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She was probably the only one who could experience falling asleep in a small bedroom that was isolated from time and space. She could not be disturbed by anyone or anything, and even outside the time axis of the universe, even if a black hole exploded next to the earth, it would not disturb the absolute tranquility.
What does it feel like to fall asleep in a closed space and time?
In fact, there was no special feeling, because when Lingye opened her eyes again, the sky outside the window was already bright. Maria knocked on the door and came in, bringing her the school uniform she needed to change.
"Miss, is the clock in the room broken?"
It was 7:05 in the morning, and Maria was surprised to find that the bedroom clock showed 3:05, four hours late. Was the clock out of power? But the second hand continued to move.
"Ah, nothing, Maria just needs to dial it back for me. I was learning about time zones from my geography teacher yesterday, so I played around with it for a bit."
"So that's how it is." Maria said nonchalantly. It was just a small matter. No one would think that there was something wrong with time itself.
Maria didn't know that the clock didn't stop for four hours, but moved forward eight hours, and it showed three o'clock in the afternoon. But the time shown was meaningless, because for this world, it was 7:05 in the morning in Tokyo. The eight hours that disappeared quietly did not exist in any observable latitude in this world.
周六
In Ueno Park in Taito District, Tokyo, there is a concert hall built eleven years ago - the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. It is currently the largest concert hall in Tokyo and can accommodate more than a thousand spectators.
I heard that the Guild Hall is planning to build a new hall. In recent years, with the influx of Western culture, symphony has become popular in the music world, and the Guild Hall has also begun to prepare to build a symphony hall. However, how long the preparation and actual construction will take, maybe five years, maybe ten years, no one can tell.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Choir Competition, which Tomoeda Elementary School participated in, was rented by the Education Department at this hall. This concert hall is already oversized for elementary school students.
Choir Competition
It was called a chorus, but in fact the other students were just backing singers, and there was only one lead singer. Ling thought she was the one in the crowd, but she was the one standing alone at the front.
"Tomoyo, Sakura, you're here."
Ling also met Tomoyo and Sakura before the game started. Tomoyo's fever had gone down the day before, but her throat was still a little hoarse.
"Sorry, Reiya, for asking you to compete in my place."
Tomoyo didn't say anything to encourage him. In such a situation, the so-called encouragement would only increase the pressure on the contestants.
"Are you nervous?" Sakura asked. Seeing such a big scene, she was a little nervous.
Standing under the gaze of thousands of people, just the thought of it makes one feel uneasy.
"If it were me, I probably wouldn't be able to make any sound. My vocal cords would be tangled."
Hearing what Sakura said, Tomoyo was a little confused, "But, Sakura usually shoots TV shows, judging by the ratings, they are in front of millions of people, right?"
"That's different." When in front of the camera, although you know that many people will see it later, you are only facing the director's gaze during filming. If something is not good, it will be NG, and the director will check it.
It is definitely a completely different feeling to actually face so many gazes and so many eyes. There is no such thing as NG at a concert.
“If the TV series can really maintain its ratings, maybe a stage play will be arranged after it’s finished,” Ling also said.
"A stage play? What is that?"
"It's the kind of performance in a venue like this, in front of thousands of people, where there can be no NGs."
"Ah~~" Sakura was a little panicked. For a moment, she didn't know whether she should be willing to see the ratings drop.
Ling also admitted that she was teasing him with bad intentions. There was probably no such thing as a stage play at that time, but who knows what will happen in the future. Since she was going to star in a TV show, unlike Tomoyo and herself who were also participating in the show, the two of them were just playing around, and if they didn't want to act one day, they could arrange for the role to transfer to another school, etc., but Sakura was the main character, and she was even considered a child star idol.
It is not easy to become a celebrity idol in this era. Most actors have to work hard to gain experience and participate in various auditions. Most of them start from small roles. Sakura met director Asaka who appreciated her from the beginning, and even the ratings went off the charts for the first time. This is already a dream start.
Although Ling Ye just casually mentioned the stage play, once her popularity really skyrocketed, she would be approached by various activities, fan meetings, and even concerts. She should have some awareness of this.
