Chapter 109

Chapter 109

After he finished singing the song, Fang Juexia looked up to see that many fans below the stage were crying.

“Don’t be sad.” He held his guitar. “You’re all the cutest little shops.”

With that, Fang Juexia stood up, raised his hand, and threw out his guitar pick. “Sending this to you guys ba.”

There was a scream from under the stage. Fang Juexia, who had already turned his head and was walking towards the center of the stage, stopped and faced the audience again. “Be careful ah.”

More fans wanted to hear him say more, because he hardly talked normally. “Sum things up! Sum things up!”

But Fang Juexia, who heard everyone yelling, just laughed awkwardly, “Today’s share of the speech quota has been already used up, there’s no way to continue operating.”

“Hahahaha!”

“I’m going to go down and change my clothes.” The spotlight always remained in front of Fang Juexia, showing him the path to the lift. “You guys watch the video first, and wait for us.”

“Okay!!”

As the lift slowly lowered him down, a new behind-the-scenes highlight reel appeared on the big screen— the scene of all six boys singing together.

“How about this beat?” He Ziyan sat in front of the console, playing the electronic keyboard.

Pei Tingsong shook his head to the beat. “Great.”

“How about adding this drumbeat?”

“This drumbeat is a little…”

Fang Juexia, who was nestled on the sofa, raised his hand and followed the beat to hum out a melody along the lines of the rhythm, humming and directly entering the chorus, “Dalalalala….Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool.”

On hearing this line being sung, the whole audience boiled up. After screaming, everyone was shouting the name of the war song 2.0.

“Break Through! Break Through! Break Through! Break Through…”

On the screen, He Ziyan, who had finished rearranging the drop part, finally stood up and walked towards the middle of the sofa on which Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong had collapsed. He unlocked his cellphone to confirm the time for the camera.

“At half past five in the morning, it’s finally finished.”

Looking up at the ceiling, Pei Tingsong vaguely murmured a few words. He Ziyan tilted his knee to poke Fang Juexia, whose eyes were closed, and who was still humming the melody. When he was interrupted by He Ziyan, he said, “It’s okay, he’s just so tired he’s started talking in Spanish.”

The camera shook and suddenly, the lens was facing the ceiling, but their voices could still be heard.

He Ziyan asked, “Will rapping the rap part in ‘Break Through’ in Spanish burn the mouth?”

“I want to hear it,” Fang Juexia said.

It ended with Pei Tingsong sighing.

On the darkened stage, many beams of red light appeared, sweeping from top to bottom right at the edge of the stage. The fans were thrilled to know that the show was about to begin. A bunch of white overhead lights shone in the middle of the stage, illuminating the red drum placed right in the center. Pei Tingsong, dressed all in red and holding a drumstick with a long red band tied to its end, appeared with his back facing everyone.

“Dong—”

The first drumbeat sounded, and the reverberations of this sound spread throughout the large stadium, adding to the already built-up suspense.

With the next beat, a new circle lit up on the stage, and more than 100 backup dancers appeared, all of them wearing armor and holding shields. The ones who had gathered into a square formation raised their shields and then moved around to form the word— ‘Break Through’.

At the last drum beat, the sound of hammers echoed out.

Ling Yi’s Beijing Opera prelude appeared suddenly— “Hearing the pound of the golden drums send the corners trembling, my ambitions to break through the gates of heaven are sent flying.“

Pei Tingsong turned around, and he was wearing a ghost mask on his face.

“Why bother talking about the clown King Shan, with one sword, I can block millions of soldiers and send them all running!“

He moved away from the drum, step-by-step, and those soldiers spread out to fan towards both sides. Finally, the five other youths in red appeared in the center of the stage, each wearing a ghost mask.

The music started, the hundreds of soldier backup dancers made it seem like a real battlefield, and with the sound effects of swords clashing in the background accompanied by a hologram of a dessert battlefield being projected, the six people danced together in formation, breaking through the encirclement and creating a bloody path forward.

This was the most magnificent performance of “Break Through.”

