I'm sorry this is a day late but at least it's out. Enjoy if you can.

July 07, Thursday

05:58

In a rare stray from the norm, Azusa woke up with a blanket wrapped around her. It also happened that Jun was wrapped around her as well. She wasn't sprawled on the floor like usual but straddled on top of Azusa, arms hugging her shoulders and legs hugging her hips. She could also feel Jun nuzzling her neck gently—too gentle for her to be awake if the way she normally nuzzled Ui was anything to go by.

Azusa said nothing as she put a hand on Jun's head, running her fingers through the brunette's frizzy brown hair. It smelled of Azusa's shampoo—which had long stopped being a surprise since they'd been using each other's soap and shampoo for months now.

Jun's breathing was cute and shallow. And with every exhale, a faint hum reached Azusa's ears and a moist warmth touched her neck. The tingling sensation it left her with was not an unpleasant one.

She closed her eyes and emptied her mind until all that was left was the feeling of Jun's presence—the body entwined with hers. A contented happiness welled up inside of her, radiating outward to the tips of her toes and to her breathless lips. She could lay in the cozy warmth forever.

She'd fallen for Jun, she realized. She fallen for Ui as well. She'd long been in denial about it. It took until Jun's birthday for her to even acknowledge that she felt anything at all. And she'd been putting off thinking about it ever since.

But now, deep down, she knew she wanted to take the next step—whatever that next step might be

"I… love… you?" she whispered breathlessly as she imagined Jun and Ui's faces. She felt a wave of excitement and sheer bliss build up inside her chest, threatening to overflow.

"I love you," she repeated.

Saying it just felt so… right.

It felt true…

It felt like she couldn't deny it any longer.

She'd fallen for them. There wasn't a doubt in her mind. She was in love with her two best friends…

Her two best friends who were already dating each other…

Who were not very subtle about wanting to date her as well…

Who never pushed her into dating them despite how easily she could've been convinced…

Who always kept the door open for her in case she ever decided she wanted in…

She was in love with her two best friends… and they loved her back.

The very thought was as harrowing as it was heartwarming…

A few minutes later, Jun woke up and smiled drowsily at Azusa. "Sorry I kept you," she said with a yawn before sitting up.

Azusa sat up as well, rolling her eyes. "You're lucky I didn't need to use the toilet while you had me in that death grip. Would've been the perfect time to test just how hard I'd need to hit you before you'd wake up."

Jun chuckled playfully, unfazed by the admittedly hollow threat. "Sounds like a rude awakening. I'm glad it didn't come to that." She let out another yawn and stretched. "HAAAAaaaaaaw~… Haaah~… H'alright… Alright. Let's go down. I think I can already smell Ui's cooking."

Azusa snorted in amusement and followed Jun out of bed. She then proceeded to the kitchen and began eating breakfast, mentally chewing on a new self-discovery that she had no idea how to bring up in a conversation.

She knew herself enough to know that she probably wasn't telling them she loved them that morning. It had taken forever for her to even admit it to herself. What more if she had to admit it to them? No. She wouldn't be able to do it. Not now. Not during breakfast. She just didn't have the nerve and blind trust that Jun did. It'd need to be later, once she knew it was the right moment.

How would she know when it was the right moment?

Well… she didn't…

Thus, as she ate at her usual spot at the kitchen table, she had a sinking feeling that she'd be sitting on her secret for a long time.

"So, what's the plan for today?" she asked between bites, masking her resignation with genuine curiosity.

Jun shoveled some rice into her mouth and chewed quickly. "After school, we go to the shrine," she replied after swallowing. "My dad's stall is near the western edge."

Azusa nudged a piece of meat with her chopsticks. "What about after?"

Jun and Ui seemed to exchange looks. They did that a lot so it wasn't that strange to Azusa. What was strange was the nervous lights in their eyes when their gazes met. What was up with that?

"I guess the three of us could roam the festival grounds," Jun said with a casual shrug, seemingly without any of the nervousness from seconds earlier. "We can probably figure it out once we're there."

Azusa stared at her for a moment before looking down at her half-eaten breakfast. "I thought you two were going on a date."

Jun nodded. "We are."

Azusa idly clicked her chopsticks together and pursed her lips. Gears began turning in her mind. "Why am I part of it, then? I don't want to be a third-wheel."

Jun waved her hand dismissively. "Ah, you'll be fine. Don't worry about it." Her tone was still casual but Azusa could sense the anxiety bubbling just below the surface. She was planning something. Azusa was certain of it.

