Omnibus Anime: Person in Music Anime, Relaxing and Happy

"Then I'll pass on joining."

Yui Hirasawa gave an ehehe laugh—she still needed to find a club with good food and fun activities.

Besides, astronomy was way too high-level for her.

Takamatsu Tomo looked a little disappointed, but still smiled. "Mm, it's fine..."

"What about Bai Qiu-kun?"

The pressure was on Bai Qiu.

Those pale golden eyes were fixed right in front of him, unblinking. Bai Qiu could even make out the patterns within them.

And his own reflection.

Bai Qiu felt that Tomo's gaze looked even more pitiful than before.

Yui, tell me—how were you so decisive, so heartless in turning her down?

No, wait! Yui, how could you reject Tomo!

"Actually... I'm pretty interested in astronomy."

"Really?! Then will you join?"

Takamatsu Tomo suddenly leaned in, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

"Please, let me join."

After that, Bai Qiu and Takamatsu Tomo naturally started chatting about constellations.

Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cetus...

And Bai Qiu wasn't completely clueless.

Altair, Vega—he knew a thing or two about those.

Takamatsu Tomo's face bloomed with a smile; she looked genuinely happy.

As expected, if it's Bai Qiu-kun, he can understand me!

Seeing Takamatsu Tomo like this, Bai Qiu suddenly felt that joining was worth it.

Takamatsu Tomo's lively, excited voice easily drew the attention of the surrounding classmates.

Everyone turned to look.

It was Takamatsu-san, one of the class's darlings.

Who would've thought Takamatsu-san could be like this?

Usually, when they chatted with her, she seemed a bit reserved, and it was hard to find common ground.

As expected, Bai Qiu-kun was impressive.

Watching the two of them so close, Yui Hirasawa felt a little uncomfortable.

Sure enough, topics as deep as constellations were something she couldn't chime in on at all.

What was this inexplicable pang in her heart?

Could this be... isolation?

Chapter 20: We Meet Again, Tanaka-san

Time came to after school.

Bai Qiu and Takamatsu Tomo went up to the fifth floor together.

As the Astronomy Club, it naturally occupied the top floor of the teaching building.

The activity room was equipped with an astronomical telescope, convenient for stargazing at night.

The room was neither too big nor too small, but for just Bai Qiu and Takamatsu Tomo, it felt quite spacious.

Bai Qiu carefully filled out the club application form, then handed it to Takamatsu Tomo.

"Thank you, Bai Qiu-kun. The Astronomy Club is really laid-back—just leave the club activity report to me."

Takamatsu Tomo's fair cheeks visibly lit up with a happy smile, then she turned to Bai Qiu and spoke earnestly.

Bai Qiu smiled and shook his head. Tomo-san's pretty reliable, huh.

Where else could you find a club this easygoing?

"By the way, can I call you Tomo, like Yui does?" Bai Qiu suddenly asked.

They'd be in the same club from now on, and since he was already this familiar with Takamatsu Tomo, calling her Tomo shouldn't be a problem, right?

Mainly, for a Celestial Dynasty person, always saying "Takamatsu-san" this and "Takamatsu-san" that was way too much trouble.

Takamatsu Tomo paused for a moment, her cheeks flushing slightly as she nodded. "Mm, then, I'll call you... Qiu too."

"I'll head down now, Tomo. Bye."

Bai Qiu smiled, practicing the name as he said it.

"Mm, bye-bye... Qiu."

Though a little regretful that the other had left so quickly, Takamatsu Tomo also lightly waved her hand, imitating Bai Qiu.

Leaving the Astronomy Club.

Bai Qiu returned to the classroom.

Yui Hirasawa was still waiting for him there.

Bai Qiu had promised to take Yui Hirasawa to find a club that suited her.

If he didn't act soon, he was afraid club recruitment would suddenly end, and then Dumb Yui would be left without a club.

Back in the classroom, he called out to Yui Hirasawa.

The two quickly climbed to the fourth floor.

Why hadn't he just called Yui Hirasawa to come up with him earlier...

Now he had to climb the stairs all over again.

Forget it, he just wanted some alone time with Tomo-san—what was wrong with that?