“Don’t ask about the future, you ghoul. Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool!“

The drop appeared, and the lights in the entire arena turned Klein Blue. Under the strong rhythm of the electro sound, all the fans’ adrenaline throughout the entire venue rose, and it was turned into another open-air disco scene.

The solo part had been switched for the six person dance during the BMAs, but this time, it came with a new change. Each member was holding a sword as they executed a sword dance within the formation, while the outlying backup dancers  also performed the group dance. The image this created was shocking.

The choreography for the last chorus had also been changed, for the sword dance continued until Fang Juexia sang the last lines of the whole song.

“All my ways forward have been blown. All that is left is to wait for your ambush to be thrown.”

The six people sheathed their swords into their scabbards, took off their masks, and looked at the audience with a smile.

The audience cheered their names, as if they were really welcoming triumphant young warriors.

After finishing, they kept the costumes on while they chatted with their fans. “Was the performance super cool this time?”

“Yes!”

Lu Yuan turned around and held out his hand to the backup dancers. “First, let’s thank our backup dancer team! You’ve worked hard, teachers!”

The six of them turned around and bowed deeply towards the backup dancers.

The hundred dancers also bowed to them and left the stage while laughing.

“They truly worked really, really hard. They wore such thick costumes to dance for us in such hot weather.” Jiang Miao held the microphone and said, “Without them, this performance would not have looked so cool.”

Ling Yi nodded, pulled at his collar, and fanned himself. “It really is so hot.”

The fans below the stage began to tease them again. “Take off your clothes! Take off your clothes!”

“You guys said it ah.” He Ziyan teased them back intentionally, “Then we’re taking them off ah.”

Lu Yuan began to fake-grasp at his hand to try and stop him. “Ge, Fire Ge, don’t do this, it’s not good.”

Pei Tingsong clicked his tongue and said, “Let him take it off.”

“Hey, I’m taking it off.” He Ziyan did what he said and took off his clothes. The screams of fans hadn’t even climbed up before they turned into jeers.

Because under his hanfu, he was still wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans.

“Liar!”

“I didn’t lie to you guys ah.” He Ziyan said, “You guys just said for us to take off our clothes, but didn’t say what we must be like after taking them off ah.”

“This is called playing a trick.”

“I’m fighting with Dominoes every day.”

Fang Juexia also took off his own costume and put it on the ground. Along the way, he gathered up the costumes everyone else had taken off and set them to the side.

They chatted with the audience for a while, sitting on the stage and singing some ballads from their albums, and the atmosphere gradually eased down. The last song was “Swimming Across the Sea”. The projection technology on site wrapped the whole stage in blue, making it seem as if they were playing the guitar and singing in a cube made up of condensed sea water.

Pictures and videos from their childhood suddenly appeared on the big screen, and each one of them was a very cute child. The production team had also noted their names and ages on each image, so, whenever a cute child appeared, the fans would scream.

“Swim across the sea, we’ll be better children, you’ll see.”

At the end of the last line, the projected sea water dissipated, and now, half an hour was left until the end of the concert.

“We’re going to start the lottery now. We’ll draw a lucky fan to come on the stage to interact with us.”

As soon as Jiang Miao said that, the loudest scream exploded from the audience.

“Wow, it’s another game to test everyone’s luck.”

Fang Juexia suddenly joked, “Then Xiao Pei can’t participate.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Pei Tingsong tilted his head and looked at him with a smile. “Since you’ve said that, now I have to participate.” With that, he walked to the extension platforms joining the stage, and Ling Yi and Lu Yuan couldn’t stop him in time. Fang Juexia was a little surprised. “You really want to go down ah?”

“Sure.” Pei Tingsong descended from the stage, and escorted by several bodyguards, he headed deep into the fans’ seats, causing a series of screams. “I’m going to be a lucky boy for once today.” Then he told the lighting engineer, “Don’t put a spotlight on me, let me be an ordinary audience member.”

“Pei Tingsong is such a melon every day,” Ling Yi complained.

“Hahahaha!”

