A/R: Just a light hearted one-shot to get me back in the muse for writing. Enjoy!~
"Mugi-chan…?"
"Yes Yui-chan?"
"Um…what is this?"
"Oh, that's a fruit salad with produce grown from Father's associates' farms." Tsumugi smiled her usual smile as she said this, satisfied with the meal she presented in front of her friends.
The hair-clipped brunette stared at the healthy meal with narrow eyes, her mouth free of any amount of drool that would normally be present. She spotted red spheres of tomatoes, yellow droplets of corn, and green leaves of spinach. The meal was decorated with other colorful fruits as well, giving off an appearance of healthy elegance.
Yet despite how enthralling of a sight it was to the eyes, something seemed to be missing. There was a stunning lack of soft and spongy baked dough. There was also no vividly colored frosting adorning the platter or the meal. And worst of all, there was no strawberry. No. Strawberry. Strawberries were actually healthy too! Disappointed Yui was definitely disappointed.
"Um…is there a problem?" The blonde heiress looked distraught, as if she had just displeased an all-powerful Greek goddess with her humble meal.
"Captain Ricchan," the aforementioned brunette turned to her comrade on her left, "What do you make of this…thing?"
"Hm…" The girl next to her with a band equipped to her forehead poked at her own equally divine collection of fruits, as well as she picked up a tomato the size of a rolling marble and held it up to her eye. The analytical amber eyes of the great Ritsu-sama could see all, from what the girl claimed anyway. "I'm not sure Private, but I can confirm that this is not any sort of pastry we are accustomed to consuming!"
"I agree!"
"Haven't you ever heard of vegetables before?" A soft, yet slightly perturbed voice spoke up across the wooden table from the hair-banded brunette, eyebrows already furrowing in annoyance. "Really Ritsu, even I know you're not that dense to not know what vegetables are."
Mio looked condescendingly at her childhood friend, grey-blue eyes already emitting displeasure at her childhood friend's immature behavior.
"Mio, there's no way such lowly foods could appease me and Yui! Today was such a long day at school, and after just getting out of class, we need our cakes and pastries to recharge! Otherwise, there's no way I'll be able to survive your one-hit K.O. fists of death!" Ritsu retorted, with Yui following up with "We demand cake!"
During this discussion, a twin-tailed girl was attempting to find some sort of oasis of much-deserved nirvana after being subjected to two minutes in this jungle of cacophonous racket. It was a brave attempt, but it was futile; each light penetration into her fruits quickly grew to increasingly forceful stabs as annoyance began to flare in her. She would question whether having a simple meal in peace was too much to ask, but ever since the first day she joined this light music club, she knew the answer was "Yes, it is too much to ask."
"Azu-nyan!" Yui shifted her focus toward her junior, chocolate-colored eyes begging for support. "Don't you agree? We need cakes to function!"
Giving off a sigh, Azusa mentally prepared herself for the headache that she knew was to come. "First of all Yui-senpai, you should be thankful that Mugi-senpai has been bringing in sweets for you all of the time. And second, eating these vegetables is actually beneficial for our bodies, in contrast to the fats and carbohydrates in all of the sweets we eat. I swear, it's a mystery that none of us are obese at this point."
"But Azu-nyan~" the older girl ignored half of the reply as she lunged for her junior, acting as if her body lost all energy and was clinging to Azusa as a life force. "I can't survive without cakes…"
"Learn to deal with it, senpai! And I thought I've told you time and time again to stop hugging me!"
"But you're so cute and tiny, and therefore the bestest person to hug!"
"Go hug Ritsu-senpai then! She's near my height!"
"Don't bring my height into this, Nakano!"
