a/n: so i heard some rumors regarding the final movement novels about 1) kumiko and reina going to uni together 2) natsuuko starting a band so. this happened. figured i'd get it out for natsuki's birthday.
Kumiko checked her phone. Cleaned the counter. Checked her phone again. She could see her reflection in the space at this point, but it gave her hands something to do other than check her phone, so she just kept wiping down the same spot. It was past closing anyway, she'd have to leave soon. Probably her boss would say something with her fang-toothed smile and her dramatic wave - she reminded Kumiko, almost scarily so, of Asuka, if Asuka had chosen the theater as her profession rather than the euphonium.
"Soon," Kumiko mumbled to herself. She must've looked like a madwoman, wiping down the same spot over and over again, robotic. It was sparkling, the countertop. What purchaser of books would even look at the counter? Purchaser of books. She was starting to sound like Reina.
It was dark outside, but bright in the shop - the streetlights and sidewalks seemed like another world entirely.
"Waiting for someone?" Kumiko looked up to find the source of the voice, only to see Natsuki with her arms folded, leaning up against a display of biographies. Kumiko blinked in surprise.
"H-how'd you get in here?"
"Charmed the key off your boss. I was in the neighborhood, figured I'd say hi to my pal. Kousaka's working late again?"
"She's my roommate, Natsuki, it's not like I never see her."
"Roommate. Is that what you're calling her now?" Natsuki quirked an eyebrow, resting her elbows right on the countertop Kumiko had been so meticulously cleaning seconds ago. "Ya don't have to be shy with me, Kumiko."
"I mean, she's more than that, obviously . . ." Kumiko trailed off, her cheeks red. Natsuki fiddled with one of her piercings. The university life suited her, Kumiko thought, free of Kitauji's dress codes and limitations, she looked far more relaxed than she had been. "That's why we moved in together."
"Ah, to be free of the prying eyes of society." Natsuki grinned. "Well, I'd be a hypocrite to say anything that didn't support you two - it's the same arrangement I've got with Yuuko, y'know."
"You're still living together?" Kumiko clapped a hand over her mouth as soon as she said it.
"Ya sound surprised."
"I-I didn't mean it like that! I just meant, y'know, high school sweethearts. They, uh, don't really tend to last."
"And yet look at yourself." Natsuki's grin turned into a warm and genuine smile, and Kumiko clambered out from behind the counter to give her a proper hug.
"I missed you," she mumbled. Natsuki ruffled her hair.
"Yeah, I missed you too, ya dork."
"So how is it, anyway? Living with Yuuko-senpai, still?"
"Well, one, we're out of high school now and ya don't have to call her 'senpai' anymore, two, it's nice. She leaves her ribbons everywhere and never closes up the cereal bag so it always gets stale but I'm not much better, so it's not like I've gotta right to complain." The domesticity of it all felt like a stab to the chest, but in a good way, somehow. Kumiko couldn't stop herself from smiling.
"I'm glad," she said. "I'm really, really glad."
"So, Kousaka's still not here?" Natsuki clicked her tongue in distaste, looking over at the window again. She seemed to glow in profile, and Kumiko realized with a jolt that the sun was basically gone.
"Crap, yeah!"
"Listen, I'm sure it doesn't mean that-"
"S-something might've happened to her!" Kumiko's head started to spin with the awful thoughts crowding themselves into her brain. "Natsuki, something might've-"
"Kumiko!" Reina's voice came through muffled, not quite as dramatic as she probably would've liked, seeing how she was on the other side of the window, but Kumiko's heart leapt all the same. "Sorry I'm late! I tried to explain to the orchestra that it was our anniversary but the conductor wouldn't budge!"
"It's okay, Reina!" Kumiko yelled back. Natsuki clamped her hands over her ears. "I understand! You're special, and you're working so hard to keep improving, and you're still making time for me!"
"Of course I can make time for you! Kumiko, don't doubt that!"
"And there's a door right there that you lovebirds can open instead of throwing out your vocal cords!" Natsuki added, her voice equally loud. Kumiko opened the door and greeted Reina with a kiss on the lips, her head spinning at the sensation still.
