Full Court Press!
Chapter 25
It was late night in the Western Osaka District and the sky was shrouded by thick blankets of dark clouds that threatened to let loose tears at a moment's notice. My brother Satoshi watched this sight from the dining table, forgetting that there was still a half-eaten meal sitting in front of him.
"Oy Satoshi." I called as I took the seat opposite to him, "Still here?"
My brother just let out a sigh and poked the rice on his plate with his chopsticks half-heartedly.
"Your food's going to get cold, boy." I advised, "Well… it probably already has. That's nothing a quick run in the microwave can't fix though."
"It's fine." Satoshi rejected plainly, "You don't have to go through the trouble, sis."
Satoshi then set aside his chopsticks and leaned to a side, watching that sky as it started to rain. The pitter-patter of the downpour quickly filled the room as the rain gathered strength but it could not overpower the deafening silence that existed there.
It felt really strange to see Satoshi like this. Sadness was emanating from him like some sort of aura. It was an aura opposite to the one he had gained ever since I started teaching him drums a few years back... the aura that had strengthened and flourished in the year he had spent with Yui's sister Ui. My only repose in this laid in the fact that this was already an improvement from the state my little brother was in after the welcome back party-turned-disaster.
Satoshi stopped being a hermit this Tuesday as he started going to school again. Needless to say, he was no longer locked up in his room and he was no longer as shut-off from the rest of the world as he was back then. The trade-off was that whenever he spoke, he would do so in a melancholy tone. Notably absent were those quick-witted remarks of his and his relentless teasing of poor ole me.
I used to hate it whenever he teases me about my flat chest or my forehead, but now I sort of miss that side of him. It was probably because he said those things with a grin, a semblance of a smile. Not once have I seen him smile since that day... and in the few times I have talked to him, he oftentimes mentioned that he hasn't the reason to smile and that he had completely given up on this whole mess. I couldn't argue with him about the first part, seeing as how important Ui was to the poor kid, but the latter part… I refused to believe it.
Suzuki-kun had kept my little brother well informed about the goings on at the Light Music Club in recent days. Along with the internal drama, the half-Canadian even mentioned the rumors of Ui-chan's plan to opt out of the contract she had signed. The younger Hirasawa started to consider it after she had heard about the incident at their household. Satoshi couldn't believe these developments at first, but when I confirmed everything Suzuki-kun had told him at the dinner table, the harsh reality of the situation slowly sank into him. He quickly lost his appetite and there he sits now, just pondering and listening to the rain as if waiting for it to speak to him. One might think that Satoshi had indeed given up, but I know him to be better than that. He is my brother, after all – a Tainaka at heart.
I say this because in his eyes, I saw a fire. It wasn't the strongest of flames, nor was it the brightest, but it was there. Though recent events have doused gallons upon gallons of cold water upon that fire, it held on, flickering and hoping to become strong again. Deep inside, behind that melancholy yet calculating look, I could see that he wanted to act.
There definitely was a reason why my little brother let his beloved Ui go, you see. It wasn't some mere whim of the moment, no. Ui-chan had a dream to be where she was and Satoshi had promised to do everything in his power to bring her there. All the while, he had thought that we would make it together – both the HTT and Okaeri. The first dent in that plan came after Sawa-chan's bad bets, when the HTT and Okaeri had to split up for the very first time.
After that, Satoshi believed that they would make it together as a band at the very least… that they would make it as Okaeri. Then there was the second strike, the one that finally tore through the armor. When the opportunity came and when he saw that Ui was compelled to accept, he downgraded his hopes a second time and let the younger Hirasawa chase her dream on her own. It wasn't the happiest of partings, I could assume, but he did it for her. What troubled Satoshi now would be that Ui was starting to doubt whether or not chasing her dream was even worth it anymore. If she decided to stop, his sacrifice… our sacrifice, and everything we had done up till now would have been for nothing.
