I'm terribly sorry it took so long for me to update this fanfiction! I'm a very slow writer, and I face many blocks from time to time.

If there are any grammar mistakes, you can tell me! I learn better when people point it out where I'm doing something wrong. I didn't ask anyone to "beta read" this chapter for me, so it might contain a few grammar flaws.

Anyway, enjoy the second chapter!

It has been three days.

Three days since Ritsu stopped answering Mio's text messages and phone calls.

On the first day, Mio thought Ritsu was just being busy around her new environment and didn't have time to use her phone. That could happen with anyone, even Mio, as she would take long hours to reply whenever she wanted to focus on her studies or when she was hanging out with her other friends.

On the second day, she was starting to feel like something was wrong. Her friend never took two days to reply to a message. She began thinking Ritsu's phone might have been robbed, or maybe she had another fight with her parents and they took it away, and Mio knew that the possibility of something like that to happen was high, as the drummer kept complaining about how often her parents were getting into nonsense arguments about her father's new job. The bassist didn't quite understand the situation, but she was the one and only who was always being all-ears and even giving some advices to her sometimes. Mostly, what she could do was only to listen to her friend's private problems.

Their last conversation was about Ritsu's father. It seemed like they wouldn't get along after they moved. To her, it felt like his new job changed his kind behaviour to a complete monster.

Once, Ritsu even threatened to run back to Toyosato, but this time it wasn't the case, otherwise Mio would have gotten news from her, as their friendship had always been healthy and active, even when they were apart from each other; so Ritsu would always reply to Mio as soon as she could, and that wouldn't take more than a couple minutes. However, this time, Ritsu seemed to ignore all her messages and calls. Mio felt hurt and betrayed.

What is she thinking? How can she avoid me suddenly like that? Does she already have new friends at her new school? Or is she maybe... dating someone?

The bassist grew more and more impatient with her friend's absence. It was something she couldn't simply ignore. They were the kind of best friends who wouldn't spend one day without giving each other updates of their day. She promised me she would text me everyday… Maybe she's just busy…

On the third day, Mio had given up on sending messages and calling her friend. She felt betrayed and on top of that, very disappointed. Until she got a scary message from a stranger.

*unknown number*: Akiyama-san? Is that you?

Mio held the phone in her hand for a few seconds, not quite sure of what to do. She had no idea whose number that could possibly be from. She never gave her phone number to strangers, so that probably wasn't one.

She started typing the reply, but another message came after that one.

*unknown number*: It's Ritsu's mother here. I need to ask you some things. It's urgent.

She tightened her hold around her phone. Ritsu's mom? W-What… Her heart raced like it never raced before. She erased the words she typed and started writing something else.

Mio: Yes, that's me, Tainaka-san. Did something happen?

5 seconds after the message got sent and read, Mio received a phone call from the same number and didn't think twice to answer it.

"H-Hello?"

"Akiyama-san, I will ask you a very simple question. Is my daughter with you?"

"Ritsu?"

"Yes, Ritsu! It's been 3 days... she's…" The words failed to continue as the woman started sobbing. Mio heard that and swallowed dry.

…

"What? What happened?"

"Ritsu is… She's [...] sin[...] Monday!" Her voice was barely audible as her sobs and stutter got in between her words. "T-The last…[...] I saw her was [...] morning, b-before she went to… to school, but she never [...]. Somebody's got to [...] something!" Mio could barely understand what the woman was trying to say. She tried her best to catch the words.

"Tainaka-san, I can't understand what you're saying… What are you talking about? Did something happened to Ri-?" Mio's words apparently failed reaching out to the listener, as the woman interrupted what she was asking.

"We don't know where to look [...]-more!" She was sobbing so much, her words were barely understandable. "…We're crazy looking for her…"

Mio froze, looking straight at the ground of her bedroom with a hand on her forehead. Did Ritsu disappear? She wanted to ask, but the words refused to come out of her mouth "I… I…"

"Just answer me! Is… is she there?" Ritsu's mother demanded, hysterical.

Mio took some seconds to reply, still a little confused. "N-No… No, she isn't."

"Oh, God, I don't know what to do anymore." She was sobbing even more. "You better not be lying, because there's nowhere else I can look now… You were… You were my last hope." The bassist still couldn't fully comprehend.

