Not Forming a Band for Life, What's the Point of Playing Music

"Hiss--Hah--"

Thus, they breathed in the air of the wilderness.

Chapter 30: Wind Rises

When Arata's figure disappeared from sight, Marina turned her head and proudly showed the few people what she held in her hand: a small, sealed plastic bag. Upon closer inspection, one could see a short strand of purple hair inside.

"Huh?" The somber atmosphere of parting was easily dispelled. Realizing what Marina had done, everyone instinctively took a step back from her.

"I used to think you were a respectable senior," Nijika said with a pained expression. "Even my sister wouldn't do something like this!"

"What kind of image do you have of the shop manager in your heart..." In Ichiri's eyes, the Starry shop manager was still a strict person.

Contrary to the others' fear, Shiko's eyes lit up.

"My understanding of Miss Marina was too superficial before..." she pressed her face, preventing an expression of excitement from twisting her features. "I didn't expect her to have such gravity... even in a 'cute girls doing cute things' competition, she'd at least make it to the top sixteen..."

The others also moved a little further away from Shiko.

"Everyone... how is it?" Marina, oblivious to their reactions, tilted her head and approached them crookedly.

"Wh-What do you mean, how is it! Even if you have this kind of hobby, Miss Marina, please keep it to yourself!"

"Eh?" Miss Marina tilted her head cutely. "I mean, with this, we can forcibly give Yuki the buffs from CiRCLE."

I see.

Shiko's expression instantly fell, filled with dissatisfaction.

The others relaxed, having no objections to Arata also receiving the CiRCLE buff.

"However... this will take away some of your buff strength..." It was for this reason that Marina had come to seek their opinions.

Of course, no one objected. Although Miss Arata was strong, it would be great to be able to help her a little.

They didn't know the specifics of Marina's operation, but they could feel Arata's condition. In their perception, if their own mental strength was dim starlight, Arata's mental strength was the brightest first-magnitude star in the night sky. Marina told Shiko that she had used a trick so Arata absolutely wouldn't be able to see the help from CiRCLE on her status panel, saving her from overthinking things.

Two days passed.

The five of them walked into a canyon. There was no river at the bottom, but a large number of prey had gathered. The harvest today was poor; although it was night, the monster density was the same as during the day.

"Hah... I wonder where Miss Arata is now." After the monster in front of her fell, Kita relaxed slightly and lay on the ground, admiring the sliver of starry sky. There were few clouds here, and no moonlight, allowing them to see the magnificent Milky Way every night. The five of them had become accustomed to night combat, so they had moved their hunting time to the evening for higher efficiency. Now, they had more free time during the day.

Shiko plopped down on a rock, wiping sweat from her brow. Recalling, she realized that Arata rarely talked about how she lived on her own. They knew that with her abilities, she didn't need to eat to survive and could even forgo sleep if necessary. But where would she live? Where would she go? Shiko found it difficult to imagine such a life.

Was Miss Arata now looking at the same starry sky as them? Or was she asleep? She calmed her mind and sensed carefully.

The star in her mind representing Arata remained stable, unchanging. According to her observations, when mental strength was depleted, the starlight would begin to flicker and dim, then slowly recover after the other party disengaged from combat. For the past two days, the starlight had been flickering with extremely high frequency. It was shaking when she woke up yesterday morning, continued shaking until they finished breakfast, and then occasionally flickered throughout the day, as if to remind them of its presence. Even though Arata had only left not long ago, Shiko couldn't imagine where so many monsters near CiRCLE were coming from for her to fight.

"(Speaking of which, the monster density tonight is clearly lower than before. Could it be for this reason?)"

The wind began to blow. Shiko opened her eyes. On both sides, immense shadows thousands of feet high reminded her of the great gods in myths and legends who supported the heavens and the earth, while the starry sky revolved majestically between them. The wind whistled through the valley, and combined with this natural music, even the familiar scenery seemed different. Everyone was silent, silently marveling at the moment. Shiko suddenly had an urge to capture the scene. Unfortunately, Shiko hadn't brought a camera, but she had her own methods.

She held a piece of white paper, concentrated her energy, and the scenery she saw slowly replicated onto the paper. It wasn't an exact reproduction like a photograph, but she could freely add her own inspiration as compensation. Shiko was quite satisfied with this work.

"It's a beautiful drawing~" a voice suddenly came from her ear. Shiko was startled, almost dropping the drawing. She turned to see Kita.

"Can I see it again?"

