A Happy Day

On that day, I dreamt of the past. It's only been six years, but those times felt incredibly distant. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Back when we were all in high school. Houkago Tea Time's last year in Sakura High. Mugi's keyboard, Ritsu's drums, Mio's bass, and Yui's guitar and voice. But most important of all were the smiles we all had during the whole event. Especially Yui's. Right now, I remember my final concert with them there more than I did back then.

I reminisced on those days with the Light Music Club I first knew as I dressed up.

I hummed thoughtfully as I peeked through the curtains into the morning sky. The weather's looking good today.

The chapel was buzzing with activity that it didn't usually find. Guests chattering, a small band playing their music. A commotion that was very much alive without being so huge.

A wedding ceremony.

I rapped my knuckles onto the door of the room where she was getting ready twice. From inside came Mio's voice, "Come in."

As I opened the door, Mio smiled at me in greeting. She was busy quite busy beautifying the bride, after all. "Excuse me."

"Ah! Azunyan!" a most familiar voice cheerily called out. I was greeted with that familiar innocent smile that I always remembered her having.

I smiled back at her. "Yui-senpai," I greeted.

She giggled. "You look kinda strange in that dress," she teased, like she always teased.

But like always, I couldn't help the small heat rising to my face and facing away with a pout. "Geez! Yui-senpai, you never change."

Another giggle. Yui turned around to face me. "Oh, don't worry. You still look cute, like the Azunyan I've always known."

"You haven't changed either, Azusa," Mio commented after scolding the bride for moving around too much and risking ruining her dress. "Didn't we tell you to drop the –senpai long ago?"

"I can't help it," I replied, "it just became something more of a habit." Mio just smiled knowingly, while I sighed. "Ah, Yui-senpai, has Ui showed up yet?"

"Yup, just a while ago!" she said in her usual cheery tone. "She's been crying since even before the ceremony started. She's such a baby!" she finished with a laugh that was immediately silenced by Mio telling her to quit moving around, as she was applying Yui's makeup.

Mio gave a deep sigh when she finished. "There, all done. Try not to ruin your makeup before the ceremony," she told the bride.

"Thank you!" Yui took a look at the mirror and smiled widely. "You're really good at this, aren't you, Mio-chan?"

Mio headed for the door. "Well then, I'll go tell them we're ready."

"Ah, in that case, then I'll go to—," I started before Mio interrupted me.

"Would you do her hair?" she asked with a smile.

"Eh?" Before I could ask why, she was already gone. Although, when I took a look at Yui, I got the answer. I sighed. "Yui-senpai, your hair," I pointed out to her.

"Huh? Wha—whoa! What happened to it!" Yui exclaimed as she saw her now-fuzzy hair in the mirror.

I gave another sigh. "Geez, you've been looking at the mirror for the past few minutes and you didn't notice?"

Yui smiled and faced me. I already knew what was coming. "Azunyan, do it for me," she said.

I don't know if it was a request, a command, or something else entirely. I stopped thinking about it long ago. I heaved yet another sigh before I took a brush. "Just this once," I managed to say, only half-aware of the tiny pout my lips were forming, "since it's a special day."

Yui giggled. "Sorry for asking you."

That wasn't entirely expected. "It's fine. Like I said, this is a special day, after all."

"You're right!" she said as I took her hair into my hands and started brushing it.

As I brushed her surprisingly soft her, I couldn't help but remember those past days. I smiled. I never knew what I expected when I first joined the Light Music Club, and until now I'm still surprised I joined. While everyone in the band had their oddities, they were all capable and were musicians. Yui, however, had always been a special case.

"You don't need to hold back," I said softly. When she looked up at me curiously, I continued brushing her hair. "I'm used to taking trouble from you, so you don't need to hold back, Yui-senpai."

Yui giggled softly in embarrassment. "Come to think of it, isn't this the first time you brushed my hair like this, Azunyan?"

