When Fire Tripper, the first band on stage, began to play, Ryuunosuke was expecting something a bit different to the simple pop music that she often heard around the school, that she overheard Shinobu's classmates listening to. What she didn't expect was the sheer force and volume of the music to overwhelm her, rattling her body to the very bone.
As the band played furiously, the crowd surged around the stage in heated fervour. Ryuunosuke could hear screams of ecstasy around her as the crowd swayed and shook. She looked over at Shinobu, who was staying back slightly from the crowd which, Ryuunosuke presumed, was mostly to try and avoid the crush.
By the time that the band were finished with their second song, Ryuunosuke had to stagger away from the audience to try and regain her breath. She went over to Shinobu again, who wound an arm around her waist in order to keep her steady.
"Is that really what a rock concert is supposed to be like?!" Ryuunosuke said in amazement. "That was wilder than I imagined!"
Shinobu smiled, squeezing Ryuunosuke's waist gently. "You should be more careful, or your makeup might run."
Kenta crossed his arms behind them, looking offended. "I used the waterproof makeups, lady! There's no chance that I would use anything else in a situation like this!"
Shinobu burst into giggles. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" She looked towards the stage as the band played on, the sound of the bass and drums deafening, the vibrations carrying on under their feet.. "You think the band could play a little louder? I'm not sure the people outside can hear what they're singing..."
Ryuunosuke shrugged a little. "Maybe that's the idea? We pay to hurt our ears with loud music while they listen in for free." She took a deep breath, managing to recover her breath. "Okay, I think I'm fine now."
The three watched from a safe distance as Fire Tripper went through their set, to be replaced with the next band, The Selfish Bastards. As the new band started to play, with a funkier, more danceable sound, Ryuunosuke found herself being dragged out to the dance floor by Shinobu.
Ryuunosuke hung on tightly to Shinobu's hands as she all but swung her around onto the floor, and then began dancing in front of her. Ryuunosuke started to dance along, the beat of the music pushing her along, as well as the sight of Shinobu illuminated by the multicolored lights that spread out from the stage.
Soon, Ryuunosuke and Shinobu found themselves surrounded by other dancers from the audience, breaking off from those crowding the stage, or joining in from the sidelines. Ryuunosuke felt herself cutting loose, bounding about the floor among the swaying bodies, completely free from worry and strife.
She turned and saw Lum there, dancing with Tacchan alongside her. And then Lum looked up and caught Ryuunosuke's eye, and they soon came together, Shinobu dancing with Tacchan instead. And after that, Lum was replaced with Junchan, who then was replaced with Nagisa, who then was replaced with Shu-chan, and then Kenta.
For a moment, all of Ryuunosuke's dance partners were starting to blur together, and Ryuunosuke was finding that she didn't even mind at all. But all too soon the music was over, and the band had quickly left the stage.
Shinobu came up to Ryuunosuke again, from out of nowhere. Ryuunosuke leant on Shinobu thankfully, her arm around Shinobu's waist again. "Thanks..."
Shinobu just smiled. "You don't need to thank me." She led Ryuunosuke over to the bar quietly. "Would you like a drink or something? Don't worry about paying, it's on me."
"Just water's fine." Ryuunosuke said, as she quickly regained her breath. "You were pretty good back there..."
"Thank you!" Shinobu said brightly. "Though I don't know that there's much opportunity for dancing with the next band. Kenta told me that The Laughing Targets are a pretty dark band."
"What, like they play with the lights off or something?" Ryuunosuke asked.
Shinobu shook her head. "No, silly. Their music is pretty dark and sinister. Like it's all dismal and foreboding and stuff. You could probably dance to it, but it would be kind of hard."
As the Laughing Targets took to the stage and began to play, Ryuunosuke could see Shinobu's point. Some of their music did have a danceable beat to it, but it sounded way too dark sounding to get on the floor with. A few people, however, did seem to be into it enough to try, which Ryuunosuke had to admire.
However, it didn't mean she wanted to stick around when nature called. Thus, she quickly went in search of the ladies' room. She felt a strange sense of happiness as she pushed open the door to the ladies toilets, the first time she could go inside without worrying that she'd run across somebody who would think she was a boy invading their space.
