Chapter 2
The opening baseline to Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Californication" filled the silence of Mio Akiyama's room. It was around 20:00 in the evening of that day, she had done her homework well over a few hours ago (not long after she had gotten back from school) so Mio took this moment to squeeze a bit of instrument practice in. She laid flat upon her back atop her bed, her bass guitar resting atop her stomach as she played. This was one of her favorite songs when it came out over ten years ago, and when she first began to learn base, it was one of the first songs she taught herself to play. She thought back to the day she finally nailed it down perfectly, how she excitedly rushed right over to Ritsu's house to show her-
Ritsu.
The strumming of Elizabeth's strings came to a sudden halt. The last three days for the Light Music Club's bassist had been quite the eventful ones. It all began, of course, when Ritsu, after not going to school one day, claiming a sickness, arrived at the club during its operating hours. She went straight for Mio and literally dragged her outside and behind the school's statue, where she-
Mio thrashed her head to the left at the thought. "Stupid Ritsu," she bassist whispered aloud to herself. "What did you go and do that for?" But it was not just that first kiss that lingered in her thought. It was all that occurred afterward, when Miss Akiyama was brought to Ritsu's home and into her room. In absolute truth, nothing apart from a few deepened moments of kissing and fully clothed grabs were made that day. But it didn't matter, because Mio knew that a huge step had been taken that day, a step that could never be taken back. What's done is done, as they say.
It was the days after that were worse. An unspoken agreement between Mio and Ritsu was made that they speak none of this to anyone, that it would be a secret until the time was right to reveal it. So far, both of them had kept the secret well enough and none of their friends seemed ever the wiser. In fact, not one did they really inquire about the events of that day. But for how much longer, Mio wondered, would this continue? Already she was feeling the pressure of keeping such a secret under tight lock. Would she be able to hold it in until the time was right?
The phone in her pant's left pocket sang to life. Already she had a feeling who it was that was calling, and when she set her bass aside and retrieved the device, her assumption was proven correct. The mini-display on the flip-phone's outside read "Ricchan." It took her a full five seconds of ringing before she finally opened the phone up.
"Hello?" she finally answered.
"Hey…" said Ritsu from the other end. It was clear she was nervous as well.
"… Hey."
"How's it goin'?"
"Good… You?"
"Good…"
Fifteen seconds then passed where neither of the two spoke a single word. It was as if they both were waiting on the other to bring up the inevitable conversation, the one pertaining to that day three days ago. They knew they had to talk about it, but when was a mystery. Mio just wanted it out of the way and over with. Hell, she wanted things back to the way they were, when they had just been friends and nothing further, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. Not now. Not ever.
Finally, Mio took it upon herself to bring up the subject. "Look, Ritsu, I-"
"Do you wanna go out tomorrow?" Tainaka suddenly interjected.
"W- What?"
"I said 'Do you want to go out tomorrow?' You know, like after school. Coffee shop opened up in town and I kind of wanted to check it out. Game?"
"… A-Are you asking me on a… d-date?"
"You can call it that if you want to. So, game?" Ritsu asked again.
"Uh, s-sure, I'm game- But what about the club? Everyone will expect us to show up for our regular practice. Plus, if we're both not there, they might start to expect that we're-"
"Together?"
"D-Don't say that, Ritsu!"
"Why not? You telling me that we're not?"
"N-No, I just- Look, fine, I'll skip the club and go with you, but we are going to talk about this, got it?" She didn't need to explain to Ritsu what "this" was. It was all too clear.
Ritsu paused. "… Yeah, I figured you would… Sure thing, Mio-chan. See you tomorrow then… Night." She hung up immediately after.
"… Night." Mio said back.
Mio slipped the cellphone back into her pocket and, finding the room silent, took that moment to think once again. "A date." Mio found it sort of odd how a simple name change made a world of difference. When she and Ritsu had hung out before, it was considered just that: hanging out. But since Ritsu has basically made the decision for her that they were in a relationship, "hanging out" was now "dating."
Quite honestly, Mio didn't like this. In truth, she hated that thought. "I mean, why does it have to be dating? Can we not hang out anymore? It has to be called something else? I never asked for this to change into something else-"
Then it hit her. She suddenly pieced together a part of why she was feeling so awkward about this whole ordeal: she essentially had had no say in this change. It was all Ritsu's doing and all Mio had done was (both literally and figuratively) fall backward and let things occur out of her control. She never asked for her and Ritsu's friendship to become love. She should have had a say in this before things progressed the way they did.
… But at the same time, though she hated how things changed between her and Ritsu, and thought she hated how things could never be called or be the same thing again, she didn't want things to return to what they were. She was happy for Ritsu, happy that such a large weight had seemed to be lifted from her shoulders.