There are more than 100 public, private and national elementary schools in Tokyo. For well-known reasons, most of the participants in this kind of competition are private schools like Tomoeda Elementary School. Even so, there are as many as 15 teams, and each team's performance time is about 10 minutes. Including the change of stage in the middle, the whole competition takes about three hours.
Tomoeda Elementary School was drawn to play in third place, a relatively forward position.
As for whether Ling was nervous, to be honest, she was a little nervous. She teased Sakura to some extent to get rid of her nervousness. But she really wanted to sing this song "Night Song" to more people.
Perhaps, it is to allow more people to understand the feelings of those little creatures?
This was Lingye's first time stepping onto such a stage. For some reason, the slight nervousness she had felt before suddenly disappeared the moment she stepped onto the stage.
As the prelude of Mr. Tsujitani's piano accompaniment sounded, Ling suddenly realized that she liked this feeling a little bit. It wasn't about being the center of attention, but about being able to convey her voice to others.
[The distant golden stars shining in the night sky. 】
Teacher Tsujitani kept moving his fingers, but he looked surprised. The singing was completely different from three days ago.
When the ethereal voice sounded in the music hall of Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, He cast His gaze at a higher dimension.
Ling didn't know that although Gaia was the home of the soul, the voice that could soothe the soul was not a gift from Gaia, but a characteristic of her own.
Although He bestowed divine grace and created miracles, Lingye's own karma was also responsible for calming the soul's resentment.
The sounds that once soothed hundreds of thousands of fireflies in the Firefly Plains now echo in this hall built for music. The sound quality is purer and presented to everyone without reservation.
The music should have been resounding throughout the hall, but at this moment, everyone felt a speechless silence.
Someone was whispering in unintelligible words - that was the sound of the night.
The mysterious and deep night brings peace and tranquility. This tranquility is available to everyone and is a gift from nature. For the time being, put aside all the petty pursuits and completely empty yourself.
Then, in the darkness, little stars flashed - the light of fireflies.
The silver moon shines in the night sky. Under the silver moon, the creatures of light dancing in the wilderness are dancing the dance of life. The life of nature is always pure. Everyone has the right to work hard just to survive.
"I really want to see fireflies."
I don’t know who read it so softly.
"Go ahead, summer is the season for fireflies."
Chapter 93 Chorus Club
“Ecological reserve?”
"Yes, this is the decision of Shimane Prefecture. The Firefly Plain and the surrounding area are rich in natural resources and precious ecological environment, including endangered animal groups such as the crested ibis, so it was decided to set it as a natural ecological protection area, and human destruction and development will be prohibited in the future."
When Ling heard the news from Captain Long, she admitted that she was surprised.
"And what about the fireflies?"
"firefly?"
"Yeah, those fireflies... they eat people, don't they?"
Just like the tigers in the zoo, even if the accident was caused by human willfulness or tourists' fault, the human responsibility is separate, and the court will decide whether to compensate or punish. However, any tiger that has bitten or eaten a human will be killed.
There is no concept of fairness or unfairness here, simply because the rules are made by humans.
Ling also thought that the fireflies in the Firefly Plain would also face the same fate. They killed passers-by, attacked the defense forces, and even bit several officers to death. Even though they were controlled by the super beasts, they still could not escape the fate of being killed on a large scale. They would most likely be greeted by large-scale spraying of insecticides. Every corner of the Firefly Plain.
But Captain Long's answer surprised her.
"We failed to protect those passers-by and failed to pay attention to and discover the Yabo people's conspiracy in advance. That is our responsibility as the TAC team. Therefore, whether it is financial compensation to the families or being criticized by the outside world, our TAC team will bear it and will not evade it."
Originally, they had enough reasons to stay out of it, after all, TAC successfully completed the transportation of V7. But they took the initiative to take all the responsibility, whether it was pressure from the public or criticism from the top leaders of the defense force.
This is Captain Long’s decision and responsibility.
He might be demoted because of this. Former Captain Muramatsu of the Kote Team and Captain Kiriyama of the Ultra Guard were both promoted after their teams were disbanded. Even Shigeru Furuhashi, who was once an ordinary member of the Ultra Guard, was promoted to staff officer after returning to the Defense Force.
Today, Captain Long made the decision to take full responsibility. This dark history is likely to be cleared up after his transfer, affecting his promotion. But Long Wulang doesn't care.
