November 13th, 2:54 PM

Today was supposed to be a great day for Azusa Nakano. Years had elapsed between the present and her last proper birthday party. Now, she had her closest friends and Sawako ready to celebrate all afternoon with her. Her lack of a party in previous years was only partially because of her parents' single-minded pursuit of success though the elimination of frivolous things like happiness. Azusa could freely admit she hadn't given them much pushback on the choice, even if she had wanted to. The birthday lunch she had last year with Ui and Jun was nice, but a selfish part of Azusa enjoyed the excess that came with an over-the-top party commemorating her surviving another year. As usual, Yui was quick to pick up on anything Azusa was trying to keep to herself, and thus a plan for a grand celebration was quickly organized by the Hirasawa sisters to make up for missing last year. Yes, November 13th was meant to be a breath of fresh air, a reprieve from the complicated web of emotions that had tangled up Azusa's thoughts and actions since the cultural festival.

Somehow, the feeling of exhaustion that promised to soon overwhelm the girl as she sprinted towards the Hirasawa residence wasn't making her feel very relaxed. "Can't be late… can't be late… damn you Giita… can't be late…" Azusa uttered neurotically to herself, leaving frozen puffs of air behind her with every sharp exhale.

Though the guitar belonging to her senpai was the source of Azusa's ire, on a more rational level she knew very well it was the fault of the girl carrying the guitar that she had to sprint to make it to her own party on time. Yui hadn't told her to go get her guitar professionally restored and inspected for damages today. In fact, she'd likely be against it for some inane reason like nostalgia, but Azusa couldn't help herself after witnessing first-hand the sorry state Yui was allowing her guitar to degrade to. That was even before she recalled Ui's stories of her sister's more unique guitar care tendencies. For someone who loves their instrument, you really need to take better care of it, Yui-senpai. Dressing it up and sleeping with it isn't a substitute for basic maintenance and cleaning. I'd lecture you if you were here. All the more reason to not be late again. Feeling the weight of her bag and Yui's guitar attempting to drag her down to the frozen sidewalk, Azusa lowered her head and soldiered onward, determined not to be tardy for the second out-of-school meeting in a row.

Battling the burning sensation in her legs and freezing numbness everywhere else for nearly half an hour wasn't Azusa's idea of a decent birthday party, but she couldn't exactly ask for a car ride from parents that weren't around. The sky transformed from a pale blue into a deep grey as she ran, promising rain or even snow in the immediate future. Against the deafening protests of her muscles, Azusa spurred herself on with energy she didn't have. I can't get wet. Getting wet now will only damage Yui-senpai's guitar. This is probably going to be the only birthday I get to spend with all of them, so I have to make this count, make everything perfect. So what if the guitar place took too long and now I have to bring Yui-senpai her guitar back a day early so I don't end up being late again? Who cares about how strange everyone's been acting for the last week, how I have no idea how I even feel, how I can't do anything to solve the real problem? Everything will be fine, as long as I'm not late. Don't be late! The guitarist was so obsessed with reaching her destination on time that she nearly blew right past it, and she had to slow herself down physically and mentally in order to rejoin reality in front of the Hirasawa residence.

As she waited for her breathing to normalize, Azusa noticed just how peaceful the atmosphere was. Despite the ominous cloud cover and punishing cold, birds could be heard chirping in the background, a gentle breeze playing a supportive rhythm part to the swaying of the foliage growing around one side of Yui's house. It was as if the scenery wasn't aware of the dangers posed by the falling temperatures or gathering storm clouds. Doing her best not to double over, Azusa attempted to lean on the stone wall surrounding the house to catch her breath, only to pull back with a yelp at the temperature her hand was met with. The stone was far colder than the air around it, a cruel surprise given the already bone-chilling weather. With nothing else readily available to give her body the rest it demanded, Azusa resolved to get inside as soon as possible, and she half-sprinted, half-staggered to the entrance. "That sucked, but it's over," Azusa reassured herself as she rapped on the front door with brittle knuckles. "Remember what you promised yourself. No more negativity today. No dealing with changes, rumors, clubs ending, Yui-senpai in general, none of it. Just be their friend. For the club."

As soon as Azusa completed her pep talk, Ui gracefully opened the door, beaming politely at her friend. "Ah, Azusa-chan, welcome, happy birthday! Or, is it belated birthday? I guess it wouldn't be, because we're celebrating- uh, are you alright? You look exhausted." Ui's greeting melted away as she took in the sorry state of her friend.

Suddenly aware of her own state of duress, Azusa immediately set about correcting what imperfections in her appearance she could detect. The last thing she needed was her senpais, especially Yui, worrying over her again. Fortunately, her light red hoodie and blue jeans appeared to effectively cover up all signs of exertion sans the sweat on her brow and the pink tint her face had taken on from both the cold weather and her impromptu run. Wearing her hair down also circumvented a potentially disastrous situation where her pigtails could have come undone during her travels. Memories of having to stop and fix her hair frantically on the way to her meeting on the fifth still haunted her idle moments. Ui watched, slightly bemused, as Azusa struggled to fix her appearance, wiping away sweat desperately with tissues from her school bag while trying to smooth out her uncooperative hair. "I didn't mean you looked bad, Azusa-chan. We have towels and such inside if you'd like to clean up in front of a mirror, though. Oh, you brought Giita with you? I'm sure Onee-chan will appreciate that."

Freezing in place, Azusa's eyes widened as she caught the mistake Ui didn't know she made. Immediately, she ceased her self-care and slung the guitar bag hastily from her back. Without any time to spare, she held the case out as far from her body as possible towards the stairs leading up to the second floor of the house. Ui stared at the offering, wondering what had gotten into her friend, only to nearly be run over by her sister as she stampeded down the stairs to retrieve her beloved guitar. "GIITA! My love!" Yui cried out, already bawling messily. "I'll never leave you again!" The older brunette nuzzled her instrument through its case, everything and everyone around her forgotten in the tender moment of reunion.

One of Azusa's eyebrows twitched involuntarily. She wasn't sure if she was annoyed or not that Yui was completely ignoring her existence right now. The kouhai didn't get the chance to decide before Yui suddenly stiffened, noticing the large amounts of cold air Azusa was letting in. Dressed only in a light blue shirt with matching shorts, the wintry November air buffeted the already climate sensitive girl, and she growled at the open door like an angry dog before retreating back up the stairs. Azusa rolled her eyes while Ui giggled, the cold apparently not bothering her despite having only a similar shirt and shorts combo with a green apron over it for protection. "Well, as you can see, Onee-chan is here. Mugi-senpai and Sawako-sensei have arrived as well. Please, come in!"

Remembering she was about to die of frostbite, Azusa took Ui up on her offer eagerly. As she abandoned her sneakers by the door, Ui took her remaining bag for her, the hostess going on about the food she had prepared and the games she wanted to play with everyone. It reminded Azusa a bit of Yui, though Ui's babbling still carried an air of sophistication and professionalism that her sister distinctly lacked. "I can tell you've put a lot of thought into this," Azusa noted in admiration, trying not to drool at the enticing scents drifting from the kitchen upstairs. "We all really appreciate it. What can I do to help you get things ready?"

Ui shook her head politely. "Just enjoy yourself, Azusa-chan. Mugi-senpai and I have everything fully under control." As if it proved her point, Ui led the junior up the stairs to the second floor of the Hirasawa household, Azusa slightly reluctantly trailing behind her friend.

"If you insist. Please don't hesitate to ask for help, Ui-chan. I don't want to impose," Azusa offered to Ui's understanding smile, second thoughts about being spoiled already polluting her mind as she took in the scene on the second floor.

The layout of Yui's house was always a bit strange to Azusa, but she supposed it made sense if you considered the limited space the builders had to work with. Since the first floor of the house was mostly taken up by the garage and bookshelves for some reason, the second floor contained the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom (So she had heard) all by itself, with the third and final floor being reserved for Yui and Ui's rooms and bathrooms. The living room was currently occupied by the club's advisor, sitting under a kotatsu in her yellow teaching dress while glaring daggers at the deck of fancy-looking playing cards on the table. Azusa vaguely remembered Yui mentioning once during a previous visit that they were one of the things their parents had brought back from one of their numerous overseas trips. It also occurred to Azusa that she had never actually met Yui's parents. Huh. I've met Ritsu-senpai and Mio-senpai's parents. None of them have met my parents, which is a very good thing. It'd be interesting to learn more about how Yui-senpai became, well, whatever Yui-senpai is though. Said Yui-senpai was intimately hugging her guitar on the faded green couch that wrapped around half of the living room, the case discarded near the stairs. Ui set Azusa's bag down next to the empty guitar case before scurrying back to the kitchen. Seconds later, Tsumugi poked her head out from where Ui disappeared, a light green apron matching Ui's covering the long red dress she had worn impractically for the weather. Then again, she probably didn't have to walk here, so she could afford to dress less heavily. But even with that, this wasn't supposed to be a fancy event, I don't think. Maybe I just don't wear dresses enough… Azusa looked down at her more casual clothes, feeling inadequate somehow.

"Hello, Azusa-chan! Your hair looks nice today! Ui-chan and I are still getting some food ready, but we'll be done before long. Why don't you play something with Yui-chan and Sawako-sensei until then?" The blonde appeared to be in a much more chipper mood than usual, but Azusa wrote it off as excitement for the party.

Concealing a small blush over the compliment, Azusa smiled at the keyboardist. "I will, thank you. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help," Azusa bowed gratefully to her senpai before making a beeline for the kotatsu, her need for warmth finally overwhelming her instincts of common courtesy.

As soon as her weary legs inserted themselves into the blanket flowing out of the table, an involuntary sigh of blissful content escaped the junior. Feeling seeped back into her body, and she flexed her thawing fingers in satisfaction as her body began to shake off the effects of her sprint. Whether or not her senpais were disappointed in her punctuality was suddenly a far less pressing issue than spending as much time in the current moment as possible.

"Giita's shiny?" Yui gasped with wonder from the couch, breaking Azusa's reveling in her recovering. "Azu-nyan, Azu-nyan, Giita is shiny!" Though she had been cuddling her instrument for several minutes, it had only apparently just now occurred to Yui that something about her guitar's appearance was different.

Shaking her head to herself while her body continued to thaw, Azusa steeled her nerve for her senpai's criticism. "I'm sorry to do it without asking first, but yes, I had your guitar professionally cleaned and inspected, senpai. Ui-chan's stories inspired me to make sure you weren't playing with a defective instrument." From the kitchen, a shout of approval came from Ui, increasing the sureness in Azusa's tone. "If you really love Giita, you need to take better care of it. Basic maintenance and cleaning is critical to ensuring you get a full sound from your instrument."

Yui took in Giita's new look wordlessly, her own reflection staring back at her in the deep red body of the Les Paul. Strangely, the faraway look appeared in her senpai's eyes for an instant as she switched her gaze between Azusa and her guitar, but it was gone before Azusa could be certain. "Thank you, Azu-nyan," Yui whispered, her tone so sincere that Azusa couldn't believe her senpai wasn't crying tears of joy. "You're shiny too."

Unsure of what to say in the face of Yui's unusual reaction, Azusa allowed Sawako to butt into the conversation. "Damn it, enough about the damn guitar! One more game, Yui! Now! That's an order!" The teacher thrust her finger combatively at the guitarist, enraged to the point that she was radiating more heat than the kotatsu she was sitting under.

The senior glanced up from her intimate exchange with her instrument on the couch, her self-induced trance shattered. "Eh? But we've only been playing cards since you got here. Besides, Azu-nyan's here now! Let's do something we can all do!" Yui gingerly set Giita up on the couch to watch, giving it a pat on the head before taking a seat as close as possible to Azusa under the kotatsu.

Resisting the urge to remove herself from Yui's hug radius, Azusa focused instead on the annoying teacher in front of her. As far as invitees to a birthday party go, you're not exactly on the top of my list, Sawako-sensei. I'd much rather have Jun-chan here. I hope her family dinner goes well. It's a shame she couldn't come, but at least we got to hang out a couple days ago. Recalling her afternoon with the frizzy-haired bassist only made her current absence more noticeable. She's another reason I have to enjoy myself now. If I can make up with her, I can do anything. I hope I'm not still dragging her or Ui-chan down like the others… No, enough, damn it! Enjoy yourself! You aren't thinking about this today! Slapping herself mentally, Azusa forced a grin onto her face, which probably would have looked ridiculous to Yui or Sawako if they had noticed.

Sawako puffed her chest out confrontationally. "No way, you don't get to scam me out of three homework grades and just walk away because birthday girl showed up!" Snatching up the cards from the table, the teacher waved them in front of Yui dangerously. "Double or nothing, come on!"

Even Azusa could tell that Yui was getting irritated as her senpai pouted at Sawako's demand. "Sawa-chan, you were the one who started betting things. I just wanted to play for fun… I knew you would get mad." Gingerly pushing aside Sawako's invitation to duel, Yui stood up and made her way over to Azusa's bag, which Ui had deposited by the stairs. "You brought some games for us like you said you would, right, Azu-nyan?

Tearing her gaze away from the fuming teacher, Azusa nodded quietly at her senpai, giving Yui permission to ruffle through her kouhai's bag for entertainment. I'm so lost. What in the world happened before I got here? Yui-senpai can be difficult to deal with sometimes, but Sawako-sensei looks like she's about to explode. "Yamanaka-sensei, I warned you that Onee-chan is really good at that game, didn't I?" Ui's voice chided from the kitchen over the noise of food being prepared.

Azusa's interest was piqued. This was the first she had heard of Yui's prodigal ability at something other than guitar. As far as she knew, the only other things Yui was good at were all related to eating and sleeping, usually in that order. She had played cards with her senpai before, but from the sound of things, Sawako was describing a different sort of game that involved betting, a skill she knew enough about to know she had no aptitude for it, which meant Yui definitely shouldn't. "She could draw a stick figure and you'd call it the Mona Lisa!" Sawako yelled back angrily. "Besides, nobody is lucky enough to win this many times in a row! You're using weighted cards, Yui, admit it!"

Picking up a forgotten card on the kotatsu, Azusa frowned. "How would that help?" she asked, befuddled by the accusation.

"That's beside the point! She's too lucky to not be cheating!" Sawako pressed, still trying to burn a hole through the carefree Yui with her gaze.

"It's not luck, Sawa-chan," Yui idly explained, already disinterested in the conversation as she continued her search. "Your poker face is just really bad."

Sawako blanched. "W-why you… I'll have you know I'm rather proficient at-" the teacher cut herself off abruptly, giving Azusa a sidelong glance. "Never mind. My point is you're impossible. Let's play something else."

Raising an eyebrow that was ignored, Azusa frowned at her senpai's teacher. What, does she think I'd snitch on her for illegal gambling? I mean, she's right, but it's still kind of rude. Yui took Sawako's accusation in stride, her eyes refocusing on Azusa. "Azu-nyan, you brought the Life game! I was wondering when you were gonna bring that back!" Spinning around in a circle with the game in one hand, Yui nearly sent the game pieces flying everywhere as she reveled in her own selection.

"Mou, Yui-senpai, you told me to keep it because I told you I don't have any board games," Azusa defended indignantly, though Yui's behavior was finally convincing her to relax a little.

Gleefully, Yui skipped back to the kotatsu, barely intact game in hand. "Eheh, I know. But the point of having a game is playing it with other people, ne?"

