Part 6

Ritsu groaned, rolling around in bed as the early rays of sunlight streamed in through her window. She looked over at her nightstand and the digital display read 6:32. It had only been an hour since she had fallen asleep and her alarm was set to ring in twenty minutes anyway.

With another heavy hearted groan, the brunette sat up. Holding her head, she felt a faint throbbing in her temples, wondering why she felt like a sack of brittle bricks. Throwing her covers off, Ritsu ears perked up as she heard the rustling of paper. She looked over to see the pages of her play script strewn all over her bed.

The girl sighed, and she realized why she felt like Yui had smacked her repeatedly with Gitah. She remembered how she distracted herself from her thoughts last night. She couldn't forget the stupid and selfish things she said to Mio. The scene kept replaying itself again and again in Ritsu's head, complete with her mind coming up with a new rejection from Mio every time. It was a nightmare in itself and the drummer had trouble pushing the thoughts to her back of her mind.

Not being able to get Mio out of her head, Ritsu ran lines all night, unable to sleep and unable to focus on anything other than regretting the confession she had spontaneously blurted out to her best friend.

Closing her eyes again, Ritsu shook her head, trying to shake off the heaviness she felt. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and unsteadily made her way to the bathroom. Her headache was getting worse and the temperature seemed to be spiking. The way the room was spinning wasn't helping either.

Half an hour later, Ritsu realized that she was going to be late for the new early morning practice regimen that her class rep had set up in preparation for the festival. It was supposed to start at seven and she was already five minutes late. Running down the stairs in a panic, Ritsu almost tripped at the foot of the staircase, gripping the banister tightly to regain her balance.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to think clearly through the still-present pain in her head as she stumbled over to the door, sitting down as she pulled on her shoes.

"I'm going to school early, today, mom!" She called out as she stood and went over to the door. The drummer didn't even wait for a response as she bolted out of the house.

What met her outside gave the brunette quite the shock and she just stood on her doorstep, staring.

"M-Mio…"

It wasn't a dream or her imagination, but the real Akiyama Mio standing in front of her like she did every morning so they could walk to school together.

"Morning, Ritsu." Mio smiled weakly. She turned, avoiding Ritsu's gaze.

"Why…you're early today…" The brunette attempted to act normal, but inside, her chest was pounding furiously, the blood pumping loudly in her ears. She didn't expect to see Mio here after what she had told her yesterday. Digging around in her bag, Ritsu fished for her house keys.

"You told me that you had practice early starting today, so I just wanted to make sure you woke up in time for it." Mio fidgeted with her watch. She knew Ritsu was late, but she just couldn't muster up the courage to ring the doorbell today. If anyone had passed by the Tainaka residence twenty minutes ago, they would have seen a tall slender girl standing at the door, hesitating.

"Haha…but I am pretty late already." Ritsu could feel the sweat beading on her forehead. She was rushing around so much that she had worked up quite a sweat. It was getting hotter under her collar and the heat was uncomfortable to say the least. She fumbled with her keys, her hands shaking as she missed the keyhole a few too many times.

"Ritsu, I need to tell you something." Mio's voice was uncertain as she addressed her friend with the utmost seriousness.

"What is it, Mio? I-"

"I don't think we should walk to school together anymore." The words came out in a jumble, but they reached Ritsu's ears all the same.

Mio had her head turned downwards as she stood in Ritsu's doorway, keeping her composure as she poorly recited the lines she had been practicing all night just for this moment. They had come out rushed, nervous. She made it sound like they were breaking up.

Ritsu was in the middle of locking her door as she froze, her key still in hand as her eyes widened. Her head was pounding and Mio's words seemed to hit her like a blow to the face.

"Ritsu…"

Whipping around, the drummer tried to act as normally as she possibly could, but it was hard. Hearing that from Mio was more than a rejection. It hurt so much because it sounded like their friendship was over. She had woken up this morning glad that nothing had happened yet, glad that Mio hadn't given her an outright 'no', but this was far worse. She was foolish to think that that everything would possibly be back to normal after she had told Mio she was in love with her.

