Here's chapter 11, sorry for any long wait... enjoy :

Chapter 11: Clothes, Music, Tension


Ayame, Sachi, Yui and Mugi were eating in the cafeteria and were watching Akira having a mental breakdown. Literally twenty-four hours ago, she had asked her crush, Maeda out for a date.

"It's not really a date is it," Ayame deadpanned, "You said 'hang out' not 'date me'."

Mugi put down her utensils and smiled, "It could be so much more though Ayame-chan, this one hangout could evolve into two, then three then…"

Mugi giggled in excitement while Akira watched her with dread in her eyes.

Yui nomned on her mash potato, staring at Akira in admiration.

"What," Akira whined, looking at Yui.

"I'm proud of you Akira-chan, you are going on your first date only, how you've grown," Yui replied happily, petting Akira's head.

"What if I screw something up?!" Akira whined again.

"Like you did with the dress yesterday?" Sachi asked.

Akira smacked her head on the table, clearly dying inside.

"Let's get you some practice then!" Mugi said, clapping her hands together.

Everyone looked at Mugi and agreed with the suggestion.

"How exactly am I gonna do that?" Akira sighed.

Yui raised up her hand the way a child would in class and said, "Roleplay!"

Akira glared daggers at Yui and growled, "In your drea- OW!"

Ayame had kicked the pixie-cut girl and replied to Yui, "That's a wonderful idea."

"Kill me," Akira cried.

In Ritsu and Mio's apartment…

Ritsu and Mio were not speaking to each other, both of them were angry at each other for the events the day before.

The only word they said to each other that day was 'hi', which was awkward enough as it was.

"Why am I angry with her?" was the question the two girls asked themselves that day. They were suddenly acting out of character, which now that they thought about it, started when they moved in together.

"Idiot," Mio thought to herself, glancing at Ritsu, who was watching TV and eating chips.

Mio walked into the bedroom to find Ritsu's dirty clothes on the flooror. If Mio was not in a bad mood before, she definitely was now.

"RITSU COME HERE," Mio yelled.

Ritsu heard the bassist call for her and groaned.

The drummer trudged into the room and asked sarcastically, "What is it, princess?"

"Don't call me that! And how many times do I have to tell you NOT to leave your laundry on the floor?!" Mio scolded harshly.

"Why are you so pissed?! It's nowhere near your bed!" Ritsu retorted, picking up her clothes.

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Mio glared at the drummer.

"And why are you so prissy?!" Ritsu shouted.

* KNOCK KNOCK *

Someone had knocked on their door. After glaring at each other, Mio went to open the door, it was Nagako, their landlord.

"Everything alright girls?" Nagako asked, "A neighbour called to complain about shouting."

"Oh… it's okay Nagako-san," Mio said, "Sorry for any disturbance we caused."

"It's fine," Nagako smiled, "Good night."

Mio closed the door and went back to the living room. Ritsu looked up at Mio and said, "You're gonna tell me off?"

"No," Mio sighed, trying to make things a little peaceful, "I think we should refrain from talking to each other until we cool down."

Ritsu nodded, looking a little guilty.

"Um, good night," Ritsu said quietly.

Mio turned away from the drummer and blushed, "Y-yeah good night."


The next day…

It was a lazy Friday evening. HTT met up in the Light Music Clubroom to practise with Onna Gumi watching.

While playing Ballpoint Pen, Ritsu and Mio were a little out of sync, drums less enthusiastic, and bass quieter than usual.

"That felt… a little weak?" Azusa pointed out, turning around to look at Ritsu and Mio, "Are you two alright?"

The childhood friends hastily replied.

"Yeah!" "I'm- fine, Azusa."

Yui sat down on the sofa next to Akira and stared at her.

"What," Akira deadpanned.

"I can't wait to go help you out on your date tomorrow!" Yui grinned.

Akira looked at Yui, mouth agape and glared at Ayame.

"What?" Ayame asked, popping a fruit tart in her mouth, "She suggested it, plus, she finished all her homework.

Akira laughed. Yui? Finish her work? Impossible. Ayame glared at Akira, while Yui piped up, "Ehe~ I know it may seem like a joke, but I did finish my work, Ui helped me."

Akira looked nauseous as Yui, Ayame and Sacchi started talking about the girls' day out, or rather, the 'help Akira get some' trip.

"Aren't you going with them Mugi-senpai?" Azusa asked the blonde, "Isn't this romance stuff your forte?"

"I'd love to, but I have some studying to do," Mugi smiled, "I couldn't catch up with the past few topics."

Ritsu and Mio overheard what the keyboardist said and, unbeknownst to them, thought of the same thing: If they asked to study with Mugi, they could avoid seeing each other.

"Ritsu-chan, Mio-chan," Ayame said, "Joining us?"