Azusa sighed. Less than five minutes in, and her senpai's antics had already drained most of her energy for the week. First Giita, then Sawako-sensei, now this. It's a wonder Ui-chan has time to breathe with her around. Yui dumped the colorful box onto the kotatsu table unceremoniously, covering up the cards Sawako had allowed to scatter over the table. Still absorbed in self-loathing, Sawako barely reacted to the choice. As Azusa struggled to recall the rules of the game, her sixth sense detected a tell-tale shift in her senpai's momentum. Here she comes. Though it was obvious what Yui's next action was going to be, Azusa didn't have the maneuverability to dodge the incoming hug without sacrificing her currently optimal position for gathering warmth, which meant that force was her only option.

"Yui-senpai, no," Azusa ordered, holding up a hand to catch Yui's head before she could reach her target. "I'm not in the mood for hugs right now."

To Azusa's shock, her hand never met Yui's head. Blinking, she realized that Yui had stopped herself short at Azusa's words. Even Sawako found the response strange, giving the two a curious look behind her spectacles. For the briefest of instants, time stood frozen as Yui stared straight through her kouhai, her eyes a puzzle that was missing the pieces Azusa needed to solve it. Azusa was unable to move, caught helplessly in her senpai's enigmatic gaze until she deigned to release the kouhai. From the kitchen, Ui called out that the food was almost ready, and time began to move again as Yui turned her head towards the kitchen. "Okay, Azu-nyan," Yui agreed, sitting down next to her kouhai under the kotatsu and yanking parts out of the game box like nothing had happened.

Azusa stared at her hand as Yui started wondering aloud how to play the game. Careful inspection revealed that she hadn't in fact, developed a magical ability to force people away with her hands and willpower alone. The current situation was therefore unprecedented. Never, never had words alone been enough to prevent Yui from hugging Azusa once she had committed to one. Despite her promises, to herself and to her friends, Azusa's thoughts drifted into anxious territory. What just happened? Is she taking what I said to heart? But I didn't tell her to stop hugging me, even if I probably should have. Maybe someone else said something to her, but who? No, that doesn't check out either. I'm overthinking this. It has to be a fluke. I'm sure she'll hug me again within an hour. It's a fluke.

"What's a fluke?" Yui asked, pausing in her distribution of game tokens to the 3 players. "I don't think that's part of this game, Azu-nyan. Is your brain still warming up? It's really cold out there."

Had Yui not slung that accusation with all the innocence of a newborn child, Azusa would have been far more irate. As it stood, she could only accept Yui's reasoning to cover for the accidental voicing of her thoughts. "Yes, the walk was a bit more difficult than I anticipated," Azusa truthfully answered, praising whoever invented the kotatsu a thousand times over in her head.

Yui nodded sagely. "Then I promise to make sure you get a ride home. It's the least I can do for the birthday Azu-nyan!" The cheesy grin Yui gave her kouhai did little to convince Azusa that Yui could follow up on that promise.

A knock on the door, no doubt from the party's remaining invitees, interrupted Azusa's attempt at a modest reply. Sensing a way to recollect her thoughts and test her recovering body, Azusa rose, immediately wishing she hadn't. Despite what she thought, her legs very much weren't ready to work for her, but Azusa wasn't about to show that, and she stood up firmly before anyone could notice her struggle. "I got it," she called out to Ui, knowing nobody else was likely to even try to answer the door.

"You sure?" Ui asked, appearing from the kitchen. "We're almost done in here, so I don't mind-"

"It's fine," Azusa reassured too quickly. "Let me help, even just a little."

A knowing smile appeared on Ui after a brief hesitation. Without a word, she returned to the kitchen, her action giving Azusa her blessing to continue. Yui waved her kohai off jovially while Azusa made her way down the stairs, thanking Ui in her head before her thoughts turned to her task. Though Mio and Ritsu were late, a few minutes of difference was more than acceptable to the kouhai given the unforgiving weather outside. It then occurred to Azusa that she was going to have to open the door to let her senpais in. Suddenly realizing where she was going made every step she took away from the kotatsu felt like more and more of a mistake. Why did I decide to get the door again? Oh right, to gather my thoughts. But the point of today was to not try to think too hard about anything. I'm here to enjoy myself, and that's all I need to focus on. I'm Azusa Nakano, of HTT. That's all I need to be. I don't need to figure out the rest today. There, thoughts sorted, plan made, now open the damn door so you can get back to that kotatsu.

Tightening her nerve to face winter once more, Azusa pulled the door open to take in the sight of her two remaining senpais. Mio and Ritsu had taken their preparation for winter one step further than their kouhai, with Mio wearing a green winter coat with fur lining over a purple hoodie and dark colored jeans. Ritsu went with a more rugged looking grey overcoat that protected a blue striped hoodie and grey jeans, though her shivering suggested the inefficiency of her garb. "Azusa-chan, hello!" Mio greeted kindly. "Sorry we're a bit late. I hope you're enjoying your party."

"It's not just for me," Azusa quickly deflected, making way for her senpais to enter the house as soon as possible. "We're celebrating our successful performance at the cultural festival too, aren't we?"

"Eh, that was forever ago," Ritsu waved off, removing her coat and shoes carelessly while Azusa shut the cold out firmly. "Right now is what matters, and right now, we're here to celebrate a certain kouhai's birthday with cake and games and cake, with some cake if we have time."

Mio nodded in agreement with the first part of Ritsu's statement as she carefully stashed both girl's discarded clothing with their counterparts near the door. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of occasions to celebrate our band in the future," she confidently asserted. "No reason to confound things today."

Azusa blushed at the attention being thrust upon her. Even if this was what she wanted, it didn't make the feeling of being fussed over any less foreign to the junior. Where Mio got her certainty from was a question Azusa desperately wanted to ask, but Ritsu was already dragging the two black-haired girls up the stairs before Azusa could so much as think about starting a conversation. "The great Ritsu has arrived!" Ritsu declared, barging into the living room with two black-haired girls in tow. "You may begin partying now."

Yui looked up enthusiastically from messing around with the game pieces instead of getting the game ready to play. "Ricchan, Mio-chan, hello! Good timing! You can play Life with us!"

Ritsu stared with fond nostalgia at the game on the kotatsu while Mio set down the girls' bags near Azusa's own bag. "Ah, I remember this old thing. Never thought anyone would be foolish enough to challenge me again after last time. Well, if you're all desperate to lose, who am I to deny you?"

"Have you been practicing?" Ui grimly asked with a cheerful smile on her face. The younger brunette emerged from the kitchen with a tray of small sandwiches for the group. Tsumugi followed just behind her, a platter of fruit with a suspiciously similar composition to the one Azusa had served Yui last week in her hands.

Ritsu got over the unnerving feeling that assaulted her at Ui's challenge almost immediately. "Of course not! That's not how winning happens! If I just go with my gut, everything will work out fine, because my gut is never wrong!" As some strange form of proof, Ritsu slapped her stomach, which barely made a noise because of her hoodie.

"And you wonder why we never sound good in practices," Mio retorted, taking a seat under the kotatsu on the side closest to the second-floor balcony entrance.

As Ritsu plopped down across from her childhood friend, Ui and Tsumugi set down their platters around Yui's game preparations. "Well, I look forward to the games," Ui responded kindly. "Let me get the last tray of food, then we can play, since everyone's here. I hope you're all hungry!"

Tsumugi, having completed her self-assigned tasks, sat down next to Mio, the two greeting each other fondly. Ritsu eyed her numerous rivals, the challenge in her eyes met with mixes of apathy and confusion. "Prepare to lose, friends," Ritsu boldly asserted, before noticing the sandwiches. "… Later. Food first."

Sawako, still not entirely recovered from Yui's beatdown, only barely acknowledged Mio and Ritsu's existence as everyone settled in. Azusa reclaimed her own place next to Yui, a feeling akin to relief washing over her. Though she hadn't noticed it before, some hidden part of her had been holding her breath, as if she thought her friends weren't going to show up. Mou, am I that starved for attention? I'm the one who keeps trying to prevent them from making this a big deal. What is wrong with me? Whatever. Think about anything else. Happy things. Guitar. My friends. Yui-senpai, when she isn't being annoying.

Settling herself in once more, a semblance of a feeling resembling peace brewed inside Azusa amidst the chaos that quickly started whenever Yui and Ritsu got involved in the same game. Things had started off cordially enough, but the second either Yui or Ritsu started falling too far behind, the game suddenly had several house rules that magically prevented them from losing their chance to win. Tsumugi and Ui were unbothered by this, though Azusa privately doubted either cared too much about the outcome of the game. Sawako was in her own little world that only included herself and whatever sort of food was in her hands, leaving Azusa to exchange several exasperated glances with Mio as the game's structure devolved into lunacy. But what did you expect? Mio's eyes asked with every private look they shared. They're our idiots. We knew what we were getting into.

Azusa found herself nodding along in agreement with the imaginary conversation she was having. Yes, they're our bandmates. Nobody else in the world is quite like they are. That's one thing that won't ever change. The thought was a solitary source of comfort in Azusa's struggle to push away her more malicious musings.

Without a clock to turn to, Azusa only noticed the change in time when the sun appeared in the glass doors leading to the balcony. Though details of the passing hour hand evaded her, Azusa could recall sensations, the satisfying taste of Ui's cooking, the sound of everyone's laughter or outrage as the balance of their game tilted perilously back and forth, the heat that encapsulated her body from the kotatsu, keeping her safe from thought. Without a better way to describe it, Azusa could only cornily call the time light and fluffy, the same sort of feeling HTT sought to capture in much of their music. As soon as she was able to put a name to her feeling, however, she could feel every second ticking away at the time she was enjoying that much more heavily. Despite her best efforts, the fact that she couldn't enjoy things the way they currently were forever fought to dominate her conscious thoughts. But this doesn't have to be the end, right? Whether I feel like this around others is up to me. It's up to me to be happy. I don't need them to be happy, even though they make me happy. Yeah, that's it. I'm going to be fine without them. No issues at all. Gradually, Azusa's thoughts grew in positivity as she continued to play with her senpais. They might not make it to Budokan any time soon, but she was pretty sure where she was right now was a hell of a lot better than any stage in the world.

By being the only person taking the game truly seriously around Ritsu and Yui's inane cheating methods, Azusa barely managed to squeak out a win in a shocking final turn comeback. The image of Yui nearly falling over in surprise when Azusa let out an incredibly uncharacteristic victory yell right next to her senpai was etched into her memory more firmly than any photograph could be. Azusa had been mortified at her own behavior right up until everyone started laughing and congratulating her. Though she was still thoroughly embarrassed, Yui's easy smile and the encouragement of the others assuaged her tension quickly. With the game concluded and the food eaten, Tsumugi and Ui excused themselves to prepare for the main event. Despite Azusa's continued protests that the party was for everyone, Yui's placing of a blue and red paper crown she made herself on her kouhai's head and the immaculate handwriting in frosting of 'Happy Birthday Azu-nyan' in perfect English on the cake Ui brought in from the kitchen begged to differ. As her friends sang happy birthday to her with varying degrees of professionalism, Azusa felt her attention pulled away from her friends by the cake as Ui set it down over the now cleared off kotatsu table. When she first saw the giant sweet, Azusa couldn't help but gape a little. She had been impressed by the cake Tsumugi had brought in for her on her actual birthday, but that paled in comparison to the beast in front of her. The cake had two layers, and was draped in a smattering of various colors of icing that twisted and turned in winding helix patterns. The culmination of this intricate dance of various colors and textures on the cake's top was a rainbow with small black cats parading around in an adorable fashion. The sight of the cake was almost as breathtaking as the thud it made when Ui set it down. Yui's eyes lit up like searchlights with all the enthusiasm Azusa was repressing via years of practiced self-control. "Did you make this, Ui?" she asked with wonder as the singing died down.

Ui shook her head. "Oh no, I just helped decorate it. Mugi-senpai did most of the work with ordering the cake and all."

Tsumugi blushed while serving a fresh round of tea to the table as everyone looked at her. "Well, I wanted today to be special, and I felt bad that we didn't get to celebrate your birthday last year, so I thought a second cake layer could make up for it."

"You got her a cake two days ago," Ritsu muttered, only to yelp as Yui of all people smacked her on the head.

"There's never enough cake in the world, Ricchan!" Yui insisted, eyeing the prize hungrily.

Rubbing her head, Ritsu came to a similar epiphany. "Good point, what the hell am I saying? Let's eat this sucker!"

Mio held up a hand that was nearly blocked by the cake's mere presence. "Wait, baka. Let Azusa-chan cut the cake first. It's her birthday."

"Sure, sure, we have to cut the cake to eat the cake, who cares who does it, let's just get this show on the road, yeah?" Ritsu impatiently insisted, Yui and Sawako nodding along in agreement.

While Azusa glared condescendingly at the club president, Ui provided her friend with a cake knife. The weight of the weapon she was supposed to carve up the beauty in front of her with felt fundamentally wrong to her. Even if it was the reason the cake was created, eating it somehow came off as an insult to the cake's aesthetic appeal. Noticing the eyes of everyone on her only made Azusa feel more self-conscious. The need to do what everyone expected her to do was overwhelming, but Azusa's mouth reacted before her arms could. "I really appreciate all the trouble all of you went through on my behalf." Azusa announced, thinking on the fly. "It means a lot to me, but I really want to celebrate all of our successes over the past few years too." She allowed the knife to lower for a moment as she collected her thoughts.

"Is this going somewhere?" Ritsu rudely asked, stretching from her seated position. "Somewhere besides your knife going into the cake, I mean. Because if it isn't, can we skip to the part where we get cake?"

Sawako took her turn to smack Ritsu, apparently not as invested in getting cake as soon as possible as the club president was. "Be quiet. Let your kouhai talk."

Nodding thankfully to Sawako, something she didn't think she'd ever do, Azusa continued. "I wouldn't be who I am without all of you. I know I take everything too seriously sometimes, and I might not fit in perfectly with all of you, but I'm grateful for my time here nonetheless."

"What are you talking about, Azu-nyan?" Yui interrupted. "You'll always be just as much a member of HTT as any of us. Nothing is going to change that, ne?"

"Indeed," Tsumugi immediately seconded. "You belong with us. You shouldn't ever worry about fitting in."

"HTT has five members," Mio simply added, with Ritsu nodding distractedly in agreement while rubbing her head.

"Life has been more fun with you and the others in it, for both me and Onee-chan," Ui supported.

Feeling tears beginning to well up in her eyes, Azusa moved to cut the cake before she lost the ability to hold the knife properly. This is the group that's leaving me behind next year. There's nothing I can do about it. Nothing to do except enjoy this moment.

That thought in mind, Azusa cut the cake to the overwhelmingly positive cheers of Yui and Ritsu that were bittersweet to Azusa's ears. Once everyone had had their fill of one of the most delicious cakes Azusa had ever had, which was saying something given the club's gross amounts of sweets ingested, Ui announced that it was time for presents. As everyone stood up to retrieve their gifts, Azusa found herself sitting awkwardly next to Yui at the table, feeling like there was something she should be doing when there wasn't. Oh yeah, presents are part of this whole thing too. Mou, this is embarrassing. Maybe I do prefer smaller celebrations. Next year, I'll just do lunch again. Oh well, at least everyone else is having fun with it. I suppose I am to. Why isn't Yui-senpai moving?

