Tunzuo, who had proposed the idea, grew more and more agonized.
Cold sweat trickled down her temples, leaving glistening droplets on the table.
She never expected that the suggestion she had blurted out just to get through the conversation—
A purely impulsive, crazy thought—
Would actually be taken as a brilliant idea by the witches before her.
The fervor of their discussion rivaled that of a large concert.
Scenes filled with sweat, tears, arguments, and reconciliation flashed through her mind.
She remembered the girl band anime she had watched, and as those images replayed in her head, Tunzuo couldn’t help but cover her face with both hands and let out a scream from the depths of her soul.
“Ugh! Kurushii!”
She didn’t want that tangled, messy web of relationships.
She didn’t want to experience that neurotic pain called “the wounds of youth.”
‘I’m just a lazy fish who wants to lie flat and drift through life! Why are you dragging me into a girl band manga plot full of divine lunatics?! No! I don’t want to fight the chaebols! I don’t want to get caught in those complicated interpersonal relationships!’
Now Tunzuo desperately missed the days back on Blue Star when she could blend into the chorus and slack off.
The formal rehearsals for the chorus were troublesome, but once on stage, all she had to do was blend in with the crowd, open her mouth, and lip-sync.
Whether it sounded good or whether her voice was loud enough—
That was the lead singer’s problem.
She only needed to pretend to be invested at the critical moments.
‘Wah wah wah, I miss you, Yellow River Cantata! I was young and reckless back then—can you love me one more time?’
And if she counted Hai Lanyue, the nine of them made exactly five students.
No matter how she looked at it, it felt like fate was maliciously messing with her.
Was all this the choice of Steins;Gate?
At that thought, Tunzuo felt as if struck by lightning.
Her already gloomy mood took a turn for the worse.
Five witches—
Just enough for a standard band lineup.
‘Damn cosmic will! How dare you play such a cruel, tasteless joke on me, a harmless, indifferent fish!’
To avoid the endless band training and the stereotypical girl band tropes latching onto her, Tunzuo resolved to act immediately.
She had to overturn her own proposal and nip it in the bud.
Taking a deep breath, Tunzuo straightened her face, propped her chin on her hands, and calmly observed the reactions and moods of the other witches.
She waited for a lull in their discussion, coughed twice to draw their attention, and then put on an extremely serious, concerned expression.
“Ahem. Everyone, even though I was the one who suggested forming a band, after thinking it over carefully, I’ve realized it’s a bit unrealistic.”
Tunzuo furrowed her brows and lowered her voice, looking deeply pained.
“Band rehearsals are very time-consuming and energy-intensive. Each of us not only has to practice our instruments individually but also needs to work on coordination and chemistry. The academy festival is coming up—we have a tight schedule and heavy tasks. Hurried performances might end up as a disaster. So for everyone’s better experience at the festival, I strongly suggest, Teacher Sherry, that you all pick a program that can be rehearsed in a short time. For example, a group poetry recitation or something.”
Seeing Tunzuo’s serious expression that genuinely seemed worried about the festival program, the other witches twitched their mouths, looking uncomfortable.
‘What’s up with this? Is this the same lazy ghost witch? Why is she suddenly so proactive?’
Despite Tunzuo’s desperate struggle, her negative opinion was unfortunately not adopted.
“Time isn’t an issue, little ghost.”
Olivia shook her head first, pushing Tunzuo to the edge of a cliff with a relaxed expression.
“First, I have some foundation in playing instruments, so I can act as a tutor, give you tips, help you practice, make things easier, and keep you from taking detours.”
“Second, since the academy festival is a one-time performance, we don’t need to completely master our instruments. We only need to become proficient in the basic playing techniques and practice the songs we want to perform. That won’t take too much time.”
“Also, we have a trump card.”
Olivia curled her lips in a mysterious smile, then pulled out a finely crafted violin from her storage device.
With a light tap of her finger, she infused it with mana.
The violin floated up, the bow automatically rested on the strings, and it flawlessly played a beautiful melody all on its own.
Tunzuo was dumbfounded by Olivia’s little trick, her jaw nearly dropping.
Seeing Tunzuo’s stunned expression, Olivia explained with a smile.
“‘Lightly Leave a Trace’—a simple second-circle spell that can pre-record the playing trajectory of a score. During the performance, it can serve as a safety net to correct our mistakes. Although it lacks emotion, in emergencies, it’s enough to ensure our performance goes smoothly. After all, the soul of music lies in emotional resonance, so it can only be a backup.”
After hearing Olivia’s words, Sally and Huli’s eyes sparkled.
Seeing the expectant looks of the two young ones, Tunzuo knew her first argument had lost its persuasive power.
Left with no choice, Tunzuo had to think of another approach.
After some deliberation, she turned her attention to Sherry.
With a sharp glance, she threw out her prepared line.
“But forming a band only requires five witches. If we count Teacher Sherry and Teacher Lena, we have seven witches in total. That’s not inclusive—it’s bad. So I think it’s not suitable!”
Tunzuo’s righteous declaration actually made the other witches furrow their brows in thought.
Two witches would end up not being on stage, excluded from the group activity.
Tunzuo was right—
Leaving anyone out of the performance would be a big problem.
Seeing the witches wavering, Tunzuo secretly rejoiced, proud of her cleverness.
‘Hmph, I played the team solidarity card—perfect logic. Let’s see how you solve this!’
But just as Tunzuo thought her scheme would succeed, Olivia clapped her fist together, a gleam of insight flashing in her eyes, sealing the coffin lid that Tunzuo had barely pried open.
“In that case, why don’t we bring Teacher Lei Ruiya into it too! Then I’ll call two friends, and we can form two bands and have a band battle performance on the spot! Teachers versus students—that kind of fiery gimmick will definitely ignite the whole audience’s passion!”
