/*Author's notes

I've recently read Monte-chan's K-ON fan fictions and I really enjoyed them. However, it has shown me how much I self indulge in my 'Author's notes' so from now on I'll try not to do that. Try being the key word there…

I said I'd start dating these. I can't be bothered… Especially considering I don't know whether I should put a starting date or ending date since it can take more than one day to write a chapter.

I now have a cover photo! The picture is of the dessert 'White Lady' where the hot chocolate is poured over the cream and ice cream creating a viciously sweet concoction of hot and cold. I'd show a picture of the result but it's a mess…

I sort of want to copy Monte-chan's openings, saying how I don't own K-on and that if I did I would give the background characters more screen time so we have more shipping ammunition.

Funny ones are harder than it looks… But it's fun :D

*/

Later that evening…

"A-ah!" shouted Yui, flopping onto the small desk in Mio's room. The owner hushed her, aware of the neighbours. "What are we going to do about the membership fee?"

Ritsu, "Man, you need a lot of money for things in college." She wondered whether the Parkour society had a fee.

Mugi, "For times like these you need part time jobs!" The blonde held out a magazine to the drummer. "Here you go Ricchan."

Ritsu, "Oh, a part time job magazine. That's nice- I mean how any have you got there!"

She held a thick wad close to her chest and seemed very excited. Mio counted six different brands of magazine.

Mio, "You're really fired up about this, aren't you Mugi?"

Mugi, "I have more in my room if we don't find anything here."

Ritsu clapped her hand together and put on a dreamy face. "It has been my dream to get a part time job when I go to university~" The drummer glanced at Mugi. "Something like this? Did I do a good impression?"

Mugi puffed up her cheeks. "You did not!"

Spot on, thought Mio.

Yui, "But we've done part time jobs before, like Mio-chan's training session."

Mio, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Ritsu, "And you say that with a perfect smile…"

Yui, "Mugi, you're family's pretty rich. So you don't have to work part time, right?"

There was a short pause.

Mugi, "A-Actually, they disinherited me…" Her eyes lowered.

Mio, "Disinherited! Are you- are you serious?" Ritsu didn't look too concerned though.

Ritsu, "Mugi, if you're making a joke, you gotta put more of a twist in it."

Mugi turned her head away, as though hiding tears.

Ritsu, "M-Mugi, I'm sorry! Did they really cut you off?"

Mugi, "Just kidding." She flashed her royal smile.

Ritsu grabbed Mugi and put her in a chokehold. Of course, the blonde was enjoying the intimacy.

Mugi, "My parents have been taking care of me up till now, so I decided that I want to something on my own, to depend on myself a little."

Mio, "I see, you really gave this some thought, didn't you."

Yui, "Come to think of it, Mugi-chan has always been taking care of us too."

Mio, "And she got the discount on your guitar."

Ritsu, "And free maintenance."

They all turned away from Mugi, realising how much they owed the rich girl. Something caught Ritsu's eye and she quickly snatched it up.

Ritsu, "Accept this as a token of our gratitude!" It was a 'lose weight in five minutes' magazine. Suddenly, the drummer felt the pain of two blows from Mio's fist.

"Show gratitude with your own stuff! Not someone else's!" She quickly hid the magazine, though Mugi's eyes followed where it was hidden.

Ritsu, "Oh well, University students gotta have part time jobs- I want a TV!"

Mio, "There's a perfectly good one in the Under Croft."

Yui, "I want new summer clothes! And a computer!"

Mio, "Wait, what about the membership fees?"

Ritsu, "Oh yeah. But Mio, you're shy so you can't handle a part time job you poor baby."

Mio, "I most certainly can!"

Mugi, "I've got to give it my all because I told my parents that they don't need to pay for anything except for tuition!"

Ritsu, "If I were you I'd be asking for an allowance right now."

Mio, "So shall we actually look for a part time job?"

Ritsu, "How about this café?" The drummer flashed a picture of a maid outfit to the others.

Mio, "N-no thanks."

Yui, "There's a really nice French restaurant that want waitresses."

Mio, "I pass."

I see where this is going, thought Mugi, giggling to her self, searching for some revealing images to join in Mio's torment.

"Come to think of it," said Ritsu, taking a bowl of rice for breakfast, "we don't really know anyone else in this building." Mio looked around, recognising faces she saw every day but never talked to. Sachi appeared though.

"Good morning," the tall girl greeted. As they found a table, Ayame also joined them. "I heard you were looking for part time jobs."

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Through the wall." The girls recalled the impulse to force Mio into a maid costume. Suddenly, Sachi and Ayame stared at the bassist, imagining several forms of cosplay on the poor girl. She uncomfortably shifted under the glares.

Ritsu, "We finally chose a part time job though!" When the attention was diverted onto the drummer, Mio was thankful she was no longer being imagined in several different attires. "There's a music store and they want us to play!"