It was just another day in Sakuragaoka's Light Music Club's clubroom, where practice was an exiled ideal and meal time was all the time. Occasionally, a small gleam of light from the gods of music would shine upon this lowly room and the five musicians would actually play music, but such an occurrence was rare. More often, one would enter the room only to find two brunettes arguing with two black-haired girls over some random and meaningless issue, while a blonde girl would be outside of the conversation, simply enjoying the intimacy between the four. Whilst the twin-tailed girl was experiencing the headache she predicted due to the enigma of a high school student that was Yui Hirasawa, much more interesting things were occurring a mere twenty degrees to the left of them.
"Mio, you can't possibly be eating…that thing!" Tsumugi felt particularly offended at the comment, tears already beginning to form in overly dramatic fashion.
"Yes, I can possibly be eating 'this thing', and it's a fruit salad Ritsu. Is it so wrong that I'm actually eating something that's helpful to my body?"
"Oh, I see…" the drummer's mouth curved into a naughty grin, "You're only agreeing to settle with this monstrosity," Mugi's tears streamed down her face in rapid succession, "that somehow qualifies as a meal just so you could lose weight, huh?"
The following action that took place is predictable, and didn't require any long-winded explanation.
"You're the leading cause of my brain damage, you know that?" Ritsu shouted while nursing her fresh bruise courtesy of Mio's fist, which was most likely passed down from Falco himself.
"It's because you deserve it for being such an idiot!"
Chaos continued to ensue across the tables, albeit being chaos that was routine for this club. Tsumugi looked at her right side; Mio was threatening to knock out Ritsu into near submission again after the latter made a comment about how she's been putting on a couple of pounds lately. Switching her gaze to the left, the blonde found Yui continuing to keep her arms encircled around Azusa rather firmly, due to the unquestionable fact that Yui only had two sources to sustain life: sweets and Azusa. The flustered girl was protesting as per norm, struggling to escape the bind of the older guitarist.
I never meant to have them argue over switching my meals! It was all out of good-willed intentions! the troubledblonde thought, wiping her tears from earlier. "I'm so sorry for all of this!"
The four girls suddenly halted their conversations and stared at their keyboardist for her outburst.
"I'm sorry that my meal doesn't please you! I only desired to integrate healthier foods into our diets; I never meant to have so much negative commotion over it!"
Her shame was almost pitiful to the other four members, each of them sweat-dropping at how angelic and cluelessly selfless Tsumugi could act.
"Mugi," Mio spoke up, "These kinds of things happen every day. Ritsu and I always argue about something stupid and Yui is always hugging Azusa."
"Yeah," Ritsu voiced, "it's like our gimmick! She's the Dangerous Queen Akiyama Mio-sama and I'm the under-appreciated victim Tainaka Ritsu!" Ritsu could literally see the anger seething from Mio's fists as she clenched them tightly inwards. It took a great deal of willpower to prevent herself from going another round with Ritsu the Punching Bag.
"…Oh…I thought you were all arguing because of my salads."
"Well, yes it was, but we're not too mad about this, right?" She looked toward her other members for assurance.
"Mugi-chan, I need my cakes now!~" The table banging and ground stomping only made the brunette's desperation ever more prominent. Mio never really expected any support from Yui anyway.
"Most certainly not; I'm actually happy that you care for our health Mugi-senpai." Yes, Mio could always rely on her responsible and courteous junior Azusa.
"Mugi, is it okay if you could go home real quick in your fancy limousine or helicopter and bring back some tea and sweets? Hehe…" Just like Yui, Mio didn't expect Ritsu to agree with her.
Luckily for Mio (and rather unluckily for Ritsu), the drummer's forehead was left wide open for any passerby to strike in brutal fashion. Mio was never the one to let such opportunities escape her grasp.
Cries of pain echoed throughout the hallways of the school, the inhabitants of other after school clubs already accustomed to the agonized voice.
"Oh don't worry about it Mugi, we're fine with eating these salads! Hooray for health, hehe…" the brunette said while tending to the second bump protruding from her cranium due to the temper of the raven-haired girl next to her.
