"Summer vacation passes silently; looking back, only old shadows remain; Anon is known by no one."
The pink-haired girl leaned against the railing, sighing dramatically as if being profound.
"Mogami-gawa!"
Her red-haired friend, Mai, teased along.
"Is Anon lonely during summer vacation?"
Eri, the green-haired girl, asked with concern.
"How could that be? Haven't we been asking Anon to hang out with us all summer vacation?"
Yellow-haired Kanako laughed and said.
"But when you guys go to band practice, I end up all alone, sob sob."
Anon theatrically wiped away tears that didn't exist.
"Stop with the 'sob sob'! It's clearly Anon who refuses to join our band, even though we all have so much fun playing together."
Mai said with dissatisfaction.
"Yeah, yeah!"
Kanako also chimed in.
"Anon must have her own ideas."
Eri spoke up gently for Anon.
"Eri!"
Anon threw herself into her arms.
"There, there~"
Eri stroked her hair as if coaxing a child.
"Eri! You're the woman who could be my mother!"
Anon acted spoiled.
"Shut up, you embarrassing person! It's all because you spoil Anon too much, Eri!"
Mai looked even more dissatisfied: "Even though Anon said she wanted to form a band at the beginning too."
"I get it—Anon must think we're too lame!"
Kanako said.
Mai immediately glared at Kanako with an expression that said, "Why are you spouting such brutal truths?"
The latter didn't seem to care about her murderous gaze at all.
"That's not the case at all."
Anon stood up—which made Eri, look a bit disappointed.
"It's just that I think it would be more interesting to start a band from scratch. That's why I didn't join, I'm really sorry, gomen!"
This was a lie.
Although at first, Anon really just thought any band would do, as long as she could be the center C-position vocalist, it didn't matter.
But after seeing Kessoku Band's performance on the rooftop during the School Festival, her perspective changed inexplicably.
Although the main purpose of joining a band was still to save face and have everyone pay more attention to her, besides that, she also started having some of her own pursuits regarding music.
—Even if she couldn't compare to Kessoku Band, at least she shouldn't be too far behind, right?
Therefore, although she felt very sorry for the good friends she had made after transferring, their band was formed with a casual, play-around attitude, which was indeed different from Anon's ideas.
Not to mention the vocalist position was already taken...
The pink-haired girl Anon's voice had just faded, and the atmosphere was quiet for a second.
Then—
"If that wasn't expressing homesickness... I mean, loneliness."
Mai crossed her arms, looking serious, "Then that haiku Anon just recited was actually expressing—that she wants to fall in love."
"I, I do not!!!"
Anon, who had originally felt a subtle sense of guilt in her heart, instantly bristled, springing up from the railing, "Don't turn everything into a topic about romance!"
"Eh—really?"
Kanako leaned in, staring at her face with a smile, "But your face is so red."
"It's from the sun! The sun in Chiba is really fierce!"
At this moment, Eri gave a soft 'ah,' as if she had suddenly thought of something.
"Speaking of which... Anon seems to be very interested in someone recently."
"?!"
Anon almost choked on her own saliva.
"No, I don't think so?"
She tried hard to act nonchalant, "I'm the same every day."
"Oh, it's that person."
Mai also suddenly seemed to remember, slapping her palm.
"Who?"
Kanako asked curiously.
"It's that upperclassman in the club that Anon joined."
Mai introduced to the other, "He's quite famous, the one who always wears an eyepatch and has bandages wrapped around his hands."
"Oh, oh, that chuunibyou senpai."
Kanako suddenly realized.
"He's not a chuunibyou."
Anon retorted subconsciously.
The three 'traffic light' friends all looked at Anon, which made the girl realize suddenly that she had overreacted just now.
"I, I mean, speaking ill of others behind their backs is somewhat... um, not very nice."
As she spoke, the girl repeated, as if to emphasize that she wasn't feeling guilty at all, "That's right, ethics! That's exactly what I think!"
"Although it's a bit sudden! Word chain game!"
Mai suddenly shouted, "Morning (Asa)!"
"That's really sudden, hey, what's going on?"
Anon was stunned.
Kanako: "Mackerel (Saba)!"
Anon: "You actually started playing?!"
Eri: "Vanilla (Banira). "
Anon: "Even Eri too..."
Mai: "Hurry up, Anon, it's your turn! Quick, quick, quick!"
Anon: "Huh? Eh... ah, ah... Asakura... Ugh!"
In her haste, the girl blurted out the first word that popped into her head, but the moment she said it, she realized something was wrong and immediately covered her mouth.
But it was already too late.
"See, you've given yourself away~"
Mai covered her mouth, staring at Anon: " Are you still not planning to admit it, even now?"
"Yay! Confess quickly~ Leniency for confession! Coerced into confession!"
Kanako raised both hands, making a gesture like a DJ scratching a record, and happily fanned the flames.
"That last one doesn't seem quite right..."
Eri was somewhat amused yet helpless, but her eyes also curiously looked toward Anon.
"It's all because you guys kept saying Asakura, Asakura, that I accidentally let it slip! It doesn't count, it doesn't count!"
Anon bared her little fangs and protested: " Besides, you three are way too in sync!"
"This is the bond of our band! Compared to that, Anon~ you might have gotten one thing wrong~"
Mai leaned in front of the pink-haired girl.
"Wh, what?"
Anon asked with a guilty conscience.
"From beginning to end, we never said the two words 'Asakura'~"
Mai smirked and said: " From the very beginning, wasn't it you, Anon, who had 'Asakura~ Asakura~' ringing non-stop in your head?"
"Guu ugh..."
Anon was forced against the railing, like a criminal in a detective drama whose modus operandi had been exposed, who could only pale and repeat the claim 'you have no evidence,' murmuring: " It's not like that..."
The Traffic Light Trio had no intention of letting her off, continuing to cast inquiring gazes at her that felt almost tangible.
"Rabbit dango..."
Anon whispered.
"What?"
Mai asked.
"One rabbit dango for each person," Anon compromised dejectedly: " My treat."
"Yay!"