Ui is doing a really good job in Tokyo. Kashiwara-san (the good one, not her good for nothing father) and Yagihara-san from Nagoya faithfully stayed with Ui since she decided to carry onward on her own. They kept Sawa-chan informed about her progress in the label. Sawa-chan, then, in turn, kept me and the rest of the Light Music Club who still attended (Me, Jun, Azusa and Mio) in the know. Last time I heard, Ui was doing a magnificent job and truly was as talented as we had all believed her to be. She didn't need to be auto-tuned to sing a song and her voice had the heart and passion that many a commercialized artist lacked. She truly was the 'next big thing'. If she stops now, her dreams would take a nose dive and would crash into the valley of could-have-beens. Satoshi didn't want that, and neither did I. With the way things stand though, the both of us were powerless to do anything about it.
Separated and shattered, the HTT didn't have the same power and influence we had in our better days. Yui was one of the main attractions of our band with her bright and breezy demeanor and Mugi's keyboard gives our songs that extra kick of liveliness that I, for one, absolutely love. Mio, Azusa and I have tried to limp on on our own, but it truly isn't the same without them.
Then, the case with Okaeri was much worse. Even though they could still play on as a skeleton bass-guitar-drum band, Ui's departure had left them without a vocalist, but more importantly, without a voice. Okaeri's dilemma could have been easily fixed if we looked around for a vocalist who was willing to cover for Ui, but Satoshi couldn't accept that fix. There was no way in hell he would accept having a total stranger fill in the shoes of his beloved in the band… that was what my brother told me when I suggested it to him the night he got home. So just like that, he called it quits and disbanded the band.
Still, he wants to act. If there was a concrete way for us to get back on track, then he would be the first to stand up and plan something out. The problem was that our situation wasn't exactly simple and one would have no assurance that we would ever reconcile. Satoshi told me once, after he came out of seclusion, that he was done believing in miracles since he had hoped for one too many. Simply put, he wouldn't want anything to do with the Light Music Club as long as things stayed the way they were. As long as things stayed that way, that flame I see would remain weak.
The rain would give my brother no solace that night. I however was ready to provide. Thus, the intricate plan to revive the Light Music Club a second time came into motion.
Azusa, Jun and I met at the Sakura-gakou Music Room the next day, immediately after school. We took our seats there as we had always done, but we found the place rather empty. There was no happy-go-lucky Yui bouncing about the room after all, no idealistic Ui who always looked to the future and there was no committed Mugi-chan serving us tea. Both boys would be gone too, leaving the table that was meant to seat nine with only four permanent occupants. That day though, there were only three of us.
"What about Mio-senpai?" Azusa asked, turning to me, "Won't she be attending today?"
"She won't attend today." I told the guitarist, "Mio said Yui had asked her to come over to her house today."
"Is that so…" Azusa sighed, saddened by the fact that our already dwindled numbers had dwindled yet again for the moment. "She might have been able to help us out."
"Well, we have to make do with what we have." Jun said, rubbing her chin, "But what do you think Yui-senpai asked Mio-senpai out there for?"
"Mio is the only one Yui has talked to since she started coming back to class." I assumed, "Unless she's talked to you too or Azusa."
"She hasn't come to visit us yet, no." Azusa sighed
"I see…" I pondered out loud, "In any case, it's good for Yui to open up to one of us. For a while, I thought she would resent us all. She surely resented me…"
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Hirasawa household
"Mio-chan." Yui greeted as she opened the door for the bassist, "Thank you for coming over."
"Don't worry about it, Yui." Mio said with a weak smile, "We all are still friends, after all."
Yui didn't respond to that, insisting instead on hanging Mio's coat for her. Mio sensed that the guitarist didn't take too kindly to her words and she was aware of why.
"Let me go make us some tea." Yui then said, hurrying over to the kitchen, "Please have a seat in the living room."
