Note: I do not own any of the K-ON! characters. The places and characters I added are fictional. Any resemblance to real places and real people, living or dead, are purely coincidental.
The perfect spot. Peaceful. Quiet. Isolated. A good view of busy student life from a distance.
Mio sat on one of the empty wooden benches. 'Finally,' she thought. She had been searching for the ideal place to write new songs. Her room in the university dorm was becoming too uncomfortable for her to write in because of the distractions she would encounter over and over that she decided to tour the campus and survey areas suitable for her songwriting environment. And after a few days of searching from one area after another, she finally found a small hidden garden some meters away from the crowded campus buildings and dormitories.
Mio wondered why there are no students coming here. If there are, she wondered why she didn't see any over the past few days she had surveyed the place. Putting the thought aside, she unpacked her notebook and pen from her bag. Houkago Tea Time needs new songs, she said to herself, putting on her headphones and turning her player on. Breathing in and gathering her thoughts, she slowly entered into her songwriting mode.
"What did Dr. Masuda say?"
"She said I won't need the crutches anymore," Akutsu Shiba pushed her saddle-round glasses back as she answered over her phone. She hobbled along the brick outdoor footpath with her injured ankle as the gentle wind blew through her unruly mess of short, dark brown hair.
"That's a good sign, at least." The person on the other end was Shimizu Mari, Shiba's fellow co-founder and fellow band member of Kohi Break. While Mari led Kohi Break for the most part, Shiba was responsible for composition and arrangement. Both tasks were taxing, but she managed to handle it well. Only…
"Anou… what day is it today?"
Shiba had a handicap for dates and days.
"It's Tuesday."
"Ah," Shiba chuckled, glancing at an open palm she had raised to count just in case the day in her head was wrong. "Then, I'm not lost yet. I'll send you the arrangement and the words before I go home for the weekend." She placed her hand back into her coat pocket.
"I still wonder if you're the right person for the job."
"Oi!"
Mari chuckled. "Eto… Class is in a few minutes. I'll call you when it's over. Ja."
"Ja."
Shiba hung up. Just as she was about to return her phone to her bag, it beeped. Shiba stopped to open her phone. The phone lit up and displayed a new text message. Shiba confirmed to read.
[Burger?]
Shiba smiled. Of course, today is Tuesday. And Tuesday nights are reserved for burger night.
[Sure. Same place?]
Shiba confirmed to send her reply. Good thing, she didn't forget what today was. As she slipped her phone back into her bag, her eyes suddenly took notice of a rack of flyers a few steps away from her. 'Hm…' Again, she reached into her bag.
"Where's Mio?"
"Mio-chan said she was going to write new songs," Mugi answered Ritsu, sitting down and handing over filled cups of tea to everyone. Then, she placed her thermos in the middle of the table, next to the reserved slice of cake meant for Mio.
"Yui and Ritsu each sliced a small piece from each of their slices and sampled the cake. "Mmm… Oishiii…"
"Hontou?" Mugi said.
"Hai. Eto… Where did you get the cake, Mugi-chan?" Yui stared at her slice of cake of white with biscuit crust at the bottom and fresh berries lightly drizzled with chocolate fudge on top.
"Sou," Ritsu said, slicing another small piece from her slice of cake. "I thought you wanted to be independent, Mugi. Where've you been getting the sweets and tea from?"
Mugi giggled. After months of their supply of sweets and tea, Ritsu and Yui only asked just now. Maybe they were still used to the old Mugi, who brought in expensive tea and sweets for them to feast on during their Sakuragaoka days. None of them bothered to ask about her new source. Even Mio. "I am," she said. "One of my friends owns a café not far from here."
"Eh?" Yui uttered, crumbs of cake on her cheek, smiling childishly. Her slice of cake was almost half-consumed. "You're so lucky, Mugi-chan."
"Well, the cake is really good. Really, really good." Ritsu reached for the cake's dark green box top and flipped it over. "E-eh?"
"Let me see, too," Yui bent over for a closer look.
"Sou desu ka?" the two chorused, all eyes wide open at the logo of a lone clover planted on a crescent moon that surrounded it. It was the logo of the famed Moonclover Café.
Moonclover Café is a small café not at a few blocks away from campus. Aside from its classic setting, the place was known for its inexpensive beverages and homemade sweets that it was almost always a full house, no matter what time of day. The Houkago Tea Time wanted to try their menu ever since it opened during their freshman year, but there was never any space for all of them.
