Part 3
The lunch bell rang and students began filing out of the classroom. However, one girl was left behind, her twintails swaying slightly as she stood at her desk, scrutinizing a hand written note scrawled on a piece of paper. Her thoughts were interrupted when a voice rang out through the room.
"Azu-nyannn~!"
Azusa paled she recognized the voice of a certain upperclassman. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but nothing came. It was strange… Usually, the petite girl would be reeling from the assault of Yui's warm body against hers, wrapping her up in a hug that seemed to be a little too friendly. Azusa blushed as she recalled the butterfly feeling she would get when Yui hugged her like that…
Azusa's eyes suddenly snapped open, shock sinking in as she realized what she was thinking about. She cleared her throat slightly, red tinged her cheeks. She turned slowly and collected her thoughts she before facing the girl in front of her. "A-Ahem. W-What is it, Yui-sempai?" She tried not to let the disappointment show on her face, but she was certainly flustered enough for the airheaded guitarist to notice.
"Azu-nyan! Did you miss me? I saw you standing here by yourself and thought you looked lonely!" Yui smiled lopsidedly as she rocked back and forth on her heels and the sight of her genuine concern just made Azusa's heart flutter strangely.
"I-I was just a little slow in packing up my things. That's all." The black haired girl quickly piled her books together, her note lost between the pages of her homework.
"Oh, I see." Yui hummed happily as she just watched Azusa with piqued curiosity.
The younger girl could feel her sempai's stare trained fixedly on her and it was making her squirm a little more than usual. Today was a weird day and everything Azusa felt was slightly off kilter. "Was there…something you needed?" She turned to Yui, surprised to see those big eyes still staring at her.
"Weeeeeeeeeeell…I was just wondering if you could help me practice for the play that our class is hosting for the festival. I need someone to help me remember my parts... Would you be interested in starting your acting career early, Azu-nyan? We have costumes too! You can wear those cat ears you like so much!" Yui was grinning from ear to ear, looking at her underclassman expectantly.
Azusa completely disregarded the irrelevance between cat ears and the play, getting used to Yui's ridiculousness. She didn't have anything better to do anyway, so helping Yui out as usual didn't seem like such a bad idea. Azusa scoffed slightly as she smiled, her heart feeling a little bit lighter as thoughts of the wrinkled piece of paper in her books was pushed to the back of her mind.
"So, care to tell me why I'm spending my lunchtime here helping you run lines, Ritsu?" Mio had a bemused smirk on her face, setting her cup of tea down on the table before she walked over Ritsu who was sprawled on the floor of their clubroom with a pile of papers around her.
"Ahaha….I just realized that our class is practicing today and I haven't read up to act three yet…" Ritsu laughed sheepishly as she rummaged through her scattered mess of a script.
"So typical…" Mio sighed, shaking her head disapprovingly, but all the same, she crouched down, filtering through the papers with Ritsu as she gathered up the pages in the correct order.
"Thanks a lot, Mio. To be honest, I didn't really want to be the lead role in this play since I can't handle the pressure sometimes…but the class was so insistent on it. Oh. I didn't read the book, either, so that would be an extra thing for me to do." Ritsu sighed as she thought of the remnants of the play she still had to read.
Mio chuckled, thinking that that was just so typically Ritsu.
The two girls reached for the same page and Ritsu's fingers brushed up against Mio's. The drummer's touch lingered a second too long and she pulled away suddenly as she realized what she was doing. There was a lengthy silence between the two as they picked up the last of the scattered pages. The two girls stood and Ritsu mentally berated herself for letting her impulses get the best of her. Recently, it had been getting harder and harder for Ritsu to act…normal around Mio. It was just…
"S-So…I left off here last time." Ritsu cleared her throat, flipping through the pages as she tried to remember the scene she read last before falling asleep. Finally, she found it and she handed the appropriate pages to Mio. "You'll read these parts and…this one too." Ritsu pointed out the lines she instructed Mio to read, leaning slightly into the taller girl. Feeling conscious of the lack of distance between them and the overwhelming scent of Mio's shampoo, Ritsu stood back as she cleared her throat once again, trying to get into character.
As Ritsu read her lines, she felt her heart leap into her throat as a sense of free floating anxiety filled her for reasons unknown to her. She was alone with Mio. It wasn't an unfamiliar situation, but the brunette's heart pounded in her chest.
