Yui had decided to head to school just a little bit early that day. She found sleep next to impossible; she felt a certain eagerness inside of her that just wouldn't stifle itself. It wouldn't go away no matter how hard she had tried to get herself to sleep. She ended up wasting her night sitting in her bed, either playing guitar, or even reading the book she and Azusa had studied two days prior. Someone else was there too... but Yui couldn't really remember who it was. She wasn't reading to study really, she was reading because in one way or another, the book reminded her of her Azu-nyan. She didn't have any pictures of the girl.
The book however, it was an extremely boring text, and it did manage to earn her half a night's sleep... but she still managed to wake up before the sun had. She slithered out of bed as always, just because she couldn't sleep didn't mean she wanted to get up... but managed to get out of the warmth of the covers before the sun was in her eyes, and about an hour before her normally useless alarm would ring.
She got up, groggy... until she noticed something. Everything looked different when you got up early. Everything seemed different anyways; everything seemed just a little bit quieter in her dimly lit room, the 5:00 AM sun barely peaking over the horizon into her window. She curiously opened her eyes, the dreariness of her early morning wake up shattered by the serenity of the room. It was amazing to her, she hadn't been up this early since last New Years Eve... and even then it wasn't like this. Last time, she was with all of her friends, and the house was full of life.
Now, it wasn't. The silence was more of less deafening, Yui felt like she might get in trouble if she said anything or made even a sound. She didn't know from what, but there was going to be something to get her in trouble. She quietly tip-toed across her room, making as little noise as she could with every step. She was lucky Ui wasn't there, she looked ridiculous trying to preserve the silence in the house.
She quietly took her shower; thankfully the house was well built and didn't carry noise too hot. While she was trying to be quiet, keeping her footsteps light, rather than plodding and heavy like they usually were in the morning, she actually inadvertently allowed her sister to sleep right through her early morning antics. Ui wasn't a light sleeper, and on the few occasions Yui had gotten up before her, Yui had always shattered the girl's peaceful sleep.
Yui let the hot water pour onto her skin, barely even realizing it was near scolding temperature. The still calm atmosphere wasn't affected by the shower, the shower sounded like a waterfall in a meadow to Yui. For once in her life, she actually started to think. That was amazing in itself. Her early morning showers were usually spent sleeping, occasionally slipping, waking up due to said slip, and then sleeping again.
Naturally, her mind wandered aimlessly for a few minutes, thinking about everything from the book she had been forced to read, then her classes, to the club, to the summer festival that was fast approaching. But... she realized a pattern. Every time she thought about something, Azusa was there. Her Azusa.
Azusa was in her life because of the summer festival from the year prior... that's when they had recruited her to join the Light Music Club. So full of energy and life... but stifled due to the fact that she wasn't used to the customs of the light music club. Yui giggled, remembering the first time she had to calm Azu-nyan down... that was the first time she discovered that Azusa liked being touched.
Sure, it wasn't on the same level as Yui would desire, but trial and error had showed her what she could or could not do. That was how she lived her life after all. She discovered things based on how they went, after already trying them out. Point and case, hugging Azusa tightly, and petting the small girl's head... that day, she found out that that much contact was ok with Azusa. Azusa wouldn't "punish" Yui for tight hugs, or petting for that matter.
Yui however... she was a like a small child still. She loved physical contact, on a much higher level than any other girl in the club. She loved to hug, touch, hold hands, pet, et cetera, et cetera. And she found out where to draw her boundaries from the other girls. Mio wasn't the "toucher", it wasn't her thing, and Yui respected that. Ritsu was more so, but still, it was limited to friend hugs. Mugi was different... Yui just didn't feel right hugging her. Though she knew that Mugi would more than accept the hugs... but something felt wrong about giving them.
Maybe Mugi accepted the hugs too much for Yui's comfort, but that didn't make sense. Everyone knew Mugi's sexual preference of course; it wasn't much of a secret, especially not in an all girls' secondary school. But that wasn't what bothered Yui. She wasn't a homophobic person at all, anything but! It's just... although she occasionally would hug Mugi-chan, it never felt quite right.
She not only didn't want to give Mugi-chan the wrong idea. She was great and all but... to Yui; she just wasn't the right person. Neither was Mio or Ritsu. But Yui wasn't sure about Azusa, despite her confidence. So what was her problem solving strategy for finding out if Azusa was "the right person"? Simple, the same as everything else. Trial and error.
