The first oneshot of the Saten Ruiko Day Countdown/LightZephyr Appreciation Week! Today's chapter will focus on Nakano "Azunyan" Azusa! Takes place around S1E9-10.
Special thanks to Namitaa776 for helping out!
Disclaimer: I do not own K-On!, nor do I, in any way, shape or form intend to pretend that I do.
It was a nice and warm day with not a single cloud in sight. There was a cool, zephyr-like breeze in the air that lightly rustled the leaves of the cherry blossom trees as it blew past. A perfect day that everybody in the city was enjoying.
Everybody but one.
Letting out a sigh, a certain twin-tailed girl rested her chin on the table in front of her with a soft thud. Azusa was more exasperated than exhausted and, after having taken a glance at the source of her distress, let out a barely audible groan.
When Azusa joined the light music club, she had expected her seniors to be enthusiastic in their practices and pushing the younger girl to her limits. She would even be happy with the idea of going home late if it meant practicing for hours after the final bell rang.
Instead, Azusa sat at a table with her seniors while Mugi was passing around slices of cake to the other members. A typical day for the members of the light music club, but that was the last thing that Azusa wanted.
"Azusa?"
Said girl looked up, slightly startled that somebody had addressed her to see a frowning Mio. Not wanting to let her seniors know what was really bothering her, or that anything was bothering her at all to begin with, Azusa smiled as she replied, "Yes, Mio-senpai?"
"Which slice do you want?" Mio asked with a smile, holding two plates with slices of different cakes on them for the junior to take.
That was the last straw for Azusa.
Without answering her senior's question, Azusa stood up with enough force for her chair to fall down, grabbed her bag and guitar case and left the room while avoiding the gazes of the other girls.
"What's wrong with Azu-nyan?" Yui wondered out loud as she watched the retreating figure of her junior, the cup of tea in her hand forgotten until several drops splattered on her lap.
"I'll go talk to her!" Mugi offered as she stood up and was ready to run after their friend. Someone held out a hand in front of her, however, and stopped her from moving.
"Why did I even join the club if this is everything that we're doing?" Azusa muttered grumpily to herself while munching on a fry in the nearby restaurant.
More than an hour had passed since the young guitarist had left the school, having run into Jun on her way home and going to the restaurant with her. Now, Jun was watching a slumped Azusa with an uneasy smile on her face.
"Come on, it can't be that bad, right?" Jun tried to cheer up her friend, but it did not seem to be helping them a lot. In fact, Azusa's frown only appeared to have grown after processing Jun's words.
"It is…" Azusa sighed before turning to her friend, "I mean, all they want to do is drink tea and eat cake! We haven't practiced at all since I joined!"
"So that's what was bothering you…" a soft yet familiar voice came from behind Azusa, startling both her and Jun. Turning around slowly, Azusa saw the downcast look on Mio's face as she stood beside the table, "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
"Not really, but I have to go," Jun rambled, quickly grabbing her things and getting ready to leave. With a quick bow, Jun turned around and left Azusa alone with her senior.
"So…" Mio trailed off after a prolonged period of silence, neither girl knowing how to break it as they both tried to avoid the other's gaze. Clearing her throat, Mio tried again, "How are you feeling, Azusa?"
"How am I feeling?" Azusa repeated, slightly dumbstruck at the question she was being asked and wanting to confirm whether or not she had heard it correctly. When she saw her senior nod, Azusa merely frowned, "I am doing just fine."
"You're not being very honest, even though your senior just asked you a question out of genuine concern," Mio replied with a small smirk, taking a sip of her drink while keeping Azusa in her field of vision. With a soft sigh, Mio placed her drink back on the table, turned to look Azusa straight in the eyes and added, "Azusa, we both know that you know that I heard you, so please be honest with me."
Azusa turned away. She wanted to tell her senior everything that was on her mind – the anger and frustration that they weren't practicing as much as she thought they would, the disappointment after realizing that Mio, whom she thought would be trying to make the others practice, wasn't much different and –
"So please answer me, Azusa," Mio's voice sounded distant but close as well, startling the younger girl slightly as she turned to look in her direction, "What is bothering you?"
"Everything!" Azusa nearly shouted, having finally reached the breaking point after keeping it all in, "After seeing everybody's performance, I thought you would all practice for hours every day. But not only didn't any of you put any effort in practicing, Yui-senpai and Ritsu-senpai were actively turning away from it!"
