Chapter 174: A First-Rate Star on the Stage

In Fang Ting City, at the entrance of the "Green Tower" Stadium, a huge crowd had gathered.

It was afternoon; the faint sunlight in the azure sky had dispelled the slight chill lingering around the people. Filled with intense passion, they seemed to be waiting for something.

The "Green Tower" was so named because a viewing tower stood opposite the main stadium. Every night, the top of the viewing tower would emit a pale green neon glow, adding a lively atmosphere to the venue.

This was the largest performance venue in Fang Ting City. In past days, countless famous artists had performed here, and it had borne the enthusiasm and expectations of countless audiences. Today was no exception.

Jiang Yuan, wrapped in a thick down jacket, had tucked half her face into the scarf around her neck. From a distance, she looked like a plump penguin. She stood on the outskirts of the crowd, constantly gazing toward the nearby road, trying to find the figure she wanted to see.

And very soon, she saw the person she had been waiting for.

Lin Xiaolu, arriving late, appeared in her field of vision.

She took her hand out of her pocket and raised it slightly, subconsciously intending to greet her friend as usual. But the words that had not yet left her lips got stuck halfway, strangely congealing in the frost.

Because several people she did not know were following behind Lin Xiaolu.

Of course, they were not completely unknown; at least one of them, a pretty girl named Xia Liang, had met her once. She vaguely remembered that Xia Liang was a student from another class in the same grade. Earlier, she had been the rumored delinquent, but recently she seemed to have calmed down a lot; she could even occasionally be seen near the top of the exam rankings.

She knew that Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang had a good relationship. However, Lin Xiaolu seemed to intentionally avoid this in daily life, never voluntarily talking about matters related to Xia Liang in front of others. After a while, she stopped being curious about it, considering it respecting everyone's freedom of friendship.

And now, Lin Xiaolu was actually going out with Xia Liang?

Besides Xia Liang, two other figures also caught her attention: they were two girls who looked quite young, probably still in elementary school. One wore a medical eye patch and had a bob haircut, appearing very quiet; the other had a head of long blue hair, with a somewhat cold expression, looking like a Young Lady from a fantasy story.

Were they all Lin Xiaolu's friends? No, did Lin Xiaolu actually have so many friends?

Feeling her cognition severely shocked, Jiang Yuan's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, as if frozen into an ice sculpture in this cold weather, motionless.

In contrast to her surprised attitude, Lin Xiaolu, upon seeing Jiang Yuan, appeared somewhat delighted. She took three steps as two, walked up, greeted Jiang Yuan, and then turned to introduce her to the several girls behind her: "This is my friend. I made an appointment with her to come listen to the concert together."

Although she hadn't figured out the situation, since Lin Xiaolu had already opened her mouth to introduce her, Jiang Yuan could not continue to remain silent. So, following her words, she spoke: "Hello, I am Jiang Yuan."

"I see." Hearing Lin Xiaolu's words, for some reason, the blue-haired girl looked at Jiang Yuan for a while with an examining gaze, then said something somewhat nonsensical: "That's good."

"Hello, I am Xia Liang."

"I am Bai Jingxuan."

The other two simply spoke up to greet them in a common manner.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Jiang Yuan, slightly coming to her senses, lowered her voice and hurriedly confirmed with Lin Xiaolu: "Um, Xiaolu, who are they?"

"Ah, them? They are... my friends?"

Lin Xiaolu answered with a slight hesitation, her gaze sweeping over the three of them: "You should know Xia Liang; she is from our grade. As for the other two..."

"They are my relatives."

Xia Liang, smiling brightly and quite at ease, said: "Sorry to disturb you two. I originally came to see the concert with them, but we met Xiaolu on the way, so we walked together."

"Relatives?"

Tilting her head to look at the two girls whose appearance bore no resemblance to Xia Liang at all, Jiang Yuan paused, feeling full of doubts in her heart. But ultimately, since it had nothing to do with her, she easily accepted this fact and nodded: "Alright... so you just happened to come together on the same path?"