"Calm down, Tainaka-san! I'm not following." Saying 'Calm down' on times like these never solve anything out, but Mio truly didn't know what to say.

"Ritsu, she's… gone."

Is she right there in front of me or am I seeing things?

Mio tried tightening her sight to have a better view of who she was exchanging eye contact with. The person looked ridiculously like her long lost best friend, but for a split second, Mio noticed they looked slightly different. She didn't break the eye contact until someone called her name, twice. She shifted her sight to whoever was in front of her, shaking her arm.

"Are you ok, Mio-chan?" Asked Mugi, still holding her friend's arm.

Mio kept herself quiet for a few seconds. "Y-Yeah."

Hirasawa saw her two bandmates chatting about what just happened and approached them. "You look like you saw a ghost! You're pale." She stood in front of the bassist, taking a closer look.

Mio took a step back, as her friend got a little too close. I might've seen one… She thought to herself. "Let's just… Make our instruments ready."

The three of them walked towards the small stage with their instruments, following their practice schedule. That can't be Ritsu. Her mom told me she's dead… Also, she would have recognized me right away.

The boy was also dazed by the sight exchange. He held this strange feeling in his chest that he knew that girl from somewhere. Besides that, she was a very gorgeous woman, which called his attention even more. He felt like going and talking to her in that moment, but someone distracted him.

"Ah, that reminds me!" The club president suddenly shouted in awe. "As some of you may already know, the second freshman's party was already announced. It will be a little bigger than the one we participated last month AND it won't be inside the campus, thus, students from other courses will be there too. As you may guess, it is going to be one of those drinking parties, so I hope you newbies control yourselves."

Everybody started chatting, and making small celebrations about this upcoming party.

"I heard about it. It's going to be hella big." Akira said to her bandmates. Ever since high school, she always wanted to go to a college freshman party.

"Man, I love freshman parties!" Said Ayame, in a tone as if she had gone to many of these parties already, but her friends knew, she probably never went to one before.

The club president noticed how everyone was excited about it and gave a warm smile. "I'm going to glue the details on the board. You can check it any time you want."

After that the bands slowly started to prepare themselves for practice, the boy kept himself close to Ayame's band, which was composed of three girls. They were a punk rock styled band, where Akira was the singer and main guitarist, Ayame was the drummer and Sachi the bassist. That was the first time he was meeting Ayame's friends and bandmates.

After Akira finished writing down their band's name on the board, she quickly joined back her group. "Takeda-kun, I was thinking, aren't you a little too small for a boy?" Asked Akira, looking down at Rito with a provocative smile.

Ayame quickly kicked her on the back. "Don't be mean to people. Especially my friends." She said in a playful and a little serious tone, at the same time.

"Ouch! Hey!"

Rito cracked a smile, it was the painful truth. He was a 1,54cm boy, the smallest of all his male classmates. "I've heard that a few times."

"He's short but he's handsome!" Said Ayame, grabbing him by the arm, pouting at Akira.

His face flushed a light hue of red when his friend said that. He wasn't very confident about his own appearance after all.

"Who's going to practice first?" Asked Sachi, changing the subject completely.

"Houkago Tea Time." Akira replied the name of the band, in a way that would let anyone know she wasn't interested in it at all. However, she knew she was a little into it, as she always secretly sang the chorus of their most famous song 'Fuwa Fuwa Time', very low, hidden inside her bedroom.

The band's eyes were directed to the other band, composed of Hirasawa Yui, the guitarist and singer, Kotobuki Tsumugi, the keyboardist, and Akiyama Mio, the leader, singer and bassist. They were ready to play.

"Let's sit and watch. I like their music." Said Sachi, already sitting.

Akira joined the bassist by the couch and grabbed a magazine, showing disinterest on the band that was about to play. "It's too cheesy for me."

The drummer chuckled and provoked her friend. "Says the one who was humming Fuwa Fuwa Time yesterday." She sat down on the other sofa, with Rito.

"W-What are you talking about? Stop lying!" The punk guitarist turned red.

Rito's attention shifted to the other group of girls. The beautiful bassist was giving a final tune to her instrument, just like Tsumugi did with hers. Yui regulated her microphone a little before she started speaking.

