November 11th, Before School
Aging wood collided with calloused fingers, quiet drumbeats only one person could hear the sole defense the drummer had against the demon of boredom. There was no park to run around this time, and people watching had always been one of Mio's hobbies, not hers. The drummer quadruple-checked her silent phone, sighing dramatically if only to make herself feel a bit better about her situation. 7, no, 9 minutes off. For a girl who likes to be punctual, you're taking your sweet time getting here, Nakano. That's the second time in a week you've got me waiting. Well, at least it's warm in here.
It was difficult enough for Ritsu to have to stand around awkwardly in the second year's hall waiting for her kouhai to show up without said kouhai also being much later than normal. According to data Tsumugi had previously collected under circumstances that could kindly be considered as dubious, Azusa rarely showed up to school less than thirty minutes early. That in mind, she was now running very late. The looks Ritsu was receiving from the second years milling about only facilitated the rise in her agitation as seconds ticked by at the speed of hours. It's not even strange for seniors to be around here before school, and they're looking at me like I'm a unicorn. Actually, that could be pretty cool. Flying around, shooting at people with horn lasers, granting wishes, shooting at Mio with horn lasers…
Ritsu's unicorn daydreams were interrupted as she realized that one of the girls travelling down the hallway had paused to stare right in front of her. Though her ribbon color identified her as a first year, nothing about the short girl herself told Ritsu that she should know this person. Glancing around, Ritsu noticed a gaggle of other first years staring at the two of them from one end of the hallway. "Um… you're Ritsu-senpai, right?" came the girl's meek voice.
Returning her gaze to her one-person audience, Ritsu frowned. The fact that this girl knew her and she didn't know this girl bothered her. "Sorry, do I know you?" she asked, hoping this wasn't someone she owed money somehow.
Blushing, the young dark-haired student shook her head. "No, but I'm a big fan of your band! Watching you all play is so inspiring!" She fumbled around in her bag for a moment before withdrawing a pen and open notebook with several signatures on it already, shoving the objects towards the drummer clumsily. "Can I have your autograph please thank you?!"
Gradually, the situation became clear to Ritsu, causing her to break out in a playful grin. Since Ho-kago Tea Time had most, or arguably all of its fanbase centered in Sakuragaoka High School, it was rare for anyone in the band to encounter someone who only knew them through seeing their performances. She took up the pen and paper eagerly, noting signatures from Azusa, Yui and Tsumugi already covering the open sheet. Taking extra care to sign her name a few sizes larger than the other three signatures on the paper, she returned it, patting the now ecstatic girl on the shoulder. "There you go, kid. If you're looking for Mio's signature, ask her fan club. They know the best places to corner- I mean find her. You didn't hear that from me though."
Stars were alit in the student's eyes, and she bowed overenthusiastically, nearly headbutting Ritsu in the process. "Thank you so much! I can't wait for your next performance!" She bolted off, rushing towards the group of girls Ritsu had noticed while yelling about how visiting Azusa's classroom every day was paying off.
A strange feeling of melancholy overcame Ritsu as she waved the cute girl off. "Next performance, huh?" she whispered to the air, the fresh excitement of meeting a real fan gone.
There might not be another performance anytime soon, kid, but I'll look forward to it too. No point in thinking too hard about it. With that issue solved, Ritsu was able to get back to being bored, her worry tossed aside as she returned to alternating between checking her phone and the slowly filling hallway for her absent kouhai.
Boring as Mio and Tsumugi's plan was, Ritsu couldn't deny its effectiveness. Tsumugi was in charge of distracting Yui while Ritsu and Mio split up, with Ritsu covering Azusa's homeroom while Mio waited in the clubroom. Whichever place Azusa chose to visit first when she got to school, one of them would be waiting to collect her and bring her to the other for their… apology? The intent of their conversation wasn't entirely clear to Ritsu, outside of the end goal being everyone making up again. She was fairly certain she and Mio were on neutral terms at worst with Azusa, and that her idea of apologizing was just a formality to get Azusa to listen to them. Ritsu smiled to herself, the speed of her drumbeat increasing. This is ridiculous. I mean sure, Nakano has been acting a bit off, but she won't go out of her way to avoid us. We should have just texted her. It'd be bad if she really started avoiding us after that I guess, but at least then I wouldn't be stuck playing truant officer. When I said let's apologize directly again, I didn't think I'd end up on a stakeout. She already knows we're sorry, damn it. "I'm gonna smack Nakano, then Mio, and maybe Mugi if there's time for putting me through this," she lied quietly to herself, letting the back of her head collide gently with the window. The morning light warmed her exposed forehead while the glass itself chilled the top of her head, creating a rather strange yet not unpleasant feeling in the drummer that calmed her down.
Violent thoughts aside, Ritsu wasn't entirely opposed to justifying her own apology a little. She hadn't meant to hurt Azusa's feelings when she described how Yui saw her kouhai, but it was the girl's own fault if she wouldn't face up to her own emotions, and Ritsu would have told her as much three days ago if Mio hadn't been standing right there. Though she wanted to be candid, the good of their band came before Ritsu's personal vendettas on matters of the heart. As she continued to lean against the window opposite Azusa's class 2-1, she found a way to amuse herself by giving passerby who were curious about her disheveled uniform or light blue ribbon dark stares until they scampered off. It wasn't as much fun as scaring Mio, but it made the minute hand move. Her starved interest was eventually piqued by another clique of girls that had been standing just inside of Azusa's classroom since before Ritsu had arrived. Her interaction with the freshman had evidently caught their attention. "You saw her give the autograph, didn't you? She's got to be their drummer, so she has to be waiting for Azusa-chan. Does that mean it's true?"
Hearing her target's name, Ritsu's ears perked up. She turned her head towards the group of three juniors, causing all of them to avert their shifty gazes from her. It was tempting to hold her stare until one of them dared to look up again, but Ritsu was suddenly more interested in eavesdropping than scaring at the moment. Most of her rumor experience involved telling off overzealous Mio fan club members asking about whether she was dating Mio or not, which was a pain in and of itself without Mio having a panic attack every time it happened with her nearby. That in mind, any rumor regarding someone else in their band was enough to warrant investigation by Ritsu's standards. The very second Ritsu looked away, the conversation she had extinguished was reignited with a passion.
"Baka! Not so loud!"
"Sorry, sorry. But it's suspicious, right? Azusa-chan's been acting weird for weeks, and now the rest of her band is hanging around outside her homeroom, and Yui-senpai isn't."
"You're just being paranoid."
"Oh yeah? Why are Ui-chan and Azusa-chan trying so hard to cover things up? If Azusa-chan isn't sleeping with Yui-senpai, there's no reason to care, right?"
"Shut up! She'll hear you!"
Ritsu's head snapped back to the conversation nearby, all subtlety and curiosity being thrown out the window behind her. The words that had just met her ears were so outlandish that her mind had immediately kicked into fight or flight mode, favoring the former. One foot stomped on the wooden floor towards the trio, the sound alone reverberating enough to startle all the girls in the hall nearby. Three pairs of eyes met her commanding glare with evident trepidation. Good. I don't care what the context is, you can't talk like that about my band and expect me to sit on my ass.
Just as death in the form of Ritsu began stalking towards her prey, a merciful hand stayed the drummer's advance, firmly locking her in position with its grip on her shoulder. Spinning around violently, Ritsu was prepared to tell off the person who had dared to stop her, only for her anger to fizzle out as she took in the sight of Yui frowning with concern in front of her. No, wait. Red ribbon. Hair is tied up. Frizzy haired Jun girl nearby. This is Ui-chan. Ritsu blinked, sparing the lives of the girls she had been stalking towards. "I'll take care of it, Ritsu-senpai," Ui offered kindly, though her eyes were dangerously empty.
