“It looks like the members of our band are tentatively set for now.” Beside the long table, Soyo smiled as she looked around at everyone seated, her voice much softer than usual, appearing less aloof.
Clearly, she was in quite a good mood now, and even the small, unconscious habit of picking at her nails had stopped.
“Exactly, exactly!” Anon immediately took over the conversation, her body leaning forward unconsciously.
“There are so many things to decide, but the most crucial one is definitely the instrument assignments, right?”
Her tone was firm, carrying a hint of wanting to lead the discussion.
“Why are you the one facilitating?” Taki had originally been staring warily at Amaya Yuu, ready to intervene at the first sign of any “improper behavior” toward Tomori.
But upon hearing Anon speak, she immediately shifted her dissatisfied gaze toward the pink-haired girl.
“I’m very good at this sort of thing.” Anon pointed at herself confidently, then lightly brushed a strand of hair from her shoulder and said, feigning nonchalance, “I used to be a student council president.”
“Whoa, amazing!
That’s incredible!” Amaya Yuu clapped gently, being very supportive.
Tomori, seeing this, also clapped along, albeit a bit slow on the uptake.
Seeing this, Taki, who had intended to keep arguing, could only sigh and stop speaking, tacitly accepting Anon’s facilitation.
Seeing that no one else raised any objections, Anon continued to push the discussion forward.
“Tomori should be able to play the tambourine, right?”
“Huh?” Taki immediately voiced her skepticism.
“The triangle is pretty good too, and castanets would be nice!” Anon ignored Taki’s dissatisfaction and listed several other instrument choices that were slightly unconventional for a band.
“I…
will do my best at whatever it is!” Although she didn’t quite understand Anon’s intentions, Tomori nodded earnestly in agreement.
“It’s decided then.” Anon pressed her palms together, revealing a satisfied smile.
“Hold on, let’s reserve everyone’s positions for now.
Why don’t you tell us what position you intend to take, Anon?”
Seeing things heading in an increasingly absurd direction, Amaya Yuu couldn’t help but interrupt and offer his own suggestion.
“Even though I’m no longer the protagonist of forming this band, I absolutely will not give up the center position this time!!” Anon shouted internally.
“My position is guitarist and vocalist!” She straightened her back and answered firmly.
“Tomori must be the vocalist!” After saying this, Taki turned her head away and closed her eyes, striking a pose that left no room for negotiation.
Anon was choked up for a moment, baring her fangs as she glared at Taki for a long while, before finally suggesting in a bargaining tone, “Then…
how about singing backup vocals?”
“It must be the vocalist!” Taki felt that a firm tone wasn’t enough, so she clenched her left fist and thumped the table with a “thud.”
“Tch.” Anon spat internally but still squeezed out a smile on her face.
“Fine, you win…
then let’s have a guitarist, a vocalist, and add another vocalist on top of that…”
“Do you mean dual vocalists?” Soyo, who had been observing quietly for a long time, couldn’t help but ask for clarification.
“Are you joking?” Taki looked at Anon with disbelief, as if she had just heard something utterly absurd.
Watching Anon manage to make the usually stoic Taki wear a “Are you kidding me?” expression, Amaya Yuu almost couldn’t hold back his laughter.
“I’m serious!” Anon raised a finger, her gaze determined.
“And I think the guitarist/vocalist should stand right in the center of the stage.”
“That’s even worse!” Taki rejected it instantly without a second thought.
“Then…
how about a front-and-back formation?” Anon continued to unleash her wild creativity.
Amaya Yuu could already envision the scene where they would be booed off stage by the audience before even starting their performance due to such bizarre positioning.
Just as he was about to intervene, he didn’t expect Tomori to be so receptive to this suggestion.
“Let Anon stand in the middle,” Tomori said softly.
“I’ll feel more at ease in the back.”
Seeing Tomori express her support, Anon immediately let out a jubilant sound, as if she had won.
What surprised Amaya Yuu even more was that Taki changed her previously firm stance and tentatively suggested to Tomori, “Then…
do you want to stand next to the drummer?”
“…Yeah.”
Soyo, who really couldn’t watch anymore, exchanged a glance with Amaya Yuu and spoke tactfully, “This arrangement…
isn’t it a bit too novel?”
“Well then, for now, let’s tentatively set Soyo-san as the bassist, Taki-san as the drummer, Tomori as the vocalist, and Anon as the guitarist.” Amaya Yuu was here to end the argument; he vaguely remembered their positions from Tomori’s notebook.
“As for Anon’s singing ability, we haven’t officially heard it yet, so the vocalist position can be discussed later.
If she is truly outstanding, dual vocalists aren’t out of the question.”
His ability to smooth things over was always reliable, and this compromise clearly made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
Only Anon pursed her lips, looking slightly disappointed.
“Alright,” but she quickly perked up again.
“Then next, we should discuss the band’s name!”
“Eh?” “Eh?” “Eh?”
Soyo, Taki, and Amaya Yuu all let out sounds of surprise in unison, not expecting the topic to shift so quickly.
“How about Tokyo Anon?”
“Absolutely not!”
The subsequent discussion turned into a tug-of-war between Anon and Taki again, while Soyo and Amaya Yuu kept trying to mediate from the sidelines.
Tomori sat quietly to the side.
Although she couldn’t get a word in, looking at this familiar yet unfamiliar lively scene before her, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly unconsciously.
Perhaps even she herself didn’t realize this subtle smile that had quietly appeared.
“In the end, we still couldn’t come up with a good name for the band…” Amaya Yuu sighed while looking at the “Unnamed Group” on his phone.
This really couldn’t be blamed on anyone.
Anon’s talent for naming things was truly nothing to brag about, and coupled with the fact that every suggestion she made carried strong subjective preferences, they were naturally all met with Taki’s firm opposition.
If it weren’t for Soyo and Amaya Yuu constantly mediating in the middle, those two might have really started brawling on the spot.
“Though if they really did start fighting…
that might actually be quite entertaining to watch,” Amaya Yuu thought maliciously to himself.
Not waiting for Anon to continue coming up with more crazy ideas, and taking advantage of the fact that Taki hadn’t returned to her “work post” yet, Amaya Yuu decided to first arrange the most important thing—the rehearsal time.
“Considering Haneoka is preparing for monthly exams recently, if we get distracted by rehearsals, neither school nor the band will benefit.
So, let’s schedule our first rehearsal for 2:00 PM on the first day of Golden Week.
What does everyone think?”
Amaya Yuu’s main job as their current “manager” was to be responsible for booking practice spaces and coordinating everyone’s schedules.
“As expected of Haneoka, to have monthly exams in addition to periodic tests.
What a strict school.” Unexpectedly, this was what Soyo focused on.
Taki nodded in agreement as well.
Amaya Yuu looked at the girls seated around him.
Seeing no objections, he smiled and finalized the decision: “Alright, it’s settled then.
The first day of Golden Week at 2:00 PM, see you at the RiNG practice studio!”