Waiting for the others to return, it became painfully obvious that Yui wasn't planning on getting up, instead staring at the cake next to Azusa, a distant expression increasing the short distance between the two girls. Though she hadn't been expecting anything in the first place, a bit of hurt still made its way into Azusa's voice when she confronted her senpai on the matter. "Yui-senpai, did you not get anything?" she asked carefully, not wanting to come off as rude.

Switching her stare to focus on her kouhai, Yui covered her mouth in mock indignation, nearly spilling her tea in the process. "Of course I did, Azu-nyan! I just want it to be a surprise since I well, couldn't wrap it. I'll get your gift once the others do their gifts."

Unsure of what that meant, Azusa's attention was drawn away by the others returning before she could question her senpai. The first few gifts Azusa received were wonderful. Mio had gotten her some new sheet music, Tsumugi bought her an oversized stuffed cat that was extremely cute, though Azusa had to put it away before Yui or Ritsu poked fun at her for fawning over it. Feeling emboldened by two success, Azusa made the mistake of opening Sawako's present next. Carefully tearing away the wrapping paper with surgical precision, bright curiosity rapidly melted into disbelief as Azusa pulled out a homemade maid outfit from the package. Searching desperately for some sort of sign that this was a joke, Azusa gave up when she noticed Sawako's giddy grin telling her exactly how serious the teacher was. "Isn't it cute?" she cooed. "I just know you'll look great in it!" Mio began to noticeably edge herself away from Sawako and the maid outfit, her eyes and mind fixed on a point only she could see.

"Yeah, this isn't happening," Azusa denied outright, breaking her advisor's heart as she placed the outfit back in its box.

A hand was raised next to Ritsu. "If you don't want it, I'll take it," Ui offered, staring at the outfit longingly.

Tilting her head, Azusa frowned. "You like this stuff?" Azusa asked suspiciously. She hadn't pegged Ui as one for frivolous pastimes like cosplaying.

Ui rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Ah, well, you see, I've always wondered if maid outfits actually make cleaning easier," she whispered in embarrassment. "But it's, um, an embarrassing idea, so I've never had the courage to buy one."

"You should have spoken up sooner!" Yui declared, placing a hand wisely on her sister's shoulder. "Sawa-chan makes us dress up all the time! I could have brought a maid outfit home for you forever ago!"

Long before Yui was done speaking, Sawako was shaking her head. "No you couldn't have. It takes work to make these things, you know. You'd better believe I'd notice if you stole my stuff."

"I believe we have some spare maid uniforms at home," Tsumugi thought aloud. "I doubt they'd be missed if I borrowed one or two of them."

Ui looked tempted by the proposition, but shook her head. "That's alright. I wouldn't want to trouble anyone with an unusual request like this."

Eager for any excuse to get rid of the costume, Azusa shrugged and tossed the maid outfit box to Ui. "Well, knock yourself out. I certainly don't want it."

Sawako pouted, crossing her arms like she wasn't the oldest person in the room while Tsumugi smiled. "I'm sure it will look great on you, Ui-chan," she encouraged.

Ui nodded wordlessly, too focused on taking in the details of the outfit to respond. Yui grinned at her little sister's interest, patting the girl on the head encouragingly. Azusa filed the pang that rang out in her chest from witnessing the scene as frustration over Sawako's thoughtless gift and moved on, taking up the last present on the table, Ui's. Hopes for a normal present were dashed mercilessly when Azusa opened the box to reveal several pairs of cat ears of varying colors. A vein bulged from Azusa's head as she took in the sight of the infernal source of her nickname. "Ui-chan, what's this?" she asked, her voice absolutely level.

Ui noticed that her present was being opened, and that her friend was anything but satisfied. "Oh, uh… I wanted to get something that Onee-chan said you liked, and she said you liked that, and I, uh, well…" Ui trailed off, the maid outfit getting more and more crumpled in her hands with every word. "I'm sorry! I thought you'd like them!"

Azusa glared at Yui, who had found something captivating to look at on the switched off television. "Did you influence Ui-chan's gift choice?" Azusa accused, already suspecting a certain answer.

An attempt at nonchalant whistling on Yui's part failed miserably. "You can't prove anything," Yui responded instead, refusing to meet Azusa's scrutinizing stare.

Mio sighed, though Azusa could tell she was grateful to not be the target of the strange accessories. "Come on, Yui-chan. If you want her to wear cat ears, just ask her instead of making your sister buy her some. Better yet, buy them as your own gift."

Yui pouted, slumping over in her seat. "But I don't have any money…" she whined, glumly staring at nothing.

"I don't want to wear cat ears," Azusa indignantly retorted, blind to her senpai's plight. "Ever."

"You wanna bet on that?" Ritsu snarked. "I have plenty of evidence that suggests otherwise-"

"We're moving on!" the kouhai declared, now ready to finish her painful gift session as soon as possible.

This task quickly became impossible when Azusa realized that the kotatsu was devoid of new presents. She stared questioningly at Yui and Ritsu. The two girls blinked back uncomprehendingly until Ui placed a hand on Yui's shoulder and Mio slapped Ritsu on the back of the head. "Oh, right," both girls said at the same time.

Yui stood up, pulling away from Azusa and the others. "I'll go get my present. Ricchan, go ahead and give Azu-nyan your present!"

Ritsu nodded casually. For a Ritsu, the girl had been relatively calm for most of the afternoon, but not to the point that Azusa felt like something was bothering the drummer. Perhaps she's just tired. Not to mention that grin of hers is back.

"Actually, it's a good thing she left for this," Ritsu commented, fishing around in her jacket pocket for something. "It'd make things weird if I had to explain it with her around. Think fast!" Ritsu tossed a small object at her kouhai across the table.

Catching the device, Azusa dropped it immediately when she recognized what she had been given. "The joy buzzer?" she asked incredulously, more shocked than she would have been if it had actually shocked her.

"How did you get that back?" Sawako darkly questioned, sitting up straight for the first time since cake had been served. "I know I confiscated that."

Placing her hands behind her head, Ritsu smirked triumphantly. "A magician never reveals her secrets," the drummer vaguely explained. "And in any case, that's my present for you, Nakano, so I technically still don't have it, so there's no issue, Sawa-chan. Now, before you get angry or give it back, let me explain. You're constantly complaining about Yui's hugs, so I thought you could use a painless deterrent. We all know Yui has a hard time with the no word. You can thank me later, at your earliest convenience."

Azusa blinked in disbelief. "You're suggesting I shock her then. My friend. You want me to shock her for trying to hug me." The words felt no more right when she gave them voice.

"Now, see, it sounds bad when you put it like that. I told you it doesn't hurt," Ritsu waved off, maintaining her confidence. "Besides, it's just for emergencies, and I tested it myself on Sawa-chan. The last thing I want is for one of you to actually get hurt because of a hug that happens at the wrong time. You see where I'm coming from?"

Remembering the incident, Sawako proceeded to start shouting at Ritsu all over again. The teacher began pulling harshly at her student's cheeks while Tsumugi and Mio smiled complacently, though Tsumugi was eyeing the joy buzzer with some apprehension. The worst part of Ritsu's claim was that Azusa had an inkling of where Ritsu was coming from. She must think that Yui got hurt a few days ago because she tried to hug me and I shoved her or something. I mean, that's not 100% inaccurate, at least the part about me shoving her. But correcting her would only get them to ask more questions. Maybe I should just accept it and get rid of it later.

"I object to this," Tsumugi spoke up, raising her hand in the air once Sawako was done berating Ritsu. "Friends don't shock friends." The simple logic was enough for everyone at the table to take Tsumugi's side except for Ritsu.

"No, friends smack friends," Ritsu countered, throwing a knowing look to Mio.

Mio sighed. "Don't equate that to this like you're some saint. In any case, it's not my call, it's Azusa-chan's. As long as it doesn't hurt, if she wants to use it, she can. But I really would recommend just getting rid of that infernal thing."

The joy buzzer felt as heavy as the decision it posited to Azusa. Yeah, that's probably for the best. This feels extreme. Yui-senpai's already been acting weird today though. Maybe it won't hurt to have a little extra protection in case she decides to tackle me later tonight. If nothing happens, I can get rid of it when I get home. Wordlessly, Azusa slipped the joy buzzer into the front pocket of her hoodie.

Ritsu grinned approvingly, while Mio and Sawako's faces remained impassive. Tsumugi was clearly upset, but she held her tongue. Ui, who hadn't said anything since Yui disappeared, started to fidget uncomfortably. Though she had just accepted a deterrent for Yui, Azusa wished her senpai would return so she could get rid of the unpleasant atmosphere forming between everyone, especially between her and Ui. It became clear that Azusa needed to explain herself. "Look, I don't plan on using it, but the last thing I want is to throw it away just for Ritsu-senpai to pick it out of the trash. I'll dispose of it at home. Thank you for the thought, Ritsu-senpai, but I don't think I could bring myself to use this."

The triumph in Ritsu's expression shifted to disappointment, while everyone else brightened considerably. "Fair enough. Sorry you didn't like it. I'll get you something on me from the school store tomorrow to make up for it." The apology from Ritsu felt more genuine than Azusa expected, but her mind was already turning to the last present she was to receive as she accepted her senpai's apology easily.

Though keeping track of things wasn't exactly one of Yui's defining characteristics, Azusa had expected her senpai to at least know where her own birthday present was stored. Ui started a simple card game while everyone waited, apparently having expected her sister to take her sweet time. As seconds bled into unbearable minutes into several rounds of cards worth of waiting, Azusa couldn't take anymore. "Alright, that's enough. I'm going after her," Azusa declared as the fourth round ended, leaving the safety of the kotatsu to look for her missing senpai.

"Good luck!" Tsumugi called out cheerfully, her mirth at having won the last round not quite spreading to the other girls at the kotatsu.

"She's probably in her room," Ui helpfully added as she began to deal cards once more. "You want some backup?"

"No, I can drag her back myself," Azusa asserted darkly, the determination in her tone preventing anyone from arguing.

Mission in hand, Azusa made her way up the stairs to the third floor, the wooden stairs chilling her feet even through her socks. For the second time in as many hours, Azusa regretted leaving the kotatsu, but the need to retrieve Yui and keep all of her senpais together trumped her desire for warmth. The junior bounded up the stairs, looking to find and return her senpai to the others as soon as possible. Reaching the labelled door to Yui's room, Azusa tried the knob, only to find the door locked. "Don't come in!" Yui pointlessly called out in response to the sound of movement at the door.

I literally can't come in, Azusa nearly called back, feeling a little miffed at Yui's behavior. "Yui-senpai, what are you doing in there? Everyone's waiting on you. Did you find the present?"

"Uh, nobody's home!" The door lied poorly. "There's no Yui in here, come back later."

Withholding a heavy sigh, Azusa leaned against the wall next to the door. "Yui-senpai, it's fine if you didn't get me anything. I'd be much happier if you just joined us downstairs again."

"But I did!" Yui exclaimed, throwing open the door and nearly smacking Azusa in the face in the process. "Oops, sorry. But I had something! Mugi-chan and Ui can vouch for me!"

The sound of footsteps behind her stole Azusa's attention. The other girls, evidently not interested in waiting around, had gathered at the stairs, Ritsu and Mio in front with the others following behind. "You can't find it, Onee-chan?" Ui asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

"I don't know what happened!" Yui cried out, panic edging further into her tone. "I swear I left it on my bed, but now it's gone!"

Glancing past her senpai into the girl's room, Azusa noticed that most of Yui's belongings had found a new home on the floor. How she hadn't heard the noise of Yui turning her room upside down to find this supposed gift confounded Azusa, but her senpai's distress held her focus in the moment. "Yui-senpai, I told you it's not a big deal. You and Ui-chan have done more than enough by hosting all of us. You can find it and give it to me tomorrow, okay? Let's go downstairs." Azusa took Yui's hand in her own, physically imploring her senpai to forget about her worry for the rest of the day.

"We could search your room one more time for you," Tsumugi suggested, looking more concerned than even Yui. "Perhaps fresh sets of eyes will-"

"No, you can't come in right now!" Yui insisted, twisting her head rapidly between her friends and her room. "It's a mess and I don't want to mess it up! And besides, I've been over everything, it's gone! It's… gone."

Pausing in her attempts to politely drag Yui towards the stairs, Azusa took in the sorry state her senpai found herself in. Mou, I told her it's not a big deal. But this is Yui-senpai. Having an air conditioner turned on high is a big deal to her. Based on that look, she's probably not going to just let this go. If this keeps up, the evening will be ruined. Guess there's only one thing to do.

Cursing herself for her consideration silently, Azusa released her senpai and marched a few steps into her room against Yui's protests. "The rest of you should go downstairs and enjoy yourselves," Azusa spoke over her shoulder. "I'll help Yui-senpai find her gift and be back shortly."

Though Yui had just insisted nobody come into her room, she did nothing physical to halt Azusa's advance, instead giving the kouhai a befuddled look at her words. "Huh? You want to help find your own present?" Yui asked incredulously.

Eyeing the magnitude of the task behind her and already hoping she wouldn't regret her choice, Azusa pointed at Yui's face. "I'd rather spend my time doing that than watching you mope about it for the rest of the evening," Azusa corrected. "None of us want to see that face you're making right now."

From the hallway, Mio nodded in agreement. "Of course not. We'll all help too. You two don't have to do it alone." As Mio started to follow Azusa, Tsumugi raised a hand intently to get everyone's attention.

"Actually, Ui-chan and I have some cleaning we need to do in the kitchen, and we could use as much help as possible," the heiress announced suddenly. "We could take care of that while we're waiting, and then everyone can play together again."

"We do?" Ui whispered to herself, only to receive an elbow from Tsumugi that set her straight. "Oh, um, yes, we do! We'd appreciate the help, Mio-senpai, Ritsu-senpai, Sawako-sensei."

Sawako's nose scrunched up at the mention of doing work for no apparent gain. "Ew, work," she countered brilliantly. "If we're not doing anything, I'm gonna grade some papers. You all can do whatever. Let me know when there's something interesting happening." Without so much as a wave, Sawako retreated down the stairs.

Mio shrugged, not willing to go down Sawako's path of apathy. "Well, If you two don't mind looking by yourselves, I'm fine with helping out in the kitchen. I'm sure there's plenty to do. We'll reconvene after we're done, alright?"

A hand was raised in defiant objection. "Wait, don't I get a say in this? I didn't sign up for kitchen duty!" Ritsu butted in, stamping a foot ineffectually. "I wanna be on the search team!"

"No," Answered Azusa and Mio at the same time. "You're a distraction. Azusa-chan doesn't need to babysit two children. Come on, baka," Mio ordered, lightly shoving the drummer towards the stairs.

Utterly bested, Ritsu waved Yui off halfheartedly and gave Azusa a glare promising revenge as she was dragged by her other two friends downstairs, Ui trailing them cheerfully. Yui turned back to Azusa, a guilty expression on her face. "Azu-nyan, you don't have to help me, I can find it," Yui declared with a tone that inspired little confidence in the younger guitarist.

"I'm helping because I want to, senpai," Azusa insisted, making her way into the center of the mess that was Yui's room. "Now come on, let's find this thing so we can get back to the others."

Starting with the various books and personal items on the ground, Azusa knelt and began to sift through her senpai's belongings before she realized she didn't know what she was looking for. She looked up to her senpai. "Ne, Yui-senpai, what does the gift look like?"

Yui hadn't moved from the entrance to her room. She regarded Azusa cautiously, the way prey might stare at a predator to determine if it had been spotted. "Azu-nyan, I want to… um…" Yui started before trailing off almost immediately.