A shiver passed through Ritsu's spine as she watched Ui practically skip over to the group of three girls, all of whom were observing the exchange nervously. Their faces collectively paled when they saw their classmate coming towards them with an easy smile. Though Ritsu was unable to hear what Ui was saying, the rapid nods from all three of them and the speed at which they scampered away from the conversation was more than convincing enough for Ritsu that Ui had the situation well in hand. Those brats mentioned that Ui was trying to suppress this rumor too. Guess they weren't kidding. She massaged her shoulder, the feel of Ui's death grip that had held her back still lingering. Somewhat anxiously, Ritsu reminded herself never to mess with Yui while Ui was nearby, lest she end up breaking a bone.
Jun clicked her tongue in disappointment from where she stood next to the drummer. "I'm never going to make any new friends between her and Azusa-chan getting on everyone's backs about this. At this point, more pressure's just going to make the rumors worse. Did you need something, Ritsu-senpai?"
Tearing her gaze away from Ui, Ritsu took in the hair disaster of a girl in front of her. She vaguely remembered seeing her at the marathon from hell with Azusa and Ui a while back, and Azusa had certainly mentioned a bassist from the Jazz Club in passing, but that was where Ritsu's data on the human in front of her ended. "You know something about that?" Ritsu asked, jerking her thumb towards the fleeing girls.
"More than you do," Jun scoffed, turning her nose up at the drummer.
Indignation overcame Ritsu once more. "Oi," she uttered warningly. "Don't talk to your senpais like that. Why the hell are people spreading rumors about our guitarists?"
Jun smirked infuriatingly. "Maybe if you gave more of a shit about your band, you'd know the answer to that, huh?" she challenged. "From what I hear, everything's fine and dandy in Ritsu-land, isn't it?"
That was it. Ritsu didn't remember if she was supposed to be friends with this girl, but she could figure it out after she was done knocking some respect into her. Before Ritsu could do something she'd probably regret, Ui's unbreakable hand reappeared on her shoulder. "Don't antagonize her, Jun-chan," the younger sister's reasonable voice rang out. "It's not her fault that rumor started, is it?"
It was obvious that Jun was looking for an excuse to keep arguing, but nothing was coming to her. "No, but-"
"Great!" Ui interrupted. "Then there's no need for us to argue amongst ourselves. Ritsu-senpai, did you need something? It's unusual for you to be here this early."
Ritsu raised an eyebrow. She badly wanted to lay into the frizzy haired punk who was currently giving her the stink eye, but the idea of starting a fight was less appealing with every second Ritsu had to think about it. "I'm looking for Nakano. Have you two seen her?" the drummer asked instead, leaning back against the window to force her body to calm down.
Ui and Jun exchanged a look. A question was flashed between the two of them, but that was all Ritsu could understand. Jun shook her head while Ui nodded, and a silent argument that was incredibly droll for Ritsu to observe ensued. Ui apparently won, because when they turned back, she was the only one smiling. "She went to the music room to drop off her guitar," Ui explained, her voice abnormally even. "She'll probably be there until class starts." Jun grumbled under her breath about something Ritsu couldn't hear, but Ui elbowed her until the bassist was nodding in agreement.
Though their behavior was odd, Ritsu didn't question the two juniors. She had enough problems keeping up with her own friends, and she wasn't about to try to do the same with Azusa's. Knowing that she now only needed to wait on a text from Mio to confirm that Azusa was ready to talk, Ritsu decided she had enough time to get some answers for herself. "Okay then, care to tell me what the hell could possibly make those girls think our guitarists are doing the deed together?"
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ui went beet red at Ritsu's crass implication, and she hid her face in another private glance with Jun. Ritsu rolled her eyes. Having another issue to deal with was irritating enough without being excluded from conversation about it. "It's not our place to say," Ui eventually responded, once her color was restored. "But I'm taking care of it, don't worry. You can ask Azusa-chan about it if you want. Oh, and don't let Onee-chan find out!" The last sentence nearly brought Ui's face right back to where it started.
Unfortunately for Ui and Jun, the non-answer had pushed through the shallow limits of Ritsu's tact. She crossed her arms and stood up straight in an attempt to exert some of her authority over the conversation. "You're not going to keep that from Yui if you're letting kids talk about it in the halls like that."
"They were talking about it because they saw you skulking around like a drug dealer," Jun retorted. "Don't complain about things that are your fault."
Ritsu jabbed a finger towards the indignant bassist. "Oi, what's your problem with me, kid? I'm just looking out for my friends. Do I owe you money or something? Because I swear, Mio will pay it back for me."
Jun took an aggressive step forwards, but Ritsu noted the trembling in her hands, the uncertainty in her footing. Though she wasn't the fighter people assumed she was by her appearance and language, Ritsu was no stranger to confrontation, especially being friends with someone who drew as much unwanted attention to themselves as Mio. Amateur. She's not used to squaring up with someone who will yell back at her. I'll need to make sure Nakano grows a spine before I leave or this girl never will.
Ui shook her head at Jun, but Jun shrugged her off, finding courage in her head that her body couldn't display. "My problem with you, Ritsu-senpai, is that you're a hypocrite."
The accusation caught both Ritsu and Ui off guard. "Wait, what? What are we talking about here?" Ritsu asked dumbly.
"Don't play dumb," Jun accused, shaking her head condescendingly. "I've had to deal with a sad sack of potatoes for a friend for weeks because you and the others can't get your act together. On top of that, you're putting ideas in her head about romance when you can't even-"
"Jun-chan, enough!" Ui hissed urgently, but Ritsu held up a hand to stop the younger Hirasawa from fighting her battle for her.
It was obvious where Jun had been going with her train of thought, but Ritsu wasn't going to tell Jun that. Even if she had finished her accusation, it wouldn't have affected the automatic response that was already kicking in for the drummer too much. When Ritsu spoke once more, her tone was low and controlled, tempered by experience. "If you're trying to rile me up by talking about the crap the Mio fan club throws around on a weekly basis for kicks, it's not going to work. I get it, you're mad at us because we're the reason Nakano has been down lately. However, if you go lashing out at everyone over your problem, it'll just make things worse. We're on the same team here, got it? Yeah, Mio and I said some out of line things to Azusa, so we apologized. Obviously, that wasn't enough to magically fix everything, so we're trying again today. Don't go around assuming we don't give a shit just because of what you think the truth is. We care about our kouhai just as much as you do."
Having failed to get the reaction she was looking for, Jun appeared to be a bit frazzled. Ritsu smirked, satisfied that her point was taking root and that she had gotten so good at handling her own response to the same damn tease after nearly three years. Seeing this, Jun found it in herself to frown. "Just take care of my friend, or there's going to be hell to pay, got it?" she demanded.
"Ditto to you, kid," Ritsu responded evenly, before sighing to herself. Now even Nakano's friends are spreading the Mio fan club rumors. Who's the hypocrite, Jun-chan? I might need to talk to the others about this, maybe find a way to clear the air for good. With this new thing, I can do it without making it about Mio and me, too. That's one pain I won't ever miss. Speaking of pains…
Ui, who had remained quiet since Ritsu had stopped her, stared attentively as Ritsu faced her once more. "By the way, how's Yui's arm? What'd the doctor say?"
The pensive look on Ui's face brightened. "She hasn't broken anything, thankfully. The doctor said it'll heal by the end of the week as long as she allows it to rest. I'm really glad we got it checked out anyways."
Ritsu smiled, grateful to hear some good news this morning. "Nice. It's hard to be a captain without a private." Though her phone was still silent, standing around with a girl who may or may not still be fuming with her wasn't Ritsu's idea of a fun time. "Well, I guess I'll head to the music room. You two be good to Nakano, yeah?"
