Sayo prided herself on her timeliness. Even when her schedule was packed, with classes and rehearsals back to back, she always made it on time. Today was no exception. There had been a chance of being late, which she'd informed the others, but luckily her class got out early.

Sayo stepped off the train with her guitar bag slung over her shoulder. The clock on the train informed her that she still had fifteen minutes until practice started. Considering it was only a few minutes long walk, that was plenty of time.

Bracing herself against the chill, Sayo exited the station. She walked the familiar streets leading to Circle, where Roselia was scheduled to practice today. Rinko wasn't able to make this rehearsal, but the rest of the band would be there.

They'd been working hard to master their new songs, so they'd be ready for the upcoming recording. Sayo had marked the date in red on her calendar, just a few short weeks away. Zeal of Proud was already polished, while Blessing Chord still needed significant amounts of work. Even though all of the band members sang in both songs, they were having a much harder time balancing the sound for the new song.

Sayo had been working on a plan to fix it since their last practice. She reviewed it in her mind as she reached the live house, then stepped inside and reached Marina at the front counter. Sayo still had ten minutes until rehearsal was supposed to start.

"You're in room five, one of your bandmates already unlocked the door." Marina gestured down the hall, where the studios were located.

Even though Sayo was early, someone must've beaten her there. It was probably Yukina, who often came to practice early.

"Thank you." Sayo replied, before resuming her journey. She walked past the tables and down the hallway, locating the correct door. As expected, it was unlocked.

Sayo pulled it open, surprisingly unable to hear any music, and stepped half way into the room. She paused, the open door still propped against her, as her eyes processed the sight in front of her.

It wasn't just Yukina who arrived early, no Lisa was with her too. They weren't practicing, which was quite disappointing.

The pair was near the back of the studio, sitting very close on a couple of chairs. Their foreheads were pressed together, bodies leaning close to each other.

Yukina muttered something, way too quiet for Sayo to hear, and Lisa giggled, brushing her hand across Yukina's cheek. They kissed, a couple times, and, no, absolutely not, Sayo refused to watch this.

Sayo could feel her blood pressure rising.

Lifting one hand, she knocked loudly on the door behind her.

Two pairs of eyes jumped to her, one wide and startled and the other narrowed. "S-sayo!" Lisa exclaimed, jumping up from her chair. "We're just, uh…" Lisa's face was bright red as her voice trailed off. At least she had the decency to look embarrassed. Yukina merely stared at Sayo, still sitting down, with a firm frown on her face.

Sayo looked between the two of them, a wave of anger coming to a boil within her. There were so many things she could say, what if it had been Ako who opened that door? Or Marina? This was highly inappropriate behavior for the studio, absolutely absurd. Weren't they serious about Roselia? She gritted her teeth, deciding to say all of it at once.

Yukina rose to her feet, one of her hands coming up and silently linking with Lisa's.

That gesture, the show of unity and support, snapped Sayo out of her rage. For a moment, she saw clearly again.

Sayo sighed heavily, "I'll be back in five minutes." She needed to go cool her head, to get back into the right headspace for rehearsal. Before either of her bandmates could reply, she stepped back and allowed the door to swing shut.

She didn't linger, instead heading back towards the front. When she got there, Sayo took a seat at one of the tables in the lobby. Marina glanced over at her but didn't say anything.

Sayo set her guitar down before crossing her arms over her chest. There were still seven minutes until rehearsal was supposed to start.

She wasn't sure how she felt, perhaps dazed or rattled were the right words. She remembered encouraging Yukina and Lisa to stop dancing around their feelings and get together, but she hadn't predicted anything like this. She didn't regret helping them of course, but this was far from ideal. That they would be foolish enough to do anything in the studio, she was still having trouble processing it.

Sayo sighed again, loosening her posture. They probably assumed that they had more time, since Ako was coming from school and Sayo told them she'd be running late. In the end, at least she was the one who caught them. The longer she sat there, the calmer she felt.

She'd still need to talk with them later, of course. A good scolding was very much called for, though Lisa might've already delivered one. The corner of Sayo's lip quirked as she imagined that conversation, what they must've talked about after she left.

As Sayo pondered her dilemma, a familiar figure entered the front of the studio. Ako almost skipped right past her, before pivoting on one heel.

"Sayo-san, do we not have a room?" Ako asked, hands clutching her drumsticks with distress.

"Please sit." Sayo gestured to the chair across from her, not exactly answering the question. "We can enter in a few minutes." Ako hopped onto the designated chair, lifting her drumsticks to a drumming position above the table.

"Good, cuz I'm super ready!" Ako lightly tapped a rhythm on the table, her fang flashing as she grinned.

Sayo nodded, listening to the beat of the drumsticks. She wondered how rehearsal would be after this, if she'd even be able to look Yukina or Lisa in the eye. Her eyebrows furrowed together; her anxiety from earlier returning.

"Um, Sayo-san," Ako had stopped playing, her wide pink eyes focused directly on Sayo's. "Are you alright?"

The question drew Sayo from her thoughts, drawing her attention to Ako. She must've been putting off quite an aura, for Ako to have noticed. "I'm just thinking about Blessing Chord. We need to polish it today." She was worried about that as well, especially since she'd helped compose large parts of the song.

