It's that time of year again: the time where every kid has to go back to school after lazing around in their so called pleasant vacation. It's not as bad as it seems though. Secretly, they have been looking forward to go back to school because it's yet another year for them to have new memories with friends, and even make new ones. They just refuse to admit that they are actually more excited than disgusted to go back.
Ui seemed kind of out of it today. You could tell that she didn't spend enough time to fix herself for she stood in front of their school spacing out with her hair all over the place. Azusa, who was walking to school with Jun, noticed the strange girl and stopped just a few feet behind.
"Do you think she misses coming to school with Yui?" Jun asked Azusa.
"Y-yeah possibly…" Azusa answered, still unsure about Ui's behavior.
The two approached the troubled girl.
"Ui," Azusa interrupted as she put her hand on the girl's shoulder.
Surprised, Ui slightly jumped and turned around, "Oh, hello guys."
"What's wrong Ui? You seem out of it." Jun asked.
"Ah… I'm sorry. I woke up late this morning and I went to Onee-chan's room but she was still sleeping. I noticed that she didn't have her stuff ready yet so I packed everything for her." Ui's tone changed, "But I didn't have time to make bentou for her." Ui said with a sad expression.
"Eh?" Azusa exclaimed, grabbing Ui's shoulders with a tight grip. "You're not supposed to be doing those things for senpai anymore! She's a college student now."
"Bu-but I want…. to" Ui said softly.
Azusa sighed, "Yui-senpai is never going to learn responsibility if you keep spoiling her like this Ui-chan."
"But…" Ui realized the truth and looked down. A few seconds later, the school bell rang: the sound that students knew by heart. It meant that they had ten minutes to get to class.
"Ah, Ui-chan, Azusa-chan. The bell. We still have to see what homeroom we're going to be in. We'll be late if we don't hurry." June cried out.
The three girls agreed and ran into the school building in a hurry.
As they quickly and desperately searched for their names on the list, it turned out that all three of them are in the same homeroom. Their faces lit up and they briefly shared a smile. The second bell rang. They ran up the stairs to get to the third floor. By the time they got to second, their heart and pulse were already racing and they were also out of breath.
One minute.
They continued to run, and finally reached the third floor.
Thirty seconds.
"Room 3-2! Quickly!" Jun gasped for air.
These three girls have already known each other for more than a year. As it turned out, they're much attuned with each other. Because of this, they work exceptionally well as a team. It's as if they know what the other is thinking and they're able to predict their next move. They don't even have to say a word to each other. It takes only one look. A look that signifies for help or whatever it may be that they're planning. As the girls attempt to get in the classroom on time for class, Jun had already thought of a way to make it. Ui and Azusa nodded, showing their approval. Jun went first, and then slowed down with both her knees and hands locked on the floor. Azusa set her left foot on Jun's back and took a leap; almost making her seem like she's flying across the hallway. She then used her full force to kick open the sliding door with her right foot, and swiftly sprinted in. It was Ui's turn next, but she was running out of breath.
"Go… go on without me Jun-chan," Ui said, panting.
Jun got on her feet, with much determination in her eyes to leave no one behind.
"Ui! Grab my hand!" Jun roared.
Knowing Jun's determination, Ui began to believe in herself. She increased her pace and held out her hand, but it wasn't her hand that Jun was aiming for. Jun grabbed Ui's wrist with both hands and whirled Ui around a couple times, and finally decided to let go. Perfect shot, in she went. Jun had taken big steps and was two feet away from the door.
One second.
She took one more step into the room and the last bell rang.
"I made it!" Jun said happily.
"Great. Now please sit down. You're disturbing the whole class." Sawako sighed. She stood in front of the class, holding a book while she pushed up her glasses.
The room was filled with students and Jun was the only one that stood out. Ui was in a corner trying to locate her consciousness, while Azusa sought to catch her breath.
"I-I'm sorry," Jun sat down, embarrassed.
The class resumed after being abstracted by the awesome three.
After school, the three walked to the music room while carrying their instruments.