Jun gave Ritsu a glare, but she didn't say anything. The drummer made a mental note to ask Azusa where her friend's idea of hospitality had come from. "Hold on, Ritsu-senpai. I have a question," Ui interrupted as Ritsu made to leave.
Pausing in her stride towards the third-year hallway, Ritsu gave her friend's sister a curious look. "Shoot."
Ui twiddled her thumbs nervously, all authority from when Ritsu had first seen her today completely absent. "About the party on Sunday… I was wondering… about Tsumugi-senpai…Has she…" Ui paused, uncertain.
Even Jun was staring at Ui curiously as Ritsu tried and failed to identify where this question was going. "I kind of need to go talk to Nakano," Ritsu explained, suddenly feeling awkward again as she waited for Ui to release her.
Whatever trance Ui had put herself in was broken by Ritsu's voice. "Um, never mind! Just be careful, okay?"
The warning made little sense to Ritsu, but she was just glad to be able to leave. "Alright, if you say so. I'll see you two around. Good luck rumor hunting."
Ritsu strode off before anything else could confuse her. As she made it to the stairs, her phone finally buzzed. Picking it up, Ritsu saw a picture of Tsumugi and Yui making some sort of strange pose in the classroom, with a couple of students laughing at them in the background. Grinning, the drummer shoved her phone back into her pocket. I guess the distraction side of things is going well. But Mio hasn't texted yet. Did Nakano actually go to the clubroom like they said she did? What the hell is Mio doing in there?
Unwilling to wait, Ritsu decided to see for herself. She took the stairs two at a time until she found herself at the door to the clubroom. Throwing the door open callously, Ritsu was met with the sight of Mio tuning with her bass from the music room's couch. The disturbance caused her to jump in her seat, nearly losing her instrument in the process. "What?! What's happening?" Mio yelped frantically.
Puzzled, Ritsu tilted her head, closing the door behind her. "Nothing? Where's the kid?"
Calming down, Mio reciprocated Ritsu's action. "I don't know. You're the first person to come here this morning. Is Azusa-chan not with you?"
While it was true that Ritsu didn't have the puzzle-solving skills of some of her friends, even she could piece together what was happening. "Those punks… they tricked me!" As suddenly as she entered, Ritsu was on her way out again, ready to wring the necks of Azusa's friends for lying to her.
"Wait, Ritsu!" Mio insisted fruitlessly. "What's going on?"
"Nakano's using her friends to hide from us is going on!" Ritsu called over her shoulder, already throwing the poor door open again.
Ritsu's storming out of the room was cut short by the twin tailed girl standing in the entrance. Unprepared for the target of her aggression to suddenly appear in front of her, Ritsu found herself lost for words for once. Azusa was shifting her grip on her guitar bag nervously, a pensive look on her face as she took in the sight of the flabbergasted drummer and the befuddled bassist. "Do you two have a minute?" Azusa asked. "I'd like to speak with you both."
Mio recovered from the instantaneous appearance before her friend. "Well, that's convenient. We wanted to speak with you as well." She set her bass down on the couch and rose from her seat to gesture towards the table.
Azusa blushed uncharacteristically. "Really? I guess my preparation was unnecessary then."
The meaning behind Azusa's words was lost on Mio, but not Ritsu. "So let me get this straight, you told your friends to tell me that you were going to the clubroom when you weren't, and now you're here anyways? How does that make sense?"
Sighing, the junior shook her head, as if Ritsu had just failed to answer a basic math problem. "It's simple. I told them to direct you or Mio-senpai towards the clubroom and Yui-senpai or Mugi-senpai anywhere else if they ran into one of you. I went to the clubroom to wait, but Mio-senpai was already there. I didn't want to talk to her alone, so I waited for you to show up, hoping you would be around soon because Mio-senpai was here. It was evidently a safe hunch, because here you are."
Both seniors stared at their junior. Azusa tilted her head. "What?" she asked, folding her arms indignantly. "I'd say it's an impressive plan for how short notice it was."
Neither girl had the heart to explain that Azusa's complicated plan that she was so proud of had more holes than the plot of a bad action movie. Ritsu eventually shrugged to break the line of tension before it could finish forming. "I guess it doesn't matter how it happened. What matters is that we're all here. Happy birthday, by the way. Come inside, grandmaster tactician, make yourself at home."
Mio and Azusa rolled their eyes together as Ritsu made a big show of letting Azusa walk past her into the clubroom. The three of them quickly sat in their traditional seats at the table. Azusa noticed that Ton-chan had been fed and nodded to herself before sitting. Ritsu also took note of this, but didn't feel the need to say anything about it, instead focusing on shoving down the instinct telling her that she should be receiving tea and snacks right about now. Familiar chairs squeaked against the hardwood floor as everyone settled in, arms resting on desks as morning light illuminated the room in a comfortable pale glow, a blessing from nature normally offset by the harsh winds gusting outside. Though the room felt a bit empty without two of its regular occupants, Ritsu could almost trick her mind into believing that she had made it through the school day already. Her dream went on much longer than she thought it would as nobody started their destined conversation. Blinking, Ritsu looked between her dark-haired bandmates. For all of her confidence in claiming that she had something to talk about, Azusa had fallen shockingly quiet, cat-like eyes switching between Mio, Ritsu and the floor in rapid succession. Mio was also flitting her gaze between her bandmates, and the look she gave Ritsu when they locked eyes for an instant was a familiar one, one of expectation. You want me to start, huh? Fine. Guess I should have seen that coming. Time to be charming.
"Mio and I both felt the need to address some things that have been said over the past few days," Ritsu boldly declared, leaning forward assertively in her chair.
The grandstanding did nothing for Azusa, who frowned. "You two don't need to apologize again. I'm not mad at either of you. Actually, I wanted to apologize to both of you for my behavior." Azusa subconsciously rubbed the back of her neck in the same way Yui did when she got caught doing something wrong. "I'm sorry, really. The last thing I want is to stir up trouble with everyone, and it feels like that's all I've done this week. I'd like to try and start things fresh with everyone before the party, if that's okay with you all."
Ritsu rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming one of the most specific and realistic dreams she had ever had. "Huh. That was easy. Mio had a whole speech prepared to convince you to do exactly that." She leaned back in her chair and put her arms behind her head in victory.
"How did you- I mean, no I didn't, baka!" Mio unconvincingly argued, glowering at her childhood friend. "Besides, were you even listening to her? Azusa-chan, you haven't caused any more trouble than we have since the festival. If you ask me, we'd all be better off if we acknowledged that and focused on moving forwards together. Of course, that would involve you making up with Yui-chan."
Before Azusa could react, Ritsu pointed a finger at the guitarist to keep her attention from Mio's statement. "I withhold the right to make fun of and/or play a prank on you in retaliation for anything you've done in the past week," the drummer claimed importantly, not willing to throw away her main source of entertainment for Sunday.
"And I withhold the right to do this," Mio retorted, smacking Ritsu on the head swiftly.
Suppressing a small giggle, Azusa did her best to remain serious. "I believe we all agree then. That's… good to know." The guitarist visibly relaxed in her seat, as if she had expected the conversation to run in a very different direction.
"Hold on," Mio cautioned. "There's still the main point we wanted to make. Mugi-chan, Ritsu and I want to know what's going on with you and Yui-chan, and if we can help you do something about it. If you don't want to talk to us, that's fine, but we want you to know we're here to help."
Ritsu held back the urge to whistle appreciatively at Mio's assertive control of the conversation. She really does shine the brightest when she's forced to handle things herself. Or maybe she's just grown up over the past decade or so. I guess it's probably both. Well, at least I haven't changed. One of us has to remember why we make a good team. Shoving the old thought aside, Ritsu grinned cheekily at Azusa. "Yeah, we've got your back no matter what. Don't worry about anything we said a few days ago, alright? We won't make you do anything you don't want to do."