Yui darted off and Mio seated herself on a couch at the living room. As the bassist sat there, she recalled the horrifying scenes that had taken place in that very room nearly a week ago. She remembered the cursing and the shouting of Yui and the stoic apologies of Satoshi. She envisioned Satoshi and Yui kneeling on the floor and wailing as Ritsu desperately tried to comfort them.
Turning to the hallways now, she then recalled the weeping Tsumugi being attended to by the two remaining Sakura-gakou sophomores and the dazed Francis who held on to the slap mark that the pianist had inflicted on him. Though the house had been cleaned and the furniture rearranged since then, images like that were hard to forget.
Yui came back to the living room with two mugs of green tea on a tray. The guitarist served them on the coffee table with a constant effort to keep the contents of the tray from tipping over. She had been practicing, Mio assumed. The elder Hirasawa, after the departure of Ui, now had to take care of herself and she seemed to be doing a passable job. Still, she noticeably lacked the vibrant aura she used to wear often, reminding Mio of the question she had been meaning to ask her since she arrived.
"Are you still mad at everyone, Yui?"
Yui then stopped, as if taking a moment to consult herself about her query. The façade of stability and normalcy Yui had put on for her guest was weathered significantly. She then sat next to Mio and replied.
"I'm not mad, Mio-chan… I'm just hurt." Yui said, tears welling in her eyes, "I just can't believe that Riichan… Satoshi-kun would… that they would let this happen. I love my Ui… and I thought they loved her too. They said they did… they promised! I... I…"
Tears then overcame Yui and she found herself unable to speak. Mio consolingly put a hand on her shoulder and let Yui lean on her for a little while.
"That's why…" Yui then said, wiping her tears, "I want you to help me to write lyrics…"
In other words, she needed an outlet, thought Mio. Being the HTT's lyricist, she would be the best equipped to help Yui learn the craft. Mio too oftentimes turned to writing to express the feelings that she kept hidden from everyone. On top of that, she knew very well that those very feelings played a part in the terrible chain of events that had torn the Light Music Club apart. Helping Yui, one of the biggest victims of the disaster, would be her way of atonement
As she sat beside and comforted the HTT's former lead guitarist and vocalist though, she started to see more and more that that wouldn't be enough.
At the courtyard of the Osaka West Public High School, Francis and Satoshi were on their way to the front gates. The two of them had just finished writing their monthly columns for the school's press club. For the first time however, neither of the two were confident in their work.
"It's hard to think about the problems of the school, of others…" Francis sighed, "Especially when we have troubles to deal with ourselves, eh?"
Satoshi only replied with an agreeing sigh. Their last column was nowhere near as fiery as their previous installations and didn't have the rhetorical firepower to threaten the principal with a student revolution anymore.
"I just feel so powerless right now…" Francis vented angrily, "Things between me and Mio got really complicated… and me and Kotobuki-san…"
Just as he mentioned the pianist's name, the half-Finnish girl happened to walk by. The moment she saw the two, she then quickly turned away unhappily, walking faster down the road and turning at the nearest intersection to get out of their sight.
"We both screwed up, France." Satoshi then said, "That's all there is to it. All we can do now is to suck it up."
Francis looked up to the sky somberly, wondering if that really was all they could really do. A cold gust then blew through, making the half-Canadian sigh.
"Hmm… It will be winter again soon."
I recall a lesson Mr. and Mrs. Kotobuki had given me and my brother Satoshi. It was one of those little conversational pieces of theirs at one of our breakfasts in the Kotobuki villa during our Natsufest campaign. They told us that the pillars that hold and strengthen an organization, for example our club, are the people that it is made up of. Without them, the organization would crumble then cease to operate. Then, it would cease to exist at all.
The situation the Light Music Club was facing wasn't too far off from their example. It felt like late 2008 all over again. Tearing off five pillars from a building that had stood firmly on nine would leave the remaining four to keep the building from falling under its own weight – a tough task to say the least. Our goal therefore was to restore those supporting pillars, to have them stand by our side once more. We would get all of them back on board, or at least those we could manage to convince that we weren't on a sinking ship… or that we were actually in a submarine.