It had to be said, even while climbing the stairs, Yui Hirasawa was full of energy, hopping and skipping.

As they passed the corner of the stairwell, Bai Qiu casually reached out and touched the rabbit ear of the Rabbit Statue standing there.

Seeing this, Yui Hirasawa laughed happily and patted the shell of the Turtle Statue.

First Music Room.

Bai Qiu knocked on the door.

From inside came the faint sound of girls making a ruckus, mixed with what seemed like "Wait," and "Come in."

Yui Hirasawa, unable to contain herself, pushed at the door.

It wasn't locked, and it swung open gently.

The scene before him left Bai Qiu somewhat stunned.

"What are you doing?"

There stood Tainaka Ritsu, one foot on a chair, the other on a table, her posture extremely unladylike, both hands posed as if charging forward.

You're a cute girl too, you know!

Off to the side, Akiyama Mio had her arms wrapped around Tainaka Ritsu's stomach, her head resting against Ritsu's back.

"Get down already, Ritsu!"

On the other side was a girl with long, light brown naturally wavy hair reaching her waist—Kotobuki Tsumugi.

Kotobuki Tsumugi was all smiles, straining to widen her deep blue-green eyes as she observed Mio and Ritsu clinging to each other.

This caused the semicircular eyebrows above her eyes to look a bit thick, like "pickled radish."

The sudden intrusion of the duo made the room fall silent.

Three pairs of eyes turned to look at once.

The first to react was Akiyama Mio, who shouted anxiously, "Ritsu, get down quick, you're going to show..."

She couldn't finish the sentence.

Akiyama Mio's head flushed red as she shut her eyes.

"Huh? What?"

Tainaka Ritsu was confused.

Mio was always like this, saying half a sentence—wasn't it just a guy being here? What was there to be shy about?

But this guy looked kind of familiar!

"Saw it, your panties, haha."

Yui Hirasawa pointed without any embarrassment.

Tainaka Ritsu looked down at herself and let out a scream.

Akiyama Mio, frightened by the terrifying noise, curled up in the corner of the room, hands over her head.

Kotobuki Tsumugi, Yui Hirasawa, and Bai Qiu quickly covered their ears, waiting for the sound to end.

Four girls and one boy sat around a round table.

Aside from Yui Hirasawa, the rest exchanged awkward glances.

Yui Hirasawa looked here and there, wondering where the food was.

"We meet again, Tanaka-san, Akiyama-san, and this... lovely classmate."

As if nothing had happened.

Bai Qiu greeted them politely, then looked with slight confusion at Kotobuki Tsumugi, who had been staring at his face the whole time.

Was there a flower on his face or something?

Was it because he had interrupted the girls' bonding that the Young Lady was a bit upset?

Akiyama Mio looked slightly embarrassed. "Hello, Bai Qiu...kun."

After Akiyama Mio spoke, Kotobuki Tsumugi smiled gently. "Hello, Bai Qiu-kun. I'm Kotobuki Tsumugi."

Having said that, Kotobuki Tsumugi looked at Bai Qiu with a curious expression.

Boys seemed to be interesting subjects for observation too!

"Hey, wait! My surname is Tainaka, not Tanaka!"

Tainaka Ritsu protested loudly.

"Oh, is that so?"

Bai Qiu looked quite surprised.

"Of course it is. Tainaka Ritsu. Surname Tainaka, given name Ritsu."

Tainaka Ritsu introduced herself with her hands on her hips.

After hearing this, Bai Qiu finally caught on and rubbed his chin awkwardly.

To be honest, he really hadn't meant to do it.

Bai Qiu just thought "Tanaka" rolled off the tongue much more smoothly than "Tainaka"!

Besides, the surname Tanaka seemed much more common in everyday life.

For example, he had once watched a slice-of-life anime called Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, which was very amusing and left a strong impression on him.

As Bai Qiu recalled watching K-ON! in the past, when the subtitles showed "Tainaka Ritsu," his brain seemed to have automatically loaded it as "Tanaka" as well.

Yeah, it must have been because of these reasons that he ended up getting the name wrong.

"Sorry, I really didn't mean to."