He really didn't care, and even being the captain of the TAC team was not his original intention.
Also because of his efforts, the fireflies in Firefly Plain are still there, and it is still their home.
"Fireflies aren't going away, are they?"
"Correct."
This concise answer made Ling really happy. No matter what the reason was, she was very grateful to Captain Long.
There are hundreds of thousands and millions of lives. Even the weak ants are born and die every day, but they are born and die here, and have been reincarnated generation after generation in that plain for hundreds of years.
Although she knew very well that creatures would become extinct every day outside her sight, she would still be happy because a few more creatures survived.
Time gradually entered the middle of September.
The weather is gradually becoming less hot. Although we cannot feel the autumn clearly yet, it is no longer unbearable.
"Reiya, are you planning on joining the choir?"
After the music class that day, Mr. Tsujitani kept Reiya and asked her if she would like to join the choir.
A certificate for the first prize of the chorus of Youzhi Elementary School was added to the wall of the music classroom, and a crystal trophy was added to the display shelf. There were only two first prizes in the competition for elementary schools across the city, so this certificate was very valuable.
By the way, there are five second-prize winners, and all the remaining participating schools will win third-prize winners as long as they do not give up.
Because this is a choir competition, there are lead singers, backing singers, and accompaniment, so the certificate and trophy belong to the school choir collectively. However, if the winning lead singer is not a member of the choir, it feels a bit strange.
Ling also thought about it and hesitated for a moment.
There seemed to be nothing wrong with joining the choir, and learning more knowledge would never go wrong. Just like the various training courses she had signed up for, she was not averse to learning new knowledge, including singing.
After all, singing is sometimes a very beautiful thing.
When people are studying, they always overlook one thing. When they enter the society in the future, if they want to acquire certain knowledge, they can only do so through self-study or through training institutions. However, the so-called training institutions pay more attention to the students' wallets, and the prices are often very high. Even whether you can learn or not has nothing to do with the training school.
All knowledge has a price.
Only in school, as long as you are willing, you can learn everything you want to learn. The library is free and open, and teachers are open to you at will. There is no self-interest, and most teachers are sincerely willing to teach you everything they know.
Only after leaving school and recalling the past can one realize how precious those times were.
Of course, for Reiya, it would be a good thing to be able to join the same club as Tomoyo so that they can get out of school and do activities together.
After all, she is not participating in any club activities at the moment.
After-school clubs can be said to be an important part of school learning, especially in junior high and high school, participating in clubs is almost essential.
Those who still choose to go home are mostly students who need to work part-time for special reasons and can apply to the school. If there is no real time conflict, almost all students will have their own clubs.
Of course, it is not mandatory in elementary school, but like Tomoyo joining the choir and Sakura joining the cheerleading club, most people will still choose to join the club activities. It may be a simple hobby, or to develop a skill, which may even affect the choice of future life.
In fact, not all the clubs in the school are so serious. For example, the "Mystery Investigation Department" and the "Exorcism Department" seem a bit strange in elementary schools. There are even clubs with unclear meanings such as the "Dead Sea Scrolls Interpretation Seminar" and the "Dragon's Blood Twelve Uses Research Department". In private schools, such clubs are also allowed to exist.
It seems that what the school encourages is not necessarily learning something, as long as you are willing to try in a certain direction.
Ling had always belonged to the "Go Home Club" in the past, for no particular reason, she just hadn't considered it.
"Of course, the teacher just thinks it would be a pity to waste such a voice, and I didn't force you." Teacher Tsujitani leaned against the piano, his hands hanging naturally in front of him, unconsciously crossing his fingers, "Also, our school won the first prize in this competition, and we have obtained the qualification to enter the National Choir Competition, and we will represent Tokyo to participate in the competition. Lingye, don't you want to go to the national competition?"
"National competition?"
Although I participated in the city-level competition in Tokyo, Tokyo is actually administratively at the prefecture level. There are 43 prefectures in Japan, including Chiba Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, and Kanagawa Prefecture, and Tokyo is one of them.
Just like China's capital BJ is a city, but it is on the same level as the province. After qualifying in Tokyo, the next step is the national competition.