"Hey Azusa, since you're the club president now, what are you planning to do?" Jun smiled.
"Club president..." Azusa thought for a moment, and then wandered off to visualize herself as being almighty and strict.
"She's off in her own little world," Ui and Jun thought.
As they passed by the staff room, they came to a halt. Sawako was sitting in her chair, and was also drifting off on her own. She was slouching in her chair, and her eyes appeared empty.
"Sensei…" Ui called out.
Sawako turned around, "WHA-AT" she said in a deep and rough voice.
The girls desperately yearned to run off quickly, "We, we just wanted to know how you're doing. We still have to practice, we'll see you later Sensei!"
Sawako came back to herself, "Huh?"
Everybody knows that college requires more dedication and commitment from students. Usually it puts more pressure on them because it is one step away to land an honorable position in this bloodthirsty world. It's a blood bath out there, especially now that the market is on the verge of going down the drain. College students may as well be role models because it is necessary to have self-discipline and they must study continuously. College is to be taken very seriously.
"Let's go have tea," Yui smiled adorably.
"I do not object!" Ritsu raised her hand.
"Quiet you two," Mio sighed, "we're new in this school and you're already embarrassing us."
"What's this? You're worried about your reputation?" Ritsu taunted, "I wonder what people will think when they see your picture from the festival."
Suddenly, an unpleasant image popped in Mio's head. She envisioned people whispering and looking at her with disgust. Some are laughing and giggling with their backs turned.
"Ritsu!" Mio became flustered and landed a punch on Ritsu's head, causing a tiny bump to swell up to three times the size in less than five seconds.
"What about we study for a few hours, then we'll have cake and tea afterward?" Mugi proposed.
Overflowing with energy from an unknown source, Yui and Ritsu dashed into the library, "Study, study time!"
"Mugi, you're amazing," Mio thought.
Surprisingly, studying didn't quite bother Yui as much as it used to. She seemed more into it now: though her motivation might have come from Mugi's proposal. Ritsu, on the other hand, is, well, being Ritsu. Trying to lighten up the mood, Ritsu jammed two pens in her nostrils and snorted. No reaction from her friends. Everyone was still focusing on their studies. Her effort failed.
"Must come up with another plan," Ritsu thought.
She looked to her side to see Mio concentrating very hard on her work. Ritsu smiled playfully. She knew Mio way too well, ever since when they were still little. She knew her weakness, her strong points and her sensitive spots. She changed her sitting position, faced Mio and got ready. She looked at Mio again to make sure she wasn't aware of what she was up to. Her index finger came closer, and then even much closer to Mio's side. Ritsu gave Mio a soft jab which made her jump and let out a sweet squeal.
"Kyaa!" Mio shrieked, and quickly covered her mouth after realizing how loud she was being.
"Silence over there!" A lady behind the reception desk exclaimed.
Mio apologized to the lady, and gave Ritsu a death glare; a glare that sends off a, 'Your life is mine' aura. Cold sweat was rolling down Ritsu's face as she laughed nervously, and she tried to reason with Mio, but to no avail.
When study time came to an end, the girls came out from the library with a relieved expression, including Ritsu, despite the bumps on her head that seemed to keep piling up.
"Thank goodness! We can finally relax and have tea," Yui said happily.
"I don't know Yui-chan, it's getting kind of late," Mio opposed uneasily.
Mio was alarmed to see Yui's expression change into a helpless and sweet little girl whose requests became too hard to refuse.
"We-we'll go have tea," Mio finally gave in.
"Yeah! That's my Mio!" Ritsu cheered and threw her arms around her childhood friend.
"Don't get friendly with me. I'm not done punishing you," Mio snarled.
"Y-you're scary Mio-chan…" Ritsu said depressingly.
"Ah, it's getting late you guys. My mom is planning on having the whole family for dinner tonight so I'd better run along." Jun said as she packed her things.
"Oh, okay," Azusa replied disappointedly.
"I'm sorry. We'll finish this up tomorrow okay?" Jun said before walking out.
"Have fun," Ui smiled and waved goodbye to her friend.