"Yes, that's right."

Xia Liang, with a pure face and a smile carrying a touch of warmth, nodded: "I didn't know before. I didn't expect you two to be fans of Sister Mary too!"

"Mary" was the nickname of the singer of this concert, Asano Enka. Fans would affectionately call her "Mary." Although no one knew the origin of this nickname, as a customary term, no one questioned its validity.

Because this nickname had almost no logical connection to the singer's stage name, it was often used by fans to distinguish each other's identities. Those who used the name "Mary" were not necessarily true die-hard fans, but those who called her by her real name were definitely not one of their own.

So, when Xia Liang said the term "Sister Mary," Jiang Yuan's originally tense and somewhat unfamiliar attitude softened considerably. This manifested specifically as an inexplicable deep sigh, her expression becoming slightly more relaxed.

"That's not strange, is it?"

Blinking her eyes, Jiang Yuan half-joked: "Given Mary's popularity, if you look around in the crowd, you might even find other classmates."

"Indeed, I should take this opportunity to look for them properly."

Nodding lightly, Xia Liang suddenly turned her face to look at Lin Xiaolu beside her. With a barely perceptible movement, she opened her mouth slightly, silently expressing something, then, as if nothing had happened, took the hands of the other two girls: "Alright, then we won't disturb you two older sisters. I'll take you to play somewhere else."

After saying this, she led the girls away, disappearing from Jiang Yuan's line of sight, leaving only Lin Xiaolu behind here.

"... So what is going on?"

After confirming that Xia Liang had left, Jiang Yuan looked at Lin Xiaolu, somewhat confused: "Seeing so many of you walking over with such momentum, I thought you were all a group. It turns out you just happened to be on the same path?"

"Ah... ah, yes, yes."

Having probably spent half a day accepting the background setting Xia Liang had made up, Lin Xiaolu's blank expression was mixed with a slight displeasure, feeling as nauseating as having eaten a fly. But she still nodded and said: "I met Xia Liang on the road. She... insisted on chatting with me, so she forced her way to follow along."

"Haha, that really is her style."

Since there were no more "strangers," Jiang Yuan's tone became much livelier: "So were those two really her relatives? Why was there a foreigner among them? A cousin or something?"

"... I don't know."

Lin Xiaolu said with slight displeasure: "Anyway, it has nothing to do with us, right?"

"That's true. Let's hurry to check our tickets. If we wait any longer, our seats might be snatched by others."

Jiang Yuan pointed toward the direction of the stadium entrance, but before moving, she glanced once more in the direction Xia Liang and the others had left. With a touch of emotion, she said: "However, that long blue hair... it looks really beautiful. It shines, like a magical girl. Is that girl from a foreign land?"

"... Are you interested?" For some reason, the tone in which Lin Xiaolu spoke this sentence sounded a bit strange.

"Interested is too strong a word; it's just a simple appreciation of beauty."

Jiang Yuan grabbed her own hair and waved it in front of her eyes: "Do you think I should go dye my hair too? I feel the effect of colored hair in reality isn't bad either."

"Just about the hair... like that."

Also glancing in the direction Xia Liang had left, Lin Xiaolu slightly clenched her fist, but ultimately turned back with a hint of reluctance and sighed: "Let's go, to check the tickets."

"In a bad mood?"

"A little."

"What suddenly happened? Didn't you look quite happy when you first arrived?"

"Your friends planned to go play together, but kicked you aside alone... never mind, that analogy isn't appropriate. Just pretend I didn't say it."

"Friends?"

"Pretend I didn't say it. Let's go, let's go." Waving her hand toward the main entrance, Lin Xiaolu clearly did not want to continue the previous topic and stepped toward the nearby stadium.

And this short interlude obviously would not occupy too much of Jiang Yuan's attention. Since Lin Xiaolu did not want to continue talking, she was also too lazy to pursue it further. So she easily cast this matter aside and began to celebrate and rejoice for the concert once again.

For this reason, she was destined never to know how Xia Liang and those two girls, these three "fans," had actually come to be here.

