Chapter 360

He stopped and looked; it was PA-san's LINE account.

"Hey buddy, I rented it for you in my name. How are you going to thank me?"

Ishikawa Hayato typed quickly.

"Please allow me to repay your great kindness with items and money that are loved by over 99% of people."

After sending the message, he glanced at PA-san's tearful reply, smiled, and put his phone away.

The girls had already gone into the rehearsal room, and Nijika couldn't wait any longer and came out to call them again.

"Hayato-kun, what are you doing?"

"I'm so happy to see comments praising my wife's beauty."

Ishikawa Hayato excitedly skipped and hopped over.

Nijika couldn't help but smile. Although she was immune to positive reviews online, she felt a different kind of joy at being praised by Ishikawa Hayato.

She looked at Ishikawa Hayato as he walked up to her, thought of some comments about him, suppressed her smile, lowered her head, and said with slight dissatisfaction.

"Isn't Hayato-kun the same...? Lots of girls in the comments are saying they've fallen in love with Hayato-kun."

Nijika is jealous! Ishikawa Hayato was secretly pleased, but he kept a straight face.

"Then we're really a perfect match."

As he spoke, he reached out and lifted her chin, then leaned down and kissed her delicate, bright red lips.

With just a light kiss, her red lips parted slightly, both yearning and shy.

Immediately, a cold sound came from the rehearsal room.

What about us?

Ikuyo also shouted, "I want one too!"

Ishikawa Hayato walked in with a smile.

"Hitori's band is amazing!"

Gotou Naoki looked at the various comments and expectations about the Kessoku Band on Xch on his computer, and couldn't help but feel excited. That was the band her daughter was in.

"Just about these letters..."

Gotou Michiyo held a number of letters that had arrived, feeling both happy and unsure of what to do. The letters were from various agencies and record companies.

When neither contacting the individuals directly nor visiting them in person yields any results, this is the only way to try and invite them.

On the other side, the Ikuyo family encountered the same situation.

"I can't Ikuyo and the others went to this extent... How are we going to deal with all those invitations...?"

Kitakuruyo been holding the letter.

Ikuyo's father took the letter and said, "Ikuyo told us to just dispose of it however we like."

"Wait, you're rejecting all these great offers?"

Kitakuruyo looked at her husband in disbelief and reached for the letter.

Ikuyo's father let her take the letter back and chuckled softly.

"Because none of these conditions are as valuable to her as those of the boy, and these conditions were achieved through their joint efforts; she wouldn't make such a decision on her own."

"Ah..."

Kitakuruyo's face showed regret. He looked at the letters, sighed, took them to the trash can, hesitated for a moment, and then threw them all in.

Time passed as the five men relentlessly practiced to avoid disappointing their fans.

With one week remaining in the online voting period, the organizers will announce the vote count for each band on the event page.

As usual, Seika sat at the Starry Bar, looking at the demo tracks sent by some bands on her computer and arranging their performance schedules. However, there was a page on her computer desktop taskbar that was always minimized.

PA-san was sitting on the table playing on his phone. After a period of silence, PA-san suddenly spoke.

"The delivery guys haven't been coming lately."

"It's better if they don't come; fewer troublemakers."

Seika looked at the laptop and said without turning her head.

At the Kessoku Band's popularity, the place was harassed, but Seika promptly chased them away.

A strange light flickered in PA-san's eyes, and with a faint smile, she turned to look at Seika.

"The rankings have been released."

Seika quickly swiped the mouse down, about to open the website, when she suddenly stopped herself. She turned to look at PA-san.

"Speaking of which, why did you ask me to set aside a day for July 22nd?"

PA-san paused, then stood up with an awkward smile and walked backwards towards the restroom, facing Seika.

"I just had something to do..."

PA-san knew that Seika didn't care about so much; she just wanted to get rid of him but didn't want to ask directly, so she asked this question.

If she stays here, Seika will definitely get to the bottom of it.

Seika watched her footsteps, her eyes narrowing slightly, revealing a look of surprise.

But after seeing PA actually go to the restroom, she turned around and opened the website.

After refreshing the page and entering the online voting ranking list, Seika immediately saw the Kessoku Band in first place.

She glanced at the vote count; at first glance, it seemed to be only about twice that of the second-place candidate. But upon closer inspection...

Twenty times.

"Pfft..." Seika chuckled, but after looking at the MV cover, which served as an illustration of the Kessoku Band act, for a few seconds, her face darkened again.

"Pretty capable, huh? You're a monster."

Mid July.

Looking at the dazzling sun in the sky, which was so bright that it was impossible to look directly at it, Ikuyo's tired and depressed face revealed a bitter smile.

"Sun-san, long time no see! How are you doing? I'm very healthy..."

She had barely finished speaking when Ishikawa Hayato lightly tapped her head.

"Stop fooling around."

Ikuyo immediately turned around and said to Ishikawa Hayato with dissatisfaction.

"That's exactly what Hayato-kun was doing just now."

At this moment, the five people stood downstairs at their apartment building, fully equipped with various musical instruments and accessories, standing at the door.

