Volume 4, Chapter 4

Volume 4, Chapter 4 is a chapter of the fourth Volume of the K-ON! Manga by Kakifly.

Summary
One morning in the Sakuragaoka High School, Ui is greeted by her friend Azusa who, to Ui's surprise, did not tie her hair and appears to be really spacey in general.

Inside of their classroom, Ui ties Azusa's hair while asking what's wrong with her. Azusa simply explains her absentmindedness with the end of the school festival and her lacking motivation to do anything. Ui cheers her up by saying that a change of hairstyle is a good thing once in a while and changes hers to match that of her older sister Yui, much to Azusa's shock, especially because Ui instantly acts like Yui would.

While the two are struggling, Jun arrives, asking them what they are up to. Ui suggests that Jun should change her hairstyle once in a while too, but Jun refuses because her hair is curly and hard to tame. After school, Azusa notices the empty school ground. Ui explains that because the senior students don't have to attend club activities anymore, the ground is deserted. Azusa, realizing that this also applies to the Light Music Club, rushes nervously towards the clubroom, just to find her friends relaxing in it as usual. Mio notices Azusa's breathlessness and asks her about it.

Although Azusa states that it's nothing, Ritsu sees right through her and tells everybody why Azusa was in such a rush, leading Yui to mildly tease her alongside Ritsu. Azusa finally snaps and violently shakes of Yui and Ritsu to angrily ask the club members why they are still around even though they don't have to. Ritsu justifies this by praising the air conditioning while Sawako Yamanaka mentions Tsumugi Kotobuki's sweets. Thus, there is no reason for them not to be there. However, Mio and Mugi present a more rational reason, the study sessions for the upcoming exams. The two worry about bothering Azusa which isn't a problem at all as she likes it lively around her. Ritsu tries to tease her once again but Azusa instead wonders why Ritsu even attempts to study which greatly angers her. That reminds Sawako at the future plans that Yui and Ritsu still have to hand in. Yui states that she wants to become like Sawako, much to her teacher's joy. However, Yui only meant Sawako's opportunities to be lazy, forcing Sawako to remind her that she actually has a job and also needed to attend university like everybody else to accomplish this.

Confused, Ritsu asks Sawako how she ended up becoming a teacher even though she was a member of the band Death Devil while still being a high school student. Sawako justifies this with the boy she had a crush on at that time who wanted to become a teacher, so Sawako decided to become one as well. However, it turns out that Sawako got dumped by her crash again which depresses everybody. Afterwards, Sawako recommends to aim for studying at a university as a first step, which would require learning for the Center Test. Since said test is a set of several multiple choice questions, Ritsu proudly presents her hexagonal pen which she attempts to use to dice the right answers. Mio quickly destroys the dream by mentioning that the Center Test's questions consist of ten alternatives.

While Mio drags Yui and Ritsu to study already, Azusa asks Mugi if it would be alright to play music in the meanwhile which is approved. However, Yui and Ritsu quickly lose their focus and start playing music as well. Shortly afterwards, Mio can't resist anymore and joins them. After a quick session, the group is torn between having fun and thinking about their future. Sawako decides to head back to the teacher faculty. On her way out, she tells Mio to come there afterwards. As Mio is about to follow Sawako, Yui stops her while asking her about it. Mugi asks Mio is she possibly turned down the school's recommendation that would grant her to skip a university's entrance exam. Mio's surprise is enough for Ritsu to be sure. Yui regrets Mio's choice, telling her it's a shame to turn down such a great opportunity. However, Mio tells them that she would rather study alongside them and expresses her wish to join the same university they would like to attend, moving her friends while also giving them an idea.

The next day, Mio, Ritsu and Yui approach Sawako in the teacher faculty with their filled university preference forms. Sawako happily approves the choice and tells them to do their best for the future, which is answered in kind.

Trivia

 * The university Yui, Ritsu and Mio are trying to join is the same Mugi brought up in an earlier chapter. Like before, the name is abbreviated in both the Japanese original and the English translations. The university is called "N joshi daigaku" (N女子大学), which could stand for "Nihon joshi daigaku" (日本女子大学), the Japanese name of the Japan Women's University. This is further supported by the fact that the "N" (possibly standing for "Nihon") in the original name was translated to "J" (possibly standing for "Japan") in the English version.