.

ooooo

I'm not wearing a mask
You would've danced with me if I had

ooo

Saturday, 30 June 2012

Ritsu tangled her hand in dark, messy hair as Daishiro's mouth was persistently pressed against hers. Her brow would sometimes twitch in discomfort, not because he was a bad kisser—for it was quite the contrary—but because of the stubble along his chin.

When her cheek was grazed once more, Ritsu pulled back and gasped, "Didn't I freaking tell you to shave?"

She received an indignant look. "You said it looks good on me."

"It stops looking good after I kiss you."

Daishiro swept a thumb over his chin. "I kinda like it." He then shrugged. "'Sides, it makes me feel more like a man. An adult."

"Oh really," Ritsu drawled, "I should stop waxing then. So I can feel less like a girl who hasn't gone through puberty."

There was another half shrug. "Fine, I won't go down on you."

"You've never gone down on me."

"Makes it more absolute, then. And it's not like you do it to me."

Ritsu huffed and shook her head at him. "You just ruined the fucking mood."

"You mean the fucking rain ruined the mood."

"Same shit," Ritsu said decisively. She headed upstairs for Daishiro's room so she could pound away her frustrations on the Wii. Daishiro was right though, the sudden downpour of warm rain was highly unwelcome. Fortunately, they were only five minutes away from his residence when it had had happened.

"Yeah," Daishiro said, having read her intentions, "go and set up. I'm gonna take a bath first. …Unless you've changed your mind?"

Ritsu looked over her shoulder and gave another head shake. "Nah, I'm actually not in the mood today. 'Cause you know, monthlies."

Daishiro's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. Okay. Uh, I'll just take a quick shower then. I'll fill the bath for you if you want."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Ritsu said before climbing the stairs again. She then remembered her manners. "Thanks Daishiro."

"Yeah, yeah. Just go and set up now."

ooo

Ritsu didn't know how, but she always managed to forget the hour where high school students were released from classes. Clenching her teeth as one of the tips of her umbrella snagged with another of its kind, she sidestepped and aisled along the edge of the crowded footpath. She pushed back the strong urge to stab the ferrule of her umbrella towards laughter preoccupied bodies.

She wasn't jealous. She was simply annoyed. She was also annoyed with the constant beeping of a car horn that seemed to be becoming louder. Clicking her tongue, she swerved her head towards the irritant and prepared to give one nasty death glare.

Towards a smiling Souta, who sat in the driver's seat of the blaring car.

Apparently he was satisfied that he had finally gotten her attention, because he stopped patting the centre of the steering wheel. He parked at the kerb and Ritsu stopped.

"Need a lift, Frau Ritsu?"

If it had been any other time, she would have declined. But it was raining and she didn't want to spend an awful, humid time in a train packed with loud school-kids. She nodded, closed the umbrella and rounded the car for the front passenger seat.

As soon as she had closed the door, the car accelerated from the kerb and narrowly missed a collision with several pedestrians.

"What the fuck are you doing? !" Ritsu screamed as she held on for dear life.

Souta roared with laughter as he slowed down. "You looked like you wanted to kill them. I just wanted to give them a little scare."

Huffing, Ritsu buckled herself. Souta then gestured towards the bag in her lap. "You went to study somewhere?" he asked.

"No, my clothes are in there."

"Whose clothes are you wearing then? A beggar? Or are they actually yours?"

"My boyfriend's," Ritsu grounded out.

"Your boyfriend's a beggar?"

"Wanna get punched?"

"C'mon, punch me. I dare you." Souta took off his hands from the steering wheel and turned towards her. "C'mon!"

"Keep your hands on the fucking wheel!"

Laughter erupted once more but Souta obeyed her. "Don't worry, ja? I won't kill you. And you need to be with your boyfriend when he shops. I'm sure that my belt is worth twice than his shirt and pants. My belt!"

Ritsu blinked. She then gave Souta an appraising look. His clothes were certainly on a different level to Daishiro's. "Just where do you get the money to buy those?"

"I work. What else? You think I steal or something?" he said with a laugh.

Ritsu huffed. "So if I looked like a beggar to you, how did you recognise me? You've only seen me once."

"I'm good with names. Like, for example, I went to a karaoke party last night. You bring me all the people there and I'll name them all. Only seen most of them twice. And one guy was all surprised that I remembered. I went, 'Who wouldn't remember your scrawny face?' Then he had a go at my hair and eyes."

Ritsu laughed.

"Oh," Souta added, "and I knew it's you 'cause of your height—I mean, your lack of height."