Azusa nodded gratefully. "I really don't deserve senpais like you two…" she muttered, before straightening up in her seat. "But that's not important. I told myself I wasn't going to keep turning away from this problem. I want to patch things up with Yui-senpai too. With all of you. I've been running around hurting my friends because I don't want to face reality, so I'm going to stop. That's all there is to it."
The candid tone wasn't what Ritsu was expecting, but it wasn't unwelcome either. I wonder if Nakano is growing up a little too because of this whole future fiasco. That's a happy way of looking at it.
"You live in a small world," Mio responded. "Like I said, we've all made some mistakes due to the circumstances over the past week."
"Not me," Ritsu lied, leaning back in her chair. "I'm perfect." As if to emphasize the point, a beam of sunlight broke through the clouds outside to shine directly on Ritsu, giving her an angelic glow.
Two frowns were levelled squarely on the brunette. "I take back my apology," Azusa stated bluntly.
Somehow, the drummer managed to shrug without losing her precarious balance. "Keep it. It's bad luck to give things away on your birthday anyways. Besides, let's be honest, what have you done, Mio? And don't just say the thing about confronting Nakano over Yui, we've been there, done that."
While Ritsu waited patiently for the reprimand, smack, or both from Mio, she instead got a disquieting cold shoulder. Of all things, the question had drawn Mio's attention towards Ton-chan. The other two girls followed her gaze curiously. "I might have been the one to hide Ton-chan's food back on Tuesday," Mio admitted guiltily, the admission hurting her with every word she committed to saying.
The revelation was about as interesting to Ritsu as Mio claiming she had remembered how to get dressed this morning, but Azusa was beside herself. "You?!" she cried incredulously. "Mio-senpai, how could you? I had to stop Yui-senpai from giving Ton-chan cake because of that!"
Watching her kouhai revert back to square one as she berated Mio of all people was both comforting and surreal to Ritsu at the same time. Comforting to see the Azusa she knew was very much still interested in fulfilling her role as the band's voice of reason and order besides Mio, and surreal to see Mio getting berated instead of being the one taking jabs at her herself. Her form's so-so, but she's got the makings of a great club president, Ritsu mused to herself as she observed Azusa explaining in painstaking detail how difficult it was to stop Yui from using cake to solve her problems.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mio repeated over and over again. "I just wanted to feed Ton-chan, but I was too embarrassed to ask, so I thought if I hid his food, I could find it and do it without anyone asking questions!"
Ritsu rolled her eyes at Mio's annoyingly familiar reasoning. "That's what you decided to write on that card, isn't it?" she guessed, taking Mio's paling face as confirmation. "Figures. And why did this need to be a secret again?"
"I…well… what about yours then, baka?" Mio nearly shouted, desperately attempting to redirect the conversation. "I refuse to believe you wrote down something serious on your card!"
Shrugging, Ritsu retrieved the joy buzzer she had stolen back from Sawako's desk and held it up for Mio to see. "I wrote that I'd shock Sawa-chan if she went through with her dumb plan. Her fault for not believing me."
Azusa had a disappointed expression on her face, her anger forgotten. "That's… really petty. Like, extremely petty, Ritsu-senpai," she reprimanded. "I thought you were at least mature enough to avoid threatening violence to solve your issues."
The drummer scoffed, allowing her chair to crash back to the ground. "Oh, calm down, Nakano. It doesn't hurt, I'm not a sadist." To prove her point, she pressed the button herself, sending an unpleasant yet painless sensation throughout her body. "And unlike the rest of you, I'm still trying to enjoy myself. Don't think I didn't catch you laughing when it happened, Mio."
Caught red-handed, Mio unsuccessfully attempted to fend off Azusa's accusatory glare when it shifted to her. "Okay, fine, it was a bit funny in the moment," she admitted guiltily. "But it was still a dirty trick to pull, even if you feel it was justified. I don't understand why you enjoy scaring people so much." Ritsu held herself back from saying it was funny in lieu of her comment on sadism.
Still eyeing the evil toy suspiciously, Azusa sighed. "Just don't do it again, okay? I'd hate for you to not graduate because of a prank." Though Azusa was acting aloof, Ritsu beamed at her kouhai, having learned that this was the closest that the younger girl would come to openly forgiving her for a prank she didn't approve of, which was all of them.
"Wait, why are we talking about this?" Mio interrupted. "We can talk about Ritsu's numerous shortcomings later. The bell won't wait forever. Azusa-chan, are you willing to sit down with us and Yui-chan to sort things out between everyone after school today?" The bassist ignored Ritsu's indignant reply.
Recovering her serious demeanor, Azusa nodded determinedly. "Yes. I want to bring things back to normal before we deal with the future."
"Then are you going to address the romance issue?" Ritsu followed up bluntly, giving Mio a serious look to indicate that she wasn't joking around.
Azusa made an adorable cat noise as she lost the composure she had just regained, which told Ritsu more than whatever Azusa actually wanted to say. Mio rose from her seat, glaring daggers at Ritsu. The drummer met her gaze evenly. Trust me, she implored silently.
Several long seconds later, Mio sat down once more, crossing her arms and legs pensively. "You don't have to talk about that if you don't want to," the bassist offered as Ritsu raised an eyebrow at Mio's disagreement with her decision. "We agreed that we're just trying to get things back to normal."
"Normal isn't coming back until she has an answer to that question," Ritsu retorted, nodding at the reddening of Azusa's cheeks. "Look at her. Now that the idea's in your head, you feel like you need a resolution too, right? I mean, yeah it might be our fault, but that doesn't change the fact that the question's in your head now. Knowing you, you won't be satisfied without an answer."
Azusa looked down, gritting her teeth. "That's not the real issue here."
Obviously. What do you think I'm trying to get out of you?
"We're not judging you, Azusa, but if what's going on between you and Yui is affecting our band, we need to address it. Tell us what the issue is, then, so we can help you already." Years of dealing with Mio had tempered Ritsu's ability to get to the heart of a matter, and Azusa could be treated as a smaller version of Mio when it came to hiding her own problems.
The kouhai's head remained low. "I've been so immature. Yui-senpai got hurt because of me. It's my fault her arm was injured," she admitted, her voice wavering a bit.
Ritsu heard a small gasp from Mio as her suspicion was confirmed. There's the real problem. Good, I was worried we'd actually have to deal with a confession in our clubroom today. As long as she resolves this, we should be in the clear, and I won't have to say anything. "So, you made a mistake," Ritsu claimed, standing up and stepping towards the kouhai from her chair. "Then fix it, like you said you wanted to. If you're really trying to get things back to normal, stop making us and Yui guess what's on your mind and get to the point."
"But how am I supposed to approach her?" Azusa fired back. "She's been avoiding me too, you know. I want to apologize to her, for the things I said, but I don't know how. I don't feel like I know enough to act yet."
"Honestly, you're just like Mio, thinking you have to do everything yourself," Ritsu retorted, earning herself two more glares. "We're your solution. You belong with us, and everyone knows that. If you just be honest with Yui after school today, she'll understand. We'll help you get through it. Can you at least try for us?"
For a moment, Ritsu worried that Azusa would turn against their plan altogether, but after some hesitation, the guitarist nodded. "I suppose I can," she decided, her resolve evident in her tone.
With the biggest hurdle leapt over, Ritsu found herself pumping her fist into the air in excitement. "That's what I like to hear! We'll settle this after school then."
Mio found her voice once more. "Thank you, Azusa-chan. I'm looking forward to this afternoon."
Though Azusa didn't catch it, Ritsu noted the slight edge in Mio's tone. Mio didn't think Nakano had it in her to hurt Yui, even on accident, huh? I guess it's the same with me and the joy buzzer. She really doesn't believe any of us have the ability to hurt other people. And yet I'm somehow on the receiving end of her fists all the time. I need to talk to her before our big meeting.
