Chapter Four

Did You Sleep Well?

Ritsu had been moaning to Mio about the upcoming Maths test all morning. The test would be taking place tomorrow morning and Ritsu hadn't studied all week as she had plans to copy off of Mio.

"Ritsu, there's still time to study, you don't have to from copy me." Said Mio, tucking notes into her bag, it was the end of lesson and she planned to go to the library to write up her notes.

"But Mio, I don't have to copy from you, but I want to!" Said Ritsu cheerily. "It means less work for me and-"

"More work for me." Mio finished, sighing. Ritsu hesitated.

"Not really, I only have to borrow your book; you don't have to do anything else. I could-"

"No, Ritsu, study on your own for once." Said Mio, shoving her bag over her shoulder while staring at Ritsu. She sighed again. "If I help you study this time," She paused shortly, Ritsu looked up hopefully. "Will you promise me that you'll do it yourself next time?" Ritsu jumped into the air and hugged Mio tightly.

"Ahh, Mio! I knew you'd come around!" Said Ritsu brightly. Mio coughed and muttered something that sounded like 'stupid Ritsu'. She remembered that Ritsu had told her this last time too, though she shoved the thought out of her head and managed a small smile.

Meanwhile, Yui had been telling Azusa about how much she had been practising on her guitar yesterday.

"Four hours! I just sat down and started playing and the time just flew by; it was so much fun, I didn't want to stop!" Said Yui ecstatically, she was twirling around in the hallway, not minding the stares she received from several people. "When Ui came in, she told me that I'd been concentrating so hard that I didn't even hear her call for dinner."

"That's great, Yui-Sempai! Now if only you could be that motivated every day..." Azusa trailed off, looking sideways at the ground. She doubted very much that Yui would be so hard working on every single day. All Azusa knew was that however many times Yui slacked off; she'd make it in the end. She was proud of her Sensei for that.

"I wonder what cake Mugi will bring today..." Said Yui, already thinking of stuffing her face with the expensive cakes that Mugi bought every day. Azusa giggled and hoped that she would bring a Mont Blanc today.

The rest of the day passed slowly for Ritsu, she didn't concentrate in any of her final lessons and sat idly when they arrived at the library. She waited for Mio to produce a copy of her notes while trying to balance a pencil with her lips. She pursed them out and whispered to Mio.

"Look, Mio! It's a moustache." She made an awkward impression of an old man which made Mio cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing loudly. She shook her head and looked back down to her paper, concentrating on what the teacher had said to them that lesson. Ritsu continued to distract the students across the table while avoiding the librarian's wary looks.

They all waited – some more patiently than others – for after school music practise, as they did every day. Mio packed up, handed her notes to Ritsu and told her to hurry up. Ritsu shoved the notes into her pocket and said she was ready. Mio stared at her for a second, and then sighed. There was no point in asking why she hadn't been doing anything while she was making notes; Mio unfortunately knew what the answer was.

Yui and Azusa had been the first to get to the clubroom, which caused at sudden realisation that she and Azusa were alone again. She breathed in slowly and strode over to the table; she placed her bag out of the way and walked around the table to pull out her chair. She sat awkwardly while Azusa sat down. Yui suddenly had nothing to say, her strange behaviour became apparent to Azusa very quickly.

"Is something wrong, Yui-Sempai?" Azusa asked. "You look a little off colour." Yui shuffled uncomfortably and looked around. "Y-Yui-Sempai?" Azusa's voice was full of worry which seemed to snap Yui out of her trance.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you." Said Yui. "I wonder what cake Mugi is bringing today..." Yui mumbled somewhat clumsily and looked to the tea set in the cupboard. Azusa stared.
"Yui-Sempai, you already said that." She said, worriedly. "Yui-"

"I'm fine, really!" Yui shook her hands in front of her as the door swung open. Ritsu strode in, followed by Mio who had a 'why do I put up with this?' look on her face. Mugi walked in shortly after they had sat down.

"Mugi!" Said Ritsu happily while waving her hand around.