"Hello again, music club! I hope our new club member, Takeda-kun, likes our presentation today!"

Tsumugi quickly approached her microphone. "I think he's not a member of the club, Yui-chan."

Yui's eyebrows widened in surprise. She really thought the boy was a new member, and rubbed the back of her head with her tongue stuck out of her mouth. Everyone giggled with Yui's stupid commentary.

"Let's get started." Said Mio, wearing her bass, completely ignoring the chatter from before.

Oh, she's a left handed. Rito made that realization. That was probably the first time he saw a left handed person before

"Okay, we'll begin with…" Yui wandered throughout the pages of a book she had in front of her, supported by a stand. "You and I."

The three instruments formed an unison at the same time. Rito paid close attention.

I think I heard this jam somewhere before. Rito's eyes were shining. He was sure he heard this song before, so much he could pretty much sing along. "Are they a cover band?" He whispered to his friend.

"Cover? Uh… I don't think so." Ayame furrowed her eyebrows and itched her chin, as if she was thinking. "I don't know actually."

"They aren't. Yui and Mio are writing the songs." Said Akira, a little louder for both of them to hear, as the music was too loud.

That's impossible. I'm sure I heard it somewhere.

He felt that way with all the songs those girls were playing. So much he started even feeling a little sick. It was a strong feeling he had. Either this is not their music or I actually know them. He started sweating and having difficulties breathing. Ayame noticed that and held the boy's hand. "Are you okay there?"

"Yeah… I think I will grab some fresh air." He said as he quickly left the clubroom.

As their practice finished, the three girls bowed to the other club members, who applauded them. The bassist looked happy and a little tired as they finished their practice. She drank almost half a bottle of water and walked down the stage with her bandmates and her bass. The three girls started putting away their instruments.

The boy had already come back inside the club and couldn't move his eyes away from them. Their music sound very nostalgic to me. He didn't hear most of their practice, though. He chose not to.

As soon as the girls were done with packing up their instruments, they sat down in one of the tables and started chatting around. Rito tried paying close attention to what they were talking about.

A little after their practice, other three people walked in the clubroom with their music equipment on their shoulder and hands. This time it was three boys. They all looked a little older than everyone else, but not very far old, maybe 2 or 3 years older. One of them looked like he was the same age as Rito.

The three boys left their instruments close to the stage and after that, they noticed Rito's presence and walked towards the couch, where he was sitting.

One of them, who had short purple hair, approached Rito. "New club member?"

"No, Ayame invited me here so I could watch the performances." Rito replied, looking at the band who was ready to begin their play. "I'm considering joining though." He said, while smiling at Ayame.

"I'm Takahashi Tomo. Welcome to the club."

Rito looked the boy in his deep . "I'm Takeda Rito. Nice to meet you, Takahashi-san." Ayame's band started their performance right after that.

Tomo sat down by Rito's side. "You can call me Tomo if you want, I don't mind." He said, coming closer so he could hear. "So, what do you play?"

"Nothing, currently." Replied Rito.

"What? You're joining a music club and don't know how to play an instrument?" Asked loudly another one of the tall guys, who had a small beard chin and wore a grey hat. He was holding a can of soda in his hand and sat down in the other couch.

Rito was going to say something, but Tomo interrupted him. "I could teach you how to play something if you want. I'm the guitarist of the band, but I can play the bass and a bit of the drums."

"And he sucks in all of them." The last one of the three sat down on the right side of Rito. "And shut up, I wanna listen to their performance."

All those boys looked a little intimidating, but that was probably because of their height and how they treated each other. They were double the size of Rito and seemed like the could smash him with just one step. Two of them seemed like they were seniors and Tomo seemed to be a junior. Rito was too shy to ask, though.

As soon as the Onna Gumi were done with their practice, the three boys directed themselves to prepare their own instruments. Tomo unzipped the black bag he brought his beige left handed guitar in and plugged a cable in it. The other guy did the same with his bass and the drummer just sat down on the club's drums and used his own drum sticks. They probably have an agreement of using a single drums for all the performances. Rito said to himself. He also noticed the guitarist was left handed.

