Okay, so… Zeph warned me not to do this, but I am going to say this anyway to ease the worries and stress of people bothering to read the AN. If you come into this story hoping/expecting a story with the same weight and itty bitty trivia in between the lines as some of my other stories (like The Times We Lost, Scarlet Sunlight or even oneshots The Final Glow of Afterglow and Their First Date), you are probably going to be disappointed.
Instead, I am just going to have fun and see where this story will take me. Not saying I didn't have fun with any of my other stories (quite the opposite, really); I just want to try out something new and not restrain myself too much. I have been writing for this fandom for almost three years now as of writing this chapter, so… if you're still interested and want to see where this story will go as well, let's find out together, shall we?
Also, considering what day of the year it is, I want to quickly say this: happy birthday to Reiriniverse over on Tumblr! If you are reading this on the day this chapter goes live, could you do me a favor and wish her a happy birthday for me as well?
Disclaimer: I do not own BanG Dream! Girls Band Party nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.
The cover image features the character models of the following cards: Absolute Darkness Moca 4*, Absolute Darkness Ran 3* and Piercing the Darkness, A Blue Rose's Pride Rinko 3*. If the schedule syncs with that of the Japanese schedule last year (which I can't see why it wouldn't), all the EN players reading this will get to enjoy the gacha/event combo in about two months from now (at the time of posting this chapter).
It was a late-afternoon in the summer and the weather had been turning hot and humid over the course of the past several days. Despite this shift in climate, a sea of girls exited the live house's stage in high spirits after a phenomenal performance. The band performing that day had outdone themselves and this left their fans excitedly chattering amongst themselves once the band had left the stage.
But nobody was as happy and energetic as the little girl accompanied by her two friends.
"Did you see that drummer, Lisa-nee? She was so cool!" the shortest member of Roselia, Udagawa Ako, exclaimed with exaggerated motions of her arms. Fortunately, or unfortunately for the poor souls who had to listen to her gush some more, Ako was nowhere near done, "The way she took control of that last bit… she might be almost as cool as Onee-chan is."
"Ako… you do realize that the drummer was your Onee-chan, right?" Lisa asked with a light chuckle, grabbing Ako by the arm and leading her away from the mass of people leaving the venue to protect the short girl from being trampled. The brunette had to trust that the third person of their little group would follow along with her lead as Lisa was unable to babysit two people at once.
After much pestering and insistence and whining on Ako's behalf which even bordered a hysteric fit on Ako's end more than once, the members of Roselia all agreed to tag along with the band's drummer to a live show. More specifically, the live show of Ako's older sister that Ako had been looking forward to for months.
The other members of Roselia, on the other hand… all had displayed varying levels of enthusiasm to join Ako.
Yukina had called in a few hours before the performance was supposed to start, saying that she had caught a cold and did not want to risk getting sicker the weekend before an important test. Sayo, in turn, followed up on Yukina's message a few minutes later by mumbling something about having promised Hina some sisterly bonding time.
Neither Lisa nor Rinko would ever dare to inform Ako how relieved Yukina and Sayo sounded when they had announced they would be unable to join them. And, despite having had their doubts before arriving at the live house, both Lisa and Rinko had fun joining Ako that afternoon.
Afterglow had outdone themselves yet again, having held back teasing the new songs that they would perform. And, Lisa had to admit to herself, they had all been wonderful in their own unique way. Lisa could only imagine how much pressure had to be put on her fellow bassist to remain quiet for as long as she had as to not spoil the surprise.
"Say, Lisa-nee… where's Rinrin?" Ako's voice succeeded in shaking Lisa out of her own train of thoughts and back to the present. When Lisa looked around her she saw, much to her surprise, that Ako was right.
The third girl of their little group had been separated from them at some point, leaving Lisa all alone with Ako. And while Lisa knew she could have a blast of a time with Ako, it was Rinko she was more worried about.
"Rinko couldn't have gotten far, but she wouldn't hear her phone if we were to call her. Let's split up and search for her," Lisa suggested in a hurry, about to hurry off before she realized something else. The brunette reached out to grab Ako by the collar, reel the shorter girl in, ignore the sound leaving Ako's throat, and point to the clock hanging overhead, "Until the next hour. We should get back here by then, even if we haven't found her yet."
"Of course, Lisa-nee!" Ako nodded in agreement while rubbing her neck that was still slightly throbbing. With a plan of action in place, the two members of Roselia split up and dove back into the sea of people to find their friend.