"I see… so it was that, after all…" Mio smiled with her eyes closed as Azusa was panting slightly from her outburst. Opening her eyes slightly, Mio looked up to look at something behind Azusa, causing the younger girl to flinch when Mio's expression softened, "It must be hard on you, then, to be in a club like ours. Especially with people like them being all over the news."
Azusa turned around and, as Mio had implied, saw that the TV in the corner was displaying a group of girls from a high school in the next city perform on stage. A large crowd was watching and cheering, and while Azusa had always dreamed of performing live like those nine girls were, she was secretly overwhelmed just by watching that crowd on a screen.
"… do it, Mio-senpai?"
"Sorry?" Mio asked when she noticed that Azusa had said something. In truth, Mio was mesmerized by the performance of the girls on screen as much as Azusa was, especially after all the glow sticks of everybody in the crowd turned from white to bright orange, and missed the junior's words.
"How do you do it?" Azusa repeated uneasily, louder than before but significantly more self-conscious of herself as the words left her lips. When Mio kept staring at her, Azusa knew that she had to elaborate, "How are you able to stand not practicing as a music club?"
"I wonder…" Mio smiled with her eyes closed, slightly irritating her junior by not giving a direct reply to her question.
After a few seconds had come and gone, Azusa started to grow tired of waiting. With an obvious effort to keep her voice steady, the black haired girl tried again, "Mio-senpai? Could you please—"
"It's because I love playing, and I know that they all love playing, too," Mio said calmly, interrupting Azusa before turning her face to look out the window. As a soft smile graced her lips, Mio turned back to face her junior, "Isn't it the same for you too, Azusa?"
"That's…" Azusa trailed off as she looked away, already knowing what her answer was but not willing to admit it just yet. The first-year suddenly found the little bent in her fork very interesting.
"Azusa," Mio's voice was neither condescending nor commanding, but something in her senior's tone made Azusa look up, "If you still want to join us, then please come to our clubroom tomorrow after school. If you really want to quit, then I will make sure that nobody will bother you about joining you again."
"Ah!" Azusa gasped as she heard the distinct sound of metal scraping against wood and, looking up, saw that Mio was on her feet.
"I won't make you tell anybody anything," Mio began as she gathered her stuff and slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder. With a smile and a warm hand on the shorter girl's shoulder, Mio added, "But don't lie to yourself."
Without saying another word, Mio left Azusa alone with her thoughts, and while Azusa was glad that she finally had some time to think things over, she also felt lonely again. As angry as she was, Azusa knew that she enjoyed Mio's company, and now that she was gone she knew that something was missing.
Having made up her mind, Azusa was about to leave as well when her eyes landed on an envelope that she knew wasn't there before. With very shaky hands, the first-year picked up the envelope and turned it around.
"No name at all?" Azusa mused as she turned the envelope around several more times, half expecting a name to magically appear on the white paper.
Looking around to try and see if anybody had dropped it, Azusa was disheartened to see that nobody was showing any signs of noticing her or the envelope. With a sigh, Azusa opened her bag and put the envelope in it, "I guess I don't have a choice now…"
The school day on the following day felt painfully slow for Azusa, and the young guitarist couldn't have wanted for the final bell to ring any faster. She was already on her feet and getting ready to go as soon as the bell signaling the end of the day finally did ring when someone blocked her path.
"Sorry about yesterday," Jun mumbled sheepishly as she neared Azusa with an apologetic smile, Ui right behind her, "How did it go with Mio-senpai?"
"It went great," Azusa replied in a hurried voice as she quickly scanned her desk to make sure that she had everything. Once satisfied, she took her school bag and guitar and added, "But I have to hurry. I'll see you tomorrow!"
Without wasting another second, Azusa sped out of the classroom and left a very dazed Jun and Ui to watch her back.
Azusa didn't even consciously think about where she was running to, somehow she knew that her legs would know where she had to go. Sure enough, after running up the flights of stairs, the twin-tailed girl found herself in front of a very familiar door.
'Am I really sure about this?' the first-year thought to herself, her hand already outstretched to grasp the handle. Something deep down, however, was still holding her back.
"Don't lie to yourself."
Azusa let out a soft gasp as her senior's words from the previous day suddenly resurfaced. Remembering what Mio said didn't only remind her why she was there in the first place, but it also calmed her down.
"Alright, Azusa, you can do it!" Azusa said to herself before closing her eyes tightly and taking a deep breath. In one swift motion, she swung the wooden door open.
