"Himiko hurry, the bus will leave soon!"
The self proclaimed mage opened her eyes slowly and saw the cosplayer staring at her expectantly. Unlike normally, Tsumugi wore a white t-shirt with the words JK on it and a pair of rugged jeans. Then again, Himiko wasn't that surprised, given today's day. Apparently, her girlfriend's favorite band "Just Kool" would play today in the city's park and of course, the blue haired otaku wanted to see the concert, as it was the first live performance in their area.
"Come on Miko, stand up and follow me! We need to be on time!", she exclaimed frantically, yet smiling and took out two tickets. "You can't believe how hard it was to get these tickets! I am so excited to get to see my favorite band with my favorite person in the whole wide plain world!"
Internally, the mage was not happy. She didn't mind spending time with Tsumugi, but just the thought of going to a concert made her feel tired. Especially one from a rock band. Himiko already had problems with the loud noise of her class, but the sound of loud musical instruments? That would be a living nightmare. Normally, if anyone would want them to come along to a rock concert, the small ultimate would refuse. But this wasn't just anyone. This was Tsumugi Shirogane, her girlfriend and she looked so happy, when talking about the concert, the mage just couldn't say no.
So she forced a strained smile on her face and hoped that the cosplayer wouldn't notice.
"Nyeh...Let me get some stuff from my room, so that we can go….", they replied slowly.
"Ah ok!", the cosplayer replied. "I'll wait in front of the door then! But please hurry!"
Giving the mage a small peck on the cheek, Tsumugi left the living room of their dorm. Himiko then stood up with red cheeks and headed towards her own small room. There, she opened the drawers of her red desk and took out a pair of earplugs.
"If I wear those, maybe it wouldn't be so bad at the concert.", she told herself hesitantly, before plugging the two items into each ear carefully. It dampened the sound around her, which was good enough for Himiko, so she plugged them out, put them into her jacket pocket, took her hat from the bed and then left her room.
When she reached the door, Tsumugi was already waiting for her.
"Ah! You're finally ready! Let's go then!", the cosplayer exclaimed hurringly, to which the mage gave a small nod, before the two left their dorm.
Moments later, both of the girls were riding a bus on the way to the park. It wasn't that full, so none of the two had to stand for the entirety of the ride. Instead, Himiko was sitting on Tsumugi's lap with the latter talking non stop about the band.
"I've been listening to them ever since I was 12!", the cosplayer explained enthusiastically. "Back then, I wasn't a cosplayer so I didn't have enough money to buy myself some tickets. But now I do have enough money, so you and I will watch the band perform! Isn't that great?"
Himiko nodded and gave a weak smile in return.
"Yay…I can't wait…", she replied slowly. But this time, it sounded too forced, so Tsumugi's enthusiasm disappeared and was replaced with worry.
"Huh? What's wrong Himiko?", she asked with concern written on her face.
"What do you mean?", Himiko replied nonchalantly. "I am fine. Just didn't sleep enough, that's all."
She prayed secretly that her girlfriend wouldn't notice anything, however the cosplayer pushed her glasses up a bit and planted a small kiss on the mage's forehead.
"Are you sure? I can't help, but think something's bothering you.", they pressed, but the redhead shook her head.
"I'm alright Mugi….Really…"
Himiko gave a small smile, which made Tsumugi smile as well in return. However, the blue haired girl couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong, so she didn't speak a single word during the rest of the ride. Neither did Himiko. She didn't want to go to a loud place, but at the same time, they didn't want to disappoint their girlfriend. As such, apart from some chatter of the other inhabitants of the bus, there was total silence between the two.
Eventually, the bus stopped near the park, so the ultimate students left the vehicle and slowly approached the gates of the city's park. The red roses that surrounded the entrance, along with the cotton candy colored sky, resulted in a calming atmosphere, which the little mage appreciated. Tsumugi noticed the growing smile of her love and glanced down with a smile on her face as well.
"I gotta say, the band couldn't have picked a better day for the concert. The sky is so beautiful!",
Himiko nodded, agreeing with the second statement.
"Nyeh...It's not as beautiful as you Mugi…", she replied, which caused the taller girl to blush.
"Thanks….", the cosplayer replied shyly, before looking at her wristwatch and her expression turning into shock. "Oh no! It's 6.55 PM! The concert will start in 5 minutes! Hurry Himiko!"
