"Ritsu! Ritsuuuuu!" Mio called out. Like most days, she was standing outside Ritsu's house, waiting for her troublesome friend to come out. "Come on, we're gonna be late!" she called again.
The front door opened, revealing Ritsu. "Okay, okay, I'm coming, Mio. Geez." the drummer said rather irritably. Closing the door, she joined Mio, and the two headed off. "You know Mio, you don't have to wait outside for me every morning. You can just go ahead of me." Ritsu said, yawning.
"But if I did that, you'd be late all the time." Mio replied. Ritsu frowned. "Besides..." Mio continued, "We've always walked to school together." she said in a quiet voice.
"What was that?" Ritsu asked.
"Nothing." The talk stopped there until they reached their school. Changing their shoes, they made their way to their classroom.
"Good morning." Mugi called out with a smile as they entered.
"Good morning, Mugi."
"'Morning." Looking around, Mio and Ritsu noticed someone missing. "And you complain about me being late." Ritsu sighed.
"Shut up. You are as bad as her." As they took their seats, into the room came Nodoka, followed by a sleepy Yui. The guitarist trudged to her seat and plonked her head down.
"Come on Yui, you can't fall asleep now." Nodoka urged, shaking her.
"Yeah..." Yui pulled her head up and yawned. "I'll try to stay awake." Her eyes closed and she swayed from side to side.
"It's no good. She's completely out of it." Mio said.
"Did you go to bed late or something, Yui?" Ritsu asked.
"She was up late practicing guitar." Nodoka explained. "Or at least that's what Ui told me."
The door swung open and Sawako entered. "Alright everyone, take your seats please."
Leaving Yui to her own devices, the other girls focused on their teacher.
After school...
Yawning, Ritsu grabbed her bag. "It's finally over."
Mio frowned. "Don't tell me you were planning on sleeping too."
"Hey, it's not my fault the lessons are boring."
"Some people never change, I guess." Mugi piped in, smiling.
"Come on. Let's go to the clubroom." Mio said, starting to head off.
"What about Yui?" Ritsu asked, pointing at their still sleeping friend.
"She's still asleep?"
"Let me try." Mugi offered. Stooping down, Mugi whispered, "Yui-chan. I've brought some yummy cake for you. If you wake up and come to the clubroom, you can have some."
Stirring, Yui sat up and groggily opened her eyes. "What kind of cake?"
"Today I brought a gateaux." Yui thought a bit, then started putting her things together. Satisfied at this, the other 3 did the same. Leaving the classroom, they started heading to the clubroom. Yui trudged behind, not quite awake.
"How did she ever get this far in school?" Mio wondered out loud.
"I imagine Nodoka helped somewhat." Ritsu replied.
"I guess."
"Too bad she wasn't born intelligent, like me."
"Oh please. You are not one to talk, Ritsu. You are always asking me to help you with homework. Frankly, I'm amazed you made it to high school."
"At least I don't get embarrassed around people." Mugi smiled at the verbal back and forth.
"That has nothing to do with this. Your insults need work."
Ritsu reached into her blazer. "Then you won't mind me still having these." She whipped out some photos.
"Wait, what's on those?"
"Your room of panties, and your "show" at our first concert."
Mio's face drained of color. "Give me those, Ritsu!" She lunged forward. Ritsu danced back, holding the photos out of reach.
"You have to catch me first."
"Ritsu!" The drama drew some attention from other students. Mio frantically tried to grab the photos, but Ritsu managed to skillfully avoid her. Dancing back and forth, she dodged over and over.
"Oh, you almost had me that time." she taunted. She sidestepped again, only to have her foot meet thin air. The smile left her face, replaced by sudden terror. The photos dropping from her fingers, she fell back. Mio watched her friend start to fall and reached out to grab her. Their hands almost met, but then Ritsu dropped out of reach. She rolled down the stairs, out of control. Reaching the landing, she rolled again, then her head collided with the wall. Coming to a stop, she lay still.
"Ritsu!" Mio leapt down the stairs, praying her friend was alright. Mugi and a now awake Yui followed.
"Ri-chan? Ri-chan." Yui shook the drummer. A crowd of girls gathered by the stairs, watching what was going on.
"Ritsu, are you okay? Please wake up." Mio said desperately. Her friend did not respond.
"What should we do, Mio-chan?" Yui asked.
Mio took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "We should get her to the nurse's office. She'll be better there."
"But do you think it's okay to move her after that fall?" Mugi asked.
"Good point."
After a rather rough examination, they decided to try moving her. Mio and Yui looped Ritsu's arms over their shoulders and pulled her up. "She's heavy." Yui commented.
"Come on, let's go." Mio replied. Huffing and puffing, the girls heaved their unconscious friend down the hallways. After they'd dropped her off at the nurse's office, and explained what had happened to the nurse, they headed to the clubroom. Mio wanted to stay with Ritsu, but she was persuaded to leave her to recover on her own. Reaching the clubroom, they found Azusa waiting for them.
"You're all late." The seniors explained the situation to her. The kouhai shook her head. "That's classic Ritsu-sempai." she sighed. "I guess it's just lucky she didn't break anything."
"It was quite a shock though. I hope she'll be okay." Mugi said, handing out cups of tea. Mio was quiet through this.
"It's okay, Mio-chan. I'm sure Ri-chan will wake up and come in like normal." Yui assured her.
"She may have a serious headache though." Azusa added.
Mio smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're right." The conversation switched topics after that.
"By the way, Mio-chan, I picked these up after Ri-chan fell." Yui produced some photos.
Mio quickly grabbed them and hurriedly shoved them in her bag, blushing furiously. "You... didn't look at them, did you?"
"Not really. I just grabbed them off the floor before going to Ri-chan." Mio breathed a sigh of relief.
"What's on those photos?" Azusa asked.
"It's not important." Mio replied quickly.
After about an hour, Ritsu had still not shown up. "Do you think she may have gone home?" Mugi asked.
"Maybe it was a bit selfish of us to assume that she'd come to the club after a fall like that." Mio put forward.
"Yeah. Maybe she wasn't feeling up to coming and decided to head home?"
"Why don't we ask her tomorrow? It'll give her a chance to rest up." Azusa suggested. Everyone agreed this would probably be the best option and headed home.
That night, Mio lay in bed. Should I call her to see if she's alright? She shook her head. No. I'll let her rest up and talk to her tomorrow. With that, she settled down to sleep.