"M-Mio, what are you talking about?" Still forcing a smile, Ritsu fought back the pained expression that threatened to contort her fake façade. Her breathing was starting to come in short breaths, her pulse racing. She felt so uncomfortable, like her chest was going to burst.

"I-I….I'm just saying that maybe we just need a bit of a breather. We're both really busy and you've got to get to school early this week for morning rehearsals, right?" Mio turned, not waiting as she started walking off towards the road.

"Wait, Mio." Hurriedly locking the door and yanking her key out of the keyhole, Ritsu dashed after the bassist. "Stop. We need to talk about this." Desperately, Ritsu wanted, needed Mio to listen to her.

Her head ached; every step she took sent a jolt of pain through her temples.

The black haired girl just kept on walking, her speed increasing as she felt Ritsu growing closer.

The drummer almost ran to catch up. They had barely left Ritsu's front yard. "Mio!" Without any restraint, Ritsu grabbed Mio's arm and forcibly spun her around to face her, but the bassist broke out of her grasp, avoiding the girl's eyes. However, she didn't run this time. Mio stood with her back facing Ritsu, her eyes turned down towards the pavement as they stood there.

For a split second, Ritsu caught a glance of Mio's face and she could have sworn that the taller girl was crying.

"I'm…just saying that we've been too close lately. That's why things have gotten…weird." Mio struggled to get the words out, not knowing what else to say. What she and Sokabe-sempai had was purely physical, but Ritsu…she…

"Mio, is this because of what I said yesterday?" Ritsu gritted her teeth as she asked. She knew she had messed things up. Stupid her and her bad timing. She really didn't need all this drama on top of all the work she had to do for the play. However, the brunette had no one to blame but herself for this.

"I…" Mio shook her head. "W-we should just stay away from each other for now. It's not normal, you know?" Once she heard herself say her own words aloud, Mio felt it echo quite ironically in her mind. She was repeating the same words she heard from Sokabe-sempai.

"Then why did you kiss me, Mio? That night at my house. You started it." Ritsu took a step closer to the bassist, wondering why Mio was being so cold.

"Because." Mio paused for a second before she turned and locked eyes with Ritsu. "It's because I wanted to. There is no explanation for my actions. I just felt like it."

"I just don't buy that. I can't. What are you afraid of? What happened to the girl I knew who used to cry after she read those shoujo romance novels? Ritsu was getting angry now, her face flushed. Mio was obviously being deflective and boldly so. It was a side of her that Ritsu had never liked.

Mio too was getting frustrated. Ritsu was going to be late for practice and their conversation was going nowhere. If Sokabe sempai were here- The bassist caught herself. It was the third time she brought up the name this morning. Everything that had happened with Ritsu just reminded her of the sempai who changed everything she ever thought she knew about love. She was comparing her beloved Ritsu to Sokabe Megumi.

Sempai was mature, logical and manipulative. Ritsu was just being naïve.

Mio knew Ritsu was never anything but honest with her, but the bassist couldn't reciprocate the gesture. Being honest with her own feelings was never Mio's strong suit. Ritsu didn't care what others thought of her and that was one of the things that Mio loved about the girl.

"I have to go." Mio walked off without another word and this time, Ritsu didn't give chase. The brunette just stood there in the driveway of her house.

Suddenly, she felt sick.

By lunchtime, word of Ritsu's absence had reached Mio's class.

"Ne, ne, did you hear? Tainaka Ritsu didn't show up for school today. Her mom called in sick for her. Everyone was waiting for her to start rehearsal today too!"

"What? Really? I heard she was overworked and fainted on set so she had to be sent to the hospital!"

Mio shook her head at that one. There was no way something that serious happened without someone letting her know.

"Yeah! I heard the same thing. I hope Tainaka-san's alright."