That happiness was soon abated when the stall next to Ryuunosuke's suddenly got occupied by two rather randy-sounding women. She could hear them murmuring soft words to each other, which Ryuunosuke strained to hear. And then that was replaced with the sounds of kissing, of heated moans and gasps, of the rustle of clothing.
Ryuunosuke tried her best to ignore the lewd noises and giggles as she did her business, sounds that barely let up even after she flushed the toilet. Ryuunosuke could feel her temperature spike a notch.
Slowly, Ryuunosuke stepped out of her stall, turned around, and looked towards the occupied stall. Not only was the door unlocked, but it wasn't even closed: Ryuunosuke could see both women clinched tight in their embrace, kissing frantically. The taller woman, who was wearing a dark red cocktail dress with a plunging neckline and black stiletto heels, was pressing the other lady, a brunette in a more conservative black dress with black shoes, up against one of the sidewalls.
Ryuunosuke shoved the door open, hard enough that the door banged against the wall. "Could you tone it down a little?! Some people actually want to take a piss in here!"
The two women jolted, turning to look at Ryuunosuke in shock.
And Ryuunosuke could feel an icy chill run up her spine as she recognized them.
"Sakura-sensei...?" She said slowly, her eyes moving between the shocked faces. "Mrs. Moroboshi?"
Sakura carefully straightened her dress. "Sorry, Ryuunosuke. Me and Mrs. Moroboshi, we..."
"We sort of have a thing going on!" Mrs. Moroboshi said quickly.
Ryuunosuke gaped at the two in horror, unable to speak. And then, silently, she turned around and made her way out of the bathroom and back towards the bar.
Thankfully, Shinobu and Lum were waiting. "I just ran into Sakura-sensei in the ladies'..." She decided to omit the details of their meeting, for Sakura's own sake, as well as Mrs. Moroboshi's. At least it'll be likely that Sakura would be back to normal tomorrow, so they all could put that awkwardness behind them.
Shinobu blinked in surprise. "I didn't expect Sakura-sensei to be into this kind of music..."
"Hey, she's a modern girl, right?" Lum said. "If she's the type to go down to the disco, she'd probably be all over this kind of music." She looked around for a moment. "Also, judging from the audience, she'd probably get a whole lot less creeps on her back around here."
Ryuunosuke blinked, and looked around the room as well. It didn't take long for Lum's meaning to become clear: among the noticeable couples that she found sitting back against the walls, most of them were girls with girls, or boys with boys. And it seemed that even with the couples that might've looked like they were boys and girls, it was hard to tell for sure.
"This is surreal..." Ryuunosuke said over the music, mostly to herself.
"This is fate, Ryuunosuke. That's what my uncle would say."
Ryuunosuke turned around to see Sakura standing before her, Mrs. Morboshi in tow.
"That's the only way I can explain it." She continued, now in full-on Shinto miko mode.. "Why else would we be here, in a place for gay youth, when we had to deal with all that chaos with the Sexuality Remote? I wouldn't be surprised if Uncle popped up out of nowhere sooner or later. It'd be the thing to expect."
Ryuunosuke swallowed hard. The way that Sakura said it, it was hard to deny. But even then, it gave her a sick feeling of dread in her stomach. Because if Sakura and even Ataru's mother could stumble here by chance, then...
Ryuunosuke shook her head to try and dislodge the feeling of fear. But it wasn't much use. It was like she could feel the presence of her old man, slowly creeping in around her.
Her fear was suddenly derailed when a hand curled around hers. She turned to see Shinobu, gazing at her fondly, her face illuminated by the lights. As if by chance, the music had stopped, before Ryuunosuke could realise it.
"Ryuunosuke, don't worry." Shinobu said. "We're here for you, too. No matter what happens."
"What's going on?" Tacchan asked, coming towards the group. His eyes fell on Sakura, and then suddenly lit up with delight. "Oh my! Sakura-sensei, you're here too! And you look so wonderful tonight!"
Sakura made a strangled sound, backing away from Ataru and his sparkling eyes, while also trying to hide Mrs. Moroboshi from view.
Shinobu looked desperately between Tacchan and Sakura for a moment, before she dashed out in front of him. "Sakura-sensei is here, but she's with somebody tonight, Tacchan." She extended a hand nervously. "Can I have the next dance? It'll be Maris and the Super-Girls next!"
Tacchan looked disappointed for a moment, but relented all the same. "Well, all right. I mean, if you don't mind, Shinobu."