"Well, I guess it's just us two then," Azusa said, "what do you want to do Ui-chan?"
"I don't really know," Ui answered. There was a moment of silence.
"Say, Azusa, do you have a boyfriend?" Ui asked.
"Eh!" Azusa cried as her face began to turn bright red, "wh-why all of a sudden?"
"Hmm, well you look like the type to be popular with the boys. You're cute, top of the class and you're in the light music club. I'm sure a lot of people have tried confessing their feelings to you." Ui continued.
"I… I'm only interested in the light music club," Azusa said timidly, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Is that so?" Ui said, a bit surprised that Azusa had a tendency to get flustered about this kind of thing.
"But," Azusa paused, "if I ever do get married, I want to marry someone who is kind, dependable, thoughtful, and… cute," she admitted.
"Ah Azusa-chan, so you do have a type!" Ui cheered.
"N-not really. That type of person is hard to come by these days," Azusa reasoned.
"You never know Azusa-chan," Ui smiled; a smile that always guaranteed to give people hope.
"Thank you, Ui-chan," Azusa was influenced by her friend's smile.
Ui's cell phone rang. She ran to where her back pack was sitting and answered the phone. She spent ten seconds talking to the person on the other line and hung up.
"That was Onee-chan," Ui confirmed, "she is having tea with her friends right now and wants me to fix dinner for when she gets home," she said cheerfully.
"Y-you're kidding…" Azusa thought.
The two finished up with practice and went off to enjoy the comfort of their home.
In the afternoon, Yui, Mio, Mugi and Ritsu behaved quite properly in their seat while listening to their university lecturer. That morning, they had already planned to get together after school and practice playing, mostly because they missed playing together. The thought put them in a pleasant mood. However, Ritsu could not endure much longer. She began to lay her head down on her desk and let out a heavy sigh. An eraser bounced off on Ritsu's head which disturbed her peace. She looked over to Yui's direction only to find her giggling. She wanted to get even. She grabbed the eraser that had been previously thrown at her and placed it on her palm. She aimed her palm at Yui with much concentration and her tongue sticking out. She put forth all her might in that one flick, and the eraser went flying across the room. However Yui was a worthy opponent. She was sharp enough to take hold of her pencil case and used it as a shield. The eraser bounced off of the case and went into someone else's shirt, unnoticed. A soft snickering could be heard which came from Mio and Mugi who had witnessed the whole thing.
The statement "time flies when you're having fun" is true. After the girls shared a laugh or two, the class already ended. The other students stood up and raced to the door for they had been looking forward to the weekend. The four girls were thrilled as well. They picked up their guitar case and began to walk out.
"It's been a while since I've played the drums," Ritsu said as she stretched her arms, "I bet you guys miss playing your guitar and keyboard too."
All eyes were on her. It was as if the rest viewed her as an outsider.
"W-what?" Ritsu was curious.
Yui, who saw this opportunity to outshine her friend, had a smug look on her face and gently pounded her chest with pride.
"Unlike you Ricchan, I have been very diligent, diligent enough to play Gitah every night," Yui stated.
"Why you…" Ritsu was annoyed by the latter and commenced a chokehold on Yui.
"Seriously Ritsu, I think you're taking your laziness way too far," Mio said.
"Even when she doesn't practice, she's still pretty good at playing the drums though," Mugi disagreed.
Mugi's declaration brought joy to Ritsu's broken spirit.
"Mugi-chan you are so kind" Ritsu said, trying to hold back her tears of joy.
"Well we had better get a move on. Ritsu still has to go home to get her drums. The studio will close in a few hours." Mio advised.
"We don't have to worry about that. I sent my brother a text to take my drum kit over to the studio." Ritsu smiled, "he should be there by now."
"Wow Ricchan, you really are lazy." Yui said naively.
"I don't want to hear that from you," Ritsu rumbled. The girls started to set out to get to the studio they had rented.
As the girls were about to walk into the studio, they took notice of a nice beat coming from the room. The sound was loud, but it was neither too slow nor too fast. It had the right timing. They slightly opened the door and took a peek. They found a little figure in the room. He was sitting on Ritsu's throne and struck the drums with just enough vigor.
