“Next, please enjoy the song ‘like you as a friend’ brought to you by the four Elites of the Broadcasting Department: Li Yu, Mu Li, Xu Ming, and Wu Yao.”
As Li Yu’s words fell, he reached out and tugged at his tie, as if wanting to break free from its restraint, and at the same time unbuttoned his suit jacket, directly taking it off.
“That’s right, Li Yu in there, that’s me!” With Li Yu’s Roar, the song’s intro immediately began.
Mu Li, Xu Ming, and Wu Yao bounced and walked onto the stage from below.
The three were dressed in strange, colorful clothes and wore extremely exaggerated sunglasses, immediately drawing a burst of laughter from the audience.
After the laughter, whistles and applause followed.
After the intro, Li Yu walked in front of Mu Li, and Xu Ming also walked in front of Wu Yao; the two pairs stared at each other, as if they were about to fight, and the song officially began.
Li Yu: “Starting arguments, that’s me. Opposing you, that’s me. The one who dislikes you most, that’s me.”
Li Yu: “Never thought we’d become good friends.”
After singing, the four, who had been pushing each other, began to link arms.
Mu Li: “Now, loving you, that’s me. Supporting you, that’s me.”
Mu Li: “Even if it’s cheesy, that’s me.”
Mu Li: “How lucky to have like you as a friend.”
At this moment, the four seemed to have arrived at an amusement park and began to jump excitedly.
Xu Ming: “Time steals encounters, corners bring misses.”
Xu Ming: “Seasons fly by like a roller coaster ride.”
Wu Yao: “Those silly, profound, and exclusive moments of ours.”
Wu Yao: “If you don’t mind having me as a friend in this life, will the next life be enough?”
At the very end, the four put their arms around each other’s shoulders, forming a line, and sang together: “I still want like you as a friend.”
The dynamic music, combined with the energetic appearance of the four, infected many students in the audience, who stood up from their seats and twisted wildly, following the movements of the four.
In the following verses, the four seemed to enter a stage play, performing various moments of arguing, eating, crying, and warmth. The audience also laughed, played, and cried along with their performance.
When the song reached its climax, Mu Li, Xu Ming, and Wu Yao suddenly took off their exaggerated coats at the same time, leaving only a white shirt identical to Li Yu’s.
Li Yu on stage was momentarily stunned; the next moment, his eyes welled up.
Just as the lyrics said, “Even when the whole world abandons you, I’ll still be behind you.” Even if you are different from the world, even if you are the only one wearing a white shirt in the whole world, we will stand behind you, dressed like you, to face the challenges of this world.
Li Yu wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes and shouted to the audience in his loudest voice: “Everyone, come with us!”
The four: “Hey!! Hey!! Hey!! Hey!!”
The audience also shouted: “Hey!! Hey!! Hey!! Hey!!”
At this moment, not only Li Yu’s eyes were moist, but Mu Li, Xu Ming, and Wu Yao’s were as well.
Because the audience members were none other than their classmates who had accompanied them through four years of university.
After today’s farewell, they might rarely see each other again.
The only thing they could do was to sing this song together with everyone, so that the memory of this song would become their eternal memory.
Perhaps one day, when they are old, they will still remember that a group of people once sang a song loudly in the auditorium of the Yangcheng Conservatory of Music, and the name of this song was “like you as a friend.”
Until the last line, the four directly extended their microphones, and the students in the audience also roared with their loudest voices: “I still want like you as a friend.”
At this moment, no one cared about being off-key, and no one cared who sang this song. All they wanted was to immerse themselves in the joy of this moment, even for a brief while, because this brief moment would become an eternal memory in their lives.
When the four bid farewell to the stage and went backstage, their emotions had not yet calmed down, especially Wu Yao, whose eyes were already red from crying.
However, the other three were not much better; the four of them supported each other as they returned to the lounge.
None of the four spoke; they just sat silently until, at some point, they seemed to have a telepathic understanding, looking up and gazing at each other, and seeing each other’s swollen eyes, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.
But as they laughed, they started crying again, and once they started, they couldn’t stop.
It’s unknown how long passed, perhaps a minute, perhaps longer, but the four finally cried themselves out.
The Poké Ball at Mu Li’s waist glowed, and two red lights flashed, as Sylveon and Jigglypuff appeared simultaneously before Mu Li.
Seeing Mu Li shedding tears, Sylveon quickly used its ribbons to wipe the tear stains from his cheeks, humming and whimpering, as if saying: Don’t be sad, you still have me.
Mu Li also stopped crying and couldn't help but hug Sylveon and Jigglypuff in his arms.
“It’s good that you two will always be with me,” Mu Li murmured.
But before he could finish his sentence, Sylveon separated him.
Sylveon and Jigglypuff had puffed up their cheeks at some point. The two Pokémon whimpered and pointed at him, and after a while, Mu Li finally understood that they were blaming him: Why aren’t we among your friends?
Mu Li’s expression stiffened, and he subconsciously looked at his three mischievous friends for help, but Li Yu immediately stood up and said, “I forgot I still have to host.”