Ryuunosuke heaved a sigh as Shinobu led Tacchan away from Sakura and Mrs. Moroboshi. Even though it left her alone again, at least Shinobu managed to steer away from any potential embarrassment.
Mrs. Moroboshi came around behind Sakura, stepping towards Ryuunosuke. "You look very nice tonight, Ryuunosuke. And Ataru definitely has never looked better." She giggled lightly, and Ryuunosuke tried her best to fight off a smile.
Lum floated over to Ryuunosuke again. "Want another dance, sweetie?" She brought herself in close, curling her arms around Ryuunosuke's shoulders. Ryuunosuke could smell the oni-girl's sweet scent as she whispered in her ear. "I'll be all yours for the next few minutes."
"What about Tacchan?" Ryuunosuke asked. "Doesn't he usually get jealous?"
Lum just grinned at her. "Not if it's another woman."
Ryuunosuke could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks again. It was hard to forget all those glancing blows from Lum's sheer sex appeal most of the times that they've interacted, especially Lum's weird thing about occasionally being handsy with her. But now, this was Lum full force and unchained, and focused directly at her.
On the stage, Maris and the Super-Girls took up their instruments, and begun to play a slow, slinky number. The lead singer stepped out to the edge of the stage as she sung the first words, her red hair glowing in fine lights that made her diamond studded hair-clip shaped like a yen sign glitter.
"Yeah," Ryuunosuke could hear herself say in a distant voice. "Yeah, I'd like that." And just like that, Lum was guiding her across the dancefloor, swinging her body to the beat of the music.
Ryuunosuke held on to Lum as she swirled around her, hovering around her lazily, with only the feeling of her hands moving around her body to keep hold, as if she would float away if she were to let go.
As Lum orbited her body once more, Ryuunosuke took firm hold of Lum's arm again, stopping her dead for a moment. Lum tilted her head as she looked at Ryuunosuke for a moment, long enough for Ryuunosuke to worry that she might've gone too far and upset her. But then Lum took her hands again, smiling.
Ryuunosuke took the lead, letting Lum drift across the dancefloor, extending her arms to swing her in lazy circles as the music built to a climax. Just as Ryuunosuke could feel the climax hit, she pulled Lum in again, so close that she could feel Lum's breath on her face.
They gazed into each other's eyes for a long moment, the music fading away for a long moment. For a moment, Ryuunosuke and Lum felt the world melt away. And then the sounds of the audience's applause broke the spell.
Ryuunosuke and Lum turned around to see the audience applauding them, their enraptured faces giving Ryuunosuke the impression that they might have been watching their dance all along.
Ryuunosuke gazed out among the adoring faces, her heart rising as she took in the applause. The people were all applauding, applauding for her. For her as a woman. And Ryuunosuke, at that moment, felt a sense of belonging that she never really felt before, or even thought she was capable of feeling.
And then Ryuunosuke saw the face of her father among them, glaring at her with murder in his eyes.
Ryuunosuke stared at her father, keeping her body very still. She roiled with rage as she saw her father's eyes, full of disappointment and contempt for her. She kept herself very still, because she knew that if she did anything else, somebody could get very hurt. Worse, somebody who didn't deserve it get hurt could.
She felt Lum's fingers squeeze her shoulders, her nails digging into her bare shoulders. There was a crackle of ozone in the air that was unmistakable, because she had been around Lum long enough to recognise it.
Everything slowly ground to a halt around them: the band didn't play, the audience didn't dance, or even look at the stage, too busy staring at the confrontation in the middle of the dance-floor.
Shinobu pushed her way out of the crowd, followed by Ata-Tacchan and Shu-chan. "Ryuunosuke-kun!" She cried out as she stepped forward towards her and Lum.
But before she could step closer, Mr. Fujinami turned his eyes on her. "Shut up!" His bellow rooted Shinobu to the floor, and shocked the rest of the audience into dead silence. The old man surveyed the auditorium, his eyes full of spite. For somebody so self-obsessed with manliness and masculinity, the Rainbow Rock was something close to anathema.
"Who among you is responsible for perverting my son like this?"
The question hung in the air for a moment, none daring to answer.
"WHO?!" Mr. Fujinami barked out.
The crowd flinched reflexively. Silence still reigned.
