Hey guys. Geez, it's been a while since my last update. Sorry about that. "Black Fire" didn't end up getting updated, but I started a new Harry Potter fic called "Burnt to Ashe." You should check it out; I'd really appreciate it.
Anywho, shameful advertisements aside, onto news! K-On! 40 is up. Very helpful since it looks like the band will be adding more songs. That means more to go on the next album! Also, I got my first paycheck today! Wootness! Working has paid off!
Disclaimer: I don't own K-On! Also, the Gibson SG® guitar featured in this chapter isn't my property either.
Roy rushed through the hallways as fast as he could. His book bag had ripped open on the way to the music club room, spilling its contents all over the floor. He had to stay behind to gather everything up while the girls went ahead. They had offered to stay behind, but Roy shooed them along saying he would catch up.
Of course, he hadn't counted on Sawako trying to drag him into the broom closet on the second floor with a devilish gleam in her eyes. He barely managed to escape the perverted teacher, and was currently putting as much distance between himself and the deranged woman as he could.
He raced up the staircase and nearly leaped through the doorway into the room. Sadly, he tripped over a box that wasn't normally there and fell. What surprised him was the rather soft feeling of the floor. He opened his eyes and saw something beneath him that he hadn't hoped to find.
He was lying on top of Yui in a very provocative position. What was worse was his hand that had somehow found its way into her chest in a rather embarrassing attempt to halt his descent.
His head felt light and his nose flooded red, but Roy had the sense to push himself away for the girl before-
"Lookey what we have here!"
'Damn my luck today…' Roy thought irritably.
He looked up at Ritsu who, to his great displeasure, had a mischievous grin on her face. Roy felt a rush of déjà vu as he noticed a small pink camera in Ritsu's right hand. Her grin spelled the story differently this time, though. "Oops, I think I might have actually got the picture this time," she said brightly.
Roy and Yui both blushed, but no other reaction could be seen. For his part, Roy was already working his brain for some way to get back at Ritsu. He turned to pick his bag up from the floor and his foot hit the box that he had tripped over.
"What's this box here for?" he asked curiously. It was then that he finally noticed several other boxes spread throughout the club room. The girls had also removed their jackets (something they hardly ever did while still at school).
"Spring cleaning," Mio answered. "I figured he should clean up around here. After all, this room doesn't belong to us, but we've been using it for over two years. We should clean up a bit." Roy nodded.
"Alright, is there anything I can help with?" he asked.
Mio looked thoughtful. "Could you start carrying some of these boxes to the foot of the stairs?" she suggested.
Roy nodded. "Sure." He picked up the first box, took it down the stairs, and returned to find the girls huddled around a long, thin case. "What's in there?" he asked as Ritsu opened it. He peered over Yui's shoulder.
It was a Gibson SG guitar. It wasn't it great condition; in fact, Roy could see a bit of mold growing on it. "Wow, that guitar must be ancient," he said.
"That was the guitar I played when I was a student here," a voice said behind him.
Roy jumped nearly four feet in the air and quickly cowered behind Yui. Sawako laughed while the others stared at him awkwardly. "This brings back old memories," she said thoughtfully. Roy stopped.
"Wait, you were a student here?" he asked curiously. Sawako nodded.
"You didn't know that, Roy-kun?" she replied. He shook his head.
"And you were a member of the Light Music club then?" he continued. Sawako nodded as Yui showed him a picture. It showed Sawako and her band back when they attended Sakuragaoka. "I always knew you weren't right in the head," he said jokingly to the teacher. Sawako huffed indignantly.
Yui picked up the old guitar and pushed into Sawako's hands. A look of shock came across the teacher's face. "Well, I don't really need it since I don't have spare time to play it anymore," she said. "Please sell it and use the money for the club." Yui's eyes sparkled. She turned to Roy.
"Roy-kun!" she cried. "You know more about guitars than us, so how much do you think that guitar will sell for?" Roy eyed the guitar. There was a little mold growing on it; it had clearly been in that box for quite some time. But still, will a little cleaning up, it could be in fairly good shape.
"We could probably get around ¥400,000 for it," Roy said thoughtfully, "with a little work of course." He eyed the guitar again. "I'm sure my dad would probably give more than that for it."
Sawako looked impressed, but the other girls were practically drooling. Roy sighed and grabbed the guitar. "I'll take it home with me and let dad look over it," he said. "I'll bring back an estimate tomorrow."
"So, what do you think, Dad?" Roy asked as he handed the guitar over. Yui had decided to tag along; Roy didn't mind.
"Well," his father began, "it looks in pretty bad shape right now, but it could probably be a nice sell with some work." Roy nodded.
"Yeah, I figured as much," he replied.
"Where did you find this guitar again?" Ryan asked.
Yui answered, "I found it in the club room today. We were doing a bit of cleaning and I found the case and pulled it out." Ryan nodded.
