After school,
After exchanging greetings with the other two, Bai Xian prepared to head home.
He was a firm believer in the "living alone" lifestyle.
Seeing this, Anon Chihaya hesitated for a moment, realizing they hadn't exchanged Line contacts yet.
Just as she was about to hurry after him, she was intercepted by three girls with different hair colors.
They had light green, yellow, and red hair respectively—let's call them the red-yellow-green trio for now.
Anon Chihaya had made friends with this trio during recess.
Shouldn't she expect nothing less from a social butterfly?
"Let's walk back together," one of the short-haired yellow-haired girls invited.
Trapped by the atmosphere, Anon Chihaya couldn't bring herself to refuse, so she had no choice but to give up on catching up with Bai Xian to ask for his Line ID.
"Okay, let's head back."
"Hey, do you guys play in a band?"
Seeing the large black instrument cases slung over the three girls' backs, Anon Chihaya asked with a puzzled look.
"Yeah, though we just started not long ago."
"Right~" x3
The red-yellow-green trio exchanged a knowing smile.
Huh...
...Come to think of it, it seems like everyone plays in a band these days...
"A lot of people at our school play in bands, you know~"
"That's because the upperclassmen have started several amazing bands."
"There's a band called Afterglow in the third year, and the student council president is one of the members, too."
"Mm-hmm."
"Even though PasPale has already graduated, among the second years we have Ako-senpai from Roselia and LOCK-senpai from RAS."
The trio explained over each other.
It seemed that forming bands or music groups was genuinely popular at Haneoka Girls' Academy.
...Come to think of it, Tomori probably isn't in a band, right?
(...Red Sun's Mini-Class: In general understanding, there is actually a distinction between a "band" and a "music group/orchestra."
Bands usually consist of instruments like guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, and vocals, covering a diverse range of styles including black metal, death metal, doom metal, glam metal, and thrash metal.
Music groups have a much broader composition and can include string sections (such as the violin family), woodwind sections (such as piccolos and flutes), brass sections (such as French horns), percussion sections (such as timpani), and color instrument sections (such as pianos and harps)....)
...
"What about Anon?"
"Eh? I dabble a bit."
"Suppose you could call me a guitarist and vocalist?"
This was a lie!
Suddenly put on the spot, Anon Chihaya was somewhat surprised. In truth, she had zero band experience, her guitar-playing was merely half-assed, and being a part-time vocalist was completely out of the question.
It was all thanks to her damned vanity acting up; the mood was right there, so Anon Chihaya had no choice but to bite the bullet and play along. (Laughing (*^_^^*))
Little Red: Ah, me too, me too!
Little Green: If you don't mind, would you like to play together?
Little Yellow: We want to play Afterglow songs, and we're hoping to find another guitarist.
The trio excitedly invited Anon Chihaya to join them, and their expressions didn't look fake at all.
...A guitar? But they already had a guitarist...
...Which means... I'd have to stand in the corner...
Thinking of this, Anon Chihaya politely declined:
"Thank you, let me think about it a bit more."
(The little pink-haired girl is suspected of not knowing what's good for her. Laughing (●'V'●))
...
Back home, Anon Chihaya called out softly into the quiet entryway:
"I'm home."
Then she walked up to her attic room and collapsed limply onto the floor next to the sofa.
...I'm exhausted, my facial muscles are almost paralyzed...
...At least I successfully made some friends, though...
...Not bad for the first day, right?
Anon Chihaya muttered to herself, her thoughts suddenly drifting back to the time she studied abroad in Britain:
The teacher calling roll on stage...
Her accented and timid self-introduction...
The indifference of passersby at the airport...
...
...Always running away, hehe...
Hah.
Shaking her head, Anon Chihaya snapped out of it, refusing to dwell on those painful experiences any longer.
She then stood up, went downstairs, rummaged through the cupboard, and pulled out a somewhat poorly maintained light green guitar.
...Good thing I brought it with me...
Everyone else is playing in a band, so I have to play along too.
Dusting off the guitar, the confident Guitar Queen picked up her instrument, ready to host a super-exclusive live show right at home.