Ritsu scowled. She felt like pointing the umbrella at him this time, but that meant he'd be distracted and she'd die from a car crash. She would like to die from old age.

"You know," she said, "I didn't know you have a car."

"You never asked. What's it to you?"

"You could've dropped Mio and me home last time."

Souta shrugged. "Mio wanted to go home with you. For fresh air or some shit."

Ritsu lifted her eyebrows. "She did?"

Souta flicked her an odd look. "What, she didn't?"

"Yeah, she didn't. She stopped at the convenience store so she could visit her gramps."

Souta sharply inhaled as he took a turn, muttering under his breath, "Not again."

"Have you met her gramps before?"

"No, and I don't plan to any time soon."

"Good idea. He'd hate you."

Souta smirked. "Thanks. Now, say where you're going before I drop you in the middle of nowhere."

ooo

"So have you gotten something for Mugi yet?" Ritsu said towards the mouthpiece.

"…She is so hard to buy things for," Mio answered.

Ritsu laughed. "Guess we're making stuff again. I already made a card."

"Yeah, I did too. But I don't know what else to make."

"Make her a cup."

Mio huffed. "When are you ever going to shut up about that?"

Ritsu laughed again. "It's still hilarious for me! First few weeks of your course and you have to design a freaking cup."

"Well I am still quite surprised that you chose Arts too," Mio replied. She had advised her on picking a Business related major and Ritsu had brushed it away. It was naïve of her but she wanted to better her chances on getting into the same course and college as Mio. She ended up on the course she wanted, but it was offered by a university that was the furthest away from the other three. A year later and Azusa joined her, lessening her loneliness somewhat.

"Business is boring."

"Yet you always pull a few dirty tricks whenever you want money."

"That's just a survival skill. And it doesn't require maths."

"You'd rather write a lot of essays?"

"Doesn't every course make you write a lot of essays?"

"Point taken."

"Anyway, I'm great at photography, you know."

"I know too well."

Mio really did know too well. Ritsu had captured countless evidence that Mio was like any other human. The few being: she had a messy room, she was capable of sporting the most amusing bed hair, and she sometimes drooled in her naps whilst still looking adorable.

"Have you talked to Azusa and Yui recently?" Ritsu asked.

"No, have you?"

"Nah. And I'm starting to think Yui dropped off the edge of Earth from eating too much."

"I can't believe she still doesn't gain weight from that."

"That's Yui for you."

"Damn her high metabolism."

Ritsu smiled. She also had a high metabolism, not as high as Yui's but still high enough that she wasn't going to remind Mio about it. She had sounded quite hurt the last time Ritsu had poked fun on her weight. "By the way, I saw your boyfriend today."

"Huh? Oh, Souta. And what did he do?"

"'Sides being a total jackass and almost killing me with that car of his?"

"Did you hit your nose on the windscreen?"

Ritsu blinked. "No?"

"Then you're lucky."

"He made you hit the windscreen? !"

Mio laughed. "No no. He does that to the guys only, apparently. It's a wonder they still enter his car."

"He should be banned from driving."

"He's a lot better at driving than someone I know."

"Hey, put me on a straight road and I'll do fine. Just don't make me turn."

"That's useless then."

"I'll be great on road trips!"

"No you won't. You'll sleep on the wheel."

Ritsu sniggered. "Anyway, Souta said that you wanted to go home with me on that night. So why did you—"

"Wait, what?"

"Huh?"

"What did Souta say?"

"Remember the night when I met him?"

"Yeah…?"

"Yeah. Well he said that you wanted to walk home after. You could've told me he had a car, you know. It started to freaking rain after I left the station."

"And you think I didn't have to walk through the rain?"

"You had an umbrella."

"No, I had to buy one."

"Same thing."

"An umbrella is useless when it's windy."

"So why did you buy it then?"

"It wasn't windy when I bought it."

"Tsk, tsk Mio. Excuses, excuses."

"Says the girl that walked without one."

"You know our area doesn't have shops nearby!" There was a sudden signal, which Ritsu had assigned for mail alerts. "Oh hey, wait for a bit."

Just as she had expected, it was from Daishiro. He had been ringing and was wondering when she would end the current call. It had been a few hours. He can wait 'til tomorrow—or the day after, Ritsu decided as she punched in her reply.

"Okay, I'm back."

"What happened?"

"Daishiro mailed me."

"He did?"

"Yeah, wanted to know when he could call me but—"

"I should go then."

"Huh?" Ritsu said, "Nah you don't need to."