And so far, based on yesterday and the day before, her trials were showing no error. So far, her trials were successful. Azusa hadn't slapped her once, and Azusa had even given her a hug, and accepted Yui's kisses without protest. Probably because she didn't have any time to protest Yui's actions, until they were already completed anyways... but would she have protested at all? Yui couldn't tell, all she knew was that by in large, she had gotten off scotch free.
Yui barely even realized that she was standing in the shower as the water started to get cold. She immediately washed up, having wasted a quarter of an hour thinking, in the water that simply got colder from there. At the end of her bathing, she stumbled out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself. "Gotta get ready for school!" She said excitedly as she stumbled out of the restroom, toothbrush in mouth, and leapt down the stairs, taking two or three at once. She stopped halfway, at the landing, remembering how peacefully quiet the house was. "Sorry..." She said quietly, before tip-toeing down the stairs, as quiet as she could be.
She ate her dinner as quiet as she possibly could, even though it was near dark aside from the thin glow of yellow in the room from the morning sun, lazily making its way over the horizon. Yui watched it out the window. She giggled slightly, 'Looks like the Sun needs an Ui today...' She thought, still smirking at her little joke as she picked up her empty cereal bowl and put it in the sink. "Or maybe an Azu-nyan to think about..." She muttered as she turned away, looking towards the door. She giggled slightly at the comment, picking the glass of orange juice off the table she had poured.
She took it back up the stairs with her, barely even realizing that she was eating in nothing but a towel wrapped around her chest, barely covering her decency. She walked into her room, and then into her closet, slowly slipping on her school uniform. The sun was barely starting to get up over the horizon, and Yui knew that Ui would be up early. Ui always got up early, usually enough to beat the sun, but it was still summer. The sun was fighting its way up hours before either girl stirred.
Yui actually felt a bit proud as she finished up the finishing touches her uniform and combed her hair, hearing her sister's 6:00 alarm go off. It was a strange feeling to already be up and completely ready for the day before Ui. Yui beamed as she realized that she had a chance to make up for all the days that Ui had paid her.
Yui hurried back down to the kitchen, stopping to wave to Ui who was in her room, drowsy. Ui however, her surprise mounted into complete alertness as she noticed that Yui had just wished her a good morning... and the sun was even all the way up yet! She even had to dash back to her alarm to make sure it was 6:00 and not 8:30... Yui just wasn't up this early! It alarmed her, maybe she was late! What if she had over slept!?
She was possibly even more surprised to find out that it was her usual wake-up time, and that Yui had actually beaten her out of bed and getting ready for the day. She moved from her room to the bathroom, holding her school clothes in hand, and locked the door. Things were just too weird recently, but hey, maybe one weirdness had contributed to another.
As Ui exited the shower, the smell of fried rice and sizzling from the kitchen had destroyed the silence and serenity in the household. Not that Ui really noticed. She was still trying to wrap her mind around that fact that Yui had gotten up before her. The little sister gingerly closed the door, having already dressed and combed her hair. Her morning methods were still far more efficient than Yui's were. She smelled the air for a second, before drifting towards the kitchen.
"Onee-chan?" Ui asked as she poked her head around the wall, looking in to the kitchen. Yui was practically whistling, a smile on her face that was bright enough to make the room glow. Or maybe that was the sun, which had finally gotten all the way over the horizon, and had lit up the kitchen with cheerful morning light. Ui was concerned by this point, and saw a carefully assembled plate where she usually sat to eat. She walked over to it carefully and examined it.
Fried rice and noodles, all prepared and set out in a cleaver arrangement that kept either dish from touching the other. Ui wasn't sure why... but hey, nothing was really normal in her world today thus far. She looked up to her sister, who was still happily cooking some eggs in a pan. "Onee-chan... are you feeling ok?"
Yui's eyes popped open in surprise as she heard the small, concerned voice from behind her. She turned to face her sister, who had a very confused expression donned on her face, and smiled warmly. "Of course Ui-chan! I'm just excited for today." Yui said as she brought over the pan full of scrambled eggs, subsequently the only kind she knew how to cook, and put them in the space between the friend rich and noddles. A very strange arrangement, but Ui was hungry. "I just got up early. I get to see Azu-nyan today!"
Ui began eating her food, surprised at how well tasting it was. Apparently, Yui had watched her make dishes enough to where she knew the gist of what to do. She almost choked as Yui spoke however. "You just saw her Saturday!" She said, swallowing the food stuck in her wind pipe.