"Okay Jun." I said, leaning into my chair at the Music Room table, "You told us you knew where to start this thing, right? Sell it to us."
"Alrighty." Jun said, clearing her throat, "You guys remember that Montreal anecdote my brother and Mugi-senpai told you all before? The one about the snowbanks*?"
"I remember that." Azusa chuckled, "It was a funny story."
"Well, there was more to that trip than just that incident." Jun then said, "They didn't spend that entire week in Canada just skating on sidewalks, after all, eh?"
Putting her hands together in thought, Jun prepared to tell us the rest of the story of her brother and Mugi's trip to Montreal, or at least the parts of it that she knew. Jun went full auto from the off-set, telling us the story of how they met and about every single phone call she had with her brother in the course of the trip. There were so many details, but the thing that struck me the most was at the end of the magazine. Apparently, Suzuki-kun had asked his sister for directions to their relative who owned a clothier in Montreal to rent a mask for as well as a fancy attire. I couldn't help but ponder what Suzuki-kun did with such a mask and an attire. Sadly, that was all Jun knew off the top of her head.
"That's all I know, Ritsu-senpai." Jun said, "If I knew any more, then I must have been there with my brother the entire time."
That was reasonable. She was only giving us a second-hand account after all. Surely, Jun-chan wouldn't be able to tell us every detail of that trip – though she was fairly precise when it came to the coffee and the doughnuts they shared. Tim Horton's double-single (whatever that means) and maple dip doughnuts too. But never mind that. From Jun's broad account, Azusa and I were slowly able to piece something together.
"Do you think that… the two of them might actually like each other?" Azusa asked, "Mugi-senpai and Suzuki-kun…"
"Yeah, but the two of them are just friends." I reminded, "And… Suzuki-kun is Mio's boyfriend now."
"That's what's bothering me now." Jun said, "After that trip, my brother suddenly goes off saying he wants to find a girlfriend and Mugi-senpai was so eager to help him find one."
"Then there's Mio falling for Suzuki-kun all of the sudden too." I added, "I found that rather strange as well."
"Come to think of it, that is quite strange." Azusa noted, "But how is this supposed to help us, Jun?"
"It would pretty much explain the first step I want us to take." Jun then said, "My brother is stuck in the middle of this mess between them. We should get him on board first and get him to tell us the rest of the story. Then we can deal with Mio-senpai and Mugi-senpai."
"It's worth a shot." I said, nodding in consideration, "Azusa?"
"I'm down for it." Azusa seconded, "Anything to help."
"Very well." I said, turning to the half-Canadian girl, "So Jun, will your brother be at your house tonight?"
"I think so, yeah."
"Good… so you wouldn't mind me and Azusa coming over to crash for a while, would you?"
"No, no! I wouldn't mind at all!" Jun said with a smirk, "Be my guest Ritsu-senpai, Azusa."
"Alright, Yui." Mio said, standing beside Yui at the guitarist's desk in her room, "There is one fundamental thing to keep in mind whenever you write lyrics – one must always be true to one's self. Draw the words from your heart and let your feelings out, whatever they may be."
Mio then turned to the side, a little pained by the very words she had just spoken.
"Do you mean… anything?" Yui asked for clarification. When she turned to Mio though, she wasn't listening. "Hey, Mio-chan…"
"Oh, sorry. I kind of spaced out for a moment there." Mio apologized, "Were you able to write anything yet?"
"I just picked up the pen now, Mio-chan." Yui pointed out, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine." The bassist reassured, "Just keep on going. I'll just be right here if you need anything."
"Thanks." Yui said with a smile, "I'm glad there's someone I can trust at times like these."