Fang Juexia looked at Jiang Miao, but the captain said, “It’s okay, the bodyguard will follow.” Then Jiang Miao started the process. “Originally, we were going to choose a lucky fan, but now that Xiao Pei has gone down, in order to increase his chances of winning, let’s choose two ba.”

“Who will be the first to draw?”

Lu Yuan raised his hand. “I’ll do it.”

So, the cameraperson’s lens began to sweep all over the audience, and fleeting faces appeared on the big screen, all of them fans. Lu Yuan covered his eyes with his hands and stood on the stage.

“You can stop now, Teacher Yuan.”

“No, I have to wait a little longer. I always think I’ll manage to get Pei Tingsong. Cameraman, you can run after you get Pei Tingsong, you know?”

“Hahahahaha!”

Thinking it was nearly done, Lu Yuan finally said, “Stop!”

The audience screamed, and the big screen showed a little boy waving a kaleidoscope.

“Wow, it’s a child yi!” Ling Yi smiled very happily, “So cute.”

Jiang Miao said sweetly, “Your mama can come up too, that’s fine.”

Unexpectedly, the child refused to be followed by his mother, and he headed for the stage like a little adult. Every fan along the way laughed at him and touched his head. The little guy walked to the edge of the stage and wanted to climb up by himself, but he was too small and couldn’t even touch the edge of the stage. Finally, he was carried up by Lu Yuan.

“Here comes our little lucky guy.” Lu Yuan put him on the ground, and everyone crouched down to talk to him.

“What’s your name?” With that, Ling Yi put the microphone towards his mouth.

The little boy’s face also had a blue K sticker stuck to it. He used his left hand to count on his right hand and said childishly, “My name is Qiqi.” Then he added his age, “I’m five years old this year.”

He Ziyan copied his voice, “I’m 25 years old this year.”

Jiang Miao joked, “He’ll have to call you uncle.”

They didn’t expect Qiqi to really open his mouth and call him ‘uncle.’

“He’s better than me at picking up a joke,” Fang Juexia said with a smile.

Ling Yi rubbed his head. “Are you our little fan?”

Qiqi nodded. “So is my mother, and so is my Jiejie.”

Lu Yuan simply sat down on the stage floor, and the staff came up from the side of the stage to hand him a piece of Klein Blue Paper and a pen.

“Qiqi, Gege’s going to ask you a question.” Lu Yuan asked, “Have you ever thought about what kind of person you will become when you grow up ah?”

Qiqi let out a long “en.” It was especially cute, and everyone in the audience began to laugh.

He Ziyan said, “That means he’s thinking about it now.”

“Hahahaha.”

“I want, I want…” Qiqi opened his mouth, but he seemed to hesitate. Fang Juexia thought he was cute, so he encouraged him with a smile, “It’s alright, you can say whatever you want.”

Qiqi stretched out his hands to the sky and started to flap them. “Just the type-the type where you fly in the sky, and then you can fly a plane…”

“Oh,” Ling Yi understood. “A pilot ah.”

“Yes.” Qiqi nodded heavily.

“That’s cool.” He Ziyan gave him a thumb’s up. “You are the coolest kid here.”

At this time, Lu Yuan handed him a piece of paper, which he showed to all the fans through the camera, “Then Qiqi, look, let’s make an agreement, okay. Gege will help you write a sentence—Qiqi will become a pilot in the future.”

Qiqi nodded. “Yes.”

“Will you write your name down there?”

Under Lu Yuan’s encouragement, the child conscientiously wrote down his name stroke by stroke on the piece of paper. Finally, Lu Yuan folded the piece of paper into a paper plane and gave it to Qiqi.

“You can definitely be the person you want to be in the future, so keep fighting oh.”

Having made this agreement, Qiqi returned to his mother’s side.

The Kaleido members onstage waved at him.

“Alright, is it time for our second lucky audience member now?”

“As always, up until now, there is no Pei.”

“Hahahahahaha!”

Jiang Miao looked at Fang Juexia. “This time, let’s let Juexia go ba.”

Fang Juexia nodded and stood in their middle, covering his eyes. On hearing everyone say, 'start”, he silently counted ten seconds in his heart.