"It's an awesome song!" Ako replied, her smile returning with full force.

"We will perform it with excellence." Sayo rose from her seat after speaking; there were only two minutes until rehearsal now. "Let's head in."

Ako jumped up to follow, with the pair heading back to room five.

Sayo pulled the door open, stepping through it for the second time that day. She could hear singing as she did, along with the steady pluck of the bass.

Yukina and Lisa were both practicing now, set up more than five feet apart. Other than a dusting of pink on Lisa's cheeks, there were no signs that anything was amiss.

For now, Sayo hoped it would stay that way.


As practice went on, Sayo realized she was wrong. There were far more problems than she initially thought. Sure, she'd noticed a slight shift in their sound since the relationship change, but they were still getting used to the relationship. Sayo thought it would pass, bringing the band back into balance.

As it turned out, she was wrong. Rehearsal had gone fine when they practiced Zeal of Proud, but after switching songs it all became clear. Blessing Chord was the final straw, the piece that would expose all of the misalignment this relationship would bring.

To start, both the vocals and bass were pulling on the tempo. The two of them stayed together, as their attention was locked on the other. They almost tore the band as a result, dragging the tempo away from the drums.

Despite the issues, Ako played solidly. She hadn't been lying when she said she was ready for today. It was easy for Sayo to align with her throughout the song. That didn't fix the other problems.

Yukina's vocals, which were still technically immaculate, were somewhat off. During the verses she performed well, matching the softer tone. When they reached the chorus, however, she wasn't attacking with enough strength. Her notes were soft around the edges, directed back towards their bassist far too often.

Lisa had issues of her own. She was following Yukina's vocals, rather than listening to the other instruments. This left her note placement late, drifting behind the rest of the band. It hardly sounded like the same song, when played like this.

Both Yukina and Lisa seemed to recognize that something wasn't connecting, as the band played the first half of the song over and over again. Lisa grimaced down at her bass, while Yukina kept writing in her sheet music. They focused in on the chorus, on how each part of it came together. Sayo suggested that they play more forcefully, which seemed to be completely disregarded.

Sayo listened to their playing, her own frustration also growing with each repeated phrase. She could lean back on the beat, adapt to the shift of sound, but was that really how this song was meant to be performed? It wasn't how she had played it with Rinko, when they wrote it together.

They played it again, just through the chorus. Sayo stifled the guitar strings as it they stopped, reaching forward to cross something out that she'd added to her music before.

"Should we try it at a slower tempo?" Ako asked, eyes darting between the band members. They were already playing it far below tempo.

"No, I don't think that will help." Sayo replied, placing her pencil on the music stand. She knew the tempo wasn't the problem.

Lisa lifted one hand to her chin, her forehead scrunched together. "I agree we should change things up." Her eyes drifted, as they had been all day, to Yukina. "It isn't coming together well." She spoke the same words Sayo had been thinking.

"Let's record the next one." Yukina pressed forward, as she always did. "We can listen to it after and discuss what to do next" She set her phone on the music stand in front of her, moving it back so the whole band would be visible.

"Good idea, Yukina!" Lisa chimed back, her smile returning. Sayo agreed that it was a good idea. Hopefully they'd be able to hear their own issues. She could send it to Rinko too, to get her opinion.

Once Yukina sec the camera to record, they played through the first half of the song again. Sayo performed as she had before, meeting each chord solidly. She attacked each one with the force needed, pushing forward through the song.

Her bandmates played similarly to before, with the same strengths and flaws. After the chorus they stopped. Yukina stopped the recording, then put her phone back on the music stand. Sayo set her guitar down so she could go watch.

As expected, the recording made all current issues clear.

When the video ended, Lisa looked up from it and at the others. She looked determined as she said, "We've been pulling back." Obviously, she was referring to herself and Yukina. "It needs to have more of a pop, doesn't it?" She asked, turning to Sayo.

"Yes, the chorus should push the front of the beat." Sayo replied, which was something she'd already tried to tell them at least three times earlier.

Yukina frowned, slipping her phone back into her pocket. "I envisioned it softer." It almost sounded like an excuse.

"It'll flow better if we play it the same." Ako commented, already retreating back to her drums.

"Of course." Yukina replied. Her eyes carried her thoughts within, reckoning with the change she needed to make. She blinked once, turning away from Sayo and Lisa. "Again, from the top." Her words came cool and firm, the Yukina that Sayo was accustomed to seeing.

Once they were all back in position, they played it again. The difference from before was obvious, with both the vocals and bass actively working to match the tone. It wasn't perfect, as expected for a rehearsal, but it was already far better than before.

They even made it through the rest of the song, polishing the remaining parts.

While they showed improvement, there was still extra push and pull. This amount was something Sayo could deal with, something she could handle.

It was good she hadn't needed to tell them what the problem was, or it might've come with a far worse scolding than the one she had planned. Despite the success of working through Blessing Chord, there was still a scolding on the schedule.

As they grew and changed, their sound would change too. She knew that, had experienced it before. Roselia would manage, so long as they kept their focus.

They'd be alright, Sayo was confident. Even with this new shift in relationships, Roselia would adapt.

And as long as they didn't kiss in the studio, they could avoid another scolding. Sayo was one hundred percent banning that behavior.