"You sick degenerates! You filthy vermin! You took my son, who I raised with my own two hands to be a man among men! And you turned him into a FAGGOT!"
Mr. Fujinami's eyes still burned. No tears. No histrionics. Ryuunosuke noticed. This was something else, far beyond his usual behaviour. This was pure rage and contempt.
"You have sullied him with your deviant ways! You made my son into a WOMAN!"
Ryuunosuke wondered if this was what it was to finally see him mad. She knew that to challenge him now would probably be death, or at least something close to it. But she would rather be dead than to have been so close to what she desired, and then having to go back to being the son her father forced her to be.
"She already IS a woman!" Shinobu shouted back. "She was born a woman! And you did everything in your power to ruin her! The only deviant in this place is you!"
"That's right!" Lum shouted. "She's a great woman, and she belongs here, with us! And we're not gonna let you stop her!"
Mr. Fujinami stalked towards Lum, a lot faster than she expected. Before even Ryuunosuke could realise it, he had slapped Lum away from Ryuunosuke, and roughly grabbed her by the hair. The oni-girl cried out as he yanked her close, pulling as hard as he possibly could.
"You dare say those things to me, girl?" He snarled, yanking hard. "I should have taught you a lesson long ago..."
His spiel was cut off with a sudden high heel pump to the back of the head. Everyone's gaze turned to Tacchan who, even though it was obvious that he was shaking, still stood in front of Mr. Fujinami.
"Let go of my girlfriend!"
Mr. Fujinami stared at Tacchan for a good long moment. He reached behind his head to touch the spot of blood forming from when that white high heel struck him. And in the next moment, he was on Tacchan, grabbing him roughly.
For a moment, all was a frenzy of shouting and protest. Shinobu reached forward to grab Mr. Fujinami, while Shu-chan and Megane went over to help Shinobu. Ryuunosuke dove forward and grabbed Mr. Fujinami by the back of his ratty shirt, trying to pull him away from Tacchan.
In the next moment, a terrible ripping sound was heard over the sounds of screams. And in the next, Tacchan fell back, the pretty blue dress torn from his body. All that was left was a bunch of tatters, over a pair of simple white briefs. Shinobu, Shu-chan and Megane stumbled backwards, landing hard on the floor. Ryuunosuke toppled backwards, slamming on her back against the dance floor.
Mr. Fujinami grinned sickly as he stared down at Tacchan, now reduced to simply Ataru. "Well, it looks like I managed to show you for what you're really are, haven't I?"
Mr. Fujinami loomed over Ataru, grinning as the boy cringed away from him. But then his jubilation died as a crackling sound came, along with the buzzing feel of electricity. He paused for a moment, a long moment, unable to turn around to see, knowing that he was going to see his end.
And then he turned around.
He saw Lum; beautiful, terrible Lum, rising up from the floor again, her body wreathed in blue lightning. Her green suit was slowly burned away from her body from the electricity, leaving her barefoot in her famous tiger-fur bikini. Her body seemed to glow with a terrifying blue light, like a human bug-zapper, set to maximum.
"How dare you," She slowly ground out through her teeth, "How dare you hurt and humiliate my darling like that..."
Mr. Fujinami said nothing in response. He had already accepted his fate.
When the smoke and stray electricity cleared, Mr. Fujinami lay in the middle of the room, blackened and unconscious. Ryuunosuke stared at the old man's prone body, still with that resigned expression on his face. The eyes were still open, staring out into space, accusing no-one in particular.
Ryuunosuke stared at the face of her father, and felt her heart sink. She managed to kindle a tiny, almost insignificant mote of hope, that she could finally let go of the expectations of her being the man her father always wanted to be. And then her father came along and stamped it out, even as he hurt himself doing it.
Megane and Kenta were already tying the old man up, Sakura pasting several spirit wards and seals on his bindings. There were smattered boos that came from the gathered crowd as the old man was carted off, to be left outside for the hope that the police would pick him up.
Ryuunosuke was silent for a moment, turning to face Ataru, now clad in only a pair of white cotton briefs. Lum was kneeling next to him, wiping the smeared makeup from his face. For all that Ryuunosuke knew, that horrible moment had drained the last of the effects of the Sexuality Remote. Tacchan was gone again, reverted to Ataru, like Cinderella's dress turning to rags at midnight.
