Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet

If this had been a mindless wish-fulfillment novel, the audience would have burst into cheers the moment Kessoku Band finished introducing themselves.

In reality, however, there wasn't a sound from the audience.

Fair enough. Not everyone mindlessly went "Woo!" just because pretty girls walked onto a stage.

The Shenzhou audience's practical attitude showed itself at that moment.

If you didn't have real skill, don't get onstage!

Even Ikuyo Kita's earlier chat with the host had been better than this.

"O-oh no... Is it because my introduction was so pathetic?"

The silence below the stage weighed on Hitori Gotoh like a mountain, almost crushing the breath out of her.

The others were worried about Hitori Gotoh too, so they didn't immediately announce the name of the song they would be playing.

But that only made the pressure of the silence worse.

"A-Xiao had such high hopes for me... And I went and ruined everything..."

As mentioned before, bands in this world were still in their infancy, with only certain groups of people getting involved.

That meant the convention organizers couldn't provide instruments.

Fortunately, this convention was large enough that a few musical groups had come to perform, so Chen Xiao had naturally borrowed their equipment.

Curious about who would be performing, the band that owned the instruments had also come over to the stage and found Chen Xiao, who had borrowed them.

"So these little girls are the ones using our instruments?"

The long-haired man leading the band had the classic guitarist look. If smoking hadn't been forbidden in the venue, he would have had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, making the look even more complete.

"That's right."

Chen Xiao nodded proudly.

"Boss, that blonde girl's arms and legs are like twigs. Can she even play the drums properly?"

The portly drummer beside him found it utterly ridiculous when he saw Nijika Ijichi sitting at the drum kit.

"Just wait and see."

Chen Xiao shook his head without explaining further.

The members of the long-haired man's band exchanged glances, their curiosity growing. Just how good could a band made up of these four pretty girls be?

"I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done..."

Onstage, Hitori Gotoh caught a hazy glimpse of Chen Xiao in the crowd.

She had expected to see disappointment in his eyes.

Instead, she saw Chen Xiao giving her an encouraging thumbs-up and mouthing, "You're the best!"

A-Xiao is watching me from right there... I can't! I absolutely can't let him down... not here! Anything but that!!!

Bzzzt-!

Hitori Gotoh's expression changed abruptly. A harsh buzz suddenly rang out from the guitar in her hands, instantly tearing through the silence shrouding the entire stage!

Then came a fiery guitar solo that practically showed off her technique, relentlessly pounding every listener's body and soul.

The audience: -?!!!

The long-haired man: Holy shit!

The long-haired man's scalp tingled, and goosebumps broke out all over him.

A girl can fucking play like that?!

"Thank goodness... Kita, we can start now."

Nijika Ijichi breathed a sigh of relief, her worried expression instantly brightening.

"Okay! Now, please enjoy... Kessoku Band's original song-Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet!"

Ikuyo Kita nodded, then introduced the song to the audience.

"Isn't this song sung in Japanese?"

Chen Xiao froze at her words.

In this world, Japanese was merely a regional dialect of Yingzhou Province, spoken by only a small number of people.

There wasn't even a single decent song in it!

All of them put together were less popular than any randomly chosen song from his home province, Min Province.

If they sang it, nobody would understand a word!

Fortunately, a moment later, Ikuyo Kita shifted her cute, girlish voice into a powerful, full-bodied tone, and what came out of her mouth wasn't the Yingzhou dialect, but perfectly authentic standard Shenzhou speech!

[The sudden evening rain left me fed up with myself for forgetting my umbrella...]

[What does the sky's mood have to do with me, anyway!]

[What should I wear when the seasons change?]

[Where did spring and autumn go?]

[The pressure of the information age leaves me breathless!]

[Where am I in this dizzying spiral?]

[There are so many! So many sounds of breathing!]

[Yet strangely, this world is silent...]

"S-so good!"

"That girl's voice... How did it change so much?!"

"Sho good! It sounds sho good! This is downright heavenly!"

"This! This is such an unexpected treat!"

"An ordinary band can't even compare anymore..."

"Are they from a music conservatory?"

Only then did the stunned audience finally come back to their senses. Exclamations of amazement kept spilling from their mouths as they began cheering for Nijika Ijichi and the others onstage.

The girls' performance also drew people from other areas, swelling the crowd below the stage.

Some had even started recording videos, while others began livestreaming right there.

And, as luck would have it...

The song was just reaching its first climax!

[Not enough! Not enough!]

[No one has noticed me yet!]

[Like a jumble of scattered notes, I scream without a sound!]

[Who am I trying to show my "true self" to?]

[Ignorant and foolish, all I can do is sing at the top of my lungs!]

[Pour it all out-to those stars!]

As Ikuyo Kita sang this part, viewers flooded the livestream chats with [Where is this concert?!], and the viewer counts shot up explosively.

"...You girls really pulled it off!"

Hearing this, Chen Xiao couldn't help laughing.

So they had secretly adapted this Japanese song into standard Shenzhou speech long ago.

It was like someone pretending they couldn't lift a hammer while secretly practicing an entire combo, waiting for the crucial moment to blow everyone away!

And they had indeed done it.

Not only had they stunned Chen Xiao, but everyone present who understood music was also shocked by their skill!

"This can't be right!"

The long-haired guitarist could barely close his mouth.

As the saying went, amateurs watched the spectacle, while experts saw the technique.

He had felt something was off ever since Hitori Gotoh's showy solo.

Wasn't this timid-looking, pink-haired girl's guitar technique a little too incredible?

Why does my guitar sound so good in your hands?

So your abilities, my dear guitar, go far beyond this?

At that moment, the long-haired man felt like the cuckold in a porn comic, thinking he could satisfy his girlfriend when, in reality, some blond guy only needed one go to make her entirely his!

The long-haired man: I'm getting cucked...

"Wait, can a human even play the drums like that?"

The portly drummer beside him was in the same boat. At first, he had merely been surprised.

Now, he was sweating buckets.

He felt like the drumsticks in that blonde girl's hands could easily smash his skull!

Every musician there who knew their stuff had started sweating. Some even couldn't help muttering under their breath:

"What otherworldly hell did these demons crawl out of?!"