With this being the 5th day at the house, the band was officially more than half way through training camp. Now there were only two days left. It had been an eventful week so far, with each member working their hardest to bring the band together. There were still occasional issues, particularly with vocals and the bass, but they shrank as the days went on. Each time they played they made progress, and Sayo hoped that today they would show even more improvement.

The plan for today was to have full band practice in the morning, then keep working on the new song in the afternoon. If they finished it today, then they would have all of tomorrow to practice and record it. For that to happen, Sayo would need to step up with composing the guitar parts. However, that was a concern for the afternoon.

For now, she needed to focus on rehearsal. The band was set up in the studio, the same way they had been doing all week. Sayo tuned her guitar carefully at the start of practice, making sure each string was perfect.

Around her, her bandmates did the same. There was a feeling of focus in the air today, a shared sense of determination among the band. It had shifted since yesterday, sharpened in its clarity. Sayo was eager to see what they could achieve.

"We'll start with Song I Am." Yukina declared as the last notes of warming up faded away, glancing back at the others. Her eyes flicked over each of them, starting from Sayo and then moving away. They lingered on Lisa for just a moment longer than the rest. Sayo wondered if something had happened between them yesterday. Yukina turned back towards the front and lifted one hand to her mic stand. "Count us off."

Ako immediately did, launching them into the start of the song. Each instrument joined, blending together to create the distinct opening of Song I Am. Sayo's notes were well placed, landing in exactly the right spots. Lisa was stronger than she'd been the day before, more firm in her rhythm and certain in her notes.

When Yukina joined, all of the pieces clicked into place. She aligned with the rest of the band in perfect time, bringing them together through the first verse of the song.

After all their hard work, the effects of the training camp were truly coming through. Finally, the band was playing together. The piano played with poise, the drums hit with precision, the bass thrummed beneath, the guitar carried the tune, and the vocals led them all forward.

It was a new sound, not the same as they had before, but that wasn't a bad thing. Sayo didn't think so, as she played each chord. She leaned into the sound, the new way her bandmates played. The emotion in the room swelled, carried by the song and their feelings.

This was Roselia, once again rising towards the top. If Sayo looked up she was sure she could see it, their destination at the peak.

Sayo matched the rhythm of the drums, harmonized with the bass, aligned with the keyboard, and followed the vocals through the song. Yukina led vibrantly, with the full force of her voice. The others sang the background parts together, their sound unified.

Sayo smiled as she played, as she used what she learned over the course of the week to align with her bandmates. They soared through each verse and chorus, through the bridge and the end of the song.

The final notes of the song came abruptly, the same way Song I Am always ended. Lisa's eyes were locked on Yukina, as they had been for most of the song. Sayo glanced past her to Rinko, who still had her hands on the keys. When their eyes met, the corner of Rinko's lips lifted in a smile.

"Let's run it again." Yukina spoke, pulling Sayo's attention to her. She didn't smile but her eyes were warm, showing approval of the performance. As requested, Ako counted off the start of the song once again.

The band continued to practice Song I Am, playing it multiple more times, before switching to Avant-Garde History. It was just as strong, showing the strength and growth of the band.

After that the band shifted to Yakusoku, which was one of their harder songs. This too had improved from before, especially the bass. Lisa played confidently and sang consistently through the song. Yukina didn't move from her mic to do the choreography for the bridge, but she did gesture towards Lisa with one hand. As Sayo suspected, they seemed to have patched things up. They were behaving the same way they used to, before this school year. She wondered if Yukina had taken her advice; she'd have to ask her later.

The band continued to practice all morning, demonstrating their renewed unity with each song.

After lunch, Sayo worked with Rinko on the new song, the one they had composed the previous day. She listened to the demo track and prepared a guitar line, including a solo. She also helped with the other instruments in the bridge, upon Rinko's request. It felt good, composing for the band. Sayo could feel the purpose in each note as she worked.

They polished the piece, making sure it would be ready to practice and record on the final full day.

Yukina was sitting on the floor as she leaned against the wall, earphones covering both ears. The others were chatting across the room, but her headphones blocked most of the sound out. She listened to the guitar track for the new song, the one Sayo composed earlier.

As expected, it matched well. Sayo was becoming a great composer; Yukina would perhaps tell her at some point, if she found the chance to.

They would fine tune the rest of the song tomorrow, as they started practicing it. For now, despite not having a name for the song yet, Yukina was satisfied. She slipped her headphones off her head, unplugging them from her phone and placing them with her belongings.