The spell that came over all of them, at that instant, was broken, leaving only a bunch of confused teens amidst the remains. And nothing, as far as Ryuunosuke knew, but a bunch of memories and regrets.
"Ryuunosuke-kun?"
Ryuunosuke turned again to see Shinobu, hands worrying the edge of a skirt frill.
"Are you going to be alright?" She asked quietly, the tremble making her voice even more softer than usual. She looked concerned, as Ryuunosuke knew she always was.
Ryuunosuke looked at Shinobu for a good long moment. "I'll be okay, I guess. I just want to go home. I'm done with all of this for tonight." She tried her best to give Shinobu a smile. "I'll see you on Monday for school, yeah?"
Shinobu stared at Ryuunosuke for a moment. "Ryuunosuke, what are you talking about?"
Ryuunosuke shook her head. "I dunno. I guess I'm feeling like I regret letting what happened today get my hopes up like that. I should've known that something would've come along and ruined it." She looked at Shinobu mournfully, trying to fight the tears she could feel coming. "I'm not cut out for this, Shinobu. But then I never really was, you know?"
Then Ryuunosuke turned away, and trudged off towards the door, leaving Shinobu watching her leave silently. She ignored the sounds of the crowd tending to each other as they tried to pick themselves up.
Ryuunosuke also ignored the sounds of the band warming themselves up again, trying to get ready to start another song. Or the sound of a piano being played, the beginning of a new song.
She was about to grab hold of the handle of the door, to pull it open and leave the club to go home and leave that whole sordid mess behind her, before she heard Shinobu start to sing.
While Ryuunosuke made for the door, Shinobu drifted over towards the stage. The lead singer, still standing in her outlandish bikini outfit and red hair braided up at the back, smiled down on her.
"You look like you could need some support." The singer said. "Why don't you come up here with us for a minute?"
The guitarist, another girl in a bikini outfit, with bright blue hair that reached down to her back, just snorted. "Why don't you let her sing the next number, then? Maybe she'll do better than your caterwauling, Maris!"
Maris gave the guitarist the stink-eye. "Bite me, Sue!"
Shinobu looked between the two girls for a moment, a strange thought popping into her head. "Do you girls know Hedwig?"
The two girls looked at Shinobu for a moment.
"Well, it's one of my favourite movies..." Maris said. "Don't tell me you really want to sing? To try and get that cute butch girl back?"
"It was supposed to be a joke, you know." Sue said, somewhat confused. However, after a moment, she sighed in defeat. "Which song would you like?"
Shinobu looked over the heads of the crowd, towards Ryuunosuke's quickly retreating back. "Wicked Little Town," She said simply. "Both of them."
And then Shinobu was brought onstage, and the band began to play, Maris switching to a keytar to play the piano part.
Ryuunosuke paused at the door, as Shinobu begun to sing in Japanese:
"You know the sun is in your eyes, and hurricanes and rains, black and cloudy skies. You're running up and down that hill, you turn it off and on at will, there's nothing here to thrill or bring you down."
Ryuunosuke turned to see Shinobu on stage, a microphone gripped in her hands, Maris and Sue flanking behind her as she sang. Fine lights illuminated her and her dress, making her glow like an angel coming down from heaven. She noticed Ryuunosuke looking at her, and sang louder into the microphone.
"And if you got no other choice, you know you can follow my voice, through the dark turns and noise of this wicked little town."
Ryuunosuke felt her head go light. She didn't know if Shinobu had written the song herself, if this was something someone else made famous, or it was just something Shinobu stumbled on. But, hearing it now, and hearing it from Shinobu's lips, she knew that it was aimed directly at her. And it was aimed directly at her.
Ryuunosuke's eyes couldn't leave Shinobu as she continued to sing, the band playing along so effortlessly that they even sang backing vocals, supporting Shinobu's earnest voice.
Sakura's words sprang back into Ryuunosuke's mind: "This is fate... That's the only way I could explain it."
Almost as if by autopilot, Ryuunosuke started to walk back towards the stage. Like a sailor hearing the song of a siren, Ryuunosuke was in a trance, walking towards the stage, powerless to resist the urge to come back.
The crowd turned to look at Ryuunosuke as she approached, as Shinobu's eyes locked on Ryuunosuke's. Even though Shinobu was singing, loud and clear as a bell, her body was trembling, unable to stay still, all the emotions and feelings in Shinobu's body rocking about before being ejected through her mouth, into the microphone and out into the crowd.