In fact, until a few days ago, the night Lin Xiaolu confessed to Senior Cuique that she was going to the concert, these three had not had the slightest intention of coming to the venue.

It was only when Lin Xiaolu spoke the name "Asano Enka" that Senior Cuique's heart, previously as calm as an ancient well, was stirred into towering waves.

Because this name was not merely a person's name from the Eastern Japan State, but the name of an Eastern Japan State person she knew incredibly well, or rather, most familiarly.

That was the name of the magical girl, code-named "Margaret," from the original four-person squad in Fang Ting City twenty years ago.

Asano Enka, or rather Margaret, had first appeared in Lin Yun and Anya's lives as a transfer student.

This transfer student from the Eastern Japan State, fluent in Eastern Hua State language from the very beginning, was welcomed by her classmates and quickly built good relationships with her fellow students. Coupled with her striking appearance, she soon garnered much admiration from both male and female classmates.

At that time, Lin Yun, still a junior high student, was so preoccupied with major changes in his life that he had no heart for his studies and cared little about school matters, to the extent that even though this transfer student sat behind him, he never even remembered her name.

This led to a situation where, when he was assigned after-school duty with Asano Enka, he remained silent the entire time because he couldn't even call her by name.

This unusual silence persisted through several shifts of duty, which instead caught her attention; so much so that it was Asano Enka who initiated conversation, leading to the two having very little exchange.

If it had ended there, the two would have been nothing more than ordinary male and female classmates, with no further life intersections beyond this duty experience. But fate was simply that coincidental; a few days later, Lin Yun, transformed into a magical girl, encountered a remnant beast he found difficult to handle at the time. Anya happened not to be present, leaving him to fight a bitter battle alone.

Just then, a magical girl radiating orange light, like a comet, rushed into the battlefield.

This magical girl seemed to possess more mature combat experience; after intervening, she quickly reduced the pressure of the fight, allowing Lin Yun at that time to successfully turn the tide and defeat the remnant beast together with this reinforcement.

And this was merely the beginning of the event. After securing a hard-won victory, the two magical girls left the scene, preparing to undo their transformations and properly introduce themselves, only to discover a shocking fact:

—The other person was actually their classmate.

Just as Lin Yun never imagined that the Eastern Japan transfer student fluent in Eastern Hua language would be a magical girl, Asano Enka never imagined that a taciturn and shy boy would be a magical girl.

Rather, the fact that a boy was a magical girl was what shocked her the most.

However, the facts were right there before her eyes, leaving her no choice but to believe. Furthermore, with Anya mediating in between, Asano Enka quickly bonded with the two, and the three thus formed the original Fang Ting City squad.

It can be said that for Lin Yun's magical girl career, Asano Enka was a witness from start to finish; whereas regarding Asano Enka's magical girl career, Lin Yun actually only knew the very beginning segment.

Because after he retired to choose study, obtained his degree, and married Anya, Asano Enka chose to bid farewell on a snowy night. From then on, he and she had no contact whatsoever.

Hearing this name again now, aside from a moment of nostalgia for that past time, Lin Yun felt more curiosity—Could it really be the person he knew? But if it were her, although the Asano Enka in his memory did indeed have this kind of hobby, how had she become the so-called pop diva?

Carrying such doubts, Senior Cuique searched the name online; however, in the images and videos found, this star wore sunglasses most of the time, and her performance hairstyles were all over the place, often dyed in various colors, making it impossible for her to judge the identity based on features. Only through that familiar yet slightly unfamiliar face did she vaguely feel that this really was the person from her memory.

With the intention of verifying this, Senior Cuique temporarily changed her mind, deciding to go to the concert with Lin Xiaolu to personally confirm the identity of this "Asano Enka."

And in order to attend this concert, she deliberately advanced her patrol time, maintained high mental concentration, finished the day's patrol with the fastest speed and highest efficiency, and then rushed to the concert venue.