Azusa looked down once more and didn't say anything, but she appeared to at least be content. Ritsu allowed herself to fall back into her seat, suddenly feeling drained. Resolving problems early in the morning always improved the rest of her day, even if it wore her out. This was before the conversation preceding this one returned to her mind, and Ritsu remembered why she was supposed to be angry. "Oh yeah, what the hell is up with the kids in your class?" Ritsu asked, interrupting the comfortable silence that was starting to build between the three of them.
Not following Ritsu's question, Azusa looked up at her senpai uncomprehendingly. "What do you mean, Ritsu-senpai?"
"Is something wrong with the juniors?" Mio seconded, her own interest captured.
Ritsu shook her head solemnly. "Not physically, at least. That Jun girl was downright rude to me for no reason at all. I don't know what you've been telling her, but she treated me like I was the source of all evil for her. She's lucky Ui was around to keep things from getting ugly."
"Are you sure you weren't just looking for a reason to argue with someone?" Mio interrogated dubiously.
"Those sound like fighting words," Ritsu snarked back, causing the bassist to huff and cross her arms.
Taking in what Ritsu had said, Azusa placed a hand thoughtfully on her chin. "That's a bit strange. I'll have a talk with Jun-chan. I'm sorry if she offended you, but she has a habit of being a bit too blunt, like you."
The drummer winced. "I think you might need some help with that too." Realizing that Azusa ignored or didn't understand her point, Ritsu moved on. "And in any case, it's not just her. I overheard some girls saying some wild things about you and Yui."
"Seriously, again?!" Azusa exclaimed, standing bolt upright in her seat. "I thought I took care of that already. Excuse me, senpais, I need to be somewhere else right now."
In a fluid motion, Ritsu was out of her seat and between Azusa and the door, her natural speed far exceeding her juniors. Mio had trouble just following the two of them with how fast both girls had moved. "Hold on there, kiddo. Ui took care of it for you. I still need answers as to why people are talking about you and Yui like this. Rumors from the Mio fan club about Mio's panties are one thing, but this is something else. What's going on?"
Somewhere on the other side of the room, Ritsu imagined Mio had started huddling in a corner, though Azusa continued to absorb most of her attention. "It's really not a big deal, just another mistake I made," Azusa insisted, looking in vain for a way around the most athletic girl in their group. "I said something stupid and it started the rumor. Look, as long as Yui-senpai doesn't hear anything about it, it doesn't matter, so please let me make sure my class understands that."
The strained politeness in Azusa's tone underlined an urgency that Ritsu frankly found frustrating. "Azusa, you're not going to kill a rumor by force. I've tried, it doesn't work. In fact, it usually makes things worse. You should just warn Yui beforehand, or get Ui to do it. We can tell her together after school if you want, but trying to cover this up is just going to make it worse."
Azusa shook her head in denial. "Ritsu-senpai, I can handle this. You can help me make up with Yui-senpai later, but right now, let me handle this my way, okay?"
It was obvious that Azusa wasn't going to relent. The determined look in her eyes was as familiar as the person Ritsu saw in the mirror every morning. Damn. Guess experience will have to be the teacher that this senpai can't be. "Then good luck to you, young Nakano," Ritsu reluctantly stated, moving out of the way.
Giving her senpai a shockingly genuine bow of gratitude, Azusa practically bolted out the door. "Thanks, I'll see you both after school!" Azusa's voice faded out from earshot as she retreated back into the school.
With their kouhai gone, the clubroom suddenly felt much smaller. Ritsu turned back to face her childhood friend, who was sliding back into her seat in an attempt to hide the fact that she had left it in the first place. When she realized Ritsu was staring, Mio's grey eyes zeroed in on to the drummer with terrifying speed and precision. "Care to explain what happened with you this morning?" Mio asked, her calm tone reminding Ritsu just how angry the dangerous queen potentially could become.
As fast as she could, Ritsu spat out the truth. "I overheard some girls talking about how Yui was apparently sleeping with Nakano. Don't give me that look, I'm serious! This had to come out at some point, and better now than this afternoon. I wasn't making things up. The kids in her class are talking about her and Yui like they're screwing."
Mio's face contorted in disbelief. "No, you've got to be kidding me," she whispered, all traces of hostility gone.
Ritsu shook her head, making her way over to the couch and sitting on it on her knees, making sure not to disturb Mio's bass in the process. "Wish I was. But apparently Nakano and Ui have a lid on most of their talking, for whatever good it's doing. That being said, the question of why is more important. Azusa's friends told me to ask her, and you saw how that went. This is different from the rumors your fan club likes to spread about you and other people."
"Don't remind me," Mio groaned. "I guess we'll have to get the truth out of her this afternoon, since it's clearly one of the things bothering her. It'll probably come up if we end up addressing Yui-chan's feelings anyways."
"About that," Ritsu started, pausing to make sure she had Mio's undivided attention before she continued. "I don't think there's much else we need to do, based on what I'm hearing from Nakano. Whatever they decide to talk about should be up to them. The only reason I brought it up now is because I agree that Yui doesn't need to hear about this from someone other than Azusa. If they make up, rumor discussion or not, I say mission accomplished. I thought we both agreed that doing something drastic was a bad idea for once."
For a long minute, Mio didn't say anything. She appeared to be mulling over the prospect in her head, overthinking things down to the last detail. It was impressive when it wasn't inconvenient. "Alright, I'll leave it to them," Mio decided. "But we still should be there to help them along, all three of us."
"Of course," Ritsu responded. "That was never in question. She can think of this as her birthday present from us."
Mio glowered at the drummer from her chair. "You better have bought her an actual present for Sunday," the bassist warned. "I still haven't forgotten the year you told me your present was 'your presence'."
Ritsu allowed herself to sink down so that her head rested against the top of the couch, partially hiding the deadpan expression that appeared on her face at Mio's response. "Come on, that was years ago! How many times have you made me apologize for that? Mou, it's unhealthy to hold grudges for that long."
"Says the one who waited a week to shock our teacher for giving us extra work for our benefit," Mio countered.
Déjà vu washed over Ritsu. "Touché," she muttered.
The lull in conversation that followed bled into silence. There was still a bit of time left before classes started, but neither girl was inclined to their homeroom before they had to. This sort of thing happened from time to time, usually when Ritsu ran out of things to say. It was clear to Ritsu at least that Mio found the random strikes of calm between their normally tumultuous back and forth relaxing, and the drummer agreed, though she'd never be caught admitting it. Although they weren't doing anything, being alone with Mio like this inspired a sort of peace within Ritsu, giving her the opportunity to collect her thoughts. That could have gone worse. The whole rumor thing is a pain, but as long as Yui and Nakano make up, it shouldn't matter. We can deal with the rest later. Mio caught Ritsu's wandering eyes, the unique seriousness in her expression capturing Ritsu's attention. "You know, I've been meaning to ask why you came to the clubroom yesterday," Mio answered Ritsu's unasked question.
"To feed Ton-chan," Ritsu answered immediately, with complete sincerity. "I wrote it on my card, after all, and I had to protect the sacred words I wrote down until the day I died because I love Ton-chan unconditionally."
Mio blushed equal parts embarrassment and rage. "Baka! It's embarrassing enough without you bringing it up again!"
Unable to maintain the serious expression on her face, Ritsu broke out into a smirk. "Don't worry, if I held on to every dumb thing you did since we've known each other, I'd need to find a bigger brain. If you must know, I was checking up on you to make sure you were alright."
Ritsu's response wasn't what Mio had been expecting, to the point that she ignored the drummer's jab. "Huh? Why?"
"Do I need a reason to make sure my friend is feeling okay?" Ritsu pointed out, Mio's confusion begetting confusion on her side as well. "You seemed upset about something after school yesterday, so I went to check on you to make sure you weren't moping by yourself."