Leftovers? Stock? With a full house almost every day, it seemed impossible.
"Eh… Sugoi ne!" Yui said, eyes brimming with wonder. "You really are lucky, Mugi-chan."
"Your friend owns Moonclover Café?" Ritsu said.
"Hai," Mugi nodded. "I wanted to work at the café for extra funds. She kept declining my offer at first. But…" She stopped to sip her tea.
"But?" Ritsu echoed.
Mugi always had it her way… for some reason.
"Since I kept insisting for weeks, she finally offered me part-time work," Mugi said smilingly.
"Part-time work?" Yui said.
"The café offers limited and seasonal creations," Mugi explained. "She asks for my help in thinking and in making them." She lifted her untouched slice of cake. "Like this one."
Yui clapped. "Sugoi, sugoi ne!"
"What's it called?" Ritsu asked.
"Oh, this cake doesn't have a name yet," Mugi answered, putting her cake slice down. "The sweets I bring often don't have names yet because they're samples."
"S-Samples?" the two chorused.
"Hai," Mugi nodded.
"Oh…" the two uttered in awe.
Mugi giggled. "Another slice, anyone?"
"Hai!"
The faint bell ring could be heard from the hidden garden. Another class has ended. Mio looked up and noticed the view of dusk. From clear blue and white, the sky had now turned into a mix of orange and gray shades. Time flew by fast. Soon, it will be dark. It was time for her to go back to the dorm, but she wasn't done. 'Maybe tomorrow,' she thought. Taking off her headphones, she stretched a bit and started to pack her things back into her bag.
Growl.
Growl.
Growl.
Her stomach was growling. Mio remembered leaving in a rush just before tea time. 'I wonder what they had,' she thought. The sweets Mugi had been bringing in lately were hard to resist, but she intended to cut down on her intake. This was her reason to leave before tea time. Her stomach was growling in protest. 'I should've eaten first…'
Grrrrroooowwwwwllllll…
Maybe cutting down is a little too harsh.
Maybe next time?
Again?
Mio sighed. So hopeless… Her eyes came across the half-filled page of her folded spring notebook. She lifted the notebook and ran through the unfinished song before closing it. Somehow, she felt the words were half-inspired. They didn't seem to fit the arrangement. She needed to change the words.
Growl.
There's a lesson besides thinking on an empty stomach. There's always tomorrow.
As Mio closed her notebook, a sheet of folded paper slipped off to the stoned ground. Mio picked it up. It was her Literature Club Contributor Form.
Every year, the university's Literature Club releases a compilation of short stories, essays, and poems written by its current members. To make it more interesting, the club opens a contest for non-Literature Club members. The chosen entries will be featured in the annual compilation.
Mio thought it was embarrassing, but she decided to participate this year.
The top three entries chosen by the club's screening panel will win prizes. Recognition aside, she needed extra funds.
Compromising purist beliefs for survival is how one classmate defined college life. She refused to believe it at first. Well…
The truth hurts.
Mio partly opened her notebook to slip the form back in. But a sudden burst of air knocked the form away from her loose grip.
Click.
Click.
Shiba took town her camera to preview her previous two shots. The birds flying in V-shaped pattern across the sky during daylight's end. The first shot was blurry. The next one was still. She decided to keep both. She turned her camera off and placed it in her bag. 'Done for the day. Time to go,' she thought. She needed to prepare for burger night.
A light breeze suddenly blew against her, and she felt something touch her leg. She bent over to pick it up.
"Chotto matte!"
"Eh?" Shiba uttered and looked up. "A-"
'Hazukashi…' Mio thought. She tripped and fell while chasing after her form. It was supposed to hurt. But she managed to land on something soft. Something soft? "Eh?" she uttered, quickly moving away.
There was someone underneath her. Like Mio, she was sitting on the ground.
"G-gomen…" Mio said, turning slightly red with embarrassment.
"Maa, maa… It was an accident… Akiyama-san?"
"Eh?"
"I saw the name on the form. That is your name, right?"
"Ah… Hai… " Mio nodded with even more embarrassment. "Akiyama Mio. You are…?" She slightly turned and noticed an open hand asking hers.
"Akutsu Shiba."
'Akutsu Shiba…' Mio thought. Has she heard that name before? She looked up as she placed her hand on Shiba's.