The first thing Azusa did when she saw Ritsu was grab her in a ferocious hug. The older girl wriggled out of it and tried to make sense of what she was saying. She was babbling, a little too excited to form coherent sentences. Eventually she calmed down enough to tell Ritsu all the details of her date with Yui. When she was done, Ritsu laughed.

"That was the sweetest thing I ever heard. I think I might barf!"

"Ritsu-senpai," Azusa said, exasperated. "I'm being serious here. The date went well, and the kiss was so sweet." Ritsu made retching noises. Azusa frowned. "Geeze, sorry I said anything. I was just excited and I wanted to talk to somebody. And I don't have many options."

"Eh? Why not? If you and Yui are dating won't you tell Mio and Mugi?"

"We went on one date. I don't want to jinx anything. And besides..." Azusa trailed off. She was reluctant to go on.

"Besides what?" Ritsu prompted.

"They might not approve," Azusa said in a small voice. "They might think it's weird, or gross."

"Ah. Yeah, I guess they could," Ritsu said. "But I really don't think they will."

"I know they probably won't, but it doesn't seem to matter. I'm still scared."

Ritsu scratched her neck nervously. She wasn't sensitive enough for this. "You don't have to say anything, I guess. You can just take your time with it. And hey, you can always talk to me about this stuff. I might not be good at giving you advice, but I can listen."

Azusa looked away. She hadn't meant to make her senpai uncomfortable. "Thank you, Ritsu-senpai," she said in a quiet voice.

"Yeah yeah, don't mention it. Now let's go, it's almost time for class."


At the end of the day everyone gathered in the club room for practice. Of course, they couldn't have practice without snacks and tea first. As they sat at their tables Mio decided to ask about something that had bothered her all day.

"Yui, you've been in a great mood all day. Did something good happen?"

Yui gulped down the cake she had been chewing on and nodded. "Mmhmm. Me and Azusa went on a date yesterday!"

Ritsu jumped and made surprised noise.

"Yui-senpai," Azusa said, embarrassed.

"That's nice," Mio said at the same time.

Mugi blushed and brought her hands to her face. "Oh, that phone call..." she said. "You mean it was like a- like a real date?"

"Yep. With a kiss at the end and everything."

Mio started and looked at Ritsu to see how she would react. Azusa gasped and yelled Yui's name. Sawako spit out the tea she had been drinking, surprising everyone.

"You were here?" Ritsu said.

"Why do you always say that?" Sawako said.

"Because you always appear out of nowhere."

"Geeze, I was here the whole time. You should pay more attention. More importantly, didn't Yui just say something outrageous?"

Everyone turned to look at Yui. Next to her Azusa had her head on the table. Yui looked confused.

"What was outrageous?" she asked.

Sawako waved her hand in front of her. "Maybe not entirely outrageous. This is an all girls school after all, girls play at going out all the time."

"We're not playing," Yui said. She put on her best serious face. "It was a real date."

Mio was looking at Ritsu. "Is that- is that okay?" she said.

Ritsu looked confused. "You're asking me?"

"I think it's great," Mugi said.

"Thank you Mugi," Yui said.

"I thought... well..." Mio didn't finish her thought.

Azusa heard enough. She jumped up and yelled, "Yui-senpai, you idiot!" and ran out the door.

The girls and Sawako let out a collective 'ah'.

"What did I do?" Yui asked.

"I don't think she wanted you to just say you guys went on a date," Ritsu said.

"That... that makes sense," Mio said. "How'd you figure that one out, you're usually terrible when it comes to stuff like that."

Ritsu blushed a little. "Yui, you should go find Azusa and apologize."

Yui nodded and left the club room to find Azusa. After she was gone everyone turned to look at Ritsu.

"What?" she asked.

"Do you know anything about this?" Sawako asked.

Ritsu sighed and began to tell them about how Azusa had asked for her advice. She told them about encouraging the younger girl to go on a trial date and how Azusa had slipped up but ended up revealing her feelings. And of course she told them about Yui and Azusa's date. When she was done Mugi had a question.

"So the two of them are serious?"

"Ah, yeah. Azusa is, for sure. And Yui might be a little air-headed, but she wouldn't go on a date with Azusa lightly."

"Oh my," Mugi said, a blush forming on her face. She smiled. "Good for them."

"Yeah," Mio said. "I guess it's not so surprising, with the way Yui acts towards Azusa."

"It is surprising that Azusa took the initiative though," Mugi said.

"Oh man, I feel bad now," Sawako said. "Azusa is pretty serious about, well, everything. She probably didn't appreciate when I said they were playing at going out."

"Yeah Sawa-chan, you were pretty inconsiderate," Ritsu said. "You should really apologize next time you see her."

Sawako sighed. "I know, I know. Still, it does happen that girls sometimes pretend to go out. Of course, Azusa doesn't seem like the type to do that."

The group was quiet for a few moments before Ritsu noticed something about Mugi.

"Mugi, do you have a fever?" she asked with a smirk. "Your face is all red."

"Ah, no, nothing like that. I'm sure it'll stop in a few minutes."

"I think you're happier about this than Azusa is."

"No way, no way," Mugi giggled.

"Ah," Ritsu said and pulled out her phone. "I got a message from Azusa."

"What does it say?" Mio asked.

"She says they're not coming back to practice today. They're heading home." They shared a worried look.

"I hope she's not too upset," Mugi said.

"I'm sure she just needs some time," Ritsu said. She looked around and frowned. "I don't think practice would be worth it without our guitarists."

Mio and Mugi sighed, disappointed. Ritsu contemplated for a moment. "Although, if we knew someone who could play, they could fill in and really help us out." She looked hard at Sawako. Mugi and Mio followed suit. It took a moment for Sawako to notice they were staring at her.

"Eh? Me? I came here to relax, not be roped into playing the guitar."

"But you are the club advisor, right?" Mugi said.

"And Azusa running off was kind of your fault," Mio said.

"No no, that was Yui's fault. Yui's fault," Sawako said.

Ritsu got up and put a hand on her teacher's shoulder. "You didn't help," she said. "And besides, what would the other students think if we let them know what you're really like."

Sawako hung her head for a few moments. "You girls are something else. If that's how it's going to be," she said, her tone changing, "I'll just have to show you kids the meaning of rock!" With that she jumped up and picked up Azusa's guitar. The girls walked over to their instruments.

"None of that," Ritsu said. "You're going to play songs like Fluffy Fluffy Time and you'll like it."

Sawako grumbled to herself but fell in beside the girls anyway. They only managed a short practice before giving up and heading home in low spirits.