Li Yu escaped, so Mu Li had no choice but to look at his two remaining mischievous friends.
But these two seemed not to see him, directly looking at the sky and whistling.
Finally, after Mu Li promised an unknown number of conditions, the two pink little cuties forgave him, but to punish him, the two little ones directly returned to their Poké Balls and wouldn’t cuddle with him.
Only from Mu Li’s shadow, a huge mouth suddenly appeared, seemingly grinning.
Hehe, it’s me, Guigui, and I went on stage to perform with A Li!
The performance on stage had to continue, but the audience in the live stream seemed to still be immersed in the atmosphere from before.
“Oh my god! What’s the name of this song? I want it on my playlist.”
“Already searched, can’t find it anywhere online, confirmed to be original.”
“It’s actually original? It’s so good, and you’re telling me it’s original?”
“Upstairs, let me explain for you. Originals are divided into two types: good originals and… well, the other kind.”
...
For a time, countless video clips of this song were shared online by netizens.
On Weibo, the topic “like you as a friend” began appearing on the hot search list, quickly rising to the top ten.
During graduation season, people pay special attention to separation, which also contributed to the song’s popularity.
And the performers of this song, after the entire graduation party ended, once again fell asleep in the restaurant.
The next day, after waking up in the same place, Mu Li felt a splitting headache.
“I can never drink like this again.” Mu Li had blacked out again, which meant that others’ phones would have some eye-watering clips.
When Mu Li woke up, the first thing he saw was the three of them packing up.
“You’re awake!” Li Yu was the first to notice Mu Li was awake. “I brought you lunch on the table, remember to eat it later. We’re catching a flight soon.”
Mu Li’s eyes immediately welled up.
Seeing Mu Li cry, Li Yu also couldn’t hold back. He vigorously wiped away his tears and forced a smile: “Why are you crying again? It’s not like we won’t see each other again.”
Xu Ming and Wu Yao also secretly wiped away tears, but Mu Li saw all of it.
Mu Li also wiped his tears fiercely, revealing a brilliant smile: “That’s right, it’s not like we won’t see each other again.”
The three silently packed their belongings. In fact, most of their things had already been mailed back, leaving only a small suitcase, but it was this small suitcase that the three packed over and over again.
Li Yu and Wu Yao’s flights were far apart. Li Yu was going to the Imperial Capital, while Wu Yao was flying directly to the Film and Television City. Their flight departure times were less than half an hour apart, so they prepared to leave together.
The two originally wanted to leave directly from the dormitory, but in the end, they couldn’t win against Mu Li. Mu Li and Xu Ming accompanied them all the way out of school before giving up.
“Go back, second brother, come and see us more often when you’re free,” Li Yu said with a smile after hugging Mu Li and Xu Ming.
“Among the four of us, I and second brother probably have the most free time. We’ll go see you two then,” Wu Yao also gave them a hug.
“It’s a promise, we’ll definitely meet,” Mu Li nodded seriously.
The four looked at each other and said with a smile, “That’s right, it’s a promise, we’ll definitely meet.”
Mu Li and Xu Ming watched Li Yu and Wu Yao’s taxi disappear before coming back to their senses.
“Let’s go, third brother, go back and rest. Your car should be arriving soon,” Mu Li said.
Xu Ming’s home was in Star City, only a three-hour high-speed rail ride from Yangcheng. There were many daily round-trip trains, so Xu Ming directly booked a slightly later ticket. This way, he could leave this place a little later.
The two people’s dormitory seemed to become even more deserted. Mu Li and Xu Ming sat quietly for a long time before Xu Ming finally asked, “Second brother, we’ve never asked you, what do you want to do in the future?”
“Me?” Mu Li was stunned. He had never really thought about that question.
According to his previous plan, he would have already retired and would live on a farm forever.
But now he found that life was not that simple. He had lived in the Conservatory of Music for four years, forming bonds with countless people. The existence of these bonds made him not want to stay on that farm anymore.
Although he had his Pokémon partners on that farm, and even though he worried about their lives every day except when he was drunk, he felt that he should see more of the world.
Travel with his Pokémon?
The next second, he rejected his own idea: Wouldn’t that just be taking care of those mischievous kids in a different environment?
Meet other Pokémon?
Forget it, our family already has too many kids; any more and we won’t be able to take care of them.
Mu Li suddenly remembered his days standing on the battle stage, but those days were gone forever.
Just then, he suddenly remembered the moment he sang with his three good friends yesterday. At that time, he felt as if he had returned to the battle stage.
A light suddenly flashed in Mu Li’s eyes: “Third brother, what do you think if I become a singer?”
Before Xu Ming could react, Mu Li nodded to him and said, “You also think I can, right? Then I’ll give it a try!”
Xu Ming: Hey, hey, hey, are you even going to let me voice my opinion?
Xu Ming originally wanted to say something, but seeing Mu Li so energetic, he couldn’t help but swallow those words of persuasion.
This was the first time he had seen Mu Li care so much about something.
“That’s right, you can do it!”