"Yui-senpai, please don't make a big deal out of this," Azusa spoke to fill the void her senpai was creating. "Just let me help you with something for once."

The mood in the room became dour. "For once?" Yui echoed. "You help me out almost every day, Azu-nyan. I never get the chance to help you."

Azusa looked away, mulling over what her senpai was saying. "Then help me right now by helping me find the present," she suggested, stacking up some manga that had been splayed out across the table in the center of the room. "What does it look like?"

In response, Yui closed the door to her room quietly, refusing to answer the simple question Azusa had posed. Now becoming annoyed, Azusa stood up once more. "Yui-senpai, why'd you close the door? Are we going to find this thing or not?"

A rather unfittingly somber expression had overtaken Yui, but the determination she held onto in the rare moments when she was concentrating on something was still glittering in her eyes. Azusa suddenly felt like she was talking to a completely different person, which did nothing positive for the concerns in the back of her mind. "Azu-nyan, I'm going to be helpful."


November 13th, 5:46 PM

As far as Mio Akiyama could tell, today had been a great day. The usual Ritsu-induced hiccups aside, she had deeply enjoyed herself, and was able to forget her troubles as she spent time with the people she cared about the most besides her parents. However, as she left Azusa and Yui to their search while dragging a kicking and complaining Ritsu with Tsumugi's help, a pang of familiar doubt rang dismally in Mio's mind. Is it okay to leave them alone so soon after what happened a few days ago? But it was Azusa-chan's suggestion. I guess that means it's okay. Yes, I must have faith in everyone. If I can't believe in them, I can't call them my friends.

Confidence formed a shell around Mio's mind that prevented bleak thoughts from penetrating it. A week ago, she wouldn't have so easily been able to shake off such troubling ideas. Today, though, and since her field trip with Tsumugi and Ritsu to discuss their guitarists and fulfilling her mission to provide sustenance to a turtle, the world had seemed just a bit brighter to the reclusive bassist. With fresh motivation, she had conducted careful research over the past several days, searching for the road that she could walk with her band, the solution she knew they were all grasping at. And now I can finally tell them. Unless I missed something, this should be the solution to our problem. This way, we can all step into the future together, and it's so simple I hadn't even considered it. I made that decision, that I don't want us to go just yet. What we have is more important than anything else to me. I can't bring Azusa-chan with us this year, but at the least, I can do this for the four of us. Fire nobody else could see was alit in Mio's soul, the passion bred from a rare certainty of purpose, to the point that she had to contain herself so Ritsu would stop staring at her in confusion every few seconds. She didn't want to mess up the moment she revealed her plan to everyone by acting like a lovestruck schoolgirl.

As Mio and the others set about tidying the kitchen and living room, it became apparent rather quickly how little there was to do. Aside from the mess that the fabulous cake had left behind, Tsumugi and Ui had already washed and stored away the dishes and cups left from the afternoon's edible offerings. Tempting as it was to badger Ui with questions as to why she claimed she needed so much unnecessary help, Mio wasn't about to ruin the cheerful atmosphere of the room by complaining about work, leaving that burden to Ritsu. She gave the drummer a sidelong glance from her position by the sink, but was shut out. Ritsu had busied herself putting away what few leftovers their group had allowed to survive and didn't appear interested in voicing Mio's concerns for her. Mio tilted her head, nearly soaking her hair in the process. Something was distracting her childhood friend, but Mio couldn't place exactly what it was. With Tsumugi and Ui taking care of the remaining dishes Mio washed, their task was finished rather quickly, and the four of them were left standing around awkwardly in the kitchen, no sign of Yui or Azusa's return to direct their actions. "They're taking their sweet time," Ritsu grumbled in annoyance, drumming her fingers impatiently on the countertop. "I could have gone to the store and bought Nakano another birthday gift by now."

"Then do it," Mio uncaringly ordered. "Anything's better than a joy buzzer."

Ritsu stuck her tongue out at her childhood friend, who would have returned the gesture had they been alone. Instead, she settled for an icy stare while Ui attempted to take control of things. "It hasn't been too long, but I'm sure they'll be back soon," the younger sister reassured with no precedent before Ritsu could come up with a verbal retort. "Why don't we play something and have tea? They'll be back sooner if we have something to do while we wait." The idea of tea killed the argument Ritsu had been preparing to start, and she instead crossed her arms and remained mum.

Following Ui's suggestion for lack of a better idea, the girls returned to the kotatsu, where Sawako was lounging around lazily, not a paper to be graded in sight. The teacher perked up when tea was offered, and a game of go fish was started semi-enthusiastically. Though Mio still held lingering concern for the guitarists, she managed to distract herself with the game in front of her and her other friends. Tsumugi wasn't as readily able to hide her apprehension. After the third time she nearly missed her turn due to staring listlessly at the stairs when she thought nobody was looking, Mio felt bold enough to say something. "Mugi-chan, they'll be back soon. There's no need to be worried," she soothed, partially for her own benefit.

Caught, Tsumugi blushed, covering the lower half of her face with the cards in her hand. "Oh no, I'm not worried! I just think things are going rather well, to be completely honest."

Ritsu raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "You think waiting on Yui and the birthday girl to finish tearing up the house together means things are going well? Give me your optimism. And a three, while you're at it."

"Go fish, sorry." Tsumugi shot down. "And while it's upsetting that Yui-chan's present is missing, I'm glad they're getting the chance to spend some time together alone. It's good for them." The blonde smiled dreamily while Ritsu drew a card, grumbling the whole time.

"The last time they spent time alone together, one of them nearly broke her arm," Mio pointed out, wondering how Tsumugi had managed to forget about that particular event so soon. "I thought you'd at least be concerned that they might argue again."

Mio's point missed its mark as Tsumugi shook her head serenely. "They made up though," the heiress dismissed easily. "And furthermore, while we might have gotten them to make up with the rest of us present, I'm sure they have things they'd like to discuss privately. I'd go as far as to say it's imperative that they have this time to sort things out between them, unleash their innermost feelings, admit their-"

"Mugi-senpai, do you have a 6?!" Ui asked as loudly as one could without outright yelling, her blush furiously reddening her whole face as she cut the heiress off.

The sound of Sawako drinking tea sloppily filled the otherwise silent living room as everyone stared at Ui. "Oh, no, Ui-chan, my apologies," Tsumugi responded coyly after a moment, her own face becoming more than a bit flushed. "I suppose my point is that I'm happy to find my preparations were mostly unnecessary."

Not quite back from the trip Tsumugi's words had sent Ui on, the younger girl drew a card silently, her hands drooping to allow Ritsu to peep at her rival's entire hand. Noticing Ritsu's cheating, Mio smacked the drummer swiftly, Ritsu's pained cries distracting everyone and giving Ui time to gather her thoughts. "You planned for this?" the younger sister eventually asked, still a bit red.

Tsumugi smiled mysteriously. "No, of course not. I would never keep Yui-chan from giving Azusa-chan the gift I helped her make herself. I believe it's your turn, Mio-chan."

"Unless you thought it would benefit you," Sawako commented idly, not really paying attention to the game or the conversation as she fanned herself with her hand of cards.

Choosing to pretend Sawako didn't exist, Ritsu instead homed in on what Tsumugi had mentioned. "Wait, you helped make it?" she asked. "What is it? You're gonna make me look bad if it's something really heartfelt."

"You did that to yourself, baka," Mio pointed out unsympathetically. "Give me your threes."

Tossing a three ruefully towards in the general direction of childhood friend, Ritsu sighed. "Excuse me for trying to be helpful. But seriously, Mugi, what did you two make?"

Putting a finger to her chin in contemplation, Tsumugi debated internally how to respond. Mio waited for her friend's response, forgetting that she was supposed to be taking another turn. "Well, assuming they find it, it can't hurt to tell you," Tsumugi decided. "It's a photo album of pictures of Azusa-chan and Yui-chan, decorated by me and Yui-chan. Yui-chan has been working on it for a while, and she only recently finished it. I just helped decorate it."

Hearing the reason behind her friends' disappearance, Mio felt a nostalgic smile coming on. She had her own private collection of photos of their group over the years, and she knew Ritsu had one too. It didn't surprise her in the slightest that Yui had picked up her friend's hobby. I can't blame her for being upset or wanting to find it, in that case. I'd be beside myself if I lost my photo albums. "It's a bit early for memory making though," Ritsu thought aloud. "Doesn't that feel more like a going away present?"

"Or a good present to help someone confess how they feel," Tsumugi responded with a straight face.

Ui nearly fell out of the kotatsu, requiring Ritsu's support to sit up straight again. Mio's grip on the cards in her hands tightened as her friend's machinations were made clear to her. "Mugi-chan, we agreed not to incite anything drastic between them, didn't we?" she questioned, giving her blonde friend a skeptical look. "Also, do you have a queen?"

"No, and I haven't incited anything," Tsumugi answered both questions. "It's up to them to take that step. I can't force them not to repeat this cycle over and over again." Mio drew a card, an uneasy feeling that Tsumugi was withholding something that she couldn't shake sneaking up on her.

"I'm out of tea," Sawako announced, like she was saying something that mattered.

On instinct, Tsumugi stood up immediately, taking Sawako's empty cup with her. Confirming that nobody else needed refills, Tsumugi retreated into the kitchen, with Ui excusing herself seconds later to assist with the tea preparation. Mio nearly put her face in her hands at the obedience Tsumugi was showing, her opportunity at further questioning ruined. Mugi-chan's been trained by Sawako-sensei too well. We really do take advantage of her generosity. That aside, the things she was saying about Azusa-chan and Yui-chan are unsettling. Now I'm just getting worried for no reason.

"What do you think, Ritsu?" Mio asked, setting her cards facedown for the moment, unable to play with 40% of the players missing.

A half-hearted smirk danced around Ritsu's mouth. "I think I'm going to win this game, but if you're talking about the guitarists, I think they'll be fine. Mugi's just got the wrong idea about where they're at with each other."

"Perhaps, but I'm still concerned," Mio insisted, leaning forward a bit. "I think we should check on them, or even help them look for Yui-chan's present."

Mio's imploring left Ritsu unmoved. "Knock yourself out then, Mio," the drummer waved off dismissively. "I'm going to stay where it's warm, waiting for everyone to stop overreacting."

Crossing her arms, Mio stood up defiantly. "I'm not overreacting. I'm worried about my friends. Is that so wrong?"

"You're always overreacting," Sawako advised helpfully, earning two glares for her troubles. "Trust me. Let them do whatever the hell they want, because it doesn't really matter in the scheme of things."

"You don't matter in the scheme of things," Ritsu retorted, shooting down Sawako's point flawlessly. "Sit down, Mio. I'll go with you after we finish this hand, okay?"

Caught between wanting to stick to her guns and not wanting to confront Azusa and Yui by herself, Mio froze, uncertainty stiffening her muscles. Tense seconds ticked by, allowing Ritsu's easy grin of reassuring confidence to whittle away at Mio's resolve, cajoling the bassist to sit once more. "Thanks," she whispered, barely audibly.

Ritsu only nodded once in acceptance of Mio's gratitude. Though Mio certainly wasn't afraid of HTT's guitarists, the conversation she just had cautioned her that she might be walking into something more private than she was prepared to handle herself. Having a rock like Ritsu around was always useful, and Ritsu made a fantastic rock, with all the brainpower of one to boot. With nothing further to discuss, heavy silence overtook the living room for the first time since Mio and Ritsu had arrived. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, similar to the random strikes of quiet that peppered Ritsu and Mio's other interactions occasionally, in between the crazy antics and wild Ritsu games that pushed Mio's last nerve. However, several unanswered questions continued to plague Mio's thoughts, preventing her mind from being at ease. The bassist sighed to herself. The mood sure soured quickly. This is just another reason we need Yui-chan around. She would know what to say in situations like this. But I shouldn't rely on her and Ritsu for things like this. There has to be something I can do. Searching for an answer, Mio ended up staring at Ritsu. The drummer, who had been idly looking out the sliding glass door, realized she was being watched and shot Mio a look.

"What?" Ritsu asked. "I'm not telling you what cards Ui has. That's my advantage."

Already wishing she could unbreak the silence her actions had shattered, Mio settled for telling the truth. "It's nothing, baka. I was just thinking."

"Damn, what a shock," Ritsu cheekily responded.

Mio raised an eyebrow but didn't play into Ritsu's challenge. The glint in Ritsu's eyes was offset by the blatant concern Mio could see behind it. This isn't normal goading. Something's bothering her, and she doesn't want to talk about it. Her gift, perhaps? I know she said it doesn't hurt, but there has to be a better way to convince Yui-chan to stop hugging Azusa-chan, if that's what she wants. "Don't get testy with me," Mio chided. "You knew the risk involved with giving Azusa-chan a gift like that."

Nearly dropping her own cards to the table, Ritsu stared incredulously at Mio. "Wow, you think that's what's bothering me? Come on, Mio, where have you been for the last five minutes?"

Rewinding time internally to find Ritsu's argument, Mio frowned. "What, the stuff Mugi-chan was saying about Azusa-chan and Yui-chan? It's just her imagination, and you were the one who said you think they'll be fine. She wouldn't do anything drastic on her own. We can trust our friends, Ritsu."

"I know that, but you don't understand what I'm saying," Ritsu sighed in exasperation. "She already has done something. We did too, by putting the idea in their heads. Mugi just gave them the last push they needed to collide. Yeah, they'll be fine, but our band might not be."

The ominous musing didn't match Mio's perception of her childhood friend. Sawako's sharp laugh cut off the discussion. "Come on, you two, pick your heads up a little. Are these really the sort of things you need to be thinking deeply about? Who likes who, high school edition? Lighten up. Ritsu, you haven't even bothered filling out your career plan for next year. Don't you think your priorities are a little confused? Take it from an adult, you need to pay more attention to your own future, rather than what other people are doing." Said adult then proceeded to collapse against the kotatsu pathetically, sighing in content at the heat flowing through her body and completely releasing whatever had possessed her to go into teacher mode for fifteen seconds.

To her own surprise, Mio felt her temper flare up in defense of her friend. "Don't make light of stuff like this," she warned, raising her voice indignantly. "It's just as important to us as anything else. This affects our band and our future."

Ritsu thought about adding on to Mio's claim, then thought better of it. "What she said. Besides, I don't need to plan ahead. I'll just do whatever feels right when the time comes."

"The time is coming, and sooner than you think," Sawako warned, her voice partially muffled by the table. "Just because I'm not the sweet teacher you thought I was doesn't mean I'm not your teacher. I want you and the others to at least try to succeed."

Sizing up her options as Ritsu shrugged nonchalantly, Mio's thoughts were distractedly pulled towards her own machinations. So Ritsu doesn't have any real plans for the future. I know for a fact that Yui-chan doesn't, and Mugi-chan has made her plans quite clear. I guess this is as good a time as any to bring this up. Maybe this will cheer Ritsu up a bit. "So you don't know what you're going to do next year?" Mio asked for confirmation. "No college plans?"

"Not yet," Ritsu responded idly, swaying back and forth on her knees. "I'll figure it out later."

"Well, I think you should at least consider attending a university," Mio suggested, dancing around the idea she had bottled within herself for days. "It's an easy way to secure your future."

The initial verbal attack was swiftly parried by the opposing party. "Says you, top student," Ritsu argued. "Whether I end up a grad student or a NEET doesn't really matter. Long as I follow my gut, nothing can go wrong."

