Disclaimer: I don't own Shoujo Kakumei Utena, other people do, please don't
sue me. I don't own Queen, either.

Note: Sankyuu to everyone on the BSandHB mailing list for helping me with
this! And to the movie 'This Is Spinal Tap' for helping me with the title.

Chapter 2: Rivals

"Soooo sleepy..." Sitting up, Utena stretched. The hairs on the back of her
neck prickled, and she looked around. Heaving a large sigh, she pulled a
baseball bat out from under her pillow, then glanced from Akio, to Touga, to
Akio again, to Touga again, tapping the bat on her palm menacingly. "Ok. Two
seconds to get away from my bed before I bash your brains out." Looking
disappointed, as they often did, the two men walked away. She changed
sleepily and stumbled down the steps in the van, rubbing her eyes.
Wakaba looked up from the stove. "G'morning, Utena! Sleep well?"
Her only response was a wide yawn as the others filed down the stairs.
"Breakfast is almost ready."
"But Wakaba, you didn't have to do that. I could have cooked." Concerned,
Anthy took a step towards the kitchen, but Wakaba stopped her.
"You deserved an extra hour of sleep. Go sit." The brown-haired woman
flipped a pancake cheerfully. "I checked the listings for the Battle of the
Bands that we entered. So far there's only one other band entering, and the
battle's only in a couple weeks."
Eyes turned towards her, except for Utena's, because Utena was busy making
sure that her baseball bat was keeping Touga and Akio at a reasonable
difference. Then, after she had done so, Utena, too, looked at Wakaba. "What
band?"
"Group called Black Roses. S'posed to be pretty good. The food's ready."
Wakaba dished out breakfast, and civilized conversation wasn't resumed until
everyone had finished eating, which took a while.
After wiping her mouth with a napkin, Utena grinned at her friend. "Heard
any of their music? And who's in the band?"
"I heard a little bit. They sound really great. Lessee...main guitarist and
vocals is Mikage Souji, the other vocalist is Chida Mamiya, Kozue Kaoru and
Keiko Sonoda on synth, Kanae Ohtori on bass. Mikage's also the manager. The
people in the group work really well together."
With her usually cheer, Anthy got up and started cleaning up the table and
the dishes as she listened to the conversation. "What kind of music do they
play, Wakaba?"
"They do Queen stuff like we do, and...well, basically the same sort of
music we play, except darker. Oh, and I found a song online that you might
like, Akio."
The brown-skinned man raised an eyebrow. "What might that be?"
"It's called 'I'm In Love With My Car'."
Everyone burst out laughing except for Akio, who did not look amused. "That
's not funny, Wakaba."
"You are really obsessive about keeping that nice convertible of yours all
shiny and perfect."
"It's still not funny."

**********

The next day, Wakaba and Tsuwabuki were missing.
All the other members of the band searched the Akio-van, the grounds around
the Akio-van, and the buildings near the Akio-van. Not even a trace of them
was found until two o'nine in the afternoon, when Juri checked the Battle of
the Bands updates online. Her eyes widened when the page for the Black Roses
loaded. "Hey...guys! Guess what I found!"
The others came rushing over.
"The Black Roses got a drummer and a new roadie. Now let's see
here...Wakaba Shinohara on drums, Mitsuru Tsuwabuki, band assistant. Well,
then. Touga, does your sister know how to play the drums?"
Blinking, Touga nodded. "Yes. Why-oh, please don't be serious."
"I am. We gotta have a drummer."
"No."
"Yes."
Their gazes locked. Miki pulled out his stopwatch and prepared for a long
wait.

**********

Twenty minutes later

"Oh, all right, I'll give her a call."

**********

Nanami wasn't the easiest person to get along with, but there were some
good points to her presence there. For one thing, she kept Touga away from
Utena, which meant that Utena got a little relief and didn't have to bring
out the baseball bat. She was loud and obnoxious, but she played the drums
really well and already had two more people who made good roadies. Even if
Aiko and Yuuko just _had_ to agree with everything that 'Miss Nanami' said.
But even so, Nanami had wonderful timing and did quite well during
rehearsals, which was just about all that happened for the next two weeks,
until it was time for the Battle of the Bands, between Duellists and Black
Roses, the only two groups contending.

~End of Chapter Two~
-------------@

-Rehanna