Title: Romeo and Azunyan
Pairings: slight Yui/Azu
Setting: Alternate storyline of the manga where Azusa's light music club puts on their rendition of Romeo and Juliet, and the girls from HTT come to visit for the play and the Fresh Leaf Girls' concert the next day.
Notes: A little out of my comfort zone, a little (or a lot) random, and it's a bit long but I am proud of this one to say the least.
"Oh R-Romeo … W-Where for a-art thou Romeo…?"
Standing at the front of the stage, clutching a script in one hand, a tiny girl with twin ponytails recited lines from a familiar play.
"Ah … Um … Oh no, I forgot my lines!"
On the other end of the stage, a confused blonde stood trying to find her place in the script.
"No, no, no! Azusa, you're too stiff! And Sumire, we've gone over this a hundred times, you're starting from Part D, remember?"
It was a rather noisy afternoon at Sakura High. The senior class was putting on their rendition of Romeo and Juliet for a class project. After last year's class put on their performance of the play, Azusa's class voted to give it a try this year as well. Somehow, Nao and Sumire, who were underclassmen, ended up helping because everyone else volunteered to do other work.
"Ui! Where are those costumes that we put over there?"
"Miss Sawa-chan-sensei took them into the home ec room and hasn't come out!"
"Urgh …" sighed Jun.
Somehow, Jun ended up as director for the play, and was quick to start ordering people around. Ui was made stage manager, while Nao was given the role of managing the lights and sound system, as she had no talent whatsoever in acting. Sumire was given the role of Romeo because nobody else signed up for the role, while Azusa Nakano splendidly won the vote to play Juliet by a landslide vote.
Now, a couple of weeks into rehearsal, it seemed like it would take a lot of work before these girls were ready to take on the festival.
"I-I'm sorry everyone… I'm trying my best, but the lines just won't stick in my head…" said Sumire sadly
"Me too… I'm so nervous I can barely speak," sighed Azusa, leaning against the wall. "Is this what my senpais had to go through last year? It's tougher than I imagined."
"O-kay people, let's try running through it one more time!" said Jun loudly. "From the top!"
"Eh? Oh, um…" Flustered, Sumire frantically flipped through the script in her hand, accidentally cutting her finger in the process. "Owie…!"
"First-aid, please? Someone? Anyone?" sighed Jun in exasperation as Sumire held her finger with tears in her eyes. "Fine, fine, let's cut practice short for today, we'll have to work harder next time."
After everything was put away, the Fresh Leaf Girls left to go to the club room. Ui put on some tea and Azusa brought out snacks, and soon the sounds of munching and sipping tea filled the room, along with the clacking of Nao's keyboard.
"Hey, Nao, did you come up with a setlist for our concert for the last day of the festival?" asked Azusa.
Silence from Nao, just the click-clack of the keyboard.
"Oi, Nao!"
In response, Nao hit the enter key, and Azusa's voice came out of the speakers.
Azusa's voice: "THe-sET-LisT-IS-tApED-TO-THe-WHite-BoARd!"
Sumire's voice: "hAVe a NICe daY seNpai!"
Shocked, Azusa fell out of her chair.
"W-W-What the…? How'd you…?"
"It's simple, I made voice recordings of both you and Sumire, and I used a voice program so that I can make it say whatever I type in. I've been recording your voices during practice or during tea times so that I can archive all the necessary sounds to make full sentences. It was an experiment so that in case you forget your lines, I'll play something from the soundbooth to cover you guys." said Nao, who then took a big breath. Apparently she said all that in one breath.
"Haha, what a reliable kouhai I have…" said Azusa somewhat proudly, somewhat creeped out.
Nao then added:
"Of course, I originally planned to use this program so that I can play your voice through the speakers instead of you singing, only I can fix it to make it sound better…Ouch!"
Azusa had gotten up and whacked Nao on the head to make her stop. Ui saw this and giggled.
"Azusa-chan, it seems that Mio-chan has rubbed off on you."
Azusa blushed.
"N-N-No, no, I don't really think so, I-I-I only was trying to…"
*So easy to read* thought Ui with a warm smile.
The door opened to reveal Sumire, with a band-aid wrapped around her paper cut.
"Ah, Sumire-chan, are you alright?" asked Ui.
"I'll be okay, it's just a little cut," replied Sumire.
Jun walked in behind Sumire.
"Guys, how are we supposed to practice if we keep messing up? Last year's class did an amazing job, so I wanna beat them this year!"
"Jun-chan, this isn't a competition…" said Azusa with a sigh. "After all, it's for the festival."
"Ok, here's what we're gonna do, we'll go over to Azusa's house and practice even harder!" yelled Jun, clearly not listening.
Sumire lifted her bandaged hand.
"Yay!"
*Haha, maybe things will go well after all* though Azusa.