"Hmmm," he mumbled to himself for a moment while Roy and Yui walked pointlessly around the shop. After a few minutes, he called out to them. "I'll offer you ¥600,000 for it once you get in good condition." Roy looked shocked, but Yui nearly fainted. Her body swayed to the side and Roy had to catch her.
"Six… six hundred thousand…" she muttered incoherently. Roy patted her softly on the head and led her away.
"Uhh... thanks, Dad," he called back. "I'll work on the guitar later tonight. I think Yui-chan needs a moment to settle down." Ryan nodded as they left up the stairs.
Roy watched Yui carefully. It wasn't like she was sick or anything, but her body had gone into a bit of shock after hearing his father's price offer. Roy was surprised he'd offered that much, but wasn't nearly as shocked as Yui was. He knew more about guitars and why that particular guitar was worth so much.
Vintage Gibson SGs in good condition are hard to come by. There's a debate about whether or not the finder should fix the guitar up. On the one hand, good condition SGs could sell for quite a bit of money, some of the most expensive vintage guitars available. On the other hand, there's always a chance of messing with the guitar too much; the sound of the guitar is obviously the most important part (aside from perhaps the guitarist).
Roy already knew he would be trying to fix up the guitar. Honestly, if the guitar got messed up somehow, it was no big deal. Sure, that money would be awesome for the group, but it's not like they needed ¥600,000 for anything in particular. 'Sure, a new amp would be nice,' Roy thought longingly before looking down at his girlfriend.
Yui was curled up next to him as he lay on his bed. She seemed content; most of the shock had passed, but she had fallen asleep. Roy decided not to wake her so he could enjoy a quiet moment. 'I take it back,' he continued, 'I would spend my money on a nice date with Yui. I'm sure she would enjoy that.'
Yui stirred and Roy smiled down at her. She smiled back and pushed herself up to sit level with him.
"I just had the strangest dream," she said groggily.
"Oh?" Roy said interestedly.
"Yeah, we were cleaning the club room and I found a really old guitar and then we took it to your dad and he said he'd give us ¥600,000 for it." She laughed, but Roy stared at her.
"Uhh, Yui-chan," he said carefully, "that actually happened." Yui stopped laughing immediately.
"Really?" she asked. Roy nodded slowly. Yui gasped and screamed. "¥600,000!" she cried and hugged Roy. They heard laughter from downstairs that sounded like Roy's dad. Roy started laughing, too.
"I have an idea," Roy suggested suddenly. Yui paused and looked at him. "Would you like to stay over for dinner and watch me work on the guitar? It'll probably be a good learning experience for you."
She didn't look enthusiastic about learning in general, but Yui nodded her approval happily. "Am I just staying for dinner or would your parents mind if I stayed over the whole night?" she asked.
Roy quirked an eyebrow. "I'm sure that would be fine," he replied. "Let's go ask now."
They got up and walked downstairs. Roy's mother had just gotten home and was beginning preparations for dinner. "Hey kids," she said as Roy and Yui walked in. "What's up?"
"Hey Mom," Roy answered.
"Hello, Melissa-chan," Yui said. Melissa smiled at them.
"Would you have any problem with Yui-chan staying over tonight?" Roy asked. His mother turned to him. "We found a guitar in the club room and I was gonna work on it tonight; I asked Yui-chan and she said she wanted to watch."
Melissa nodded. "Sounds fine," she said gently, "but you have school tomorrow so you two had better get to bed before midnight." Both teenagers nodded.
"Thanks," Roy said. He gave his mom a hug and Yui did the same.
"So this is kinda like doing extreme maintenance on a guitar," Roy explained. "Since this guitar is in worse state than normal, it will probably take a little more work to fix it up. We'll definitely have to put on new strings...."
Yui nodded dumbly. Roy glanced at her. "Sorry, that's a little too much info at one time," he said. "Umm, the neck is probably warped, too," he continued. "It's really hard to tell just by looking at the guitar, but even a slight bend can mess up the tuning entirely." Yui nodded.
Roy twirled the guitar around in his hands a few times, getting a good look at everything that needed to be done. "This isn't good," he muttered after a while.
"What's wrong?" Yui asked immediately.
"The pick-ups," Roy said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He looked up at her again. "Umm, the pick-ups are worthless. We'll need to get new ones, but that'll be really difficult for a vintage guitar." He sighed. "It's a good idea to use the same type of pick-ups that a guitar originally came with to preserve the sound." Yui nodded.
"That makes sense," she said.
"The fretboard needs to be polished and cleaned," Roy continued, "but luckily it's fine otherwise." He stopped talking and examined the guitar some more. "The body could use a good clean and polish," he muttered absently. "I think that's about it, actually. There doesn't seem to be much else that needs to be done. The hard part will be the pick-ups."
"I'm sure dad could order them; some stores keep them for instances like this," he said. "But I don't think he would want to pay for pick-ups on a guitar he's going to buy."
Yui stared thoughtfully at the guitar for a moment. "What if you asked your dad to order the pick-ups with part of the money he was going to give us for the guitar?" she asked. "That way, it would be like we were paying for the pick-ups anyway."