As soon as he stepped out of his house, Ishikawa Hayato adopted the demeanor of a martial artist, calmly surveying his surroundings and saying, "The House of Time and Spirit is indeed powerful; two months inside is only one day outside."

He stared wide-eyed in surprise and said...

"Is that so?!"

Before he could finish speaking, Ikuyo slapped him in response.

Nijika glanced at the two of them, then shifted her gaze to Liang Wen.

"Liang, should we ask...?"

Before she could finish speaking, she saw a familiar minivan drive up in the distance and stop in front of them.

As soon as the car stopped, the windows rolled down, Ryo's mother looked at the five people and smiled.

"Come on up."

"Thank you!" Nijika's eyes lit up, and she said happily.

The weather in July was quite hot, and the five people carrying instruments and various spare parts didn't want to be covered in sweat before even arriving at the venue, or have their attributes drop before even stepping onto the stage.

They've worked so hard for so long, and you could say a lot of it was for today's performance.

If we fail today, then all the efforts of the past few months will not only be wasted, but will also be a regret.

In this situation, Liang remembered that her parents had said they would come to the performance today, so she called them to ask for a ride.

Liang Yi took the lead, opened the car door, and got in.

As soon as she got into the car, Liang's mother turned around and said.

"Liang, it's been a long time! Come sit in the front."

Liang pretended not to hear and quickly moved to sit in the last row.

Ryo's mother immediately showed a tearful expression and looked at Ishikawa Hayato. Ishikawa Hayato was also very fast, and he jumped into the car in a flash and sat down next to Ryo, waving from a distance.

Hello, Uncle and Aunt.

Liang subtly placed her hand on his leg, a smile spreading across her face as she looked out of the car.

Later, when Nijika and Ikuyo saw Ryo's mother's sudden happy expression, they thought of their own elders and felt a mix of emotions.

After everyone boarded the vehicle, it began to move forward.

During the drive, Ryo's mother overheard some young people in the back talking about music festival-related matters, so she joined in and asked.

"Nijika-chan, I heard that Unconfirmed Riot is a pretty well-known music festival, so why is it just a performance in a venue?"

Upon hearing Ryo's mother's question, Nijika immediately turned to look at her.

"Today is actually just a review, to select the final two bands to compete on the open-air stage in Shinkiba."

Ikuyo added, "That's the real final stage."

Ryo's mother thought for a moment. She remembered that this round involved 30 bands competing against each other, and choosing 2 out of 30 was quite brutal.

She didn't put any pressure on them, and said with a smile.

"Then keep it up!"

Nijika brightly and readily agreed.

"Yes!"

We arrived at Shinjuku Folt quickly during our casual conversation. Perhaps because the venue here is relatively large, the music festival has once again chosen this location as the competition venue.

Before the five of them even got out of the car, they saw that the area around the store entrance was full of passersby who seemed to be waiting for something; the scene was incredibly tense and anxious.

However, the group wasn't too worried. Most ordinary fans would pay attention to social distancing, and even some die-hard fans had the invincible Ishikawa Hayato by their side.

After getting off the car, in the summer heat, as the group unloaded their instruments, a voice suddenly rang out behind them.

"Ikuyo ~ We've come to see your performance!"

Following the sound, Ishikawa Hayato looked over and saw Ikuyo's father waving happily, leading a somewhat reluctant Ikuyo's mother over.

He put down his suitcase, glanced at his parents sitting in the front of the car, and suddenly felt a cold sweat pour down his back despite the sweltering heat. He silently prayed that they wouldn't meet.

"Dad, Mom, did you come to cheer me on?"

Ikuyo, oblivious to Ishikawa Hayato's expression, looked at her parents with delight, quickly slung her guitar over her shoulder, and went to greet them.

Only Nijika, Hitori, and Ryo noticed Ishikawa Hayato's expression and showed some confusion.

Meanwhile, Ryo's mother, who was sitting in the car, also heard the noise behind her. She saw Ikuyo's mother's unhappy expression in the rearview mirror, as well as Ishikawa Hayato's attitude of not wanting to face her. A chilling smile appeared on her lips as she got out of the car.

Driven by the desire to secure happiness for her daughter, she approached Ikuyo's family.

Ikuyo's father was completely devoid of his usual composure; his face was full of excitement, and he was about to jump up like a teenager.

"Yes, we didn't expect Ikuyo to be so famous, performing on such a big stage. We definitely have to cheer you on."

Ikuyo's mother was somewhat dissatisfied, but she didn't say anything.

Just then, Liang's mother came over and bowed slightly.

"Nice to meet you. I am the mother of Yamada Ryo, a member of the same band as your daughter."

Ikuyo's mother glanced at Ryo's mother, sized her up briefly, and noticed her wealthy and noble air, so she softened her tone.

"Hello, I am Ikuyo's mother."

As she spoke, she realized that the other person was also a parent whose daughter had been bullied by someone, and then glanced at Ishikawa Hayato a few steps away, adding.