Yui nodded, "I know, it's been too long!" Ui looked blankly at Yui for a second, in disbelief that just over twenty four hours was "too long", but the events from Saturday slowly began to recollect in her mind. She could understand why Yui wanted to see Azusa-chan so bad, anyone who couldn't must have been as blind as a bat. There was a connection between those two, Ui could definitely tell that. She had probably been thinking about it more than even Yui had.
The way she saw it, two things would come from it. "One", she would get to see Azusa more, since Yui and Azusa would probably be hanging out a lot more. That was a plus, because then she would get both her sister and one of her best friends to hang out with around the house. But, "Two" wasn't as pleasant. Ui got little attention as it was; her parents weren't home all the time, and what if they found Azusa's home more comfortable? Or start spending more time in their "Club Room"? Ui didn't like being home along, afternoons were bad enough sometimes without her Onee-chan.
Yui noticed Ui's look of wonder and slightly dread. "Eat up Ui-chan, your food will get cold!" She said at once. She wasn't any class of mind reader, she simply knew how to read facial expressions... but even that was too much at times. Best not to let Ui be dismal over it. Yui was sure it was nothing, nothing more than silly concern that Ui might have developed about school or romance or whatever.
Ui snapped out of it at once and nodded, digging into the food her sister had laid out for her with relish. It was good, as good as Ui had always made, and made just a little bit better by the fact that she hadn't made it. Yui had. It felt like a gift. "Thank you Onee-chan!" She said with a smile as she ate, looking at the clock on the wall. Just as she expected, plenty of time left over. But today, nothing to do with it. Usually, she'd have to get Yui up and ready, get food started, eat, clean up... but pretty much all of that was done.
What were they to do with the morning? It was still way before 7:00; when she usually got Yui up... so what were they going to do?
"Alright! Let's get going!" Yui said triumphantly as Ui finished with her plate and put it in the dish washer. Ui turned to face her older sister, confusion once again smeared across her visage.
"Going where...?"
"To school silly! I wanna get there super early so I can see Azu-nyan before class starts!" Sure... sure she did.
"You know Onee-chan... being there earlier doesn't mean that..." Yui had a look of determination on her face... and Ui knew that no matter what she said, she couldn't break that. Yui had already gathered her school bags, and Ui's, and was impatiently waiting for her little sister to get moving. Ui just rolled her eyes, got to her feet, slipped on her shoes, and left with her sister. She could already tell it was going to be a strange day.
They walked to school very slowly on that day, though neither said a word. Yui was too busy locked in thought, a thing that only made Ui's slight concern develop. Every bit of Yui's scatter brain had focused on Azusa, it seemed that everything revolved around Azusa recently. Not that Yui could really help it, even if she hadn't wanted to think about Azusa constantly, the way her brain worked would always work against her.
She tried thinking about other stuff to reduce her eagerness, but was again reminded that everything in her life some way or another tied into Azusa. While she might get a couple of her scatter brained thoughts elsewhere, they would drift back in moments. She tried thinking about the book... the book Azusa had helped her study. No good. She tried thinking about school; Azusa was in her first hour. Still no good. The club? No way would that work. That was the only reason they knew each other.
Heck, even when she tried to think about her little sister, who was walking alongside her, her thoughts made their way back to Azusa. After all, Azusa and Ui were good friends! Yui submitted to her own mind, and let her thoughts fill with memories of Azusa, looks, feelings, whatever you could name off. Yui's brain was a powerful thing... it just had to focus first, and that focus was hard to break.
Ui knew by the concentrated look on Yui's face, a look she checked to see if it had gone often during the walk, that conversation would be pointless between them. Albeit seldom, when Yui focused on something small talk couldn't shatter her focus. Unless Ui was giving discipline, or had something extremely urgent to announce, Yui was unbreakable.
Almost. "Yui-cha~n!" echoed out from behind the two, causing Yui to trip, stumble, recompose, and look behind her. "Yui-chan!" Came again, and this time Ui looked. The first time, she had been too focused on her Onee-chan, making sure she wouldn't fall, but now... She saw a small figure in the distance, almost angelic with the sun at her back. Ui stopped for a second and tilted her head as she watched the silhouette come into view.