Suzuki-kun walked slowly back home that afternoon with a hand in his pocket and a contemplating look as he watched everything around him. For a while, he had tried to count the number of trees that he passed by on the way home but there was just too many of them. Then, he would try counting the number of steps it would take for him to get home but he would oftentimes lose count past one hundred and twenty five. He did all of these to take his mind off the countless good memories he had shared with Mugi since the first day they had met. These memories that were magnificently sweet had turned remarkably sour after the half-Finnish girl slapped him on the face.
Subconsciously, he reached for that part of his face that was struck again but stopped himself midway. The slap mark wouldn't be there anymore, he told himself, and it stopped hurting just seconds after impact. He knew he only reached for that spot again because he was thinking of her, so he forcefully stopped himself.
Shaking his head, he walked on and eventually reached the front doors of his house. At the anteroom, he noticed Jun's pair of shoes along with Azusa's and a third pair.
"Jun must have invited Azusa and Ui… wait… That can't be right."
Suzuki-kun took a look at the third pair another time and identified to whom it belonged.
"Tainaka-senpai?" Satoshi's friend sighed, "Not again…"
Suzuki-kun then marched on over to the living room where the three of us were waiting for him.
"Ah, Suzuki-kun." I greeted, "Just in time."
"Tainaka-senpai, we already talked about this…" Suzuki-kun said, raising his hand to stop me from saying anything else, "If you're here about the Light Music Club…"
"The Light Music Club?" I said, shaking my head, "I was actually hoping to talk to you about your trip to Montreal. The three of us were."
"Montreal…? Why the hell would you want to know that?"
"Please, Suzuki-kun." Azusa said, "You know very well why we want to know. We're here to save the Light Music Club and we need your help."
"And how exactly would that year old memory do us any good?"
"It would give us some perspective, to start." I explained, "But ultimately, it would do you some good."
Before Francis could retort again though, Jun took out a sleek black mask that Francis knew all too well.
"On the phone, you asked for the contact information of a relative who owned a clothier, remember?" Jun asked, standing up as she held the mask, "You then asked to rent some fancy attire and this mask here. When you returned the clothes, she asked you to keep this mask, probably because you used it. There's no other way she would have let you keep a mask like this for free."
Jun then handed the mask back to Suzuki-kun, asking her brother to tell us the rest of his story. Taking the mask, Jun's brother took a seat opposite to the three of us then told us the side of the anecdote that even Jun didn't know.
"Ten minutes to eight at the Place des Arts in Montreal, Canada. I found myself in the main theater where the invitational masquerade for the Osaka Philharmonic was taking place. That grease ball Pierre MacDonald, the Quebecer… or French Canadian who had been hired to teach the Orchestra conversational French and had taken a liking for Kotobuki-san was there and was going from girl to girl on the floor, making out with every single one.
Then, in the middle was Kotobuki-san, wearing that dazzling dress I'll never forget as long as I live. I had told her that I wasn't going to attend the masquerade but she stood there as if looking for someone…
Anyways, my goal that night was to keep MacDonald away from Kotobuki-san at all costs. If things went well, then all I would have had to do was stand watch there in the corner. MacDonald however slowly made his way through to the middle and I was determined to thwart his advances.
Sinatra's Blue Moon was playing then, performed by a local brass band for the event. They couldn't have played a more appropriate song. I went through the crowds, wearing this mask, and finally reached her. I offered her a dance. We got lost in the music. We danced the night away."
Suzuki-kun then went on to tell us a lot of other things, such as how the guards chased after him for sneaking into the theater and how his rival MacDonald saved his skin. Once he had told us all that he knew, he himself seemed amazed by what he had been through. It was as if he couldn't believe what he had done that night.
"So tell me, bro." Jun asked, "Why exactly did you dance with Mugi-senpai that night? Why did you fight so hard to protect her from this Pierre MacDonald person?"
"It's… it's because I love her." Francis admitted, clenching his fist as his emotions intensified, "I liked her the moment we met and we became the best of friends, but… but… I'm crazy for her!"