"Really? I'm glad then!" Tsumugi beamed in their direction. "Although it's quite different from what we normally eat, Father still ensured that these fruits were both fresh and free of any bugs or dirt, so I hope you enjoy them!"
The blonde proceeded to lightly stick her fork in the juicy portion of watermelon and happily began her meal.
Mio and Azusa did the same, although each was keeping a watchful eye at their respective troublemakers while chewing their fruits.
Meanwhile, the near look-alike brunettes hadn't taken a bite out of the salad yet. Ritsu was busy stabbing her fork into each of the fruits to see if any of them were denser than her skull while Yui was twirling the fork in her hand, mouth desperately demanding its daily dose of darn sweet delicacy. Needless to say, neither of the two was going to eat their salads unless properly motivated.
"My tummy is grumbling, Ricchan…" Yui mumbled.
"Mine too...pastries are our life force! Without it, surely we will perish!"
"Ricchan, I'm too hungry to be melodramatic!"
"…Yeah, me too." The hair-banded drummer didn't even bother questioning where Yui came up with such a smart-sounding word as melodramatic.
Suddenly, an imaginary light bulb popped up above the drummer's head, causing the guitarist to retract from how shimmering Ritsu's forehead was shining. "Yui, I have an idea! Come close for a sec!"
As the two brunettes huddled close together, Azusa and Mio couldn't help but mutter "This can't be good…" to each other.
Tsumugi was curious as well as to what Ritsu's plan was, still unsure whether or not it was the right decision to forgo bringing back-up cakes in case the two of them absolutely refused to eat the healthy greens. There was always a special pouch in her school bag for the frosted masses of dough. She was just thankful nobody questioned how the cakes were able to stay intact; the holding capacity of her school bag would make Homura proud.
Cake-holding containers aside, if only she didn't leave her cell phone at home today; she always had the most expensive bakery on speed dial just in case of such situations. Then again, she did have her walkie-talkie connected to a helicopter that would launch on her command as well…
"It has been decided!" Ritsu suddenly proclaimed. The other brunette slung her left arm over her comrade, determination present on both of their faces.
"We'll go on a hunger strike until cake is brought to us!"
"You've got to be kidding me…" Mio and Azusa said in unison. "We don't come here for the cakes, Yui-senpai! We come here to practice!" the latter exclaimed.
"Don't give me that, Azu-nyan! Aren't you at least a tiny bit sad that Mugi-chan didn't bring any cakes?"
…Okay, she got me there. The younger guitarist thought, bewildered at the good point her senpai made. "Still, that's not the point! Be happy that Mugi-senpai brought anything at all!"
"I'm sorry, Mugi," Ritsu interrupted, "but there's no way I'd be able to practice after eating only this!"
"Be reasonable, Ritsu! It's not like you hate vegetables, right?" Mio tried to reason.
"Even so, there's no way I'll be energized enough to play drums without my pastries!"
"You're not even energized enough when you do eat Mugi's snacks!"
Ignoring how Mio made a valid point, she and Yui began chanting the words "We want cake!" while pretending to hold up signs usually seen when people are on strike.
"Mio-senpai, please remind me that this is the Light Music Club…" Azusa said exasperatedly.
"To be honest, I don't think we can even call it that as this point…" Mio replied with about as much enthusiasm, or lack thereof.
"I must apologize; I didn't mean to cause us this much commotion." The pair heard an apology come behind them from a distressed Mugi.
"Oh don't worry about it Mugi," Mio assured, "We both know you had our best interests at heart."
"Well, some of our best interests…" Azusa mumbled while looking in the direction of her two sillier seniors, who were now actually drawing up actual signs to protest. She didn't bother questioning where they suddenly spawned the paper from, whether it was hidden under the couch or under Ritsu's skirt. "How do you suppose we should solve this problem though?"
As simultaneous chants filled the foreground, all three of them put their heads together and attempted to think of a plan.