The minutes ticked on and Ritsu and Mio were getting into their roles. Mio dutifully read the lines given to her, feeling uneasy about how nervous Ritsu seemed. Since the moment they began, the bassist felt an increasing awkwardness from the way the drummer was acting. The play was a standard love story of a tragic hero, secretly a personal favorite of Mio's, but she never did tell that to Ritsu. Her favorite part was definitely the kiss scene where Heathcliff and Catherine- The bassist paused for a second and a sense of realization dawned on her. Her cheeks coloured a bright red and she finally knew why the lines she heard from Ritsu's lips sounded so familiar.
Mio froze, the colour draining from her face. She felt extremely bothered as a thought popped up in her head. There must be a kiss scene in the play. Sure they were at an all girls' school, but they have had plays with full-blown romance scenes. Also, knowing that it was Mugi who took charge of scripting…
"R-Ritsu!"
The drummer looked up from her script, stopping mid-sentence. "I-Is there something wrong, Mio?" She blinked quizzically, taken aback by her friend's outburst.
Mio's cheeks were slightly reddened with embarrassment, her hands wrung together as she fidgeted nervously with her fingers. "Ano ne, Ritsu…" The bassist paused, wondering why she was getting so worked up about it.
"Yes, Mio?" Ritsu cocked an eyebrow.
"I-Is there a…k-kissing scene in the play?" Mio's face burst into flames of embarrassment as she turned her head away from Ritsu, coughing slightly to hide her embarrassment.
"Uhh…I…" Ritsu's head was spinning as she tried to fathom what Mio just asked her. Why did she want to know?
"I-I was just wondering, you know. Since you've never been in a romance play like this before…" Mio's tsundere nature shone through as she fumbled her way through to an explanation for her question.
"I…think so?" The words left Ritsu's mouth before she even realized it. She did remember the girls talking about it, but nothing was really confirmed.
"Oh, I see." Mio forced a smile before she turned and walked towards the table, picking up her forgotten teacup as she took a swig of cold tea. Her eyes were wide open in shock, a thick feeling tightening in her chest. She didn't want Ritsu to see how rattled she was by this because honestly, Mio herself didn't even know why this bothered her to no end.
"T-then you're…you and Mugi…" The bassist couldn't finish her sentence. Her head was myriad of feelings.
"I-I don't know…I guess so?" Ritsu was beginning to feel the tension in the room and everything felt almost surreal.
There was a long pause yet again as the two girls stood there, meters apart. Mio at the table, still turned away from Ritsu and the drummer standing by the couch, fidgeting uncomfortably with her script.
"Haha...Then I'll come watch your play for sure! Since I don't know how a girl like you who's never kissed anyone before could pull off a romantic scene like that." Mio laughed nervously, putting her cup down as she turned abruptly back to Ritsu, trying to dispel the awkwardness hanging thickly in the air. She closed the distance between them quickly, stopping an arm's length away from the shorter girl. She tried to tease the brunette like she normally would, but it just came out half-heartedly.
"W-Whatever. It's not like you have either…" Ritsu furrowed her brows as she stared at her feet. What was with Mio these days? It was that love at first sight stuff from yesterday that started this kind of thing. Now, she was acting all strange. It made Ritsu question whether Mio lied to her about liking someone or not. She just seemed overly interested in these romantic affairs lately. Ritsu's mood darkened at the thought, her heart heavy.
"W-Who says that I've never kissed anyone before?" Mio crossed her arms, feeling annoyed that Ritsu would just automatically assume that. The condescending tone Ritsu took wasn't necessary either.
That statement hit a nerve in the drummer and she was suddenly just as irked as Mio was. Mio kissing someone? Just imagining that, Ritsu could feel her blood boil. "Ha! You? Kissing someone? A girl like you would never be able to gather up the courage to ask someone out in the first place anyway!" The brunette sneered, malice laced her words, all trace of playfulness dissipated with her self-control.
Mio was seriously getting angry now. Ritsu wasn't being herself, but neither was she. It was inexplicable but her best friend was making her feel very unlike herself.
"Who says that kissing and dating are related! Y-You obviously don't have any problems with kissing M-Mugi…and it's not like you're going to be going out with her after the play…" Mio was trying to rationalize things without much success. The retort sounded much better in her head.
"T-That makes no sense. Mugi's a girl anyway…two girls can't go out with each other." Ritsu's heart felt unbearably tight at the sound of her own words and she was beginning to understand why Mio made her feel the way she did.
"It doesn't matter! That's completely not the point I was try to get across…It's just-Whatever. Kissing someone is no big deal." Mio gathered up her copy of the script and thrust it back at Ritsu. She stormed over to the table again as she packed up her things.
