A/N: Ok so this is the 2nd chapter and I would like to thank all the people who have taken the time and effort to review my story :D I'm very honoured. Yay I'm happy that this chapter actually took only 2 days to finish :)
GearUnlocked: Thank you for the advice :) Yup it's Himeko-channn. I think she's really pretty and found it kind of sad that she couldn't really be found in the K-On fics :P
Disclaimer: Do we really need to put this here?
"Mio-chan! Wake up!" Yui's voice penetrated into Mio's brain, waking her up. She took a few moments to let her eyes focus on the sudden bright light and the pained smiles of her band mates.
"Mio-senpai, are you okay? You still look pretty bad," Azusa said bluntly, though with a concerned expression.
"Yeah, give me a minute, I'll go wash up." Mio stifled a yawn, stretched and went to do her morning ritual. When she came back, her dorm room was filled with snacks, all sorts of cookies, cakes, teabags etc. Her floor was a mess and it looked like there had been a food tsunami in her room, the entire place was literally covered by the snacks, save for the group of girls in the center, sitting down and munching on some of the snacks.
Mio's eye twitched. She realized that those four enormous bags she'd seen on the way to the bathroom had contained all the snacks and apparently her band mates had spilled the lot on to the ground. It was a big mistake, because Mio liked having her room spick and span, thank you very much.
"Why is my entire room covered with snacks?" Mio asked. Her eyes narrowed, flashing dangerously. Azusa and Yui gulped, and even Tsumugi put on a strained smile.
"W-Well, you see, Mio-chan, it's easier to grab anything you want if it's on the ground instead of in the bags, no?" Yui said, laughing nervously.
"Oh forget it, just remember to clean up the place when you're done," Mio said with a sigh and sat down next to Tsumugi. A huge mountain of snacks was piled up in the middle of the four, partially obscuring Mio's view. She gladly accepted some tea from Tsumugi and took a slice of chocolate cake. She had missed the taste of sweet tea and fluffy cake, even though it had only been three days since her last.
Just as Mio was thinking it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be, the discussions started.
"So why do you think Ritsu-senpai did it?" Azusa asked. "I can't believe she did that to Mio-senpai, does she not care about her?!" Azusa's words stabbed Mio in the heart, even though she knew it was concern for her.
"I'm sure Ricchan has her own reasons for it, Azu-nyan," Yui muttered with a mouthful of cake. "Don't blame her, okay?"
"How can I not blame her?! Just look at Mio-senpai!" Azusa frowned, close to blowing her top. She had respected and sometimes admired her senpai, but what she did to Mio was just horrible. "I mean no disrespect, but Mio-senpai looks like she's been crying nonstop."
You're right about that, Mio thought darkly.
"It's between Mio and Ritsu, Azusa-chan," Tsumugi said calmly while sipping her tea, eying Mio carefully. Azusa furrowed her brows but said no more.
They had their meal in an extremely awkward silence, save for Yui's loud munching.
"But you know, Himeko-chan's pretty nice. I just hope Ricchan doesn't treat her like how she treated Mio-chan," Yui said out of a sudden. Azusa gasped and the room temperature felt like it had dropped by a hundred degrees.
"Yui-senpai!" Azusa exclaimed, her shock evident. "Say sorry to Mio-senpai now!"
Mio suddenly stood up, her bangs hiding her face, but everyone in the room could see her tears dripping down on to the floor. Before anyone could react, she bolted out the door, only to slam into someone.
"S-Sorry!" Mio cried and lifted her head. Immediately, her face became bright red and she turned to run away.
"Mio!" Ritsu said, her eyes wide. As Mio turned away from her, she reacted instinctively and grabbed her arm. Mio turned back to her, glaring at her through her tears as though daring Ritsu to say something: Who are you to ask me to stay? Ritsu grimaced and let go of Mio's arm and watched as she ran away from her, her mesmerizing hair flying everywhere. It never failed to dazzle Ritsu.
Ritsu sighed and looked down, her fists clenched and arms stiff against her side. She had to use all of her willpower not to reach out and pull Mio into her arms. A tear fell as she thought about how Mio had been crying. Another tear fell as she knew she was the reason why. A third followed the two as she knew she couldn't be the one to comfort Mio.
"Ritsu-senpai?" Azusa's voice broke through Ritsu's thoughts. Without looking up, Ritsu turned and ran to the opposite direction of where Mio had been running.
"This is bad, Himeko," Ritsu said as she leaned against the railing, looking up at the stars.
