Ignore the title for the time being please. It has its weight, but I only have like 3500 words on paper! Titles take a while to make sense, but they will! I promise!
Of course, I don't own any of these characters, nor the series itself, so stop mocking me.
Sarcasm aside, this is my first real attempt at a K-ON! fic and I've enjoyed writing it thus far. As promised, there will be three pairings here. MioxRitsu, YuixAzusa, and Mugix(?) Yes, there will be a surprise pairing. I dare you to guess.
The time span is their third year, Azusa's second, and over laps most of it. Please forgive any OOC writing through the thing... I'm basically trying to make Mio, Ritsu, and Azusa lesbian, when the series hasn't really said they were yet. Or given any overt hints to it. Azusa will be easy, Ritsu a little more difficult... and Mio will be hard. Mio is through and through the straightest character in the series. Mugi will be easier, since she's already been shown to be gay. (?) will be easy too.
? will be an original pairing, but not an OC. I'll just be giving love to a lesser known and celebrated character.
I'm covering a pretty wide time span here, and if you notice any missed events that were important, please let me know. Also, if you notice anything blaringly OOC, aside from lesbianism, please inform me so I can change that!
Thank you readers, and please leave a review to let me know what you liked about it! And what you disliked! And whatever else you wanna share with me. Thanks!
"There are two truths in life..." The thick, droning voice of Sakuragaoka secondary school's philosophy teacher explained, "These two truths hold true no matter where you are, where you have been, who you are now, or who you will become..."
One student, a back of the classroom slacker, couldn't help but think. 'Ya and what if I kill myself before the end of your lecture? Then will I save myself from these two truths?'
"These two truths aren't a secret, they simply require a little bit of thought..."
'Then why are you telling us this? If it isn't a secret, why should I give a...'
"These two truths are what allow us to determine what drives us. Every human, every action, is determined by these two things!..."
'Really? Do you think they might help me go to sleep so I don't have to listen to you?...'
"Now, without further ado..."
'The tension is killing me...'
"The two truths are as follows. Firstly, every human on this earth has desires. Secondly, every human on this Earth has secrets."
Ritsu Tainaka was about to respond to this in her thoughts... but instead, ended up slamming her head into the desk. It seemed appropriate, but naturally, the teacher was too obsessed to notice the girl's self mutilating practice. Ritsu however, felt better and better each time her head hit the desk, it seemed like it was getting the damned memory out. A sharp whisper broke her habit.
"Ritsu, pay attention!" The voice whisper yelled to her. It seemed almost corporeal at first... but Ritsu knew that only one other student would actually tell her to stop. She looked up to see the stern, unyielding eyes of her best friend, a girl who actually tried in her classes. Mio Akiyama. Ritsu had no trouble matching the girl's grey eyed stare, and before long, philosophy class had turned into a one sided staring contest.
Mio looked into Ritsu's brilliant brown eyes, but it wasn't very long before something felt off to her. Perhaps it was the fact that she had been looking at Ritsu for a while, and her disciplinary stare had turned into more of an innocent, confused glance. Mio realized she wasn't in charge of the situation any more... Ritsu's Cheshire grin told her that much. She quickly turned her head around, looking towards the front of the class.
Their teacher, Mr. Kariah, continued the lecture. Mio took note, he was the kind of guy that... really didn't care if anyone was listening to him. He just liked to talk. It was during his class that Mio always felt grateful that she actually liked the subject... unlike most of her class which slept, read, or did whatever the hell Ritsu was doing today.
The worst part of it was that despite the subject being interesting, Mr. Kariah liked to teach with all the lights off and the blinds pulled shut. The result? A thin, light blue aura peeking through the windows into the stuffy, warm classroom. Combined with his thick, two tone voice, even good students had trouble staying awake in that. Mio began to dose off... until something hit her in the back of the head.
She snapped to attention, a small something hitting the back of her head interrupting her light sleep. Another... and another! Mio turned, and saw Ritsu contentedly flicking tiny ball of paper after tiny ball of paper into the back of her hair. "Baka!" She whispered sharply.
Ritsu looked equally surprised at Mio, her head shaking and shooting up. Once again, she was met by stern, grey eyes looking straight into her soul. "Ohh you woke up..." Ritsu said quietly, looking right at Mio. "Too bad! I got like 20 pieces of paper stuck in your hair while you were napping." She whispered, loudly, with an almost triumphant tone... a tone that Mio hated with everything that she was.