Azusa was met with deathly silence. Hesitantly, she slowly opened her eyes and took in the scene in front of her.
Ritsu, Mugi, and Yui were on their respective instruments while Mio was standing opposite to them while clapping her hands to a beat.
Azusa knew that they must have been practicing long before she arrived if the beads of sweat on the four girls' faces were any indication, and was left speechless in the door opening.
Mio, being the one to look at the door when Azusa entered, was the first to notice the newcomer. Stopping what she was doing, she walked over with a smile.
"So, Azusa, what is your answer?" Mio asked with a smile as she neared her junior. Ritsu, Mugi, and Yui, seeing their friend walk away from them, had quickly followed after her only to be surprised by Mio's words.
"What do you mean 'your answer'?" Ritsu exclaimed in shock as she turned to her childhood friend, the other two members sharing her expression. When Mio remained quiet and kept her gaze on Azusa, realization dawned upon the drummer, "Wait a minute… Mio, you didn't!"
"We can't make her do anything that she doesn't want to do," Mio replied matter-of-factly, causing Ritsu to flinch slightly at the tone. Meanwhile, both Mugi and Yui were watching the exchange without fully understanding what was going on and Azusa was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. Turning back to Azusa, Mio added with a much gentler tone, "So have you decided?"
"I—" Azusa tried, but was interrupted as a certain someone finally realized what happened.
"No!" Yui cried, jumping in between Mio and Azusa with her arms outstretched, startling both girls while doing so.
"Yui!" Ritsu hissed, grabbing onto the brunette's arm and trying to pull her to the side, but Yui firmly held her ground.
"Azu-nyan can't leave! Not now!" Yui exclaimed as she grabbed Mio's shoulders, "Not after everything we've done!"
"Everything you've done…?" Azusa repeated slowly, confused, while eyeing all of her seniors. When everybody avoided her gaze and nobody answered her, she turned to the person she had just echoed, "Yui-senpai, what do you mean by that?"
Azusa didn't know what she had done, but the moment the words had left her lips she felt a chill run down her spine. Her seniors weren't supposed to have such an expression on their faces.
"It was supposed to be a secret, wasn't it?" Yui asked sheepishly to no one in particular.
In response to the guitarist's question, Mugi smiled uneasily in her direction, Ritsu threw her head back in a groan and Mio let out a sigh.
"It's no use trying to keep it a secret now," Mio muttered as Yui bowed in apology. Turning to Ritsu, the two childhood friends nodded simultaneously.
"We should apologize for pushing you away, Azusa," Ritsu began, eliciting a small gasp from the girl she was addressing when she bowed, "We were thinking of a way to make it up to you, and we thought up of something."
"You don't—" Azusa tried, but was interrupted when a hand was rudely shoved in front of her face.
"I don't want to hear anything of it!" Ritsu interjected before turning her head sideways to Mugi.
"My parents were able to get us a place to perform not far from here," Mugi began, but was visibly choosing her words very carefully.
"It can be our first live as a group of five members!" Yui continued as she held out her hand for the younger girl to take, "How about it, Azu-nyan?"
"Only if you want to, of course." Mio finished, as the older girls all wore the same bright smile.
To all of their surprise, Azusa did not respond nearly the same way that they had expected her to.
"Azusa?" Ritsu asked carefully, suddenly worried at the sight of the trembling figure in front of her. Yui and Mugi, once they realized it as well, had taken it upon themselves to physically support the junior.
Some time after Ritsu started talking, and before any of the four seniors realized what was going on, Azusa was doubled over and covering her face. Her body shook vigorously and she wouldn't even be able to stand up straight had it not been for the hands on both of her shoulders.
"I'm… sorry…" Azusa's words were barely audible through both the raspy breaths she was taking and the fingers that covered her face, but the other members heard it, "So… so… sorry…"
"Azusa," Mio said gently with a smile, soft enough to avoid potentially startling the short girl but loud enough to be heard. Sure enough, Azusa looked up with reddened eyes to see the outstretched hand of Mio, "Let's go!"
Azusa knew right then and there, as she took her senior's hand in her own, that she had found something. Even if she may not have agreed to their methods before, or now, and even if she had expected something else from the group, Azusa knew that she had found something irreplaceable.
She found a group of friends.
And, Azusa thought as she was engulfed in the group hug, she wouldn't have had it any other way.
And that wraps up this oneshot! I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for tomorrow's oneshot on a different franchise!