Kumiko enters Kitauji High School having been unable to forget what Reina said at a middle school concert band competition. She goes to visit the concert band at school along with classmates Hazuki and Sapphire, where they meet Reina again.

The band is abuzz with talk about who they'll be going to the upcoming festival with. There's someone Hazuki wants to go with, but that someone is already going with someone else. Meanwhile Kumiko somehow ends up going with you-know-who.

Kumiko and her buddies head to the pool for one last breath of freedom before their grueling concert band training. There, Nozomi reveals some of what had happened the year before.

Nozomi finally meets Mizore. She learns, the hard way, why Asuka had been keeping her away.

Asuka is about to lose her seat competing in the Nationals. But that might not be why she invited Kumiko over.