A/N: So I wanted to write something in honor of Ritsu's birthday. I thought "well what could be better than writing a novelization/expansion of Okeya's August 21st doujin for August 21st?" This is my interpretation of the doujin, which if you haven't read it, only has two lines of dialogue. Everything else is visual, so I sorta took advantage of that. Of course, as per usual, this is indeed a fanwork of a fanwork (wow I'm so meta, right?) and don't own rights to K-On! or the doujin, blah blah blah. I do hope you enjoy it though.
On a particularly hot summer afternoon, Ritsu and Mio were lounging out in the prior's bedroom. Ritsu had spread out on her bed looking through a new manga she had recently bought while Mio was busy working on homework they were assigned during the summer break. She tried to get the tawny-haired drummer to work on hers too as classes were going to start back up in two weeks time, but being the stubborn girl that Ritsu was, insisted that there was still a lot of time left and that she would work on it some other time.
"Hey Ritsu, what are you doing for your birthday?" Mio asked out of the blue when she remembered that her best friend's birthday was coming up. It landed on a Thursday this year, and though school was on break, Ritsu's parents still had to work.
"Hmm?" Ritsu glanced up from her manga to come into eye contact with the bassist. "Well, Dad's work goes pretty late so we were going to celebrate it on the weekend."
Setting her manga face down on the bed so the page wouldn't get lost, Ritsu grinned at Mio, taking the chance to tease the girl. "Why, did you want to keep your girlfriend all to yourself on her birthday?"
"Actually, I did." Mio answered with a bit of sass. This was a side of Mio that Ritsu only saw when it was the two of them alone, and it only grew when the two started dating a few months prior. The comeback made Ritsu chuckle in amusement before stretching as far as she could from her bed to land a kiss on Mio's cheek. Mio smiled softly and grabbed Ritsu's chin before the latter had a chance to back away, stealing a kiss for herself. When they they finally broke away, Ritsu giggled.
"So, what did you have in mind?"
Mio's brow furrowed in thought. "We could go to the summer festival like last year?"
"Oh, how romantic." Ritsu said in a teasing tone, "And here I thought you'd go all out for your sweet girlfriend and take her to a fancy dinner."
"Idiot." Mio retorted, pushing Ritsu away from her, which caused Ritsu to fall back onto the bed. "Odds are you're parents are going to take you out somewhere nice again this year. There's no point for me to do the same."
The dark-haired bassist looked away, suddenly timid and refused to look directly at Ritsu. "Besides, there's more for us to do together at the summer festival."
Ritsu couldn't help but rub the sore spot on her head. "Gosh, Mio. I'm just teasing. Of course we can go to the festival."
The drummer rolled over so she could lay on her back. "I think Satoshi said he wanted to go to."
"What?!" Mio exclaimed suddenly, which causes Ritsu to giggle to herself.
"He's not gonna be with us, silly. I think he said he was planning on going with someone in his class. Yuriko, or something like that."
It was now Mio's turn to laugh. "Isn't he a bit young to be dating?"
"I didn't peg you to be so old fashion, Akiyama-san." Ritsu teased again.
"Shut up!" Mio squealed, grabbing the pillow off Ritsu's bed in an attempt to smother her with it, but the other girl put her hands up in defense and the two wrestled as they tried to take control of the pillow.
"I mean, you know that Yuriko and Satoshi are totally going to hold hands at the fireworks show, amiright?" Ritsu teased even more in a high preppy voice that made Mio laugh.
"You are savage. How could you say that about your own brother?"
"It's a sibling thing. Don't worry about it."
When the two got tired of their playful banter, they settled down next to each other, laying on their backs staring at the ceiling.
"I wonder how the taiko show will be this year." Ritsu wondered out loud.
***[K-On!]***
"Mio! That was literally the best show ever!" Ritsu exclaimed as they walked from the festival's main stage towards where the vendors were set up. Mio couldn't help but giggle at how cute Ritsu's enthusiasm was.
"Ritsu, you say that every year."