Shiko, with a hint of pride, handed her work over. The others also gathered around.

The wind did not cease; instead, it grew stronger, and Kita almost lost her grip on the paper.

"I have a bad feeling," Nijika frowned.

"Are you feeling a bit cold?" Kita lit a small flame.

"Thank you... but I don't think that's the reason."

Shiko also had a very bad feeling. She looked up towards the other exit of the canyon.

She thought she saw a flash of light.

No, it wasn't an illusion! She saw a piece of the sky missing!

"Look!" she stood up and pointed in that direction. Then, another flash of light, and this time she saw it clearly: it was lightning, lightning she had never seen in this world! In that brief moment of light, she saw the shape of the sky.

It was as if a god had drawn a stroke in the sky with thick ink, then swept it downwards arbitrarily, leaving wisps of white in the blackness—cumulonimbus clouds, filled with anger, pouring down upon the mortal world. Shiko had witnessed such a magnificent scene before, separated by a river, and seeing it again here, she felt increasingly uneasy.

There had never been rain here—although it wasn't impossible to have torrential rain in a desert, Shiko vaguely felt that the color of the dark clouds carried a hint of blood.

"What happened to Miss Arata!" Nijika cried out in alarm. Only then did Shiko notice that the star representing Arata in her mind, which had been calm moments ago, was now blooming eerily, a deep blood-red!

Something had happened! Right in the middle of that downpour!

Shiko immediately ran backward.

"Little Shiko, where are you going?!"

"Back to CiRCLE! Quickly!"

Her intuition told her that they couldn't step into that downpour right now, but Miss Marina was surely monitoring everyone, including Miss Arata, from her secret room! Only by returning could they find out what had happened!

In her mind, the star belonging to Arata shone brighter and brighter, and also became more and more dangerous, like... like...

The moment of a supernova explosion.

When a supernova explodes, the entire universe shines. However, after that magnificent instant—

As Shiko panted and stepped through the doors of CiRCLE, that star suddenly extinguished, as if it had never existed. Shiko tried to search for it, seeming to see a faint afterimage, like the phantom sensation left in the eyes after staring directly at a light bulb.

She didn't wait for the others, rushing straight underground, breaking into the warehouse, stumbling and bumping into several shelves, finally pushing open the secret door.

Miss Marina was kneeling on the floor.

Shiko had never seen Marina like this. Whether in her past life's anime and games, Marina always wore a kind smile. In funny short animations like pico, she would also show a lively side, participating in games among girls. In this life, Shiko had also seen what a drunk Marina was like.

Now, Marina was kneeling on the ground, staring blankly ahead, her face devoid of smiles, only two lines of tears.

On the screens on the wall, only five were lit.

Chapter 31: Clouds Return

When the members of Kessoku Band followed Shiko to the secret room deep underground, this was the scene they saw.

Marina remained in a kneeling position, her head bowed, her expression unreadable. Shiko hugged her tightly from behind, and the sound of her sobs, buried deep in her clothes, could be heard.

"Miss Marina..."

Hearing the voice, Marina suddenly came to her senses. She stood up: "Shiko-chan, please play the last video of Yuki for them."

She ignored everyone and strode out of the secret room, her expression unseen by anyone. But Shiko noticed that she was limping.

Shiko wiped her face and waved to the few people by the door.

She began to play the video.

Arata wandered freely in the wilderness. Without purpose, and without needing a purpose. She sometimes climbed hills, sometimes descended into canyons, teleporting between rocks and fighting strange enemies, never missing. It didn't matter if she missed; she could fully recover by staying put for a while and continue her journey without purpose and without needing a purpose.

But this night was different. Her experienced nose caught a scent of danger. The surroundings were empty, with no usual enemies.

In front of her was a towering mountain peak, a rarity in this predominantly plateau region due to its height. About ten stories up the mountain, there was a cave. If it wasn't too deep, it could serve as tonight's shelter. Arata walked towards the mountain, but the sense of unease grew stronger.

No, she couldn't stay there!

She suddenly stopped and re-examined the mountain. There was nothing unusual, no wandering monsters. Yet, her intuition continued to warn her. As an experienced traveler, she chose to trust her intuition. Her eyes remained on the mountain peak as she took a step back.

The next second, she understood the source of her unease.

The mountain moved.

At first, it was just a few loose stones rolling down. Soon, hazy dust erupted from deep within the earth.

An earthquake?

No, Arata was standing firmly on the ground. But she did feel the tremor—because the mountain in front of her had grown legs and begun to walk.