The bassist suddenly felt her chest tighten. "There's no way that could have happened…right? She looked fine this morning." Mio mumbled to herself as she slowly got up from her seat, forgetting her lunch box on her table as her legs carried her out of the room without another thought.

"Aha…yeah…I think Azu-nyan is mad at me for some reason, Mugi-chan." Yui pouted as she shovelled spoonfuls of Ui's homemade lunch into her mouth. She couldn't even taste how good her fried rice was because she was so upset.

"What happened? Did you do something to upset her yesterday?" Mugi was confused. She knew Azusa was going to confess from the setup she saw in the hallway. It was a done deal, so something must have gone wrong. Thinking hard, the girl furrowed her takuon eyebrows in frustration, wondering what part of that perfect confession could have possibly gone south.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything…but she ran away after I told her I wanted to…d-d-date her." Yui suddenly become self-conscious of the topic she was discussing, lowering her voice at the end as she flushed slightly. After glancing around to make sure no one heard her, she sighed and continued eating.

There was a slight pause as Mugi wondered why Azusa would run from the arms of her beloved Yui-sempai. Cold feet?

Suddenly, Yui sniffled as she started talking to no one in particular. "Azu-nyan…why won't you repl y to my messages or pick up my calls or even look at me when I wave to you in the hallways!? Why!?" Yui was on the verge of tears, drowning her sorrows as she wolfed down her lunch with godspeed.

"Y-yui-chan! Calm down! It's alright. We'll fix everything. All we need is some duct tape, a blindfold and maybe some-"

Mugi was interrupted mid-sentence as Mio burst into their classroom.

All eyes turned and focused on her presence for a couple of seconds, but the Dangerous Queen didn't even flinch. She was never good with being the center of attention, but she was too focused on one thing to even notice the stares she was getting. She made a beeline for Yui and Mugi and before she reached them, the words had already left her mouth.

"Where's Ritsu? Is she alright?"

Both Yui and Mugi looked up at the visibly distraught girl, quite confused.

The classroom resumed its lunchtime din, but a couple of eyes were still watching the exchange between the girls.

"Eh? Didn't Ricchan text you?" Holding onto her spoon in her mouth, Yui rummaged through her bag, pulling out her phone as she scrolled through her messages to find the one that Ritsu had sent her early this morning.

"Here." Yui showed her screen to Mio, her phone grasped loosely in her outstretched hand.

Mio snatched the mobile out of the guitarist's hold, a wave of relief overcoming her as she read the short text. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding, wondering why her heart ached like that.

"Thank god…" Mio whispered under her breath, handing Yui back her phone.

"That's weird though, Mio-chan. Even I got a text." Mugi whipped open her cell and showed Mio as well. It was the same message. Ritsu must have sent it to just the both of them.

Smiling sadly, Mio felt stupid. Of course Ritsu wouldn't text her after that. The bassist didn't want to sound conceited, but Ritsu's absence was probably her fault.

"Is something wrong, Mio-chan? You seem really…I guess….sad…" Yui stood up, moving closer to Mio as she offered the girl some kind of comfort. "Stupid Ricchan probably just…forgot. Don't be sad."

"Y-yeah…that idiot. She's always like that." Mio offered up a forced smile, wondering if this distance was going to fix anything. Ritsu was her friend and nothing more. She was just worried for her best friend.

This couldn't be love.

The days passed and Ritsu still hadn't shown up at school. The girls in her class were getting worried. They could have lied and said they were only worried about Ritsu's health, which they did, but people were starting to vocally voice their concerns about not having a main character to their play. They had no understudies and with the festival starting in less than a week, there was no time to cast another Heathcliff, especially not one that could be better than Ritsu.

Mio was worried as well. She thought Ritsu was just skipping school to avoid her, but it had been three days now and no matter how stubborn she was, Mio knew Ritsu's mom wouldn't settle for such a long absence unless it was something serious.

"Mio-chan."

Mio jumped at the sound of her name and she came to her senses just as Yui made her way over.