Of course, considering that both she and Lin Xiaolu were going to the concert, leaving Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan behind at the secret base seemed inappropriate; thus came today's scene—the four of them came here together.

Among them, Lin Xiaolu was exempt from the ticket requirement because she was traveling with Jiang Yuan, while Senior Cuique and the others had to purchase tickets transferred by others through a second-hand trading platform. During this process, there were constant disturbances, causing complete unrest.

And unlike the simple mindset of Xia Liang and the others coming just to have fun, Senior Cuique's mood at this moment was extremely complex.

Regarding the matter of confirming whether this "Asano Enka" was indeed an acquaintance, she actually held quite contradictory feelings. On one hand, there was curiosity about her old friend's current state, wanting to know what the other had experienced since leaving Fang Ting City and joining the Magical Kingdom these past years; on the other hand, because so many changes and events had occurred in these years, including Anya's departure. Now that the two were meeting, it would likely only add to the awkwardness.

This was also the reason she had previously resisted revealing news of her comeback: meeting an "old friend" like Asano Enka now, the awkward things far outweighed the nostalgic ones.

But, despite such complex considerations, upon truly hearing that the owner of this name had returned to Fang Ting City, Senior Cuique still decided to go and verify it.

She always felt that perhaps many things would change under the scouring of time, but some things must remain unchanged.

Thus, having cut tickets together with Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan and walked into the concert venue, Senior Cuique found her seat and simply sat down, waiting quietly for the start.

The time was still afternoon, and because the top of the stadium was open-air, the entire venue appeared completely visible.

This was also the organizer's requirement; in fact, holding the concert in the afternoon was part of the stage presentation effect. According to the organizer, songs suitable for daytime performance would be placed in the afternoon first; after nightfall, accompanied by the introduction of stage lighting and other visual effects, songs more suitable for sound and light forms would be performed.

Furthermore, because it was a tour concert, this model had already been verified in other cities. According to online rumors, most fans felt the performance effect was excellent and the concert was worth the trip, so it was consistently adopted.

As time ticked by, the audience originally gathered outside the venue also completed their ticket checks one by one and took their seats inside. Of course, some tickets had no assigned seats, but this did not hinder these fans from being equally enthusiastic.

Seeing the sea of people inside the venue, Senior Cuique gained a further understanding of the popularity of this concert; at the same time, she felt somewhat ashamed—if she hadn't personally come to this concert, she would never have known there was such a current popular singer.

Perhaps it was because she had previously been immersed in work and didn't follow entertainment news; perhaps it was because Lin Yun was getting older and gradually developing a generation gap with the younger generation. In any case, the singer bearing the name "Asano Enka" had been popular for many years, yet she only recently learned of this person, and only today discovered just how popular the other was.

Even before confirming the other's identity, this subtle sense of awkwardness persisted until the concert began. As the fans in the audience stopped their commotion, the sound system in the venue began to emit an energetic warm-up melody, and the atmosphere around gradually became lively.

Amidst this lively atmosphere, Senior Cuique's heart also gradually rose.

Whether the other was indeed the person she thought, the answer was now right before her eyes.

If not, it would certainly be a relief, but it would likely also feel awkward, because this would somewhat make her appear to be overthinking it; but if it were, the mere fact that the other appeared on this stage was enough to indicate many things.

After so many years without returning to Fang Ting City, not even appearing before her at Anya's funeral, Asano Enka, now making a grand return here, would certainly come to find her.

After all, their relationship was that of old teammates, not enemies; from all logical perspectives, Asano Enka had no reason not to meet her.

And when it truly came to the step of meeting...

Thinking of this, Senior Cuique's thoughts became somewhat wandering, until the music on the stage gradually subsided, the large screen behind began to scroll characters, and the fans around began to cheer wildly, only then did she realize—the main character was about to arrive.

Along with the rhythmic beats and shouts, she felt her own heartbeat pulsing continuously. Holding her breath, gazing intently at the stage, even though the distance of the seat was not particularly close, Senior Cuique at this moment felt that only she and the stage remained in the venue, waiting for the performer to walk to the front of the stage.

