Chapter 695 683: NTRing You!

A faint aroma of caramel permeated the club hut—because students from Toyogasaki & Tsukinomori Joint Academy were moving about Sobu High, Asakura had temporarily abandoned the Service Club activity room to avoid hassle and moved the Magic Club's gathering location back here—it was the fragrance wafting from half a plate of cookies baked by the house-elves on the table.

Anon, resembling a ruffled little dango, lay sprawled on the soft sofa, her long pink hair puffed up slightly from anger—as a fragrant, soft girl, her hair texture simply couldn't pull off something as hardcore as hair bristling with rage—angrily complaining: "Just what is with that person?!"

Asakura sat on the single armchair opposite her, holding a tiny and exquisite Golden Snitch model between his fingertips, examining it attentively: Shiina had stayed up all night rushing to craft it, with every feather texture carved by some unknown tool clearly visible on the wings, looking even a bit more delicate than the original model provided by the system.

Hearing Anon's complaints, only then did he casually look up and ask offhandedly: "What happened?"

He remembered that after getting Anon's consent earlier, he had passed her contact information to that Toyogasaki girl named Soyo, assuming the two of them would coordinate smoothly, not expecting things to have turned out rather unpleasantly now.

For Anon, who usually had quite a good temper, to show such a pouting look meant she had probably suffered no small grievance.

"It's seriously super frustrating!" Anon abruptly raised her head, speaking with indignant resentment, "I went out of my way to help her get in touch with Tomori-chan, yet from start to finish, the only person in her eyes was Tomori, treating me completely like thin air! Standing right next to them was like I didn't exist at all; she didn't even give me a proper thank you, didn't even spare me a single glance!"

Then she slumped heavily back onto the sofa, her voice muffled and tinged with a little grievance: "The moment she talks to Tomori she turns exceptionally serious, her tone heavy and overly intense with terrifyingly strong pressure. What kind of attitude is that? Interrogating a criminal wouldn't even be that oppressive, right? She kept ravings on about bringing back the old band without caring whether Tomori-chan wanted to or not, ignoring me entirely from beginning to end, tossing me aside like something disposable once used. That's really way too much, she's simply way too self-centered!"

"Although I sensed earlier that she wasn't very straightforward and had a look of sheer obsession in her eyes, I didn't expect someone from Tsukinomori to be so ill-mannered," Asakura gently set the Golden Snitch model onto the table, the cool touch of the model still lingering on his fingertips, his tone carrying some surprise and amusement.

"It's obvious she comes with ill intent."

Asagumo sat by the desk in the corner, boiling tea with an alcohol lamp obtained from who-knows-where, her pretty-browed face unlike usual, completely filled with gloom, even her tone muffled and depressed.

The joint exam results had already been officially announced; she had strained all her strength to barely squeeze into the grade's top ten, only to get thoroughly outscored by Shuchiin in the direct rank-for-rank matchup, and even Toyogasaki's side was slightly ahead of her, leaving the bottom-ranking girl in a rather awful mood.

"And it's not just this one matter," Asagumo sighed, continuing with a tone full of helplessness, "Because this club building mostly houses liberal arts and cultural clubs, it's not very noticeable here, but the sports fields over there are already in total chaos."

"What happened, what happened?" Yanami, who was playing the ET game against the Hoshino Ai poster by the window (the finger-to-finger touching game, though Asakura always felt it looked like Hoshino Ai teasing Yanami like a cat), turned her head curiously, "Did people from Toyogasaki get into a fight with students from our school?"

"Pretty much," Asagumo rolled her eyes slightly, her tone growing even more exasperated, "Those sports clubs from Toyogasaki took over our school's sports field under the pretext of 'getting familiar with the grounds', not even sparing nooks and crannies like the tennis courts. Out of 'guests come first' etiquette, our school's higher-ups agreed to all their demands, with the result that our own school's sports clubs have no room left to carry out their club activities, and quite a few people are throwing fits."

"Ever since school ended, the Student Council members have been running all over the place trying to mediate the conflicts arising from this, busy off their feet..." Asagumo looked rather helplessly at everyone in the hut who had 'relaxed chill' written all over their faces, "I say, since we temporarily joined the Student Council faction, shouldn't we at least pay a little attention to their intelligence..."