A few days had passed, and just as the couple planned, Ritsu and Mio attended the summer festival together. Mio showed up at the Tainaka home around lunchtime. After a quick meal, the two helped each other get their yukatas on, Ritsu sporting a bright yellow one designed with colorful flowers with wide petals while Mio wore a white yukata with flowers of various shades of blue. Oddly enough, Ritsu's yukata was paired with a royal blue sash, while Mio's sash was a light lemon chiffon yellow. Mio had put her hair up into a nice bun and accessorized with a white flower. Getting Ritsu's hair styled, however, was a process. Ritsu refused to go without her signature headband, but Mio reasoned that it wouldn't be proper to wear with the yukata. In the end, the dark-haired girl eventually managed to convince her girlfriend otherwise and carefully parted the latter's hair so it wouldn't get into her face.
They got to the grounds around mid-afternoon and parted ways with Satoshi almost as soon as they got to the festival. There was still ample time to explore the festival before the taiko drum show at sunset, so Ritsu and Mio spent the afternoon playing various festival games, snacking on festival food, and watching a few of the other performances. Mio even tried to get Ritsu to dance for a bit, but couldn't get the stubborn drummer to budge.
"I'm starving! Mio, come on, I can just smell the takoyaki stand." Ritsu grabbed Mio's hand and started what was basically some form of fast waddling- Ritsu's yukata was quite restricting to the boisterous girls' rushed movements- toward the food stands. Mio could only roll her eyes, amused at how Ritsu resembled a starving penguin, and allowed herself to be pulled by her girlfriend. She'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy Ritsu's antics sometimes.
After grabbing some takoyaki and an order of yakisoba to share, the two found a bench to sit and enjoy their dinner. They talked about their day at the festival, Mio taking her chance to tease Ritsu about how badly she still sucked at the festival games. Ritsu, in turn, talked in admiration about the taiko show and made a comment about how she should just drop out of school and become a fire-eater- an idea Mio immediately shut down.
"Can we get desert before the fireworks start?" Mio asked as they went to discard their trash, " I feel like having something sweet."
"Sure, I think we still have a little bit of time."
The couple made their way back to where the food vendor were, though it was a bit tougher to get around now, as more people had come to the festival to catch the fireworks show.
"I'll wait for you here, it'll be easier if it was just one of us trying to get through the crowd." Ritsu suggested. She didn't have as prominent of a sweet tooth as Mio, and knowing her girlfriend, Mio would probably be hesitant to finish her dessert once she realized how much she had been eating at the festival.
"Okay, I'll be right back." Mio smiled warmly and made her way through the dense crowd.
While Ritsu stood waiting for her girlfriend, she heard someone call out her name. When the drummer turned toward the source of the sound, she saw a familiar girl with auburn hair that had gone to middle school with her and Mio.
"Ah, Seryu!" Ritsu said in a fake cheery voice, trying to hide her actual disdain for the girl.
Seryu Yubikitas was a girl that had been in Mio's class in their final year of middle school and in Ritsu's class the year prior. At first she seemed to be a cheerful girl, but in reality was ruthless and arguably psychotic. Ritsu had gotten along okay with Seryu when they shared a class, but grown to dislike the girl when she always bullied Mio for always being stuck in her idealistic mindset. Ritsu, being worried for her best friend, confronted Seryu about it and managed to get her to stop bullying Mio since the two of them were on decent terms with each other. But now that they were in their senior year of high school, Ritsu figured the girl probably forgot all about the incident as she was still convinced that the girl was some sort of messed up in the head.
"Ritsu! It's been a few years, hasn't it?" Seryu greeted in a uncannily cheerful tone that Ritsu had trouble reading the girl's true intentions. Just being around the girl made the drummer's skin crawl.
"Ugh, yeah, it has. What have you been up to?" Ritsu tried to keep casual conversation, but was trying to think of an escape.
"You know, high school and judo club as always. Oh? I see that you finally ditched the headband. That's good. Like, you look so girly now."
Ritsu felt something get caught in her throat and suddenly became extremely self-conscious. She couldn't come up with an immediate reply, but the other girl hardly noticed as she did not even stop talking.
"You here with someone? I mean, you look like you got all dressed up after all. I came with my boyfriend, but that jerk ditched me the moment he saw some of his high school friends. Something about trying out some new cork gun games-"
"Yea… I came with someone." Ritsu managed to cut in, but with a lot less confidence than before.
"Really?!" Seryu replied in surprise. "Who would have thought someone as tomboyish as you would have gotten herself a date with a boy."
Ritsu swallowed, not wanting to say anything. "Well, we're growing up right? It's not like we can all stay single forever."