Mio had already hung up.

ooo

Monday, 2 July 2012

Ritsu dangled between Mio and Tsumugi as they waited on Azusa's and Yui's arrival. Azusa had called several minutes prior, in order to inform them that Yui was finding it difficult to stay awake. She had fallen asleep as soon as they had entered the train, and continued to sleep as Azusa shook her shoulders. They were now waiting for the train that would take them back to the station they had initially missed. Yui was quite awake by then.

Ritsu flicked her eyes onto the sixth girl of their soon-to-be gathering. She was around her height and had dyed her shoulder length hair a reddish brown, and she didn't know her. She had surreptitiously caught Mio's eye, but her best friend was adept in ignoring her unspoken question. It must be because she didn't know her too.

Tsumugi had two tote bags at her feet. One was currently holding the presents she had already received from the three girls. And the other, Ritsu decided, was probably holding the tea supplies and food.

When Azusa and Yui had arrived and had given their presents to the birthday girl, they all entered the train that soon followed. It was when they had sat down did they notice the girl at Tsumugi's side. The two shared a glance and then shot Ritsu a look. After Ritsu had shaken her head, they looked at Mio. Mio turned to Tsumugi and said, "Are you okay Mugi? You look tired."

Ritsu watched Azusa's and Yui's faces fall. Tsumugi smiled nervously and replied, "Yes, I am a bit tired. But I'm okay now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Tsumugi repeated with a strained face.

"Who are you?" Yui asked the girl. She was soon treated with a whispered litany in the ear by Azusa.

"I'm Abe Ishiko," the girl answered with a smile, unperturbed by Yui's bluntness. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Ritsu wasn't sure if there was sarcasm laced in those overly polite words, but she was sure the smile was genuine.

Ishiko gave a sturdy look at Tsumugi. Tsumugi seemed to become more fidgety than ever and whispered something to her. Her reply was also whispered but Ritsu caught the words, "No one else is here." Tsumugi then whipped around and smiled nervously again.

"Um," Tsumugi started, "remember I told you guys about an announcement I'm going to make today?"

Azusa and Mio nodded. Yui looked confused. Ritsu suddenly remembered; she had forgotten about that.

"You can do it Mugi," Mio said.

Ritsu gave her a questioning look.

"I would like to say, first, that all of you are my dearest friends, and I don't want to lose any of you."

Ritsu slowly nodded, and she could see the others do the same from her peripherals.

"Itchan, I mean," Tsumugi continued brashly before faltering once more. "Ishiko is my … um Ishiko and I are together," she finished quickly.

The silence blinked. Ritsu stared.

Surprisingly, Yui was the first to speak. "Itchan's your girlfriend?"

Tsumugi visibly relaxed. She nodded repeatedly before she was engulfed in a bear hug from Yui and Azusa, and Ritsu found herself getting up to do the same. But there wasn't enough room so she dangled behind them. She watched Azusa smile, watched Yui pat Tsumugi's head as the blonde went teary-eyed and watched Mio give a small nod towards Ishiko.

"Take care of Mugi for us, will ya?" Ritsu found herself saying.

Ishiko flashed a grin. "Of course I will."

Ritsu nodded numbly. All she could think was—

Nothing.

ooo

Mid-way through their karaoke session, Ritsu found that Abe Ishiko was a girl that was quite direct with her words. If she wanted to be the next person to sing, she would say it. So despite the fact that she could barely hold a tune, Ritsu liked that approach, for she was sure that the enigmatic Tsumugi would be in capable hands.

And who would sing, actually sing, in a karaoke session? It was meant for belting out adored lyrics with your entire heart. Ritsu had pounded that into Mio's and, several years later, Tsumugi's heads after they had sung in their too shy, so-in-tone voice of theirs. Azusa, surprisingly, knew the game quickly. But she was always the last one to offer her voice. So after Ishiko had sung, Ritsu grabbed Azusa and a microphone and shoved them together.

"It's time for another duet, Azusa!"

"Okay!" the shortest girl replied, and her inhibition must have naturally worn out that she didn't even stutter. Out of the four, it was only Yui that Ritsu could drink with without restraints. "What did you pick?"

"Let's go with a Perfume song."

"Alright!"

"Lemme join!" Yui cried. She reached across the table for a microphone and almost toppled a few drinks over in the process. "Three for three!"

"Good thinking!" Ritsu answered as she brought Yui into a headlock. She then looked over her shoulder. Mio was rubbing her throat as she chatted with Ishiko, and Tsumugi was grinning and staring at her. She seemed to be mouthing something.