"Awesome," Mugi interrupted.
"Ah," the little boy was startled, "I'm sorry. I started messing around with it and I just got carried away."
"I didn't know you could play the drums, Satoshi-kun," Yui praised.
The boy chuckled and looked a bit embarrassed, "Not as good as my Onee-chan though," he scratched the back of his head.
"Better than Ricchan!" Yui disagreed.
"Oi," Ritsu said, feeling inferior.
"You want to stick around and watch us play?" Mio asked Satoshi.
"Can I?" Satoshi's eyes lit up.
"Of course little brother!" Ritsu added as she put her arm on his shoulder.
The group sounded a little rusty. They had not practiced since they got into Japan Women's University. Still, Satoshi looked like he enjoyed listening to the girls. He realized that when good friends come together, they create a unique sound: a sound that gives one a nice, warm feeling.
"I'm jealous…" Satoshi thought while admiring the group.
"Were you able to get in touch with her?" Ritsu asked Mio.
"No. She's still not answering her phone." Mio responded.
"Do you think she's still sleeping?" Ritsu added.
"Possibly," Mio replied as she stared at her phone.
"Yui-chan!" Ritsu spotted the girl.
"Hello everyone! Sorry I'm late!" Yui ran to her friends with a piece of toast in her mouth. She stopped when she came near to and struggled to catch her breath.
"Well you're in for a surprise," Ritsu smiled.
"What do you mean?" Yui asked, still catching her breath and didn't bother looking up.
"They cancelled school today," Mio revealed.
"What!" Yui cried, causing her to drop the toast.
"Well, we thought you were still in your house and we were going to tell you that they cancelled school so that you didn't have to bother coming all the way here." Ritsu explained.
Yui groaned and let herself fall, "How troublesome," she whimpered.
"Oh you guys are here?" Mugi appeared.
"Well yeah. We thought we had school today but they cancelled it," Ritsu uttered.
"Eh? But I told you about it Ricchan. They announced it yesterday. Since I couldn't reach you, I sent you a message instead. I sent Yui-chan one too." Mugi explained.
"But I didn't get a message from you Mugi-chan," Mio said.
"I figured Ritsu would tell you since you guys are close," Mugi answered.
"Ah," Ritsu froze up.
"Ritsu…" Mio stare at her friend sternly.
"M-Mio I swear I…" Ritsu tried to explain.
"Sheesh, you should really start checking your phone more often Ricchan," Yui criticized.
"I don't want to hear that from you," Ritsu barked.
"So what are we going to do now?" Mugi asked.
The group thought for a moment.
"Ah! We should go to the Aquarium!" Ritsu said excitedly.
"Good idea Ricchan," Mugi praised her.
"Yeah," Yui smiled, "but it would be nice to go with Ui and Azusa-chan," her smile faded, "I sure miss hugging Azusa-chan."
The three girls understood what Yui meant. They, too, missed their kouhai.
"Why don't we go pay them a visit?" Mugi suggested.
"Ohh Mugi-chan you're a genius!" Yui agreed.
"Well, that's that then," Ritsu smiled.
The girls arrived to their destination. They stood outside the gates of their alma mater. Warm feelings and lovely memories came flooding back into their hearts and minds: the good and bad mornings, the hot and cold weather, the festivals held every year, the paths they used to take to school, and of course their old friends whom they still kept in touch with once in a while.
"This is so nostalgic," Mio interrupted the precious silence.
"Y-yeah," Yui agreed.
"Shall we?" Mugi asked.
"Let's go!" Ritsu charged.
The rest of the girls ran after her; their hearts filled with joy and excitement with the anticipation to see their old teachers, especially Azusa and Ui.
Inside the school building, the girls took extra measures not to disturb any classes. They slightly slid the door open and peeked through the tiny gap.
"Do you see them?" Ritsu asked.
"I can't see." Yui struggled to take a good look.
"I think that's them over there," Mugi claimed.