“That’s a great idea.”
“Band battle! So cool!”
“Mm-hmm, sounds really fun!”
Olivia’s proposal drew unanimous praise from Sherry, Sally, and Huli.
They immediately decided that their class’s academy festival performance would be a band battle.
Then Sherry quickly sent the program plan to Lena via her grimoire and soon received approval from both Lena and Hai Lanyue.
When Tunzuo heard Olivia’s idea of a band battle, she spat out a mouthful of dark purple blood on the spot, thunderstruck.
‘What? There’s even a versus round? Do we really have to be a band for life? That kind of thing—no, no, no!’
With blood at the corner of her mouth, Tunzuo bit her messy strands of hair in hatred, glaring at Olivia, who had pushed her into the fire pit, and screamed internally.
‘You pervert dragon! You don’t understand me at all! Points deduction! I’m going to deduct a ton of points from you!’
Faced with Tunzuo’s murderous glare, Olivia responded with a simple, honest smile and even gave a thumbs-up, looking wise and awaiting praise.
Tunzuo could only cover her face with one hand, speechless, thinking that Olivia, of all times, had to be suddenly emotionally dense.
Knowing she could no longer turn the tide, Tunzuo resigned herself to fate, accepting the witch band battle program plan—
Proposed by her own mouth and modified by the other witches.
Dejected, Tunzuo settled for her second choice, hoping to pick an instrument that was easy to practice and slack off on.
After some planning, Hai Lanyue was assigned as the lead singer, and Olivia, who had some piano foundation, took the keyboard position.
That left Tunzuo to choose from guitarist, bassist, and drummer.
Tunzuo’s eyes darted, and without a second thought, she aimed for the bassist spot.
‘Bass is great—low sound, low presence, often joked about being inaudible in a band. Perfect for slacking off. Just pluck along with the rhythm.’
But before Tunzuo could speak up to claim the spot, Huli raised her hand first.
Her fluffy fox ears twitched as she said excitedly:
“Um, I want to be the bassist! I think the bass has a unique tone—deep and rhythmic—so I’d like to try it!”
Seeing Huli’s sparkling, eager eyes, Tunzuo awkwardly opened her mouth, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to fight Huli for the bassist spot.
She forced the words back down.
“Since Huli is the bassist, I’ll take the guitarist!”
Just as Tunzuo was about to settle for the relatively “easy” guitarist position, a confident, sweet shout cut her off.
Tunzuo turned her head and saw Sally, at some point, pulling out a flashy electric guitar from behind her.
Sally’s fingertips crackled with electricity as she infused her mana into the guitar and connected it to the classroom’s speakers.
Before the other witches could react, her fingers danced like phantoms across the strings.
A burst of intense distorted sound exploded in the classroom.
Sally strummed fiercely, unleashing a rapid, explosive solo.
Her fingers hopped wildly across the frets—
Bending, hammer-ons, pull-offs—
A seamless, flawless performance.
Sally’s solo was a display of pure technique.
Every note was full of power and passion, as if about to ignite the air itself.
With a flashy long bend at the coda, Sally whipped her head, hair flying, her eyes burning with the wild light of rock.
As the piece ended, the sound lingered in the room.
Sally flashed a wide grin at Tunzuo, who looked as if she’d seen a ghost, and made a very rock hand gesture smugly.
“How about that? My guitar playing is decent enough, right?”
‘Decent? You call that decent?!’
Tunzuo screamed internally, feeling as if her back was covered in wounds.
“Hehe, to be honest, I’ve been playing guitar for years. Acoustic or electric, folk, classical, or pop—there’s nothing I can’t handle. So leave the guitarist spot to me!”
‘Years?! Veteran?!’
Sally’s words hit Tunzuo like a sledgehammer.
‘Oh great, so there’s a hidden master among us all along?’
Now the guitarist was secured and experienced; the bassist spot went to the fox; keyboard was Olivia; lead singer was Hai Lanyue.
Faced with the situation where it was supposedly a free choice, but she had been neatly arranged, Tunzuo nearly fainted from anger.
“I’m the drummer?!”
Tunzuo looked up, already envisioning the massive size of a drum set, on the verge of tears.
“With my little arms and legs, you want me to keep the beat? Ugh, just kill me!”
Unable to bear the blow, Tunzuo collapsed into her seat, staring blankly at the ceiling like a salted fish that had been repeatedly abused by life.
‘A drum set? That’s the hardest instrument to learn!’
Hands and feet together, limbs moving independently—
Besides memorizing the score, you also have to learn to stay on beat.
This wasn’t letting her perform on stage—
It was public execution!
“Um… a high-difficulty instrument like the drum set requires limb coordination. How can a complete beginner like me possibly master it in such a short time? Can anyone switch with me? Pervert dragon, be considerate…”
Tunzuo spoke weakly, trying to evoke sympathy from the other witches in a last-ditch struggle.
She attempted to force Olivia into switching positions with a threatening tone.
Hearing this, Olivia curled her lips.
Switching was out of the question.
She planned to volunteer as Tunzuo’s exclusive music teacher and personally teach her how to play the drums.
But before Olivia could step forward, Tunzuo suddenly frowned.
Her summon contract had reacted.
Tunzuo pulled out Huanye and waved it casually.
A dazzling white light flashed, and the elegant skeleton gentleman appeared beside Tunzuo, bowing slightly to her.
“Young miss.”
Yuge’s usually indifferent voice carried a rare hint of emotion as he spoke confidently:
“I have a way for you to master an instrument quickly.”
Tunzuo: “…”
‘Damn! I thought you were here to help me, but you’re also here to stab me in the back!’
#()
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