Disclaimer: I do not own K-On. K-On is owned by Kakifly and Kyoto Animation. Please support the official release.
Author's Note: HELLO, readers! Here's the first ever story I'm posting on this site. This is the first ever story I'm writing, so please read and review! If you wanna criticize my writing, I'll accept it, but please take it seriously; no flames, please, okay?
Chapter 1: Well of Tears
With the ring of the final bell, another day at Sakuragaoka High School was done, which for some meant the time to finally pack up their things and head back home. For others, however, the final bell meant it was time to attend their extracurricular activities, whether it meant going to a sports club or any of the wide selection of groups that were available after school.
For five particular girls, however, the end of every school day meant meeting in the music room, doing nothing but playing light music and lazily wasting time by eating cake and having tea and getting into their usual crazy antics involving cat ears, haphazard visits from an advisor who was obsessed with forcing teenage girls into wearing cosplay costumes, and every other little thing in between. Regardless of all that, it made for a pretty fun time at the Light Music Club.
A few minutes after most of the students cleared out from the hallways, the five members of the Light Music Club found each other and began to converse with one another, in their usual manner: Ritsu poking fun of Mio and Mio yelling back at her, Yui hugging Azusa to death with said 'cat girl' struggling to free herself from her upperclassman's grasp, and Tsumugi (or Mugi, as she preferred to be called by her friends) standing back and giggling to herself at how well they got along with each other. Once their short meeting was over, they began to head for the second floor.
While some of the girls were still chatting with each other, Yui let out an "Hmm" that grabbed the attention of the group.
"What's up, Yui? Thinking about something?" Ritsu questioned her comrade.
"Where's Nodoka?" Yui asked. She immediately realized that she hadn't seen Nodoka throughout the whole day, which was strange since Nodoka always checked on Yui to make sure she hadn't done anything that would harm her later on…or to just make sure that she was still on track in schoolwork and her club activities. 'Nodoka always worries so much for me…' Yui thought.
"Maybe she's sick?" Mio offered.
"No…" Yui said. "I saw her before classes began today. Then I didn't see her for the rest of the day."
"Hmm," Azusa wondered. "I don't know. Maybe she's got studying to do."
"That's probably true, but it doesn't explain why she would not be in class. Nodoka would never even think about skipping class. It simply isn't like her." Ritsu pondered.
"She's probably busy with the student council. You'll see her soon enough." Mugi added. "Let's hurry upstairs! I brought lots of sweets today." Mugi stated, cheerfully resulting in a 'Yay' from Yui.
They reached the music room to find that the door was jammed.
"That's weird…it's never stuck." Mio pondered aloud.
"It's probably old. It just needs a little push!" Ritsu exclaimed, smiling in her usual goofy way before she charged at the side of the door and put all her strength into sliding it open. The force she exerted on the wall made the door give way and slammed it to the wall. Mio was about to scold Ritsu for almost breaking the door when her eyes caught a look on the inside of the club room.
Everything was in disarray: Ritsu's drum set was trashed, to say the least; the whiteboard was thrown on the floor, the sofa's cushion was slightly ripped, and the table where the group usually had their tea time was lying on its side on the floor. Ritsu would have lamented and mourned for the loss of her drum set right there and then, but something inside her told her to save the tears for a later time; the current situation, according to her 'inner voice', was inappropriate for her to start complaining about her drums that could be easily replaced. 'Something feels off here...' Ritsu thought.
Cautiously, the girls stepped in one by one to survey the entire room. Each member was with her own degree of fear and was trying to come up with some logical theory as to how the room came to be in such disarray. Mio walked at a turtle's pace as her mind put itself to work to attempt at solving the mystery of the current situation. 'This couldn't have been the dirty work of another club,' Mio pondered. 'We get along pretty well with everyone else. There's been a few times where we got into slight trouble with the Student Council, but that was only because Ritsu forgot to sign some forms for our performances. It would make no sense for them to do something this extreme just for something so petty…'
As Yui walked around the destroyed music club, she couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable with the awkward silence that now filled the room; she couldn't help but notice certain marks all over the room. They were red in color, and when Yui tried to inspect one on the wall up close, she caught a whiff of the mark, and could only describe its scent as slightly…metallic. Yui stepped back in fear of this new realization. 'N-no way…Blood?'