A few feet away, Sayo was looking at a piece of sheet music. It was probably the new song, the guitar part she wrote earlier. On the other side of the room, their other three bandmates were huddled together. They were talking at a regular volume, though Yukina couldn't make out what they were saying. Rinko was holding a small red box, while Lisa kept glancing over at Yukina and Sayo.

They seemed to be plotting something again, and Yukina had a feeling she knew what it was. The same thing had been happening for the last couple days, with the same result each time.

"I think she's done now." Lisa was saying, louder as Yukina could now hear her. "Go ask."

"Ok!" Ako replied even louder, turning from the group to walk quickly towards Yukina. Rinko and Lisa trailed after her. She stopped in front of Yukina, looking down at her. "Do you want to play a game with us?" She asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Thank you, but I would not." Yukina rejected her politely, rising to her feet. She really did not like board games, even if she didn't recognize the one Rinko was holding. She turned to walk towards the door.

Ako's expression didn't falter. "Not even a game about cats?" She lifted one finger to point at Yukina.

Oh, it was about cats. Yukina stopped dead in her tracks; that changed things. "What cat game?" She couldn't resist her curiosity. Maybe she would consider playing it.

"Exploding Kittens." Rinko stepped forward, holding up the box. It had a cartoon black cat on the front, clutching a tiny grenade between its paws. Below that it claimed to be for cat and explosion lovers. Yukina certainly liked one of those things. The name was strange though.

"It's a card game!" Ako gestured at the box. "The goal is to not get exploded."

Yukina was still thinking about the title. "The kittens… explode?" Maybe this wasn't a good game choice; she didn't like the sound of that.

"You try to stop them, it's suuuuper cute." Ako insisted, stepping closer to Yukina.

Lisa interjected, causing Yukina's eyes to snap to her. "It's a fun game, Yukina. I think you'll like it."

Well, if Lisa said so then who was Yukina to argue. "Alright, I'll play." She conceded. Even if it wasn't fun, there were cats.

"Yes!" Ako pumped one fist by her side.

"We can play… on the ground in here." Rinko gestured to the multiple empty floor spots around the room. She moved to find a large enough area, so Yukina followed her. She could still hear what the others were saying.

"We just need Sayo." Lisa had her cat smile on as she looked over at their final band member. Sayo had her head down, but her eyes flicked up at the sound of her name.

"Will you play?" Ako practically bounced over to her, as Sayo put the sheet music down to talk with her.

"Hmm." Sayo seemed to be thinking hard about it, drawing one hand to her chin. "It's a card game?" She asked for clarification.

Ako nodded. "That's right."

Sayo glanced at Yukina, who had already agreed to play, then sighed. "Fine, but just one game."

Ako celebrated again, then guided Sayo to where Rinko was setting up the cards. The five band members sat in a circle, with the card box in the middle.

Rinko took the cards out, then pulled some off the top of the deck. She passed a green card around to each person. Yukina's had a cat eating a sandwich on it, with the word defuse.

"How is this game played?" Sayo asked as she scrutinized her card.

"Oh, right. I forgot you haven't played before." Ako chuckled sheepishly, then explained the rules. Yukina listened carefully as Rinko dealt four more cards to each player, then mixed some of the extra cards back into the deck. When Ako finished the instructions, Yukina thought she understood.

The goal of the game was to avoid exploding kittens. If you drew one at the end of your turn, then you either needed to defuse it or lose the game. All other cards helped towards that goal of avoiding the exploding kittens. They each had descriptions of what they did on them. You could use as many cards as you want during your turn, and you drew a new card at the end of each turn. The last player standing would win.

Yukina picked up the rest of her hand, which consisted of more cards with cartoon cats on them. She had two see the future cards, one nope card, and something called a beard cat. The poor beard cat was trapped in someone's beard; she wanted to cut it out and save it.

"I'll go first." Ako volunteered as she moved her cards around in her hand. She quickly drew from the top of the deck, which ended her turn.

They went clockwise from there, playing cards and drawing at the end of their turns. Lisa was second, followed by Yukina. Yukina drew a hairy potato cat, which was way more adorable than it should've been. Rinko went next, with Sayo last before the loop started again.

After a couple rounds, disaster struck. Next to Yukina, Lisa drew the first exploding kitten.

"I defuse it, right?" Lisa asked, placing the exploding kitten down face up.

"That's right." Ako supplied the answer.

Lisa took her defuse card and placed it on top of the kitten, also face up.

"Great, now put the defuse in the discard pile and put the kitten back anywhere in the deck." Ako continued giving instructions.

"Anywhere, huh…" Lisa did as instructed with the defuse, then contemplated where to put the kitten. If she put it on top, then Yukina would be sure to draw it next. The thought was a chilling one, but she didn't do that. No, Lisa slid the kitten back into the center of the deck.