"Last night I looked up at the stars and matched each one with a reason why I love you. I was doing great until I ran out of stars," Ritsu said, pointing at the night sky. She turned and grinned at Mio who was as red as a beetroot. Ritsu's back started to get a little itchy after saying that cheesy line.
"D-Don't say such embarrassing things, baka!" Mio blushed profusely and hit Ritsu on the head. Afterwards they'd kissed; the sparkles in their eyes could make the stars jealous.
"Why? Don't tell me you're backing out?" Himeko asked and put her back against the railing, glancing at Ritsu.
"No, it's just that I bumped into her today and she was crying and everything," Ritsu grabbed fistfuls of her hair and groaned in frustration, "I wanted to hold her in my arms and tell her that everything's fine so badly, my hands were trembling. I mean, it's been four years, Himeko, four years! I miss her like hell, but… But I need to do this. We need to do this."
"Sure," Himeko shrugged, "but don't you think she's going to be more heartbroken when she finds out about your… You know?"
"Yes, we've been through this, Himeko, the only reason we're doing this is to make her hate me, make her forget me, make her… Get over me." Ritsu closed her eyes. Her determination had wavered, but she was going to make sure her plan worked.
"Then we'll do it," Himeko said with a curt nod and walked back into the room.
"Mio-chan? Hey… I'm really sorry about what I said today," Yui said the moment Mio opened her door, the latter had been woken up by rapid knocking on the door in the middle of the night, which had scared her for a moment until she realized it was Yui knocking. "I hope you forgive me."
"I forgive you. But seriously Yui, you could've waited until morning to apologize," Mio said. Her dark circles were fading and most of the colour had returned to her skin. Mio looked a lot better than before, but not much. Yui smiled sheepishly.
"Hehe, I guess I should have… Anyway, good night and sweet dreams, Mio!" Yui said and sprinted away. Mio decided not to let her tired brain ponder about Yui's strange actions and decided to go back to bed. But not in Ritsu's arms.
"Ritsu, hug me tighter," Mio whispered. A tremendous clap of thunder sent her squirming deeper into Ritsu's warm embrace.
"Mio, you're going to be the one hugging me to death once you're asleep," Ritsu chuckled, but she complied nonetheless.
The next morning, true enough, Mio found her arms wrapped around Ritsu as though she was a giant bolster.
Mio woke up with a start. Her heart pounding, she looked around frantically. As her heart rate slowed and she fully woke up, she reprimanded herself mentally for feeling disappointed when she couldn't find Ritsu in her arms or vice versa. What, you think she would be here? Her mind was bent on torturing her and it even laughed in a sarcastic and cynical way.
"I'm going mad I'm going mad I'm going mad," Mio repeated and paced around the room, her eyes on the ground. "Oh and now I'm even talking to myself. Fantastic."
"People who talk to themselves are smart, Mio-chan," Tsumugi said pleasantly. Mio whipped around and was startled to find the ojou-sama[1] in her room.
"Mugi? What are you doing here?" Mio asked.
"I happened to pass by your room Mio-chan, and I thought to check on you, that's all," Tsumugi smiled.
"You just wanted to ensure that I'm not abusing myself, Mugi," Mio dead-panned.
"Oh, was I that easy to see through?" Tsumugi said with a lilt. She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.
"Mugi… Ritsu said she wanted me to forget her. I don't understand her. How does she expect me to forget her when she comes back to Japan after four years, when she knows I still love her?" Mio asked Tsumugi, certain that the latter could give her a straightforward answer. She had wanted to share her problems badly, bottling them up was no good.
"Well, I think that Ricchan might be hiding something. I don't think she wants you to know just yet, Mio-chan. Just try not to think so much about it." Even before Tsumugi opened her mouth, she knew that Mio had been over-thinking and basically being extremely miserable. "I doubt that there's much we can do to help you, except maybe for our band practice. Only you can help yourself."
Only you can help yourself. Those words rang loud and clear in Mio's mind, repeating long after Tsumugi had left the room. To be honest, Mio wasn't really sure if she wanted to forget Ritsu or not. She wanted to get over her, but at the same time, she also wished for Ritsu to come running back into her arms so that they could be together again. After all, those were her happiest times. She just wasn't ready to forget Ritsu. She probably never would be.
More A/N: I just love italicizing words don't I. Once again, please review and favourite if you like the story ^^ I hope Mio's not too depressing for you guys XD
[1]: Ojou-sama is basically a formal way of saying young lady because we all know Mugi is wealthy, high-class and important :3
Thank you!
x
Joeh