You Never Asked
By Major Mike Powell III
Tainaka Ritsu chewed on the corner of her lower lip as she looked through her improvised binoculars...meaning she was using a toilet roll and a rolled-up magazine like they were actual binoculars.
"Captain's log: none of us had noticed this. Nobody noticed any change in Private 1st Class Hirasawa Yui's behavior. This instance utterly blows this grizzled old veteran's mind. How can this be?!"
"...Ritsu...who are you talking to-wait. No. I don't think I want to know." Akiyama Mio deadpanned as she squatted next to Ritsu as they hid in a bush...with Ritsu's butt almost rearing out of the shrubbery.
Mio sighed with dismay, checking her wrist watch.
"Ritsu, this is absolutely pointless. Why did you even call me here with such urgency?! You made me worried, you idiot!"
"What? Mio, this is urgent! You see what I'm seeing across the street, don't you?!"
Mio sighed again and fought off the urge to make a scene there, to just smack Ritsu on the top of the head like usual and just walk away. Besides, she already had a prior engagement...
"Ritsu, seriously. Let it go. So what if Yui and Nodoka-san are feeding each other pancakes at a café? So what if they look and act like they are in a relationship?"
Ritsu lowered her "binoculars" and gave Mio a scolding look that had some degree of actual, honest emotion in it.
"But Miiioooo, Yui's my Private 1st Class! She and us and Mugi-chan are best of friends! We should tell each other everything!"
"...uhm...Ritsu, well, about that...you see, I, ah..." Mio blushed hotly and scratched her cheek, looking away from Ritsu's confused, questioning gaze. Was Ritsu guilt-tripping her without realizing it...?
"...What?"
Mio sighed. Ritsu was so dense!
"Damn it, Ritsu. I have a date with Mugi-chan in like, twenty minutes!" Mio blurted out, looking away from her childhood friend's seemingly-hurt gaze.
"...why didn't you tell me, Mio?"
"You never asked."
"...oh. Well...huh. Ok...this got kind of awkward..." Ritsu uttered, rubbing the back of her head while Mio kept looking away, scratching the bridge of her nose.
"Ritsu...I'm sorry. I, uhhh...please, tell me you're not in love with me, Ritsu!" Mio turned back to the honey-blonde that was back to spying on Yui and Nodoka feeding each other syrup-coated pancakes in the café across the street.
"You have great boobs."
"...BAKA RITSU!"
Cue Mio flipping out and bashing Ritsu on the top of the head with just a bit more strength than she intended. Just a bit.
"Ricchan? Mio-chan? What are you two doing here?! If you wanted to join Nodoka-chan and I and make it a double date, you know you had but to ask~!"
And so it was that Mio curled up and rocked back forth on the balls of her feet on the spot, covered in leaves and twigs and mortification at being caught red-handed spying on them while Ritsu nursed a potential concussion.
"Wait!" And then, the concussion was never there to begin with. "Yui!" Ritsu jabbed an accusing index finger at her fellow brunette. "So, you are on a date with Nodoka?! What's going on here?! Am I the only one out of the relationship loop?! What the heck?! Why was I not informed about this?!"
Yui and Nodoka blinked twice, and then, the wine-haired girl of the four sighed softly as she rubbed her forehead and then, adjusted her red-rimmed glasses.
"Ritsu-chan...Mio-chan, for that matter...did you ever ask?" She deadpanned.
"No, I didn't, and neither did Ritsu." Mio recovered and spoke with a sheepish smile.
Yui giggled and scratched the back of her head.
Nodoka just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head in dismay and then, wrapped an arm snug and secure around Yui's waist, making the brunette with chocolate-brown eyes smile a dazzling smile at her beloved childhood friend and soulmate, protector, guardian and girlfriend, and then, Yui nuzzled closer into Nodoka's loving embrace.
"Nodoka-chan, you're so cool~!"
"So...can I go now? I have a date with Mugi-chan and I really need to get going, girls." Mio spoke, raising her hand as if to ask for permission to talk.
Yui's eyes widened in a comical fashion while Nodoka raised a surprised eyebrow.
"Whoa! Mio-chan, you and Mugi-chan are in love?! Oh my God, that's awesome! You two have to join Nodoka-chan and I on a double date sometime~!" Yui cheered and, after giving Nodoka a look that asked for permission to leave her embrace, to which she received a loving smile and a nod in return, the brunette grabbed an overwhelmed and sweatdropping Mio's hands and squeezed them tight with a big, adorable smile on her face, a smile that was absolutely all Yui.
"S-Sure, sure, Yui! That'd be lovely!" Mio replied with a warm smile. Then, she looked down at her wrist watch again and gasped, urging Yui to let her go. "Ahhh no! No, oh man! I need to leave right now! I can't leave Mugi-chan waiting! I'll see you guys at school on Monday! Text you girls later! Bye!"
And off the girl went to join her beloved blonde ojou-sama for their own date.
"So..."
"Oh, Ricchan! Oh my goodness, are you, um, are you Ok?" Yui and Nodoka turned to look at Ritsu, who just stood there while the whole exchange with Mio was happening.
The honey-blonde scratched her cheek and then, rubbed the side of her neck, looking this way and that, clearly uncomfortable with the atmosphere, standing there before a happy couple and knowing that her best friend just ran off to join her own beautiful partner for their own date.
Then, Nodoka giggled softly and pet Yui's hair as the brunette smiled a big smile at Ritsu and seized her hands, giving them a tight squeeze.
"Hey now, it's Ok, Ricchan! You know what? Ui really looks up to you! She thinks you're super cool! I'll hook you girls up, 'k~?"
Ritsu's amber eyes shot wide open and she chuckled awkwardly...but then, she took on a sheepish, almost shy look.
"Well...that...would actually be pretty nice. Heh, Ui-chan is really cute and...well, thank you, Yui. I appreciate it!"
Then, Nodoka stepped up to her girlfriend and friend and patted Ritsu on the shoulder.
"So, Ritsu-chan? Why don't you go join Yui and I for breakfast? We're still not finished with our pancakes yet and the waitress is giving us a strange look from the door there." Nodoka motioned and waved at the cute-as-can-be, long-haired ash-brunette with golden eyes in a beautiful maid dress that had taken their order earlier.
"...well...thanks, girls. I'll take you up on that. Let's go~!"
And thus, Ritsu led the march back into the café which she had come across earlier on a mid-morning stroll and, out of sheer, pure coincidence, she happened to see Yui and Nodoka sitting together, which sparked the whole situation to begin with.
So, Ritsu wasn't that mad about being left out of the relationship loop. She simply never asked. Oh yes, and Hirasawa Ui was so cute. She would make sure to do something nice for Yui for the offer of her younger sister.
For now, Ritsu was hungry. She could really do with those pancakes right now.
The End
So…this happened, didn't it? :3 This idea had been bugging me for weeks on end, so, I finally hammered it out of my head, and I have YuriChan220 to thank for this. Thank you, Yuri-chan, for lending me your ear and letting me improvise this story out on the chat with you~! Having an audience is really, really useful~!
So, yeah. YuixNodoka are my "K-ON" OTP and MugixMio are Yuri-chan's "K-ON" OTP and I also included a cameo by Kotori "Minalinsky" Minami from "Love Live! School Idol Project". Why? Why not, 's more like it. :3
So, all of that said, I hope you good fellas enjoyed and if you did, please, lemme know with a nice, fulfilling review, 'k? And if you guys didn't like this…well…why *did* did you read it to begin with? ;P
Anyway, I'm rambling. LOL Thank you for your time!
Semper-Fi! Carry on!