"…"
"…"
"…"
With two loud-mouthed girls like Ritsu and Yui around though, thinking became more difficult as the two black-haired girls felt their headaches increasing in pain and annoyance.
"…Well…if you want me to, I can always call my helicopter and go home quickly to-"
"No Mugi, I don't think we'll have to resort to that just yet…"
The sun had rapidly descended the horizon, the colors of a blue sky being overtaken by streaks of orange and red. And somehow, the dense duo of bothersome brunettes was still refusing to give up on their hunger strike. Their fruit salads stayed untouched the entire time, most likely depressed that they weren't able to please their eaters.
Azusa sighed loudly, clearly stating her disapproval of today's lack of productiveness. She and Mio remained in their same seats near the table as if laziness took over. Or craziness. Whichever came first. "Practice…is out of the question at this point, isn't it?" Azusa questioned while both of them knew the answer.
Mio looked at the time on her phone. "6:45," she muttered to herself with obvious dissatisfaction. "Unless these two go through some dramatic character change, then yeah; we'll be lucky if we can gather them back in the clubroom."
Looking to the empty seat across from the wooden table, they noticed the lack of Mugi in it. "Azusa, do you know where Mugi went?"
"Actually, no…the last time I recall seeing her was about a half hour ago, when Yui-senpai and Ritsu-senpai were actually attempting to rally any other people in the school to join their stupid cause."
Both of the raven-black haired girls didn't feel as if a sigh could possibly express the copious amounts of discontent they currently had, so they kept their breath to themselves.
It was 6:46, and the sun began to glint across the horizon straight into Mio's eyes, causing her to shield them with her hands. Taking the time to shift her focus away from how troublesome the duet of drummer and guitarist would be, she felt her eyes casually strolling across the room.
The entire area was bathed in an orange glow, Ritsu's vibrant yellow drums almost sparkling in the light. The whiteboard contained various silly doodles the two brunettes would occasionally draw on there, which were all illuminated by the sun. The glare in her eyes slowly lost its annoyance, relaxing into the myriad of pictures pinned to the board.
First summer training camp… the Tea Ceremony for my fanclub…SummerFest …All of these memories slowly played through her mind like a moving slideshow. She could see herself taking pictures of Ritsu building a sandcastle on Yui. She could feel herself tense up as her dedicated audience stayed silent after her purple-prose poem. She could hear herself cheer alongside the thunderous crowd as professional bands performed at the Fire Stage.
Memories of the past few years welled up inside of the bassist as her previously dominant headache slowly but surely began to subside as she admired the simple nostalgic beauty of the room.
"Mio-senpai, what are you staring at?" Azusa asked, noticing the faraway look in her senior's grey eyes.
"…Yui can be such a headache for you, huh?" Mio said while closing her eyes and enjoying the serenity of the room, a content grin spread across her face.
"Eh? I suppose so…" Azusa replied, completely caught off guard by the sudden subject change. "In fact, yes, she is quite the headache. She almost never practices, always hugs me despite how I specifically tell her not to, and doesn't act like a respectable senior at all! I feel half tempted to stop calling her senpai at this point…"
Mio chuckled lightly to herself as her own feelings about Ritsu were mirrored in Azusa's feelings about Yui. "Do you, Azusa?"
"What do you mean by that?"
An amused smile was present on the bassist's face. "Azusa, I always see you relax into Yui's hugs. Even if you're all flustered about how irresponsible and cute-obsessed she can be, I'm sure that you appreciate past these short-comings."
"Sometimes, it seems as if these 'short-comings' are all that I can notice in her behavior."
"There is one thing that those two idiots do better than us though."
"Hm?" the twin-tailed girl raised an eyebrow at the statement. "And what could that possibly be?"
"They know how to have fun." Azusa felt a gasp escape her mouth before she could properly reply. And properly reply she didn't. The girl made feeble attempts to respond but tripped over many syllables and consonants until she decided to take a deep breath and agree.
