After all, what Kamijou Mutsuki was doing now was essentially placing himself in a desperate situation.
Although his car accident was no secret, as long as he didn't step onto the stage, no one could be certain of his current condition.
But now that he had already walked onto the stage, there was absolutely no room for retreat.
At least, if it were Sakiko Togawa, she knew she would never have had the courage to do something like this.
At this moment, Kamijou Mutsuki had already picked up the violin.
However, the sound he produced could barely even be called a melody. Even a layperson could easily tell that it was bad.
Of course, thanks to his extraordinary talent, after gradually adapting to the condition of his body, the quality of his playing began to improve visibly.
But it was only barely listenable—probably about the level where he could sit at the same table as Chihaya Anon.
The gap was still far too great.
Originally, when people heard that Kamijou Mutsuki was performing, many who had been elsewhere in the music hall rushed over to the audience seats.
But the result left them deeply disappointed.
If it were an ordinary violinist, the performance might still be enjoyable enough to casually listen to.
In fact, a very small number of people who didn't recognize Kamijou Mutsuki even thought it wasn't that bad.
But this was Kamijou Mutsuki.
They also knew that given his current physical condition, being able to play at this level was already nothing short of a miracle.
Yet they still couldn't help but lament the fall of a legend.
Because the Kamijou Mutsuki of the past had once been a dark cloud hanging over every violinist.
To put it in a more intuitive comparison, Kamijou Mutsuki's status among violinists was comparable to that of a certain Western girl named Mashiro Shiina among painters.
Perhaps his fame didn't quite match hers but in terms of ability, he was not inferior in the slightest.
He had been like an unclimbable mountain, the kind where one glance revealed a gap so vast it inspired despair.
And now, the mountain had collapsed.
Many violinists, watching the performance on stage—which was clumsy by the standards of top talents among their peers—first let out a subconscious sigh of relief.
Then an indescribable emotion rose in their hearts.
The mountain that had weighed upon them was finally gone.
They should have been happy.
So why did their feelings feel so complicated?
Kamijou Mutsuki's influence was simply too great.
The audience seats, which should have been quiet, were now filled with noisy discussions.
And since the Tokyo Blue Hall of Music happened to have only Kamijou Mutsuki's performance scheduled at the moment, the sound of those conversations became even more obvious.
There were sighs lamenting the fall of a genius, voices of disappointment, doubts, and even a few mocking remarks filled with schadenfreude…
Different voices mixed together, making Sakiko Togawa momentarily lose the ability to think.
At this moment, she finally understood the meaning behind Kamijou Mutsuki's earlier words.
Compared to what the boy was experiencing right now, she had merely been criticized a few times by her friends—something that barely counted for anything.
But this was simply too reckless.
An inexplicable anger began brewing in the girl's chest.
Even if this was only a free public performance, if he failed here—
Did he know what he would have to face afterward?
What exactly did he think of his dreams and his future?
Although the feelings were different, at this moment Sakiko could vaguely understand how those people who cared about her must have felt when they watched her acting stubbornly.
But what could she do now?
What could she possibly—
"You brought me here just to play this for me?"
At this moment, the girl was completely driven by her emotions.
"Just this? What is this even supposed to be?!"
"Since you brought me here, then take responsibility and do it properly!"
It was merely the shout of a single girl.
Yet in that instant, it overwhelmed all the noisy chatter in the audience.
The hall suddenly fell silent.
The only sound that remained was the violin on stage—
a performance that had improved only slightly and was now merely mediocre.
Then, after just a few seconds…
"Yeah! What the hell kind of playing is that?!"
"Kamijou Mutsuki, I don't remember you being only this good!"
"If I lost to something like this, I'd die of embarrassment!"
"Get your act together already!"
"I was about to leave, but I came all the way here specifically—I didn't come to listen to this!"
Sakiko's shout seemed to have ignited something.
The audience suddenly became lively again.
But this time, the words coming from them were completely different from before.
Because Kamijou Mutsuki had once been both the dark cloud over every violinist and also the white moonlight in their hearts.
No one had ever doubted that this era belonged to him.
If the legend were to fall in such a ridiculous way, it would be far too laughable.
And Sakiko Togawa's shout had just happened to ignite the emotions buried in everyone's hearts.
Meanwhile, Kamijou Mutsuki, who was still performing on stage, was startled by the sudden outburst of voices.
Wait—why did things suddenly become so hot-blooded?
Did he walk onto the wrong stage or something?
Kamijou Mutsuki thought that judging by his previous way of doing things, most people probably wouldn't kick him while he was down.
But this reaction seemed… a bit too much, didn't it?
In fact, Kamijou Mutsuki's thinking wasn't wrong.
But this was BanG Dream after all.
Still, since the atmosphere had already been built up like this, if he didn't respond somehow, wouldn't that be a little impolite?
Unfortunately, no matter how strong one's will was, the limits of the body could not be crossed.
With his current physical condition, being able to play a piece barely worthy of this stage already proved how extraordinary his talent was.
Anything beyond that was simply unrealistic.
This world was still materialistic—no amount of willpower could surpass the limits of the body.
However, what worked in his previous life didn't necessarily apply here.
Just as Kamijou Mutsuki was about to open his system to see if there were any miraculous items he could use, a surge of powerful inspiration made him sense a very strange consciousness.
A kind of consciousness that seemed capable of transcending everything and creating a miracle.
And the price for it was—
"…Do your best, violin big brother!"
In the very next moment, something unbelievable happened.
Originally, Kamijou Mutsuki's improvement speed had been like Nagasaki Soyo running—taking a few steps and already panting from exhaustion.
But now it turned into Chihaya Anon—as if after a single camera cut she had instantly sprinted all the way back from Britain to Japan.
The audience watched in disbelief as Kamijou Mutsuki's playing surged, exploded, skyrocketed, and leapt upward!
In just a few breaths, he had returned to the level of his former peak.
With a single sweep of the bow—
Kamijou Mutsuki had returned to the realm of the Violin Immortal.
At that moment, the entire music hall fell silent.
Only the mesmerizing violin melody lingered in the air, intoxicating everyone who heard it.
In truth, they all knew that willpower couldn't surpass the body, and they also knew that their earlier shouts had merely been emotional venting.
But they had never expected—
A miracle would actually happen.
The boy standing on the stage at this moment shone brighter than ever before.
Even more dazzling than he had been in the past.
Sakiko stood there, completely stunned, her eyes filled with confusion.
She had never expected to witness a miracle with her own eyes.
Well… as long as nothing went wrong, that was good enough.
Thinking this, the girl sat back down in her seat.
Then she suddenly realized the piece Kamijou Mutsuki was playing sounded strangely familiar.
And it wasn't the piece he had played for her in the car.
The girl began listening carefully.
The next second, she laughed in exasperation.
Damn it, It was Haruhikage.
.....................