Mio shook her head, twisting her foe's words around to advance once more. "Your gut is one of many reasons why you should pursue a higher education. I'd be more than willing to help you prepare for entrance exams. In fact, I-"

Holding up a hand to cut Mio off, Ritsu straightened up a little, her eyes betraying her suspicions. "You're talking like you have a university in mind," Ritsu accused, taking a step back to observe how her opponent would attempt to strike next. "I can't make it into one of those top universities and you know it. God forbid you try getting Yui into one of those places."

Realizing that subtlety would get her nowhere, Mio went straight for her finishing move. Alright, just say it. Stop thinking about it. There's nothing to be afraid of. Channel Yui-chan if you have to, and say it! "Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking since last week," she admitted, willing herself to just make her point. "And I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather attend university with you all and keep the band alive than attend a top university."

Ritsu spat out the sip of tea she had been drinking, fortunately missing anything of importance. The reaction somehow wasn't the worst one Mio had pictured in her head, and she managed to maintain her composure as she waited for Ritsu to put some context behind her actions. "What the hell, Mio?! You can't do that!" she barked, slamming her teacup on the table, nearly shattering it.

Sawako was now sitting up, running a finger around her empty teacup with vigorous interest. It wasn't Mio's plan to have an audience, but for once, she felt Sawako could actually be useful in helping Ritsu see her point. Mio lifted her chin proudly, convincing herself that she couldn't back down. "I can do whatever I please. I've been looking into the university Mugi-chan is planning to attend, and I believe all of us could get in. It has a diverse curriculum, it's prestigious without being too difficult for, um, Yui and you to reach, and, most importantly, this way, we can stay together." The bassist couldn't help but smirk a little as she fired away point after point in what she felt was a flawless argument.

Instead of responding, Ritsu turned away from her friend's imposing presence, towards their homeroom teacher. "She's obviously going insane. Can you talk some sense into her, Sawa-chan-sensei?" she asked, more seriously than Mio expected.

Sawako set her teacup down gingerly. With no context, she came off as the sweet and sensitive teacher Mio had initially thought she was when they first met years ago, at least until she opened her mouth. "I think it's a step down for scardey-cat and a big step up for you and airhead. That being said, what you do is ultimately up to you. I'll approve your choice if that's what you want to shoot for, assuming your reasoning is sound."

The answer was frustratingly neutral for both girls. Ritsu let out a sigh, facing Mio again reluctantly. Mio waited for Ritsu to say something that could clear up what the hurt look on her friend's face meant. "I… I don't know. This is really sudden, Mio. I need some time to think about it." She clenched her hands into fists on top of her legs.

Unprepared for such an outcome, Mio defaulted to defensive hostility. Scoffing over the warning signs her friend was nonverbally giving her with her body language, Mio pressed forward. "Think about it? When have you ever stopped to think anything through? I'm telling you this is the best solution I can think of. We don't have to go our separate ways, Ritsu. Think about that! I don't want to leave this behind, Ritsu. Don't you want to stay with us?"

Closing and opening her mouth a few times in an attempt to respond, Ritsu settled on a blank look that hid how she felt. It was almost unnerving, not being able to tell exactly what Ritsu was thinking. Then again, I almost never know what she's thinking. That's how she gets me wrapped up in so many crazy schemes, like starting a band. "Look, Mio, I think I get where you're coming from, but from my perspective, there's several major flaws in your idea. I'd just like some time to think about it before I give you an answer. Come on, do me a favor here."

"Answer about what?" Tsumugi asked, returning with a fresh pot of tea, Ui trailing solemnly behind her.

Ui had a isolated look in her eyes, but Mio was too distracted by the lukewarm reception her idea had received to notice. Blurting out the plan she had formulated to the heiress now felt more like a mistake, rather than the next logical step in the conversation. Ritsu remained mute, leaving one person the burden of filling in the two returning girls as they took their seats at the kotatsu back. "They were batting around the idea of attending that J. Women's University place you were trying to get into," Sawako explained impartially. "Drummer wanted some time to think about it."

As she finished pouring Sawako's tea, the news brightened Tsumugi's smile. "Oh, I see! That's a wonderful idea! Though it wouldn't be easy, I'm certainly in favor of that happening. Mio-chan and I will gladly tutor you and Yui-chan. What's the issue, Ricchan?"

Ritsu stood up. Her passive expression had become angered, one eye twitching a little. "Mugi, be real with me for a minute. Did you or didn't you put the idea of going to the same university in Mio's head?"

Now officially lost, Mio could only look on as Tsumugi took a long sip of her tea, allowing the question to be fully digested by the table before giving it the time of day. "I encouraged Mio-chan to attend university with me when she brought it up. I didn't have to broach the subject myself."

Unsatisfied, Ritsu huffed, pressing forward without regard for her surroundings. She had heard the implication behind Tsumugi's answer just as clearly as Mio had. "Uh huh. Then what about Nakano? Attending the same university won't do her any good next year. You expect us to continue without her?"

"If she decides to follow us, it would only be for a year," Mio pointed out, running as hard as she could to keep up with the drummer's logic. "But that's her choice. I'm talking about what we can do right now, with graduation approaching. This has to be the opportunity we were looking for." The wish I really wanted to make, that I'm trying to get granted myself.

Whirling to glare briefly at Mio instead of Tsumugi, Ritsu gritted her teeth. "It's a chance for you to waste your potential, and that's it," she countered, moving back to Tsumugi before Mio could respond. "And as for you, you're too smart not to have noticed that problem with Nakano. So I was right. All that pushing for Yui and Nakano wasn't just for show then, huh?"

Tsumugi tossed her hair behind her with one hand, the flippant action only serving to further aggravate the drummer in front of her. "Why would it be? Do you think I would just carelessly shove people together for fun? I really, really believe in them, Ricchan!" Tsumugi pouted a little, pressing her fingers together over her teacup cutely.

"Back up," Mio ordered. "What was that about wasting potential, baka?"

Ritsu scoffed, not breaking eye contact with Tsumugi. "Don't play dumb. Sawa-chan said it herself. This university is a step down for you. Don't pretend it's not. I don't want to be the reason you chose to throw that sort of opportunity away. You're the one who's always complaining about how you never get anything out of our friendship, and here you are, proving yourself right."

Familiar indignation coursed into Mio. She had had quite enough of Ritsu's completely illogical non-answers. "I'm not squandering anything!" Mio yelled back, her frustration at Ritsu's obstinance now reaching a boiling point. "You're not making any sense at all. You wanted to keep our friendships alive, and then when I come up with a way to do that, you shoot me down, saying you, you, need time to think, that I don't care about you! What am I supposed to think about that?"

"If I may interject," Ui politely interrupted.

The three band members turned their direct attention to their younger host. Ui balked for a moment at the sudden reaction, but calmed herself down enough to continue, eyes trained on the tea in front of her. "I don't understand the situation perfectly, but I know that Onee-chan would want all of you to go to the same university with her, if that helps anything. Regardless of what's going on between Onee-chan and Azusa-chan, I believe having a goal to work towards of attending university with you all would do wonders for her motivation. Um, that's all." As suddenly as she interrupted, Ui silenced herself, like she had never been there.

Nodding gratefully at Ui for her input, Mio decided to give convincing Ritsu one more shot. "There, you see? Come on, talk to us, Ritsu. What's keeping you from saying yes right now?" Mio implored her friend to open up, hoping diplomacy might be more enticing than the abrasive approach.

Rising from her seated position on the ground, Tsumugi made her way over towards her irate friend, taking her hands delicately. Though not thrilled with the arrangement, Ritsu didn't shake Tsumugi off. "Ricchan, this university is one of, if not the most prestigious women's university in the country. You shouldn't concern yourself with Mio-chan wasting anything by choosing to attempt to get in there. If she really thought your friendship wasn't good for her, why would she even consider doing something like this? And in any case, what you do with the education is far more important than where you get it from, so what's important is that we all have some form of education to give us the best possible shot at the future we can have. Additionally, if your concern is more about your own ability, I assure you that Mio-chan and I can adequately prepare you and Yui-chan for the entrance exams. You have my word." Sawako gave Tsumugi's pitch an appreciative whistle while Mio nodded along in agreement, Tsumugi having evidently put just as much thought into this as Mio herself. Wait, has she really been planning this from the beginning? Am I okay with that?

As the question teased her relentlessly, Mio distracted herself by noting Ritsu's reaction. For the first time, the bassist detected doubt in Ritsu's features, but it was still overpowered by something else, a self-imposed distance from the whole situation that Mio couldn't determine the reason for. "That's not the problem, Mugi. Believe me when I say I would give anything to keep what we have going on as long as possible, and I intend to, no matter what happens next year." The hope that shone in Tsumugi's eyes dimmed considerably as Ritsu dislodged herself from her friend's grip. "Here's the real problem: You're making out attending the same university as me and Yui to being the same thing as keeping us together. I do want us to stay together as friends and as a band, but I don't think it has to have anything to do with what university we go to. If you want to do that, fine, but I'm not going to be part of the reason you made that choice. That's just how I feel about this."

"You refuse to take responsibility," Sawako corrected.

Tsumugi had to take a rapid step backwards to avoid being shoulder checked by Ritsu when she swung around to scowl at her teacher. "Excuse you?" Ritsu angrily retorted, staring her teacher down as her rage rapidly returned. "Like Mio said, it's my choice what I do. What's wrong with that?"

"There's nothing wrong with making your own choices, so long as you acknowledge why you're making them, and their consequences," Sawako somberly stated. "I don't think you're doing either. I could argue the same holds true for most of you right now, but I won't, because I don't feel like it. Getting into J. Women's University is a long shot for you and Yui, yes, but not impossible. Mio could do better, but she could do far worse. The fact that Tsumugi is choosing to go there is a testament to that. What the right decision is depends on your point of view."

For an instant, Mio could swear she saw steam coming out of Ritsu's head, the way it felt like it did for Yui whenever she tried to learn more than one thing at a time. "Alright, I've had enough," Ritsu declared, allowing herself to fall back down to the kotatsu. "You've all said your piece, and I told you I want to think about it for a bit. Can we drop this for now? We're at a party for God's sake. Please?"

Mio nearly spat out her own tea. Ritsu never sincerely said please for any reason. Though she desperately wanted to seek out further answers from her friend, Mio knew better than to push Ritsu too far. If she felt the matter was critical enough to warrant niceties, Mio wasn't going to test her luck against her closest friend any further. Tsumugi clearly didn't subscribe to this train of thought. "What about how Mio-chan feels, Ricchan? She's choosing to do this for us. Are you trying to say that means nothing to you?"

Rolling onto her back, Ritsu eyed Tsumugi dangerously from the ground, her position unbefitting of the grievous nature of the situation. "Don't even pretend to imply that. It's because of that that I have to take this whole damn thing seriously. I just wanted to go to a party and have fun, but no, we have to deal with college this, band romance that. Damn it you two, is it not obvious to you that what you're doing is going to tear apart what little time we have left?! Why am I the only one who seems to care about the present?!"

Ritsu's shoulders sagged, exhausted from expelling so much energy, but she didn't stop talking. "Look, that didn't come out quite right. I don't need to follow you to a university to be your friend, be in a band with you. Yui doesn't need to either. That's the fact of the matter. No matter what we do, we'll just be kicking a can down the road, so we're better off enjoying the time we have and not worrying about it. That's why I think the crap with Yui and Nakano you're pulling needs to stop, Mugi. Call it whatever you want, the risk you're taking isn't worth it. It'll happen by itself if it's meant to be. As their friend, you of all people should understand that."

"A stop?" Mio echoed, her puzzled head beginning to hurt.

How did suggesting we go to the same university turn back into this? Why is Ritsu giving us such pushback on this? And the stuff about Yui-chan and Azusa-chan… what does it have to do with college and Mugi? Unless Ritsu is trying to suggest…

The pieces Mio was putting together were ugly enough on their own without having to connect them. As the heiress sat down once more, Mio found what she hoped was the irrational side of her too difficult to ignore. "Are you really trying to make Yui-chan and Azusa-chan hook up like that, Mugi-chan?" the bassist asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer. "Just to make sure Azusa-chan stays with us?"

Tsumugi met Mio's questioning stare confidently. "I'm trying to make sure everyone is happy. That's all I can do."

The question had been neatly dodged, but Mio wasn't about to give up yet. She took a sip of tea to contemplate her response carefully. "Mugi-chan, you're my friend and I care about you, but so are Yui-chan and Azusa-chan. We talked things through, and we agreed not to interfere with these affairs. Please tell me you listened to us. Please."

A hint of regret tainted Tsumugi's features. "I wanted to find a better way, really," she whispered to herself. "I tried. But… after last week… I couldn't keep waiting for things to just work out when I knew they wouldn't on their own, so I did what I thought was best. That happened to involve attempting to bring Yui-chan and Azusa-chan closer together. I'm sorry if you disagree with my methodology, but I believe the results will justify my actions." Ritsu scoffed at the apology, but Mio found herself questioning whether she actually disagreed with the logic behind what she was hearing.

I don't have all the information, that much is clear. There's been some things going on behind the scenes I haven't been privy to. From the sound of things, however, Mugi-chan's been using Yui-chan to convince Azusa-chan to remain connected to us after we graduate. That's selfish, yes, but is it so wrong if Azusa-chan and Yui-chan are okay with that? What's the right answer here? Who's right? Am I right?

Thoughts in Mio's head began to stall as she struggled to process her emotions. It was tempting to look to Ritsu for advice, but since Ritsu was part of the problem, Mio suddenly found herself without a lifeline, and it frightened her. "Ah… well… I think it's best we get Azusa-chan and Yui-chan to clarify things for us, that way nobody has to worry about where we all stand. Is that reasonable?"

Shockingly, nobody, not even Ritsu, seemed to be thrilled with Mio's proposal. Ui cleared her throat loudly enough to get everyone's attention. "Maybe it's just me, but I'm almost certain that confronting them directly as a group would only serve to embarrass Azusa-chan into never wanting to talk to Onee-chan again."

Mio's two bandmates nodded their heads in agreement. "We'll deal with it when they come to us, not that I'm thrilled about it," Ritsu declared from the ground.

"It is in their hands," Tsumugi sagely added. "Why don't we continue to play?"

Nobody was in much of a mood to play after the conversation they had just had. Mio stared at her cards unenthusiastically. Ritsu tried sitting up, but failed. "Mioooo, pick me up. I'm tired," she begged, acting like everything that had happened since she came downstairs was a dream.

Glancing with irritation at the girl who, by Mio's calculations, had ruined most of the evening, the urge to help Ritsu up was unsurprisingly weak. "Get up yourself, baka."

Tsumugi jumped in where Mio failed to act, offering Ritsu a hand kindly. Ritsu hesitated for a moment, staring at Mio, then took Tsumugi's offer. Unfortunately, she failed to account for Tsumugi's strength, and ended up smacking herself into the kotatsu when Tsumugi pulled her up, rattling the table part and knocking Tsumugi's drink directly into her lap. "Oh my!" Tsumugi exclaimed, rapidly beginning to dab a napkin on her dress as tea seeped into it.

"Shit, sorry, Mugi," Ritsu apologized as Ui and Sawako stood up, having managed to prevent their own tea from being spilled with their free hands. "Do you have any towels, Ui?"

"There's some clean ones in the bathrooms upstairs," Ui answered. "I'll-"

"I got it," Mio interrupted. "It's partially my fault. I'll take care of it."