"Mary!" "Mary!" "Mary!"

The fans' shouts grew even stronger; the music in the sound system began to become complex and energetic, more vocal parts gradually joining in order, numerous instruments joining this performance, and then, the list of performers began to scroll on the large screen.

Guitarist, drummer, bassist, keyboardist, brass, strings... one name after another flashed before people's eyes. As the rhythm progressed, the speed of the scrolling list also increased, the cheers from below rose wave after wave, and a tidal wave of sound dragged everyone present into an ocean of revelry.

And finally, when the list of all musicians was completed, only a huge, white name remained alone on the screen, and those brief characters triggered the most enthusiastic cheers.

—Asano Enka.

After the name came the title of the opening song, "LonelyMeet."

The music suddenly shifted, seamlessly cutting into the song's intro, and then, amidst the intro sound, a somewhat tall figure appeared on the stage at some unknown moment.

A gorgeous performance dress, slightly flamboyant makeup, yet what could not be covered was the singer's beautiful orange-yellow long hair and those crimson eyes.

Those were eyes that seemed to speak, deep with melancholy, and within that melancholy, as if buried countless secrets; merely meeting eyes would make one feel the intoxication of being swept into a whirlpool.

The owner of those eyes walked to the front of the stage with a confident smile, waving to the fans below, and then, at the exact moment the intro ended, she effortlessly raised the microphone, and her clear singing voice bloomed in the venue together with the cheers.

As for what she was singing, Senior Cuique was no longer paying attention.

Because her purpose had already been achieved. Merely seeing those familiar eyes was enough to confirm that the person on stage was undoubtedly the one she had imagined. Indeed, the image on stage could be described by another name—Margaret.

The other had no reservations, appearing there directly in her true form.

Although the other party's current appearance differed from Cuique's memory, not resembling the middle-schooler she had been when she first advanced to the Bud rank, but rather looking like an adult, or perhaps a university student, this did not mean Cuique had remembered incorrectly. In fact, this was related to the procedures for a Magical Girl joining the Magical Realm.

All Magical Girls who join the Magical Realm must undergo a procedure to elevate their true form into their physical body. During this process, a Magical Girl can adjust the image of her true form to some extent, making it closer to her age at that time.

This also resulted in Magical Girls within the Magical Realm not all appearing as "girls"; indeed, there were many who looked like young women, or even mature women. Clearly, Margaret was the same.

Precisely because the elevated true form differed from her original true form, Cuique had been unable to confirm her identity when searching for photos online. Probably for this very reason, she felt confident enough to use her true form as her genuine image for her entertainment activities.

Although this image of the other party did not quite match her memory, it awakened Cuique's long-buried recollections in another way, because, in fact, it was incredibly close to the image Margaret had when she left.

It was just that Lin Yun and the other party had not met often back then; the image glimpsed in haste was far from enough to overwrite the impression left over many previous years.

When the other party left Fang Ting City, she seemed to be in her twenties, two years after Lin Yun and Anya had married, and Lin Xiaolu was just over one year old.

Unlike Hong Siyu, who left without a word, Aoyama Madoka calmly announced this to her teammates and, via Anya's relay to Lin Yun, settled the matter.

Throughout the process, her attitude remained rational; she discussed her choice to leave Fang Ting City and her considerations for joining the Magical Realm later as if analyzing her future development.

Because the analysis was so excessively rational and realistic, no one could find a reason to persuade her, and Su Shengzi, the only one in the team with the ability to persuade, had no intention of doing so, readily accepting Aoyama Madoka's choice to leave.

Thus, in a winter similar to the present, beneath falling snowflakes, Aoyama Madoka bid farewell to her teammates and set off on the road to the port.

Before departing, Lin Yun, who had not seen her for a long time, arrived at the scene for the first time in ages to bid farewell to his old teammate.

"I'm sorry."

Even now, Cuique remembered the words she said when she saw her.

"Why apologize?"

"Regarding the retirement, I didn't mean to hide from you, it's just..."

