Chihaya Anon's pupils contracted. Her lips quivered as she took a step back.
Her face darkened. Clenching her fists, she suddenly turned and ran straight out of the Cafe.
Shiina Riki hadn't expected such an intense reaction and froze for a moment.
"Anon-chan," Akari hurriedly called after her.
Nagasaki Sose was surprised too, but as she watched Anon run out of the Cafe, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly into a satisfied smile.
This way, things were going according to her plan.
Suddenly, a figure flashed past the corner of her eye and chased after Chihaya Anon.
Nagasaki Sose watched Riki go after Chihaya Anon. She froze for a moment, staring blankly at his back.
"I-I'm not running away!"
Chihaya Anon was panting from running. She braced her hands on her knees to catch her breath, gritting her teeth as she thought back to what Shiina Riki had said.
What was wrong with caring about her outfit, her look, and her name? Her guitar skills weren't going to improve overnight, anyway!
"Chihaya...?"
A voice suddenly came from ahead. Chihaya Anon looked up at the two girls by the fountain. They were classmates she'd known in middle school. Her face stiffened, and she stood frozen in place.
"So it really is you, Chihaya! How's studying abroad in England going? Are you on break already?" one of the girls asked excitedly.
"Huh? But your uniform's from Haneoka, Chihaya. What's going on?" the other girl asked in confusion.
Chihaya Anon's ears were ringing. The shrill voices were so loud she could barely hear the fountain.
Studying abroad in England.
She'd failed, so she'd run back home.
Riki was right. She'd been avoiding facing things all along, so this must be her punishment.
As Chihaya Anon stood there with her head lowered, not knowing what to do, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"Studying abroad in England? No, no, she went to China as an exchange student halfway through, and now she's on break. As everyone knows, spring is the season for holidays. I'll teach you a few Chinese phrases: hello, soup dumplings, thank you, goodbye, I love China." Riki walked over and told the two girls, throwing in a little Chinese.
"Wow, amazing! That's authentic Chinese!" one of the girls exclaimed.
Come on, Sakura girls. That's enough.
And you think that counts as authentic?
Should I just change my name to Riki of Litang?
Riki turned to Chihaya Anon and smiled. "Let's go talk somewhere nearby."
Chapter 57: Sakiko: Don't Get Close to Riki Again
"Goodbye! Next time, I'll show you my animal friends."
Riki waved goodbye to the two Sakura girls Chihaya Anon knew.
My snow leopard can really do a backflip.
It can talk, too.
Though I usually tell it to shut up.
Riki and Chihaya Anon sat on a bench in front of the fountain. The splashing water sent the pigeons flapping into the air, leaving a white feather behind. He saw how distracted Chihaya Anon looked and pointed at the vending machine beside them. "Want something to drink? Is coffee okay?"
"Ah... yeah." Chihaya Anon nodded.
"Does that mean you're saying yes?"
Riki checked warily, in case the Cucumber world's Sarajevo incident happened again. He didn't want to get broken into five pieces in one second by the Cucumber Sword Princess again.
"Huh? Of course." Chihaya Anon nodded, puzzled.
Why would he ask that?
Had something strange happened to him?
"Okay, here!"
Chihaya Anon hurriedly caught the coffee can that fell through the air. She flicked a finger against the tab, and it popped open. Holding the can, she muttered, "Riki, what do you think of me? I wanted to study in England, but I only lasted a little while before I couldn't take the environment and ran back. And now I can't even play guitar well. Have I been running away from everything this whole time?"
"I've never studied abroad," Riki said.
Some of Riki's high school classmates had gone to university in the Old Country after graduation. But those little monsters were born to be Haicheng weirdos. Even with the language barrier, they could all join in railing against Brexit and its tariffs on international trade, as well as all the things the Old Country and America got up to. They were internationalists through and through. But Anon was obviously too innocent for that approach to work on her.
"But I do have some experience with music," Riki said. "Some members thought they should set their goals a little lower and not exhaust themselves. Others thought that not taking first place was a crime. They argued about it fiercely."
So it was just like me and Riki.
Chihaya Anon asked curiously, "Is that your band, Riki? I really want to see what a mature college band is like."
"How did you sort things out in the end?"
"We didn't," Riki said, shrugging. "You might have misunderstood something. You think that every conflict between friends can be resolved. But more often, you just learn to live with the conflict. Sometimes you argue, sometimes you fall out, but in the end, you still move forward in the same direction."
"Huh? That sounds way too hard for me!" Chihaya Anon complained, then asked curiously, "What place did you get in the end?"
"No place. Just a special nationwide award. Two people got carried away and didn't follow the sheet music, and they nearly made the Haicheng Principal sitting below the stage laugh with anger."
Chihaya Anon swung her legs. "Well, I guess I'll try working harder, then. Though Riki is pretty strict."
Keep it up. You can be a horse-riding knight too.
"Then let's head back."
"Sorry. I said things I shouldn't have," Shiina Riki said, lowering his head.
"It wasn't your fault, Riki. Someone had to say those things to her eventually," Nagasaki Sose said softly.
Just then, she saw Riki return with Chihaya Anon. Anon looked much happier.
