So obviously this was released much much much later than I had ever wanted it to be. I just wasn't satisfied with it no matter how I typed it .. So I apologize to you all and will try my absolute hardest to make sure this never ever happens again.

Stairs, stairs were the enemy. They were everywhere and existed solely to prevent the brunette guitarist from getting where she needed to go. If they had to make such troubling things then why couldn't they put the athletic clubs at the top of them all? Why put the music club room waaaaay up there?

Was it some kind of conspiracy to keep her from leading HTT to greatness?

Were her band mates in the same danger as her?

Should she warn them all!

Perhaps this was more the doctor's scheme than the builders'. After all what proof did he have that she even needed these heavy metal things.

She jumped up from her desk suddenly "I don't need these things Sawa-chan!" she exclaimed pointing at the two crutches leaning against the wall.

Sawako's eye twitched as she cast her student a death glance, "That's very nice of you to share with us." she muttered "Now if you would please sit-" before she could finish her sentence Yui had fallen to the floor.

After a few moments of shuffling and offers of help from her classmates Yui politely withdrew her earlier statement and allowed her teacher to continue with the lesson.

Though now that it was painfully (literally) obvious that she would have to use the crutches to get around she would need a way to outsmart the stairs…

#Plan A

Lunchtime rolled around and Yui soon found herself surrounded by her band mates, minus a certain kitten.

"Private! What's your condition?" her partner in crime shouted suddenly. Yui immediately stood and saluted. She began to reply but winced and flopped back onto her desk as dramatically as possible.

"Heavily… wounded." she coughed out, struggling to sit up.

"Oi oi you didn't have to force yourself." Ritsu replied.

Mugi went into panic mode at her friends antics. She looked around for a bit before reaching into her bag and pulling out a notebook. The pianist quickly began to fan the girl with her math notes.

Yui pouted but quickly got back into character and coughed "Need….cake…"

Mugi dropped the notebook and started to search through her bag again.

"Wait seriously!" Ritsu and Mio exclaimed suddenly. The blonde pulled out a phone and went to call her butler. Unfortunately for the guitarist their bassist stopped her.

"We still have cake in the fridge in the club room." Mio said helping their lazy guitarist up.

#Plan B

Even Yui had to admit that Plan B was a long shot, it would require expert timing, cunning and every bit of charisma she possessed to pull it off. She struggled to make it out of the classroom issuing complaints left and right as they made their way down the hall once they reached the stairs it was time to spring the trap.

"Mio-Chan carry me!" Yui shouted, suddenly latching on to the bassist's back.

All around them students stopped and stared. Some giggled and some began to whisper. What they were doing didn't really matter though. The point being, that their attention was on Mio.

"3" Ritsu began, watching as Mio's face flushed red.

"2" she continued. Mio struggled to break out of Yui's death grip

"1" and Mio was down for the count.

Yui quickly revised her plan "Ricchan!" she dove but was quickly sidestepped. She pouted before turning to Mugi who had been smiling serenely through this whole ordeal. "Mugi-Chan!"

'Bing bong bing bong'

"Eh…?"

And so Yui was forced to go without her precious cake for lunch, in fact, thanks to the guitarist, the entire band was forced to go hungry, with the exception of the absent kitten.

Said kitten had an ordeal of her own to deal with.

She stared blankly into the gray skies listening to the random chatter of those around her. She picked at her lunchbox and tried her best to hear the words Jun was saying.

The sound of her friend's voice seemed distant even though they were sitting so close. Every so often the brown haired guitarist would flash through her mind and send the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy.

Just when had this started? Sure she had admitted this to herself only hours ago, but the feelings had been there for awhile right?

She thought back to when Yui had fallen on the ice. More specifically the emotion she had felt at that time. What had caused her to space out in the first place?

Jun finally gave up. She had been confused to find that Azusa hadn't gone to the club room for lunch or even to her senpai's classroom. Thinking that perhaps she had wanted to hang out with her and Ui she had happily pulled their desks together and started up some small talk.

Azusa had been responsive at first but after around 5 minutes the guitarist Jun could tell that her thoughts were elsewhere.

The puffy haired bassist simply sighed and turned to Ui. The younger Hirasawa wasn't any better of a conversationalist than Azusa.

The three of them slowly drifted back to their original spots as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

The rest of the school day drifted by rather quickly and before Jun could say her goodbyes her friends had disappeared.

Her ponytails bounced as she made her way up the stairs. As always Mugi was the first to welcome her to the clubroom, the other members followed suit. Though her daily tackling never came, Azusa didn't let it bother her.

She sipped at her tea and poked at the strawberry resting atop her cake. Mugi had decided to celebrate Yui's return with her favorite cake. Azusa bit her lip 'A cake especially for her and she doesn't even show up' she thought to herself 'this can't be a crush not with someone so irresponsible…and weird….and…and'

Azusa sighed, earning a glance from her fellow club members. "Mio-senpai..." she muttered "what do you do when you're in love?"

Her senpai's reactions were as follows:

Ritsu's face hit the desk in front of her.

Mugi's face twisted into a blissful smile

And the senpai she had come to for advice, the one she was counting on. Her precious Mio-senpai had turned red and lost her voice.

Azusa blushed as well "I-I don't know if it's umm..."

Ritsu looked up at her mischievously.

"Ritsu-senpai don't look at me like- Mugi-senpai stop with the smile!"

Ritsu started to inch closer only to receive a knock on the head from her childhood friend. Mio then looked at Mugi… and hit Ritsu again.

Ritsu made her way to a nearby corner rubbing her head and grumbling. Mugi accompanied her to make sure she was ok.

Azusa felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at her obviously nervous senpai with tears of embarrassment slowly forming in her eyes.

"Why don't you tell me about it ok?" the bassist said with a soft smile.

"Thank you Ui~" Yui chimed as her sister helped her up the last step. The younger Hirasawa gave a small smile.

"No problem Onee-chan just make sure you get someone to help you get back down ok?" she paused "O-or call me."

"Ok~" the elder replied placing her hand on the door handle. From within she heard the voice of her favorite little Kouhai.

"I…I think I like someone- a boy." Azusa said, stumbling over her words. She wasn't quite ready to tell them that it was Yui. "So I thought maybe… since Mio-senpai is so popular she could help me out..."

Mio blushed at the praise. It would be far too hard to tell her kouhai about her lack of experience while she was being held to such high regard. The closest Mio had gotten was a few love letters in her locker from her fan club members.

Mio's eyes shifted to HTT's drummer "Did you tell them…how you feel?"

Azusa thought about it for a moment "but what if… the person is a friend of mine… it could ruin everything!"

Mio bit her lip 'same situation huh?' "Even then… some people are just too dense to get it without a little push and if you two go on as just friends for too long… It'll only get harder."

Azusa nodded slowly, taking in this advice. Her pulse quickened at the thought of telling Yui any of this but she knew she had to if she wanted things to move forward.

Right outside the club room door their guitarist was frozen she wasn't completely sure why… but her body didn't want to move. Even the enticing scent of cake wafting from the room before her couldn't bring her to move.

"Azu-nyan… likes someone?"

AN: Threw in some love for Mitsu, my most beloved non-Azu pairing (seriously she can be paired with anyone and be adorable.) There'll probably be more Mitsu stuff in upcoming chapters, though it'll be side stuff for the most part.