Wait—didn't Tomori just run past a moment ago?
So this is the timeline we're at now, huh?
"Then let's end things here for today. Soyo-chan, you can take the contract home and look it over carefully."
Kamijou Mutsuki turned his head and smiled at Soyo, who was also still surprised by Tomori's sudden appearance.
"I still have something to take care of, so I'll excuse myself."
With that, without waiting for Nagasaki Soyo to respond, Kamijou Mutsuki stood up and left directly.
The way he did so made him look exactly like the kind of scumbag who bolts right after getting what he wants.
Outside RiNG, Anon was apologizing to Her Majesty Tomori about what had just happened in the private room.
Unfortunately, goodwill lost by taking the wrong route wasn't something that could be easily recovered. She could only watch helplessly as Tomori's expression grew distant.
At that moment, Taki—who happened to be outside RiNG—misunderstood the situation as her own dear father being bullied, instantly saw red, and stepped forward to separate the two.
By the time Kamijou Mutsuki arrived, what he saw was Saint Anon wearing a baffled expression after receiving an implicit "What's wrong with you?!" verdict from Taki.
Who even is this person?
Unreasonable!
Anon felt that Taki was even harder to communicate with than her classmates back in England. And then there was that "Tomori Zero," talking about "for a lifetime" and all that…
In that instant, she felt an almost black-hole–like gravitational pull from that girl who usually looked as harmless as a cute little animal.
She just wanted to casually form a normal band like everyone else—talking about a lifetime was way too heavy, wasn't it?
Honestly, expecting an ordinary, well-adjusted JK like Anon to understand the black-hole-level emotional logic of someone like Tomori Zero was probably asking too much.
But soon enough, she wouldn't have the mental space to think about that anymore.
"Excuse me… are you Miss Ann?"
That voice suddenly sounded right by her ear. Hearing that familiar yet strangely distant form of address, the girl's blood pressure instantly spiked.
"My name isn't Ann. It's Chihaya—"
The moment she realized something, Anon felt as if her heart and lungs stopped all at once.
She wasn't in England anymore. She was back home. How could anyone possibly know that name?
Turning her head, Anon saw a young man smiling gently at her.
Yeah… he was definitely handsome.
But she was absolutely certain she had no memory of him whatsoever.
"You are…?"
As she looked at Kamijou Mutsuki, Anon clenched one hand tightly into a fist.
Only by relying on the pain of her fingernails digging into her skin was she able to barely stay calm while the corner of her heart she least wanted to face was being pried open.
"Have you forgotten me, Miss Ann?"
Facing the girl's wary and slightly panicked gaze, Kamijou Mutsuki spoke with a straight face—blatantly making things up.
"We chatted a bit back when we were studying in England. I thought that after you transferred, I'd never see you again. I didn't expect to run into you here…"
Hearing Kamijou Mutsuki's words, the doubts in Anon's heart seemed to finally find an explanation.
It turned out he was a classmate who had studied abroad with her in England?
That wouldn't be strange at all—
Like hell it wouldn't!
Leaving aside the fact that if there really were a fellow countryman from the same place in her class, there was no way she wouldn't know, the most important thing was—
"Stop lying!"
Anon cut Kamijou Mutsuki off directly, her face cold as she spoke.
"I don't know where you got my information from, but the school I attended while studying in England…"
"…was an all-girls school. How could you possibly have been my classmate?!"
As his lie was exposed, Kamijou Mutsuki's expression predictably darkened, making the girl instinctively swallow.
After all, this was a heavyweight creep who had even managed to dig up the fact that she'd studied abroad in England.
She'd rejected him so bluntly…
He wouldn't fly into a rage and attack her on the spot, right?
No, no—this was a public place. Probably not.
Then, under Anon's slightly tense gaze, Kamijou Mutsuki spoke.
"…How dare you assume my gender?"
Anon: "???"
Anon was completely floored by this punch from a unknown land. For a moment, she almost believed he hadn't been lying earlier after all.
That kind of punchline—it really did have that freedom flavor.
"So… you're a girl?"
At this moment, Anon looked as if Tomori had possessed her, staring blankly at Kamijou Mutsuki.
She even found herself thinking that with his face, cross-dressing might actually not feel out of place at all…
"No!"
However, in response to her question, Kamijou Mutsuki shook his head seriously.
"Then… a guy?"
"Why does it have to be either female or male? Are you discriminating against attack helicopters and Walmart shopping bags?"
"Then is your gender an attack helicopter or a Walmart shopping bag?"
"I'm obviously a man! If you don't need your eyes, you can donate them to someone who does—do you really need to ask something like that?"
Kamijou Mutsuki said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"..."
At that instant, the string in the girl's mind known as reason finally snapped.
"…You're fucking sick in the head!"
At this moment, Anon surely had a lot in common to talk about with Soyo.
She finally realized it—Kamijou Mutsuki had just been messing with her for fun.
And yet, Kamijou Mutsuki, having received the same "you're insane" evaluation Anon had heard from Taki earlier, showed not the slightest hint of anger, still wearing that smiling expression.
"Standing around is tiring. Want to go inside and talk?"
"..."
Then, watching Kamijou Mutsuki seamlessly bring yet another girl inside, Taki's expression became rather strange.
Even if their relationship wasn't particularly close, the two of them had once been in the same band.
Should she tell Soyo that her "boyfriend" was a scumbag?
"What exactly do you want?"
Anon sat in the seat Soyo had occupied earlier, drinking the same hot Earl Grey tea, and asked Kamijou Mutsuki the very same question.
"How do you… know about my situation…"
At this point, the wariness in her eyes had lessened quite a bit, replaced more by confusion.
After all, Kamijou Mutsuki's image in her mind had shifted from dangerous pervert to personality-defective lunatic.
"I found out by watching MyGO,"
Kamijou Mutsuki answered her question with complete honesty.
"..."
"Don't be so serious~"
Facing Anon's death glare, Kamijou Mutsuki said with a smile.
"Aren't you afraid I'll tell your former classmates about what happened to you?"
Kamijou Mutsuki's evaluation in Anon's mind instantly snapped back to its original setting.
"If you want to say it, then go ahead…"
Perhaps because of Kamijou Mutsuki's earlier unhinged behavior, Anon wasn't nearly as panicked as she'd imagined she would be when threatened.
"No matter what you want to do, I'm not agreeing to it!"
Even if Kamijou Mutsuki currently looked very much like the blond villain from a doujin, Anon wasn't some brainless heroine from one—she wasn't about to give in just because of a little threat.
....................