Roy grinned and kissed Yui on the lips. "Brilliant, Yui-chan!" he said. "One sec!" Roy bolted from his chair and found his dad upstairs in the living room. He returned a few moments later with a broad grin. "He said that'd be great," Roy said as he sat back down. Yui squealed happily and hugged her boyfriend.
"Alright, now let me show you how to fix a warped neck," Roy said, getting back to work.
Later that night…
"So now all we need to work on is-" Roy's sentence cut off as he felt something heavy fall against his side. He glanced down and saw Yui slumped over his shoulder fast asleep. He looked at the clock on the wall next to the work station and saw it was nearly midnight. "Okay, bed time," he whispered.
Roy carefully picked Yui up bridal-style and carried her through the doorway. He somehow managed to maneuver her up the stairs and into the spare bedroom. He paused in the doorway. His parents were already asleep by now.
He turned towards his own bedroom, hesitating only a fraction of a second before making up his mind. Roy carried Yui into his room and set her down on his bed. He slowly pulled the sheet over her. He smiled as she snuggled into the fabric contently. Roy climbed onto the bed on top of the sheet that Yui was underneath so there would be no direct bodily contact. He wrapped an arm around Yui's stomach before he heard her sigh blissfully.
He drifted off to sleep almost instantly.
The next day…
"ROY JOSEPH PAGE!"
Said boy jumped out of his bed instantly. So did the girl he had been sleeping next to.
'Oh hell…' Roy thought.
"Roy, why were you and Yui sleeping in the same bed?" his mother asked.
In all the years Roy had known his mother (which had been quite a few years) he had never seen her quite as angry as she was now. Roy was afraid to answer. He didn't dare glance at Yui, although he could feel her eyes on his back.
"Well, we got done working on the guitar around midnight," Roy began, careful to keep eye contact with his mother. "Yui fell asleep on my shoulder so I carried her up to my bed."
"Why didn't you lie her down in the guest bed?" Melissa asked.
Roy frowned. His eyes wanted to turn and look at Yui, but he forced himself to stare forward. "It didn't seem to right to leave her by herself," he said. "And I made sure she was under the sheet and I was on top of the sheet, so no contact."
His mother's expression softened slightly but Roy didn't dare to think he was off the hook. "You're not off the hook yet, young man," Melissa said. Roy nearly face-palmed right there. "You two better head off to school, but you can be sure I'll be having a talk with your father about this." She left the room quietly.
Roy finally turned to look at Yui, but his vision was obscured by the girl's hair as she literally bounded over the bed and hugged him in one swift movement. 'This girl could be an acrobat for the circus, I swear,' he told himself. "Yui-chan?" he said happily.
"Roy-kun," the girl answered softly. "Thank you for not leaving me alone." He smiled down at her.
"I know you don't like to sleep by yourself."
"Thank you." She reached up and kissed him softly.
That afternoon…
"Hey everyone," Roy called as he walked into the club room. He had been held behind by Sawako again, although she'd had a legitimate reason this time. Apparently his answers and Yui's had been exactly the same. Roy simply explained, "Yui's getting smarter, Sawa-sensei. Besides, we don't even sit near each other." This cleared the suspicion quickly.
"I got an estimate from my dad on the guitar," he told Mio. "He offered ¥600,000 if I can get it fixed up."
The tea that Mio and Ritsu had been drinking was forcefully expunged from each girl's mouth. Mugi looked surprised, but made no other visible reaction.
"Six… six hundred thousand…" Mio stammered.
"Yeah, that was my reaction," Yui said calmly as she sipped her tea.
"Six… hundred thousand…" Ritsu repeated. Both she and Mio were staring blankly at the wall in front of them. Roy looked concerned and waved a hand in front of their faces. Both girls snapped to attention and hugged Roy on either side.
"¥600,000!" they cried simultaneously over Roy's shouts of protest. Roy started laughing after a moment. Mio and Ritsu finally let him down and he had to brace himself on his knees for a few moments because he was laughing so hard. He sat down next to Yui and draped an arm around her shoulder with a peck on the cheek. She smiled brilliantly.
A/N: WOW. This took a long time to get out. And now I have to wait longer since Comma-chan isn't on (probably at band practice…) Not much to say in my defense really other than sorry. My new job and my crazy-ass college professors have been giving me a lot of work. Just know that I'm definitely not giving up on this story.
My next update will probably be next weekend for "Burnt to Ashe." I get a long weekend, so I'll have plenty of time to write.
I went through and fixed some mistakes and removed/edited some of the Japanese phrases in previous chapters. Didn't really change much, but it should make it easier for new readers.
11/12/09 - Holy crap, I haven't updated in like a month. Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'm definitely not dropping this fic. I've just been really busy with school work. But Thanksgiving break is coming up, and I'll definitely get a chapter out during that time and then I'll be working on this fic a lot during Christmas break. Don't lose faith in me people!