"Then…you could kiss anyone, right? If it's not that big of a deal." Ritsu's voice was small as she looked at the two scripts in her hands.
Mio stopped her actions for a second, furrowing her brows. "Not just anyone." The bassist wasn't that angry anymore, just incredible confused at the direction their conversation took.
"Then…" Ritsu bit her lip as the words she wanted to say dangled off the tip of her tongue. Her pulse was throbbing in her ears, her breathing coming in shallower intervals. It was now or never.
Mio turned at Ritsu's sudden silence, just in time as she locked gazes with Ritsu's smouldering honey-coloured eyes. The intense overwhelmed her. The bassist had never seen Ritsu look so determined, so…
"How about me? Would you…kiss me?"
Ritsu's words hung heavily in the long silence.
"I…" Mio could feel her ears burning up, her breath catching in her throat. She suddenly had a hard time breathing and the whole room seemed to spin.
"Since you're such an expert, Mio, I'm sure you could teach an amateur like me a couple of things…" Ritsu's voice was barely above a whisper, but she found herself walking towards the table where Mio was frozen like a statue.
"I-I didn't say that I was an expert, Ritsu." Mio averted her gaze, feeling the temperature rising under the drummer's stare. Her voice melted away into a whisper, her arrogance and anger earlier completely gone.
Ritsu swallowed hard, closing the distance between them. It was too late to turn back now.
Unconsciously, Mio backed away from the drummer's advances, trapped by the table behind her. "Ritsu…what are you…"
"So I guess you wouldn't kiss me then, right?" Ritsu sidled up to the black haired girl, their chests almost touching and the breath of her words tickling the side of Mio's sensitive neck. A light thud echoed through the room as Ritsu dropped the stack of papers in her hands, their previous task forgotten.
"You're…Ritsu…You're my best friend." Mio chanced a look at the drummer again and she caught a glimpse of what she thought was sadness that marred Ritsu's boyish good looks.
"Doesn't that mean that I should be entitled to more than other people?" Ritsu was bordering on desperation now, putting her arms out on either side of Mio's waist as she steadied her grasp on the table. She had Mio trapped beneath her and she finally understood why she wanted this so badly.
"B-but…kissing- it's something you do with someone you…someone you like." Mio found herself leaning into Ritsu slightly as she placed a hand on the shorter girl's arm, trying feebly to work her way out of the drummer's hold.
"You don't like me, Mio?" Ritsu asked with such earnestness, wondering if shoujo manga scenes like these really existed.
"I-I…of course I like you, Ritsu." Mio could feel that her cheeks were hot to the touch as she said that. She meant every word of it, but it seemed like the meaning wasn't quite the same as what it used to be.
"Then this…" Standing up slightly on her tiptoes, Ritsu leaned into the taller girl, their faces just inches apart. "…should be okay…" Trembling slightly, the drummer muttered a couple of last words before she pressed her lips to Mio's. It was at this moment that Ritsu finally knew for sure that she was head over heels in love with her childhood friend.
To Ritsu's surprise, Mio kissed her back gently, shyly. It was so like the bassist and Ritsu's head swam with the overwhelming scent of the other girl. The drummer could feel something tugging at her shirt and she felt Mio's wandering hands pull her closer.
The music room was quiet, the two girls leaning against the table were locked in gentle kiss. It seemed like forever that they stayed with their lips against each other's. When they finally parted for air, the tension seemed to have disappeared. In its place was something else though, something unfamiliar to the two friends.
Still just inches away from each other, Ritsu looked into Mio's semi-lidded eyes, her lips trembling. The drummer had the irresistible urge to kiss those supple lips again, but it wasn't like she really had permission the first time she did it.
"S-Sorry." Ritsu abruptly backed away, turning away from the bassist as she scratched her head sheepishly, not knowing what else to say.
"S-Stupid…T-That's…a little too late to say now." Mio stepped away from the table, going back to packing up her bag. Her hands were shaking and her heart was still pounding. She definitely couldn't say that she didn't enjoy it, but Ritsu would never know that.
"Haha…My bad…" Ritsu looked down at her feet, embarrassed that she had forced herself onto Mio like that, but feelings of guilt aside, it was her first kiss and Mio had kissed her back. It was wonderful and sweet and just like how she pictured it would be.
"You're stupid, Ritsu…" There wasn't a hint of hostility in Mio's words, just embarrassment and even a tinge of happiness in her voice if Ritsu wasn't mistaken.
