Chapter 2540: Chapter 1700: LIVEHOUSE (Checking Out a Boring Anime)

"Whew... finally done."

With a strange cry, Banai collapsed onto the table, and Chitanda reached out to press her forehead. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Yeah, it’s really difficult..."

"Hey, is the script finished?"

Hearing their complaints, Duanmu Huai, who was sitting on the sofa, asked while scrolling through his phone.

"Yeah, supernatural stuff is really too dangerous. Next time we should try something less risky, and this time it felt so chaotic. Ai Liu and I went over it several times before we figured it out."

"Try not to dwell on the mental aspects, the more you ponder, the more your head hurts."

"I agree."

Banai feebly waved her hand.

"I need to recharge now..."

"Want some ice cream?"

"Yes!"

Duanmu Huai took ice cream from the fridge and handed it over, and Banai and Chitanda received it and started eating it bite by bite.

"Oh, right!"

After eating, Banai seemed to come back to life from the paperwork.

"There’s a LIVE event today, let’s go watch it together!"

"LIVE?"

"Yeah, a band!"

While speaking, Banai handed over her phone, and Duanmu Huai took it and had a look. All the names were in gibberish, seriously, why do bands insist on English names?

"Girl band, I’ve heard a bit about them, but I’ve never seen them live."

Chitanda curiously leaned in to watch the video on the phone.

"We’re just sitting around anyhow, let’s check it out."

Duanmu Huai glanced at the time. Since there was nothing else to do, might as well kill some time.

Incidentally, Duanmu Huai had also asked President Jingzi about girl bands, and was told that while girl bands are indeed popular, they don’t have much commercial value for many agencies.

The reason is simple: bands are more independent compared to others.

For example, artists, actors, singers, mostly need to collaborate with others. Without a script, they can’t perform; without a song, they can’t sing; without a variety show, they can’t appear on stage. Thus, agencies are needed to coordinate and find work.

From this perspective, bands are relatively independent and self-sufficient, especially in the internet age where there are more and more independent musicians. The role of agencies that control traditional media channels has weakened. Nowadays, agencies have more of a cooperative relationship with bands rather than a controlling one like with idols.

Of course, aside from independence, the band format itself is quite troublesome.

If there’s an internal conflict within an idol group, replacing members or graduation is a simple solution. But if there’s turmoil in a band, adding a new member or replacing an old one is not enough, it might even lead to the disbandment of the whole band. This is a significant loss for agencies and companies, so from a business operation perspective, it’s more cost-effective to have a cooperative relationship than to manage a band.

"It’s surprising that you still signed Fukawa Shoko though."

After hearing Jingzi’s explanation, Duanmu Huai couldn’t help but comment, to which Jingzi could only say it was a favor—after all, she’s the heiress of the Fengchuan Consortium.

Well, that makes sense, just like companies hiring children of big officials for idle positions, it’s a kind of goodwill investment.

After this, Duanmu Huai and Chitanda followed Banai to the LIVEHOUSE.

To be honest, Duanmu Huai didn’t have much impression of such places, usually thinking of them as underground music halls or similar to discos. But the LIVEHOUSE Banai took them to was quite surprising; though it did say LIVEHOUSE, it looked more like a concert hall or a department store. There’s even a tree in the lobby, and around it were supermarket shops, a café on the second floor, and band performance posters on the walls. It looked more like a cinema or music hall.

And the people coming and going were all normal folks, which was a bit unexpected for Duanmu Huai.

"What’s up, Xiao Ai?"

"I’m really surprised, I thought people coming here would be rebels with pierced ears and noses."

"Ahahaha... Xiao Ai, your impression is really..."

Banai didn’t know how to respond to Duanmu Huai’s remark.

"There aren’t people like that anymore, everyone is just regular students. If anyone dressed like that, they’d be advised against it or even expelled."

"True."

Duanmu Huai wasn’t very familiar with this stuff, the only similar experience he had was with the Wind Ensemble Club.

Of course, that was still quite different from a band.

Although this place seemed upscale, the ticket prices weren’t expensive, which made sense. No matter how popular, it’s just a band popular among students; students don’t have much money, can’t really afford those insanely expensive tickets.

The band performing today seemed quite famous, and there were quite a lot of people. Luckily, Duanmu Huai had the ability to conceal his aura; otherwise, this place would quickly turn into a fan meeting—not to boast, but he does have a bit of fame.

So after buying the tickets, the three hurriedly went into the venue.

After all, it was relatively dark and not easy to be noticed.

The crowd wasn’t a lot, but wasn’t too few either. According to Duanmu Huai, he’d seen a robin’s concert before. The number here is barely a fraction of that, but considering they’re universal superstars, the difference is understandable.

Hmm, maybe two or three hundred people?

Looking at it this way, it really isn’t much.