"You just felt that meeting would only make things more unpleasant, even end in a parting of ways, so you simply hid?"

Margaret, dragging her suitcase, blinked her eyes, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly: "Sister, useless explanations need not be said, and this matter does not require your apology."

"I feel the term 'sister' is no longer applicable to the current scene."

The Lin Yun in memory sighed: "In any case, I, having already left the Magical Girl environment, cannot give you any useful advice. I wish you all the best in what comes next."

"I use the term 'sister' to express a pursuit of a constant relationship, sister. In my view, this is the way to define the relationship between us, and it was originally the most comfortable way."

Pulling the gloves on her hands to wrap them more tightly, Margaret gripped her suitcase again: "Do you know what is the thing I am most dissatisfied with right now?"

"My unauthorized retirement increased your combat pressure?"

Lin Yun pondered and said, "But I felt that back then I could only drag you down..."

"That is not the main reason."

Margaret still wore a fresh smile on her face, but no trace of warmth could be seen in her crimson eyes: "Sister, do you know what I am expressing by repeatedly emphasizing this term?"

"... We are friends, we are teammates."

"Yes, the three of us, me, you, and Anya, and of course now reluctantly including that old woman Su Shengzi, and even reluctantly counting Hong Siyu, that silent gourd. In short, we are teammates, originally the most intimate people."

She raised one hand and made a gesture of "five": "This was originally a stable group relationship, but you and Anya suddenly got married, meaning the two of you started playing together, and even before making the decision, you didn't communicate with your sister at all. The feeling it gave me was really terrible."

"It's like your friends decide to go out together, but you are not involved in the entire decision-making process, and even after the decision is made, they show an attitude that they don't need you. What I felt was this coldness. Was I abandoned?"

"I don't know what that old woman Su Shengzi is thinking, but you should know why Hong Siyu ran away without a word. That girl surrounded you every day calling you 'senior', her intentions were obvious. The way you two got married directly broke her defenses. Could you bear to do that?"

"... I'm sorry." Lin Yun could only repeat the word somewhat dryly.

"Sigh, but in any case, we are still sisters, so I am destined to have no complaints against you."

Sighing softly, her breath turned into curling white mist in the cold wind, Margaret looked at Lin Yun again: "Just as I said at your wedding, although not entirely willing, I wish you happiness. I hope your marriage is more perfect than anyone else's; your lives sweeter than anyone else's; your children cuter than anyone else's. If you cannot achieve this, then you are letting down the expectations of your sisters, and you are letting down this heart of a sister that was hurt."

"We all know what kind of person Anya is, so it is hard for me to say to her some mushy words like 'You must make Ah Yun happy'. But with you, I can say it directly. Sister, do not betray Anya; she truly loves you."

Lin Yun also exhaled slightly: "... I know, thank you."

"Just saying a few nice words with your mouth, something with no technical content or cost, there is no need to thank me."

Leaning on the handle of her suitcase, Margaret tapped the ground with her toe: "In any case, that is all I have to say. The reason I am leaving was explained clearly before; it actually has nothing to do with you. I simply got tired of it and want to see other places. Or rather, having been a Magical Girl for so long, it is time to consider what to do with the rest of my life."

"Do what?"

"I haven't decided."

Margaret's answer was very honest: "Anyway, it won't be a stable white-collar job or a housewife. I must find something that draws attention and satisfies this love-starved heart of mine."

"Love-starved heart... never mind, let's just call it that."

Reciting the words Margaret had spoken with a hint of helplessness, Lin Yun closed his eyes: "Then, no matter what, I wish your life goes smoothly, that you can soon find the meaning you pursue, my... friend."

"Heh, I'll take your good wishes."

Chuckling softly, Margaret dragged her suitcase: "Alright, go back. Don't freeze out here in such cold weather. Your wife and children are waiting for you on a warm kang at home. What is there to chat about with me, a lonely widow?"

Lin Yun then knew she was probably done with the conversation.