The fans seemed to be screaming this entire time, making all kinds of sounds, but he was still as undisturbed as ever as he counted calmly.

….3, 2, 1.

“Stop.”

Even Fang Juexia, who had always been indifferent, couldn’t wait to see the lucky fan he had drawn. But when he opened his eyes and looked at the big screen—

He was stunned.

The person on the screen was his grandfather.

No one had told him about this in advance. Fang Juexia even thought that this was just a video recording, but his grandfather’s background really reflected the scene of the concert.

He turned blankly and looked below the stage, looking into the scattered sea of blue light, trying hard to search for his figure.

A spotlight shone down and accurately lit up the person he was searching for. Right now, his vision wasn’t clear, he couldn’t see anything clearly; everything was as hazy as if a dream.

The other members took the microphone and said, “Let’s invite our lucky fan onto the stage ba.”

Under the spotlight, Pei Tingsong could be seen helping Fang Juexia’s grandfather step out of the audience, walk to the stage, and then come step by step along the long stage extension, all the way over to Fang Juexia.

Their figures grew clearer and clearer, but Fang Juexia’s vision was still blurred.

It wasn’t until his grandfather really came to a stand in front of him that tears finally started falling down.

Fang Juexia didn’t want to cry at all, especially in front of his grandfather. How badly he always hoped to be a strong enough child in front of him, someone who could carry on and endure everything on his own, someone who could realize his Arabian Nights-like dreams…

He didn’t want to disappoint him.

His grandfather took the microphone from Pei Tingsong, his face still as serious as it was all those years ago. He looked at Fang Juexia, who was choking and unable to utter a single word, as he stood in front of him, so he became the first to open his mouth and say, “You should ask me, have you ever thought about what kind of person you will become?”

Fang Juexia, who was still in a state of surprise, was somewhat stunned upon being asked this question. When he saw Pei Tingsong smile at him from his grandfather’s side, he nodded his head and asked the way Lu Yuan had asked the child before, “You… What kind of person are you going to be?”

“During the summer 24 years ago, the best child in the world was born.” His grandfather looked at him, his eyes nearly imperceptibly gentle. “I will name him Juexia, and I’ll be his grandfather. “

Tears gushed out again, and Fang Juexia’s hand, which was holding the microphone, hung down. He lowered his head, and his shoulders trembled. All the fans in the audience were shouting his name and crying alongside him.

Fang Juexia was a person who would continue walking on one path until it turned dark; he seldom dreamed, or at least, he had never dreamed of this. He had never thought that they would have their own concert one day, and he had, even more so, never imagined that his grandfather would appear at his concert one day.

“I’m not very good at talking, and I know you are the same too.” His grandfather patted Fang Juexia on the shoulder. “There are some things that I’ve wanted to tell you since long ago, but I found them very hard to say.”

He cared about this child more than anyone else, but he could only watch his TV program alone in his empty old house. Even though he was worried that this child wouldn’t be able to see and would fall down from the stage, he still always used the ugliest words to make him give up on this unreachable dream of his. He was afraid that this child would come to grief and suffer, but he still couldn’t make a phone call to ask after him.

But when this child was born, he was the happiest one there.

Finally, he swept the weeping Fang Juexia into his embrace.

“Juexia, you have always been Grandfather’s pride, and you will always be.”

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Mama Fang, who was sitting amidst the audience, was also shedding tears. This once broken family was now, bit by bit, being repaired through love and dreams. They were all slowly recovering the things they had lost.

The other Kaleido members also greeted Grandfather one by one. The staff brought up a chair for Grandfather, and then they sang “Last Summer” together, while surrounding grandfather.

The summer of his birth, the summer of nurturing dreams, the summer of their debut, the summer of reunions and liberation, and now the summer of rallying together.

Each such summer was memorable.

“Be careful, Grandfather.” Ling Yi stole Pei Tingsong’s job and helped him down with a sweet smile.

Grandfather turned his head back and waved to them. “Come to my house and have a meal ah, everyone together.”

“Alright.”