"I've done this for you every now and then!" I couldn't tell if she was teasing me again. She just smiled.

"Do you remember when you joined the club, Azunyan?" she suddenly asked.

I didn't expect the question, but there was no reason not to answer it. It's what had been going through my mind, after all. "Of course." I huffed. "I thought you were a really great guitarist like you said, but that turned out to be a lie!"

Yui laughed. "Sorry, sorry," she apologized, fidgeting. "And then you had to teach me how to play the guitar."

"The problems didn't end there, though." I sighed, remembering all those troublesome memories. But despite those wearisome experiences, I realized I was smiling as I reminisced. "You were so much trouble…," I muttered.

"Azunyan?"

I shook my head, aware of the tears that started welling up in my eyes. I blinked quickly to get rid of them. "It's been so long, hasn't it, Yui-senpai?"

Yui smiled at me through the mirror that innocent and naïve smile she always threw at me. "Did I change much compared to back then, Azunyan?"

"You haven't changed at all, Yui-senpai, as I said earlier."

"Geez, Azunyan. You're as strict as ever."

I gave a small laugh. "You might have gotten a bit less irresponsible than before," I told her, then patted her head. "Right. That should take care of your hair."

"Thank you, Azunyan."

"You're welcome."

We spent a few heartbeats of silence before Yui broke it. "Hey, Azunyan," she called, "what do you think?" she asked, standing up.

Before my eyes was my senior. Irresponsible, naïve, clumsy. She didn't know any musical terms, and she always needed help organizing things and was no good at studying. But that was before.

She was my senior. She lost the yellow clips that had grown so attached to her image. Her brown hair was just a bit longer than I remember, and she was maybe a bit taller. The white dress she wore bore beautiful silken flowers, and it cascaded down to the floor in wonderful shining ripples. I admit that it was not something I could've imagined her in.

I smiled. "You're very beautiful, Yui-senpai." Those weren't words I could've imagined myself ever saying. When I realized that, my cheeks immediately flushed, and I looked away. But when I looked back, she was still smiling that smile that I've always known from her.

She was my senior. Always dreaming, living in the moment. She was always kind-hearted and always tried to do whatever she thought she could do to help whenever her friends were in trouble. Always willing to share their troubles. Cry with them. Smile with them. Smile, always smile whenever she can. That innocent smile brimming with optimism.

It had never changed.

Before I knew it, a single tear had rolled down my cheek.

"Hey, Azunyan," Yui called. She was facing away, but I wiped that tear when I discovered its existence. "I'll bet you didn't know this, so I think I should tell you."

"What is it?"

"I've always been in love with you."

"Ritsu," Mio called.

"Ah, there you are," Ritsu said, leaning back on her chair. "Take over reception for me," she added with a grin, only to be hit by a gentle chop to the head.

"Is everybody here already?" Mio asked.

Ritsu took a moment to check the list before looking back to Mio. "Most of the attendees are here already. What about you?"

"Our preparations are complete," Mio sighed, unexpectedly tired, before taking a seat next to Ritsu. "I guess we'll be able to proceed on time."

"If things keep up, anyway." Ritsu smiled. "By the way, have you seen Azusa?" Maybe she can take over reception for me, she didn't add.

"She came to Yui's room a while ago, so the two of them should be there alone now."

"Huh?" Ritsu stared at Mio. "Just the two of them?"

"Don't worry, you know Yui wouldn't do something silly on a day like this!"

"That's not what I meant…," Ritsu was saying, but Mio was already asking Fumie about the flowers. Ritsu sighed. "Yui's not the one I'm worried about."

"You didn't know that, did you?" Yui asked me. She was smiling, but it was a different smile.

"No," I muttered. "I had no idea," I lied.

"What do you think?" Yui said. "That's a pretty big thing to let out, right?"

I smiled back at her. "A bit too big to fit into my stomach." I looked to the clock, an excuse to look away from my senior. My eyes right now, they weren't something I wanted her to see on a day like this. "Are you ready to go—?"