"Ritsu-sempai! The song's started already!"

Ritsu swiftly turned around, bumping foreheads with Yui, and gave a lopsided grin. "Sorry, sorry."

Azusa shook her head at her. Tsumugi's laughter could be heard and Yui was already singing. They weren't on any guitars, keyboards or drum sets; they weren't singing their own songs and Budokan was going to stay back at their high school hall forever.

But it was great to be together again.

ooo

"So how does it feel to be 21, Mugi-chan?" Yui asked during the train home.

Tsumugi giggled. "You've asked me that every year, Yui-chan. It doesn't feel like I've grown a year older at all."

"I guess the excitement really dies after you've hit twenty, huh?" Ritsu commented.

"It does," Ishiko said, "and to be honest, Mugi-chan here would have forgotten her own birthday if it wasn't for me and her father."

"Oh!" Yui gasped, "What did your dad give you, Mugi-chan?"

Ishiko snickered. "A gathering of gorgeous, professional-looking, virgin males."

Tsumugi softly smacked her on the arm. "Itchan!" She then gave a sweeping glance to the rest of the group and explained, "My father had personally selected several suitors for me. I met them yesterday."

"Last night," Ishiko corrected.

Just as Ritsu asked Ishiko, "Aren't you supposed to be jealous?" Mio asked Tsumugi, "Is everything … fine?"

Tsumugi nodded. "I told Dad that I have higher expectations. He seems to have accepted that for now. But don't worry," she added when Mio looked worried, "the plan is going accordingly well."

Ritsu's gaze went from Ishiko to Tsumugi. "What plan?"

She was rewarded with another one of those mysterious Tsumugi smiles. But Ritsu inwardly smirked, remembering that she had seen her hidden side today. It had been a long time since she had seen Tsumugi become so nervous. Finding herself drifting away to memories of their first live house show, she shook herself and focused back on the present.

"We're about to reach our stop, Ritsu," Mio said.

"Ah." Ritsu stood up and sluggishly glanced around her. "Today was fun guys. We should do this again soon. And I mean soon. Not several months later."

They all laughed, until Mio covered her mouth with both hands as she hacked up. Ritsu glanced at her worriedly. She had been coughing irregularly today, and she hoped she wasn't getting sick from the rainy season. That meant she might be next.

"Can I join next time?" Ishiko asked.

"Yeah sure," Ritsu replied with a grin. She looked at Azusa and Yui who were nodding feverishly—well, feverishly on Yui's part.

"Feel free to join any time, Itchan!" Yui said, "A friend of Mugi-chan's a friend of ours."

"Great! Thanks."

After they had said their goodbyes, Mio stood up and waited alongside Ritsu by the train doors as the running scenery outside ceased. Another round of goodbyes and Mio and Ritsu stepped off.

"Today went by too fast," Ritsu commented.

"Yeah," Mio said, sounding as if she was far away, "it did."

Ritsu turned to look at her. She was definitely thinking about something. "Hey," Ritsu began, "that wasn't the first time you met Ishiko, huh?"

Mio was startled from her thoughts. "Huh, what? Oh. Yeah, it wasn't."

"So you also knew about Mugi being, uh, a lesbian, yeah?"

"…Yeah."

Ritsu nodded. No big deal. Just another thing she was kept out of the loop until much later. It was better than never. And she had to agree with Tsumugi, as long as they stayed friends and kept in contact….

"You're okay with her, right?" Mio suddenly asked. "Nothing's changed or anything?"

"Eh? 'Course not. Mugi's Mugi." Ritsu took a deep breath and continued, "I was pretty shocked, actually, and I still am. Though I guess that explained why Mugi never told me anything when it came to her love life. Good for her, I guess."

She heard Mio take a deep breath of her own. "Okay," she said shortly.

"Weren't you shocked?"

"Um … I guess I was."

Ritsu stopped walking. Mio was lagging behind. "Is something wrong, Mio?"

"Huh?"

"You keep on dazing off."

Mio looked as if she was going to suffer from one of her panic attacks. "It's nothing. Really. I was just thinking."

"I can see that."

Mio took another deep breath and resolutely walked on. Ritsu followed.

Another lagging moment later: "Ritsu."

"Yeah?"

"We're best friends, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Ritsu replied, refraining to add a duh at the end. Since when did Mio become so clingy? Not since high school…. And Mio had just muttered something she didn't catch. Well she did but she didn't think she did.

Ugh.

Ritsu needed to ask. "What?"