It baffled Ritsu how she was managing to surprise Mio so much with her explanation. Does she really think I don't care at all? What kind of bad joke is that? I guess it looks like that to people on the outside, but it's obviously the opposite. Maybe I just never told her that.
"Ah… Right. Well I'm fine, thank you." The bassist paused, her silence creating a void that Ritsu had to fight not to fill with her own questions. "Can I ask you something seriously?"
"You can always try," Ritsu responded, hoping her easy smile hid her complete lack of understanding about the situation at hand. "No promises about the quality of the answer though."
Mio nodded absentmindedly, furthering the enigma Ritsu was facing. "I feel like I take you for granted sometimes," she conceded carefully. "With the smacking around and the arguing, I mean. Some days I'm sure it looks like we hate each other. Am I just being paranoid?"
The drummer locked eyes with her childhood friend. There was a fair amount of conflict mixed with regret reflected in her grey orbs. The answer to her question, fortunately, took no time to formulate in Ritsu's mind. "Yes, you are. I don't exactly like getting hit, but if I thought it was a problem, do you really think I'd keep my mouth shut about it? Me?" Ritsu asked, placing a hand on her chest. "I know the difference between you hitting me and you trying to hurt me. If I thought you were doing the latter, believe me, you'd be the first to know. Come on, Mio, what's really bothering you?"
Blinking, Mio broke the stare between the two of them. She played with her hair, twirling it around her finger while she held the conversation in stasis for another moment. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that I appreciate you, when you aren't being a baka," Mio whispered, a small blush forming on her cheeks. "I know it's a bit cheesy, but I felt bad leaving it unsaid. You can make fun of me for being sappy now."
Ritsu's own face flushed at the unexpected praise. Noticing this, Mio raised an eyebrow. Realizing that she needed to say something, Ritsu opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her normally quick wit had shut down upon being thrust into a situation it had never even considered to be a possibility. With great effort and her mind screaming at her to make sounds from her mouth instead of gaping like a dead fish, Ritsu managed to speak. "Thanks. I appreciate you too. We make a good team." What the hell am I saying? Are Mio and Yui infecting me with their sappiness?
Hearing the response enthused Mio greatly, and she genuinely smiled at her childhood friend, not noticing the drummer's internal panic. "I agree. That's why I think-" The bassist cut herself off, thinking over her words for a moment. "Actually, never mind for now. Classes are going to start shortly. We should get going."
The thumping of Ritsu's heart matched the rapid pace of her thoughts. Seriously, where did that response come from? What's going on? Mio's never been one to just dole out compliments for no reason. Did Mugi say something to her? No, I can trust her not to say anything. Maybe the fan club comment was out of line? Gah, who knows with this girl. I give up. I made my choice years ago anyways. If I wasn't prepared to have weird days like today, I wouldn't have chosen to stay with her. Put things back to normal.
Having sorted out her thoughts for the moment, Ritsu realized that she had stood up and was shouldering her bag. She chuckled to herself, provoking a strange look from Mio. "What?" she asked, heading for the door.
Flashing one of her trademark smiles, Ritsu matched Mio's stride. "Do me a favor and don't scare me with your serious question talk, okay? I'm too old to find a new childhood friend."
Actually, smiling at one of Ritsu's jokes, Mio nodded. "So am I, baka."
November 11th, After School
"She can't hide forever," Mio uttered unconvincingly.
"Yeah, and I can't play the drums," Ritsu retorted, spinning both of her drumsticks in one hand lazily.
"I can't believe you just fed Ton-chan without me," Tsumugi pouted glumly, eyeing the band's pet sadly.
Ritsu cast a look of pity to the blonde, who was clearly not paying attention to the conversation around her. "Cheer up, Mugi. I'm sure Mio will have need of one of your convoluted plans before long. Feeding turtles isn't the strangest thing she's needed help doing by a mile."
Reassurance from Ritsu worked wonders on the keyboardist, drawing her back to reality. "Yes, you're right. Thank you, Ricchan." Mio simply rolled her eyes, but she didn't outright deny Ritsu's claim, which in Ritsu's book was an absolute win.
The three seniors had gathered in their clubroom after school as promised, though they were currently down both guitarists. "I knew we should have led with the bit about cake instead of how we needed her to have a serious conversation," Ritsu grumbled, leaning her head on her free hand from her seat at the table. "I thought you would have learned that she avoids that word the way she avoids doing homework."
Mio sighed. "You're one to talk. How was I supposed to know she would bolt like that as soon as school ended? Besides, she probably would have stopped listening as soon as we said cake, defeating the purpose." Mentioning the rather extravagant cake sitting in the center of the table only made it harder for all three girls to ignore.
The cake, though small, had more than enough personality to fill a room. It was covered in various bright colors of icing and small fruits that should have clashed aesthetically with each other yet somehow didn't. The base itself was a plain white by contrast, sans the 'Happy Birthday Azusa' message spelled out in red lettering. The fact that Tsumugi was able to procure such a sweet on short notice spoke volumes to the different world she lived in compared to everyone else. Tearing her gaze away from the cake, Ritsu faced Tsumugi, who was frowning contemplatively in her chair. "I'm concerned about Yui-chan. She won't respond to our calls. Shouldn't we go looking for her?"
"No," Mio denied firmly. "She has to come by her own free will, or there's no point. We can't force them to try and talk to each other directly. Who knows, maybe that's what she's doing right now."
No, she's panicking somewhere, acting as immature about this whole thing as the rest of you, Ritsu silently answered. Frankly, Yui had done better than she had expected, holding off on fleeing until classes had ended for the day. Can't say I'm much better. After this morning, if the positions were swapped and all my friends suddenly told me we need to have a serious talk between myself and Mio…
Ritsu eyed the bassist, who was currently glowering intensely at the cake nobody had been allowed to touch in front of her. If looks could kill, the cake and all of its hypothetical cupcake children would be piles of ash. Yep, I'd hide too.
The squeaking of the door opening timidly drew excited stares from all three seniors that disappeared as soon as they saw who had entered. "Oh, it's just the birthday girl," Ritsu apathetically stated, giving their kouhai a half-hearted wave.
Azusa cocked her head at the lukewarm reception. "Nice to see you all too? Where's Yui-senpai? What's with the cake?"
"Happy birthday!" Tsumugi exclaimed, shooting out of her seat ecstatically. Though nobody matched her in enthusiasm, Mio attempted a polite smile, and Ritsu gave Azusa a thumbs up with her free hand. "Oh, I guess we aren't saying that yet since Yui-chan isn't here." The heiress blushed and sank back into her chair.
"She ran off after class when we told her we wanted you and her to have a serious conversation," Mio supplied for the junior. "We were hoping she might have gone to you."
"Why'd you word it like that?" Azusa asked, setting her bag down. "And no, I haven't seen her all day. She hasn't come by my classroom since I yelled at her."
Unsurprised, Ritsu stopped playing with her sticks and pulled out her phone. "We could ask Ui if she chose to go home," she proposed, changing the subject.
"Without Giita?" Tsumugi pointed out. "Besides, Ui-chan would have contacted me if Yui-chan went home with her."
You? Why? Ritsu wanted to ask, but her tongue in favor of the more pressing matter. "Well, since everyone but her is here, her time's up. Either she comes over here now or I'm eating her share of the cake."
"That's not important right now, baka," Mio scolded, though her eyes betrayed her own interest.
Azusa frowned as she took her seat at the table, Tsumugi having already set out some tea for her. "Ui-chan said her arm wasn't badly injured, so it's probably not that… Maybe she doesn't want to talk to me. I thought she wanted to patch things up between us too, but perhaps I've misjudged things."