My question was interrupted by a hug I have never felt in a long time. It was a hug I've long since built an immunity to, due to Yui's clingy nature and high tendency to hug things. Maybe, just maybe, something deep inside me might have gotten too used to not having these hugs, and as a result rendered me weak against them.

Because right now, my ability to speak was taken from me.

No, I had no idea. I lied.

But it wasn't a complete lie.

I knew the way Yui looked at me. A look of longing and admiration in those innocent eyes. I knew she was clingy and kind to everyone, but even I knew that she was clingier to me, more kind to me than she was to everyone else, and she always had been. As I smile an almost bitter smile, I remember those kisses she always tried to throw at me back during those days, those kisses I had always skillfully deflected.

I knew. I knew that my beloved senior had always been in love with me.

I just realized it too late.

Holding back tears, I gave her something I realize I never had done before. I returned her hug. I buried my face into her chest, her chin resting on my head. I couldn't help but feel that she was teasing me about my height, so I laughed softly.

"Azunyan," Yui called softly. "If… if I proposed to you, would you—"

I gently pushed her away, the dam holding me back just barely breaking. "Yui-senpai. They're calling for you," I told her, my voice perfectly normal.

"Yui-chan! Are you ready?" Mugi's voice called out from the door.

"Sorry," Yui apologized, her face giving off an embarrassed blush. "It's hard to move in this dress," she claimed, before calling back to Mugi. "Yeah, I'm ready! You can come in!" she said, cheery and joyful like she always had been.

"Are you ready?" Mugi asked Yui as she came into the room.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Yui replied. They then headed for the door, but before she stepped out—"Azunyan!"

I looked to the bride. "Yes?"

Yui bowed down. "Thank you… for taking care of me all this time."

No, it wasn't like that. It was I who had always been in your care, Yui-senpai. Those dams cracked, and a single tear once more found itself on my cheek. "Geez, Yui-senpai." I wiped that tear once more. "Don't make me cry."

Yui grinned and threw a silly peace sign.

Another tear stubbornly rolling down my other cheek, I called to my beloved senior. "Yui-senpai."

I knew she was clingy and kind to everyone, but even I knew that she was clingier to me, more kind to me than she was to everyone else, and she always had been. And deep inside me, I knew that I enjoyed this fact. I enjoyed thing. Deep inside me, I enjoyed those troublesome times I spent with her. Teaching her incredibly forgetful self to play the guitar, helping her study even though she was one year above me, forcing her to practice, worrying about her, everything.

I would never admit it, of course, but the fact remained.

I was in love with Yui-senpai myself.

That too, I realized too late.

"Congratulations. Good luck, and be happy."

Yui threw a fist into the air, small beads of tears visibly forming on the corners or her eyes as she grinned wide at me. "Sure! Leave it to me! I am your senpai, after all!"

The bells tolled loudly.

She walked towards the person she was to be wed to, guided along the path by her father. Tachibana Himeko waited for her bride, a smile on her face on this happy day.

Whenever I looked back at those past years, the memories were always of you.

I don't know when it happened, but I started enjoying my time with you. That was what I realized about myself.

You were supposed to be a burden, someone who disrupted my life. But, in the end, you became the most important person to me.

The band, the new Light Music Club from Sakura High, started playing, the petals started falling, and every pair of hands started clapping. Tears fell, smiles everywhere.

Yui's brightened face on this happy day as she walked with the person she so dearly loved. It was a different smile, but somehow still the smile I had always known. The smile of my beloved senior, but also the smile of the bride. It was a very bright smile.

Surely, this is for the best. That's what I think from the bottom of my heart.

As my hands clapped, I can feel those tears, stubborn as I was, rolling relentlessly down my cheeks, even as I smiled on this happy day.

Please, let her new days be always happy.

I'm grateful that this day is a happy day.

I hope the days you live from now on will be the best time for you.