Shinobu's song struck Ryuunosuke hard in the chest, and burrowed deep in her heart and soul. Shinobu's trembling voice welled up in her, causing the blood to rush to her face and tears to well in her eyes. And with all that, Ryuunosuke couldn't take her eyes away from Shinobu as she sang, no matter how blurry and indistinct those tears made of the sight.
So the tears spilled out as Ryuunosuke watched, streaming out of her eyes and down her cheeks, and she shook and quivered, as Shinobu's singing continued to strike her heart like a drum.
Ryuunosuke surged forward, the crowd in front of her parting quickly to let her reach the stage. Shinobu's singing halted mid-chorus, as she dropped the microphone and all but dove from the stage into Ryuunosuke's arms.
On stage, Maris and Sue smoothly took over the song, singing together as one voice to finish what Shinobu started. Below, the audience cheered, applauded, screamed in Lisztomanian ecstasy as Ryuunosuke and Shinobu embraced and kissed.
Neither of them cared. They were back in their own little world together, just the two of them. The only thing they noticed was that the Super-Girls decided to finish with "Midnight Radio" as an encore: A song that was perfect for one last dance. So Shinobu and Ryuunosuke had that dance, in the middle of the dance floor, flanked with friends both old and new.
And then it was well and truly over. Shu-chan was back to his old self, and had called over some of his team in the Mendou command car to get a spare outfit for Ataru. Two police cops dragged the still out cold body of Mr. Fujinami away, to spend the night in a holding cell, the boos and jeers of the audience following him out. And Maris and the Super-Girls thanked Shinobu for helping to save their set, and asked her for her translated Hedwig songs.
Ataru and Lum rode with Mendou and Megane in the white command car, driving off into the night. Sakura and Mrs. Moroboshi made their excuses and disappeared down the street as well, going their separate ways.
Shinobu leaned against the wall as Club Kitty shut its doors, the neon pink lights fading away and leaving the building in darkness. Ryuunosuke stood beside her, watching her face curiously.
"I'm sorry for almost ditching you back there, Shinobu." Ryuunosuke finally said. "That was a stupid thing to do, I know." She pulled off her jacket, and draped it lightly over Shinobu's shoulders, in an effort to keep her a little bit warmer.
Shinobu smiled softly at Ryuunosuke. "It's alright. Just promise me that you don't do that again, alright?"
Ryuunosuke smiled, and nodded. "Alright." She looked down at the jacket covering Shinobu's back, noticing something on the back. English words, written in red lipstick.
DENY ME AND BE DOOMED.
"Interesting statement, isn't it?" Shinobu asked. "Those words always reminded me of you, whenever I read them. So I figured that it would go well with your new look. Don't you think so?"
Ryuunosuke smiled softly, placing two fingers under Shinobu's chin to tilt her head up gently. "Yeah, I think so." And then she leaned forward and kissed Shinobu on the lips again.
Unfortunately, their kiss was suddenly interrupted by the blare of a car horn.
"Are you going to stay here until morning? You two are going to get really cold like that."
The two girls turned to look at Kenta, sat inside the blue SUV, parked against the curb.
"Me and the club are going off to the Karaoke rooms downtown." Nagisa called from the front seat. "We want to be singing until the sun comes up! I hope you'd like to come along, too!"
Ryuunosuke and Shinobu exchanged glances, before they both turned to Kenta and Nagisa and nodded. They quickly got in the car, Shinobu cuddling close to Ryuunosuke's side, head resting on her shoulder.
The blue SUV was soon speeding down the road, off to keep the party going until dawn.
After such a strange and exciting day, it was a waste to let it end then and there.
It's finally done. Total Remote Control is done. After months of procrastination, I finally managed to finish another fanfic. I won't say this hasn't been that much of a struggle, especially considering that I had to fight my own general apathy. But now I can say that I have written a long-form story, in chapters and everything.
I hope that this is something that can go alongside Ryuunosuke In Bloom as a favourite of the people who read it. It makes me happy that I would be able to write good stories that do my own personal OTP justice.
One last quick reference spot: most of the band names in the Rainbow Rock set list are references to short story works by UY's creator, Rumiko Takahashi. And the description of Maris and Sue of the Super-Girls are definitely taken from the story their band is named after as well.