Rito couldn't tell what kind of music these boys were about to play, judging by how they dressed like. Metal? Rock? Indie? He kept trying to guess it, but failed. It wasn't any of the three. In fact, they played Funk Rock. Rito found it out after they played their first song called 'Rule'.

They're pretty good. He thought. For him, it was probably one of the best performances of the night, even better than his friend's band, but he didn't dare to tell her that. He was so into it, that he was sitting with his body forward, laying his arms on the top of his knees, so he could support his head on his hands, like a little child paying attention to a very good teacher. His eyes were shining.

"What is their band name?" Asked Rito to Ayame, who was now sitting by his side, exhausted from her performance.

"BCS, I think." She said, between breaths. "They're professional as you might have noticed."

"Oooh!" Rito sounded very excited, with his hands together. "So cool!"

"Thanks, prez, for letting us play today!" Said the singer, bowing to her. "And we're sorry for not participating in the club that much lately, as you might know, Tsubasa and I are in our last year and there's a lot of pressure!" He said, itching the back of his head, sheepishly.

Kana nodded and smiled at them. "There's no problem with that, Makoto-san. Whenever you guys are free to play, you can just give me a call. I completely understand you." So they're not staying long in the club… "So that were the performances of tonight. You guys can all chill now."

"Takeda-kun!" Tomo called from the stage as he waved. Rito quickly went there to see what he wanted. As soon as he reached the boy who called him, he noticed he wanted to show the instruments. "Which one would you like to learn? We have three instruments here. Guitar, bass and the drums."

Rito looked the three closely. He didn't really feel familiarity in any of them, besides the drums. "I'm not sure."

"Why don't we try each of them, then?" He said. "My guitar is left handed, though."

"You can try mine!" Said a girl behind Rito, with a Gibson Les Paul in her hands. That looks like an expensive guitar. When he looked at her face, he remembered who she was.

"T-Thanks, Hirasawa-san." He said, while putting the guitar around his body.

"You can call me Yui, no problem!"

He analyzed the guitar in his hands and touched the cold steel strings. It felt heavier than he thought it would be. "The guitar is a little complicated in the beginning, but I can teach you so you can know how to play it in at least three months." Three months?!

"I self taught myself around this time." Said Yui. Both boys looked at her with a doubt look on their faces.

Rito took the guitar pick that Yui gave him and tried playing something random on the guitar.

"You need to put your fingers in position to play a chord. I'll teach you the D major!" Said Tomo, approaching Rito. He started positioning Rito's fingers on the right place. "Try playing it now." He tried doing it, but no sound came out. "You gotta hold your fingers stronger on the strings."

As he tried to do as Tomo said, he felt a small pain on his three fingers, but didn't complain. This time it came out fine, despite that his right hand kept trying to play the chords, but it never sounded completely perfect.

"You should let your right hand relaxed, flubby kinda." Yui said, trying to explain it to him.

"Let's try another chord." Tomo said, already putting his fingers in position. "This is a little more difficult. It's called F major."

"Ouch! It feels pretty uncomfortable." When he tried playing it, there was no sound at all.

"In the beginning your fingers will bleed! But after a while they will look like mine." She showed him the tips of her fingers, which looked harder than normal.

He looked at his own fingers and noticed they were soft as a pillow. "I'm not cut out for the guitar…"

"You don't have to be afraid by what Yui-san said." Tomo laughed.

"T-That's not it!" He shouted, while removing the guitar from his body and handing it back to Yui. "It's too much to keep track of!"

The blonde girl of Yui's band was hearing the conversation from far and decided to participate too. "What about the keyboard?" After she asked it, she showed him her Korg keyboard, that was inside her black bag.

"Why don't you try it?" Said Tomo. "But I don't play it, so I can't help you with that."

After Tsumugi prepared everything, she called the boy and turned on her keyboard. "I can teach you." She gave him a warm smile. It's not like he wanted to play it, but he felt bad in turning down the offer, right after she already prepared it.

"F-Fine." He said while walking until her.

Mugi showed him lots of sounds her keyboard could produce. He felt very happy in the beginning.

The third girl of Houkago Tea Time did not show up. Mio kept looking from her seat, with her arms crossed. It looked like she did not want to get involved with that.