"Sugoi!" Sachi leaned forwards. "You mean as a band?"

Ritsu, "Yeah. We're going to audition on tomorrow afternoon."

"Wow, I'm really jealous. Maybe we should do that too?" Ayame joked. "Though we have band practice then so we can't join. So why do you need a part time job?"

"For the membership fees." Soon, the conversation turned towards what they would buy if they had the money.

Ayame, "After seeing your cute school uniforms I want some cute outfits for our band."

Ritsu, "We just used our old uniforms. It was Mio's idea."

Mio blushed. "Our old school teacher liked to dress us up but I'm most comfortable with school clothes."

Sachi, "We didn't bring our uniform up. You must have really loved your school."

Mio, "Yeah. It is where we grew up and met our friends."

Sachi, "How did all you guys meet?"

Ritsu began telling the story, dramatizing it to the point where Mio had to hit her. A second blow fell when she saw the time.

Mio, "We're going to be late!"

"Caramel ice cream!" Yui began nomming on the treat. Akira started scolding her, telling her not to snack between meals.

"Hey Mugi!" Ritsu caught the blonde after her final lecture of the day, hoping to walk back with company. Ayame had a part time job for Tuesday afternoons to her surprise.

"Oh, Ritsu."

"Are you finished for today yet?"

"No. I have another hour at four this evening." It was currently three.

"Wanna hang out 'til then?" Mugi smiled and nodded, letting Ritsu lead the way. They found themselves at the local café. "So what is a business degree like?"

"Kind of interesting but tiring. It's kinda scary how we're learning about the real life situations." Her lecturer that morning was giving a general overview of how not to run a business with an example, pointing out all the flaws in its marketing and how they all summed up to the fall of the business. "There's also a lot of maths too."

"Mio can help you with Maths. Maybe if you ask nicely enough."

"May I take your order please?"

A short blonde smiled at them. Ritsu's hazel eyes met yellow.

"Ayame?"

"Ritsu!" Ayame blushed, hiding behind her little notepad. "And Mugi!"

"So this is where you work?" asked Ritsu. The waitress nodded. "How often do you work here?"

Ayame, "I'm only just started but probably once or twice a week. I haven't decided yet."

Mugi, "What is it like working in the café?"

Ayame, "I've only been here ten minutes," she laughed. "I'll tell you properly later when I've worked here a bit longer. I hear you got an audition tomorrow though. How did you get that?"

Mugi, "I had a lot of part time job magazines on hand and we found it last night. After a call, we got an audition somehow." Ritsu wondered whether the Kotobuki's owned the music store but Mugi assured her they didn't.

"Hey miss Yoshida," a voice called from the back, "I hope you are getting a really big order and not slacking."

"Oh!" Ayame composed herself, trying to look serious. "May I take your order please?"

Mugi, "I'll have a royal milk tea." She felt bad for getting Ayame shouted at by her boss. "And a slice of strawberry cake."

Ritsu, "Same here." She felt the same way.

The blonde drummer zipped off to place the order after taking the money, quickly returning with change. Deciding that staying to chat was not a good idea, she moved towards the other customers for their orders.

Ritsu, "So how is Mio making friends? Has she made any progress?"

Mugi, "I think she's friends with Sachi."

There was a short pause. "Anyone else?"

Mugi, "I don't think so. We haven't spoken about it since. It has only been a few days though so give her time."

Ritsu, "I guess." The teas arrived with the cakes and Mugi sipped the tea, enjoying the taste. "Thanks Ayame."

"You're welcome!"

"Hey, if you need any advice getting your smile perfect, go and ask Mio."

"Eh? Are you saying my smile isn't good enough?"

Ritsu smirked. "It's good; but wait until you see our Dangerous Queen's perfect smile. Oh, your manager's looking at you."

"Oh, thanks." She hurried off, pondering on her smile.

Mugi, "I hope tomorrow goes well. It'll be our first debut outside of school and university!"

Ritsu, "Yeah! It'll be awesome. I can imagine the fans now. Maybe I should practice my autograph?" She took a napkin from the holder and tried to write something fancy. However, the ink of her pen soaked into the napkin.

Mugi, "Hey Ritsu. Why are you keeping it a secret?"

Ritsu, "Eh?"

Mugi, "The Parkour society. It's not like Mio would be angry at you."

"I know. It's just…" Ritsu sighed and tried to phrase her feelings into words. "Say I did tell Mio. She'd join me right away, wouldn't she?"

Mugi, "I guess she might."

Ritsu, "But I don't think Mio would like the Parkour society. It's full of boys too."

Mugi, "Oh! Boys?"

Ritsu, "Yeah. I think there's twice as many guys than girls."

Mugi, "So you're saying Mio doesn't like guys?" Mugi went a little red at the thought.