But what would she value more in the end: Ritsu's happiness or her own…
-o0o-
The next day dawned and went. School hours for Sakura High came to a close, and as students filed out the school's front door and headed off home, a certain bassist stood not a far distance off and awaited Ritsu's arrival. She was more nervous now than she was yesterday. As she waited, she hopped the others (Mugi, Yui, and Azusa) wouldn't be mad at her and Ritsu for skipping out on the club again.
The drummer in question made a sudden appearance into the sun's light as she stepped outside the school's front doors. The two's eyes locked immediately and Ritsu approached the other, stopping a few feet before her. They then held silence between each other, none of them looking to willing to speak.
That is, until Ritsu broke it. "… Let's go," she stated before walking past Mio toward the school's gate. But she took no more than two steps past before Mio stopped her with a "Wait." The two spun themselves around at the same instant to lock eyes.
"Don't forget what I said, Ritsu," Mio reminded. "I want to talk about this, ok?"
"Fine fine, we'll talk, now can we go?" Ritsu didn't sound too genial. It was if she were dismissing Mio's reminder. Nevertheless, the two left together and exited school grounds, heading towards downtown, Mio following.
-o0o-
"Mio and Ritsu-sempai aren't here again," said Azusa, stating the obvious.
It was a familiar sight: Tsumugi, Yui, and Azusa in the club room during its normal hours, without the presence of the Houkago Tea Time's remaining two members. It had happened at least a few days prior but now both Azusa and Yui were beginning to believe this would be a regular happening. Mugi, however, was counting on it being so.
With only three sitting at the table enjoying their daily tea and cake, there seemed to be much more to split between those in attendance (something Yui took full advantage, partaking of more cuts than she would normally eat.) And as the three ate, from the silence of an uneventful day of their club, Yui asked the collective "You think they're on a date?" 'they' obviously being the two absentees.
Azusa looked to her sempai and asked her "That's a rhetorical question, right?"
"Umm… No, I don't think so."
"*Sigh* Yes, Yui, it's a date. I mean, what else could it be? You remember what Mugi said, right?" The mentioned's trademark eyebrows perked up at the mention of the name. "She was convinced: Mio and Ritsu have something going on."
Mugi opened her mouth to give back a modest interjection of "Oh, but I could be wrong, of course," (even though she knew damn well she was correct), but Yui interjected herself by saying back to Azusa "Well it has been three days already. Why don't we ask them?"
"No!" The lady Kotobuki finally spoke up and she did it in a big way, exclaming that loud negative. "We can't ask them. We just can't!"
"Why not?" Yui asked the blonde back.
"Because it's against the rules!"
"What rules?" Azusa then asked.
"Jeez, haven't you two seen a romance drama lately? One or more members of the couple have to admit their new sexuality themselves! We can't just ask them out of the blue suddenly. They might freak and then they might never admit it!"
"… Mugi-sempai, I think you've been watching too many dramas… Well, I can't see any reason on staying today as well. We're two members down, including the club's president."
"Hmm, I suppose you're right," Mugi agreed. When Yui then gave a nod of her own agreement, the three band members packed up and left the clubroom. The room would then experience a period of silence after their departure, that is, until the light music club's advisor burst through the door.
"Cut me a slice of that cake and pour me some tea," Sawako cheered in a closed-eye grin, "because teaching worked up one hell of an apati-" Only then did she open her eyes and realize she was alone. "… Oh… They all left. Again…Guess I'll just, go home then…" And with her head now hung low she left sans cake in her stomach and tea to wash it down.
-o0o-
The two Sakura students, Mio and Ritsu, after a short walk, arrived at their intended destination. It was a café located not a stone's throw from the station. It was a sister store to another that just so happened to be based in Ryoo, a café known for its caramel macchiato (if a certain aspiring student artist had anything to say about it.) The two took seats opposite each other at a booth at the store's front window. The sun outside was beginning to set and the light that bled through was of warm amber and orange hues.
And after the pair was seated… not much else occurred. Both said nothing to each other for the first long moments since arriving. Though Ritsu had her eyes on her companion, Mio seemed more interested with the stained wooden surface of the table. Finally a waitress approached and asked them "Is there anything I can get you two?"
Mio didn't even glance an eye at the waitress. Ritsu instead answered. "Uh, what do you suggest?" she asked. "Never came here before."
"Oh, well, our brother store has gotten praise for its caramel macchiatos, so-"
"Two of those, I guess."
The waitress nodded and promptly left to get their drinks, leaving the students alone again. This time, Ritsu attempted to get some sort of response from the one sitting opposite. "Uh… Nice place, huh?" Small talk. Ritsu knew Mio wanted to talk about the relationship, and the way she was implying her words, Ritsu feared Mio might want to break it off. So she thought that, by changing the subject enough and controlling the conversation, maybe Mio would forget. A stretch of a hope, perhaps, but it was something.