"You have a good point there, Mio-senpai. I'll give you that. But despite our strictness, doesn't it seem as if those two have too much fun? Like on an everyday basis?"
Mio's eyes gazed at a particular picture pinned to the upper right corner of the whiteboard with a thumbtack. In the picture, Yui and Tsumugi were holding up peace signs to the camera with reluctant yet cheerful expressions, while Mio looked as if she was protesting. Unfortunately, the only remnant of Ritsu that remained was her noticeably large forehead, which took up the majority of the picture.
It was their first picture taken that fateful day; the day when four members had been gathered in order to officially establish the light music club. The grey eyes staring at it couldn't help but narrow in both nostalgia and sorrow. "Our school years are almost over. Graduation is only in a few months."
The simple statement struck Azusa as if it were a serrated blade stabbing straight through her heart.
"We're…actually growing up now, whether we like it or not. Soon, all of these years as Houkago Tea Time will just be distant memories…"
The further added statements caused more hurt in the guitarist, as if the figurative blade was mutilating her heart's feelings instead of simply exiting the already painful wound.
Noticing the grief-stricken look on her junior, Mio quickly followed up with her point, "If we're growing up, then it shouldn't hurt for us to enjoy the craziness and fun while we still can, right?" Mio's eyes moved to yet another memorable picture, Azusa's own eyes following suit. It was a picture in commemoration of the junior's unification with the club, and it certainly was a memorable picture. Azusa seemed to be the only normal one in the picture, as the other four stood out with their eyelids being drawn upon with black sharpie. Tsumugi was even holding a fake toy baby, the reason as to why escaping the two musicians.
Both dusk-haired girls laughed at the stupid but fond memory. "Ritsu's actions may seem unreasonable, and they usually are, but I keep forgetting that they're mostly for the sake of creating happy memories for me. Of course, when she makes those crude jokes with me, I can't help but want to punch the idiot into unconsciousness. But when I look back at all those times, I can't help but appreciate Ritsu for all of the happy times she's given me."
Azusa felt her entire psyche become more at ease, as if all frustration and fretfulness from earlier was gone. "Yeah…don't forget about Yui-senpai too. While on the outside she seems like she's some thick-skulled, airheaded senpai, she can also acknowledge our strictness and impose a relaxed atmosphere on us to keep us from being too stressed. Her and Ritsu-senpai. They know just how to make us feel relaxed while simultaneously stressing us out, huh?"
"I know right?" Mio agreed, the two of them relaxing into the memories of the past two years together. The only sensations they felt were the fond feelings of yesterday and the warm feelings of the sun steadily making its way down their faces.
At that exact moment, the wooden doors to the clubroom opened with a small creak, revealing the two aforementioned brunettes holding their crudely-drawn protest signs with little enthusiasm.
"Okay, Mio...you win," Ritsu simply stated while limping towards the desks.
"Hm? Ritsu…?" Mio bat open an eyelash to find the normally energized drummer dragging herself toward the couch like a zombie. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you win this battle. We're too hungry to continue protesting…" Yui's groans only made their feelings more obvious.
"It's true," the normally jumpy airhead added, "at this point, I'd eat just about anything…"
"Well, Yui-senpai, Ritsu-senpai," the smaller guitarist started, "there are two well-prepared platters of vegetables waiting for you two." Azusa gestured toward the two untouched plates of fruit salads, both of them still fresh and ready to be consumed.
The pair of weary brunettes looked at each other briefly, shrugged, and headed to sit down at the table and fill their empty stomachs. After both took a seat at their respective spots, they noticed how attractive these healthy dishes were to the eye. Ripe and red tomatoes the size of gumballs were scattered across the platter, wet and fresh-green leaves adorning the majority of the meal. Strips of purple onion were strewn across the leaves in an elegant manner, with lime and mauve grapes filling the spaces in between them.