Ako made a beeline to the area the live show was held, taking advantage of her height to squirm through the masses of people. Lisa, on the other hand, scanned the various faces heading towards the exit in the hopes that she could identify her missing friend.
Unbeknownst to both Lisa and Ako, the friend they were looking for was not very far from them at all. Ako even ran right past her when she split up with Lisa. However, she would be much too distracted to notice the bobbing of purple in her peripheral vision.
Why?
"So… did you get lost or something?"
"Ran!"
"What? It was an honest question that I am sure everybody here would have."
"Even if that's the case, couldn't you have phrased it a bit nicer?!"
Had it been under any other circumstance, Rinko might have watched the interactions between the group of girls in front of her with mild curiosity and even fascination. All the while wondering if this was a special occasion for them or if they did this on a daily basis. Roselia's keyboardist may never know as the warm-eyed, kindhearted keyboardist of Afterglow chose that moment to jump in between her friends.
As luck had it, unfortunately, Rinko was not in a situation where she could stay relaxed in front of the members of Afterglow.
"Now now, Ran-chan, Tomoe-chan, there's no need to fight like that," the brunette said as she tried to ease the tension between her friends with fairly minimal success. When she saw that her two friends were about to lash out at each other again, she tried to jump in between the two, "You two are making us look bad in front of someone who came all the way out here just to see us!"
"Speaking of our fan…" the girl who Rinko recognized as the band's lead guitarist turned to face Rinko, moving the spotlight away from the quarrel between friends behind her to the lone member of Roselia in the area. Even the red-haired drummer and the vocalist with the red highlight in her hair had ceased their argument for the moment to listen to what their bandmate had to say.
Rinko, on the other hand, did not even need to hear what the guitarist was about to say; the way she looked at her, the way she was watching her as if she was being identified to the very core, and the tone of voice that she used to address here… Rinko was all too familiar with that stare.
And, sure enough, Rinko's worries became a reality when she heard the guitarist speak once again.
"This area should be off-limits to just the average guest, so how did you get here, anyway?"
Rinko could feel her heart drop to the pits of her stomach when she finally processed what the question was subtly telling her. She was trespassing, moving into an area she was not allowed to be in, and this realization made her realize something else.
She was completely out of her comfort zone. And completely out of options if what the guitarist was saying was true; which, the only rational part of Rinko's brain that was still working reminded her, would probably be true. There was no reason for the guitarist to intimidate her like that, right?
Ako and Lisa were nowhere in sight and Rinko could not trust herself to talk herself out of this. As a matter of fact, she barely could keep it together, already feeling her legs trembling and about to give out.
What if this was the end for her? What if she would be punished and never could see the light of day? Could she transfer to the next town and live under a whole different name?
Rinko's head started spinning and her breathing became irregular and raspy as her brain short-circuited. A thick, dark haze clouded her vision and Rinko felt herself slip. Before she even realized it herself, she felt her body teetering dangerously over the void of unconsciousness with no going back. It would not be long until—
Rinko let out a soft gasp when she felt a hand on each of her shoulders.
"Are you okay? Do you need to lay down for a bit?" the redhaired drummer asked, her voice filled with a concern that Rinko recognized as being similar to that in Lisa's voice. When Rinko did not respond right away, the tallest girl in the room decided to take matters into her own hands.
"Moca, give me a hand here, we need to get her somewhere she can rest. Ran, Himari, Tsugu, go find help!" Tomoe announced, directing her friends who sprung into action right away. Some, Rinko managed to notice through the haze in front of her eyes, more energetically so than others.
And, much to Rinko's slight surprise, the five girls who had just been performing for the better part of two hours were going out of their way to help her. To help someone they barely knew.
The next thing that Rinko's brain managed to process was the fact that she was sitting down and had a cold, damp towel hanging over her head. It was a simple thing, something that might have seemed insignificant, but Rinko was starting to feel better bit by bit. It was… calming and comforting for her to have the cool air wash over her and protect her from the heat.
"I'm telling you, Tomato-chin, it could have been just a heat stroke. You know how the weather this time of year can get to us better than anyone."
"Even so, it's the least we could do for her. She should be all right in a little bit once she has cooled off again. And stop calling me that!"
As Rinko remained motionless in her seat, barely able to distinguish between the floor and the ceiling, she kept a hold of reality by trying to listen to the conversation. She knew she was rude and she knew that she would have to apologize when she felt better, but— Rinko's train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of footsteps that echoed through the hallway. But it was not just a single person's footsteps that came barreling towards them.