"Really?" Yui said excitedly.
"Keep it down you guys, they can hear us!" Mio said softly.
"Mio-chan… you're unusually heavy today," Ritsu whined.
"Sh-shut up!" Mio's face turned red.
"What are you guys doing?" a voice from behind startled the group.
The pile collapsed.
"Sa-Sawako-chan!" Ritsu yelped.
In the staff room, the four girls were seated facing Sawako.
"What are you doing here? Did you skip school?" Sawako questioned them.
"Of course not!" Yui answered.
"Sensei, school got cancelled today so we thought we'd stop by," Mugi continued.
"You should have at least called first," Sawako warned them
"We-we wanted to surprise everyone!" Ritsu exposed.
"Good afternoon, Sensei," Azusa and Ui greeted.
"Ah, Azu-nyan!" Yui got up from her chair and gave her kouhai a big hug.
"What are you guys doing out of class?" Mugi asked.
"We're on our lunch break right now, and I heard you guys were over here," Ui said.
"You… knew we were here?" Mio wondered.
"Well, you guys were making so much noise back there; it was so hard not to notice," Azusa said. Mio's face turned bright red, Ritsu laughed nervously, Yui continued to hold onto Azusa and Mugi just seemed unaffected.
The time went by fast as the girls enjoyed strolling around the school, rediscovering the places they hadn't been in for almost two years. Finally, they went up to the light music club room. They sat in their old spot and began talking about the past. They remembered their dearest memories such as the time when they saved the club from disbanding, and acquiring new members. They all smiled at the thought.
"I sure miss having tea in this room while talking to you guys like this," Ritsu grinned.
They looked at each other, long enough to remember the times they used to consume sweets. They all shared a laugh. The door opened. Azusa, Ui and Jun found the former light music club members crowding the room. Azusa was suddenly overcome with a familiar feeling: a feeling she used to get when her old band mates waited up for her before practice. A sense of belonging.
"This feels familiar," Ui said.
"Oh that's right," Ritsu stood up, "you guys have to practice. We better get a move on then. We don't want to interrupt these guys."
The rest of the group followed Ritsu. They didn't show any discontent. Instead, they showed their full support for the new members. They may disagree upon many things, but they long for the same goal: for the light music club to live on as long as the school exists. As the four girls were about to step out, they turned around to take one last look at the room.
"You guy practice hard okay?" Yui said, "we look forward to seeing you top our performances."
"It's not like anybody could just beat us though," Ritsu countered, and for that statement, she received a blow in the head from her dear childhood friend.
"Enough with your encouraging words," Mio said infuriatingly.
"Bye guys, have fun!" the four waved farewell to the younger group.
When the door closed, Azusa felt lonely. She wanted to cry, and she almost did, but she had to keep herself together for the new members. She had to act strong, and crying would just make her look weak and disgraceful.
"It's okay Azusa-chan," Ui reassured Azusa, as if she was reading her mind, "I know you miss them."
Azusa wiped the tears that filled her eyes. Just Ui's and Jun's presence alone somehow made her feel at ease again.
"Okay, let's practice," Azusa smirked.
It was time for the four girls to go on their separate ways. Yui took the route that she used to take when leaving from school, while Mugi set off to her old path where she often disappeared mysteriously. The girls said their farewells and went on about their business.
"Mio, what are you planning to do after college?" Ritsu asked.
Mio thought for a while, "I'm not sure."
"After visiting our old club room today, I realized I really want to play with everybody. That would be nice, espeically when we could perform shows internationally." Ritsu disclosed.
"I know what you mean," Mio smiled
"But you wouldn't be able to join us though if we did," Ritsu said.
"W-why?" the troubled Mio asked.
"Because then you'd get married and become a full time house wife," Ritsu teased.
"No way!" Mio stuttered, "I will go wherever you guys go! I will stay by your side!"
"I know, I know. I was just joking," Ritsu chuckled.
"Well don't joke about something like that!" Mio argued.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Ritsu smiled.
Mio and Ritsu continued to walk home as the sun began to set and looked forward to a new day ahead.