But thanks to Kamijou Mutsuki's item match, she could at least play now—unlike before, when she knew absolutely nothing.
If she just worked a bit harder afterward, wouldn't her level go up?
Mm, shouldn't be a big problem… probably?
But speaking of items, Anon couldn't help but think of the sticker Kamijou Mutsuki had given her yesterday.
Anyone with common sense would know that thing wasn't normal.
With the current state of science, it shouldn't have advanced to that level, right?
Or could it be that fantastical things like magic really exist in this world?
Kamijou Mutsuki's true identity—could he be a magician?
Otherwise, it was hard to explain how he could take out something like yesterday's sticker, which at a glance clearly wasn't a product of science.
Thinking this far, Anon suddenly seemed to realize something.
If Kamijou Mutsuki's identity as a magician was confirmed, then wouldn't her earlier suspicions turn out to be true?
Had Kamijou Mutsuki been using magic or some kind of superpower to monitor her all along, which was why he knew her past so clearly?
Wait—could Kamijou Mutsuki still be monitoring her right now?
Anon-chan instantly broke out in goosebumps, glancing around with suspicion and unease.
On the other side, Miss Taki stared at the TV screen in front of her, wearing an expression straight out of the "subway, old man, phone" meme.
Seriously—at your level, you dare to come out and form a band, and even want to be the center? Where did you get that confidence?
But no, that wasn't right. She had clearly performed so well yesterday—practically at a professional level.
So was everything in the anime fictional?
But recalling Anon's disastrous performance today, Taki fell silent again.
So what exactly is up with this girl?
Taki-chan was completely confused.
At this moment, the anime cut to the scene where Anon formally rejected the traffic-light trio, which added a touch of guilt to Anon's face—she had originally still been fretting over whether Kamijou Mutsuki was monitoring her.
After all, the reason she gave them for refusing was completely different from her true thoughts. If they saw it, that would be really awkward.
Anon could only hope that these few friends of hers didn't usually watch anime.
After that came the scene of her striking up a conversation with the refined young lady next door.
Only then did the girls of the former C band realize that Anon had already met Sakiko before—this girl wasn't just going after Tomori, she even wanted to cozy up to "Sakiko-sensei" herself.
And watching "Sakiko-sensei" in the anime reject a certain Miss Anon who went around flirting and hitting on pretty girls, Soyo felt disappointed, yet at the same time let out a small sigh of relief.
The disappointment was because, if Anon really managed to hook up with Sakiko, her grand plan of repeated backstabbing would have basically succeeded halfway.
The relief was because, if Sakiko—who had always rejected her—were to be easily taken in by Anon, she really didn't know how she would feel.
However…
So Sakiko was actually studying at Haneoka Girls' School now?
Having obtained this important piece of information from the anime, the expression on Soyo's face grew slightly excited.
She finally had another way to get in touch with Sakiko, besides "the Mutsuki person" and Kamijou Mutsuki!
Meanwhile, "Sakiko-sensei," for some reason, shivered slightly, as if something bad had just happened.
But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't figure out why, and could only suppress the unease in her heart and continue watching the anime.
And Anon, who failed to cozy up to the blue-haired young lady, after exchanging a bit with her classmates, walked down the school corridor while saying a line that once again made her break out in a cold sweat.
"I didn't really plan on taking band stuff that seriously…"
There was nothing inherently wrong with that sentence—at this age, isn't forming a band usually just for fun?
But what kind of band had she joined now?
There was no need to even mention Tomori—she was the Gravity Empress who brought up "Lifetime" at the drop of a hat. The other two weren't any less intense either.
If Anon's true thoughts were exposed, would she really come out of it unscathed?
However, contrary to what she imagined, the one who should have been the most dissatisfied—Tomori—didn't seem to feel much at all.
So what if what the anime showed were things that really happened in the past?
Compared to that, she trusted what she herself felt more, and she trusted Anon more.
In fact, Tomori's thinking wasn't wrong. Words alone didn't really mean much.
Some people talked endlessly about being a "community of shared fate"—and how did that turn out in the end?
Soyo didn't really care about this either. What she wanted was only the original CRYCHIC.
It was actually better that Anon thought this way—when she got bored and quit on her own later, it would save Soyo the trouble of figuring out how to drive her away.
The only one whose temperature really spiked was probably Miss Taki.
This woman—was she forming a band with such a frivolous attitude?
Forming a band with Tomori was supposed to be for a lifetime, damn it!
A woman this shallow—she would definitely have to give her a proper lesson later on, for Tomori's sake.
Especially when she saw that, after being rejected by the young lady, this scumbag immediately set her sights on Tomori instead, the look in Taki's eyes grew even darker.
And in the anime, Anon was staring at Tomori so intently that she didn't notice the trash bag under her feet and tripped, falling flat.
Single-threaded Tomori, seeing this, immediately ditched her and ran off to get a bandage.
After that, naturally, came the Astronomy Club scenes.
Watching Tomori enthusiastically introduce her penguin bandage to Anon, Taki felt another wave of sourness well up in her heart.
My Tomori…
Then, when Anon took out the notebook with the lyrics to Haruhikage written in it, all of the girls watching showed complicated expressions.
"I don't have a band anymore."
Faced with Anon's question about whether she had a band, Tomori answered in a somewhat low voice.
"Really?"
A clearly happy expression appeared on the girl's face, to the point that Soyo's fists clenched hard.
CRYCHIC disbanding makes you that happy?
Even though she knew Anon probably didn't mean it that way, she couldn't help thinking so.
"Then, do you want to form one with me?"
"I'll be the guitar vocalist—you can pick the rest however you like!"
These words of hers made the girls watching the anime all feel somewhat conflicted.
Seriously—do you even have a clue what your own skill level is?
Guitar vocalist? I think you look more like a guitar yourself.
"If we can rope in the class mascot, we'll definitely attract people!"
Anon's exposed little scheme once again fired Taki up.
She knew it—this woman was approaching Tomori with ulterior motives!
Emperor Tomori, this woman is no good—only I am truly loyal to you!
Favor the petty, distance the worthy—such is the chaos of this band!
She would surely uphold the emperor and eliminate the traitors, letting Emperor Tomori know who the real loyal subject was!
"..."
However, when faced with Anon's invitation, Tomori's gaze clearly grew a bit sad. She slightly lowered her head.
"I don't want to."
"Is that so?"
Anon was a little surprised at being rejected, but she didn't press the issue.
"Then forget it."
........................