"Then why did you come back home looking for a girlfriend?" Jun followed up, "Why did you choose to be with Mio?"
"I didn't understand what I felt back then." Francis said, "I didn't want to look at Kotobuki-san in that light… Basically, I just wanted to stay as her friend since I really enjoyed being just that. I thought that if I find myself a girlfriend, I could get my mind off Kotobuki-san, but no… that feeling stayed lodged in my heart. As the days passed, I just slowly drifted apart from Mio and Kotobuki-san. That's why I resorted to extreme measures to try to warm up to Mio again…
At Kotobuki-san's villa, I remember Mio joke about how much I loved Fraulein, saying that I might have loved a violin more than I loved her. I wanted to show that that wasn't the case, but that wasn't exactly the truth. Gosh… look where that's gotten me."
I then turned to Suzuki-kun, thinking that I could solve his case with one more hit.
"So why don't you…?"
"Ask Kotobuki-san out instead?" Suzuki-kun asked, as if he saw that suggestion coming from a mile away, "Impossible. First of all, Mio and I are still together. Things may not be as good between us as it had been in the past, but it would be unfair to her if I just did that on a whim.
Then, there's the obvious fact that Kotobuki-san loathes me now after what I did. I'm sure she only liked me as a friend in the first place, but I broke a promise… no, I broke many promises when I sold and lost Fraulein. Saying she must feel betrayed would be quite light."
Just when I thought we had won, Suzuki-kun's counterattack halted our momentum in an instant. I found myself unable to speak.
"Tainaka-senpai, Satoshi told me this earlier at school. The two of us screwed up. All there is to do now is to suck it up… that is all we can do."
Azusa, Jun and I looked at each other somewhat distressed. We had predicted Suzuki-kun's feelings accurately enough, but we were completely caught off-guard by his stance. Nonetheless, it didn't feel right. We had assembled every fact and detail we could find, but I couldn't help but think that there was something we had overlooked… as if there was a missing piece in this puzzle - a very large piece, at that.
It was at that time that my cellphone buzzed once, followed by Suzuki-kun's cellphone buzzing once as well. The two of us had received text messages from the same person – Mio. I wonder what this was all about.
Back in the Hirasawa household, Mio was sitting at the side of Yui's bed. There weren't any other seats in the room aside from Yui's desk chair, so the guitarist let her sit there while she wrote. From there, Mio could see Yui's Gibson Les Paul called 'Gitah' standing upright on his stand. Right beside it was Ui's Fender-Squier Telecaster called 'Tele', standing upright as well. Turning back to Yui, she watched as her 'student' slowly wrote down words and phrases on the pad of paper Mio had lent her, erasing every so often and stopping to pause and review as well.
"I just came up with a title." Yui then announced, "What about… U & I?"
"U & I?"
"Yes." Yui confirmed, "Nifty title, no?"
Clearly, the elder Hirasawa still had a place in her heart for her younger sister Ui.
The bassist listened in awe, as Yui read out the lyrics she had made. At the moment, it was an incoherent mess of phrases with hints of rice and searching for soy sauce – a mess due to be cleaned up and revised at a later time. The message within it all, the message that Yui's heart longed to convey, was still one of love for her younger sister. It made Mio, the so-called expert lyricist, feel weak in comparison.
Yui, who was most scarred by the shock of Ui's decision and would shut out everyone but a trusted friend on the context of betrayal, would still be able to declare her love. She, on the other hand, had lost nothing significant the day the Light Music Club effectively fell apart but still cannot muster the strength to be honest.
"That was a lot in such a short time." Mio told her student, amazed by Yui's swift progress, "Coming up with lyrics so quickly… you should be teaching me how to write lyrics."
"Eh? Why is that?" Yui asked innocently, "I just did what you told me to do – I drew the words in my heart."