Time went by, and soon there were only six minutes left before the end of the concert.

“It’s going so fast ah.” Jiang Miao looked at the time. “It feels like it just started, but it’s almost over.”

“Don’t end it!” The fans below the stage yelled.

“It’s alright,” Jiang Miao said with a smile. “We still have another song.”

Six huge luminous “clouds” were pushed onto the stage by the staff, and the Kaleido members stood on them one by one, now looking as if they were all standing on a mass of snow-white clouds.

“For the last song, we have revised some lyrics, to allow everyone to sing along with us.”

“Can anyone guess what the song is?”

The fans yelled from below, several song names getting mixed in.

“Juexia, give them some hints.”

Having received his signal, Fang Juexia picked up the microphone and sang, “You are my…”

The fans immediately guessed the correct answer— “Daydream!!!”

“Yes! The last song is Daydream!”

Pei Tingsong took the microphone and said, “We are all always growing up, but growing up doesn’t mean losing the right to dream. Even if it’s a daydream that many people feel contemptuous of, how would you know what it’s like if you don’t try to dream about it?

“So let’s make our own daydream together today ba.”

The lyrics were projected onto the stage, each line in a handwritten font.

And as they stood in the luminous clouds, they were also slowly suspended above the stadium, passing over the heads of many fans. Fang Juexia was afraid of heights, so he was suspended at a much lower height than the other members.

This light song was especially suitable for a sing-along. In the midst of the song, many cloud balloons were released all over the venue. They were huge, one coming out after another, and very quickly, the night sky over the venue was covered by the clouds of the day.

This scene was so beautiful that it was amazing, and everyone couldn’t help but look up at those clouds.

“I know there must be something falling from the sky, like a summer shower passing by.“

The moment they sang this sentence, there was a sound of something bursting in the sky, and all the cloud balloons popped. All of a sudden, blue paper rained down from the sky, like tens of thousands of butterflies spinning and dancing, filling the whole venue and the heart of each and every fan.

There had never been a glorious moment such as this.

It was like it really was a daydream.

The six boys stopped singing, and spoke into the microphone, “Now each of you has a piece of blue paper printed with the word K. The kaleidoscope lamp in your hand can actually be opened, and there is a pen in it.”

“Take it out, and let’s write our daydream together.”

“What will we become in ten years?”

“What kind of life are we going to live?”

While his bandmates were talking, Fang Juexia gently sang them a harmony, but the lyrics had changed from “You are my daydream,” to “It’s time to daydream.”

The fans below the stage bowed their heads one after another, and with Kaleido’s encouragement, wrote down their daydreams for life, for themselves, and for the future ten years later.

Even Kaleido, hanging up in the air, seriously wrote down their expectations for ten years from now.

“I’m done la.” Ling Yi raised his hand. “Who else has finished writing? Turn on your light and let me see.”

The stars lit up one by one.

Pei Tingsong asked, “Can you guys make a paper airplane?”

The whole audience said in unison, “Yes!!”

“Good. Then we’ll make paper airplanes together, and after we call out ‘three, two, one,’ you’ll toss your paper plane into flight with your daydream written on it towards the stage, okay?”

After everyone agreed, each of them began to fold paper airplanes. Fang Juexia also lowered his head and seriously folded his blue paper. He had only written one line about the future—

[Still Kaleido, still in love with Pei Tingsong.]

What he didn’t know was that on another cloud, his great-minds-think-alike-lover had unconsciously made the same decision as him, his scribbled English penning down a sincere future.

[Forever K, forever fjx.]

The suspended clouds then moved back towards the stage and landed. Once the six of them returned to the stage, He Ziyan said into the microphone, “Hold up the paper airplane in your hands and let’s have a look!”

The stage lights spread over the whole audience. Fang Juexia looked out into the distance, to see each person holding their hands up high, holding their dreams within their hands.

“Very good.” Jiang Miao also raised his hand and showed his work. “Then we’re ready to start the countdown, get ready—”

“Three—”

“Two—”

“One!”