Now, blushing is a powerful and overt way to convey emotions. It can show apprehension, sorrow, surprise, stimulation... but in Mio's case... it was embarrassment with but a hint of anger. She looked at Ritsu, as if she wanted to say something... but Ritsu looked like she wanted her to say something. "Make a move" her eyes said to Mio... and that was a trap Mio would not play into.
Instead, the raven haired girl turned back towards the front of the classroom, and began to groom her hair. She did have to give credit... Ritsu had gotten quite a bit of paper in there. Apparently, having no feeling in your hair isn't always a good thing... if you sit in front of Ritsu naturally. Mio ran her fingers through her hair, and was thankfully for once in her life that she had long fingers. Small pieces of paper fell to the floor like rain, only causing Mio to blush further as a few eyes turned to her.
Ritsu would pay for that later...
As the day continued forth, Mio couldn't help but feel a mixture of emotions towards Ritsu and their philosophy class experience. Sure... flicking pieces of paper into her hair was something she would expect... but she had never felt so intimidated by Ritsu's eyes before. That grin on the girl's face... there was almost a fire to them, a fire that Mio didn't like. The situation bothered her... and that was only their first hour! Sure, Mio did get a few hours without Ritsu or Yui or even Mugi in her class... but they still had after school.
She did her best to pay attention in her trigonometry class, bless her heart, but the subject material was nearly basic. It was only the start of their second semester after all! Any time the teacher got up to demonstrate an elementary problem... Mio's mind drifted slightly. Any other day it might have gone to music, air fretting her bass parts, or even something she had watched on TV with her parents last night... but every time she drifted away, Ritsu's goddamned grin and fire filled eyes would enter her head.
'What the heck even happened?' Mio thought to herself, looking out the window. "When I shut her up... she gave that innocent look that a child gives when caught red handed... but it turned around! When did Baka Ritsu learn to turn it around on me!' Her inner thoughts ran from there. She hung her head, putting her palms against her face. She just couldn't stop. 'How did she even do it? When did she switch it around on me? The second time she was flicking paper, she stopped... but the first time she actually took control of me!'
Her second and third periods went exactly like this. She ran the same situation through her head... She told Ritsu to pay attention... Ritsu pulled the innocent thing... A second later, she couldn't break free of Ritsu's gaze. That's when Ritsu started to grin... like she'd caught a shark. Mio was that shark... and Mio was in her net. Though that entire situation lasted maybe 4 seconds... it felt like an eternity. Mio managed to get free of that net and swim back into the waters of philosophy class... but not without a mark on her conscience.
Lunch came... but Mio wasn't comfortable going to the music room or anything. Today, she would be eating lunch with a friend from last year, hopefully to distract herself from her some how more cleaver best friend. Nodoka had no trouble accepting Mio's offer to eat with her. Due to not knowing anyone last year besides her, the two had gotten surprisingly close to each other. Even as the student body president, Nodoka made time for Mio. The others understood, and went to eat elsewhere.
However, instead of a casual lunch, Mio knew exactly what she wanted to talk about.
"I just don't understand Nodoka..." She said as she munched on a cheaply made and packaged rice ball, "Do you know what I mean? Have you ever had that happen?"
Even though Mio explained the entire story to her... Nodoka didn't really get it. Mio was thorough in the re-cap of it and everything... but she couldn't think of anything that could cause that. You know... except one thing. "Well... like 2 years ago I was caught staring at my crush in class..."
"That's not it!" Mio yelped as quickly as she could, almost splattering the other girl with cheap rice. "I do NOT have a crush on Ritsu. Heck, I was just trying to get her to listen in class! I wasn't ch... checking her out..." Naturally, her demeanor shifted in the middle of her small rant. She went from a mixture of enraged and embarrassed... to all embarrassed and almost ashamed.
"Sorry! I just don't know what could cause that." Nodoka said, sheepishly. Mio could have sworn that a small drop of sweat dripped down Nodoka's temple... was this a manga or something!
'I'm losing my mind...' Mio thought to herself, shaking her head. "Well, it was probably nothing like you said when we started lunch. Ritsu isn't that cunning... and I'm not attracted to her." She insisted on that part, there was no way she was attracted to Ritsu. Right?
Ritsu however, she was nervous in different kinds of way. Her philosophy class encounter was being viewed different by her. Her second hour was also different from Yui and Mio... but thankfully, she had Mugi with her. College prep algebra, basically a review of algebra 2, perfect for Ritsu. Mugi was... just not a math or science girl. No shame in that... and it was perfect for Ritsu.