Guess who didn't get invited?
Wow, literally nobody got invited at all...
Screech-buzz~ Clang-thump~
The grating sound of the strings was like fingernails aggressively scraping across a chalkboard.
It gently shattered a young girl's band dream~
Huh? Huh-huh?
The next day,
"I'm so sorry! I really want to join a band too."
(Not really, she just wanted to be in the spotlight.)
"But I don't know much about that Afterglow."
(She just can't play the guitar well!)
Anon Chihaya pressed her hands together, looking at the red-green-yellow trio with apologetic eyes.
"There's nothing to worry about with that kind of thing."
"Exactly."
Little Red and Little Green waved their hands dismissively.
"I'm really glad everyone wanted to invite me."
(Not really, it's just social etiquette.)
"It's fine, it's fine. If Anon-chan ever forms a band, make sure to invite us to watch your live show."
"No problem."
(There's a huge problem.)
Things having reached this point, Anon Chihaya had no choice but to agree.
--
On the club recruitment bulletin board...
Anon Chihaya looked for something among the various promotional posters, appearing somewhat overwhelmed by the choices.
...If I'm going to form a band, I'd rather be a guitar-singer...
...And the members I'll need are...
...No Light Music Club?!
...Could it be, should I go check out the Wind Instrument Club?
In front of the Wind Instrument Club room,
A girl was peeking at something through the ajar door.
She had blue hair styled in twin tails, which shimmered like gemstones under the sunlight streaming through the window. Her face looked like a finely sculpted piece of art. At that moment, she was peeking into the Wind Instrument Club, her gaze focused and full of vitality.
Yet for some reason, a trace of fatigue could be sensed from the girl, as if she hadn't had a proper rest in a long time.
"Hello?"
Looking at this strange girl, Anon Chihaya patted her on the shoulder.
"Ah!"
Toyokawa Sakiko had been completely engrossed in peeking, so she couldn't help being startled when she suddenly heard a voice from behind.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. What are you doing here?"
Indeed, the blue-haired girl standing right in front of the Wind Instrument Club room, hesitating yet refusing to go inside, looked suspicious no matter how you sliced it.
If she were a member of the Wind Instrument Club, there was no way she'd just linger outside the door, right?
"Pardon me, I am Toyokawa Sakiko, not some suspicious person."
"Standing at the door is simply to avoid disturbing the people inside."
Toyokawa Sakiko explained gracefully, every movement brimming with elegance and nobility.
...She's practically like a young lady from some wealthy household...
Hearing this, Anon Chihaya couldn't help but get curious. Some passionate and beautiful piano music was indeed coming from inside the Wind Instrument Club—who was in there?
Through the crack of the ajar door, Anon Chihaya leaned her head in to look.
She saw a handsome boy with short silver-white hair playing the piano in front of him like a madman. The piano notes were crisp and powerful, and the fierce notes bounced as if layer upon layer of giant waves were rolling in!
What kind of momentum and skill was this!
"Isn't that Shiro-chan!"
"No wonder I couldn't find hide nor hair of him after school, so he was here."
Anon Chihaya said in surprise.
"Shiro-chan? This... classmate, could it be that you know him?"
"I'm Anon Chihaya, just call me Anon."
"Alright... Anon-classmate, may I ask what your relationship is with the boy inside?"
Um, Anon Chihaya thought about it simply and replied:
"Suppose you could call us friends."
"Suppose?"
"Come on, let's go in together, Sakiko-chan~"
Being overly familiar, Anon Chihaya shoved her, preparing to drag Sakiko into the Wind Instrument Club.
"W-Wait a minute!"
Toyokawa Sakiko shrank back a little, but she was still grabbed by Anon Chihaya and instantly refined (not really).
The two of them entered the Wind Instrument Club of "mutual consent."
Hearing the commotion at the door, Bai Xian stopped his bounding fingertips and raised his eyes to look forward.
...Could the Wind Instrument Club members be back?
...Oh, it's Anon, plus someone else...
...Who is that?
...