The End Of The Road Is In Sight! A Night Of Song
July 7, Thursday. The rosy dusk sky and yellow-orange setting sun found the ABCB closed for a special little party. It had been a particularly fine day, a tad on the warm side, but excellent nevertheless.
Inside the kissaten were Hikaru, Yuusaku, the twins, and the hentais. They had gone home and changed, then quickly converged at the establishment and got busy getting everything ready for their highly-anticipated celebration. Master had gone out for a while, saying he had to buy some ice cream, as there wasn't any more in the fridge.
"Hey, where's Madoka-san and Kasuga?" asked brown-haired Yuusaku, as he held up some bamboo stalks against the ABCB wall so Hikaru could finish taping them upright.
"Onii-chan's still at home, Yuu-kun," answered Kurumi. She was checking the various foodstuffs, and boogeying a little to the fast beat of Yuiko Tsubokura and Bobson's 'Breaking Heart,' which was blaring from a little cassette player on one of the shelves behind ABCB's bar. "He said he had something important to do before he came here."
"Breaking Heart, hold me, dakishimete!" sang Hikaru cheerfully, standing up from her work and swaying along with the song. "Yappii! Madoka-san said she'd be a little late," she informed them. "She said she was going to cook something special for all of us." Behind her, Yuusaku found himself staring at her moving hips, encased in a midi-length silk skirt. He blushed and turned to look out the window.
Catching Hikaru's infectious mood, Manami, who was standing behind the bar inspecting how much free space the refrigerator had left, quietly sang a different song. "Yes I am calling, calling your heart. And I am falling, falling in love." She smiled. "That's so sweet of Ayukawa-sempai. I wanted to bring something too, but Miss Big Belly here—" she pointed at Kurumi "—ate all of my fried vegetables up."
"Hey, how was I to know that you cooked them for the party?" countered her sister. "I thought you made them for our afternoon snacks. At least I bought a cake to replace it. Hey, Hatta! Don't touch that!"
The bespectacled boy paused just before his finger dipped into the strawberry-and-blueberry shortcake resting on the ABCB counter. Kurumi had made a mad-teleport-dash to a nearby Tsukasa Nishino bakeshop and shelled out her own allowance for it. "But Kurumi, I just wanted to see if it was as sweet as you..."
"No touch!" The brown-haired girl strode up to Hatta and slapped his hand away. "I don't think anyone would want to eat a cake with finger marks on it."
"Yeah!" agreed Manami. "That's gross! Why don't you help Komatsu-san put the tables and chairs against the walls?"
Hatta didn't answer. He was turned away from her and resting his elbow on the counter, and his head was propped up in his right hand. Kurumi's cake suddenly went ignored.
"Hatta-san?"
"Sorry, Manami-chan, I've found something better to do," the self-proclaimed pervert replied dreamily, and Manami looked past him to see Hikaru and Kurumi standing beside one another in the cleared space in the middle of the café, laughing, dancing the same steps to the song they had all first heard in Disco Moebius.
"Hey you two! Save it for the party!" called Manami, but to no avail, as Hikaru turned to her and, grinning mischievously, ran behind the bar and pulled her away from its sanctuary and into the cleared space.
"Dance with us, Manami-chan!" yelled Hikaru happily, as she began to step in time with Kurumi again.
"Aw, she doesn't know how to dance, Hikaru-chan," Kurumi said, looking down at her blond-haired compatriot's feet, trying to follow them.
"What?" exclaimed the outraged elder twin. "I'll show you." Within a minute the three were moving in unison on the impromptu dance floor, Hikaru slightly in front, leading them along.
"Yay!" she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "A Great Dance Troupe!"
The boys had long stopped working and simply stood where they were, watching the happy trio sashaying and ridiculing each other's moves.
Komatsu, who had ended up pausing beside Yuusaku, said, "Well? I'll bet Hikaru-chan looks good to you. She sure does to me."
The entranced underclassman's eyes appeared just about ready to pop out of their sockets. "Cosmic!" he managed to blurt out as he gazed at the prettily moving figure of his long-time crush. "With this, I have no need for heaven or earth!"
"Y'know, Tenchi, er, Morisato-kun—what the heck am I saying, Matsumoto-sama? The girls are distracting my virtuous soul—I mean Yuu-kun," Komatsu said in an aside, "this is the perfect time for you to make a move on her, while she has her guard down and Kasuga isn't here. I'll even help you—"
Just then the door chime tinkled, and everyone turned to see Kyousuke Kasuga, in a blue t-shirt, loose jeans and loafers, holding the door open for Madoka Ayukawa with one hand and carrying an instrument case with the other. She was wearing a floppy white cloth cap, a 'BOY'-emblazoned fire-engine-red blouse, dark crimson pants and white pumps, and bore a large pot in her hands.
"Oh, what bad luck," Komatsu commiserated the suddenly-crestfallen boy beside him. He patted Yuusaku's shoulder in a comradely fashion and went back to work.
"Ara?" said Madoka, pleasantly surprised at the happy little group dancing in the middle of ABCB. "What's going on? You sure look happy."
"Welcome, Madoka-san!" said Hikaru, stopping her dance. The twins also stopped and grinned gleefully at each other and at the newcomers. "What's that you've got?"
"My try at ouzo, with a little something added," the ABCB part-timer said. "It's an experiment, really. I hope you all like it."