"Are you really alright with watching the rest of our rehearsal? You can go home without me and Mugi. We'll be here for another hour or two. We still have a lot of loose ends to tie up." Yui counted off the things on her fingers as she mentally went over her checklist.

For a second, Mio entertained the idea of visiting Ritsu. It was the first time in years that she had been apart from her childhood friend for more than three days. It was also the first time that she had gone that long without texting or talking to the girl. It was strange, but a slight tightening in Mio's chest persisted every time she thought about Tainaka Ritsu.

"I…guess I will then." Mio stood as she gathered her things, a growing desire to see Ritsu welling up inside. "I really did want to watch, but something's come up. I'll see you tomorrow then." Mio smiled sheepishly as she said her goodbyes, making her exit.

"Okay, Mio-chan! See you later!" Yui waved enthusiastically as the long-haired girl rushed out of the classroom.

As Mio opened the sliding door and stepped out, she came face to face with a bewildered Azusa.

"Kyah! M-M-Mio-sempai!?" Azusa stuttered like no tomorrow, fidgeting and eyes darting every which way. Even a blind person could see that the young girl was nervous.

"What are you still doing here, Azusa-chan?"

The twintailed girl laughed sheepishly, smoothing out her skirt for the third time in a row as she tried to regain her composure. "I was….helping…out with my class' activities…?"

Mio sighed and she couldn't help but crack a smile at the sight. The girl could have at least sounded a bit more certain about her lie. On any other day, Mio would have teased her underclassman about it, but today, she was a bit preoccupied. "Alright, whatever you're planning, I'll let it slide. I need to get going, so I'll see you later!"

"I-I-I definitely wasn't spying on their rehearsal!" instead of a farewell, Azusa opted to try and poorly cover up her presence outside Yui's class.

Shaking her head with a smirk on her lips, Mio waved goodbye to the girl as she half ran down the hallway. Once she rounded the corner at the end of the hall, she rifled through her bag in search of her phone. She really didn't care if she and Ritsu were fighting. Quickly pulling up the 'compose a message' screen, Mio typed furiously on the number pad, her emotions getting the better of her.

'Ritsu, I'm so sorry about what's been going on between us these past few days. I just don't know how to tell you what you mean to me. I'll tell you everything about-'

Suddenly, she paused. Reading over her words, Mio wondered what she intended to get through with this message. What did she really want to tell Ritsu? Did she want to tell her best friend about the secret she had been keeping last year? Did she really want to tell Ritsu about what happened between her and Sokabe-sempai?

Sighing a deep sigh, Mio was confused again, wondering why she had to make life so complicated. Erasing what she wrote, Mio leaned against the wall for a second, wracking her brain for a solution. She really had no idea what she was doing with her love life.

Mio lost all the certainty she had just 5 minutes ago. She wasn't so sure she wanted to see Ritsu just yet. She was unprepared. She didn't know what she would say to her. Letting out a frustrated groan as she agonized over this, the bassist decided that she needed to put more thought in her actions. Taking a different route, her legs carried her upstairs, to a place where she always felt like she could relax.

Azusa was still outside the classroom after Mio left. It had been almost half an hour since she saw the bassist and Yui's class was still rehearsing. The girl could hear the students going through the play diligently and occasionally, she could hear her beloved sempai try her best to recite the lines she obviously didn't memorize very well. Smiling sadly, Azusa mouthed Yui's lines along with the girl. At this point, the twintailed girl was sure that she knew them better than her sempai. They were supposed to practice more this week, but the younger guitarist was too busy ignoring the older one.

Sighing, Azusa leaned fully against the wall, letting her body weight slide her down until she was seated on the floor. She buried her face in her hands and wondered how she could ever apologize for how childishly she was acting.

"What if I've ruined everything? What if Yui-sempai doesn't like me anymore…?" Mumbling into her sleeve, Azusa felt like crying. It was stupid. She never cried over cuts or bruises, but the thought of Yui-sempai growing apart from her made her want to burst into tears.