"Alright…? It's just that I really don't—"

"I want you there."

Azusa blinked, suddenly cut off by Ui who looked at her meaningfully.

"I want to spend it with you, Azusa," Ui said, eyes twinkling. "Stay with us."

Azusa blankly returned Ui's look, mouth parted. There was an underlying tension to Ui's words—like it was vitally important that Azusa be with her at that time. Her eyes darted to Jun who cocked her head and smiled hopefully. There was the sense that it was just as important to Jun as it was to Ui.

Azusa's gaze returned to her food. "I guess I'm third-wheeling," she muttered.

She had a guess as to what they were planning. If she was right—and she was fairly confident that she was—then maybe she'd have a natural opening to bring up her epiphany from earlier. If not, then… well… she wasn't about to say no to spending more time with the people she loved.

15:06

"We don't have to be there until five so we can probably still practice. I've got cleaning duty today, though. Go on ahead. I'll meet you at the clubroom."

Azusa sighed as she and Ui left Jun with their other classmates on cleaning duty.

While it was nice that they had some free time, Azusa very much doubted they'd be able to do much that day. They still needed to go home and change before meeting back up at the festival grounds. At most, they'd have an hour and a half to work with. With their club's propensity for goofing off, their practice time would be spent talking over tea and pastries instead of actually practicing.

"I have half a mind just cancelling the club meeting today," Azusa muttered. "Nao deserves a break, anyway. She's been making tweaks to the song all week."

"I'm sure they'd appreciate the chance to go to the festival," Ui replied.

The club room was already occupied when they reached it. Nao was at the table, playing a simple percussion loop on her laptop. Sumire sat at the other side, bouncing her feet on the floor and tapping her drumsticks on a textbook in time with the loop.

Sumire was too focused on maintaining her rhythm to say anything but Nao greeted them with a quick glance and bow. "Good afternoon, senpai," she said before returning her attention to her laptop screen. "Where is Jun-senpai?"

"Cleaning duty," Azusa replied curtly. She set down her bag, unzipped her guitar, and plugged it into the nearest amplifier. "Keep playing," she ordered.

She then started playing random guitar riffs, experimenting with what would sound good with the beat Nao and Sumire were playing. Ui took her own guitar and started doing the same, harmonizing with Azusa at first before switching up her notes and timings. Within a minute, they had two different riffs that complimented each other.

"We doin' improv?" Jun asked with a grin upon entering the room. She quickly moved to sling her bass over her shoulder. "Sorry I'm late. Cleaning duty took longer than expected."

"It's fine, Jun," Ui said reassuringly.

"Yeah," Azusa agreed. "Now less apologizing, more playing. We need a bassline."

Jun laughed and started strumming. She had something workable in no time at all.

Azusa shared looks with the other members of the club. That strange contented happiness from earlier started welling up inside her again. Nao had started adding little musical flourishes to their melody with synthetic instruments and sound samples. Sumire had gotten used to the rhythm enough that she no longer needed Nao's percussion track to keep her in time. Jun and Ui had always been competent but their playing now was completely in synch with each other. The Wakaba Girls' sound was so full and consistent. It was… uncanny…

"Maybe I am a superstar…" Jun mumbled at the very end of their apparent new song.

Azusa eyed her with a raised brow. "Thought of lyrics already?

Jun scratched her cheek. "I have some ideas, I guess…?"

"Wonderful work, students," a new voice said from the table. The girls all jumped in surprise upon realizing Sawako was in the room. Again, she showed up without any of them noticing. How did she keep doing that? "That was quite the jazzy piece—and delightfully playful. I'm impressed."

"So am I," Azusa breathed, almost not believing how much they'd gotted done in less than half an hour. "I think we finally have our fourth original song…"

"So you do," Sawako quipped, a proud bright smile glowing on her face. "Can we have tea and snacks now?" she then asked, the expression on her face not changing in the slightest.

Azusa stared at her teacher for a moment. "Pfft—" she failed to suppress a laugh. "Yes, sensei. We can have tea and snacks now."

They all sat at the table while Sumire served them drinks. Azusa stood at the head of the table and addressed the club's members.

"So, I was going to announce that we wouldn't be having a club meeting today because Jun, Ui, and I have prior engagements."

"Tanabata?" Sumire asked, cocking her head.

"Yup. We're helping Jun's father run a food stall. Anyway, we still ended up having a meeting anyway because I saw an opportunity to get something done today and took it. Obviously it ended up being worth it."

"We still do not have a name for the new song," Nao commented, eyes not leaving her laptop screen.