Ritsu waited for Mio or Tsumugi to jump in and reassure Azusa that there was in fact no reason to be concerned, that Yui would surely show up soon, but was baffled when the room fell silent. Mio wasn't looking at anything but the floor, and Tsumugi suddenly found something very interesting in the tea cabinet that required her attention. Azusa wasn't much better, her own statement clearly eating away at the serious resolve she had entered the room with. Ritsu sighed. Do I really have to handle this for everyone? I guess so. "Alright, enough pouting," Ritsu declared, standing up and marching towards the door. "Let's get Yui in here and get this conversation over with. I want cake."
"You know where she is?" Mio called after friend.
"No, but we just have to search the school top to bottom for her, right?" Ritsu asked rhetorically over her shoulder, forcing her way through both the clubroom door and the door to the roof directly across from it.
Having been prepared to literally comb the entire school top to bottom for her friend, it was an extremely pleasant surprise to see Yui pacing back and forth pensively on the far side of the roof, saving Ritsu in both time and cake freshness. When she heard the door open, Yui froze, staring at the intruder on her territory.
Shivering at the burst of cold air that greeted her entrance, Ritsu began to make her way towards the older guitarist. "Ah, Ricchan!" Yui exclaimed, rushing up to meet the drummer halfway. "Please, help me! I don't know what to say!"
"If you wanted help, you shouldn't have run off," Ritsu retorted without any real malice in her tone. "What are you doing out here? It's freezing."
Yui rubbed the back of her neck over her scarf with the hand not holding her bag. "I come up here to think. I'm sorry if I worried you, but I… I'm scared! I don't want to mess things up again. I can't do that to Azu-nyan! She doesn't deserve that! I-"
"You've been watching too many soap operas," Ritsu chided, gripping the overreacting Yui by the arm and dragging her towards the clubroom. "Come on, we can have some cake while you think of something to say."
Whatever initial struggle Yui had put up ceased immediately at the mention of cake, and she willingly followed the club president without so much as a complaint. Almost upset that her plan to motivate Yui had worked so well, Ritsu shook her head to herself. I hope she knows not to accept these kinds of offers from strangers. Even as she berated the guitarist, Ritsu couldn't deny that the simple-minded enthusiasm Yui was exuding over the mere concept of cake was contagious enough to keep her warm against the November cold.
With both the door to the roof and the door to the clubroom still open, the other three members of the club were able to witness the entire interaction between their bandmates. Mio and Azusa stared at Ritsu, both evidently awed by her Yui tracking ability. Tsumugi, for her part, began to cut the cake on the table as if she had expected this turn of events. Yui smiled sheepishly at everyone, but her attention was quickly absorbed by the cake. "How'd you know Yui was on the roof?" Mio asked.
"I'm a genius, no further questions please," Ritsu replied, unable to describe her dumb luck any other way. "Cake time, Mugi?"
Tsumugi nodded, but Azusa held up a hand in objection. "Hold on a minute. What happened to talking things out?"
Flopping into her seat, Ritsu jerked her thumb towards Yui, who was staring at the cake as if it would disappear if she blinked. "Go ahead. If you're lucky Ton-chan might be able to understand what you're saying before Yui can."
Azusa's objection hand lowered in defeat. "Fine. But we're doing this as soon as the cake is eaten."
"I'm glad you understand, Azu-nyan," Yui thanked her kouhai, not taking her eyes away from the cake.
Tsumugi giggled while Mio rubbed her temples in annoyance. Following Yui's words, cake was quickly served around the table, with Azusa getting the largest slice for obvious reasons. For all the pizazz that the top of the cake brought, the inside was startlingly light and fluffy, to the point that Ritsu felt like she was barely eating anything. Her serving was gone long before anyone else had finished theirs, even Yui. Have I been eating too many sweets again? I should start running more to make up for it.
Despite her misgivings about her weight, the cake was still delicious, a fact everyone, even Azusa, made sure Tsumugi was well aware of. Yui stared longingly at the place where the complete cake had been moments ago, her train of thought obvious to the other four girls in the room. "Yui-senpai," Azusa spoke, waving a hand in front of Yui's face to get her attention.
"Azu-nyan?" Yui asked, finally giving her kouhai her attention. "Did you want more cake? Sorry, it's all gone."
The kouhai heaved a sigh. "Come on, Yui-senpai, focus. That's not the reason Ritsu-senpai brought you here and you know it."
Yui met Azusa's exasperated look innocently. "I mean, that was part of it, right? We're celebrating your birthday, after all. I'm really looking forward to the party."
Promptly realizing that her kouhai needed help, Ritsu jumped in. "Look, Yui, here's how it is: you and Azusa feel bad about some things that happened in the past few days, so you need to talk it out and make up so we can go back to be being an awesome band. So, uh, do that. We're just here as moral support or something. Moral captains of support, that sounds cooler."
Azusa stared at Ritsu like she was an idiot, which she would be the first to admit that she was. Mio and Tsumugi also appeared to be unprepared for the blunt approach Ritsu selected. "Um, is it that simple?" Tsumugi asked, confused.
"Of course not," Mio retorted. "Ignore Ritsu. Just say whatever you feel you need to say, Yui-chan," she reassured the older, less-experienced guitarist.
Nodding more to herself than Mio, Yui completely faced her kouhai. Azusa met the senior's gaze warily. Ritsu could cut the tension like a knife cut through cake, and she would have if Mio hadn't glared at her to shut her up. "I'm need to start by apologizing," Azusa declared, standing up. "I injured your arm a few days ago, because I didn't control myself properly. For that, I need to apologize, so I'm sorry."
The familiar scene for Mio and Ritsu was interrupted by a loud gasp from Yui. "You knew?" she exclaimed, disappointed. "But I hid it so well!"
"Well, I wasn't 100% certain until just now," Azusa admitted, earning a blush of embarrassment from Yui. "But even if that wasn't the case, I said some things I shouldn't have, and would have apologized for that anyways." Uncomfortable, the kouhai sat down once more.
Shockingly, the response didn't completely placate Yui the way all the other seniors had expected. "Azu-nyan, I don't know what you want from me," she accused quietly.
Ritsu nearly fell out of her chair trying to figure out where the hurt in Yui's tone had come from. "What I want?" Azusa echoed.
Yui nodded. "I've been thinking really hard about it, but I can't figure it out. I thought you wanted things to become normal again, but you got mad about that a few days ago. I tried asking Ui, but she didn't know either. I can change if you want me to, Azu-nyan. I'll do anything to keep us all together."
The conviction Ritsu and her fellow seniors had seen almost a week ago shone once more in Yui's eyes. It occurred to Ritsu that Yui could be impossible to deter when she really wanted something. What she wants, huh? What do I want? The answer came immediately to the drummer, though she wasn't sure if it felt as right as it did a week ago.
Azusa took her time responding to Yui's ultimatum. In that time, Mio and Tsumugi exchanged three worried glances, and Ton-chan changed direction four times in his tank by Ritsu's count. "You… you don't need to change, Yui-senpai. As much as I say that you should practice seriously and act like a better senpai, it wouldn't feel right to me if you stopped being your annoying self just because of me. No, that's not quite right." The kouhai thought for a moment. "I want to be friends with Yui-senpai, not who Yui-senpai thinks I want to be friends with, if that makes sense."
"Are you sure?" Yui asked urgently, searching Azusa's eyes for confirmation.
Ritsu would have been weirded out by the look Yui was using had it been trained on her, but Azusa was evidently used to excessive amounts of attention from Yui, her response coming without hesitation. "I'm sure."
All the negative energy was flushed out of the room with that one swift confirmation. "Hooray! Azu-nyan and I are best friends again!" Yui cheered, pulling both herself and Azusa out of their chairs into a hug.
Azusa pouted, but she didn't stop Yui from celebrating. "Mou, Yui-senpai, everyone's staring."
"Good! Isn't this great everyone?" Yui cheered.