Having been friends and teammates for so many years, he had gained a certain understanding of the other party's character. Margaret's speech was always measured, giving people a very relaxed feeling. But beneath the tolerant words lay a straightforward soul that never concealed her likes and dislikes.

Clearly, she found this conversation somewhat boring.

It was just that Lin Yun himself did not know what there was left to talk about with the other party after shedding the identity of a Magical Girl. At this age, merely reminiscing about the past was probably too early; in the end, the common topics between the two had been worn away.

But watching the figure gradually moving away, his thoughts at that moment traveled through time, returning to the moment he first met the other party, the scene where that orange flash descended from the sky.

Is it ending like this? he asked himself.

A friendship carrying countless memories, a memory that now, when recalled, is as precious as gold. He and the other party left so many shining memories around "Magical Girl" during their youth, but in the end, does it all come to nothing in this silent snowy night?

That's not right.

Even though he has now abandoned the power of a Magical Girl, even though he has lived as an ordinary person for many years, he knows that this state of affairs is not right.

He and Aoyama Madoka were both very clear that the light of this friendship still remained in each other's hearts; it was just that due to various grievances, neither could express it openly.

What should I do?

I should convey this feeling.

Thinking of this, Lin Yun knew what he should do next. So, he suddenly spoke up, calling out to the woman who was now only a back view:

"Thank you! Aoyama! Thank you for helping me back then, thank you for being my friend! Those days fighting side by side with you were truly happy! No matter what you want to do next, in short, go for it!"

The voice was carried by the cold wind and could not reach very far, but it was enough to reach the other party's ears.

He saw Margaret's figure suddenly come to a halt in the night, then the woman dragging her suitcase turned her head back, and for some reason, perhaps childish, made a face at him.

"You didn't choose me; you will surely regret it later!"

He could not describe the expression he saw on Margaret's face at that moment: confidence, relief, and unwillingness were all present. Then, without giving him a chance to reply, she quickened her pace and vanished into the night as if fleeing.

That face, the last expression the other made before him, remained frozen for thirteen years.

Until now, with the appearance of that vivid figure on stage, this frozen expression gradually thawed with the flow of time, regaining its proper vitality.

Gazing at the incredibly dazzling figure on stage, Senior Cuique was overwhelmed with a flood of emotions.

She certainly had no thoughts about the other's current situation; rather, it was the identity of "old teammate" that dragged up too many memories, and the memories between her and Margaret were everywhere filled with the figure of Anya.

Now that Anya was gone, this nostalgia was rekindled by seeing an old acquaintance, and mixed with various emotions, it naturally became quite complex.

Just as she was sighing, she suddenly noticed that Margaret on stage made a special gesture: she took the hair flower ornament from her own hair.

Then, amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the fans, she flung it upward, throwing it down toward the audience.

Within the sea of people, countless hands seemed to reach out at that moment, wanting to intercept this gift from their idol from mid-air, yet the casually tossed hair flower seemed to have eyes, passing through the gaps between people's hands, with no one able to successfully catch it.

It flew straight toward Senior Cuique and landed lightly in her palm.

In fact, almost the moment the hair flower landed in Senior Cuique's palm, the song had already reached its climax. Amidst the rhythmic waves of sound, the clear, loud singing voice reached her ears distinctly.

— "A lonely meeting; the migratory bird does not fly south for winter."

"Regarding the matter of not choosing me, you will surely regret it."

Hearing these two lines of lyrics, the memory that had just flashed through her mind made Senior Cuique lift her head as if struck by electricity, looking toward the stage once more.

Then, her gaze met that of the singer on stage.

Consciousness was stretched infinitely at this moment; strength was lost from her movements; the many barriers between the stages seemed to vanish in an instant, leaving only the song continuing.

"Year after year, it is the sweat shed."

"Look at me, the first-class star upon the stage, returning like shimmering light!"

Thanks to the patronage of the reader "You Tu You Mu" and the reader "Pacing in a World of Daydreams," as well as the support and patience of all readers.

Ten thousand words, meow.

(End of this chapter)