She and Mugi had been communicating. Ever since that day that they had together, the short, simple get together in the summer, they had been talking more and more. Ritsu considered Mugi like the friend that no one knew she had, a friend that she could talk with about as much as she wanted to. She would probably never be as deep with Mugi as she was with Mio, because she had known Mio for ages longer than Mugi... but she could talk with Mugi about other things.
Today, she wrote up a note. Mugi sat next to her, but the school had a lead lined roof so texts couldn't go through. Back to the 90's she assumed, as she scribbled down a hasty, short hand note. She folded it and passed it over as the Algebra teacher scribbled notes on the board.
She waited a few minutes, before Tsumugi returned the note, looking a bit confused. Ritsu opened it. It had an arrow pointed up to her message, and a message from Mugi that said "What does this say?" Ritsu hung her head, and took a few deep breaths. She looked at her message... it was the worst her hand writing had been since early primary school.
A few deep breaths later, and she was under control enough to scribble down another note. She wasn't extremely nervous... more like extremely excited. She handed the note to Mugi.
The blonde girl unfolded it, and scanned the paper with her bright blue eyes. "I think I did it right." Was all the note said. Mugi nodded, and intently wrote down her message before passing it back.
"What happened?" Ritsu wrote down the events. The head banging, the stare, Mio's embarrassed look, even her paper flicking... the note was returned.
Ritsu waited a few minutes, watching Mugi intently study the note nodding her head occasionally, subconsciously nibbling the end of her pencil. Ritsu loved the amazed, focused look on Mugi's face. The blonde haired girl quickly scribbled down another note, and passed it back to Ritsu.
Ritsu opened it, feeling a bit... nervous. It wasn't something she felt often... and she didn't like it. But she pushed through the feeling and opened the note up, only to see four words written on the small slip. "Good. Now you wait."
Ritsu didn't want to wait, but even though she had tried to keep the archaic note passing conversation going with Mugi, once the note was in Mugi's hand, it wasn't passed back. Note after note she sacrificed trying to spark Mugi into conversation... but all of second hour and 44 pieces of scratch paper later, Mugi had not only half of her notebook, but had effectively destroyed conversation.
Ritsu's third hour was away from everyone, except Azusa. But Azusa sat clear across the room, thanks to the teacher's experience in planning out a seating chart that would literally kill talking. This teacher, Mrs. Rekako, was one of the most experienced and the most renowned across most of Northern Japan. This teacher hadn't failed a student in 10 years, and had been teaching twice as long as Ritsu had been alive.
Azusa, a good student, was by the window along with all the other good students, while Ritsu was against the wall along with other bad and medium bad kids. After a few weeks of seeing who was who, Mrs. Rekako could plan a seating chart perfectly so no talking would happen. This plan worked, as Ritsu had no trouble keeping a B in this advanced composition class, and most of the time, she didn't have any time or desire to day dream.
Today was the exception.
Many might think that today she would be thinking about the same Mio was thinking about ever since their first period, or about how hungry she was, or about new drum sets... the usual. But no, she had the note from Mugi saying she had done alright... no point in thinking about it further. No no, today, now that things were in motion, she had to think about what had lead her here.
It wasn't that far past the "freshmen" orientation of this very year, not but a few months ago. Ritsu had thought it as nothing more than an activity... but some one, a particular feline-esque second year, reminded her of something. This was their last year together... not only the Keion club, but also the dynamic duo, Mio and Ritsu.
At first, when Mio told Ritsu at the end of last year that a university had recommended her, Ritsu was ecstatic about it. Her best friend, smart enough to have a university accept her without even having to apply, she couldn't have been happier! But after Azusa so carefully reminded her that Ritsu didn't have the GPA to get into that university, and that being the last year of school, Ritsu and Mio wouldn't be able to see each other every day. At first, Ritsu was stoic about this, as she knew that Mio and she would be able to keep in touch with one another.
But... the days began to corrode, and Ritsu felt her and Mio getting further and further apart. It wasn't REALLY happening mind you, but Ritsu's imagination had a way of running. Especially in Algebra class... or in composition... but that's beside the point. Her energy devoted itself to making her think that at the end of this year, she and Mio would never see each other again.
Ritsu, if given enough time to think, could explain that desperation... but what she couldn't explain was two very strange dreams.
She and Mio were on a boat. All good and memorable dreams usually have a boat in them anyways, so it seemed fitting. Mio was leaning on the edge of a boat, suffering from a beautiful sunset and a small degree of sea sickness. Ritsu was beside her, and the two were talking.
Ritsu felt herself talking, but she couldn't understand a single thing either of them said. Though... all of her other senses picked up the boat, just not her hearing. She could feel the cool evening breeze on her face, feel the hard boards under her naked feet, taste the salty breeze, smell the ocean, and of course, she would see everything in vivid detail.