That wasn't a mountain peak at all; it was clearly the body of a giant creature. The legs extending from its body were countless, each as thick as a pillar in an ancient Greek temple.

Could such a massive creature truly exist? Or was she dreaming? For a moment, Arata felt suffocated.

She remembered the "shadows as large as mountains" that Miss Marina and the others had mentioned before. Was this it? Had it been lurking here all along, and had she just woken it up?

The mountain peak might have been awakened by Arata. But was that really the case? Compared to its massive body, Arata was merely an ant on the ground.

Would a person be awakened by an ant passing by?

Arata hoped it wouldn't notice her, this ant. As the mountain peak took its first step, its myriad legs moved in a dizzying fashion, causing a tremor like an earthquake. It was only thanks to her extremely high reaction speed that Arata didn't fall. It was then that she realized she should evade as quickly as possible. Facing such a creature, even she, who was fond of fighting, felt no urge to battle.

Before the mountain peak took another step, Arata moved. Her legs felt as if they didn't belong to her, moving somewhat awkwardly. She forced herself to look forward, and only then did she recover slightly. The ground continued to tremble, a signal that "that thing" was getting closer.

Run! As long as she ran ahead, in a little while she would...

To confirm the mountain peak's movement path, Arata turned her head to the right. There was a canyon there.

Was that firelight in the canyon?

Her heart skipped a beat. There was indeed firelight in the canyon. With her extraordinary vision, enhanced by her 300+ [physical body], she could indeed see the starlight in the canyon. She also saw faint starlight.

In this area, only a group of people could emit such light.

And she recognized this canyon.

Now, those five people were fighting in the canyon, and a little further past the exit of the canyon was CiRCLE.

After going in circles, she was still wandering near CiRCLE!

The mountain peak's speed was disproportionate to its size. In the moment Arata was dazed, the dust it kicked up was almost engulfing her.

Arata, however, stood still.

Now, the mountain peak's direction of travel was towards the canyon. It absolutely could not enter there, but its terrifying mass would definitely cause the canyon walls to collapse.

A warning shot? Given the location of the firelight she had just seen and the speed of the mountain peak's movement, even if those five people started running now, it would be difficult for them to escape before the canyon collapsed. And a little further beyond that was CiRCLE. For such a massive creature, this distance was almost negligible.

"Marina, turn off the [Imaginary Field]." She turned around and whispered into the air.

There was no response.

"I don't know if you can actually hear me." Arata drew her twin guns, not loading them, just holding and playing with them. "I'll hold it off here for a while. You find a way to get them to escape quickly, be prepared, and withdraw if necessary. Head towards the left side of that tower, cross the mountain range, and leave the plateau. You'll find a small settlement by the river with five people. They are also band girls, their band is called Roselia. Their conditions aren't as good as here, but it's a place to stay."

The twin guns transformed into two balls of light, one black and one white, swirling around her body.

"Hoo..."

The strong wind stirred up by the mountain peak blew her long hair.

"Marina,"

The dust, several times taller than her, had already reached her.

"Goodbye."

Crimson light burst forth from the darkness.

"I offer my flesh and blood, and summon the gods from the heavens above."

"Ancient and great beings, please forgive this mortal's transgression."

"My heart belongs to the jaguar, Tezcatlipoca!"

And so, a colossal jaguar descended from the night sky. Because of the wrath of the First Sun, ten thousand-foot peaks halted in their place.

Arata spat out a mouthful of blood, and continued.

"My long hair belongs to the ever-changing smoking mirror, the wind of impermanence!" The long hair, along with the scalp, detached from Arata's body.

A hurricane that destroyed an epoch blew in from mythology. The soaring dust cut off the starlight, and monsters and mountains cried out together.

"My flesh and blood—an offering to the rain of the end, Tlaloc!"

Thunder roared. Arata's body transformed into a torch that connected heaven and earth—this flame was so sacred that even the gravel on the ground and the sand in the air were ignited together. Her perception drifted towards the sky—her five senses seemed to blend together. She saw the sky, she saw the earth, she saw every leg of the mountain, she saw the crowd fleeing in the valleys.

She felt freer than ever before. Wielding the destruction of three epochs, she joyfully hindered the gods' advance.

The jaguar roared, the wind howled, and heavenly fire burned everything—Arata burned wantonly—she tore apart the giant beast's countless legs and melted its skin into scalding magma.

Her consciousness grew dimmer and dimmer, her perception more and more blurred. But she was still dancing