"So, what do you think, Takeda-kun?" Asked Mugi, after teaching him a few basic keyboard chords.

"It's pretty fun to be honest."

"Right?" Said Kotobuki, as happy as ever after her instrument got a compliment.

"But, finger work makes me go crazy!" He almost shouted, pushing his own hair in desperation. "I-I'm too anxious for that. I wanna try another instrument now." He said, stepping a bit back.

"Heh, if you don't like instruments that involve your fingers, the only left here in the club is the drums now." Said Tomo. He was sat down on the drums seat and he stood up.

"You set them up pretty good, that'll totally fit you, I think." Said Akira, who also joined the conversation with Ayame.

Kotobuki and Hirasawa shared a look, and smiled afterwards.

"Yay, it would be nice having another drummer here!" Said Ayame, holding Rito's shoulders from behind.

"I will give it a try."

"Just like the guitar, the drums normally leave some calluses on your hands." Hirasawa said as she grabbed Rito's hands and showed him the place where his calluses would grow. "Oh! You actually have them!"

"Huh?" He asked, a little embarrassed by what the girl was doing on his hands. "C-Calluses?"

"Yeah! Just like those!" She said, happily. "They're very small though."

"Have you played the drums before?" Tomo asked, handing the boy a pair of drum sticks.

The boy got the drum sticks and sat down on the small stool behind the instrument. "I don't think I ever did." As he said that, he adjusted his hands around the sticks. It fits perfectly. "It does feel... nostalgic?"

Everyone who were participating on the conversation gazed at the boy, with many questions in their heads. What does he mean by that? Each one of them thought.

"Perhaps you did it in another hibernation." Said Hirasawa, with an innocent look on her face.

"Incarnation." Corrected Akiyama, from far away. So she's listening to our conversation after all. Everyone around Rito started laughing, but Yui. She was confused, but left it be.

Rito looked as focused as ever. He placed himself perfectly on the drums, as if his body knew everything it should do and everywhere it should go. The drums had a simple set, and it was enough for him to jam something.

Tomo placed a finger on his chin, a little impressed that the boy looked so fit for that instrument, compared to the other ones he played before. "Huh… Why don't you try playing something?" Rito gave a small thought. "Like, some basic rhythms." The guitarist continued.

The boy prepared himself. A basic rhythm… He thought.

The onlookers approached a little more, curious about what Rito was going to play. Akiyama too, but secretly. She took glances here and there.

He was ready. That's when he positioned his arms and hands and started jamming something, a little out of rhythm, but still. Someone with no knowledge of that instrument would start hammering the drums and plates randomly. Rito didn't. He played as if he had done it before.

Everyone stared at him, wondering a little.

Slowly he got the hang of it, and started playing other rhythms, with a very small difficulty. He got excited and felt complete. He knew for sure now that he was a drummer. His skills proved it more than enough. He was happy, and the smile on his face contaminated the others around him.

After some minutes of nonstop jamming, he stopped, with a small sweat on his forehead. Did I over do it?

There was a small pause. The room was silent.

"For someone who never played the drums, you're… pretty good." Said Tomo.

Ayame crossed her arms on her chest, a little disappointed. "Whoa, why did you lie to us, Rito-kun?"

"So that's why you have calluses!" Said Hirasawa, pointing at Rito.

He didn't know who to answer first. "I-I'm sorry, guys. I… really didn't know about this ability of mine. I didn't lie."

"A prodigy!" Said Hirasawa, pointing again at me.

"Indeed." Said Kotobuki, agreeing with her friend.

A sigh came across the room. "Show off." Said the girl who was sitting far away the whole time. Everyone around Rito looked at her, so did he. She didn't dare to look at them, as she didn't really wanted to be heard. Those words pretty much escaped from her mouth. But now it was too late. Everybody heard it.

"Huh?" Asked Rito. He knew she said something to attack him.

There was no answer. Everyone was silent again.

He chose to ignore it and looked back at the ones who were around him. Akiyama's bandmates looked a little embarrassed and were staring at the ground.

"S-So, I guess I found my instrument. Thank you for allowing me to play." He said. His voice was lower than usual.