Suddenly, the boat shifted. Predictably, and much to Ritsu's dismay, Mio had fallen over the edge of the giant cruise ship, and was plummeting to her inevitable death. But before Ritsu could even react, she felt Mio's hand holding on to her hand. Ritsu looked down at the girl alarmingly, seeing Mio's tear filled grey eyes staring back at her. Her ears rang, for a second, and then sound came to her. She could only hear one thing, "Don't lose me."
From there on out... her feelings from Mio shifted drastically from day to day, even hour to hour during certain times of the month, and the changes were sporadic. One was unrealistic, her considering Mio like the "sister she never had", but that was darn close to the "best friend anyone could ever ask for". However... Ritsu's determination didn't stop there. Her obsession about losing her best friend changed harshly after another strange dream.
It mimicked the first, all the way up to the boat tipping and Mio holding Ritsu's hand. Ritsu heard the words again "Don't lose me." and nodded, pulling hard on the crying girl. With some work, both girls made the effort to get back on board. Thankfully, the rock in the boat hadn't knocked Mio both overboard, or even thrown the ship ajar. Ritsu pulled Mio up, and the two girls fell to the deck, panting and crying. Dream Ritsu took over at this point, and Ritsu was once again just a spectator inside of her own body.
Dream Ritsu, unpredictably to say the least, leaned over to Mio, who was crying her eyes out and hugging her knees. Dream Ritsu however pulled Mio's arms away from her eyes, and leaned over. Before Ritsu knew it, she could feel Dream Ritsu kissing Mio's closed eyes, kissing the tears away. Dream Ritsu pulled away, and looked at Mio, who was now smiling and blushing at her. For the first time Ritsu's life, and probably only time ever, she woke up blushing.
Though there were no more dreams after that... Ritsu couldn't help but think on it. At first, she was angry with herself about it. That slowly gave way to guilt and confusion. She was good at not wearing her emotions on her sleeves, but deep inside, every time she looked at Mio for a good while it was hard to keep a placid, uncaring face, or her normal tom boy attitude. Had the dream not felt so right... it would have been different. She would have called Mio and told her, "I had the weirdest dream about you!" But that was not the case. It wasn't weird... it was perfect.
Despite it all, she kept her normal, goofy attitude up the entire time. It was only weird for about 2 weeks following the dream, and although Ritsu began to think she might have been like "that", she and Mio still hung out, remained close, and talked frequently. She began to count her blessings that they had an entire year together still. So things went back to normal after a brief period of time, even though the others would assume that nothing had changed at all.
Aside from one grope in a hotel room, which was done out of good fun, Ritsu kept her feelings repressed, and her hands to herself. Things were only weird to her for a total of about 3 weeks, but what a strange three weeks that was.
It wasn't until a couple months later, months after she had successfully crammed the dream so far into the deepest depths of her head, that she had thought of asking Mio to go with her out for a day, things were back to normal it seemed. Mio however, couldn't go. But, Ritsu brushed it off, as she trusted Mio and there was no way she was gonna get all clingy. That was not her style, nor her choice.
However, not seeing Mio that day was a good thing for Ritsu, as it provided a catalyst for something else. Mugi-Chan had been free that day... and even though they spent the entire day hanging out, not talking about anything in particular, it opened the door for Ritsu's newest friendship... and her guide through the proceeding weeks. They got closer... and because Mugi was like "that", Ritsu could share her dreams. And feelings. Even if she simply hinted to it, Mugi always understood.
Eventually, Ritsu asked Mugi what to do, and Mugi told her. When Ritsu asked how, Mugi already had a plan for it. That plan was now in motion.
Surprisingly, Ritsu decided not to mention anything to Mugi at lunch, as she could see that Mugi wouldn't give her anything else. Like she had said in her seemingly infinite Mugi wisdom, "Now you wait." And wait she would. Ritsu wasn't surprised when Mio decided to have lunch with Nodoka that day, just as Mugi had said might happen. So, Ritsu ate lunch with the remaining light music club.
Nothing happened, aside from Yui getting a fry stuck in her nose, Azusa fearlessly removing it and throwing it away, and Azusa slapping Yui as the older girl approached for one of her so far failed "Friendship Kisses". Ritsu laughed, Mugi got that hopefully look on her face, Yui was unphased afterwards, and Azusa became a recluse for the remaining part of lunch.
Yui and Mugi both thought that was adorable. Ritsu couldn't help but giggled, but Azusa stayed quiet, seemingly out of it. That was how lunch went for those four girls.