In the last second, Fang Juexia saw a whole sky of paper airplanes flying towards them, racing through the light shining through the dust, all of them carrying daydreams, drawing arcs of dreams in the night.

Their dream was the stage.

Everyone’s dreams flew towards their stage.

“It’s really beautiful.” Seeing this scene, Ling Yi couldn’t help shedding a few tears.

“Hey, how come you’re crying again?” Lu Yuan laughed.

“I just really wanted to cry ma.” He crouched down and gathered a big pile of paper airplanes into his arms. “We have so many daydreams, we are so rich oh.”

“That’s a good sentence ah.” Pei Tingsong expressed admiration towards him for the first time.

“I just said I could study philosophy ah!”

Jiang Miao said with a smile, “Thank you everyone for writing down your expectations for the future, and we hope that you will always remember the you on that piece of paper.”

“We have one last little event.” Saying that, He Ziyan couldn’t help but complain, “We really have done a lot of teenage girl things ah.”

“Hahahahaha!”

The staff gave them six kaleidoscope support lamps, just like the ones the fans under the stage held.

“In fact, this was specially designed by us, with a built-in small program inside.” Pointing to a small raised button on the kaleidoscope, Jiang Miao explained, “Do you see this switch? It’s no use pressing it by yourself.”

Fang Juexia nodded. “There are 15,000 spectators here. Counting us, there are 15,006 kaleidoscopes. If we all press down on the button together, something special will happen.”

“So now we’re making sure that no one just skipped out in the middle of the concert ba,” said Pei Tingsong as he started laughing. “If you see a kaleidoscope without a master, troubling you guys to please press it.”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Are you ready?”

The countdown appeared on the big screen, and all the people below the stage shouted together until it hit zero.

“Press!”

A huge kaleidoscope projection suddenly appeared in the sky, magnificent colors weaving dream-like shapes in the night sky, gorgeous and incomparable, like tens of thousands of overlapping flowers, but also like layer after layer of interlaced butterfly wings.

“It’s really beautiful.”

Everyone looked up at this beautiful kaleidoscope and marveled at its beauty.

Fang Juexia said, “Remember, each and every one of you is very important.”

He repeated, “Tell yourself that you are very important.”

Under the magnificent kaleidoscope, it all came to an end.

“Finally, I want to thank everyone for coming to our concert,” He Ziyan said gently. “In fact, we were very nervous and made a lot of preparations. We hope you guys aren’t disappointed.”

“No!”

“Then that’s good,” Ling Yi sniffled, wiping his tears away. “How is it over so soon?”

Yes ah. Fang Juexia kept staring at this kaleidoscopic dream.

So fast, and it was going to be over now.

“Don’t forget that the theme of our tour is ego.” Pei Tingsong said with a smile, “Ego represents the self. Maybe it’s not what we all depend upon for survival, but it’s the core that distinguishes us from others. Maybe you’ve already found it by now and you already understand its existence, and maybe you haven’t found it yet, but that’s all okay, because you will find it one day.

“When you meet your true self, please make sure to protect it well, because that is protecting the purest and most authentic you.”

“So—” He went to Fang Juexia’s side, stood in a row with his other bandmates, the six people side by side. “When we finish, we won’t say goodbye. Instead, we should solemnly introduce ourselves to each other.”

Fang Juexia nodded. “This is an introduction of your ‘self’ ten years from now.”

Lu Yuan said with a smile, “We hope to meet again in ten years, and we hope we can say the same thing to each other.”

A line of words appeared on the big screen, and Jiang Miao pointed at it. “This time, you guys go first, okay?”

Tens of thousands of fans, under this countdown, issued out a chorus of shouts for the last time, following the words on the screen. It wasn’t a farewell, but a self-introduction. Their voices were waves of a June summer night, carrying shocking vitality and surging energy.

It was love, it was a dream, it was a passion that would never die.

“Hello, we are Dominoes! We are us!”

The six big boys stood in front of them. “Three, two, one…”

They all made a “K” gesture, their smiling faces covered in sweat as they shone in the light.

Like the first time, and like every time—

“Hello everyone, we are Kaleido!”

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