Ui shrugged. "I'll get some paper towels then. Hurry back. Make sure Onee-chan and Azusa-chan are okay while you're up there, would you?"

Mio took the opportunity she had been handed and ran with it. She wasn't going to say anything, but she had to make sure the two at least weren't fighting again. "It's fine, Ricchan," Tsumugi graciously responded to Ritsu's apology. "It's my fault."

It was strange to hear Ritsu and Tsumugi getting along so easily after what had just happened, but Mio didn't grant herself the time to think about it. All her thoughts had shifted to making sure her guitarists weren't slugging it out at the moment. Everyone else must just be going crazy. There's nothing interesting going on up there. I'll just pop in, check on them, and grab some towels from the bathroom afterwards. Yes, everything is fine. We're all fine, and Ritsu will come around, and we'll all be fine.

These encouraging thoughts quickly became less reassuring as Mio ascended the stairs, her worries plaguing her mind once more. Everything was perfect an hour ago. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I should have known better than to push Ricchan into something out of the blue like this. And if what she says is true, I've been missing what Mugi-chan has been doing behind the scenes to push Yui-chan and Azusa-chan together. Assuming it works, that's not much of a problem, but if something goes wrong, well… Mio shook her head as she reached the top of the stairs.

Just by ascending the steps, the chatter of the second floor had disappeared. Mio realized that she hadn't heard anything from Yui or Azusa since she left them alone some time ago, and it didn't appear as if they had reacted to the shouting that had gone on downstairs. Reaching the door to Yui's room to check on the guitarists before retrieving a towel, Mio was startled to see it closed. She considered knocking on the door to announce her presence, but leaning against the door, she couldn't hear any noise coming from inside. A hint of fear manifested in the bassist's mind. Are they okay? What if something really has happened again? No, there's no way. It was an accident last time. There's nothing wrong. In fact, there's so much not wrong that it doesn't matter if I walk in unannounced right now, because nothing's wrong.

Eager to prove her point, Mio swung the door open, nearly slamming it into the wall in the process. Light flooded into the dark room behind her. Fear suddenly won a few more points over Mio's rationality at the change in visibility, and Mio squinted in the darkness to locate her friends. "Y-yui-chan? Azusa-chan?" Mio cautiously asked, growing annoyed at the trembling in her tone.

As soon as she took a tentative step into the room, a hissing sound made Mio's blood freeze colder than any blizzard could. "Shhhhhh!" came the insistent hush from across the room.

Fighting the urge to run away, Mio forced herself to look to Yui's bed on the other side of the room. Two figures lay huddled near the head of the bed, against the nearby nightstand, the drawer removed from its hinges. Yui was sitting against the bed, a finger to her lips clueing Mio in to the source of the sound. On Yui's lap laid Azusa, eyes closed, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Mio began to calm down a little. Relax, Mio. It's just your friends, everything is fine.

This comfort in mind, Mio's gaze drifted further downward, to the pool of red liquid that covered the ground around the two girls and the front of the unconscious, barely breathing Azusa's red hoodie. Yui followed Mio's gaze and shook her head rapidly, pointing to the finger at her lips to indicate the need for silence. Mio ignored this advice and screamed at the top of her lungs before completely passing out cold in the doorway, the image of a bloodied Azusa covered in barnacles haunting her final thoughts.


November 13th, 5:46 PM

Azusa stared at Yui and the closed door behind her. "What do you mean you're going to be helpful?" the kouhai repeated, suspicious of her senpai's definition of helping.

Yui shuffled towards the other side of the room, dragging her feet guiltily. For a long minute, she didn't respond, waiting until she reached the head of her bed, where she knelt by her nightstand. It was there she graced Azusa with such a poor attempt at appearing stoic and serious that the cat-like kouhai had to stifle a giggle to avoid offending her senpai. "Okay, look, Azu-nyan, I need you to keep this a secret from everyone, especially Ui and Giita, okay? I'm serious. Look at my serious face, Azu-nyan. I'm serious."

Unwilling to even attempt to determine if Yui was being serious, Azusa nodded rapidly. Another game, it has to be. She's been acting too strangely for it not to be. Not to mention she keeps secrets about as well as she remembers guitar chords. "Yes, I see you, senpai. Your secrets are safe with me, as long as you aren't doing anything illegal," Azusa promised.

"Pinky promise!" Yui insisted, sticking out her pinky childishly towards Azusa's place near the center of Yui's room.

Recalling the last time she made a pinky promise in elementary school, Azusa intertwined her pinky with Yui's, now extremely grateful that none of her other senpais were around. "Okay, okay, I pinky promise. Please hurry up and show me whatever is so important nobody else can see it now."

Satisfied, Yui took hold of the single drawer that ran from the top of the nightstand to the floor and yanked it out of its place, completely separating it from the nightstand. Shoving the drawer aside, Yui motioned for Azusa to look into the hole she had created. "Come on, check it out!" Yui invited, making space for Azusa to peep inside.

A multitude of ways this situation could go horribly wrong for Azusa ran through her mind. Her fingers glided over the surface of the joy buzzer in her pocket before she caught herself, yanking both hands out into the open air wildly. Calm the hell down, Nakano. This is Yui-senpai, not a serial killer. It's probably just a food stash or something equally childish. Relax, damn you.

Shoving away inane notions that Yui had hidden some fantastic stolen treasure or a collection of severed body parts behind her empty drawer, Azusa cautiously crept over and stared in the open space, brushing her wayward hair out of her face. What she was met with was an abundance of food and drink. Stacked haphazardly against the wall were several bags of chips and similar snacks, complimented by various drinks in a rainbow of colors and multiple sizes. She recognized several of the brands as the ones sold in the school store and nearby vending machines, but others were completely foreign to her. How Yui had managed to fit all of this behind her drawer made no sense to Azusa, but her more pressing question was why she was being shown this. A hand reached past the confused girl and pulled out two bottles of a dark red liquid that looked like fruit punch of some sort. Yui took a long swig from one of them and sighed in content. "It's not tea, but punch is nice too, in a pinch like this. Searching really wore me out. I couldn't let Ui dig through my room, or she'd find my secret stash," Yui explained mischievously. "I know it's not healthy, but I can't help running out of energy sometimes, ehehe. If Ui knew I was keeping food in my room for emergencies, though, she'd take it away. Anyways, this will give us the energy to keep searching! Want a drink?" Yui offered the unopened bottle to the kouhai.

Several emotions ran through Azusa at once, primarily relief. It was the first time that day that Yui had done something Azusa could have easily anticipated. Being used to the constant, irritatingly endearing wavelength that represented Yui Hirasawa had made Yui's erratic actions today all the more unsettling. Though she wasn't particularly thirsty, she accepted the drink politely anyways, taking the seat Yui patted out for her on her bed. She took a sip of the sickeningly sweet drink, doing her best not to spit it out while she thought some things through. Though Yui probably loved the extreme sweetness behind the drink, it was all Azusa could do not to gag. "I doubt Ui-chan doesn't know about this," Azusa eventually decided.

From her spot next to Azusa, Yui shook her head, nearly sending her drink everywhere as her body and the entire bed was jostled with her. "No way! I've been super careful. Azu-nyan, I'm really good at hiding things!" Realizing what she said as she said it, Yui corrected herself quickly. "I mean this thing in particular! Don't look into it!"

Suppressing a small grin, Azusa set about explaining her theory. "Ui-chan cleans your room daily, so I doubt she wouldn't know it inside and out," Azusa reminded her senpai. "The kitchen was clean already. I know this because Ui-chan never takes the time to relax when there's still a chore to be done. She let Mugi-senpai and the others have a reason not to rummage around in your room so she wouldn't have to 'find' your stash, and she let me stay so it wouldn't look suspicious that she needed so much help in the kitchen, knowing I wouldn't say anything because I would figure all this out." Sensing that she was approaching Yui's processing limit, Azusa cut herself off.

Yui took her time thinking about Azusa's version of events. Eventually, she set her drink on the nightstand and yawned lazily. "Huh. Maybe she did. She is pretty smart. You're pretty smart too, Azu-nyan!"

"Flattery isn't going to get you anywhere," Azusa responded, taking another sip as the taste started to grow on her. "I'd report this to Ui-chan if I didn't know that she knows already. And in any case, we have a job to do in here anyways. Let's find your present so we can get back to the others."

"We can wait a minute, can't we?" Yui complained. "I don't want to spill my drink!"

Azusa frowned. "Then leave it on the nightstand. How can you still be thirsty anyways? We've been eating and drinking for hours."

"I'm always hungry…" Yui whined truthfully.

Though Yui was considering looking for another excuse to avoid work, Azusa's condescending glare spurred her into action. "Okaaay," Yui conceded cutely, placing Azusa's drink next to her own for the younger girl. "I've looked everywhere though. I think it's disappeared."

With a new perspective from the bed, Azusa took in Yui's mess. Normally, Yui's room was kept rather tidy by Ui, with her bed, nightstand, and guitar taking up the far side of the room, a large desk and bookshelf taking up the wall to the right of the entrance on the other side of the room, and a short white table occupying the middle of the room. Three long rectangular windows and a corkboard kept the pink wall company, and the room itself had a very, well, Yui feel to it. Currently, however, she wouldn't even be able to tell the table was white if she couldn't see the legs around almost everything Yui owned that wasn't nailed down covering it. The next move was clear. "Well, let's start by cleaning things up. It'll be easier to look when we can walk across your room. You put the books back on the bookshelf. I'll take care of the trash and the stuff that goes on your desk." Sitting up from Yui's bed, taking care to smooth out any wrinkles she had created, Azusa got to work.

Nodding obediently, Yui began to scoop up various manga and picture books that had been scattered across the room. Azusa returned the white table that had been shoved against a wall for some reason to its place in the center of the room. She retrieved the pencils, pens and other writing tools that had been spilled from the pencil holder on Yui's desk, as well as the various pillows and stuffed animals strewn haphazardly about the room. She placed the pictures that had been removed from Yui's wall back on the corkboard across from the lone window overlooking Yui's desk, noticing that one of the photos appeared to be missing. She turned to ask her senpai about it for confirmation, only for the question to die in her throat as she witnessed Yui staring at a thin brown book that had been sitting on the white table. "What's that?" Azusa asked, noticing that there were no markings on the outside of the book.

Yui looked up, a bit distracted. "Oh, it's your birthday present," she answered simply.

Azusa blinked at Yui. Yui blinked back. Lots of reasonable reactions to this information came to mind, but Azusa promptly discarded all of those silly rational thoughts. The junior smiled pleasantly at her senpai, with her expression being uneasily reciprocated. She crossed the room slowly, a tranquil look in her eyes, until she was able to take Yui by the shoulders. "Yui-senpai, is that the present you were going to give me?" she softly inquired.

Squirming a little underneath Azusa's pressure, Yui nodded. "Yes, but-"

Yui's attempt at an explanation was destroyed by Azusa shaking her senpai back and forth violently. "You mean to tell me the thing you're looking for has been sitting on your table for over half an hour?!" she yelled at her airhead of a senpai. "What the hell is wrong with you, you moron?!"

"Azu-nyannnnn, stooooop, pleeeeeas-urp," Yui begged, turning a light shade of green.

Recognizing the threat Yui suddenly posed to her health, Azusa released her senpai, who immediately crumpled to the ground. Only just now feeling like she had overreacted, Azusa knelt next to Yui, who was leaning on her hands at the table, guiltily rubbing the girl's back timidly while she recovered. Why do I keep doing this? I'm still overreacting to everything. Is this because I'm not being diligent enough? Perhaps it is. I'll have to set about finding a solution that much faster starting tomorrow. When she had the ability to speak again, Yui clarified herself. "Dizzy… oh, uh, Azu-nyan, what I meant was this is most of your birthday present. Part of it's missing, and that's what I can't find."

"O-oh, I see," Azusa answered for the sake of answering, now feeling foolish on top of guilty for how little she thought of her senpai's searching abilities. "My apologies, Yui-senpai. That was uncalled for. I'm just a bit more stressed than I thought I was, I guess. So, this is the gift?" She reached for the brown book in Yui's hands.

For half a second, Yui resisted providing Azusa the thin book, but she corrected herself before Azusa could question her behavior, allowing Azusa to take the book in her hands. As she examined the cover further, it became apparent that the book had seen a fair amount of use over the years it had been owned. Light scratches patterned the front and back, and tracing her hand over the spine, Azusa felt creases that could only have been created through extensive use. Now completely free of nausea, Yui scooted over to sit next to her kouhai at the table, staring at her expectantly with less than an armlength between them. Azusa trained her gaze on the book so she didn't have to face the weight of Yui's expectations. What is this supposed to be? Yui-senpai doesn't read, at least I don't think she does. It's at least a few years old. I don't want to disappoint her, but then again, it's not like I can't fake enthusiasm if it's something strange. The stillness of the room nearly suffocated Azusa as she stared at the empty brown cover, driving her to take action rather than continue to worry over what would happen when she opened the book.

As soon as her eyes took in the first page, Azusa was blown away by a wave of nostalgia. Nearly two years of images of her time with the light music club were staring back at her. The entire band plus Sawako was represented, but almost all of the pictures had both Yui and Azusa herself in them together. Surrounding each photo were stickers in Yui's preferred cutesy style, with some even containing little notes pertaining to the photo they appeared next to, telling Azusa exactly which ones Yui thought were cute. Leaning in closer to get a better look, Yui gasped in wonder at most of the photos as if she hadn't seen them all before, bringing up the associated memories from the day each photo was taken as Azusa flipped through the pages as slowly as possible. The logical side of Azusa's mind was impressed by how well Yui's recall of these events was, but the emotional side of her was in complete control of her thoughts and actions, as well as the tears beginning to form in her eyes. Their training camp, the trip to the music festival, practice sessions that ran late into the night, afternoons spent sipping tea and sampling delicacies they'd never be able to obtain under normal circumstances, and their concerts. Azusa felt her heart catch in her throat as she arrived at the pages displaying their concerts, notably the very last one they had performed. Seeing herself, wearing the starred HTT shirt Sawako had made for her and the rest of the band, up on stage with her fellow seniors as the person she had been trying to be ever since that fateful day, was more than the young girl was prepared to handle in the moment. "That was a great day," Yui noted fondly, following her kouhai's stare. "Hard to believe it was less than a month ago."

Yui's reminder of this fact struck Azusa like lightning. Less than a month. It hasn't been that long, and yet I've been moping like the girl in this photo is from years ago. All this time I've spent lamenting that I can never be in these pictures, when I have been the whole time. I've… always been there. I never should have acted like they don't want me around. I never wanted us to change. I still don't, and we're changing anyways. But how long do I have until this is the only way I can experience this feeling again? How long until Azusa Nakano is a name, a picture on someone else's wall, nothing more? Okay, calm down and think it through. Azusa Nakano is logical. A Nakano wouldn't let things like these concerns prevent her from her pursuit of success. I'm supposed to be in control of things, the one who makes the plans for everyone to keep things running. I can't afford to lose what I have, even if I don't deserve it.

Sensing that she might start bawling, be it due to the pictures or her own thoughts that came from them, Azusa hurriedly regained control of herself, flipping to the last page before she lost the ability to do so. Yui hadn't noticed that Azusa had said nothing since she opened the book, but the senior also fell silent as Azusa arrived at the end of her memory trip. To the younger guitarist's confusion, the last page was as blank as the cover. "Y-yui-senpai?" Azusa asked tentatively, before coughing to steady her tone. "Yui-senpai, why is the last page blank?"