"Onee-chan! Onee-chan!"
Upon hearing the familiar cry, both Tomoe and Moca looked up from the tense yet surprisingly civil discussion they were in. Even Rinko, had anybody paid her attention, seemed to react to the voice that reached her ears.
The first and last thing that Tomoe saw when she looked up was a blur of purple dashing into her before a pair of arms wrapped themselves tightly around her. Tomoe, for her part, managed to contain her shock and dignity after seeing the identity of the human cannonball.
The redhead even managed to stay on both her feet for two seconds before she felt gravity take her and her sister down with it.
"Ako?"
"Sorry… Tomoe-chan… Moca-chan… I tried… to stop Ako… chan but… I couldn't…" Tsugumi gasped, having just rounded the corner that Ako had appeared from only moments prior. The brunette was huffing and puffing, taking raspy breaths while doubled over, but Moca managed to hear her utter two more words in that state, "I… tried…"
"It's okay, Tsugu, we all know that Ako-chin can be a handful sometimes. No offense, Tomo-chin," Moca added the second part in a hurry the moment she remembered how protective the redhead could be of her sister. Thankfully for Moca, she managed to dodge the bullet there as Tomoe did not seem like she had heard her at all. So, instead, Moca focused her attention on Tsugumi, "How did you run into Ako-chin anyway? Weren't we out here to help our fan recover from that heatstroke of hers?"
"A fan of Onee-chan's band got a heat stroke? Ako can help! What can Ako do?" Ako piped up, instantly detaching herself from her sister and jumping to her feet when she heard what Moca had said. Before Moca could point at the person in question, Ako had already locked on her target, "Oh wow, she looks like she's seen better days… will she be okay, Onee— wait a second… RinRin!"
Despite her short legs, it took Ako only two steps to sidestep Tomoe and be in front of Rinko's hunched form. Meanwhile, the three girls of Afterglow were taking a moment to look at each other in a silent conversation.
The moment when their eyes met they knew that the other two were thinking the exact same thing.
"Ako and Lisa-nee have been looking for RinRin forever!" Ako exclaimed as soon as she was right in front of her best friend. Had it not been for the state that Rinko was in, the three members of Afterglow knew that Ako would have glomped Rinko on sight as well.
"Ako, calm down, she's clearly not doing well," Tomoe scolded as she grabbed Ako by the shoulder and pulled her sister away from Rinko. Tomoe was about to say something else, but she was beaten to it by Moca.
"Besides, at this point our first priority is to get her the help she needs," Moca pointed out, having joined them to stand by Rinko's side. Unlike Ako and Tomoe, however, Moca made her move when she saw Tsugumi with a fresh damp towel in her hands, helping the brunette replace the one already over Rinko's head. Seeing that she had done what she could, Moca turned back to Ako, "Then we can find Ran, Hii-chan, and Lisa-san and help her get back."
"You won't need to worry about finding me anymore, I'm already here," a friendly-sounding voice said, catching the attention of the four girls and prompting all of them to turn around.
Walking to them was Lisa with Ran and Himari on either side of her. When she saw that she had their attention, the brunette waved with a cheerful grin on her face, "Yo! Sorry to make you watch over Rinko for us, but Ako and I can take it from here. Right, Ako?"
"Of course!" Ako nodded her head vigorously in the affirmative, her purple pigtails bobbing up and down in sync and almost slapping Tsugumi in the face in the process. After taking a moment to profusely apologize to the keyboardist, Ako looked at her sister and grinned, "Onee-chan was amazing as ever!"
"You really thought so? Thank you, Ako!" Tomoe grinned at the compliment. She seemed like she wanted to say more but one look from Ran shut her up; so instead, the redhead turned to Lisa after a sheepish chuckle and clearing her throat awkwardly, "Is it really okay for us to leave this to you?"
"I appreciate the concern, but it's our fault for dragging Rinko along with us today that she is in this state. So Ako and I will be the only ones responsible for Rinko," Lisa explained, a sheepish smile evident on her face. Before anybody else could say anything, Lisa quickly added, "Besides, after performing as well as you have today, I am sure you're all exhausted yourselves. Don't worry, we got this."
As if to emphasize Lisa's point, both Himari and Tsugumi broke the momentary pause by trying to stifle a yawn. The remaining girls in the area laughed heartily at Himari's and Tsugumi's expense, much to the two embarrassed girls' chagrin. It was eventually Ran who decided that her friends had gone through enough humiliation.