"I missed you," she murmured, burying her face in Reina's hair.
"I was only gone for a week," Reina chuckled. "I missed you too." She turned, then, to face Natsuki. "Nakagawa-senpai. I didn't know you'd be here."
"Hey, cut it out with the 'senpai' stuff. We're not bandmates anymore! Call me Natsuki."
"Alright." Reina blinked. "Why are you here . . . Natsuki?"
"Glad ya asked! I know it's your anniversary, so I get it if you've got other stuff planned, but if not, there're two front-row seats with your names on 'em." Natsuki leaned back on the counter. Kumiko looked to Reina, shoulders raised in a silent question, and they both smiled.
Natsuki snatched the microphone out of Yuuko's hand as she raised her other fist in the air to the delight of the screaming audience below, her bass swinging with the movement.
"We are Gay Detergent and the Crooked Effect, thank you and good night!" Natsuki took a bow, and Yuuko did the same before crouching down to sign autographs flung at her from all sides. Kumiko saw someone hurl a bra at the stage. Reina narrowly dodged it.
"Well, that was-"
"Over here!" Natsuki yelled, gesturing for the pair to join her off to the side of the stage. Kumiko forced her way through the thundering crowd, keeping Reina's hand tightly held in her own.
"Whoa," Kumiko said, once she could actually be heard. "I, uh, I didn't know you two had gotten so popular." Natsuki shrugged.
"Eh, when there's a niche there'll be people who come to it."
"What's Yoshikawa-senpai doing out there?" Reina poked her head out the side of the stage door to see Yuuko still chattering away with her enraptured audience, her yellow ribbon standing at attention.
"Just talking with the fans." Natsuki propped a boot on the poster-adorned wall, pushing her hair back. "I'm just happy to play the music, but Yuuko . . . well, she's spent so long admiring other people that I think she's still getting used to other people admiring her. It's been good for her. Don't tell her I said that, though, her ego's big enough as it is."
"Right," Kumiko mumbled.
"See you all at the next show!" Yuuko called out, met with a series of cheers, before strutting over to the door. Her demeanor shifted in half a second. "Okay, jackass, that was better than last time but you said something about making This Autumn a duet, if you want to do that you need to actually keep up with the tempo of the- Oumae-san! Kousaka-san!"
"H-hey, Yuuko-senpai."
"Natsuki, you didn't tell me they'd be here!" Yuuko patted Kumiko enthusiastically on the shoulder, then offered up a stiff handshake to Reina. "So I'm guessing you're surprised that I'm moonlighting as an indie musician."
"I'm a little more surprised that you let Natsuki pick the name," Kumiko admitted.
"It was quote unquote 'the least terrible one of the bunch.'" Natsuki grinned, smug, as she talked. Yuuko punched her in the arm, not quite rudely. "Enjoying your harem out there?"
"Just as much as you're enjoying it," Yuuko retorted, fiddling with her ribbon. Natsuki tugged at it. "Some of those bras were for you."
"Were they, now?"
"This has been lovely," Reina interrupted, rather loudly, "-but we should head home soon. Kumiko?"
"Yeah, definitely." She wrapped Natsuki in another hug before starting in the direction of the crowd.
"Back door's that way, kiddo," Natsuki said, jabbing her thumb behind her. "Ya get to avoid the fangirls that way."
"T-thanks." Kumiko paused. If she focused hard enough, she could still feel the bass pounding beneath her feet. "For everything."
"Anytime, Kumiko." Natsuki looped her arm around Yuuko, flashing Kumiko and Reina a little salute. "Anytime."
There was something magical about the way the air seemed to hum around them, Kumiko thought, her arm interlinked with Reina's as they traipsed through the city together until they reached their dorm building.
"What an anniversary, huh?" Kumiko chuckled. Reina wordlessly slid her keycard through the lock before she said anything, but her eyes were sparkling.
"Who would've thought it?" she finally said. "Back in high school, that it would turn out this way."
"I never did." The hallway stretched out to greet them, and Kumiko stepped inside. "But I'm really glad, Reina."
"So am I."
a/n: if you know what natsuki and yuuko's band name is referring to i love you