Ritsu, "Well, kinda. Anyway, I don't think she'll enjoy it, especially since some of the guys were ogling at us girls." More precisely, ogling at Koyuki-sempai.

Mugi, "Can I join the society?"

Ritsu was taken aback. "Um… sure? Why do you want to go?"

I've never met a boy before, thought Mugi. "Because you seemed to have a good time on Saturday."

Ritsu, "Yeah, it's fun. I met a lot of new people." I can't remember most of their names though…

Mugi, "Why did you join the Parkour society? What is it like?"

Ritsu, "Um… I've only been to one session. I guess it's to meet new people. Have you seen the list of societies there are? There's more than fifty! Yet I've only joined two of them."

Mugi, "Oh, maybe we should join more societies then?"

Ritsu, "Yeah. And if we find one that Mio would like, then we get her to come along!"

She's thinking of Mio, thought Mugi. "And then Mio can make more friends!"

Ritsu, "Spot on!"

Mugi, "Oh, you have some cream on our cheek."

Ritsu used her napkin to wipe it off, only to spread ink from her 'autograph' across her face.

Mugi started laughing.

"What?"

Mio, "What songs should we play tomorrow?" She took a piece of Pocky Mugi held out to her and she nibbled it delicately.

Mugi, "It's an audition so we should show all the styles we can play." More Pocky was being passed around.

Ritsu, "Hey Kana-sempai!" The drummer called the president over. "We've got an audition tomorrow, what should we play?"

Akira, "How did you guys get an audition?" The spikey haired girl joined the group.

Yui, "Akira-chan!" The guitarist pounced onto the other.

Akira, "How many hugs do you need in one day? And get off me!"

Kana, "You guys seem cheerful. Oh, no thanks Mugi. For what to play in an audition, you need to play your very best!"

Chiyo, "Where is the audition?" The brown haired fourth year appeared behind the president.

Ritsu, "The music store on Main Street."

Chiyo, "Thought so. Since it's usually a busy street, you need to show that you can play some loud music that will catch people's attention. Of course, show the range of skills you have. I guess this is your first time so play something you're comfortable with."

Ritsu, "Thanks! Chiyo-sempai!"

Chiyo, "…You're welcome."

Ritsu turned towards the others. "We should start with Fuwa Fuwa time then, that's upbeat."

Mio, "Yeah, and then we can move on to…"

Mugi, "We really don't know anyone else in this building." The whole group stood by the entrance of the Under Croft, staring at nameless faces sitting and chatting in the sofas. Before they left the music room, Ritsu pointed it out so they decided to head to the Under Croft where most people hung out.

Ritsu, "Now's a great time to meet new people! Go Mio, show them what you're made of!"

Mio, "M-m-m-me?" She hid behind the doors, bumping into someone in the process. She screamed, attracting everyone's attention. "I'm sorry!" She cowered down.

A pink haired student was in exactly the same position, huddled on the floor and apologising profusely. "G-Gomennasai!"

The others stared at the awkward duo. "Mio." Ritsu hauled the bassist up. "I'm sorry about that, Mio's a bit of a 'fraidy cat."

Yui, "What's your name?"

The girl looked up, teary eyed. "It's Miura… Akane Miura…"

Moe! thought Yui. Mugi held out a hand to the poor girl, helping her up.

"Are you okay?"

"A-arigatou gozaimasu." Surprisingly, Akane stood taller than all of them, even taller than Sachi.

Ritsu, "Wow! What's your height?"

Akane, "I-I'm five eight." Mugi began introducing themselves properly.

Mio, "Sorry for bumping into you."

Akane, "It's okay…" She walked past them towards the sofas to meet with her friends. The girls watched the pink haired one converse with her group. One of them caught the band staring and motioned them over.

"Hey, you must be the ones on the second floor, hallway zero." A dark haired female smiled sweetly, flicking her hair back.

Ritsu, "How did you know?"

"You're always so loud whenever we walk past. My name is Tina and this is Valentina. You've met Akane. We're on the second floor, third hallway." Tina, a dark red head grinned. Across, a silver maiden averted her eyes and idly shuffled a deck of cards.

"Sugoi!" Mugi was staring at the way the girl handled the cards, splitting the deck into six, rearranging them with her two hands over the table and pushing them together. Valentina looked up, cutting the deck with a spin in one hand.

"Ace of spades." From the deck, she pushed out a single card where she had just cut it and flicked it out with a finger to her other hand. With a twirl of the card, she threw it to Mugi who caught it.

"How did you do that?" The others looked over her shoulder to find the ace of spades.

Ritsu, "That was so cool!" Suddenly, the drummer was next to the silver maiden with puppy dog eyes. Smiling in return, she fanned the cards out one hundred and eighty degrees.

So they began some card tricks, each more impressive than the last. Ritsu coaxed Mio over, forcing her to be the subject of each spot of magic.