Yui sat by the edge of the sofa, an embarrassed smile on her face as her cheeks blushed slightly, speaking in a soft, gentle voice, "How should I put it... because Takuma-tan is here, there's zero sense of tension at all; we always feel that no matter what happens, Takuma-tan can solve it, so we accidentally let our guard down."

The others also nodded in agreement one after another.

"I'm not omnipotent either..." Asakura sighed.

A good mindset was a good thing, but if they continued being so relaxed (lazy) and easygoing (undisciplined), Hiratsuka might come looking to blame him for corrupting the girls in the Magic Club.

His gaze quickly shifted back to Anon. After pondering for a moment, he said: "Though speaking of which, Anon, are you really content to be cast aside like chewed sugarcane, discarded like a worn-out shoe?"

"..."

The girl fell into deep thought for a moment before replying.

"Those kanji characters you used are too difficult, I don't get what they mean."

Asakura: "..."

Were you really a student council president before?

"Takuma-kun means, Anon, you wouldn't want to be casually tossed aside like a used condom without striking back at all, right?"

Asagumo rephrased it for Asakura.

"Although I guessed roughly what it meant just now, the way you two phrase things is really getting more and more out of line, one after another..."

Anon blanked for a second, then grew even angrier, her cheeks puffing out completely.

Asagumo smiled without saying a word.

Asakura casually turned his face away, avoiding direct eye contact—he always felt the girl was hinting at something to him.

At this moment, Anon spoke up again: "I don't want to endure it either! But I don't know what to do... In her eyes, there's only Tomori-chan..."

"Precisely because of that," Asakura wore a conspirator-like smile on his face: "Isn't the answer already glaringly obvious?"

"Eh? We're going to make a move against Tomori-chan?" Anon blinked, looking somewhat reluctant, "She is my friend after all, I don't want to make things difficult for Tomori-chan..."

"Why would you make things difficult for Tomori?" Asakura raised an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly and lowering his voice, his tone laced with a few hints of mischievous instigation, "If you want revenge, you have to strike at the root—what Nagasaki Soyo seeks is nothing more than roping in Tomori to rebuild her former band, right? In that case, pulling the rug out from under her feet by taking away her foundation will do the trick."

"Like I said, those kanji phrases are too complicated, I can't understand them... In short, it's related to Tomori-chan?" Anon looked puzzled, blinking her round eyes.

"In your process of inviting Tomori to form a band, what step are you on right now?" Asakura asked out of nowhere.

"Uh... holding hands?" Anon said, sounding rather unsure.

"?" Asakura made the 'old man squinting at phone on subway' expression.

"That's just how social interaction between girls works; the next step is going to the restroom together," the pink-haired girl said with absolute conviction.

Asakura looked suspiciously toward the others in the Magic Club.

Are the steps you girls take to make friends really this abstract?

"It probably depends on the person," Yui, fellow pink-hair, replied: "I haven't managed to successfully pick flowers together with Yukinon yet."

Isn't the end goal still going to the restroom together!

"We've gone off-topic, haven't we?" Asagumo said: "There's no need to anchor the topic onto restrooms. Rather, normally speaking, this kind of talk shouldn't be said in public at all... restrooms and whatnot..."

"What's wrong with going to the restroom together?" Anon muttered, "Some people even eat lunch in the restroom, you know."

"There are many reasons for that," Asakura sighed.

Come to think of it, that girlfriend of his looked very much like someone who had eaten lunch alone in a bathroom stall before.

He continued, "For example, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-B..."

"Don't suddenly start exposing other people's privacy!" Yui shouted.

"The homeroom teacher!"

"It's actually a teacher?!"

"Supposedly there's no room for her in the staff office..."

"Bullying in adult society is so terrifying..."

"Truly, restrooms are where the filth of the human world gathers."

"Cannot refute... From every angle, that is indeed true."

"Hey, I say, do you guys really have to talk about restrooms while eating snacks?" Yanami couldn't help complaining.

Asakura exchanged glances with Yui and the others, suddenly feeling that Yanami made a good point.

"Where were we in the main topic..."

Asakura rubbed his temples.

"Holding hands," Asagumo reminded him.

"I object to this marriage!" Asakura slammed the table and shouted loudly.