"Are you officially going to join our club?" Asked Ayame, happily, grabbing both of his hands, which were still occupied with the drumsticks.

"Why don't you, Takeda? You just found out you are familiar with the drums." Said Tomo.

"I might." He said, itching the back of his head. After that he lent the drum sticks back to Tomo. "But I will be useless if I play by myself."

"..." Hirasawa and Kotobuki shared a gaze. They thought about something, for sure.

"There are bands out there who need members, why don't you try asking around?" Said Ayame, looking at Rito and then moving her eyes to the members of Houkago Tea time.

Rito didn't know if he should ask. One of the members seemed not to like him.

"W-We are lacking a drummer indeed." Said Tsumugi, with an almost inaudible voice. "But, the leader is Mio-chan... "

The bassist probably couldn't hear from where she was. She seemed to be a very difficult person to deal with. Rito definitely wouldn't want to join a band with a leader like that.

Tomo took the chance to speak out an idea he had in his head. "Look, as you might know, my band doesn't need another drummer, but" He stood up and looked at his bandmates, who were sitting a bit far away from there, talking to the other club mates. "my bandmates are graduating soon and because of that, we are having difficulties in getting free time together to practice."

"What do mean, Tomo-san?" Asked Ayame.

"What I want to say is, I think I might need some help. Would you do that, Takeda-san?"

"Ah, I get it. Rito would be your reserve drummer." Said Ayame.

"Y-Yeah, like that. You would play in Daru's place sometimes."

A reserve drummer, huh? "I don't know..." Said Rito, itching his cheek. "B-But you guys are professionals! I'm definitely not good enough to play your music!"

Tomo laughed. "Don't be silly, we're not professionals. And I will give you the tabs later. We don't have that many songs to begin with."

"I-If you're saying so…" Rito felt very happy about being in a band, and even more because it was a professional one. "I'll do it."

"Cool! I'll talk with my band mates, but I'm sure they will like the idea." Said Tomo, smiling at Rito. "You can practice with the drums whenever you want, as long as there's no one playing them already."

"Good to know. I will definitely need some practice."

Rito ended up joining the music club and a band, kind of, in the same day. Before everybody left the club, he practiced a little more, as some members watched him, mesmerized.

It was so long since he felt that happy, he couldn't even remember when was the last time he actually smiled.

That's right…

He didn't have his memories of the past. However, he knew that playing the drums in that day helped him big time. He had good hopes that he was going to recover his memories soon if things would continue going that way. And it wasn't only about playing the drums, but he felt like many things in that club had shaken his memories a little.

Meanwhile in the girls dorm…

They walked the whole way back in silence. They noticed Mio wasn't in her best mood that evening. As soon as they arrived in their dorm, Yui decided to speak up. "Um.. So, what was that, Mio-chan?" She felt a little uncomfortable asking that, but she had to do it.

"What?" The bassist asked, but didn't sound like she really wanted an answer. She sounded a little annoyed.

"We're a little curious to know why you said that to Takeda-san?" Said Mugi, this time.

Mio didn't dare to face her friends. She was in front of her room's door, about to walk inside. She gave a loud sigh. "I… I don't know, okay? I'm not in a good mood today."

"We understand, but… That really wasn't nice to say. I think you should apologize to hi-" Mugi was stopped before she could finish her sentence.

"He's just another stupid guy. Men are all the same." Said Mio, a little before she locked herself inside her room, leaving both girls behind in the dorm's hall.

Stupid, just stupid. Apologise? Why should I apologise? She threw herself on the bed and buried her face on the pillow. He was staring at me, that weirdo.

Her friends knew she wasn't a fan of men in general. Mio avoided them at all costs. She never really gave an explanation. All she always said was "Men are stupid" or "Men are animals". They also never dared to ask, this topic always made her salty.

It's not because he looks like Ritsu that I'll treat him differently. He's probably just like the others. She turned herself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She felt like crying, but no tears came down. Ritsu would know what to say in times like this. She either would tease me or comfort me. I wouldn't mind if she would tease me, though. Mio sighed again, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

I hope I can publish the next chapter soon. (Which is mostly written already)

What do you think it's gonna happen on the next chapters? Leave your thoughts on reviews! It might give me some ideas too :)