"Did you bring anything, onii-chan?" Kurumi asked.
Kyousuke shut the door. "W-what? Now that you mention it—"
"He helped me make this," interrupted Madoka. Kyousuke looked at her, and she gave him a covert glance.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, I did. That's why I was late."
"Huh? You were with Madoka-san all this time?" Hikaru hopped closer to her Darling. "But you went straight home from school, didn't you? That was so long ago!" Her eyes grew big. "What were you doing with her, huh? Huh? Don't tell me you were just cooking!"
"Hikaru-chan! I had to change and buy some stuff, too, and that took a while."
With the blond somewhat mollified, everyone went back to preparing for the party. Red and blue ribbons appeared to grace the walls and the bottom front of the counter; some balloons were put up at the corners of the room; and one corner was set aside for the games they had planned to play later, courtesy of Komatsu.
Kyousuke, after checking to make sure Madoka's saxophone case was safe behind the bar where he had put it, sat on a stool and leaned back against the counter, watching the bustling group. The player had changed its music and was in the middle of Yuka Tachibana's 'Tokidoki Blue.'
"Ayukawa? Thanks for covering for me."
The Dragon's Daughter of Koryou Gakuen, who was busy wiping glasses clean behind the bar, sniffed. "Well, I didn't like doing it. You should have brought something, like your sister said, instead of going to my place and escorting me here."
Kyousuke, abashed at her accusation, said "Sorry" and tried to change the topic of conversation. "Boy, it sure has been a busy week, hasn't it?"
"Yeah. I can't believe this whole week's been so full of nothing but schoolwork."
"Uh-huh. You'd think they'd have given us a grace period to help us get used to Fuurinkan. And now, just when we were getting into the swing of things, we have to move back to Koryou again!" The school had been repaired and was waiting for its dispersed students to return promptly on the morrow. "To tell you the truth, I feel kinda disappointed nothing special's been happening lately."
"Oh really, Kasuga?" Madoka leaned closer to him and whispered seductively in his ear, "Maybe you'd like something special to happen later."
Kyousuke flushed a bright red and turned to face the girl behind the counter. "Just what do you mean by that, Ayukawa?"
"Why don't you try and figure it out, hmm?" To add to his consternation, she gave him a saucy wink. "Oh, and thanks for taping my finger. I don't know what possessed me to climb that tree in my front yard."
As if on cue, the music stopped, and the cassette player began to broadcast the band Swingtop's 'Salvia No Hana No You Ni,' a very familiar song to all of them, because the band leader Shuu was Madoka's cousin and because jealous Kyousuke had once upon a time almost fallen for Shuu's girlfriend and Swingtop vocalist Yukari, whose job that long-ago day was to distract him long enough for them to set up a gig featuring Madoka as guest guitarist and saxophonist.
Face still flaming, Kyousuke listened to Yukari's smooth, low singing voice for a few minutes, especially during the chorus
Broken Heart To Dream
To love is more sincere than to be loved.
Broken Heart To Dream
My tears of passion I dedicate to you.
You Are Everything To Me.
Then he asked innocently, "Hey, Ayukawa, Yukari-san told me you were the one who wrote the lyrics to that song. Is that true?"
"What?" Caught off guard, the 'phantom singer' of Swingtop nearly dropped the glasses she was handling and matched Kyousuke's red face with her own. "That silly Yukari-san... why do you ask?"
"Nothing, really. They just seem so... heartfelt. Even when you were playing the sax solo at Swingtop's concert... you really put your heart and soul into your music, don't you?"
Madoka's expression remained constant, but inwardly she railed, Kasuga-kun, can't you tell why I do so? Are you really that blind? I wrote that song for you, you blockhead! "Kasuga-kun, I—"
"Darling!" Hikaru bounded up beside her beloved Kyousuke and held out a little lollipop-shaped piece of meat. "Could you please try my fried chicken and tell me what you think about it?"
Kyousuke took the proffered helping and bit into it. "Hey, this is good," he said, chewing and nodding. "Tastes lemony..."
"I'm so glad you like it!" Hikaru hugged him with her usual aclarity, and he almost choked on the chicken, barely managing to swallow it as her clinch once again blocked his windpipe and esophagus. Then, unexpectedly, she let go of him, and stood still with her hands behind her back. "I made it for the party, and especially for you," she said shyly. "I put everything I had into that..." she added, her voice trailing away.
"Hikaru-chan," Kyousuke murmured, his heart trembling at the unusually serious and tender expression on her face. Would he ever have the strength to break her heart when it came down to it, to see that innocent face weep bitter tears? "It really does taste good, you know."
"Thank you, Darling." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and went back to helping Yuusaku with the bamboo fronds.
Kyousuke watched her for a moment, then turned back to the food in his hand. Beyond it, he could see Madoka looking at him with a somber expression on her face.
"Ayukawa... what is it?"
"Kasuga-kun, how long... how long are you planning to keep this going on?" Madoka turned away from him, under the pretense of placing glasses back on the shelves lining the rear of the bar.
Kyousuke stared after her and finished the morsel off, throwing the bone into the garbage can hidden behind the counter. Then he set about helping his sisters with the decorations. He had no sure answers to the question himself, and the ones he could come up with were all unpleasant and did not bear thinking about for too long. As he worked, he could hear the new track coming from the cassette player. It was Shiroh Sagisu's 'Kanashii Kake.' A sad gamble.