Hearing this from Yui, Mio suddenly felt at a loss. She couldn't take this anymore. This was the second time she had taught somebody that technique – the technique that she couldn't get herself to apply… no longer. Mio then promptly fished out her cellphone and sent out two text messages, one to Ritsu and one to Francis.
"Thanks Yui." Mio then said as she texted, "You just helped me out, big time."
"Me? Help you?" Yui asked, confused, "I thought you were the one teaching me?"
"Sometimes, teachers ought to learn from their students too." Mio said with a smile, "Do you think you have a handle of basic songwriting now?"
"I think so, yeah."
"Then I beg your pardon, Yui, but I have to go. There is something I have to do… something I should have done a long time ago."
A good half hour later, Suzuki-kun and I were standing silently at a park near Sakura-gakou. The aftertaste of our earlier confrontation was still pungent, lingering on our tongues, but we had put that all behind us for the time being. After we were both summoned by Mio to the park, we were more interested in why the bassist did so than our past emotional squabble.
Suzuki-kun must have gone since he hasn't really seen much of Mio after the incident at the Hirasawa household. I on the other hand went since Mio's text was very reminiscent of the one she had sent me the day she had asked me to come to her house – the day Suzuki-kun and Mugi got back from San Francisco.
"What do you think she called us here for?" I asked the half-Canadian
"Your guess is as good as mine, Tainaka-senpai." Francis sighed, "Your guess is as good as mine."
Just as I was about to turn to my watch to check the time, our summoner arrived.
"I'm sorry for calling the both of you out here all of the sudden." Mio apologized with a quick nod, "But there is something important I believe the two of you should know."
She then led the two of us to a bench in the park and asked us to take a seat. We did as we were told, but Mio chose to stay on her feet.
"I have a confession to make." She then said, facing the two of us, "It's complicated, but… you know…"
"Spit it out, Mio." I said, asking her to get to the point. She then took a firm stance and spoke.
"I'm a lesbian."
"You're a what!" Suzuki-kun and I said at roughly the same time. My best friend is a lesbian? Oh lordy…
"It's true, Francis, Ritsu…" Mio then said unflinchingly, "I am infatuated with girls and I always have been infatuated with girls."
"Oh boy…" Suzuki-kun groaned, leaning forward and covering his face with his hands
"I've been hiding it for so long, hoping to keep it a secret, but it has become a burden for me… and for everyone else." Explained the bassist, "Especially the two of you. I played around with you, Francis…"
Suzuki-kun then turned to his girlfriend with eyes that showed no one singular expression.
"What is the meaning of this?" Francis asked, "I… I thought."
"You're a good man, Francis. One of the nicest boys I have met, truly." Mio told him, "I like you, I really do… but not in that way. I'm sorry."
"Then why?" Francis demanded, "Why did you do this? I want to know!"
"It's because I wanted to hide what I truly was." Mio revealed, "I love being around my friends… with the girls of the Light Music Club. You're very easy to get along with too, Francis, and even Satoshi-kun has his merits. I just thought that if you all knew about it, you would all avoid me… or hate me. That's what happened to me in Elementary… and even for a little while back in Middle School. I didn't want that to hound me for the rest of my life!"
"But here you are now, showing it out in the open." I said, folding my arms, "That's quite the feat there, Mio."
"I couldn't bear keeping this secret to myself any longer." Mio replied, "Especially when that secret helped tear apart the very club that I love."
She then turned to Suzuki-kun and looked him straight in the eye.
"Also… I'm not the only one keeping a secret." Mio continued, "You didn't have to say a word, but it was Mugi who was in your heart. It became clearer to me soon enough."
"That's true." Francis said willingly, "She is the one I've always liked."
"Thought so." Mio said. She then took a step back and faced the both of us there seated on the bench. "So now that you know about my secret… will you think about me differently? I won't blame you all if you hate me now… I have been unreasonably selfish… and scared."
