said as he walked over, squeezed between Hitori and Nijika, picked Nijika up, and sat down in her original seat.

Held in Ishikawa Hayato's arms like this, Nijika, who would occasionally cry out, "I'm not your doll," perked up at this moment, blinked her bright eyes, and asked with great interest.

"Did you find it?"

"There's nothing suitable yet," Ishikawa Hayato said slowly, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"I see." Nijika wasn't disappointed, after all, this was not something that could be accomplished overnight.

Having witnessed the record company's attitude after the last music festival, she knew that unsuitable partners would not only fail to provide support but could also cause the band to quickly come to an end.

After the conversation ended, Ishikawa Hayato glanced at the oranges on the table and suddenly felt like eating them. He gently shook Nijika and said...

"Nijika, Orange~"

"You could have taken it yourself if you hadn't carried me."

As Nijika said this, she leaned forward with a doting smile, reached out and took a tangerine to peel.

The slender fingers patiently peeled the orange, removing even the white pith, making it look incredibly appetizing.

Ikuyo saw Ishikawa Hayato asking Nijika, and suddenly felt like eating one herself, so she took one and started peeling it while talking.

"Hayato-kun isn't worried about the censorship at all."

"This is the second time already, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, it should pass."

Ishikawa Hayato successfully ate the orange and even lightly bit Nijika's hand, only to be bumped in the back by Nijika.

Then he did the same thing again and ate Hitori banana fed to him, acting like a veritable emperor.

When he looked at Ryo, he saw that Ryo had crushed the biscuits in her hand into crumbs, preparing to stuff them into his mouth. He immediately shrank his head to Nijika's shoulder.

Nijika smiled when she noticed the situation and told Liang not to waste food and to eat it herself.

In the short time that Ishikawa Hayato arrived, the tense atmosphere in the hall vanished instantly.

Because today was the day the demo track review results were released, they had no plans to practice. Instead, they watched a movie in the lobby while waiting for the results.

After the two movies ended, Nijika noticed that the others were a bit silent. She turned around and looked at Ishikawa Hayato, who still had a relaxed smile on his face.

She was relieved, impressed.

Beside her, Ikuyo, after calming herself down, stood up and asked, "What movie are we watching next?"

But just as she finished speaking, Nijika's cell phone, which was on the coffee table, suddenly rang.

Nijika swiftly picked up her phone, and the other girls gathered around.

Ishikawa Hayato stood behind Nijika, close to her ear, looking at the contents of her phone.

246. Tear

After the sample song review is completed, the online voting stage begins.

Ishikawa Hayato dragged the mouse, moving their hard-earned work to the upload interface. With a crisp click of the mouse, the upload progress bar moved forward rapidly.

A week later, a music video called "Lonely Tokyo" suddenly appeared and topped the Twitter trending list.

Although it was just a fleeting moment of peak popularity, and its popularity gradually declined after a short time, the extent of its spread was quite terrifying.

Even before it reached the trending topics list, it was already known to many through word of mouth.

Due to its significant influence, music lovers, film and television experts, and even some talent agencies unrelated to music have all taken notice of this music video.

While it may not be universally accepted, the quality of this music video will surely impress industry professionals from various fields.

"This was composed by a high school student? You must be kidding! If it weren't for its unique style, which is completely different from those of great composers, I would have thought it was a piece composed by a famous composer."

"For a music lover like me, just hearing this song this year has already made me happy. I could listen to it on repeat for a whole year!"

"While the band's other songs were slightly inferior, they still touched my heart quite a bit. Even though I came a little too late, I'm still glad I encountered such a special band."

"It's not just the music. I'm an art student, and my teacher has been teaching us for three days straight about the storyboard, lighting, color tone, and other visual language from this music video and the band's previous one."

"Isn't this band an idol group under that company? The guys are handsome, and the girls are beautiful."

"The comments below this MV say it's Unconfirmed Riot's competition. Is this level of skill for a competition? Are they trying to portray a max-level pro slaughtering newbies?"

Public attention gradually focused on this band, these five members, and this music festival aimed at teenagers.

These past few days, the five members have been harassed by talent scouts and various entertainment agencies, forcing them to stay at home while also preparing for the music festival.

But they didn't practice like madmen, and unlike the stereotypical image of them as single-mindedly focused on music, their home was a strange place.

For the past two days, Ikuyo has been happily rummaging around the house with her phone, not in the sense of flipping through things, but rather turning into a robot vacuum cleaner and rolling around on the floor.

"More followers! More followers! Hahaha..."

"I feel like Ikuyo-chan is happier than if she made money." Nijika sat on the sofa complaining about Ikuyo while looking at her phone herself.

"Everyone has different tastes," Ishikawa Hayato said, then turned to Ikuyo was rolling around on the ground, and said, "Come on, Ikuyo, take off!"

Nijika ignored what the two were doing, glanced at Liang and Hitori, and seeing that they were also looking at the comments, she also looked at her phone with a happy smile.

After looking at the comments for a while, gradually becoming immune to positive reviews and calming down, she glanced at them again and said somewhat uneasily to Liang and Hitori.

"It seems like none of the online comments have praised our performance."

"Hmm." Liang nodded calmly, her thoughtful expression revealing nothing of her thoughts.

Hitori looked away from the comments on her phone explaining that she was Guitar Hero and nodded almost imperceptibly.

While the three were troubled by their insatiable greed, Ikuyo's cheerful voice came from the side.

Hahaha~

They looked over and saw Ishikawa Hayato supporting Ikuyo's waist with both hands, lifting her high above his head, while Ikuyo, supporting herself, happily flapped her arms, flying like a bird.

It seems Ikuyo is really ecstatic; she doesn't usually play like this with Ishikawa Hayato.

Ishikawa Hayato noticed the gaze, still holding Ikuyo, turned around and said with a smile, "But no one said our performance was bad."

Nijika had a feeling that it might be true, but seeing how happy the two of them were, she couldn't help but be infected by their emotions and regain her cheerful energy.

"Keep practicing!"

"Hmm." Liang, unusually, immediately stood up in response.

The girls are no longer considering the Unconfirmed Riot, unless this music festival for teenagers produces more than thirty music videos with their level of popularity, then they won't need to worry about being eliminated from this segment.

Moreover, they also mobilized their friends and fans to help vote, showing that they were going all out, even when hunting a rabbit.

Just as Ishikawa Hayato was about to start practice, he put down Ikuyo and watched her skip and hop towards the rehearsal room when his phone suddenly rang.