"What?"
However, Anon's complaints in the animation were met with a counterattack from Miss Taki in real life.
"Do you have a problem with me?"
"…No."
This girl is scary!
The smile on Anon's face stiffened slightly.
"But this is all just stuff from the anime. It's got nothing to do with me, right?"
What the animated Anon said has nothing to do with the real her, okay?
"So that's how it is."
In the animation, Soyo's smile didn't change at all as she responded to Anon's complaints.
"Still, Taki probably didn't mean to be harsh toward you."
"Crap, so they actually know each other."
Now it was the animated Anon's turn to feel awkward.
"Ah… was I wrong to talk about your friend like that?"
"It's fine!"
"She suddenly snapped at you, so it's not entirely your fault either."
Then came some friendly girl-to-girl conversation.
In the end, it was Soyo who suggested they sit further inside to chat, and at her recommendation, Anon ordered the same hot Earl Grey coffee as her.
Come to think of it, the first time she met Kamijou Mutsuki, they'd ordered the same thing too.
For some reason, Soyo thought of that memory—and then noticed a blind spot she hadn't realized back then.
Wait, how did he know she liked hot Earl Grey tea?
But Soyo didn't dwell on it for long.
If he could make an anime like this, that kind of detail really wasn't worth worrying about.
Soon enough, the conversation turned to bands.
Just then, a certain white Persian cat happened to push a guitar inside. As soon as she plugged into the amp, the sudden burst of noise made Anon cover her ears.
After finishing her adjustments, the cat began playing without any restraint.
"So loud…"
But driven by certain thoughts in her heart, even after enduring the cat's "noise," Anon still forced herself to speak to Soyo.
"So, what I mean is—"
"I want to find a band where I can be both the vocalist and the guitarist."
"You mean a guitar singer?"
"That's right!"
Then, right in front of the pink-haired girl, the cat delivered a guitar solo that could only be described as professional-level brilliance.
"..."
Anon stared blankly at the cat, falling into silence.
"She's amazing…"
Soyo across from her sighed in admiration.
"If it really comes down to it, letting someone else handle the guitar would be fine too."
Having witnessed the cat's skill firsthand, Anon said this rather weakly.
"But I still want to be the vocalist!"
"Heh~"
Seeing Anon try to snatch Tomori's position, Taki immediately couldn't hold back.
She didn't say anything more—just that single syllable was enough to outweigh a thousand words, and Anon's cheeks grew hot.
Thinking back on it now, it really did feel unbelievable.
For someone who couldn't even play the guitar properly, where had she found the confidence back then to want to be a guitar-vocalist?
But thinking about it carefully, it was actually normal.
Back then, she'd simply wanted to stand in the center position. She had even rejected the "traffic-light trio" because of that, without thinking things through at all.
So—was she standing center now?
Oh, playing guitar, stuck in the corner!
And she still had to worry about being pressured by Taki…
So she'd rejected them for nothing after all!
In the end, wasn't it all the same?
Still, if she were given another chance, Anon would probably make the same choice.
Even though there wasn't a single normal person in this band, she somehow couldn't bring herself to dislike them.
"Why did you two end up arguing?"
In the animation, after Anon endured Miss Taki's death glare, Soyo asked about the reason behind the conflict.
"I don't really know,"
Anon replied as she dropped sugar cubes into her tea.
"She suddenly showed up while I was chatting with a friend and started questioning what I was doing."
"She even doubted my relationship with my friend."
"And she asked me, 'Did you invite Tomori to form a band together?'"
Keyword detected!
Soyo, who had been smiling and drinking her tea, paused slightly.
"And then she suddenly lost her temper. It was really inexplicable."
Soyo set her cup down and, for the first time, looked seriously at the pink-haired girl in front of her.
"The Tomori you mentioned—do you mean Takamatsu Tomori?"
"Uh, yes. She's my classmate."
Anon seemed a bit surprised by Soyo's question.
"Um, do you know her?"
"She's my friend too."
Soyo interlaced her fingers, propped up her chin, and struck the same classic pose as Commander Ikari, her voice so gentle it made one's body go soft.
Soyo devises a heaven-shaking plan; CRYCHIC may yet return from the dead.
"I see…"
The animation gave a close-up of Soyo scanning Anon's school uniform.
"So she's at Haneoka now."
And so, the originally half-hearted Soyo suddenly became proactive, even subtly guiding the pink-haired girl in front of her without revealing her intentions.
In theory, the two of them should have been players on the same level. However, because Anon had no awareness that she'd already stepped into the game and wasn't on guard at all, she ended up being completely led around by the nose by Soyo.
"Do you want to form a band together?"
And so, Anon made the invitation.
"Sure."
Soyo agreed without the slightest hesitation, as casually as if she were answering what to eat for dinner.
"Really?"
Seeing this, Anon could hardly believe it.
After all, her previous invitations had run into walls everywhere—yet Soyo agreed so easily?
"But I'm really not that good, you know~"
"That's more than enough!"
And so, in her excitement, Miss Anon delivered one of the anime's famous scenes.
"Soyo-san, love!"
Watching animated Anon stare at Soyo with hearts in her eyes, the girls all wore subtle, complicated expressions.
And you say you're not into girls?
Taki subtly pulled Tomori behind her.
It's over—there's no washing this clean anymore!
At the same time, the TV scene shifted, and the camera moved into the evening.
Anon sat on the sofa at home, happily sending messages to Miss Soyo, the bassist she'd just recruited that day.
But when the shot cut to Soyo, the screen instantly darkened.
She sat on her bed in her bedroom, not even turning on the light.
Soyo looked at the message Anon had sent in the notification bar, but had no interest in even opening it.
She scrolled through the notifications, and CRYCHIC's homepage appeared.
Soyo stared at the page for a long time.
The heavy gravity she radiated during that time was almost on par with Tomori's.
"Soyo-chan, you…"
It was no surprise that animated Anon, being inside the situation, failed to notice Soyo's true objective.
But from a god's-eye view, Soyo's tells were far too obvious.
Anon looked at Soyo, her expression growing complicated.
And although Miss Soyo was also a heavyweight, within the band Anon's favorability toward her was second only to Tomori's.
After all, who wouldn't like such a gentle, considerate Tsukinomori young lady?
And yet now she realized—Soyo seemed to harbor ulterior motives toward her?
....................