It took her a second, but she finally recognized the silhouette as Tsumugi. Ui hadn't really ever spent any alone time with Tsumugi, but she had had her over whenever Yui brought the Keion club home with her. "Mugi-chan!" Yui shouted excitedly from Ui, causing the poor girl to jump slightly. So much screaming before 7:00 in the morning couldn't be healthy.
Yui ran right past her recovering sister and dashed towards Tsumugi, wrapping her in a tight hug. Tsumugi blushed slightly in a mixture of shock and glee, amazed that Yui had granted her one of the rare hugs. Mugi could only remember two other occasions that Yui had granted such a tight hug, and it always felt good. She smiled at Yui, unsure of whether to return the hug or what. They were so rare; Mugi was dumbstruck when they actually occurred.
Yui pulled away after only a few seconds, which left Mugi with that same blissful smile on her face. She had a great smile, Ui remembered that about her. At the holiday gathers and the study sessions, Mugi's smile always seemed to brighten the room. It was such a warm smile. "What are you doing up so early?" Yui asked excitedly.
"I decided to take the train in to school today." She said with a smile. The Monday trains always left about an hour earlier. She always had her pick from a limo ride to school, or taking the train... but Mugi liked the public surroundings. The limo always seemed so snooty to her, it was always so... stuck up. Not that her driver was, and not that she was, but the aura of the car was that way. The train was so much better. "I should be asking you the same thing Yui-chan!"
"I couldn't sleep..." She admitted as they walked over to where Ui was standing. Mugi gently waved to Ui, causing the smaller girl to offer a timid wave back. They began walking towards the school once more. "And since Ui always gets up early anyways, we decided to go to school early today."
"You decided to go to school early..." Ui corrected her, smiling lightly, "You took me with you." Mugi giggled slightly at this. It was kind of a weird situation to her, she had never been around Yui and Ui alone before, but it was serene in a way. While they were at the Hirasawa household, Ui always took the role of the caretaker, a lot like the role Mugi took in the club room. But when Ui wasn't taking care of a group of people, Mugi realized that she was just another girl.
"Ui-chan..." Yui whined slightly, almost unnecessarily. Yui had a cryptic code with her little sister... and Mugi simply watched in confusion and silent amazement as Yui hung her head and Ui reached over to pat her on the back. She had no idea what had just happened... but Ui and Yui both did. Even though Mugi didn't even know why, Ui appeared to be comforting her big sister.
Conversation died down again as the strange trio continued to walk along. Mugi was bright eyed and bushy tailed, even if the girl was exhausted, neither Yui nor Ui could tell. Ui was the same way; she didn't show her exhaustion either. She was used to getting up so early, and even though they left the house earlier, Ui hadn't wasted energy cooking or waking her stubborn sister. If anything, she was more awake than usual.
Yui was not. Despite her eagerness to meet up with Azusa, the grandiose lack of sleep and sleeping in had really taken its toll. On a normal day, she wouldn't even be out of bed by this point... and it was showing. It took a while, but Yui eventually began to half her speed, her steps became staggers, and eventually... almost as soon as they were at the school grounds, Yui had settled in a bench and drifted off.
Both Ui and Mugi had watched it all, walking in silence and adapting their walking style to Yui. Slower... slower... slower still... and finally, stopped. They both looked down at Yui, who had conked out on the school bench, with a mixture of apathy and empathy. Apathy for the fact that Yui wasn't even stoic enough to make it to school, when she had practically rushed poor Ui out of the door over an hour early. The empathy came from the fact that Ui was tired from getting up early in the mornings anyways, and she had sympathy, and Mugi had to catch the early train. All three girls were tired after all.
But Yui was by far the weakest in her resolve to stay up. And of course, just as Ui had predicted, Azusa was not in attendance when they arrived. Just because they showed up earlier didn't mean Azusa would. But hey, when Yui actually had set her mind to something, Ui knew that she was pretty powerless to prevent it from happening. And that morning, Ui could tell that Yui was far more determined to show up at school early than she had ever been in the past.
But... perhaps not all was for naught. She found herself occasionally glancing over at the bright eyed blond standing just on the other side of Yui, who was trying her hardest to get back to her feet. This Tsumugi girl was offering warm words to Yui, trying to get the obviously exhausted and over taxed brunette to her feet... and Ui just found herself watching. 'She has really pretty eyes...'
