Band Girls’ Mixology Mission [181]

“So, that ojou-sama came here to see Kikukawa-san after all?”

The students who’d been gossiping about why Wakaba Mutsumi had come to Haneoka Girls’ High finally put two and two together upon seeing Kikukawa Kyo directly step in front of Mutsumi.

“Well, makes sense—Kikukawa-san’s mom is a celebrity too, right?”

“Yeah, and her mom’s even a bigger name than that ojou-sama’s parents.”

…

“Kyo-chan?” Wakaba Mutsumi looked blankly at Kikukawa Kyo, who had just positioned herself in front of her, thoroughly puzzled as to why Kyo was stopping her from going to see Sakiko.

“Mutsumi, you need to realize you’re pretty eye-catching,” Kyo quietly explained to Mutsumi. “Maybe you don’t notice it at Tsukinomori, since you’re surrounded by ojou-samas there. But in the eyes of us commoners, someone like you draws attention.”

“Are you curious about me too, Kyo-chan?”

Hearing that question, Kyo stepped back slightly, closely studying Mutsumi’s expressionless face.

“Yep,” Kyo answered firmly. How to efficiently read Mutsumi’s mood from her face had become an ongoing, unsolved challenge for her. “It’s just that what I’m curious about might be a bit different from the others.”

“Mhm.” Mutsumi softly hummed and nodded, her pale-green bangs gently swaying, brushing against her eyes. Reflexively, she blinked.

“I caused trouble for Sakiko…”

“No worries, no worries, isn’t that why I’m here?” Kyo reassured Mutsumi, reaching out to gently pat the younger girl’s head.

Her neatly combed hair became fluffy and disheveled, like a carefully tended cucumber vine suddenly invaded by a few strands of weeds.

After being patted, Mutsumi slowly lifted her head, a beat behind. Her golden eyes struggled to look upward, clearly concerned about her messed-up hair.

Kyo quickly tried to smooth down those rebellious strands, but the more she tried, the messier they got. At this rate, poor Mutsumi’s head would soon be overtaken by weeds!

“Mutsumi, your hair is really hard to manage,” said Kyo, shamelessly shifting blame onto Mutsumi’s own head!

“Kyo-chan, don’t you need a comb to tidy hair?” Throughout this whole ordeal, Mutsumi made no move to resist Kyo’s hair-wrecking actions, simply watching Kyo’s arms moving around close above her head.

“When I style my hair before going out, I usually just wet it down thoroughly, give it a shake, then blow-dry it till it’s soft and manageable,” Kyo explained in her distinctly characteristic style. “The trick is to keep the dryer at the right distance, and never dry it completely, or it’ll end up brittle and split.”

Doesn’t sound easy to replicate. Long hair soaked with water would feel so uncomfortable, and blow-drying it would be troublesome too…

Mutsumi quickly decided this method wasn’t suitable for her.

Eventually, Kyo managed to get Mutsumi’s hair back to a barely passable state. Going further, strand by strand with just her fingers, was clearly impossible.

“Ahaha…” Kyo scratched her cheek awkwardly. “Sorry, Mutsumi, looks like we can’t restore your hairstyle to how it was.”

“…” Mutsumi shook her head slightly. Her hair had only gotten a little messy; she could just go home and comb it back herself.

“How about you loosen my hair too, Mutsumi? Then we’ll be even!” Kyo suggested.

If Kyo always struggled helplessly against Mutsumi’s unreadable expression, wasn’t Mutsumi equally at a loss facing Kyo’s unpredictable, wildly imaginative ideas?

Just like now—Mutsumi watched Kyo, who was clearly warming to her own suggestion by the second, a natural, unaffected smile spreading across her face.

Mutsumi still remembered that Kyo often kept up a mask. So now, this smile—was it also a mask?

But… Mutsumi didn’t see that watery curtain enveloping Kyo, as she had last time.

This incredibly bright smile, radiant like a rainbow after the rain, was Kyo’s genuine smile—a real smile meant only for her.

Without hesitation, Kyo untied the simple hairband, letting the pearl-gray bun, originally gathered neatly at the side-back of her head, unravel in an instant.

As if timed perfectly, a breeze blew through. Loose strands danced and fluttered midair, shampoo fragrance faintly carried along with the wind.

Sunlight filtered between the floating strands but suddenly felt blinding.

Mutsumi closed her eyes briefly, then slowly opened them again.

“It’s been forever since I let my hair down outside like this,” Kyo mused aloud, playing idly with a few strands of her now-loose hair, somewhat intrigued herself.

“Kyo-chan with loose hair… looks nice.”

“Oh?” Kyo held the strands wrapped around her fingers up to her eyes and laughed lightly. “You’re as direct as ever, Mutsumi.”

“Is saying it directly not good?” Mutsumi humbly sought advice from her speaking mentor.

“Expressing praise directly is never bad, but sometimes you need to consider the occasion and the person,” Kyo said. “But the way you did it just now was great, honestly. It could easily make someone’s heart flutter.”

A straightforward, direct pitch is always the most upright, bright, heroic strike.

Though of course, apart from a moment like this, a straight pitch could also deliver devastating damage in certain scenarios.

Like someone saying, “I’ve never thought of you that way…”

“Make someone’s heart flutter…” Mutsumi silently noted this down in her mind.

“Ah, but don’t casually try this on Soyo.” To prevent Mutsumi from making a common beginner’s mistake—boldly applying newly learned skills—Kyo hurriedly added that warning.

“…!”

Mutsumi said nothing in response, but her face betrayed a rare reaction: her pupils briefly shrank in shock.

For Mutsumi, that alone counted as a major facial expression.

Mutsumi lowered her head awkwardly. Normally, she found great comfort in Kyo’s ability to accurately interpret her despite her minimal speech. But right now, being seen through so clearly left Mutsumi feeling… embarrassed and annoyed.

Looks like I guessed right. Kyo, who always operated at maximum efficiency when it came to Mutsumi, naturally didn’t miss this tiny reaction.

Better change the topic.

“We should go, Mutsumi—Sakiko’s still waiting ahead.”

“Mmm…” Mutsumi was still somewhat stuck in her state of shock.

…

So, last time Mutsumi came looking for me at the bookstore, and this time at Haneoka as well…

Why is it always that, whenever I part from them for just a moment, these two meet and then reappear later in a totally different atmosphere than before?

Sakiko silently observed Kyo’s loosened hair, asking this question sincerely from the depths of her heart.

—

This is a fan translation of 乐队少女调饮行动 by 林明卿. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!