Even though she watched it disappear to the middle, Yukina was nervous now. She sacrificed her special ops kittens to see the future, to look at the next three cards. There was no exploding kitten, so she drew a card with a sigh of relief.

More of her bandmates started using attacks and skips to keep from drawing as the game continued on, going multiple times around without seeing another exploding kitten.

At one point Lisa used a favor to ask for one of Sayo's cards, which she then matched with one of hers to take a random card from Ako's hand. The next card matched as well, so she took a second. Yukina wondered if Lisa got Ako's defuse card, but she couldn't tell.

She must've not gotten it, because a moment later Lisa drew another exploding kitten and grimaced down at it. This time, she was out of options.

"I can't defuse it." Lisa said, showing the rest of the cards in her hand. She was right, there was nothing she could do. The exploding kitten she drew was sleeping on an engine of some kind, which it caused to explode. It was cute, too bad it caused so much trouble.

Lisa put the rest of her cards in the discard pile and placed the exploding kitten in front of her. "Yukina, avenge me." She winked.

Yukina nodded seriously, she would do anything for Lisa, then looked back at her cards to take her turn. She played a skip, because what if there were two kittens in a row, but Ako shook her head.

"I use my nope card." She said, placing the red card down on top of Yukina's skip.

Well, so much for not drawing. Luckily, the next card wasn't a kitten and Yukina breathed a sigh of relief.

The stack of cards in the middle got lower and lower as the game progressed and exploding kittens were turned up and defused. Yukina had a close call, but she managed to avoid one by seeing the future and then shuffling the deck.

When Ako asked for a favor, which was for any card in Yukina's hand, she said a tearful goodbye to the beard cat. Then she looked at the next card, the one face down. She had a bad feeling about it, some sort of negative vibe, especially as the deck grew smaller.

She used an attack card, which would let her skip drawing and force Rinko, the next player, to draw twice. Rinko didn't stop her, and that was enough to eliminate her.

The next card was another exploding kitten, this time one crunching on a stick of dynamite.

"Rin-rin nooo!" Ako cried out dramatically as Rinko deposited her hand in the discard pile.

Now they were down to three players. Yukina looked between Sayo and Ako. Ako was chuckling about something, while Sayo looked focused on the game. Lisa silently cheered each time Yukina drew a card.

They continued until there were only three cards left. Yukina pulled the top one and was forced to use her defuse. She put the exploding kitten at the bottom of the deck.

Sayo used a see the future, then a skip. Yukina could stop her, if she wanted to. She had one nope left in her hand, along with a single hairy potato cat. Sayo must've seen something bad if she wanted to skip; it would be so easy.

After a moment of thought Yukina did it, dropping the nope on top of Sayo's card. Even though Sayo turned to glare at her, it was worth it. She was forced to use her defuse on the next card, another exploding kitten, which she placed back in the center of the three cards. Sayo looked pointedly at Yukina as she did, with both eyebrows raised; the card was placed just for her.

"I see how it is." Yukina mused, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Ako, looking nervously between them, took her chances with the top card. She sighed in relief at whatever it was, adding it to her hand.

That only left two cards, which could only be exploding kittens. For Yukina, it was over. Her one potato cat couldn't protect her from this.

"I'm out." She said, taking the top exploding kitten and dropping her last card in the discard pile. "Sorry Lisa." The cat that got her was in a house, chewing on a grenade. It was the cat from the box, causing mischief but being adorable while doing so. Yukina didn't mind losing, since she got to look at this card. She placed it face up in front of her.

"You were pretty close!" Lisa was smiling, so she must've not minded that much.

When Sayo drew the next card a moment later, the game was over. She was forced to accept the last exploding kitten. This one was skittering over a keyboard, which caused missiles to launch worldwide. It wasn't as good as the one Yukina got.

With that, Ako was the winner. She still had a lot of cards in her hand too, somehow.

"Congrats Ako-chan." Rinko said as she started to regather the cards, putting the deck back together.

"Thanks!" Ako handed her remaining cards back to her. "Want to play again?" She directed this question towards Sayo, and then Yukina.

As Yukina gave her exploding kitten back, the one that blew up a house, she wondered if she would get a different one next time. "Yes, I will."

Across from her, Sayo nodded. "One more round."

They played many more rounds as the night went on, each winning at least once as the sun set.

It was a good way to spend their second to last night at training camp, to spend the time they set aside to be together. Soon they would return to the bustle of their regular lives, to complicated schedules and painful feelings.

For now, Yukina enjoyed the card game.

End Note: This is a real card game and I played a round of it with a hand for each character to write this chapter. You can play with 2-5 players, it's great.