[After taking the photo, perhaps influenced by the atmosphere, Taki unusually opened up to Soyo.
Maybe because of everything that had happened during this time, the atmosphere within MyGO!!!!! had become even more harmonious than before.
After that, the girls continued working on the new song for the upcoming live, as well as the stage outfits and band name that Anon had mentioned earlier.
"…How long does it take for a guitar to become like that?"
Looking at the rather worn guitar in the "cat's" hands, Anon suddenly asked.
"It was my grandma's…"
The "cat" replied—indeed, the guitar was older than she was.
"Your grandma… you mentioned her before when you gave me that pick, right?"
"Miraculous Scarlet."
The "cat" spoke a somewhat tongue-twisting English name.
"Mi-ra-Q… what?"
Anon clearly couldn't remember it right away.
"It was a livehouse she used to run."
For the first time, the "cat" revealed a bit of her past.
She picked up the guitar pick in her hand, looking at the English words on it.
"Space."
"I thought it would exist forever… but it's gone."
For once, the girls sensed a faint, almost imperceptible trace of loneliness in her voice.
"But she said… things like 'a place to belong'—someone will always create them again."]
After watching this part, the girls' moods became somewhat complicated.
They hadn't expected that the seemingly carefree "cat" would have such a past.
It could only be said—she really was a member of MyGO!!!!!. Now the tone finally matched.
"A stray cat…"
Among MyGO!!!!!, Taki was probably the one closest to the "cat."
She looked at her—who had stopped eating snacks at some point (actually because she had finished them)—and fell into a daze.
"Livehouses shutting down… that kind of thing happens all the time in Tokyo. It's normal, so there's no need to be too sad."
Seeing the atmosphere grow awkward, Anon tried to lighten the mood with a smile, but the moment she spoke, she realized her words didn't sound quite right.
"…I mean, people have to look forward."
"Like how I had my own issues before, and Soyo too…"
At this point, Anon subconsciously stopped herself.
After all, Soyo's past wasn't something that could just be casually brought up.
However, Soyo herself seemed quite open about it. Facing Anon's gaze, she simply shook her head, unconcerned.
"And Tomori too…"
Since Soyo wasn't a good example, Anon immediately switched targets.
But then she realized—bringing up Tomori's childhood experiences didn't seem appropriate either.
As for "Sakiko-sensei"…
That was an even more untouchable topic!
It could only be said that anyone who joined MyGO!!!!!—even if they didn't have a tragic past—definitely had some kind of inner knot they found hard to face.
And honestly, which of the girls present wasn't like that?
Anon's words seemed to stir up certain memories in everyone, and the atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
Meanwhile, the "cat" blinked, seemingly confused by the sudden shift in mood.
"Actually, none of what you've gone through is that big of a deal,"
Seeing that they seemed to be drifting into a "who has it worse" comparison, Kamijou Mutsuki suddenly straightened up—this was his area of expertise!
"I've been in a car accident where both my parents died—did I say anything? If we're talking about the worst, it should be me, right?"
"We're not competing over who's more miserable, you know!"
Hearing his words, Anon instinctively retorted.
But then she seemed to suddenly realize something…
"Kamijou, you…"
Even though Kamijou Mutsuki usually acted unserious, Anon knew he wouldn't joke about something like this.
That Kamijou Mutsuki… had such a past?
Could it be that his usual carefree attitude was just a way to hide his sadness?
At this moment, Anon's thoughts were surprisingly similar to what Taki had thought before.
It had to be said—Kamijou Mutsuki's words had an immediate effect.
Compared to what he had gone through, most of the girls' troubles suddenly didn't seem like much.
At the same time, the way they looked at him began to change.
Even Miss Donut's gaze toward him softened noticeably.
Among them, Soyo's gaze was the most intense—so full of gentleness and maternal warmth that it almost overflowed.
She had known before that Kamijou Mutsuki had been in a car accident, but she hadn't known his parents had been in the car as well.
Suddenly, she recalled how he had previously been so fixated on her "motherly" persona.
At that moment, a bold thought formed in Soyo's mind.
Could it be that the reason Kamijou Mutsuki acted this way… was because he felt the missing maternal love from her?
Being seen as a mother figure by the person she liked—even Soyo would feel a bit troubled by that.
But if it was for Kamijou Mutsuki… then she was willing.
At this moment, Soyo finally felt she had found something that only she could do for him.
As for the potential conflict with being his lover…
In Soyo's view, since it wasn't real anyway, the two roles didn't conflict at all!
"Mutsuki-kun, I heard you lost your parents.
Just so happens… I don't have any children either.
If you're willing…"
Soyo looked at Kamijou Mutsuki, her eyes already overflowing with maternal affection.
The girl could hardly hold herself back—she wanted to pull the boy, who had lost his parents, into her arms and comfort him tenderly.
But someone was faster than her.
More precisely, a white Persian cat.
She leaned against Kamijou Mutsuki's side, reaching out to gently stroke his head, as if comforting him.
"There's no need for everyone to make such faces—it was just a mere accident."
Kamijou Mutsuki clearly hadn't expected the "cat's" action. He took her hand from his head and said this with a smile.
"That's not something you can just prefix with 'mere'!"
Anon suddenly felt inexplicably annoyed. She understood that Kamijou Mutsuki was trying to lighten the mood, but there was no need to downplay his own sadness like that.
However, in truth, Kamijou Mutsuki's thoughts were pretty much exactly as he expressed.
Setting aside how, in this life, his relationship with his parents hadn't been much better than that of strangers—just thinking about how his parents were now enjoying themselves in another world full of beast-eared girls, he couldn't bring himself to feel sad.
The system also agreed with this.
As specially chosen champions of the Emperor, Kamijou's parents' material life wasn't any worse than in this world.
The only price was occasionally fighting aliens and warp demons, working a bit more overtime—but their lives were far more fulfilling than here.
"Cat,"
Kamijou Mutsuki now looked at the girl beside him, meeting her heterochromatic eyes.
"You may have lost Miraculous Scarlet, but you still have me. I can become your place to belong, can't I?"
"Kamijou, you've said enough lines like that—we've heard plenty already!"
Seeing this, Anon immediately skipped over the previous topic and began competing for the "cat's" belonging.
"The cat's place to belong should be MyGO!!!!!!"
Wasn't that exactly how she acted in the anime?
P.S.: Sorry, this part ended up longer than expected. The next chapter should finally reach Episode 12.
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