But Mio didn't seem interested in small talk. In fact it seemed more likely she was having a telepathic conversation with the table, judging at how her eyes had yet to leave it. Ritsu tried again. "Uh, that test we took yesterday, that was a tough one, right…?" Nothing. "But uh, I ended up studying on my own (for a change) and guess what I got for a grade? Eighty-two. Not bad, huh?"
Nothing.
The drummer finally heaved a sigh of relent. "… Alright, damnit, you win, Mio. You got something to say? Then say it. I feel like I'm talking to a wall here as it is."
The black-haired girl finally lifted her eyes from the table and onto Ritsu, and for the first time since leaving school grounds, she spoke.
"… I don't like this," she stated.
"… Huh?" Ritsu asked back, dumbfounded.
"I said 'I don't like this.' I don't like how this all happened!"
Maintaining the dumbfounded look on her visage, Ritsu stared rather blankly at Mio, truly unsure how to react this sort of response. The waitress returned and placed the two coffee drinks in front of them and immediately left. She noticed the strange looks between the two and decided not to get involved.
"… W-What do you mean?" the drummer finally asked.
The bassist sighed back. "Ritsu, you do things sometimes and you don't ever think about how others will react or ask what they think about it. I mean, Christ, you show up out of nowhere after not going to school that day, you rip me from the club room and take me to the statue, tell me that you lo-"
"Ssh! Not so loud. People can hear us," Ritsu interjected. Indeed the two were starting to get looks from the other patrons. Rather loaded looks at that.
Mio continued in a whisper but skipped not a single beat. "- Tell me that you love me, kiss me, then drag me to you house and-"
"Ssh, Jesus! Is that what's bothering you? The stuff we did…? Because, well, you didn't seem to object at the time."
Mio blushed intensely at that recurring thought. It was a moment she was ashamed to admit true. Yes, what Ritsu said was true. On that day, when she brought Mio to her room and moments of intimacy occurred between them, Mio got swept up in the acts. She began to regret how she surrendered so easily the more time passed afterward.
"I-It's not just that, Ritsu," Mio explained. "It's all of it! Y-You just did these things and- and… And I had no say in it!
And now nothing is the same between us. We're not 'friends' anymore. We're more than that now. Girlfriends. A-And I didn't have a say in that either! Y-You just went ahead and did what you felt like doing, but… But did you even consider what I wanted?"
Ritsu was speechless, astonished for a completely new reason. Mio had said nothing about that day since that day, so to hear this now was akin to getting hit by a train at full speed. "M-Mio… That's what you're upset about? You… You felt like you didn't have a say?"
"Yes. All these things happened so fast and I feel like there's no going back now. I wasn't ready to take a step forward like this, Ritsu. Now I feel like we can't go back to being just friends, like it always has been."
"… I see…" This time, Ritsu's eyes fell onto the table's surface, to her drink. It already lost much of its heat. "… You want to break up then. I get it. It's ok, I underst-"
"No, Ritsu."
The eyes lifted. "No?"
"I don't like how I didn't have a say in how things changed, but now that things have changed… I-I don't want things to go back."
"… I-I don't understand-"
"How long have you felt this way about me, Ritsu. Please, be honest."
The drummer halted and thought about the question for a moment. "Well, I guess, I always felt this way. I-It was only until recently that I kind of realized it."
"Really? When was that?"
"Uh, a month or so, I guess." Ritsu decided Mio could not know about her lessons with Konata. Though she had Konata to thank for everything, having Mio know would probably complicate things more than they should be. "I just sort of began thinking about things and, well, one day, the answer just sort of… came to me."
"See? I'm not trying to say that you're wrong about liking me. It's obvious that you do and I don't want to deny any feelings you have… I mean, Jesus, I just-"
"Wanted a bit more say in that matter."
"Exactly… But it's too late now. You already confessed. Can't do it again."
"… Maybe we can, Mio," Ritsu added. She snatched her coffee up and downed its entire contents in a single go. She then retrieved her wallet and took out a one thousand yen bill (which easily paid for both drinks while providing a tip) and slammed the bill onto the table. "Follow me, Mio. I'm gonna give you that second chance."
-o0o-
"Ritsu, why did you bring me here?" Mio asked her. After they left the café, Ritsu lead the black-haired other no more than a couple of blocks away, to a bus bench placed on the sidewalk. The setting golden sun was shining right in Mio's face, giving an almost angelic aura to it.
"I told you already," Ritsu answered. She was standing next to the bench adjacent to Mio. "I'm giving you a second chance. This time, you can react however you want, ok? And there will be nothing forced on you, I promise. Now, just stay here and I'll be right back." Before Mio could say anything, Ritsu ran off down the sidewalk and ducked behind a distant tree.