"Never thought I'd hear you say those words, Ritsu. You've really grown up, huh? Well, anyways, I have to find my boyfriend before the fireworks start. I'll see you around Tainaka."
Before even getting a response, the auburn girl left almost as quickly as she came. Ritsu was left alone again, this time in thought. Seryu's sudden appearance had destroyed the drummer's mood completely.
Right. I just can't say that Mio and I are dating, can I? Ritsu's gaze fell to the ground. Homosexual relationships were still heavily frowned upon in society; that fact had always made Ritsu unhappy. All she wanted was to flaunt her girlfriend to the world, but she couldn't understand why people would be so against love between people of the same gender. Did it really matter? Why did the two of them being girls make what they felt for each other invalid? Ritsu's lips contorted into a frown. Having to hide it from everyone… from our parents, from our friends… it just sucks.
Meanwhile, in the time Ritsu and Seryu were conversing, Mio managed to navigate her way through the crowd to a cotton candy stand.
Oh, I'm sure Ritsu would appreciate if I got something that the two of us could share, Mio thought to herself with a smile as she bought the sweet treat. After paying the vendor, Mio had an easier time finding her way back to Ritsu since most of the crowd had moved towards the riverside to watch the fireworks show. Catching eye of a familiar yellow yukata in the crowd, Mio picked up her pace a little bit.
"Ritsu! I got us some cotton candy."
Ritsu glanced over with a crestfallen face. "Oh? Uh... thanks, Mio."
She accepted the cotton candy and timidly took a nibble off the side of it. Mio immediately noticed the change in Ritsu's mood from when she had left her to get the cotton candy.
"Hey, are you… is everything okay?" Mio didn't want Ritsu to be in a bad mood, so she attempted to cheer her girlfriend up. "I mean if it's cause I got cotton candy and not one of those chocolate covered bananas, we can get some later."
Ritsu looked towards her girlfriend in confusion momentarily, but soon realized she was just trying to make her feel better. "No, it's fine."
Ritsu didn't want to worry or trouble Mio by mentioning her run-in with Seryu, so she kept her mouth shut as they walked towards the riverside to where they could see the fireworks clearly. Mio, on the other hand, knew better than to pry and instead awkwardly walked beside her girlfriend in silence. Even as they found a suitable place to stand to watch the show, there was an awkward tension that kept them from conversing easily like they had been earlier that day.
However, a crowd of boys wanting to get close to water pushed past from behind Mio, knocking her off balance and into Ritsu. The drummer was quick to react, grounding herself properly and wrapping an arm around Mio so the two of them wouldn't fall, but the two were suddenly face to face with cheeks flushed at the sudden development. Mio, being the taller of the two, noticed Ritsu's eyes glance down to her lips.
At this point, Mio had an idea of what was on Ritsu's mind. Both of them knew that they couldn't express their affections in public in fear of how people would react to them. Though they did manage to get away with certain things because they were both best friends and childhood friends, it was still difficult not being able to be completely open about their feelings and actions when in public. Mio found the hand Ritsu had kept at her side when she had lost her balance and wrapped her pinky around that of the drummer's in consolation.
"We… can't. Not here." Mio whispered in remorse.
"Yea… I know." Ritsu's gaze fell dejectedly as she replied.
Unbeknownst to them, the first firework had been released behind them. The subsequent explosion startled Mio and instinctively pushed against Ritsu for support. The two of them looked towards the fireworks; Mio was still in distress, but Ritsu was in awe. When Mio turned her head towards the girl holding her, she saw the drummer she had fallen for look toward the sky in wonder. Perhaps it was the magic of the moment, but the bassist found herself unable to restrain the flush of emotions that had burst within her and in a swift moment of courage kissed Ritsu on the cheek.
Ritsu felt the familiar sensation and was broken from her gaze. The awestruck look on Ritsu's face was now directed at her own girlfriend- who seemed to glow under the lights of the festival and bursts of fireworks- as her brain processed what had just happened. Mio could only smile fondly and showed no regret for her actions. This only made Ritsu fall for her childhood friend- and now girlfriend- even harder, as she smiled lovingly back to her. The two turned back to watch the remainder of the show, but now with fingers intertwined as they held hands under the fireworks.
"Happy birthday. Congratulations on this year, Ritsu." Mio said as she scooted closer to her girlfriend.
Ritsu's smile only grew, and squeezed the hand she was holding in appreciation. "Thanks for this year, Mio."