"I'm sure you're just overreacting."

"How can you be so sure? I must have hurt her when I ran like that. I feel so stupid. I wish I could just apologize and make everything better." Azusa's words were muffled into her sweater and she wasn't paying very much attention to her surroundings.

"It's not too late, you know? I really do like you, Azu-nyan…"

"I guess it's not too late, but I-" Azusa froze for a second and her cheeks effectively colored a nice pink. She swallowed hard and slowly raised her head. Looking up, she was met with the one and only upperclassman who could make her heart flutter like mad.

"I thought I saw you walking around out here. Want to talk about it?" Yui smiled her goofy trademark smile, but there was a twinge of sadness to it that pulled at Azusa's heartstrings. The older girl extended a hand to Azusa.

Nodding wordlessly, the young guitarist took the brunette's hand.

'Every time I see you,

My heart goes DOKI DOKI'

Mio hummed lyrics to herself as she looked out the window. She was seated on the windowsill, her knees drawn up to her chest. The sun was beginning to set and the warm yellows and oranges of the remaining daylight spilled into the room. It was such a nice scene and Mio felt so calm and relaxed and sleepy. She was forgetting about her worries, giving up on thinking out a clear solution ages ago.

Her phone still clutched in her hand, Mio brushed back a strand of hair as she pulled up the draft she spent a good twenty minutes mulling over.

'I'm sorry for being a jerk. Please forgive me. Are you feeling better? I'm coming over later tonight. Can we talk if you're feeling up to it?'

The bassist read over her words again, wondering for the umpteenth time if she was being too demanding. Sighing, she shook her head and decided that enough was enough. Closing her eyes, she pressed the 'send' button. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and without another thought about the matter, Mio clamped her phone shut and threw it unceremoniously into her bag that was sitting on the couch a couple of feet away from her. She didn't even want to think about the reply she was going to get or possibly not get.

Swinging her legs over the edge, Mio stood and stretched, looking out the window one last time before she gathered her things.

"Are you sure there's no one here, Yui-sempai?"

"Azusa!?" Mio's heart skipped a beat as she heard voices coming down the hall. Throwing her things together, the bassist panicked, pacing about the room as she looked for a place to hide. Thinking quickly, she scanned the room and the furniture. She eyed the couch for a minute, wondering if crawling under it was-

The bassist stopped before she passed out from thinking about the gross things that might be hiding under the piece of furniture. Who knows? There could be dust bunnies or dust mites….or even bugs under there. Mio shuddered. It seemed like she couldn't shut off the thoughts in time.

"There shouldn't be anyone here. Mugi's still in the classroom and Mio-chan went home already."

"Crap." Mio knew it wasn't a big deal if she got caught, but she just wasn't in the mood for questions.

The footsteps were getting closer, their voices getting louder. They must've reached the top of the stairs already.

Doing one last sweep of the room, Mio's eyes light up as she took notice of a large wooden closet in the corner. Dashing madly for it, she threw the door open and squeezed inside beside old tubes of rolled up posters and large print music scores. She barely had time to ease the door closed before she heard the doorknob rattle, the two girls coming in.

"See, Azu-nyan? Empty."

Mio didn't manage to close the closet completely, a sliver of an opening available for her prying needs. She peered out, making out the figures of Yui and Azusa gathered around the table.

There was a weird atmosphere in the room as Mio watched the two girls, both visibly quite nervous.

"Okay…so umm…would you mind telling me why you ran…that day?" Yui's voice was uncharacteristically uneasy, her manner of speech rather formal and far more polite than either Mio or Azusa were accustomed to.

There was a brief silence in the room and Mio held her breath, feeling the tension rising in the air.

"I'm very very sorry!" Azusa finally said as she did a deep bow, a 90 degree bend at her hips. "I don't know what I was thinking. I was just so panicked and happy and I didn't know what to think. I didn't think that you would ask me out and I-I-" The words just tumbled out of Azusa's mouth and the younger girl could barely keep her voice under control.

