"Don't stare at me either!"
Noticing Kamijou Mutsuki's gaze, the blush on Taki's face deepened even more.
Then… where was he supposed to look?
Even though he thought that, Kamijou Mutsuki still obediently raised both hands and gave a French-style salute.
"So,"
Seeing the redness on Taki's face gradually fade, Kamijou Mutsuki asked: "What did you call me here for, Taki-chan?"
"..."
Hearing his question, Taki instead fell silent.
That awkward expression reappeared on her face, even looking a bit shy.
After a long pause, the girl finally spoke: "There's something I want to talk to you about… about Tomori…"
"You found out about me and Tomori?"
Before she could finish, Kamijou Mutsuki frowned and asked back.
"You and Tomori?"
Hearing that, the awkwardness on Taki's face disappeared instantly, replaced by full alertness.
"That's right—we have a daughter."
Kamijou Mutsuki let out a light sigh and said seriously.
"Huh?"
Taki felt like ten billion bands were playing in her head at once—she was completely stunned.
"What the hell did you do to Tomori?!"
Coming back to her senses, Taki immediately grabbed Kamijou Mutsuki by the collar in agitation.
"What do you mean, a daughter?!"
"Where is she now?!"
Taki knew Tomori and Kamijou Mutsuki had always had an ambiguous relationship, but wasn't this moving way too fast?
They already had a daughter? That was ridiculous!
"…She's right in front of me, and it looks like she wants to hit me."
"?"
"…You can remove the 'looks like' part!"
Realizing what he meant, Taki clenched her fist—this time, she really wanted to punch him.
However, Kamijou Mutsuki backed down very quickly. Taki hesitated for a moment, and in the end, chose not to engage in any intense physical confrontation with the boy in front of her.
"Take a look at this."
After that interruption, all the hesitation and awkwardness in Taki's heart had completely disappeared.
She directly pulled a notebook from the desk beside her and tossed it onto Kamijou Mutsuki.
Opening it, Kamijou Mutsuki found that it contained a piece of music.
The earlier pages showed multiple revisions, until it finally reached its current version.
"This is the arrangement I made for Tomori's new song."
Watching his reaction, Taki explained.
After a brief silence, she couldn't help but ask cautiously: "What do you think…?"
Perhaps even she hadn't noticed the expectation hidden in her eyes.
"Hmm… there's a lot of room for improvement."
Looking at the score in his hands, Kamijou Mutsuki thought for a moment before answering.
"…So it's basically no good?"
His high-EQ response didn't comfort her at all—her eyes dimmed instantly.
"It's only been two days. Getting to this level already is pretty impressive, Taki-chan."
Worried she might explode on the spot, Kamijou Mutsuki rarely chose to offer some reassurance.
"And besides, Tomori's lyrics for this one aren't completely finished either…"
"What did you say?"
The moment Tomori was mentioned, Taki immediately got fired up.
"How could Tomori's lyrics be bad?!"
He could criticize her composition all he wanted, but not Tomori!
"I didn't say they were bad—it's just that the overall completeness of the song…"
Tomori's talent for lyrics went without saying—she was a genuine genius.
However, this time, what she was being compared to… was another version of herself.
How much pain and hardship had the Tomori in the original story gone through to write Utakotoba?
With her current experiences, expecting her to produce identical lyrics overnight was clearly unrealistic.
So in Kamijou Mutsuki's view, Tomori's current song was only a half-finished product—it still needed more experience and growth.
"So you're saying… Tomori's lyrics just aren't good enough, right?"
However, the emotions Taki had been suppressing finally started to slip out.
"From your perspective, whether it's Tomori's lyrics or my composition, none of it is worth anything, right?"
"After all, you're a genius—a national-level violinist."
"To you, everything our band does probably just looks like child's play, doesn't it?"
"..."
Hearing Taki's words, Kamijou Mutsuki suddenly looked at her with a rather subtle expression, making even her cold demeanor falter slightly.
"Taki-chan, could it be…"
"…that you're jealous of my world-shaking talent?"
"Who would be jealous of you?!"
With just one sentence, he completely broke her composure.
"I just don't understand—someone with your level of talent, coming here to play in a band and work on anime…"
"And before, you even said you couldn't do anything…"
"…what exactly are you thinking?"
In truth, ever since hearing about Kamijou Mutsuki from her sister, Taki had been confused.
With his level of achievement, there was absolutely no reason for him to be working as a band manager.
It was, in every sense, a waste of his talent.
Did he really take them seriously at all?
"You're not wrong,"
Kamijou Mutsuki nodded lightly.
"Even if it's just a hobby, I would've liked to keep playing the violin."
"But… something unexpected happened before."
"What happened?"
"A car accident."
"..."
Taki fell silent.
"I didn't die,"
Kamijou Mutsuki raised his hands in front of her—they trembled like Hawking's.
"But with my current condition, I probably can't play the violin anymore."
Taki had never expected things to take this turn. She stayed quiet for a long moment before speaking again, her tone unconsciously softening.
"So that's why you…"
She couldn't finish her sentence, and instead changed the subject.
"You're acting so freely—don't your parents have any objections?"
"That car accident just happened to kill them."
"…What a coincidence, right?"
"..."
This time, Taki was completely speechless.
At this moment, things like imbalance and inferiority suddenly felt meaningless.
"…Sorry."
Even Taki could only awkwardly apologize.
"I made assumptions without understanding the facts."
"That's why you shouldn't judge things just by the surface."
Seeing this, Kamijou Mutsuki followed the mood and started lecturing her.
"You only saw the glamorous side of me,"
Even Taki couldn't help but feel a trace of guilt in her eyes.
"But you didn't see that behind the scenes, I'm also living quite well."
Taki: ?
"I may look happy,"
Kamijou Mutsuki continued, "But aside from endless money and Tomori's affection, what do I even have?"
"..."
If not for what had just happened earlier, Taki really would have punched him.
.......................