Chapter 4 is here! Enjoy!
Chapter 4: The Band's Back!
"Yay! Ricchan and Mio-chan are coming to the campus!" Yui said, putting her phone down.
"That's great! I haven't seen them in so long," Azusa said,"but what delayed their arrival at the campus? And why were both of them delayed?"
"Maybe they're dating," Ayame giggled.
From across the room, Mugi sat up straight with her eyes shining.
"Are they not already dating?" Akira said, confused.
The two bands sat in silence, pondering for a while. When suddenly, the clubroom's doors opened to reveal Ui and Jun.
Ui greeted everyone politely as Jun plopped down on the couch next to Azusa and whined,"I've been trying to find a club for a day already, but I just can't pick one out."
Azusa scolded Jun for making herself feel so welcome already as Akira stared at Ui, who was wearing her hair down.
"Am I trippin'? Or are there two Yui's in my line of sight," Akira said, rubbing her eyes.
"Haha Akira-chan, the one who just came in is Ui, my awesome little sister!" Yui said proudly.
Ui bowed to Akira as she said,"Thank you for taking care of my sister, senpai!"
"So mature!" Akira, Sachi and Ayame thought.
"And who is this?" Sachi said, looking to Jun.
"An annoyance," Azusa deadpanned.
"Hey!" Jun said,"I'm Jun Suzuki!"
"Suzuki-san, are you here to join?," the club president Yoshii asked enthusiastically.
"It's okay!" Jun said,"Ui and I are here to drag Azusa away."
"What for?!" Azusa said as she was dragged out the door by her two friends.
"You're late for your timetable scheduling Azusa-chan," Ui replied.
"In that case, I should go with you three," Mugi said,"We wouldn't want club activities interfering with your classes."
"So how was the last year of high school?" Mugi asked the three kouhai.
"Great!" Ui said,"Azusa-chan was a great club president!"
"How were your new members?" Mugi asked.
"They were awesome," Jun said,"we had a music producer in our club named Nao and a new drummer, Sumire."
"You knew Sumire didn't you, senpai?" Azusa asked.
"Yes, we were like sisters," Mugi said,"I'm glad you three managed to keep the Light Music Club going."
"Well, we couldn't just leave Sawako-sensei alone," Azusa laughed.
After Mugi helped Azusa sort out her timetable, Jun and Ui left them to go back to the club room.
An hour later…
"What's up everyone!" Ritsu said, bursting through the club room doors, scaring everyone.
Mio smacked Ritsu and went to Azusa.
"Azusa! It's been too long!" Mio said, as she and Azusa hugged.
"I missed you Mio-senpai!" Asusa smiled.
"C'mere Nakano!" Ritsu said, arms wide open.
"Hello to you too, Ritsu-senpai," Azusa waved.
"Hey~ gimme a hug!" Ritsu whined.
"Let's sit and talk," Azusa said going to the couch with Mio.
"Are you guys not practising?" the club president asked.
"Sorry!" everyone apologised, heading to cafeteria instead.
"So what was keeping you two?" Akira said, trying to push Yui from stealing her food.
"OH! So like, Mio and my parents were really nice and decided to give Mio and I an apartment to live in!" Ritsu said with food in her mouth
"You two have your own apartment now?" Azusa said, impressed.
Mio shook her head,"Oh, no, we're sharing an apartment-"
Mugi spat out her drink as everyone looked at her.
"Sorry, please continue," Mugi said, eyes shining brightly.
"So Mio and I aren't living in the dorms anymore!" Ritsu said,"We're gonna have to get part-time jobs though, our parents expect us not to leech off of them too."
"Ricchan in a part-time job? That's funny," Yui giggled.
"You're one to talk, being jobless," Ritsu deadpanned.
"Being roommates must be wonderful!" Mugi said.
"It's fine," Mio said,"unless of course, your roommate is being a pain."
"Hey~" Ritsu said, bumping Mio's shoulder.