However, eventually Yui got up, albeit having quite a bit of difficulty doing so. She was tired, and that had caught up with her. Who cares who serene the place was?! She was tired, and she wanted to sleep... and only the silent promise her mind had made to itself was keeping her from falling to the ground and snoozing until class started. That silent promise was that Azusa would be there once Yui managed to get into the building, and to the music room.
With Mugi there, they could have cake and tea, which would help. Caffeine and sugar, a recipe for disaster in Yui's case most of the time, just a burst of quick and usable energy before an inevitable and devastating crash, which usually prevented her from doing just about anything. But hey, it could be used to keep her awake during her first and second hour, and her third hour was a study hall, so why would she care?
"Come on Yui-chan!" Mugi said, now cradling the brunettes arm over her shoulders, dragging Yui along. Ui couldn't help but notice... to tow along a practically subconscious Yui like that... Mugi had to be pretty strong. Despite having such a petite form, and having quite the struggle moving Yui in that fashion, Mugi was a pretty strong girl. That was kind of cool, to Ui at least.
"Ui!" Mugi finally cried out, almost dropping herself and Yui to the ground, as the weight became just a bit too much for her to bear all alone. Yui had pretty taken Mugi for granted in her service, and was now relying on Mugi alone to tow her up to the music room and to Azusa. Well... where she thought Azusa might be... but it was the principle of the thing. The point really was, Yui was tired, and she wasn't going to be moving any more than she already had.
Ui noticed the shout, and darted the short distance, grabbing her sister's other arm and hooking it around her shoulders. She wrapped her arm around Yui's shoulders, only to find Mugi's already there... which almost made her jump. Thankfully, being the more composed of the Hirasawa sisters, she simply moved her hand so it was no longer touching Mugi's.
She looked over apologetically, but her look melted as she saw Mugi's warm smile once again, this time directed at her. "Thanks Ui!" Mugi said with a sweet, buttery voice, one that almost made Ui lose her balance. She blushed and nodded, looking away from Mugi's soft features and towards the destination.
With little more excitement, except for almost dropping Yui on the stairs, all three made it to the music room. Yui actually helped for the final push, excitement once again welling up inside of her to stifle her exhaustion... if only for a second. Mugi and Ui almost fell as they got to the top of the stairs and Yui shot out of their arms, towards the door of the music room, looking back towards them to see if they were coming at all. It was as if she hadn't slept at all. "Come on!" She whined, looking towards the door, then back at the two girls. "I wanna see Azu-nyan!"
Mugi hadn't been told THAT was why Ui and Yui were walking to school so early. "Uhh... Yui-chan," She only got that far into her sentence when she realized the same thing Ui had... The look on Yui's face was more than enough to tell Mugi that words meant nothing. They probably wouldn't even penetrate into Yui's brain; the only way she would find out is to with her own eyes.
So, without much delay, Ui and Mugi followed. To Mugi however, as they made their way the short distance to the music room... it seemed that Ui was walking a tad close. Not that she really minded, there was nothing wrong with sharing personal space in her book, but it did strike her as a bit odd. Perhaps it was just her, but she could have sworn that she brushed arms with the slightly smaller girl at one point.
She brushed it off, and caught up with Yui. The third year brunette wasted no time throwing the doors open. "Azu-nyan!" She shouted into the unsurprisingly vacant room. She stepped inside, sticking her head in and about, looking for the Kouhai, desperately searching for her Azu-nyan. Mugi stepped inside after her, smiling slightly as she watched Yui, just waiting. Ui tepidly made her way in after Mugi, even after having been in the room so much, it still felt like foreign territory. Heck, she had only been in here what... three times? And once under the guise of her sister even.
She actually found herself looking around the room; it was pretty well set up... she barely even noticed the thud of Yui hitting the floor in dismay. Finally, after a good couple of minutes of searching the room, desperate to find where Azusa was hiding, reality had caught up with the third year.
Woo! Finally the tenth chapter is here! And a hint to our "mystery" pairing!
Thanks to everyone who left a review, it really means a lot to know what you guys are thinking of what I'm writing, heck, it's what helps me to write! I know some of you are a tad disappointed that it's not moving quicker, but your standard romance novel is usually over 100,000 words... and that's hooking up two straight people! I got a lot of work to do here!
Don't worry, everything will work out in the end and there will be plenty more action, as well as emotional progression, I just don't wanna rush it all at once and hook up the characters just to get it out of the way. Sorry if it's a slow mover.
I'm glad to see lots of people still reading, and even a few new readers! Leave a review if you get a chance!
Thanks again!