Whatever innocent wonder had filled up Yui's expression since opening the photo album was now substituted for something akin to frustration. "That's the part that's missing. There's supposed to be one more picture there, a special one, but I can't find it. I left it up there." Yui pointed to the spot on the corkboard where a picture looked like it should have been.

Azusa stared at the blank space. She had never looked very carefully at the pictures Yui had on her wall, besides that one time where she ripped off an embarrassing picture Yui had taken of her while sleeping, and she couldn't recall which one Yui was referring to. She shook the wayward thought off. "It doesn't matter which one it is, Yui-senpai. This is the best gift I've gotten today. Thank you." Hoping it would convey her sincerity, Azusa placed a comforting hand on her senpai's shoulder.

Yui smiled, but her eyes remained distant. "It does matter, Azu-nyan. That picture is the most important picture I have. It's the only one of its kind."

Setting the photo album back on the table with the care it deserved, Azusa turned on her knees to face her senpai sitting next to her. "What do you mean? Pictures can be duplicated."

"Memories can't," Yui responded simply. "Azu-nyan, I'm not a good senpai."

That's the understatement of the decade. "I know," Azusa responded, not sure what Yui was getting at. "Neither is Ritsu-senpai, but you both have your moments. What's your point?"

Despite her cringing a little at Azusa's bluntness, Yui soldiered onward. "Azu-nyan, Mugi-chan said that, if I showed you that picture and explained how important it was, then you'd understand too, and we could go back to normal. She said I had to do it soon, or it would be too late. I thought about that, and it made sense, but then Ricchan told me not to worry about it, that things would go back to normal if I just kept being myself. I want to make things normal again, but I don't know who's right, Azu-nyan. I couldn't even keep track of a photo. They don't move on their own, Azu-nyan!"

Azusa glanced at the photo album. Normal normal normal. It always comes back to making things normal. What the hell does that even mean? Haven't we been getting better? What was the last two hours if it wasn't normal? Yui-senpai hasn't been acting herself, though. I've been thinking all week about what they've been saying to me about Yui-senpai and I hadn't even considered what they might be saying to her at the same time. I'm sure they mean well, but they're just confusing Yui-senpai… and me. No, no. I'm not confused anymore. We're friends, I'm sure of it. That's what we are. Maybe talking about the photo will help her understand that, and then I can make the others understand, so we can finally figure out a way to move forward together. Yes, that's what we need to focus on. The way forward has to exist. "Describe the photo to me, Yui-senpai," Azusa requested. "If you can't find it, at least tell me about it."

The mood in the room lightened considerably as Yui boasted a silly grin over the memory. She rose from her position next to Azusa, wandering over to the corkboard on the other side of the room. "It's funny, you can't even see us very well in the picture." She touched softly the place where the picture would have been, tracing the outline of the empty space. "It's of Mugi-chan giving a peace sign in front of Ton-chan's tank, the day we gave him to you. In the background, I'm hugging you from behind. That's all."

Azusa racked her brain to bring herself back to that day. She remembered it rather well, her senpai's misguided attempts to provide her a junior under her leading them to buy Ton-chan for her having left quite the impression. She also remembered the particular event in question that Yui was describing. "You mean when you tackled me while I was looking at Ton-chan?" she thought aloud, now becoming a bit annoyed as she recalled nearly getting killed by being slammed into Ton-chan's tank. "That's the most important photo you own?"

Yui nodded, not seeing a problem with Azusa's interpretation of the photo. "I rely on you and the others for everything. You give me Azu-nyan energy that I need to survive when there's no cake around. Every day is so much fun with you all. Maybe that's why I can't get this problem out of my head, because everything is too good right now." She paused for a long moment. "I sound pretty sappy right now, but our band is the main reason I get out of bed in the morning besides food. By myself, without you all, I'm back to powerless Yui."

The explanation refused to sit right with Azusa, in spite of how Yui it sounded. "You're not that dependent on us, Yui-senpai. I've seen firsthand how naturally talented you are, how motivated you can be when you feel like it. When you bother to try, nothing stops you." For better or for worse.

Removing her hand from the corkboard, Yui returned to the table, sitting crisscross opposite her junior. "Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm a lot better around you all," Yui insisted. "You're all really special to me, and that's what keeps me going. But, the reason I wanted to show you that picture last was because it's the only picture I have of me hugging you where I can't see your face."

Unaware of how incredibly rude her word choice was out of context, Yui was more than a little surprised when Azusa glared at her senpai for her comment. "What? What's wrong with my face?!" Azusa indignantly demanded.

A small giggle left Yui as she recovered immediately. "Whenever I hug you in a photo, you always look so surprised, Azu-nyan, like you weren't expecting it. It's really cute. But when you don't look like that, you look annoyed, like I'm forcing a burden on you. That's cute too, but I know you don't like those hugs as much, and I can't enjoy them either then. In this picture, though, I can't see your face, and I can pretend you're enjoying it just as much as I do."

No appropriate response came to Azusa for that statement. This is a bit heavier than I anticipated. Yui-senpai has such a massive problem with my personal space that I had no idea she actually thought about how I felt. That just raises the question of why she does it anyways. But… damn it, I don't outright hate her hugs. Fine, I can admit that. There's nothing strange about liking being hugged, although Yui-senpai's hug quantity is a bit excessive. But do I really want to get into this right now? I guess I don't have a choice. So much for taking it easy today. If it makes Yui-senpai feel better, it's worth a shot, because she knows how to make everyone feel better.

Azusa rose from her own seat, making her way over to her forlorn senpai. She wrapped her arms around her senpai's back, making sure she was smiling, even if Yui couldn't see it. Blindsided, Yui didn't immediately respond. With only a regular shirt on, Azusa could feel the warmth of Yui's arms as they carefully rose to meet the embrace they found themselves in. "You're wrong, senpai. It's not that I hate your hugs. You just have a habit of picking the worst possible times for a hug, like when we're trying to take a photo. Like I told you, it gives people the wrong idea. When people need a hug, though, it's okay to hug them."

"I'm sorry I'm so selfish, Azu-nyan," Yui apologized, staring at her feet. "It's not fair, and I know it, but I'm doing my best to give you what you want. I want us to be the way we were, but I don't at the same time. I want what you want, and I don't, and I don't know which part of me is telling the truth. It's confusing!" With the exclamation, Yui kicked her feet out and threw her hands in the air, shaking Azusa off amidst the steam rising from Yui's head.

Catching herself before she could tumble into the wall, Azusa decided to forgive Yui as she steadied herself, citing her own frustrations with the whole situation. This magnanimity didn't extend to Azusa not glaring at her senpai as she sheepishly apologized for her outburst when she turned to face her kouhai. When she was done groveling, Yui settled herself back into her previous position, giving Azusa a thoughtful stare. "Do you remember what you said last Sunday? About not moving?"

Replaying the conversation in her head didn't give Azusa any relevant results. "I'm not sure I said anything like that. It was more of a…" Azusa blushed at the memory of her own defiance. "I just couldn't sit by and let you keep running away from your problem," she eventually settled on admitting, leaning against the wall shyly.

"Yes, that." Yui confirmed. "I want to talk with you about something important, Azu-nyan. Something that's been bugging me for a while. I don't think there's anything we can do about it, though."

"Do you mean graduation?" Azusa guessed.

A nod was the only confirmation Yui provided. The senior sighed, standing up just to flop down on her bed, face up. "I can't make the feeling go away, Azu-nyan. It's bigger than just being worried about my future. I didn't want to tell anyone about it, because then they'd have the feeling too, and that wouldn't be fair, but I can't keep it bottled up anymore." She spread her arms out over her head in a unique stretching motion. "I want to talk to someone who understands about it."

Pulling herself off the wall, Azusa sat against the white table, facing her senpai, the photo album left on the table behind her. "Then talk," she commanded her senpai. "Talk to me. If nothing else, I can listen." The feeling of wanting to protect her senpai, the face of her band, surged within Azusa once more, and she fought the urge to simply give in to her emotions and unleash the concerns rising within her vehemently. Relax, Nakano. If Yui-senpai has something to say, be a good kouhai and hear her out.

Nothing was spoken for a few moments. Even with the tense air between them, Azusa found herself strangely relaxed. Yui's presence, for all the unwanted contact if forced Azusa to prepare for, could be rather calming, though usually only when the girl was actively doing something else, such as playing her instrument. Yui continued to lie dormant on the bed with her legs dangling off the side, Azusa waiting patiently for a sign of life from her senpai. This is… different. Is this issue why she's been acting so weird today? Mou, how many times is graduation going to keep messing with us?

When Yui sat up once more, the distant expression had returned. At this point, Azusa found herself expecting that particular thorn in her side, though it didn't make it any less frustrating to see. "Like I told you, Azu-nyan, your hugs and my time with the others give me my energy. When I realized a while ago that I was going to have to go back to being without that soon, I… I didn't know what to do. I still don't. I can't just shove it away like my other worries, it keeps coming back. I can't not be with you guys anymore, Azu-nyan. I'm supposed to be an adult soon, but I can't even picture waking up without Ui's help half the time. I can't do my homework without Mio-chan's help. I depend on Ricchan's friendship when you and Mio-chan are being bossy. Mugi-chan's sweets are more important to me than breathing, and she's one of the nicest people I've ever met. But there's nothing we can do about graduation, and I can't not think about it. I don't want to go back to being the person I was three years ago. I mean, I'm still Yui, but Yui is better with other people, like curry and rice. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sad, Azu-nyan."

Azusa tilted her head. "Yui-senpai, we're all sad about graduation. Nobody would think less of you for that. Not me, or any of us, and not Ui."

Yui shook her head, her tone growing in desperation. "But I'm scared too, Azu-nyan! I don't know what to do, and they don't either! I don't want to stop playing with you all! I love you guys!"

There was an easy way to respond to that particular sentence, resting eagerly on the tip of Azusa's tongue. It would be too simple to throw Yui's claim of love back in her face, so Azusa held herself back. A part of her couldn't bring herself to cross that line, even platonically. She loved the light music club and what it meant to her, but she drew a firm line at using that word on Yui, now wary of how words could be misinterpreted. Instead, she resolved to be the reassurance her senpai was grasping for through other means. Yui-senpai always needs a shoulder to lean on, in way more ways than one. If she's finally willing to be as honest as possible, then I need to encourage her, so she feels alright about opening up to the others. If I can't reassure her, I can't reassure myself. "Senpai, we're not going anywhere anytime soon," Azusa asserted with no precedent. "Don't think about holding us back, because you don't. I know I don't say it often, or ever, but I respect you, in a weird sort of way. Your optimism keeps me and everyone else going. You don't have to always be happy to do that, either. I think the others would feel better if you opened up to them about this too."

To Azusa's chagrin, her encouragement only discouraged Yui, and she slapped a hand against the bed. "Don't tell me that! Can't you see, Azu-nyan? All I've been able to focus on since the performance is what's coming. I've tried to forget, I've tried to find a solution, and I've tried to keep everyone else happy until I could, but it's so tiring. I'm running out of energy faster and faster, Azu-nyan. I'm directing my frustration at people that don't deserve it, like you. I'm so, so sorry." Yui continued to mumble apologies as she turned over, back and forth on her bed, her words muffled by the sheets.

It was more unnerving to Azusa that Yui wasn't crying than the alternative. Her mind ran through the last several days as she searched for the right thing to say. Yui-senpai… I should be apologizing. I haven't been thinking at all about how hard this must be for you and the others. I've just been an observer looking in, watching everyone try to be happy for each other, pretending everything is okay. Yui-senpai, you're the core of our band. You're the one that never fails to make everyone smile. Why would you try to prevent us from knowing how much this was hurting you? What am I thinking, of course she'd have some stupid reason to pretend everything is fine, it's what we've all been doing. She said as much over a week ago, and I still haven't let it sink in. Azusa Nakano rose, small hands balling into fists at her sides. Fine then. This is for the band, nothing more.

When Yui Hirasawa noticed her kouhai standing over her, she ceased her rolling around, looking up at the girl with curiously sad eyes. "Can I tell you something important too, Yui-senpai?" Azusa asked, using everything she had to remain confident, while offering her senpai a hand to stand up.

Yui took Azusa's hand in her own tightly, not sure what was happening. When she did, Azusa placed her other hand on top of Yui's, pulling the brunette up easily. The two of them stood in Yui's room, only the dying natural light from the windows providing visibility. "I'm only going to say this once, and if you try to tell anyone, I'll deny it, and they'll believe me because you're an airhead." A blush appeared on Yui's face as Azusa spoke, inspiring Azusa to continue before her senpai came to a horrible misunderstanding.

"Look, I think you're stronger than anyone I've ever met," Azusa admitted. "You're lazy, unmotivated, and often inconsiderate, but I've never met anyone who stays as true to themselves as you do."

The slowly brightening smile on Yui's face dimmed when Azusa let go of her hand. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but that's why you're going to be fine without us next year, without me. You'll find someone else to get your energy from, something else. You can do that because you're far stronger than you think, Yui-senpai, and the love you have for others is what powers you and everyone around you. You might think you're taking from us, but what you give far exceeds anything you could possibly take. It's infuriating, and it's why I-" Azusa froze, taking a moment to recollect her thoughts before she said something she'd regret. "It's why everyone really cares about and would do anything for you, Yui-senpai."

A single sigh from Yui was enough to blow all of Azusa's claims away. "If making people feel like that is just going to hurt everyone when we have to go our separate ways, I don't want to do it anymore, Azu-nyan. Maybe I should just be a NEET with Giita."

Resisting the urge to slap her senpai, Azusa settled for a withering stare. "Don't you dare," she warned. "Don't spit on everything we've worked to create together by giving up on pursuing your future. There could be something even better waiting just around the-"

"Azusa, I don't want a future without HTT!" Yui fired back, a rage in her eyes that was foreign to Azusa. "What don't you understand? How can you just be okay with leaving behind the people you love forever, for no other reason than fate? How are you okay with that?"

"How can I be okay with that?" Azusa echoed dumbly, taking a step backwards. "How am I okay with that?"

It was a simple question, the sort of thing Azusa had just sort assumed she knew the solution to so well that she didn't even attempt to answer it. As she racked her brain for the proper response, however, nothing came to her. It was as if the query had drained every bit of information needed to respond the second it entered her head. The room around Azusa grew smaller as she concentrated, reaching out for the answer she didn't want to hear. You're asking me, of all people, how can I be okay with losing the four of you? Well, that's easy. I'm not.

In internally admitted it to herself, everything became perfectly clear to Azusa. Her eyes widened in understanding, the fact she had been burying as deep as she possibly could within herself having finally dragged itself back into her conscious memory. Her head began throbbing, the presentation of an unsolvable problem hurting the logical part of her. "All this time, I've just been ignoring the truth," she whispered, nearly out of Yui's earshot. "I can't, Yui-senpai."

Confused, Yui reached out a hand tentatively to her kouhai. "You can't?" she asked hesitantly.

When Yui's hand got close, Azusa slapped it away, losing her ability to focus on the room around her as things started to blur. She felt bad about the hurt she could barely make out in Yui's eyes. She felt worse knowing that it wouldn't be long before she could never see those eyes again. "No, I can't. I can't do it. I've told myself so many times, that I'm going to solve the problem, make amends, keep us together, but I can't change my age, Yui-senpai. There's nothing any of us can do."