Akira shrugged and said,"Well, that was a bit disappointing."
"What was?" Ayame asked.
"We thought the reason you two came later was because your were dating," Akira said looking and Mio and Ritsu.
The drummer and bassist flushed a deep shade of red.
Mio stuttered,"We're n-not d-dati-"
"Now how did you come to that conclusion?!" Ritsu said, still blushing.
"Just kidding, jeez," Akira said.
"Now that everyone's here, let's go practice!" Ritsu said upon recovering from embarrassment.
"Yes captain!" Yui said saluting.
Houkago Tea Time was now complete. The band went to the clubroom and started off with Fuwa Fuwa Time.
"That was awesome," Yui grinned after practice was over.
"I did miss having you join us Azusa," Mio smiled warmly at Azusa, "Azusa?"
Azusa was tearing up, it has been almost two years since she got to play a song with the bandmates that had taken her in in her first year of High School. And now, playing Fuwa Fuwa Time with them gave her a rush of nostalgia and happiness to be back in Houkago Tea Time.
"I just… missed this," Azusa said,"I mean… playing with my new bandmates in my third year of High School was fun and all, but… playing it with you guys is just.. nostalgic."
After finishing her little speech, Yui hugged her from behind,"There, there Azunyan… we're all here now aren't we? Let's have more fun together yeah?"
Azusa hugged Yui back as Mugi, Mio and Ritsu joined the group embrace.
In Akira's dorm…
Akira, Ayame and Sachi were hanging out in Akira's dorm, so as to give Houkago Tea Time a sweet reunion.
"I'm actually kinda jealous!" Ayame said, out of the blue.
"What with?" Sachi asked.
"HTT seems closer than the three of us!" Ayame said,"They seem to have a LOT of history."
"Go join them then," Akira snarked, eyes still on her phone.
Ayame cat smiled,"Fufufu, is some one jelly?"
"Tsk, why would I be?" Akira said.
"If you say so," Ayame grinned.
"Whatchu looking at Akira?" Sachi said moving over to Akira's side.
Akira tried to hide her phone but Sachi already saw what was on the screen, a picture of Maeda.
"You're still planning to impress senpai?" Sachi said.
"I'm thinking of getting a wig," Akira said,"he and his stupid types, AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH?"
"She is really stubborn," Ayame thought, internally face palming.
"I'm sure he will return your feelings eventually," Sachi soothed Akira.
"I hope so, I will pull out all the stops to try and get him this year! Starting with growing my hair!" Akira shouted confidently.
"That's our girl," Ayame said, trying to hold back laughter.
In Ui's dorm…
Yui was in her younger sister's dorm, along with Azusa and Jun.
"Thank you for the curry rice Ui!" Yui said, gobbling down the meal.
"No problem onee-chan, I missed making a meal for you!" Ui smiled warmly.
"Senpai, when are you going to grow up?" Azusa sighed.
"I have grown up!" Yui said indignantly,"I learnt a lot in the department of education!"
"Your character remains largely untouched though," Azusa said.
"Hey now~" Jun said,"You haven't changed much either, still struggling to loosen up."
Azusa scoffed,"That just means I'm more mature than any of you."
"Jun isn't wrong Azusa," Ui said,"Although it's good to loosen up more often, if not, you may get too serious and boring."
"I guess you're right," Azusa said,"Wait a minute, what do you mean boring?!"
The next morning at Ritsu and Mio's…
Mio yawned as she sat up from her bed.
"Morning Ritsu," Mio yawned looking at Ritsu's bed. Ritsu wasn't there however.
"She in the bathroom?" Mio thought.
Mio walked lazily to the bathroom… where Ritsu wasn't at too.
"Ritsu, this better not be a prank," Mio said out loud, before smelling something delicious.
Mio walked to the kitchen and saw Rtisu standing at the stove, cooking up something delicious.
"Morning sunshine!" Ritsu greeted, "breakfast will be ready in a minute!"
"Ritsu?" Mio said, confused, sitting at the small dining table.