"Azu-nyan…"

"I'm…I'm so sorry, Yui-sempai." Azusa suddenly started sobbing, coming out of her bow as she turned away from her sempai, wiping at her tears with her sleeves.

For a second, Yui was dumbstruck, feeling her heart shatter at the sight of Azusa crying. Tears began to well up in her eyes too and she took a couple of steps forward, closing the distance between her and her kouhai. Yui snaked her arms around the shorter girl, holding her in a tight embrace.

"It's okay, Azusa. Don't cry. I wasn't angry or anything. I'm just glad you feel the same way about me."

Still sobbing, Azusa gripped Yui's arms in her hands, trying to quell the tears. "I-I w-was just scared! It was like a dream come true for me, but I never thought that you would ever return my feelings. I-I was just scared!"

"Of what? Tell me what you're so afraid of?" Yui's voice was muffled into the crown of Azusa's head, her lips pressed against the younger girl's hair. Her words were so soft that Mio barely caught the sounds. The bassist wondered why no one had seen this big sister side of Yui before.

"I-I'm scared…o-of…what people will think." At this, Azusa's sobbing stopped momentarily, her tone heavy. "I'm scared…that people a-at school…w-will find out…Then o-our parents…Then t-they'll try to separate us!" The girl erupted into tears again, wiping at them futilely with her sleeves.

"Azusa! Don't worry!" Yui held the girl tighter, tears prickling at her eyes now. "Don't worry. I won't let anything like that happen. I promise!"

At this point, Mio felt that she was intruding. Their exchange was obviously not meant for an outsider's eyes, being so private and intimate. Mio was feeling guilty.

"It's not just our parents! I-It's society, the world, Yui-sempai..." Azusa shook her head sadly.

"I don't care about the world. If the world thinks that there's something wrong with being together with the one you love, then it's the world that's not right!" Yui raised her voice, growing irate and frustrated at the reality that was forced onto her. Mio's eyes widened, surprised that Yui had just said something so mature.

Thinking to herself, Mio 's expression darkened. Sokabe-sempai was far too self-conscious, too concerned with how others saw her, how they might judge her if they found out. That was one reason they got along so well. Mio realized that they were the same kind of person, also caring about what others thought. That's why Sokabe-sempai left and found a boyfriend so she could fit into the outside world. That's what Mio was afraid Ritsu would do to her.

But Ritsu wasn't like that, right?

The room was silent now, the tears and sobbing had subsided for the most part.

Azusa was surprisingly calm, a different feeling settling in as she felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"Yui-sempai, did you just say that you loved me just now?" Azusa untangled herself from Yui's arms and turned to face the older girl.

Another pause.

"I-I did. D-didn't I say it before too? On the roof?" Yui pursed her lips together, looking at her feet as if they were the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

"Huh. I guess you did." Azusa blinked, feeling embarrassed now after her crying fit. She chuckled a bit at the change of pace, feeling much more relived after crying her eyes out.

Yet another bout of silence.

"So, wanna go out with me, Azu-nyan?" Yui asked in the most nonchalant way she could muster up as she now looked absently out the door, which was decidedly more interesting than her shoes at this point.

Biting her lip, Azusa thought for a couple seconds before nodding, her cheeks red.

"O-okay. Then it's settled. We're going out." Yui was now looking at the ceiling as she said this, a huge grin spreading across her face.

Staring at her sempai -now girlfriend with a furrowed brow, Azusa pouted as she jabbed the older guitarist in the stomach with her finger.

"Are you dating the music room, Yui-sempai…?"

"Gyah!" Recoiling from Azusa's attack, Yui chanced a look at Azusa, her cheeks reddening this time as she stuck her tongue out playfully. "I was just a little embarrassed. Teehee."

Inside the closet, Mio sighed, wondering how the intense drama between these two could turn into a comedy so quickly.

