"Miss Soyo, aren't you the bassist for CRYCHIC?" Mutsumi asked, his tone seemingly sincere as he looked at the now-unstable Soyo. "I thought hearing 'Haruhikage' would make you happy..."
However, looking at his face—which wore a classic, condescending smirk reminiscent of Anon Chihaya—Soyo Nagasaki only felt an indescribable sense of mockery.
"Who in their right mind would be happy about that?!"
At this point, Soyo had completely abandoned her public image, showing nothing but pure hostility and rejection towards Mutsumi's act of deliberately dancing on her last nerve.
"Hey, customers, please keep it down..."
Soyo's complete disregard for the noise level drew the attention of the staff at RiNG. This time, however, it wasn't the sweet Miss Kasumi who approached, but a familiar face.
"Wait, you're..."
"Taki..."
Being seen in such a state of disarray by a former bandmate caused Soyo to freeze on the spot.
However, the surprise in the heart of the approaching RiNG staff member, Miss Taki, a cool and proud girl with long, dark-brown hair, was even greater.
As Tomori's number one fan, Taki never had a particularly high opinion of the superficially gentle Soyo, but she had to admit that Soyo's "motherly" persona was usually flawless.
Even back when Sakiko quit CRYCHIC, she had never shown this kind of... expression.
It was an expression Taki found difficult to describe.
"I'm so sorry, Taki-chan,"
It must be said that women are natural-born actresses, and Soyo Nagasaki was a master among them. The speed at which she switched on her cutesy, high-pitched voice made even Mutsumi click his tongue in amazement.
"I just got a little too excited... I think I disturbed everyone!"
"I'm terribly sorry~"
"...Hmph. If you're going to fight with your boyfriend, do it at home."
Seeing Soyo revert to her familiar persona, Taki didn't press the matter further. With a cold snort, she turned and left.
Come to think of it, did I just hear Tomori singing 'Haruhikage'?
No, must have been my imagination.
"..."
Taki's parting words caused the mask Soyo had just put back on to crack once again.
That guy is NOT my boyfriend!
An annoying jerk like him... probably only bugs would like him, right?
Soyo thought maliciously to herself.
"What do you really want?"
Perhaps feeling that her true self had already been exposed to Mutsumi, Soyo completely dropped the act, staring at him with a dark expression.
"...Better than Sakiko?"
Looking at Soyo, whose composure he had completely shattered, Mutsumi appeared quite pleased.
This sweet taste of victory... is just as good as yesterday's with Sakiko.
"?"
Evidently, the innocent girl failed to grasp Mutsumi's slightly twisted comment.
"Please don't look at me with such scary eyes, Soyo-chan. I'm just an ordinary CRYCHIC fan..."
"A CRYCHIC fan..."
Soyo responded to Mutsumi's words with a cold laugh.
A fan?
A fan who gets in his idol's face just to taunt them?
She highly doubted that Mutsumi's point-blank assault just now was done out of goodwill.
"To show my love for CRYCHIC,"
Mutsumi ignored Soyo's suspicious glare and continued.
"I've decided to produce an anime based on the band. I was wondering if Soyo-chan would be interested in being a voice actress for it?"
"Sorry,"
How would Soyo Nagasaki reply to Mutsumi's invitation?
Clearly, this wasn't a question that required much thought.
"I'm not interested in anime or..."
"Sakiko is also a voice actress for this anime, you know~"
Checkmate.
Seeing the frozen expression on Soyo's face, Mutsumi already knew the final answer.
"Saki-chan..."
Because of what had just happened, Soyo wanted nothing more to do with Mutsumi. But he had just given her an offer she couldn't refuse.
Their meeting yesterday was a mere coincidence, and with Sakiko not replying to her LINE messages, Soyo had effectively lost all contact with her.
If she agreed to Mutsumi's offer, she would undoubtedly have a reliable channel to get to Sakiko. For Soyo, this was an irresistible temptation.
"I can agree to your terms, but I want to know, you and Sakiko..."
This time, however, Soyo surprisingly didn't let the mention of Sakiko's name cloud her judgment. Instead, she used the leverage she had to continue extracting information from Mutsumi.
"There's nothing between me and Sakiko."
"But yesterday, I saw you with her..."
Now that things were out in the open, Soyo didn't bother hiding the fact that she had been there yesterday.
"Yes, I was indeed threatening her," Mutsumi admitted.
Seeing the instantly terrifying look on Soyo's face, he quickly added.
"...But I only wanted her to do voice work for my anime, just like I'm asking you today."
"Other than that, there is no other relationship between us right now."
"Whatever is happening in her life has nothing to do with me."
"...You know what's happening to Sakiko?"
Although her impression of Mutsumi was that of an annoying jerk, Soyo felt that he wasn't lying at this moment. She pressed on.
"To that question... my answer is yes."
"Then do you know why Sakiko quit CRYCHIC? And why she is now..."
Hearing this, an excited expression appeared on Soyo's face. She leaned forward eagerly, so close that Mutsumi could smell the faint, pleasant scent from her.
If I can find out the truth about why Sakiko quit CRYCHIC, maybe I can change her mind, and even...
...get back that warm "home" from my memories.
"Sorry, but as for the rest, I must say 'no comment'."
However, Mutsumi was not swayed by her beauty and steadfastly refused Soyo's request.
Although the truth about Sakiko would inevitably come out after the MyGO!!!!! anime was finished, that was a matter for later. It was still too early now.
If he were to tell Soyo about Customer-Service-Sakiko's current situation right now, Mutsumi was afraid that "Great God Sakiko" would explode on him.
"You..."
Seeing Mutsumi refuse to answer, Soyo was instantly exasperated.
It's bad enough that Mutsumi won't tell me, but you too?
Are you all in on this together?!
"Now, if you would please sign the contract, Soyo-chan."
"...I hope everything you've said is true."
Although she was incredibly frustrated by Mutsumi leading her on only to stop short, faced with his firm attitude, she had no choice but to give up asking further.
Taking the pen and contract from him, Soyo was just about to open it when...
"Wait, Tomori-chan!"
A big black rat...
No, wait, a small, shy, gray-haired girl who looked like Tomori suddenly darted past Mutsumi and ran out, closely followed by a pink-haired Saint Anon.