"Here ya go!" Ritsu grinned placing two plates for the each of them on the table,"eggs and bacon, drizzled with honey."
Mio tasted her breakfast and was shocked. It tasted.. really delicious.
"You woke up early to do this early to do this?" Mio said, somewhat touched,"That's so sweet, thank you."
"Well, it's nothin'," Ritsu said with a small blush,"Might as well make us something nice on the first morning here."
Ritsu and Mio sat in semi-awkward silence as they finished their breakfast.
After they finished their breakfast, Mio washed the dishes and went to the laundry drawer to pick up clothes for washing.
"Ritsu! Where are your dirty clothes?" Mio yelled.
"Huh? Oh they're on my bed!" Ritsu yelled from the couch.
"What did I tell you about the laundry drawer?" Mio shouted as she walked into their bedroom.
"Cut me some slack Mio!" Ritsu shouted,"It's only the first day!"
"Start doing things early so it won't be a bad habit!" Mio scolded.
After bickering a bit more, Mio and Ritsu went to the apartment building's laundry room.
"And you're following me because…?" Mio said to the drummer,"Laundry is my duty isn't it?"
"It's cool Mio-chuuaan," Ritsu teased, "now that I've cooked breakfast, there's nothing to do."
"How about keeping your bed? I've kept mine and yours is a mess," Mio said.
"I'll do it later," Ritsu said,"I wanna see the laundry room."
"Alright then, some company would be nice I guess," Mio replied.
When the two friends entered the laundry room, their jaw dropped. The laundry room was immensely crowded.
"S-so m-many p-people," Mio stuttered, nearly dropping the pile of laundry.
"You two must be new," a woman in a dress said to the two friends,"here's a tip, literally everyone who lives here comes to do their laundry in the morning, come in the evening."
"Ah thank's for the advice err," Ritsu said,"wait have we seen you somewhere before?"
The woman grinned,"I'm the landlady, so you probably have seen me in forms or something."
"No, we've seen you somewhere before," Ritsu said staring at the landlady's face.
"You're Della from Death Devil!" Mio said.
"Now that I that I think about you two were Sawako's students right?" the landlady said, starting to recognise them.
"You're the bassist right? And our landlady too?" Mio said excitedly.
"What a coincidence," the landlady said,"but please, Della is a stage name, call me Nagako."
"So are the other bandmates living here too?" Nagako asked.
"Oh no, it's just Mio and I," Ritsu said.
"Being roommates must be a blast eh?" Nagako said.
"Well yeah," Mio admitted.
At that moment, one of the laundry machines a resident was using made a sputtering noise and a smell of smoke was present.
"Well gotta go girls," Nagako said,"we'll catch up next time."
And with that, the landlady went to assist the residents.
Ritsu and Mio were walking towards the elevator.
"We have a Death Devil member as our landlady," Ristu said,"coincidence much?"
Ritsu entered the elevator, turned around and saw Mio shivering.
"Ne Mio," Ritsu said pulling Mio in the elevator,"you okay there?"
"W-what i-if the washing machine explodes when I'm doing the laundry," Mio shivered.
Ritsu hugged Mio,"There, there Mio-chuan, nothing bad will happen to you as long as I'm here alright?"
"T-thanks R-Ritsu," Mio blushed at her friend,"You've really matured."
Ritsu blushed lightly,"Ugh, this conversation is sappy as hell, but you're right ehe, I'm really mature, so from now one call me Tainaka-sama!"
*BONK*
"Ow ow ow! What's with that?!" Ritsu said rubbing the spot Mio smacked her.
"You ruined the moment baka," Mio said,"C'mon, Mugi, Yui and Azusa are coming over later and we need to buy ingredients for dinner."
"Yeah, yeah," Ritsu said,"does miso hotpot sound good?"
That's chapter 4 folks! Thanks for reading, I should get chapter 5 up in a day or two. The school year will start next chapter! Until then, see ya!