"Tentative name: Superstar. Courtesy of Jun."

"Noted." Nao began typing.

"Midnight Superstar," Jun added quickly. Nao did not reply but kept typing. Azusa raised an eyebrow and Jun shrugged. "What? I think it sounds better than just Superstar."

Azusa shrugged back. "If you say so. Just make sure the lyrics fit." She returned her attention to the rest of the club. "But yeah. We'll be at the Toyosato festival grounds at five. We'll be near the western edge, manning a food stall. If you guys are going, hope to see you there. If not, see you here tomorrow for practice. Any questions?" She looked around, waiting for someone to raise any issues. "No? Well then, meeting adjourned."

17:13

Azusa tapped her foot with mild impatience. She and Ui had arrived at the shrine at exactly five in the afternoon and had messaged Jun informing her that they were waiting for her to show up. Thirteen minutes later, they were still waiting.

"Still no reply," Azusa said with a sigh as she checked her phone for the fifth time in so many minutes. "Tell me if I'm just being paranoid but I think Jun's ditched us."

Ui smiled. "I think you're being paranoid."

Truthfully, Azusa didn't really think Jun would ditch them—it didn't seem like her style—but there was still that niggling bit of doubt in the pit of her stomach. And despite the smile, Azusa could tell that Ui had those same doubts as well.

Eventually, Azusa suggested that they just make for the Suzuki food stall and wait for Jun there. Ui was quick to agree and looked genuinely relieved to be doing something other than wait around.

It took only a minute for them to find Jun's brother and what they assumed was their food stall. It was little more than an empty patch of grass with a pile boxes and folded furniture. Atsushi was too focused on setting up the tent to spare them anything more than a glance but he at least smiled in that brief moment of eye contact.

"Good afternoon, girls," he greeted curtly.

"Good afternoon," Azusa greeted back. "Do you know where Jun is? She told us to be at the front of the shrine at five. She hasn't shown up yet."

"She's with dad. They're bringing the food and display oven." Atsushi stopped for a moment and frowned. "Though, they are running a little late." He then shrugged. "But if they get here before nightfall, it doesn't really matter how late they are. I wouldn't worry about it."

Azusa looked to Ui and exchanged nods. She then turned back to Atsushi. "Any way we can help right now?"

Atsushi gestured to the tarpaulin he was currently fastening to a metal pole. "Hold it steady, will you?"

With their combined efforts, they managed to erect the tent with minimal embarrassment—well, minimal for Azusa and Ui. There were two failed attempts and one of them had ended with the tent collapsing over Atsushi. He'd practically begged the two not to tell anyone about why he had little cuts and bruises all over him. It was a bit of a shame they agreed—Jun would have found the story hilarious.

"I've been wondering," Atsushi began as they sat behind the counter of their newly set-up food stall. "You're dating Jun, right?"

Ui fidgeted in her seat before nodding nervously. Azusa eyed the two with a curious quick of her brow, resting her chin on her palm.

"Does she ever talk about me?" he asked.

Ui's brows went up. Azusa's went up higher. They shared a confused look, thinking the same thing as the other: Where was he going with this?

"Not often," Ui replied after a bit of thought. "The week of her birthday was probably the most she's ever talked about you. I don't think you come up naturally in everyday conversations."

Atsushi sighed tiredly. "I'm not surprised but somehow I'm still disappointed."

"Why?"

"Because she likes talking about you two."

Ui's face flushed as she averted her eyes. "Is that so…?"

Azusa cocked her head. "Does she talk about us a lot?"

He rolled his eyes, slumping forward on the countertop. "She hasn't talked about anything else in the last two months. It's always about you two—or else, somehow related to you two."

Ui found it in her to giggle despite how she couldn't bring herself to look at Atsushi. "Reminds me a bit of you, Azusa. You used to always be talking about your senpai at the light music club."

"Exactly!" Atsushi exclaimed, sitting up. "It's always 'light music club' this, 'Azusa and Ui' that. We could be talking about anything—anything at all—and somehow she'd segue into talking about you two. Did you know she still wonders why I wasn't surprised when she said she was dating you? I didn't know what to tell her. I didn't have the heart to admit that she couldn't've been more obvious."

Ui fidgeted once more. Azusa found herself doing the same. She could definitely understand where Atsushi was coming from. While cute, Jun and Ui's frequent exchange of meaningful looks and occasional touching of hands under the table had the subtlety of a brick to the face. And she couldn't help but wonder if she herself had that same lack of subtlety. That Ui said Jun's behavior reminded her of Azusa's made it all the more likely. It brought into question whether or not they already knew her secret and if their parents already knew. The two already knowing would make things easier, if more embarrassing, but their parents knowing would be kind of—

She shook her head to expel those thoughts. She'd freak out if she continued that train of thought. They needed to talk about something else. Anything else.