Mio smiled and replied, "Not this time, thank you."

Ritsu also replied, and said, "Eh, I'm not into the mushy love stuff."

"How lame," Yui pouted behind Ayame.

"Wh-a-at was that?!" Ritsu called, standing up to grab Yui into a chokehold.

"Mugi-" Mio whispered to the keyboardist.

The blonde turned around and answered, "Hmm?"

"Do you mind if I study with you tomorrow?" Mio asked sheepishly.

Mugi smiled and nodded, "It's not to get away from Ricchan is it?"

"I- uh, we need to cool off from each other," Mio replied, face turning a little red.

Mugi raised her eyebrows, but nodded, deciding not to ask any further.

After practice, Ritsu ran up to and called Mugi. Mugi turned around and greeted Ritsu.

"Yo Mugi," Ritsu said, trying to sound as casual as possible, "Want to study together tomorrow?"

Upon hearing Ritsu's words, Mugi couldn't help but giggle a bit, this would be interesting.

"Of course," Mugi smiled, "I'll text you where to meet me and bring your books too."

Ritsu thanked Mugi profusely, and just before she walked off, Mugi called out to Ritsu, "This isn't about Mio-chan is it?"

Ritsu blushed and quickly denied. How the hell is that blonde so all-knowing?


The next day…

Gleaming afternoon sunlight shone through Akira's curtain, a certain air headed girl was standing over the pixie cut.

Akira blinked and rubbed her eyes, "Yui, how the bloody hell did you get in my room."

Yui smiled at Akira and innocently replied, "I may have swiped your spare key the last time I was here."

Akira inhaled deeply and tried not to scream. She spent the entire Saturday morning in bed, waiting for Yui to be done with her shift at Max Burgers.

To her further horror, Sacchi and Ayame were already standing outside all dressed up.

Ayame smiled evilly and said, "Hey, sleepyhead, wanna wear a frilly dress?"

In the cafeteria…

Azusa had finished her Max Burger shift, it has been three months since her University life beghn and two months since she started her job.

After receiving her second monthly salary and saying goodbye to Yui, Azusa headed to the University cafeteria to meet up with Ui and Jun.

"Hi girls," Azusa greeted her friends.

"Azusa." "Hello Azusa-chan!"

Azusa pulled up a chair and sat down, sighing.

"Isn't my sister on an outing?" Ui asked, "I would have thought you followed her."

"Nah," Azusa sighed, "It's been a long time since I've hung out with you guys anyway."

Jun looked at Azusa and smirked, "You aren't avoiding your dear Yui-senpai are you?"

Azusa gave the bassist death glare before swiftly changing the subject.

"You know, I didn't think the salary at Max Burgers would be so low," Azusa sighed, counting her pay.

"Ooh, can I see?" Jun asked

Azusa passed Jun the wad of cash.

Ui took a sip from her coffee and asked, "Are you behind on expenses?"

"Of course not," Azusa said, "It's just that I told my mom to stop giving me pocket money."

"Here you go Azusa~" Jun grinned, passing the cash back to Azusa, "Perhaps you should work harder, maybe then the manager would give you a half-decent salary."

"What exactly do you mean by that," Azusa scoffed, before noticing the wad of cash felt lighter than earlier, "And gimme back the notes you took!"

Ui looked at her two friends snatching the money before clearing her throat, "By the way Azusa-chan, how's practise like in college?"

Azusa won the tug of war, stuffing the cash back into her purse. Looking at Ui, Azusa thought about it before replying, "I mean, it's not much different from High School, other than the fact that 'tea time' doesn't occur as often."

"I thought you didn't like tea time," Jun pointed out.

"I don't hate it!" Azusa defended, "Let me finish, I kinda find practise a bit repetitive now, Mio-senpai and Mugi-senpai are still deciding on the tune of the new song, so we kinda were repeating old songs for a while, it's kinda tedious if I'm being honest."

Ui smiled, "But your old songs are amazing!"

Azusa rested her chin on her hand and said, "I mean- it would be the cool to start something new."

"Have you tried editing softwares?" Jun asked the guitarist, "remixes can make a song sound so cool!"

Azusa looked at Jun, "Remix of our songs? That's a great idea, let's try it out after lunch, know any apps I can use?"

Jun's eyes sparkled. "Oho- you'd love this one, I've been using it to edit anime openings," the bassist said proudly.

After Azusa quickly slurped down her lunch, she and her friends rushed off to Jun's dorm room.


In Ritsu and Mio's apartment…

Mio was sitting on the couch, trying to finish the last of her homework before setting off to Mugi's dorm.

Ritsu came out of her room, right after she finished changing. The drummer grabbed her bag with her study notes, her phone and her keys.