"Ya know, Mio…You are a pretty good kisser. I never would've expected that from a girl who locked herself in her room for a week after tripping on stage and showing the entire school her panties." Ritsu got her playful edge back, smirking widely at the memory.
"S-shut up about that already!" Mio twirled around, throwing a jab that Ritsu nimbly dodged. "T-The bell's going to ring soon. We better finish our lunch before class starts again." Mio was back to her all-business demeanor as she hoisted her bag onto her shoulder.
"Hai, hai. Whatever you say, Akiyama-san." Ritsu saluted, feeling almost giddy as she licked her lips. She tasted peach, the flavor of lipbalm that Mio used today.
As Ritsu followed Mio out of the room with a messy pile of what was her play script in her hands, the bassist stopped suddenly and the shorter girl nearly ran into her.
"A-and!" Mio's face was rather flustered, the tips of her ears bright red. The demure girl had an almost angry expression on her face.
"A-and…?" Ritsu cowered, blinking in disbelief at the sudden change in attitude.
"I-I…" Mio backed away, becoming shy again. "I just want to let you know…" Her voice trailed off to a volume so soft that Ritsu had a hard time hearing.
"Sorry. I didn't catch that. What did you say, Mio?" Ritsu looked on in amusement as she witnessed the bassist struggling for the words once again.
"Stupid, Ritsu! I just wanted to say that I don't do that for just anyone! I-It's because it's you that it's okay, you dummy!" Mio was yelling now, but once she realized what she had just said aloud, her shyness worked its way back into her.
Grinning from ear to ear at the other girl's words, Ritsu laughed, taking Mio by the hand as she tugged the bassist along. "C'mon, you tsundere, let's get to eating our lunches before time's up!"
"H-hey, Ritsu! Slow down!" Mio laughed as Ritsu pulled her down the hall and down the stairs. They weren't allowed to run in the halls, but neither of them could care less as their laughter disappeared down the corridor.
Once the coast was clear, two figures appeared from behind a stack of chairs by the music room entrance. Yui and Azusa both had puzzled looks on their faces, wandering into the empty room.
"Ne, Azu-nyan…what was with that argument that Ricchan and Mio-chan had in the middle of their practice? I couldn't really hear most of it, but I think it had to do with kissing?" Yui had a thoughtful look on her face as she furrowed her brows in concentration.
The two of them had planned on using the music room to practice lines as well, but Mio and Ritsu were already there. Instead of interrupting them, the two guitarists decided to sit in and listen, but things turned south and it was hard to make out the heated argument through the thick wooden doors.
"I've never heard Ricchan so serious before. Have you, Azu-nyan?" Yui turned to the younger girl, but Azusa was deep in thought, her eyes glazing over.
Azusa's thought went back to the stupid note that she had shoved in her books. It confused her to no end and she couldn't help but think that Ritsu and Mio were probably going through something like that. She understood so well how that situation played out. She heard the silence, the awkwardness after and the lifting of the tension. Azusa might've been a year younger than them, but she knew that Mio and Ritsu were definitely-
"Azu-nyan?"
Yui's face was extremely close when Azusa came to, the older girl blinking questioningly as she always did with her big brown eyes.
"A-Ahh!" Azusa let out a small yell of surprise, jumping backwards as she wondered when Yui had snuck up on her like that. "Y-Yui sempai!"
"Are you okay? You spaced out there." Yui looked concerned as she stepped closer to Azusa.
The twintailed girl expected Yui to stop, but it wasn't until she pressed her forehead to Azusa's that the younger girl registered how close the brunette was.
"You seem really hot too. Are you sick, Azu-nyan?" Yui brushed Azusa's bangs aside as she assessed the girl's temperature, but she didn't realize at all that she was the reason for Azusa's feverish like state.
"I-I'm fine! Let's just get to practicing before time runs out, okay?" Azusa dragged Yui over to the table, dumping their things on it unceremoniously as she cleared her throat authoritatively.
"Roger, Azu-nyan!" Obliviously, Yui went on with her proposed practice, fishing her lines out of her bag.
Fighting her blush, Azusa reconfirmed what she knew all along. Their light music club was full of oblivious and dense people.
A/N: Lol. I decided to upload something after so long. bursts of random inspiration here and there. Sorry for the ridiculous wait. Unfortunately, I am pretty rusty...Forgive me for that as well! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully, it wasn't too OOC. Thanks for reading! Please review!