With that, Tsumugi suddenly began to run through the gate at high speed.
"Hey, wait for me! My mana is not enough to use my speed spell!", the mage exclaimed and started to chase after her. Luckily, Tsumugi wasn't that physically fit, so the shorter girl caught up eventually, as they both reached the reception area on their way to the park. The tall receptionist was surprised at how eagerly the cosplayer shoved the cards into his hand, while Himiko kept her stoic facade up. Inside though, the girl was anything but stoic. Her fear grew more and more, as they went through a crowd of loud fans. The noise started to hurt her ears, though the otaku didn't seem to notice. Himiko slowly took out her earplugs and put them into each ear. They damped the sound considerably and the self proclaimed mage started to relax a bit.
After a while, the two finally were close enough to the stage, with Tsumugi still looking as excited as ever. A lot of people were starting to scream in joy, as fog started to fill the stage and Himiko tried her best to block the sound out from her mind.
"Nyeh…It's already more loud than I thought.", she thought nervously and watched, as a group of strange dressed punk like people then emerged from the curtains, holding a bunch of guitars in their hands. The man with the wild purple hair stepped forward and grabbed the microphone.
"Hello friends!", he screamed with his screeching voice. "Are you ready to rock!"
The entire audience, especially Tsumugi, gave a loud and warm response, with the self proclaimed mage slowly starting to feel sick. Following that, the guy with the microphone started to sing a very loud song, while the rest of the 4 people started to play with their guitars. As if the song wasn't loud enough already, the speakers amplified the noise even more, so the more it played, the more tired Himiko felt. The cosplayer on the other hand started to dance wildly in rhythm, clearly enjoying the atmosphere. Seeing her girlfriend enjoying herself, calmed the redhead a bit, though it was harder and harder to ignore the loud noise, even with the earplugs. As the song continued, Himiko felt how her eyelids felt weaker and her legs turning into jelly.
"Sleeping...Nyeh..Maybe for a bit.", she said to herself and started to close her eyes.
"This is so much fun!",Tsumugi exclaimed happily and turned around to face her girlfriend "Isn't this song so great Hi….Miko?"
The last thing Himiko saw was the terrified expression of the other ultimate, before the mage lost her consciousness and the sound finally faded away.
When she woke up again, Himiko found herself again lying on her own bed. As she looked up from her position lazily, the sun could be seen through the window, as it was slowly ending its shift. But it wasn't the sunset that caught her attention. Rather than that, it was Tsumugi who did. The cosplayer sat next to Himiko facing away from her and looking down on the ground. A frown was noticeable on her face and her sad glance hurt Himiko. The mage slowly rubbed her eyes and then put her hand on the taller girl's shoulder, who in return flinched when she noticed the redhead.
"Oh...You're awake…", Tsumugi muttered reluctantly. "I carried you back, when you fell unconscious.
"Yeah…", Himiko replied, just as unsure. "Thanks…"
For a while, no one said anything. Neither were sure on what to say, with the only natural sound from outside filling the silence. After what felt like hours, the cosplayer turned towards her girlfriend. Now Himiko noticed the ruined makeup on her love's face, she had been crying.
"I'm sorry…", the blue haired girl said slowly. "I...I forgot how you hated noise, because I was so excited for the concert...But...Why didn't you tell me that you weren't feeling well?"
"I...I didn't want to upset you…", Himiko started to explain. "You..You looked so happy when you talked about the concert and….I love to see you smile...I didn't want to ruin this for you…"
Some tears fell from her cheek, as the redhead started to cry silently, but to her surprise Tsumugi wrapped her arms around the mage's waist and pulled her into a hug. She also started to cry again, just as silent as the other girl.
"You wouldn't ruin anything for me Miko.", they said sympathetically. "I love this band, but nothing makes me happier than being with you."
Himiko sniffed and returned the hug slowly.
"Same...But still, it's not fair…"
"Don't worry.", Tsumugi replied and planted a small kiss on the redhead's cheek. "We'll figure something out. I know it."
Her words lacked any sort of plan or approach and yet, they filled the little girl with hope. Her heartbeat calmed down and Himiko leaned her head on Tsumugi's chest, with the ladder stroking the other's back. The mage then planted a kiss on the other ultimate's uniform, before closing her eyes again
They stayed like this for the rest of the day, even after the sun bid its farewell.