Ritsu got to the apartment door, pausing a while. She turned her head slightly towards Mio and said, "Uhm, I'll be out for a while, um goodbye."

Mio looked at drummer, starring at her feet instead of her face.

"Uh, see ya," Mio stuttered.

Both of them flushed pink, Ritsu soon rushing out the apartment.

In Mugi's dorm…

"Mugi, I'm here!" Ritsu called, knocking on Mugi's door.

Mugi opened her door and welcomed Ritsu inside.

The blonde's room was much messier than it usually was, which, Ritsu figured, happened after her maid stopped living in the dorm.

"Alwiggght," Ritsu said, "Let's get studying!"

Mugi nodded, "I'll get some tea."

Ritsu plopped down, stretching her limbs, before noticing Mugi grabbed three teacups instead of one.

"Uh Mugi, I think you're grabbing one tea cup too many," Ritsu pointed out.

At that moment, someone knocked on Mugi's door.

"Sorry I'm late!" a voice came from the outside.

"Ricchan! Can you get the door?" Mugi called from her kitchen.

"Oh," Ritsu replied, getting up the door.

Ritsu opened the door to find Mio trying to take off her shoes.

"Hi Mugi," Mio said, looking up at the drummer.

There was an awkward pause as the childhood friends stared at each other.

"W-what are y-you doing here?" Ritsu sputtered, "ARE YOU STALKING ME?"

Mio smacked the drummer, "Baka! Don't say stupid things like that! And why would I stalk you?"

People in the hallway stared at the two arguing friends.

Mugi appeared at the doorway and pulled Mio inside.

"Sorry everyone!" Mugi apologised to the people in the hallway profusely.

Ritsu turned to Mugi, "Mugi, you didn't tell me… she will be here!"

Mio glared at Ritsu and snapped, "And what's with that emphasis on 'she'?!"

Mugi waved her hands and soothed, "Now, now, I know you two are a bit angry with each other… but we're here to study, let's all calm down and begin, shall we?"

Mio and Ritsu couldn't say no to the motherly Mugi, sitting with Mugi at her study table.

Mio clicked her pen, and thought, "This is so.."

"Awkward…" Ritsu thought to herself.


At the nearby mall…

Yui and Akira was dragging Akira across the mall, Sachi following behind.

"Akira, your wardrobe is horribly dry," Ayame chided, "Our first stop: Uniqlo!"

"No, anywhere but that!" Akira whined.

The four friends entered the clothes store, trying to find clothing that would fit Akira.

"Awww look at this Akira-chan!" Yui jumped up and down excitedly. Yui put a bright dress up against Akira.

It matched horribly.

Ayame giggled uncontrollably, putting a fancy red dress up against Akira.

Akira's short black hair clashed horrendously with the dress.

"Ah well," Ayame sighed, going to Sachi and offering Akira's rejected clothes, "Here Sachi, try on these."

Ayame put the dresses against Sachi, but the dresses looked tiny against Sachi's figure.

Sachi blushed, hugging herself and squeaked, "Eek, don't do that!"

"She's so gigantic," Akira, Ayame and Yui thought.

"Ah let's get the store staff to help!" Yui suggested, walking over to one of the staff, who was observing the girls.

"Oba-san," Yui asked sweetly, "Can you help us decide on her clothing?"

Yui pointed at Akira.

The staff smiled sweetly and said, "Sure! We have some goth-like clothing out back."

Ayame laughed again, only to get kicked by Akira.

The staff took the girls to the 'older teens' section. Ayame and Yui tried picking out some clothes that had patterns on it, but eventually Akira settled on a plain black dress.

Akira looked at her dress lovingly.

"Isn't it adorable?" Akira soothed, hugging her dress.

"Boring," Ayame and Yui droned.

"Alright let's go back to campus," Akira smiled.

"We haven't decided on your mannerisms during the date," Sachi pointed out.

"Like flirting," Ayame smirked.

"Or kisssssing," Yui teased, making duck lips.

Akira glared at everyone before yelling, "SHUT UP!"

In Jun's room...

"Don't we have those old song recordings?" Jun asked as she sat on chair in front of her computer.

Azusa squeezed next to Jun on her chair and said, "Yup, let me send you them."

Ui prepared some snacks and drinks, placing them on a small table, before sitting on Jun's bed behind Azusa and Jun.

"Let's start with Fuwa Fuwa Time," Azusa suggested.

After the song finished, Jun put her hand on her chin, thinking. Eventually her eyes lit up.

Jun nudges Azusa off the chair, to which the latter shouted, "Hey what was that for!? Just ask if you want me to get off!"

"Shut up Azusa, if you keep talking, I may forget what I'm doing, just eat snacks or whatever," Jun waved Azusa off.

Azusa narrowed her eyes before grabbing onto and munching a donut Ui gave her.