"Hello everyone," Mugi smiled and walked over to the cupboard which hosted her favourite tea sets. "I brought the Mont Blanc set today," She said as she placed the cutlery on the table, then made for the drawer harbouring delicious treats. Azusa smiled inwardly at the mention of her favourite cake and looked over at Yui, who seemed to be happy she could eat.

Once they finished eating, they hurried to practise, Yui played as normal while Azusa shot wary glances now and again. The rest of the day went smoothly and Azusa stopped worrying about Yui, she put her weird behaviour to over tiredness, she did practise a lot last night, she thought. It didn't, however, stop her looking at Yui. She would gaze over to her and smile brightly and, catching herself, she'd hurry to look away. She was very aware of how red her cheeks were, she just didn't want to think very hard on why that was.

A loud yawn erupted from Yui, who flopped over the bench where they put their bags. Mugi suggested she get an early night, which didn't go down well with Yui.

"But I'm okay! Really," Yui persisted.

"Hmm, I don't think so," Azusa added. "You looked a little sick earlier, plus you have black circles under your eyes..." Yui pouted but eventually agreed to get some early sleep that night.

She knew the problem was not practise, but Azusa. She had spent the majority of her night lying awake, thinking of a certain incident. She worried long and hard and decided not to mention it to Azusa. That didn't keep her from looking over at Azusa and wanting to kiss her again, even in public, which unnerved her a little bit.

She chewed on her lip as they walked home, keeping her contribution to the conversation to a minimum and fixed her concentration on the trees, the ground and the passing traffic, occasionally looking over at Azusa. She wanted Azusa to stay over at her house again tonight and she wanted to stay with her at all times.

Azusa looked over at Yui every so often; smiling at her if she caught her eye. Azusa worried about Yui. She wondered if it would be best for Yui to come over, but put it off when she remembered her sempai needed to get some sleep. Ui could take care of her, she thought.

She couldn't help but feel a little envious towards Ui, who got to take care of her sister every day, from waking her up to making sure she went to bed at night. Azusa had never felt envious before, it made her feel fidgety and uncomfortable. She decided that Yui would come over to her house for the weekend, it was Friday tomorrow and she would ask her mother for permissions tonight.

Yui spent another night thinking of Azusa.

She woke up slightly early, to realise she fell asleep. She didn't feel tired anymore but her arms ached, she slept at an odd angle and she didn't change into her pyjamas. She crawled out of bed and threw on her school clothes. She slowly descended the stairs and nearly tripped on the very last step, expecting more. She dazedly looked around the living room and found Ui watching TV. She looked to the window which let a strong line of light in, which was weird, Yui thought, for it to be this bright in the morning. Ui turned around as she heard her sister clumsily pad to the kitchen.

"Morning, Nee-Chan," She called. "Are you feeling okay this morning?"

"Mmm? Yeah, just a little..." She trailed off when she looked at the calendar. "It's Saturday?" She asked, her voice raising an octave.

"Yes, I stayed off to take care of you; you looked so tired and ill..." She looked worried and Yui felt a stab of guilt.

"You didn't have to do that!" Said Yui, while she rushed into the living room. "I'm fine, really. Really fine." She repeated while trying to look as normal as she could.

"Well, you slept through the whole day, Nee-Chan. You weren't fine." Ui insisted. "I think you should lie down for a bit. Or," She added once she saw Yui's face. "You could just take it easy." Ui smiled at her calmly. She got up and made her way to the kitchen, putting toast in the toaster and getting jam from the fridge. Yui sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I will. Thanks Nee-Chan." She smiled and made her way back to her room. She figured she could play on Gita seeing as she was to stay in today, though as soon as she sat on her bed, she dropped off to a blissful sleep again.

Meanwhile, Azusa sat in her room, worried about Yui. She fidgeted and picked up and put down her guitar several times and couldn't sit still for long. She thought about how sick Yui might be, and thought about how much she thought about Yui, which, she realised, was an awful lot.