"You know, Ricchan?" Yui started as her mouth began to water at the sight of such beautiful fruits. "Now that I think about it, maybe Azu-nyan and Mio-chan were right! It's good to eat healthy, and this fruit salad looks really tasty right about now…"
"I agree, Yui! I think I've turned over a new leaf for these veggies, haha!"
Mio couldn't help but allow her left palm to forcefully meet her forehead. "Ritsu, you're so lame for that corny joke."
"Ohoho, good one, Mio-chan! You should lettuce have some time to think of our own!"
"Yui…" Mio and Azusa looked at Yui with furrowed eyebrows and an expression of obvious disapproval, grey and garnet combining to create a gaze of utter disbelief.
"Ah, stop it, Mio-chan and Azu-nyan! Your stares are so scary!" At this, all four of the girls started laughing, laughing until their lungs were completely devoid of any oxygen. Unfortunately, this struck Yui first as she began coughing while laughing, only causing the other three to giggle even louder.
I guess…Azusa thought to herself amidst the laughter. I guess it can't hurt to simply have fun like this. After all, Mio-senpai is right. We should have to make the best of our time together while we can, and why not just spend it creating fun memories? Whether it was more obviously unforgettable experiences such as their first training camp together as a five-member band and performing at the live house on Christmas, or diminutive little memories such as their marathon and even the day they tried integrating vegetables into their diets, Azusa appreciated the gratification had in each one.
When the laughter finally subsided, Ritsu and Yui each raised their forks in a ready position. "Alright, my stomach is ready to be satisfied by you colorful little fruits!" Ritsu declared in her ever-booming voice, with Yui nodding in agreement.
"On the count of three, Ricchan!"
Mio and Azusa only looked in amusement at the two brunettes dramatizing such a simple meal.
"One…" Is a countdown really necessary…? Azusa couldn't help but think to herself.
"Two…" Leave it to these two to make something as eating vegetables such a big moment for them, Mio thought while chuckling.
The two brunettes shared a quick gaze at each other, nodding in approval at each other for whatever reason. Azusa and Mio would never understand the thought processes of Ritsu Tainaka and Yui Hirasawa. They just learned to be thankful for them.
"And three-!"
Before the tips of their forks could make contact with the fruits, a faint whirling sound was heard. It quickly became much louder and distinguishable as the source of the noise moved closer to the four girls.
"What the…! What is that noise?" Ritsu exclaimed as she unnecessarily threw her fork across the room while running to the window to find where the noise was coming from.
Normally, she would get scolded by both Azusa and Mio for such bad manners, but the two of them raced towards the window out of curiosity as well, Yui following suit.
Outside the window was a helicopter about three meters away from the school building. Shock and disbelief struck the four girls at such a random occurrence, even more so when they discovered the passenger inside of the helicopter.
"Sorry I'm late!" There was no mistaking that angelic and selfless voice. "I didn't mean to take so long, but I couldn't exactly find the triple chocolate cake Yui-chan always begged me to bring to her. So I had to settle with the double chocolate cake; sorry Yui-chan!"
No words could express the surprise on the two dusk-haired girls, no words being able to express the utter euphoria on the two brunette's faces.
Containers with cakes of numerous-colored frostings, toppings, and dough were laid upon the seats inside of the helicopter.
Tsumugi Kotobuki truly was the Messiah of Sweets.
A/R: This idea was first thought up sometime in October, started around November, dropped around December, and then continued in May…yeah. My writing style has gone through such hiccups since then so I felt so hesitant in even posting this up. But after talking with other fanfic-writing peeps, I felt the need to finish one of the half-done one-shots sitting in my hard drive.
Despite all of the frustrations this story caused me, I found myself enjoying the process of writing it at the same time! Writing about the normal, light hearted interactions between Yui&Azusa and Mio&Ritsu was just so...well, light hearted. It was fun, so I hoped you enjoyed reading it!
Also, thanks to Musician74 for beta'ing! You rock~