"What the heck is she doing?" Mio wondered to herself. "Why does she thing she can give a 'second chance?'"
Ritsu remained hidden for a full twenty seconds until she suddenly popped out from behind her cover. She then began to walk casually down the street, back in Mio's direction, but did not seem to notice she was there on the way back. It was only when she got within ten or so feet of the bench that she acted surprised to see Mio there, putting on a glad look. "Oh, Mio-chan, glad you came. I, uh, wanted to tell you something."
"What the heck is she- Wait a second… She's not going to actually- She's going to give a second confession? C-Can that even be done?"
The drummer took her sweet time in walking over to the bench and taking a seat to Mio's left. "Sorry I made you come out all this way, but, uh, I kind of wanted some privacy."
"So you brought me to a sidewalk bus stop? I think you're making this up on the fly, Ritsu."
Nevertheless the drummer continued. "You see, I wanted to tell you something for a while now, but I… I wasn't sure how you'd react. I didn't want to say it too soon incase you'd become angry." I already told you I was angry, Ritsu, but not because you confessed. And why are you acting so serious? You're acting like it's the very first admission. "And I definitely didn't want to say it too late, or for that matter, not at all. That would have been even worse." Wait, maybe she really wants this to be like a first…
Mio finally spoke back. "Ritsu, just say it already," she told her. "Stop stalling."
"… Fine." The headbanded girl made a sudden pivot in Mio's direction, reaching her hands forward and cupping them around both of Mio's. This was much different than the rather forced and somewhat harsh revealing from before. No, this was much more gentle and (dare it be said) unlike Ritsu. In fact, one could say Ritsu was changing her demeanor for Mio.
"Mio…" she continued. "I… I have had feelings for you for a long time now." Though it was, in essence, the second time Mio heard such words from Ritsu, these second ones were hitting her with much more of an impact. "I think I've always had these feelings for you, but it wasn't until recently that I sorted them out… But now, I can tell you.
Mio, I love you."
Mio gasped. Again, even though she heard this from Ritsu once already, the second admission was more potent than the former. She felt her entire face heat up from the blush it now no doubt adorned. Likewise, her entire body suffered a stiff chill, followed immediately after by a warm feeling of comfort.
Ritsu continued. "I know you're probably freaking out right now. Trust me, you're face is the color of a fire hydrant." She managed to chuckle and grin at this, but both left just as quickly, her face and demeanor shooting right back to serious. "You probably would have never expected me to say this to you, I know, but this is how I really feel about you, Mio. I love you…
But I know that you might not love me back… If you don't, please, just tell me. I promise not to hold it agains- HMM?"
Ritsu's voice became muffled when Mio did the unthinkable. She leaned forward of her own want and kissed Ritsu, locking her lips firmly around the other's. With her eyes closed, Mio could not see the flabbergasted look Ritsu's eyes gave back. It would appear her new and adapted admission did the trick, and perhaps, it worked too well.
Not a few seconds after Mio made the initial oral contact a bus from down the street approached their stop and began to slow down to a halt. Feelings of fright swelled up within the drummer instantly. They were going to be no doubt stared at by everyone getting off at this stop and it was an embarrassing situation she'd rather avoid.
Ritsu jerked head back to free her mouth. She made a single gasp for air before hurriedly saying "Mio, the bus! Everyone will see-!"
"Let them watch," Mio suddenly interrupted, and before Ritsu knew it, the kiss had been reconnected, Mio making sure it would not break prematurely a second time by reaching her arms around the other's waist and sliding themselves closer into an embrace. The bus came to a stop directly in front of the bench, and when the tinted doors opened, the patrons within were greeted to quite the sight, much to all their surprises.
At first, Ritsu was absolutely mortified at being seen in such a manner in front of so many people, but an instant later, she no longer seemed to care. Like Mio had been before, she now found herself swept up in the heat of the moment. She reciprocated the kiss back, now not giving a damn who witnessed it. She was far too elated to give a single care.
Ritsu loved Mio, and now, Mio loved her just as much back. No more boundaries existed between them. The only direction their love could go now was forward…
[Author's Notes] Ok, time for a bit of honesty. At first, I hated writing Mitsu stuff (RitsuXMio). Also, at first, I had not a flipping idea as to how I would go about writing Mitsu. Literally for days I would think of ways to go about this chapter, and then I thought that "Hey, Mio has pretty much been thrust into this relationship by Ritsu. Maybe I can work on that sort of angle." And BAM, the chapter was completed, and I must say, I impressed even myself, being able to write what I did.
As inplied, first work with Mitsu, so input from you readers would be grand. Thank you.