Nagasaki Sose looked at Riki, narrowing her eyes. Then she put on an elegant, concerned smile. "Anon-chan, you're back. We were so worried about you."
"Sorry, sorry!" Chihaya Anon pressed her palms together. "It won't happen again. But Riki was wrong too, so I'm not going to reflect on my actions."
"Huh?" Shiina Riki frowned.
Great, Taku Team was back to getting along like a big happy family.
Riki nodded, then said to Takamatsu Akari, "That just leaves Akari's lyrics for the performance. I'm looking forward to them."
"Yeah, I have an idea already." Takamatsu Akari looked at Riki and smiled.
No, why are you looking at me?
Has the black hole set its sights on me?
Damn it, advance four! Uncle's stepping on the gas!
Nagasaki Sose was watching them when her phone suddenly received a message. She froze.
Toyokawa Sakiko: [I have something to talk to you about tonight.]
Sakiko-chan...?
Under the dim streetlights, Nagasaki Sose spotted Toyokawa Sakiko in the park. Smiling, she hurried over.
"Sakiko-chan!" Nagasaki Sose exclaimed in delight. "I didn't expect you to contact me first. Sorry I'm late."
"No need to apologize. I got here early," Toyokawa Sakiko said coolly. She looked at Nagasaki Sose's face, then turned her eyes away.
"Did you want to talk about something? I'll listen to anything you want to tell me, Sakiko-chan."
Toyokawa Sakiko raised her eyes to Nagasaki Sose. "I don't think you would, but you're not still dreaming about bringing Crychic back, are you?"
Nagasaki Sose didn't answer. She twirled a strand of brown hair around her slender finger and smiled silently as she looked down at the tips of her shoes.
"You really do still think that way?" Toyokawa Sakiko asked in disbelief.
"No, it's a little different from before," Nagasaki Sose said softly. "I only want everyone from Crychic. But I don't mind if a few more people join. It's just that we might forget to tell them about our usual activities and Lives. There's nothing we can do about it. The Tsukinomori curriculum is so demanding, after all. It's only natural to forget a few things."
"You're so self-centered," Toyokawa Sakiko said, frowning.
"Maybe you're right, Sakiko-chan."
"And what about Riki?" Toyokawa Sakiko looked straight at Nagasaki Sose. "Is Riki someone you can throw away, too?"
Nagasaki Sose didn't speak for a long while. She only twisted her hair around her finger. After a moment, she smiled. "Why bring Riki into this? This has nothing to do with him. It's just between us."
"No!"
Toyokawa Sakiko's voice was firm. "It has a lot to do with him, because Riki is someone very important to me. If you try to use him, I'll be furious. He's very smart, but he trusts his friends a lot—even you. So if you betray him, I'll never forgive you!"
Someone very important...
Nagasaki Sose bit her lip.
Even she didn't know what Riki meant to her.
He was reckless and annoying, yet he made her feel completely safe... But if she let him into her heart, then Crychic wouldn't be the only thing there.
That couldn't happen.
"I'm speaking to you as Riki's friend. If Riki doesn't matter to you, then please don't go near him again," Toyokawa Sakiko said coldly before turning and walking away.
Nagasaki Sose went home, changed into her pajamas, and lay on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"I'm not wrong. What I did wasn't wrong," Nagasaki Sose murmured. She looked at the teddy bear by her bed and hugged it tightly. Her voice came out muffled and low.
"I'm not wrong."
Once the performance was over, all the sadness of the present would end.
Everyone would come back to me.
Please vote!
Chapter 58: Akari's Sweating Bullets
"You went to see Sose?"
"She still seems to be thinking about Crychic. I heard it from Mutsumi. I couldn't stop worrying, so I went to see her. I didn't expect things to be exactly as I'd imagined," Toyokawa Sakiko said.
"She only thinks about herself."
"Kids from single-parent families can be a little fixated on things," Riki said after a moment's thought. Back in the day, one of his friends from a single-parent family had liked playing anime-style mobile games. Riki had treated him just like anyone else and added him as a friend.
Riki didn't know any better. He'd only signed up to play around.
"That's no excuse. I'm not..." Toyokawa Sakiko trailed off.
She only had her father now, too. From the outside, she might seem stubborn for refusing to accept help from others, but her pride was the only thing she had left. If she accepted anyone's charity again, she might break.
Riki realized that, too.
Sakiko was from a single-parent family as well. What if Sakiko-bao got hooked on anime-style mobile games someday?
No worries. I'm level 60 in Genshin and level 120 in Arknights. I can carry you, Sakiko-bao.
But you're still a high school girl. You can explore the world of anime-style mobile games later.
"If it only involved me, I wouldn't care. But she's even hurting you, and I can't stand for that." Toyokawa Sakiko shook her head.
"It's fine. My mental walls are thick. Even a vtuber couldn't break me," Riki reassured her.
"Vtu...ber?" Toyokawa Sakiko asked, puzzled.
"Oh, you don't have vtubers here yet... Forget it. They shouldn't exist in this world. Even I think that whole scene is a little too weird."
Better to watch the dance section's hot girls than that stuff. At least they wouldn't mess with his head, and they'd show Riki a big pendulum, too.
He frowned, then gave it a critical like and repost.
Before you continue