The awkward silence was finally broken as Yui continued to look, this time behind the fallen table and shrieked at the gruesome sight before her: a bloodied Nodoka lying on the floor on top of a pool of her own blood. Cuts and bruises decorated her arms and legs, her uniform was cut all over which revealed more of her damaged body, her glasses were knocked and rested on the floor with one of the lenses shattered, and blood trickled a little from her lips. A huge open wound was found on the side of her head, her eyes were closed and her breathing was coming in raspy breaths that were barely audible at this point.
The rest of the Light Music Club rushed over to Yui and gasped at the poor sight of Nodoka.
"Holy God!" Ritsu shouted. "What the hell happened to her?!"
Azusa could only stare wide-eyed at the scene with Mugi and Mio following suit, the latter beginning to tear up and was on the verge of letting out a sob.
"Nodoka-chan!" Yui cried out, going to her best friend's aid. "Please wake up!"
Nodoka had managed to open up her eyes halfway and looked up at her childhood friend, who was also on the verge of crying hard. "Y-Yui…" Nodoka managed to gasp, "Y-y-you're here…w-what happened?"
"Don't talk, Nodoka," Ritsu said rushing to her, taking off her jacket and pressing firmly on Nodoka's head. "You need to save your energy. Mugi, Mio, go get help! Get Sawa-chan and the school nurse! Now!"
"We'll go!" Mugi exclaimed. She immediately grabbed Mio's hand and rushed out of the room, with Mio letting out a noise which could only described as a mix between a startled cry and an agonized sob before she left the room.
"Azusa, check the closet and see if they are any towels. As this rate, my uniform won't be enough."
"Y-yes, Ritsu-sempai," Azusa stated hesitantly. It was obvious in her delayed response and in her facial expression that she felt intense fear for her acquaintance at the moment. As she left to get more towels, Ritsu tried to keep Nodoka conscious. "Don't worry, Nodoka. Help is on the way."
"I-I s-s-see," Nodoka gasped out. "B-but I d-don't think I'm going to make it..."
"Don't say that, Nodoka!" Ritsu exclaimed, "You can get through this. You can pull through!"
"It's g-getting dark…" Nodoka whispered. "I t-think this is goodbye, Yui…" She gasped for breath before reaching out for Yui's hand. As she grasped it, she uttered softly, "You've been a good friend, Yui…I'm glad that…I got to know you…Take care…of yourself…" With that said, Nodoka closed her eyes once again.
"No, Nodoka-chan!" Yui cried out. "Please, stay with me! You can't leave now! You just can't!" Yui began to sob her heart out.
"Don't worry, Yui." Ritsu said softly, with a few tears falling down her face. "The blood loss got to her. As long as help gets here quickly, she'll still have a chance of survival. You gotta be strong for her, alright?"
"O-okay…" Yui sobbed as she stroked Nodoka's face. "Please stay alive, Nodoka-chan."
Azusa finally returned from the closet and found some towels to help keep Nodoka alive. She helped Ritsu and Yui keep a steady pressure on Nodoka's body. A couple of minutes passed until Mio and Mugi finally returned with Sawako and the school nurse in tow, both ready to assist in any way they could.
The nurse approached Nodoka and surveyed the damage that her body took. "Everything will be alright, girls. I already called an ambulance. It will arrive here in ten minutes," she stated as she took out a first-aid kit, "I'll stabilize her until medical help arrives. Please give me some space. I'll need some help with this, though." She pointed to Mio and Mugi. "You two, help me out with this, please."
Ritsu and Azusa helped lifted Yui as she was no longer able to hold back her tears. The three switched places with the nurse, Mio and Mugi. Sawako got closer to Yui and pulled her in a tight embrace. "Just let it out, Yui. It'll be okay."
As if on command, Yui buried her head into Sawako's shoulder and cried as hard as she possibly could. Ritsu and Azusa joined in the tight embrace while the other two band members could only watch as their friend was releasing her tears.
Author's Note: Well, that's it. It took a while to post this, but it's here. Hope you enjoyed it, and please wait patiently until the next update.