"Jun still doesn't think your parents know," Ui muttered, thankfully sparing Azusa from thinking up a different topic.

"That's because you won't tell her," Azusa teased, hiding her overwhelming relief with a mask of dry snark. She could tell Ui saw straight through it, though—not that she would ever call Azusa out on it. Oh, such angelic tact.

"I know it's partly my fault but you won't tell her either," Ui countered weakly, a token defense for the soul purpose of further pushing the previous topic out of mind. If only the current topic was a little more different so that shutting it out was easier.

"Don't worry about it. They know she doesn't," Atsushi said with a mischievous chuckle. "We've actually got a betting pool running about how and when she'll tell them. I've got my money on her blurting it out some time this summer. Mom's playing the long game and bet that it'll be weeks after summer ends."

Azusa's mind immediately came to a standstill for a full second at the thought of Mamiko Suzuki placing bets on her own daughter. "Um… Isn't gambling illegal?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey, it's just a simple wager between family members. Nothing illegal about that."

"Maybe not but I do think it's a little bit mean," Ui said with a pout. "Wouldn't that hurt her feelings?"

Atsushi shrugged. "Eh, she'll be fine. If she had the nerve to bet I'd never get a girlfriend before the end of highschool then she should be able to handle a bet like this."

The two raised their eyebrows in surprise. "She really did that?"

"Yeah. And got ten thousand yen for her troubles. Took me forever to save up that much money. I was so confident I'd win, too."

"Ten thousand," Azusa repeated, calculating how many days' worth of allowance that was.

"For the record, the current betting pool is at fifty thousand yen."

"Fifty…" Azusa trailed off, feeling the definite allure of nearly three months' worth of allowance. "Could I maybe…?"

Atsushi grinned. Ui frowned. "Azusa, are you seriously planning on making a wager?" she asked sternly, crossing her arms.

"Lighten up, Hirasawa," Atsushi said airily, waving a dismissive hand. "You two are pretty much family at this point. Might as well participate in a little family bonding, eh?"

"Yeah, Ui. Didn't you say those exact words to Mrs. Suzuki two weeks ago?"

Ui's blush was the rosiest it's been all day. "I said we're family, yes, but this isn't what I meant! Come on. Stop it, please."

Atsushi's grin widened and he turned to Azusa. "Wanna bet she eventually makes a bet?"

"Stoooop~!"

Azusa suddenly found herself bursting into laughter.

"Azusaaa~!?" Ui whined, tugging at Azusa's shoulder. "What are you even laughing at?"

"I'm sorry," Azusa gasped between fits of giggles. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just—" She devolved into soundless chuckling once more. She could already hear the blood pumping through her head. Her face must've been so red. "He's just so… similar to her…"

"Azusa…?"

"Okay, okay, I think I'm good," she wheezed. "Just lemme' take a breath… Heh—god… Heheh… oh god…"

Ui pouted. "Are you done?"

Azusa chuckled again but it nothing more than a single jerk of her shoulders. "Right, I'm done. I'm done. Sorry."

"You were saying?"

"What was I saying?" She thought for a bit before snapping her fingers. "Oh right! Did you notice? Atsushi here is really similar to Jun but different enough in just the right ways that Jun would be absolutely infuriated with him."

Ui stared in confusion. "I don't…" She cocked her head at Atsushi and, after a brief moment contemplation, smiled. "Actually… I think I can see that…"

Atsushi stared at the two like they were speaking an entirely different language. "Okay, you're gonna have to run that by me again. Me and Jun are what now?"

Both Azusa and Ui burst into laughter.

"Okay, you were right. This is uncanny."

"They're really brother and sister, aren't they?"

"Ladies, please. I can't understand what you're saying."

Eventually, the laughter died down and Jun arrived with her father. They resumed setting up the food stall, trying their hardest not to let slip what had transpired while the father-daughter duo were in-transit—Jun could learn about that later. By nightfall, the festival went into full swing and the customers came trickling in. The girls quickly got to work.

End of Chapter

I'm starting to notice a pattern with my June-marathon releases because this is the second time my third chapter released a day or so late. Assuming I still follow the pattern, my next chapter will end up releasing first week of July. Here's hoping it doesn't come to that. Until next chapter, then!