"What era of an old-fashioned dad are you playing?!" Anon complained.

"Just kidding," Asakura assumed a serious demeanor, "Like I said earlier, since that Nagasaki-san values Takamatsu-san so much and wants to pull her back into the original band, if you want revenge on her, wouldn't it suffice if you, Anon, just take the initiative and have Takamatsu-san join your band first?"

"I see, so that's why you asked about the progress..."

Anon realized.

"So, what is the actual progress?" Asakura asked.

"...I've already mastered the C chord skillfully." A few drops of cold sweat broke out on the girl's forehead as she struggled to maintain her smile.

"Isn't that having made zero progress at all?" Asakura stared at her coldly, causing even more cold sweat to form on the pink-haired girl's brow.

"There is other progress," Anon said somewhat guiltily.

"Oh? What kind of progress?"

"I-I bought new guitar strings! And picks too!"

Asakura laughed out of sheer exasperation.

What is this? The poor student having the most stationery supplies?

"Then have you ever invited Takamatsu-san to form a band?" he asked.

"I did, but got rejected."

Anon stammered in a hushed whisper: "Ah, strictly speaking it wasn't really a rejection, how should I put it..."

"Just speak normally," Asakura stared at her.

"Fine, fine..." Anon slumped her shoulders, knowing she couldn't dodge it, and could only confess honestly with a troubled face, "When I told Tomori-chan I wanted to form a band, that kid blurted out 'form a band together for a lifetime' right off the bat. My entire brain went blank on the spot; that sounded far too heavy, so I didn't dare agree right away... As a result, now it's, it's... well, a dead save file, I guess? In short, Tomori-chan's affection meter seems completely stuck, unable to advance no matter what."

Asakura's fingertip lightly tapped against the table, his tone softening slightly: "Then how do you view the band? Is it just playing around casually during school to pass the time?"

"That..." Anon fell silent instantly, her pink hair drooping slightly, her eyes wandering; clearly, she hadn't given serious thought to this question.

"No need to feel burdened." Looking at her torn expression, Asakura's tone softened further without a hint of blame, "Playing around casually isn't a bad thing. After all, you're still a student, so there's no need to put too much pressure on yourself. I won't be disappointed in you because of this; I just want to know how you truly view this matter and how you view the band in your heart."

"As for me... originally forming a band was just to make myself popular at school, but then some things happened," saying up to this point, she couldn't help glancing at Asakura, making him understand inwardly that she was likely referring to the incident in the Mirror Realm back then. The girl continued: "In short, after that, I didn't have such strong motivation to make myself popular anymore, and forming a band was temporarily put on hold..."

"However, later on, after seeing Kessoku Band's performance on the rooftop, I had some new thoughts about forming a band and standing on stage to perform..."

Anon looked toward Asakura, "This time, I'm serious."

"Seriously practicing the C chord?" Asakura delivered a deadpan complaint.

"Well, sorry for not being a genius who can master the guitar in a single summer break," the girl grumbled.

"Then what are your thoughts regarding Takamatsu-san?" Asakura followed up: "If it's just to vent your spite against that Nagasaki Soyo, staking your entire lifetime is hardly a wise choice."

"It's not just out of spite. After all, before knowing that Nagasaki, I had already taken a liking to Tomori-chan," Anon said, "Although she lacks confidence, she's very talented. If it's her, perhaps..."

"In that case, then just accept her lifetime invitation," Asakura suggested.

After all, without going through the trial of playing together, it was hard to say what the outcome would be; if they truly proved incompatible, it would be difficult to carry on in the end anyway, and they would ultimately disband.

This kind of 'lifetime' was only a verbal promise with no practical consequence.

Yeah, there shouldn't be any substantial consequence... After all, that Tomori has no magical power, so weird binding magical pacts shouldn't occur.

"...Since Asakura-kun says so..." Anon paused in silence for a moment, muttering under her breath.

"Of course, you can also charge her a small fee," Asakura said with a beaming smile, "Like a matcha parfait, for example."

"Eh? Is my lifetime only worth a single matcha parfait? Isn't that a bit too cheap?" Anon was taken aback.

"The objective is to bag Takamatsu-san before Nagasaki Soyo can—Operation Codename: Thunder Bluff!"

"What about my opinion?!"