"See ya!"
With a cheerful wave, Ritsu and Mio bid goodbye to the rest of Houkago Tea Time, the latter finally getting her long awaited time alone with her best friend. Throughout the course of that day and that day specifically, the black-haired girl had longed for Ritsu's company especially. Although being with the rest of the band was also great, Akiyama Mio only felt absolutely content alone with Ritsu.
She loved days like this. Days when they would just walk in comfortable silence while simply enjoying each other's company. A happy sigh made its way out of Mio's throat, accompanied by a tiny smile. Her eyes averted to the floor as if she was embarrassed of her silent enjoyment.
Ritsu turned at her friend's sigh, an inquisitive eyebrow raised. "Mio? What's that face for?"
The addressed girl didn't respond. She simply continued to walk forwards, her mind being elsewhere. Disappointed at the lack of response, the drummer jumped forwards in front of her best friend and turned to face her so that she was now walking backwards. Mio looked up from her shoes and stepped back from being startled. She didn't notice the tomboyish girl's primordial movements.
"Mio…" Ritsu dragged on her friend's name, hoping to elicit some sort of response from the strangely quiet bassist.
The only thing she received was a familiar chop on the head as the bassist recovered from her shock. Ritsu whined, doubling over for effect. Though, anyone would've reacted that way if they felt as though their head was splitting open.
"Ritsu! Don't do that!" Mio chided, "You just-"
The bassist broke off because of a spontaneous concern that suddenly appeared in her chest. She frowned. Did she hit Ritsu too hard?
Wait, what?
Never once in Mio's life had she thought about hitting Ritsu. It was always a reflex that both of them disregarded as simple banter. Why was it that she suddenly cared about the impact? Why was it that she was so tempted to reach out to Ritsu's shoulder and settle her, to tell her that she was sorry for hitting her?
"Mio, look."
Upon hearing Ritsu's voice (which signalled that the drummer was completely fine), the bassist snapped out of her reverie and followed her best friend's extended arm, pointing straight to the ground next to her feet. There, a small cockroach was crawling around. Mio froze up, her spine running with chills. A second later, she leapt behind the drummer.
"R-Ritsu! Jerk!"
The drummer laughed merrily and stumbled forwards. She clutched her stomach while bending over, still running forwards to escape the knock from Mio she knew she deserved. The bassist chased after her friend, playfully yelling her name.
Then came a time when Ritsu just couldn't run anymore because she was laughing so hard. She reached up to shield her head as she saw her friend raise her fists in front of her.
However, Mio found that she could not hit Ritsu.
Not when she was so busy worrying about her arm strength.
Her hesitation acted as a buffer for her arm, which was instinctively swinging down. It paused and lost all its force. So instead, Mio gently brushed Ritsu's arms away to pat her head lightly. The drummer blinked, muttering a small huh at the bassist.
Finally noticing how weird and sudden her gesture was, Mio's face heated up. She turned away and walked past Ritsu, hoping that the girl didn't see her beet-red cheeks. The bassist refused to look at her friend at all costs, knowing that she would get even more flustered if she tried to explain what just happened.
"What-Mio!" yelled the drummer, running to catch up, "Why'd you just do that? What was that for?"
Huh, why did I just do that?
Mio turned her head to the side as Ritsu came up beside her. "Shut up. I was just checking if you were hurt."
"Hurt?" Ritsu questioned, "Hurt from what?" A pause. "Do you seriously think I would get hurt from your hits? It takes a lot for me to actually get injured. Surely you would know that by now, no?"
"Yes, yes, I do. Can't I just be a good friend and check up on you from time to time?"
"Sure, you can, but I'm pretty sure that's not really why you just patted me."
Mio's face heated up even more, if possible. She acted frustrated to cover up her intentions. "You're just making things up!" the bassist huffed.
"You're reacting way too obviously."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes you are, because you're a terrible liar."
With no way to counter Ritsu's (absolutely) true argument, Mio resorted to her last retort, albeit an extremely stupid and pointless one.
"Shut up!" and a thwack on her best friend's head.