"Mio." I said, standing up and laying a hand on her shoulder, "We've been friends for as long as I could remember. It doesn't matter to me if you like girls or boys, you're still good ole Mio to me. Nothing will ever change my perception of you, old buddy."
"Really?" Mio gasped happily, "You mean it."
"Yeah!" I said with a grin, "Don't let crap like that get you down. You should be happy to be yourself, Mio. Let other people think what they want. It's your personal preference so they have no business to judge you differently from any other person."
"T… thank you." Mio stuttered, an awkward smile forming on her face, "Oh Ritsu…"
The girl then put her arms around me and locked me in an embrace. It was a little embarrassing, but I returned the favor. Once she let go, she then whispered something in my ear.
"I was also wondering if… perhaps… you could possibly accompany me on this journey."
"Do you mean to be…, you know?"
"A couple." She said with a shy smile, "If there was someone I want to be at my side… it would have to be you, Ritsu."
"I'm sorry." I said shaking my head, "I'm straight after all."
"Is that so…"
"But I'd be more than happy to stay as your friend." I reassured, "That, you can count on!"
"That's good enough for me." She said, satisfied with that, "All I really wanted was for you to accept me for who I am, after all."
With a great, great sigh of relief, Mio turned to Suzuki-kun, now asking for his response. It wasn't very favorable.
"How could I not feel bad after what you did?" Suzuki-kun said plainly, "Because of what happened between us… Kotobuki-san is…"
"Like I said, Francis, I'm sorry." Mio said, "It's no use dwelling in the past though. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I would be more than happy to help set things right between you two again."
"And the Light Music Club… or what's left of it, would be there to help out too." I added, "What do you say, Suzuki-kun?"
"Are you honest this time, Mio?" Francis asked, "Will you really help me out?"
"I will." Mio said, "I'll also help restore the Light Music Club too. I have a lot to atone for."
"Thank you, Mio." I said with a smile, "And Suzuki-kun?"
"Count me in." Francis said determinedly, "I'm done ignoring the feelings I've been harboring for her… that grease ball MacDonald was right about one thing. If there is a time for me to be absolutely clear, this is the time."
It wasn't the way we had planned it to work out, but Jun's plan worked out. Our future just seemed a little bit brighter.
The very next day, Suzuki-kun attended the Light Music Club meeting again as did Mio. We sat together at the table and it was very much refreshing to see less unoccupied seats. Then, to our surprise, there was another person who followed Suzuki-kun and Mio to the third floor of Sakura-gakou
"I heard about your plan." She said, as she poked her head out from behind the door, "Mio-chan told me about it at lunchtime."
"Yui-senpai!" Azusa greeted, happy to see Yui again
"Azu-nyan." Yui said with a weak smile, "So… is it true? Are you planning to convince her to… keep going?"
"That is correct." I said tactfully, trying to gauge how the brunette was feeling at the moment, "Ui chose this path on her own accord and she's only considering coming back since she thinks everything has gone to hell. That's not the case anymore, Yui. We can't force her back if she doesn't want to…"
"Because she's chasing a dream." Yui said, continuing my sentence, "Just like all of us did… just like all of us will."
"Yui…"
"Can I come back, Riichan?" Yui asked with a tearful smile, "Back to the HTT?"
"You are always welcome in the HTT, Yui." I said with a kind nod, "As long as there is no bad blood between us."
"There never was." Yui replied, "I got mad that night since I thought letting her go meant that you and Satoshi-kun didn't care about Ui. I was gravely mistaken. You both loved her more than I did… and I have to learn to support her, rather than just wanting to keep her right here at my side all the time."
"It's alright Yui. We understand." I assured, "So, Hirasawa-san. Are you interested in joining the Light Music Club?"
"Yes I am." Yui said, "I'm glad to be home."
To Be Continued
Author's Notes: For the full, detailed account of the Montreal trip, you refer to my supplementary story 'Snowbanks'*. Snowbanks is set in between Time Out! Substitution and Full Court Press!