As soon as she managed to spit the words out, Azusa completely broke. The dam she had been building within her for weeks collapsed horribly all at once. Her mind raced at a pace far too fast for her to follow, a torrent of anxious worries and dangerous musings flooding her at once. I can't do it I can't I can't be without them I need Yui-senpai and Mio-senpai and Mugi-senpai and Ritsu-senpai we're a band I'm Azusa Nakano and I'm part of HTT I need them I love them please don't go please please pleasepleasedon'tgoplease

Searching for any sort of solid object to pull herself away from reality, Azusa stumbled forward blindly. Her leg bumped into what had to be the nightstand, and Azusa allowed herself to collapse against it instantly. The broken kouhai took in the feeling of the wooden surface on her back, the only feeling she wanted to accept as real in the moment. She knew she was crying, bawling, as she sat there against the nightstand, but she had stopped attempting to process the world around her already. Senses of touch and hearing became dull, useless as the person in control of them. All she could comprehend was the searing sensation running through her brain. Yui said something to her, but it sounded like she was underwater, the words coming out in a jumbled mess that couldn't be processed. Despite this, Azusa felt drawn to the voice, reaching out with her own in an automatic response she had never wanted to admit she had. "Don't leave me, please! Don't go! I promise I'll be a better kouhai! I'll do whatever you want, I'll wear cat ears forever, just please don't leave me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! I-I-I-"

Speaking itself became in insurmountable obstacle for Azusa, her breathing approaching the level of hyperventilating. She slammed her head against the nightstand in uncontrolled rage, feeling an infuriating amount of nothing from the impact. Her mind and mouth were no longer connected, and the world around her consisted only of herself and the truth that she had attempted to flee from for nearly a month. Why why why fate?! Why would you bless me with such incredible senpais and friends just to take them away?! Do I really not deserve them that much?! What do I have to do?! Please, what can I do to make this right?!

A sticky liquid made contact with Azusa's stomach and legs, but she could barely see herself through her sobbing. Her nose began to run from the exertion, and she leaned her back more heavily against the hard surface she had fallen against for stability. This has to be a bad dream. Yui-senpai doesn't have our problems. Mio-senpai and Ritsu-senpai are arguing downstairs while Mugi-senpai serves tea. Ui-chan and Jun-chan and I are going to hang out tomorrow. We're not going to separate. I'm going to wake up soon, right? This can't be the end of the photo album, all there is. I'm not ready to go yet!

Azusa's body left the ground. She was in too much of a daze to understand what was happening, but the involuntary movement inspired her to at least attempt to dry her eyes. She considered kicking out, but found herself completely drained of energy. When her eyes began to clear once more, she saw the face of her senpai, looking more worried and scared than Azusa had ever seen her. When Yui noticed recognition in Azusa's eyes, she said something, but Azusa still couldn't make it out. All sense of reason eluded Azusa. Whatever precedents she had worked years to build between herself and her senpais, all attempts to appear like a composed and competent daughter of the Nakano family had been obliterated in a matter of a minute or two. There was only one thing Azusa was still certain of, between all the people and things in her world changing. She found enough feeling in her hands to wrap them tightly around where she assumed her senpai was, the slight change in Yui's expression enough to convince Azusa she had found her target. Azusa could feel panic clawing at every part of her, but found the strength of will to steady her breathing, at least long enough to speak. "Yui, promise me you'll never leave me alone," she asked pitifully, gripping fiercely at the only person she knew still existed in the moment.

If Yui responded, Azusa didn't see or hear it. Her head was buried into her senpai's chest. As she held this position for an inordinate amount of time, her thoughts gradually became intelligible once more, just in time for the exhaustion of her outburst to catch up to her. You're selfish, huh, Yui-senpai? Well, how about this? This has to be more selfish than anything you've done. Heh. Azu-nyan wins again… I… have to win…

This delirious thought was one of Azusa's last before she lost consciousness to the sound of someone screaming about blood and barnacles.


November 13th, 11:49 PM

Today had not been a great day for Ui Hirasawa, but she knew better than the pretend she had the worst of things. All she had managed to do today was fail in her duty as a host to entertain everyone. She didn't even get the chance to apologize to most of her guests before they unceremoniously left. When Mio had screamed bloody murder, she and the others had rushed upstairs to see what was wrong. Chaos had ensued when two girls had been found unconscious, but it was Sawako of all people that had taken charge of the situation. The teacher ended up taking Mio and Ritsu home, Ritsu volunteering to explain to Mio's parents what had happened should Mio not wake up in time. Though Ui would have preferred to send Azusa home with them, Yui had insisted she spend the night, and the look on her face was impossible to disagree with. One phone call to Azusa's parents courtesy of Tsumugi later, Azusa was her guest for the evening. Once she was certain that Azusa was alright and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, Tsumugi had called for her own ride, insisting that she be contacted if needed. Though she would normally be reluctant to contact someone with as many hidden agendas as Tsumugi, Ui was grateful for any sort of support at this point. Aside from watching over Azusa, Yui had been all but useless for this entire process, with Ui handling the rapid sendoff of all her guests. I hope Onee-chan's okay. Whatever happened up there must have bothered her quite a bit. Mou, she doesn't even know what happened downstairs while she was gone. Maybe she tried confessing? No, that wouldn't cause Azusa-chan to pass out, I think. Thinking of Azusa only inspired Ui to worry. Relax, Ui. There's nothing I can do except let her rest. Sawako-sensei said as much herself, and she's supposed to have basic medical training. Peeking into her sister's room, Ui confirmed that Azusa was, in fact, still asleep on Yui's bed, where she had been since Yui had placed her there hours ago.

Said Yui had vanished downstairs, imploring her sister to keep an eye on their guest while she did who knows what. Normally, Ui would have objected, but if her sister thought what she was doing was important enough to warrant leaving her kouhai behind, Ui wasn't going to object. From her position at the door to the room, Ui observed the impeccable cleaning job she had silently done while waiting for Azusa to wake up. The fruit punch had been rather difficult to get out of the carpet without making noise, but Ui had dealt with worse. Her sister could pay her back by getting rid of all the food Ui had discovered behind her nightstand. "What happened today, Azusa-chan?" Ui whispered, wishing her friend would wake up, if only so she would have someone to talk to. "I didn't want stopping Mugi-senpai to come at a cost like this."

Even if her actions had nothing to do with the current situation, Ui felt a bit of culpability. She had only acted in the best interest of her friends, but she couldn't help but wonder if she should have let Yui present her gift the way Tsumugi had originally intended. Well, I won't know until Azusa-chan wakes up. I should focus on what I can do right now, like making sure my sister is able to wake up on time tomorrow.

Doubt still picked away at Ui's mind as she wandered downstairs, looking to retrieve her older sister for bedtime. You need to keep your head right now, Ui. Azusa-chan will be fine. I need to take care of Onee-chan. Silently imploring Azusa to be strong while she was gone, Ui jumped quietly down the rest of the stairs, looking for her sister.

Finding nothing on the second floor aside from a lonely looking Giita, Ui continued down to the first floor, shivering as she noticed the front door was open. Briefly terrified that someone had broken in, Ui relaxed at the sight of her sister on the front porch. Still clad in only the blue t-shirt and shorts she had chosen to wear today, it was a small miracle her skin wasn't as blue as her shirt. Gasping, Ui practically dove into the boot cabinet and pulled out Yui's scarf, heavy jacket, and mittens, hurrying them out to her older sister. Yui's head turned slightly at the commotion, but she returned to looking out at the sky just as quickly, even as Ui draped the scarf around Yui's neck and practically smothered her with her jacket. Brushing the light layer of snow that had collected on the top of Yui's head away, Ui placed her hands on her hips authoritatively. "Onee-chan, what are you doing out here?" Ui half-asked, half-berated, confused at how Yui was tolerating the freezing temperatures while dressed so inadequately. "Come inside before you get sick."

"I'm waiting for Azu-nyan to wake up though," Yui insisted, her voice too normal for someone covered in equal amounts of snow and winter clothing in places they weren't supposed to be. "Did she wake up?"

Befuddled in the way only her sister could make her feel, Ui took a second to compose herself. "Eh? No, she's still sleeping. Why wait out here? Why not wait in your room?"

Yui frowned, looking away. "I can't, Ui. I messed up again. She probably thinks she messed up, but it's my fault for pushing her again. I keep trying to make everyone happy, and I just end up worrying you and hurting Azu-nyan. I don't want to hurt Azu-nyan. I don't know what to do anymore. What do I do, Ui?"

Ui didn't have an answer for her sister. She was fairly certain that nobody would, considering an actual question hadn't been asked. Perhaps it's a good thing she wasn't present for the argument the others were having. I'll wait for Azusa-chan to wake up to explain it to her so she can help Onee-chan understand. "You could talk to me about anything, Onee-chan," Ui offered. "But I'd prefer that we do it inside."

"It's actually not that bad out here," Yui lied, dodging the actual issue at hand. "The snow is pretty. Winter is nice when it isn't too cold." The freezing weather outside agreed.

Before Ui could attempt to drag Yui back on track, the senior corrected herself. "Mou, I don't know about talking, though. I don't want what happened to Azu-nyan to happen to you. I love you too, Ui."

A deep blush came from Ui at her sister's candid tone. She didn't think she could ever get tired of hearing her sister say those words. "Hold on for just a second," she requested, retreating into the house.

Several moments of frantic searching later, Ui returned with a heavy jacket, her own scarf, a blanket, and two pairs of slippers. Despite her efforts at stoicism, Yui couldn't help by eye the warm goods desperately. Draping her sister in protection against the cold, Ui clothed herself and wrapped the blanket around the two of them. "If you're going to be out here, I'm going to be out here," Ui decided. "I'm never leaving your side, Onee-chan. You can always rely on me. Take your time thinking about what to say."

Yui's smile was warmer than anything Ui could have brought outside. For a brief moment, the two sisters sat quietly, the older resting her head on the younger, a canvas of stars lighting up snowflakes that fluttered around aimlessly, leaving the smell of fresh snowfall in the air behind them. "Are we going to be okay?" Yui asked, ending the great day Ui had suddenly been having. "Everyone seemed pretty upset when they left, and nobody explained what was going on with Mio-chan."

Deciding to be vague with how much she explained for now, Ui nodded. "You missed an argument, but it's not a big deal," she reassured. "I think they were just upset that the party had to end a little early, and Mio-senpai freaked out when she saw Azusa-chan covered in that red juice. I'm confiscating your secret stash, by the way. It'll attract bugs."

"Meanie," Yui accused. "Azu-nyan said you wouldn't do that."

Assuming Yui was lying, Ui gave her sister a stern mother type of look. "Azusa-chan doesn't live here, we do. Besides, she's asleep, so you can't put words in her mouth like that."

The older brunette crossed her arms, nearly pulling the blanket away from Ui in the process. "She did say that though!" Yui looked up at the sky, her pouting face disappearing to be replaced by a thoughtful one. "Ne, Ui, what should I do about Azu-nyan?"

"Are you referring to how you, um, feel?" Ui confirmed, still not quite used to addressing the topic so casually.

Nodding, stars shone in Yui's eyes, a stark contrast to her expressionless features. "Everyone told me different things. Ricchan wanted me to say nothing. Mugi-chan wanted me to tell her as soon as possible, and she's been trying really hard to help Azusa-chan and me out in her own way all week. What she said to you yesterday proves that. Mio-chan has been trying to find a way to keep everyone together so I don't have to figure it out myself. Azu-nyan… is doing her best. I want to do my best too." She reached out towards the stars with one hand, clenching it into a fist.

Ui fought the urge to impart her own opinion on the matter. As badly as she wanted to help her sister, she knew better than to further confound the problem for Yui by mixing in her own selfish desires. "Just listen to who makes the most sense," she attempted to advise, pulling a little of the blanket back around her against a sudden wind gust.

"But they're all right," Yui sighed. "I know them, Ui. They may not agree, but I can tell that they're all doing what their hearts are telling them to do, so I don't think any of them are wrong. It's like the stars, ne? They all shine differently, from different places, but at the end of the night, they're all still stars, and they shine the brightest together. That's why I believe in everyone in Ho-kago Tea Time, in my friends."

As Yui continued to stare out at the uncaring night sky, Ui found herself awestruck. Following their hearts? That's what you got out of listening to what everyone, even Mugi-senpai is doing, what they've been trying to convince you to do or not do? That's… kind. That's such an Onee-chan thing to say. No matter what happens, no matter how upset you get about anything, you never fail to try to see the best of things in the end, of people. That's why the last few weeks have been so hard, ne? And now the whole Azusa-chan thing is making things more complicated. Well, your younger sister has had enough. I'm not going to let this be just about you any longer. We're all we have, damn it. I need Onee-chan to see that in me.

Digging into her apron pocket, Ui withdrew the missing photo from Yui's wall. "I'd like to return this to you, Onee-chan," Ui offered, holding out the photo invitingly.

Turning at the sound of Ui's voice, Yui's eyes widened at the sight of her missing present. She started to attempt to snatch the photo, only to stop herself halfway through the motion. Ui frowned, tilting her head in a silent demand for an explanation. "I had a feeling you had it," Yui admitted. "I'm not mad, because if you took it, then you must have had a good reason for it. Things worked out, though, because Azu-nyan helped me find an answer while we were looking for it. Because of that, I don't think I need it anymore."

Ui allowed the photo to rest in her lap, though she kept a hand over it for protection. "You don't need it? Why not?" she questioned, the tightening in her heart telling her she knew the answer already.

Yui grinned childishly. "Well, Azu-nyan asked me to stay by her side. I thought about everything everyone said, and while Azu-nyan isn't right about everything, especially cakes and practicing, I think she's right about this. So, I'm going to make sure I do my best for her and the band by staying with her and the others as long as I can. I'll leave the planning to everyone else, since that's what they're good at." The senior took note of the slightly forlorn look Ui was trying to hide at the news. "Oh, Ui, don't worry, you're still my soulmate! I'll still come home in time for dinner, I promise!"

Watching her older sister attempt to reassure her was comforting, but not because of what Yui was saying. That's just Onee-chan, though. I always knew that part of her growing up would include something like this, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. But I'm someone too. Hearing Onee-chan confirm it proves it. "I know you will, Onee-chan. So, you don't want the picture back?" she teased lightly, waving it in the air. "I could always just get rid of it."

As expected, Yui dove for the picture, nearly headbutting her sister in the process. Ui held the picture back from the guitarist's assault, the reaching match that ensued nearly knocking both girls into the snow. "Onee-chan, I'll give this back to you, but I want to have that talk first, the one you promised me a few days ago. Do you remember?"

For now, Yui ceased her photo retrieval operation. She put a finger to her chin, doing her best to recall what Ui mentioned. Just as Ui prepared to explain things again, Yui's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! I did promise that. And you're right, Ui, I owe this to you. Things need to change from here on in, so I'll start by telling you everything. I need to be mature about this and do what I should have been doing, so I don't mess things up again." Though Ui wasn't sure if she could ever see her older sister as truly mature, she appreciated the effort Yui was putting in as she sat up straight, thinking hard about her next words. She knew, deep down, that things were going to change from tomorrow on, just as Tsumugi and now Yui herself claimed. The only question left to answer now was how she was going to respond to it.

"Ummm, I guess I'll start from after the cultural festival." Right as Yui began to recall waking up in the clubroom after their last performance, her alarm clock flipped over to midnight, signaling the beginning of a new day.