"In that case, we'll leave it in your hands, Lisa-san, Ako," Ran dipped her head in the direction of the two Roselia members who were still conscious, with the rest of the Afterglow girls following soon after. Having completed her pleasantries, the five of them turned around and headed back to the stage to help cleaning the stage after their performance.
This left Lisa and Ako alone with a Rinko who was still, for the most part, out of it. And both of Rinko's friends were well aware of this. So instead of trying to go home and push Rinko to move in the state that she was, Ako stayed by Rinko's side while Lisa came back a few minutes later with two chairs and an armful of juice boxes.
The three of them would sit in relative silence soon after, with Lisa and Ako giving Rinko the time to recover. At first, they were surprised that nobody on the live house's staff team came to kick them out, but Lisa would soon figure out the reason for this when Moca messaged her; they would be allowed to stay until the live house closed, giving them well over an hour to allow Rinko to properly recover.
But with the way things were, all Lisa and Ako were really doing was waiting… and waiting… Ako had tried to start a conversation with Lisa a couple of times, but each of them was met with little to no success as the older girl was much too worried about Rinko to give Ako the attention she needed. After the fifth conversation starter of Ako had sizzled out, the drummer pulled her knees up to her chest and glancing at her best friend every few seconds.
It wasn't until they were down to their last ten minutes that Rinko finally raised her head and acknowledged Lisa's and Ako's presence. Lisa had to physically restrain Ako from glomping the girl who has seen better days and risk hurting Rinko in the process.
"I'm glad you're feeling better, but we need to head out; Afterglow gave us an extra hour for you to recover but that hour is almost complete," Lisa explained, hoping that she managed to keep her voice as soft and gentle as she could so as to not affect Rinko. When Lisa did not notice any negative reactions from Rinko, she let go of Ako in order to move closer to Rinko, "Do you think you can walk?"
"I… think so…" Rinko began, getting up on a pair of shaky and trembling legs. She had barely taken a step before her legs gave out, causing Rinko to feel her body tip forward and the ground shooting up towards her.
Rinko braced herself for the fall… only for it to never happen.
"I guess that's a no; don't push yourself, Rinko, Ako and I got this," Lisa reassured the keyboardist, having dashed forward fast enough to catch a falling Rinko. With one arm around the keyboardist to try and support her, Lisa looked over to Ako, "Ako, can I count on you to get the chairs back? I'll start helping Rinko out the building."
"Leave it to Ako!"
Lisa, satisfied with the answer, nodded silently to Rinko and helped Rinko to the exit, one step at a time. It was a long and painful journey for Rinko and Lisa had to swallow her own worries when she saw that Rinko did not seem like she would stop. To Rinko's credit, she did not complain or otherwise try to stop Lisa; she gritted her teeth and tried to keep up with Lisa's pace.
Something that, much to Lisa's surprise, Rinko was able to do for the most part. And even though Lisa was walking at a slower pace than she would have normally, their pace allowing Ako to catch up to them again, Lisa knew that Rinko must have been exerting herself to keep up with her.
Lisa was about to say something about this to try and reassure Rinko that taking it easy would be okay when a soft, shaky voice filled the air.
"Thank you… Imai-san… Ako-chan…"
These few words carried with them such a weight that it left Lisa and Ako momentarily speechless. They knew what it truly meant for Rinko and hearing it from her directly in such a situation was not something that either of them had expected.
Neither Lisa nor Ako noticed the small smile that formed on Rinko's lips, too busy discussing amongst themselves how to properly respond to Rinko. This gave Rinko all the time that she would need to think about the past few hours and how she felt about it all. From the live itself to seeing the side of the girls in Afterglow that she was sure would not be common knowledge…
'At the end of the day… I'm happy I came here… with Imai-san and Ako-chan…' Rinko thought to herself before her gaze drifted elsewhere, 'And maybe… one day…'
As Lisa and Ako were preoccupied with trying to find a proper way to respond, Rinko's gaze slowly drifted somewhere else. To her hand and, more specifically, the warmth that was still tingling the tips of her fingers. Despite being barely conscious at the time, Rinko could still remember the feeling of that person holding and supporting her…
And with the sun setting beyond the horizon in front of them, only a single thought came up in Rinko's mind. To get better and seek out the warmth that she was missing from her life once again.
And that wraps up the first chapter of my fourth multi-chapter series for this fandom in three years! I am hoping to get a new chapter for this story out at least once a month, preferably at the same schedule as Scarlet Sunlight was on once upon a time, but I guess we will all have to wait and see to find out.
I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!