By the time Jun had finished remixing the song, Azusa and Ui fell asleep. This did not sit well with Jun, who threw a pillow at Azusa's face.

"Wake me up normally!" Azusa snapped, throwing the pillow back, waking up Ui at the same time.

"Well, your awake now," Jun smiled, "C'mon, check out my masterpiece."

Jun played the 'new' Fuwa Fuwa Time, which now had a heavy emphasis on new electronic sounds, the instruments played by Houkago Tea Time now gone.

"Whaddya think?" Jun grinned at her friends.

Ui was clapping encouraging while Azusa frowned.

"Sounds really modern, I like it!" Ui commented happily.

"You completely butchered the song," Azusa groaned, "If this is 'modern', then I sincerely worry for the future of musi- ow, ow, OW!"

Jun was pulling on Azusa's cheeks, clearly ticked off by Azusa's blunt critic.

"That's such an ancient view!" Jun shouted.

"Am I wrong though?!" Azusa yelled back.

After things cooled down, Azusa sighed, "Alright, I'll put it in simpler terms: the instruments are the foundation of the sound, it just doesn't feel right if you replace it with electronic stuff."

Jun thought about Azusa's words before replying, "If you insist… but why don't you try remixing it? For fun?"

Azusa looked at Jun, clearly interested by this prospect.

In Mugi's dorm….

"Ritsu, stop tapping your foot, it's noisy," Mio scolded the drummer. Mugi, Ritsu and Mio were listening to the radio, and the drummer just started tapping her foot to the current song's rhythm.

"It's not that loud," Ritsu defended herself. Mio wanted to argue back, but decided it was best not to.

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Mugi put her pen down and said, "Alright, what's going on with you two?"

Mio and Ritsu avoided looking at each other.

"We've been making each other quite angry these past few days and we don't know why, every little thing just becomes an argument," Ritsu finally said.

Mugi emitted a soft chuckle, "You two live together, you're gonna have to start tolerating each other more."

"That's what I don't get," Mio replied, "Ritsu and I have known each other forever, but when we moved in, we started ticking each other off more."

Ritsu looked at Mio guiltily, before standing and saying, with her voice slightly shaking, "Uh, I need to go now."

And with that the drummer set off.

Mio raised her hand to try and stop Ritsu from leaving but wasn't successful.

Mugi sighed, "Mio-chan, you two should just make up, this issue seems a little petty."

Mio looked at the ground, and replied, "Y-yeah, I should."

Later that evening, Mio opened up the apartment door and stepped inside, where she saw Ritsu sitting on the dining table with a pot of miso soup in front of her.

"Uh, hi Mio!" Ritsu greeted, "I thought you would be hungry…"

Mio felt touched by Ritsu's thoughtfulness, sitting down at the table with her.

Ritsu fumbled with her fingers before saying, "Mio, I-"

"No, Ritsu, I'm sorry," Mio apologised, "I have been acting quite harsh to you lately and I just want you to know I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Ritsu frowned, "For pissing you off so much. Living together probably made us see bad sides of our personality eh?"

Mio smiled, "It's this kind of thing that makes us grow close though…"

The two friends blushed lightly, drinking their soup in peace.


In the University cafeteria…

"Yui-senpai! Mugi-senpai!" Azusa called, sitting at her senpais' table.

Mugi looked at Azusa's phone screen, which showed a paused audio file.

"Jun introduced me to remixing, so I kinda messed around with Fuwa Fuwa Time, what do you think?" Azusa asked excitedly.

As the song played, it was clear that Yui's voice was modified to sound deeper, and Ritsu's drums were modified to be slower. The other instruments were also synced up more neatly than the original audio.

"I think it's great Azusa-chan," Mugi praised petting her kouhai's head, "Though I am a little curious with Yui-chan's voice."

Yui was pouting, but somewhere in her eyes showed a tinge of impression.

"Yui-senpai? What do you think?" Azusa asked.

Yui cleared her throat, deepening her voice , "I think it is too perfect, it looses the touch of being played by a band, plus what's with my voice?"

Azusa narrowed her eyes, "Experienced bands are able to play songs perfectly, this is just what it would sound like if we perfected the song, and I deepened your voice because I thought it would sound more mature."

Yui widened her eyes and cried (in her usually high voice), "DO I NOT SOUND MATURE?!"

GOMEN GOMEN! I had some studying to do, hence why this chapter took longer to upload. Since I'm in exams season at the moment, the next chapter will be a little unique, it won't be a "Plot A, Plot B, Plot C" kind of thing.Before starting this fic, I was tempted to do a fluff fix that replicates the original 4-Koma style of K-ON! but in a non-manga form. So you guys could look forward to that! Thanks for reading this chapter! •