Mio stopped and began to wrestle her thumbs. Ritsu then again followed suit, minus the thumb fidgeting.

"I said I'm a bian too."

Ritsu blinked. So she did catch it.

They stood there in the middle of their usual route for a strained moment. Ritsu had wanted to bear hug her, but she knew how Mio felt about such acts. Then she remembered, and asked, "Souta's a girl?"

Mio laughed. The first few, fluttering sounds were awkward but as soon as Ritsu had joined in, they were back to normal.

"If he'd heard that, he'd kill you."

"It's a mutual thing then. 'Cause I felt like killing him too."

"Mutual thing indeed. I do feel like choking him sometimes." She then saw Ritsu's questioning look and added, "We're not together. It was just an act. I'm not with anyone."

Ritsu slowly nodded. Then she jerked up and stared at Mio with wide eyes. "Wait, don't tell me that Souta's—"

Mio helplessly laughed again. "No no. He's straight. He's a bit touchy for a guy though."

"That's foreigners for you," Ritsu said with a grin. So Ya-Jackass wasn't dating her best friend. Life was good.

Mio started walking again, quite briskly this time that Ritsu had to jog a bit to match her pace. Mio's forearm was above shoulder level, and Ritsu knew she was trying to secretly wipe away her tears.

"So," Mio said, almost whimpering, "you don't find me gross or immature or anything?"

Ritsu felt her eyebrows rise. Immature? She gave a mental shake and said as sincerely as possible, "You're one of the most mature people I know, Mio."

Mio laughed again before she hit another coughing fit. Ritsu bit her lip and asked, "Are you sick?"

"No," Mio wheezed out, "and I hope I'm not coming down with something. Break's around the corner but I don't want to skip out any days."

"Ah okay. So," Ritsu said, slinging her arm over Mio's shoulders; she didn't mind getting out of college a few weeks earlier, "how come you didn't tell me this before?" She then injected a bit of hurt into her voice, "I'm your best friend, aren't I?"

Rubbing the area just below her collarbones, Mio replied weakly, "It's not like I actually knew all along. I, um, I didn't really accept it until we graduated."

"Oh," Ritsu said, too busy revelling in the feeling of not getting thwacked on the head. Her ego would've taken a huge fall if that was to happen. Souta didn't get a head thwack, so she shouldn't too.

Mio suddenly sighed. "I'm pathetic. I'm not going to get married and I'm going to be alone for the rest of my life."

Ritsu blinked. Now that she had thought of it, she'd never really paid much attention to Mio's love life. Or lack thereof, apparently. She had teased her on when she was ever going to meet Souta, but he turned out to be just a friend. She needed to object.

"No you won't Mio. You're a pretty girl, any gu—girl would be lucky to have you."

"I don't know about that."

"You will! I'll even help you. Though you and Mugi are the only girl lovers I know."

Mio snorted in amusement, making Ritsu feel a bit better that she had broken her gloom there. But she immediately backtracked after she had made such a comment. She had often helped Mio in finding the perfect prince for her, and she had always failed. Not because Mio had disapproved of the boys she had suggested—but because Mio had always managed to squeeze her way out of the blind dates with a legitimate excuse. It was either because she was already taken, or … she was already taken.

When they waved goodbye at their parting spot, Ritsu saw Mio repeat, "I'm not with anyone," instead of the complementary line. They turned around and continued their way home. Ritsu took a few steps, looked over her shoulder and watched Mio walk the opposite direction. And she hoped the unease wasn't disgust just then. She was feeling too hollow for that.

Ritsu sighed as she entered her room, flicking on the lights and fishing around in her handbag for her phone. As usual, there was a mail from Daishiro. How was the party? The karaoke? Maybe they should try that one day.

Replying that the party was great, the birthday girl was happy and the karaoke entertaining, she ignored the lack of her usual adverbs and ended the mail with an apology. She wasn't in the mood for conversation, tonight.

Karaoke for four hours straight could do that to you.

ooooo

End of Chapter

A/N: Heh, 'gross'. I'm still reeling from that comment Ritsu made in the K-ON! OVA.

I was hoping I could post this in a few days time after it's fully beta-ed, but I'm afraid my break would soon be over. So I'm posting it now. If you see a typo or something, do tell me. This is gonna be my last update 'til July.

Notes:
— Frau: German honorific for Ms.
— Bian: Short form of lesbian, obviously. Mio would've liked to get her coming out over and done with and slipped into slang.
— Ya-Jackass: Lol, Ritsu making fun of Souta, what with his many 'ja's.