"So you just happened to cut the deck to all four aces." Valentina flipped over four cards, showing a single spade, a club, a heart and a diamond.

"What just happened…?"

"How the hell do you do that?" Ritsu pulled her hair in frustration. "Mio cut three decks off onto the table. You took the top cards of each pile, put them onto the deck in your hand… Then boom, four aces…" Obviously, she had shuffled the cards before hand. The others giggled at Ritsu's confusion, even though they had no idea themselves.

"A magician never reveals her secrets."

Later that evening, they all went into Mio's room as usual. She was beginning to wonder why her room was the gathering point of the band, especially considering that she had a direct next door neighbour.

"Ritsu." Mio stared at the drummer. "Is it really bothering you that much?" Crowded round the small table in Mio's room was the group, each with a deck of cards.

"I don't understand…" Ritsu threw some random cards to the table.

"If you're going to spend all night trying to figure it out, can you do it in your own room?"

/*Author's notes

Sooo much talking this chapter. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Why did Yui have salted caramel Carte D'or ice cream? I was eating some at the time so I decided to share some with Yui.

I'm really sorry for the mass number of characters- I don't expect you to remember everyone's names. It's just me going into too much detail- animes can stick characters into the background and we would recognise their faces (like Himeko and Ichigo) but in writing it's slightly different. Interesting note though, if you recognised the name Akane Miura then she's from a hoax a few years ago (apparently.) Look her up and you can find her. I tried to make Tina and Valentina's name similar so they'd be easier to remember and pair up. Other than that, they're pretty much on the spot characters.

I know quite a few card tricks, cuts and shuffles and I love card games so Valentina has that trait from me, albeit a perfected magician. The card trick referred to in this chapter I learned from my brother so I don't know what it's called.

*/

/*Review responses

AnaOneesan: Chapter 5. Feb 26: Getting interesting! Ready for more XD

I need to get a better plot now *Sweat drops*. (Begins maliciously orchestrating the story, Mwuhuheehee!)

Nightshade McArthur: chapter 5. Feb 26: Nicely written, though it seems superfluous I like the secrecy behind Ritsu joining the Parkour society. Can't wait for Azusa to appear, she's my favourite character without a doubt but I get why she's not here yet XD

Figured I'd finish reading fully before posting a review (hence my lack of reviewing X/)

As for the whole "Better" continuation thing, technically this is an Alternate now since you've added events that aren't in the manga, so it can't be classified as a simple continuation, therefore it can't be compared to other continuation fics. But anyway enough of my rambling, nice fic, can't wait for next chapter, sorry for the lengthy review :T ... and the big words XD

Now that you pointed out superfluous secrecy, I had to wonder why I did it. I have come up with a reason (what Ritsu said about Mio), though whether it is good enough I don't know :P I had a general theme of 'Secrets' idea in my head during my plotting thought processes.

I can't wait for Azusa too- I have an evil plan (Sorry Azusa.)

Thank you for reviewing :D I enjoy reading reviews a lot and I don't mind longer ones; it's great encouragement to keep writing.

(Yeah, I did have to google 'superfluous.')

I really do self indulge in non-story sections of the fiction… sorry. I'll have to do a proper word count at some point.

*/

"Ah!" Yui cried out. "It's the music store!" The students lined up in front of the building. The Wednesday afternoon had a busy street full of pedestrians shopping. Mio's eyes lingered on all the left-handed basses but Ritsu quickly dragged her into the store.

"Welcome!" An assistant led them in, understanding they were here to audition. "Please make your way to the back." They followed him into the back room where there was a recording studio. Ritsu quickly jumped into the seat behind the drums; they were the same make as her brand at home. The assistant left, calling for the manager.

"I can't wait!" Yui started strumming her instrument. However, it was slightly out of pitch. "Azu-nyan?" She looked around before realising her kohai wasn't there. Mio helped her out with the tuning. "I wish Azu-nyan was here."

"Yeah, we'd be much better prepared." Mio moved back into position in front of Mugi who quickly set up her keyboard.

"Let's all call her tonight and tell her about the audition."

"It has been a while since we've spoken to Azusa." Ritsu started creating a beat, enjoying a smooth rhythm. "Hey, do you think they'll let us record something here?"

"It's an idea." Mio picked up after the beat before Mugi.

Yui hesitated, as though expecting a rhythm guitarist to join in. After recovering, she burst into song.

"Fuwa Fuwa time!"

"That was really good." The assistant was applauding them and they jumped. "The manager is really busy at the moment. He will be down later though but he asked me to record and listen to a few things." He smiled at the girls. "I didn't get that song recorded though."

Mio, "Oh, okay."

Yui, "Can we keep the recordings afterwards?"

"I guess… I'll have to speak to someone about it but it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Yui, "Neh, what's your name?"

"John Smith."