"It's a relief to be sure," Mio agreed, smiling warmly at the exchange.
Seeing for herself that the group finally appeared to be on the right track once more, Ritsu relaxed. She hadn't realized just how much the last couple of days had stressed her out until they were behind her. This sudden relief was immediately interrupted when Ritsu noticed the starry look in Tsumugi's eyes as she observed the hug between the two guitarists. Nudging the blonde's leg under the table, Ritsu raised an eyebrow at the heiress once she had her attention. Tsumugi's response was a cryptic smile and a wink. Having no idea what that meant, Ritsu decided to have faith that Tsumugi wouldn't do anything too drastic, not after both she and Mio had warned the keyboardist against such action. If I can trust her with my own secret, I can trust her with this. Besides, there's an easy way to keep everyone from doing something dumb.
"Alright, enough hugging, let's practice," Ritsu declared, feeling motivated by forces that had nothing to do with her concern over her cake intake.
"Yay, practice!" Yui exclaimed, dislodging from Azusa and making a beeline for her guitar.
"Yui-chan, wait," Mio called out, cutting the guitarist's enthusiasm short. "What about your arm? Didn't the doctor tell you to rest it today?"
Remembering this fact herself, Yui stopped halfway through taking her guitar out of its case. "Oh yeah… Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine." Disregarding critical information necessary for her recovery, Yui finished removing her guitar and set about tuning it.
Before anyone else could get on Yui's case, Azusa had already crossed the room and ripped Giita from Yui's grasp. "Listen to the doctor, Yui-senpai," Azusa ordered impartially. "We can practice again on Monday. As a matter of fact, I'll take Giita home with me until then. I don't want you hurting yourself by messing around with your guitar at home." Without allowing Yui to argue, Azusa began putting away her senpai's guitar.
"Huh? Azu-nyan, you can't do that! I need Giita! I won't play him, I promise!" Yui's begging fell on deaf ears as Azusa finished zipping up the older girl's instrument.
Now shouldering two guitars in addition to her school bag, Azusa looked more like a travelling hitchhiker than a student. "Don't make promises you can't keep," Azusa chided. "I've heard Ui-chan's stories. Honestly, I've been meaning to inspect your guitar for damages anyways. Seriously, who takes a guitar with them into the shower?!"
Yui's panicked pleading had evolved into pathetic begging. She threw the kouhai her best puppy dog face, eyes filling with tears of innocence and pure intentions as she tugged insistently on Azusa's skirt. "Azu-nyan…" she whispered in a barely audible voice, her grip much firmer than it looked. "Please… My love…Don't leave me…"
Azusa sighed, trying desperately not to react to Yui's choice of words. She turned towards her other senpais, a pleading expression on her face. Tsumugi rose from her seat, placing a hand on Yui's shoulder comfortingly. "It's a good idea for you to rest right now, Yui-chan," Tsumugi explained in a motherly voice. "We all just want you to feel better, especially Azusa."
The kouhai took some visible offense to the last part of Tsumugi's remark, but she kept her commentary to herself. Yui still appeared to be crushed by the current turn of events, but she let go of Azusa's skirt reluctantly. Mio rose from her seat as well, picking up her bag and Tsumugi's. "We'll help you carry Yui-chan's guitar, Azusa-chan," Mio offered, Tsumugi nodding in agreement. "Ritsu, watch over Yui-chan and make sure she gets home okay."
"What? Why can't we just walk home together?" Ritsu asked, popping out of her seat.
Mio pointed to Yui, who was covertly reaching towards her guitar case when she thought Azusa wasn't looking, only for Azusa to gently smack her hand away at the last second. "That's why. Come on, this is for Yui-chan."
"If it was for me you'd let me take Giita home," Yui grumbled.
Realizing that she didn't have another choice, Ritsu shrugged. "Alright, fine. Looks like it's you and me, private."
Nodding in satisfaction, Azusa opened the clubroom door. "We'll see you two tomorrow, then. Thanks for your help today!"
Waving her three friends off, Ritsu turned her attention to the forlorn guitarist, who had collapsed against the couch in exhaustion. "I'm tired," she muttered. "Carry me home, captain."
"No, you carry me home, private," Ritsu retorted, joining her friend on the couch. "I'm just as tired after today as you are. Keeping bands together is hard work."
"Is that why so many bands break up sooner than people think they will?" Yui asked curiously, staring at the ceiling.
Ritsu thought about that for a second. "I guess so. Getting along is hard. You have to be willing to give and take things and… stuff."
"What do you mean?" Yui turned her head to look at the drummer.
"Mou, I don't know, Yui, it's just hard sometimes. People will get mad over the weirdest things." The conversation was far above Ritsu's knowledge threshold, but Yui didn't seem to acknowledge this or care.
The guitarist pulled herself up into a normal sitting position. "Am I a good senpai?" she wondered aloud.
"Absolutely not," Ritsu confirmed, also sitting herself up properly. "If anything, Nakano should be your senpai."
"Ehehe, yeah," Yui giggled lightly. "She's the best."
Noticing the blush forming on Yui's cheeks awoke a nostalgia within Ritsu she had nearly forgotten she had. Didn't I literally just warn Tsumugi against saying something? But that was Tsumugi. This is me. Besides, Yui clearly would benefit from some advice if Mio and Tsumugi are right.
"Do you love Nakano?" Ritsu bluntly asked, not willing to risk losing her nerve.
"I do," the guitarist replied, unfazed. "Why?" Bright eyes gave their friend a look of curiosity.
"Does she know?" the drummer followed up. "Nakano, I mean."
Yui placed a finger on her chin, thinking. "I don't think so. I haven't decided what to say to her about it, and the only other one who knows how I feel is Ui-chan."
That would help explain why Ui's so intent on keeping that rumor quiet, Ritsu mused to herself. Refocusing on the girl next to her, Ritsu took a deep breath. "Let me give you some advice then, Yui. I'm not Mio, Mugi, or Nakano. I'm not going to sugarcoat things for you. If you really love Nakano, then don't say anything. No amount of love is worth risking losing her forever if you really care about her."
The declaration rested heavy on Yui, something even Ritsu could tell by the way her friend's brows furrowed as she took in the drummer's words. "Mugi said the opposite thing to me the other day," Yui revealed, tilting her head. "Now I'm even more confused. Who's right?"
You're asking me? Ritsu refrained from retorting. It hadn't occurred to Ritsu that Tsumugi might have been several steps ahead of the game she was only just starting to play with Yui. No wonder she didn't say anything just now. There was no need to in her mind. Ugh. Why can't anyone see that we're just throwing away the months we have left?
Despite her frustration, Ritsu maintained the presence of mind not to mess up her own conversation. "That's up to you to decide, private. I'm telling you what I think will keep everyone together through March, but it's up to you. Just try not to overthink it."
Yui brightened considerably. "I'm really good at that, captain!" she insisted, giving Ritsu a smile that she reciprocated easily.
"I know, Yui, I know. Come on, I think there's enough distance between us and the others by now." Standing up and stretching out her limbs, Ritsu scooped up her bag and started for the door she didn't realize the other girls had left open.
Doubt echoed in Ritsu's mind as she watched Yui fumble with her single bag, no doubt feeling the loss of her guitar all over again. Should I not have said something? No, don't think about it. What's done is done. It's not your fault if Yui doesn't want to follow your path. Just enjoy today while it's here. That's all I should ever be doing. The others will understand, I'm sure. These things always work themselves out, and when they don't, Mio works them out. That's how it should be.
By the time Ritsu had gotten home, her concerns from the day no longer existed in her mind. She greeted her annoying punk of a little brother, made a snack out of the leftovers in the fridge, said hello to her parents, and proceeded to ignore her homework for the evening, just the same way she had been doing for years. And there was nothing wrong with that.