"Well, it seems like everything's going well, I think…" said a voice behind Azusa.
"Yea…wait, what?"
Azusa turned in shock to discover their advisor, Miss Yamanaka, who had appeared out of nowhere like usual. She could still never get used to that even after almost three years of knowing her. Upon closer inspection, Sawa-chan appeared to have dark circles under her eyes and looked like she was about to pass out.
"Sawa-chan-sensei, where have you been? We've been looking for you for ages!" said Ui, passing a cup of hot tea into the teacher's trembling hand.
"I…stayed up for four nights straight…working on costumes again this year…I think I spread myself even thinner than last year…with all the booths and classes and costumes…"
She took a sip from the teacup, then suddenly began radiating with light.
"Ah…tea after so long…I can just die with happiness!" she said with a blissful sigh.
*Don't die…* thought Azusa.
*Don't die…* thought Ui.
*Im hungry…* thought Jun.
—
Fast forward to the day of the play, all the girls were frantically running around backstage trying to sort everything out. Jun was in the back rescuing Nao, who was buried beneath a pile of books and a shelf which had fallen on her for no reason. Sumire, with her golden hair tied up to look like a boy, was nervously arranging her costume, muttering lines under her breath. Ui was directing other members of the cast and crew to their positions, doing the work of three people at once flawlessly. Sawa-chan was collapsed in the music room, having used up all her energy to finish Azusa's dress at the last minute.
Azusa was dressed in a long flowing blue gown, with long sleeves that reached her wrist and a skirt that had gold and silver decorations by the hem; it really was a beautiful dress, and Azusa loved it.
…now if only she could be less nervous and stop trembling. She wished that she had Ton-chan with her to calm her down, but the little turtle was left in the music room.
Ui walked past Azusa on the way to her station.
"Don't worry, Azusa-chan, you look beautiful! My sister would never stop hugging you if she saw you in that!"
"Aw, thanks Ui, that means a lot" said Azusa blushing.
"Speaking of my sister…" said Ui, pointing behind Azusa.
"Huh?"
Azusa turned around to catch a glimpse of a brown-haired whirlwind before being caught in a massive hug.
"Azuuuuu-nyan!" said the brown-haired girl, squeezing Azusa like no tomorrow.
"S-Senpai?! W-What are you doing here?"
"We've come to pay you a visit, Azusa" came the voice of Mio-senpai. The rest of Houkago Tea Time appeared behind Yui, who was still hugging the living daylights out of Azusa.
"S-Sen-pai…" squeaked Azusa, losing consciousness for lack of air.
"Big Sis! She can't breathe!"
"Wahhh, Azunyan!"
Pretty soon, the entire backstage was filled with laughter. Azusa let loose tears of joy, for she hadn't seen her senpais since they left for college.
"So, you're replacing me as Juliet, huh? Break a leg, kiddo. Go out there, trip on that dress, and break a leg…Ouch!" said Ritsu. Mio whacked her on the head before Ritsu could continue the joke.
Azusa giggled; *maybe Mio-senpai has rubbed off on me.*
"We're staying for tea after the show, and we're coming back tomorrow to watch your concert!" said Mugi-senpai. "We can't wait to see how your light music club's doing."
"Yea, but remember, you're still a part of HTT, we can't function without you, kid." chimed in Ritsu-senpai.
"Have fun on stage, we'll be watching from the front row!" said Mio-senpai.
"Good luck!" said Yui-senpai, before the older girls left the stage door for their seats.
Azusa smiled all the more wider, wiping away tears of happiness. She can do this!
The play went very well so far. Sumire played a brilliant and daring Romeo, while Azusa' with her long gown and dark hair flowing down her back, was simply beautiful as Juliet.
*I'm pretty sure Azusa just caused her own fan club to be born* thought Ui, as a lot of girls in the audience were focusing solely on the Japanese-doll-like girl.
Sumire only forgot her lines once, but thanks to Nao and her ingenious voice program, the missing lyrics were filled in with Sumire's recorded voice, and the real Sumire just had to mime the words. No one in the audience could tell the difference.
As the final curtain lowered, Azusa and the cast and crew stepped out from backstage to do a final curtain call. As Azusa's name was called, she stepped forward and took a bow, to which the audience applauded, and a section of the crowd screamed "We love you Azusa-senpai!"
*Definitely started a fan club there, Azusa* though everyone in Fresh Leaf Girls.
As Azusa turned to head off stage, the sound of running reached her ears. She turned a second too late as Yui had jumped up on stage to embrace her.
"Senpai, noo!" screamed Azusa, then Yui crashed into her, knocking them both to the floor.
Laughter filled the auditorium.
As Yui started rubbing her face against Azusa's, people started taking pictures. All Azusa could think was
"Nooooooooo…."
