Though paralyzed, still radiantly charming!

Chapter 381: Of course… anyone who gets close to me is doomed to bad luck…

Chapter 381: Of course… anyone who gets close to me is doomed to bad luck…

“If someone asked you to be in a band with them for life, would you say yes?”

This was the message Ethan sent to Lila.

“For life!?”

It was clear from her response that Lila was just as confused.

Why did Ethan send such a message?

Well, he was currently sitting in a karaoke room, with Julia and Elise right next to him.

Today was the day Julia invited Elise to join the band for the first time.

The plot seemed to be following the original story pretty closely, except for one small detail: Ethan’s soul was now inside Lila’s body, watching everything unfold from the sidelines.

Earlier in the day, Julia had asked Lila to hang out, and since Ethan didn’t have anything else going on, he agreed to tag along after school.

It wasn’t until he saw Elise with them that he realized what day it was.

Even though Ethan had agreed to help with some band advice, recruiting new members wasn’t something he could assist with. So, he just sat back and watched Julia and Elise talk, curious to see if things would play out like they did in the original story.

At this point, Julia was trying to comfort Elise.

“Why not just work hard so you don’t fail next time?”

“Even if you mess up once, you’ve got to have the confidence to try again. Life’s long—how else are you going to get through it?”

“Next time, you might even get lucky and find some amazing bandmates.”

Ethan listened quietly from the side. When he heard that last line, he almost lost it. Sure, the end result was supposed to be like that, but the process… well, that was a different story.

By now, the lights in the karaoke room had shifted to a more dramatic setting, and it seemed like Julia’s words had struck a chord with Elise.

Then Elise dropped the bombshell.

“Then… will you be in a band with me for life?”

Even someone as optimistic as Julia couldn’t handle the weight of that statement. After a brief pause, she responded, confused: “For life?”

Julia clearly didn’t get it. To Elise, her reaction felt like a public execution.

Realizing she’d said something wrong, Elise grabbed her bag and bolted out the door.

Julia, startled, glanced at Ethan, muttered a quick apology, and then ran after Elise.

Hmm…

So far, everything was playing out exactly as Ethan remembered.

But then, he suddenly realized something important.

According to the original story, Julia was about to be stopped by Zara. The problem was, Zara had just witnessed Elise being harassed by a creep the day before.

If Zara saw someone chasing after Elise, would she overreact and kick Julia?

With that thought, Ethan couldn’t sit still anymore. He grabbed his bag and hurried after them.

When Ethan reached the entrance of The Pulse bar, things had already gone completely off-script.

Julia and Zara were actually fighting.

What surprised Ethan even more was that Julia wasn’t completely defenseless—she knew how to fight too?

From the looks of it, she was using Taekwondo.

Ethan could tell that the two of them were pretty evenly matched. In other words, neither could land a solid hit. If he didn’t know the backstory, he might’ve thought they were dancing!

Meanwhile, Elise stood nearby, looking confused and unsure of how to stop them. Ethan couldn’t help but imagine her saying:

“Please, stop fighting!”

If it started raining, the scene would be straight out of a dramatic showdown from a martial arts movie.

But Ethan didn’t just stand there watching. Seeing that things were still somewhat under control, he seized the moment, dashed forward, and—without hesitation—hoisted Julia over his shoulder and carried her out of the “battlefield.”

“Wha—what!?”

Julia was completely caught off guard. Being carried like this was so embarrassing!

Zara, seeing this, immediately stopped fighting.

In fact, she had realized the person she was fighting was a girl as soon as she blocked her first move. There was clearly some kind of misunderstanding here.

But she hadn’t expected the girl to be so skilled, which led to the two of them getting stuck in a weird back-and-forth. Neither of them really wanted to fight, but they couldn’t stop either, so they ended up in this awkward dance-like situation.

After Ethan put Julia down, he turned to Zara and said, “Zara, seriously? You didn’t even stop to ask what was going on before you started throwing punches? That’s just rude.”

Zara didn’t know who this girl was, but she did feel a bit embarrassed about her rash actions. And being called by name made her wonder if she actually knew this person. She started to think it over.

Ethan then pulled Julia aside and explained why Zara had reacted the way she did.

Julia was still a little annoyed, but she understood, at least a little.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel a bit confused.

“Lil Bunny, how do you even know about stuff like this?”

“My friend told me,” Ethan explained.

After all, he had made plans to meet up with Zara and Elise yesterday, but since the body swap happened again today, he had no choice but to bring Lila along.

After that, Zara, realizing she was in the wrong, apologized to Julia. To make up for it, she offered to buy her a drink.

So, Ethan, Julia, and Elise followed Zara into The Pulse, the bar where Zara worked.

But after what had just happened, the atmosphere was still a bit tense.

Elise, as usual, seemed to be blaming herself, thinking that the fight between Jules and Zara was somehow her fault.

Even though neither of them had blamed her at all.

It’s like Elise had this gravitational pull for guilt, attracting it even when it wasn’t hers to bear.

Since Ethan (in Lila’s body) only had a connection with Julia, he stayed quiet, just observing how the girls would handle things from here.

After a moment of silence, Elise finally spoke up, apologizing: “I’m… I’m sorry.”

“This has nothing to do with you, Elise,” Zara quickly reassured her.

Julia chimed in as well: “Yeah, Elise, this isn’t your fault. Why are you apologizing?”

“If it weren’t for me…”

Elise seemed to spiral into her own thoughts, and then she came to a dramatic conclusion.

“Of course… anyone who gets close to me is doomed to bad luck…”

Just as Julia and Zara were about to comfort her, Lila (or rather, Ethan in Lila’s body) arrived at The Pulse.

The moment Zara saw her, she practically sprinted over, grabbed Ethan (in Lila’s body), and dragged him over to their table.

Lila—well, Ethan—was completely bewildered. Who the heck is this person!?