But what’s important is the atmosphere.

Most people were crowded at the front, excitedly looking at the stage, even Chitanda was pulled forward by Banai. Only Duanmu Huai stayed in the back corner. Firstly, he’s not interested in being a starstruck fan; secondly... Duanmu Huai doesn’t really like very loud music, like rock. He would play the drums for fun, hahaha...

Simply put, the LIVE was pretty good.

Duanmu Huai felt that rock music was always loud, but the bands here didn’t just play noisy songs; they also performed some soothing and even light-hearted tunes. The audience was lively, waving their arms from time to time. Speaking of which, the lyrics were quite positive, unlike those domestic pop songs that were always about love, falling out of love, or love triangles... as if people are lovestruck 24/7.

Even middle school students are more sensible; what’s up with adults these days?

Unlike exclusive concerts, this one seemed to be in a rotation format, meaning a band would come on stage, perform, and then leave for another band to come on. It felt a bit like a music competition, except there wasn’t a scoring system here.

As Duanmu Huai leaned back enjoying the music, the door beside him opened and a few girls walked in.

"We made it in time; PPP’s performance hasn’t started yet, great, Pochi-chan!"

"Ah, um........"

The leading girl seemed quite excited, grabbing the arm of the girl next to her, who nodded a bit shyly. With them were two more companions, three of whom were carrying instruments, presumably members of the same band.

The girl in front pulled the other one along as they squeezed in, accidentally bumping into Duanmu Huai.

"Ah, sorry."

The girl immediately turned around to apologize to Duanmu Huai, but when she saw him, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Huh? Miss Duanmu Ai?!"

........Trouble.

Because he needed to be found by Banai and Chitanda, Duanmu Huai didn’t completely conceal his presence. If he did, others would just think they bumped into a wall or a stone when they collided with him, but with even a hint of presence like now, it’s a different story.

Seeing the girl about to call out, Duanmu Huai put a finger to her lips.

"Don’t make any noise, okay?"

"———————!!"

The girl frantically nodded, her eyes wide as saucers, seeming to disregard the performance in front of her, while Duanmu Huai could only silently sigh without saying a word.

What a hassle.

In the end, until the show ended, the girl kept staring at Duanmu Huai.

Though he wanted to sneak away when her attention diverted, she made no move at all. Her other three companions seemed to notice, curiously staring at Duanmu Huai—hmm, now the downside of not being in disguise had come out.

If Duanmu Huai had worn a mask, hat, and glasses, it would have been fine. But since he had the ability to conceal his presence, he usually went about his business openly, and thus if someone saw him, they could almost instantly recognize him.

And his notoriety was quite high.

Troublesome.

When the live show ended, Banai was finally satisfied and returned with Chitanda, who was flushed and breathing lightly, seeming to have enjoyed the performance greatly.

"Kept you waiting, Xiao Ai, huh? Who are they........?"

"Looks like they recognized me."

Even though there was still some distance between them and Duanmu Huai, it was clear from their expressions that they were quite concerned about him.

To avoid more trouble, Duanmu Huai had to approach them.

"Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"

He asked.

"Ah, h-hello!"

Faced with Duanmu Huai’s greeting, the red-haired girl who had just apologized to him excitedly lowered her head in a hurried bow.

"I’m your fan, it’s very rude to bother you at this time, um... may I have your autograph?"

"Of course, that’s no problem."

It’s just an autograph, this small matter isn’t a trouble.

After signing, the four girls happily thanked him and left. Luckily, there weren’t many people left in the venue, so no one noticed the small commotion they caused. Afterward, Duanmu Huai also quickly left the venue with the other two.

"I almost forgot Xiao Ai was a celebrity until I saw that."

Upon exiting the live house, Banai couldn’t help but exclaim, with Chitanda nodding in agreement next to her. Initially, when they met Duanmu Huai, they knew he was famous. But as they spent more time together, they almost overlooked his celebrity status.

"Celebrities are just like regular folks."

"So they say, but having someone from TV by your side feels surreal, don’t you think, Ai Liu?"

"Ah, um........"

Hearing Banai’s question, Chitanda nodded, glanced sideways, and stopped in her tracks.

"That girl........."

"Hmm?"

Duanmu Huai and Banai turned their heads towards where Chitanda was looking, and saw a petite girl running desperately.

Wearing the same school uniform as theirs, she looked familiar somehow?

"The girl who played the insignia game with us before."

"Oh, it’s her, what’s going on?"

In terms of memory, Chitanda was reliable, but the girl’s current appearance seemed odd, running desperately as if being chased by something—though no one was actually chasing her?

"Xiao Ai, should we check it out?"

Perhaps due to having played the insignia game together, Banai seemed a bit worried, and as for Duanmu Huai...

"Sure, let’s go have a look."

After all, they had nothing else to do.