"Mou!" Azusa couldn't help but let a smile break through as her feigned anger melted away. She threw her arms around Yui's midsection, burying her face into the other girl's shoulder. "You're such a joker, Yui-sempai…"

"Haha…I guess I am." With one hand resting on the small of Azusa's back, Yui gently ran her other hand through the girl's ponytails, marvelling at how soft her hair was.

The two stayed like that for a few moments before Azusa piped up again.

"So…now that we're d-d….dating, what are we supposed to do differently?" Now, Azusa understood why Yui found the door so interesting earlier. She avoided Yui's gaze, staring at the inanimate objects in the room.

"You mean like kissing…and stuff?"

There was another one of those pauses. Mio grit her teeth as she gushed. These two were just so cute and at the moment, she felt like Mugi in one of her strange moods.

"Y-yeah…since…you know…there's no one here…not like you have to, but since we're going out and everything…kissing…and the uhm …makes the difference between friends and lovers and best friends and-"

Yui silenced Azusa's rambling by spontaneously pressing her lips against the younger girl's. When they parted seconds later, Yui held Azusa at arm's length. "H-h-how was that!?"

Azusa giggled to herself, wondering if Yui really counted that brush of the lips as a kiss. "N-not bad…but practice makes perfect, you know?" It was still sweet and Yui-like, a perfect first kiss.

"Ehe…I guess that was pretty awful, eh?" Yui smiled sheepishly gave Azusa a pat on the head.

Suddenly, there was a buzz that jolted the two girls out of their own private world.

'Kimi wo miteru itsumo haato DOKI DOKI'

Mio paled. It was her phone. Someone was calling her.

"Uhm. That's not my ringtone, Yui-sempai…" Azusa cast a suspicious glance in the direction of Mio's bag which was sitting on the couch on the far side of the room.

"Not mine either. Mine is a secret voice recording of Azusa saying 'Nyan, I'm a cat.'" Yui said this with utmost seriousness as she approached the location of the noise.

'Yureru omoi ha mashimaro mitai ni FUWA FUWA'

Only raising her eyebrow at that last comment, Azusa ignored Yui's antics as they both made their way to the ominous couch to find Mio's schoolbag sitting there.

"This is…"

"Agh!" Mio burst out of the closet, rushing over to her bag as she rummaged for her phone.

"M-M-Mio-chan!?"

"Mio-sempai!?"

The two girls jumped at the sudden appearance of the bassist and only one thought crossed their minds.

"Were you hiding in the closet the entire time!?"

Pausing in her search for her phone, the girl in question paled, only laughing nervously as a reply. It was all the response Yui and Azusa needed to feel embarrassed.

"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to eavesdrop. I swear I didn't hear….much!" Mio apologized to her friends in a rush before resuming her cellphone search. Finally fishing out her phone, Mio grabbed her bag and dashed out of the music room with her phone in hand.

"Sorry!"

Her apology echoed down the hallways and the two girls left standing in the music room were suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Good thing it wasn't Mugi-sempai." Azusa commented in a deadpan tone.

"Yeah...she would have videotaped the whole thing."

Flying through the hallways and down the stairs, Mio felt bad for intruding on her friends, but what's done was done.

More importantly, Ritsu had texted her back and tried to call her as well. Still fast walking, Mio flipped open her phone again and opened the text message.

'Mio, I'm the one who should be sorry. I really need to talk to you.'

With only one thing in mind, Mio nearly ran out of the school and onto the streets, her legs carrying her to Ritsu's house.

A/N: H-Hi...I'm not dead! But, I might as well be with all these exams and stress and ugh. Sorry for the wait. Hopefully, I'll finish all my in-progress works before the new year!

This one is almost done. Please stay tuned! If y'all are wondering what I do with my life now aside from school, I cosplay now :) Sorry I haven't been updating! Cosplaying is a better stress reliever than writing =\ Check out my FB page if any of you are interested!

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-Cheers!