Author's Note: This is the first chapter I'm posting apart from the massive 15 first chapters. Maybe I should have split up their publication dates a bit. Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and favorited so far!

...

"Okay, okay, Ibuki calls this band meeting to order!" Mioda tapped two drumsticks together. "Thank you all for coming! Based on your votes, it looks like we have decided to name our group..." she took a pause for effect and started grumbling something, stomping her feet.

"What?" Hinata asked.

"'Mumble Grumble Crash'! Or MGC, for short. That's the name in writing, but the onomatopoeia is gonna catch on. Ibuki can feel it. It's so fresh, so original!" She hopped up and down, twirling the drumsticks like the ends of a jump rope. "Gah, Ibuki is so excited!"

"What the hell?" Souda said, slouched over in his chair. "I don't remember votin' for that."

"Because So-so-so-Souda was too busy making sprinkle-covered deliciousness! You and everyone but Hajammers voted for that name."

"I thought 'Crushing Entity' sounded cooler, even if it's a bit too heavy metal," Hinata offered.

"Heeey, Ibuki's terminology is rubbing off on Hajim-jam!" Mioda squatted down to drum on her knees. "So, so, now we can-"

A knock sounded on the door. "Come in!" Mioda sang.

Sonia entered with an apologetic smile, and Souda looked away, grimacing. "I apologize for my tardiness. I had trouble finding the room."

Mioda sprang to her feet with a grin. "Ooh, ooh, are you here to join MGC?"

"Oh, you didn't name it 'Crushing Entity'?" Sonia sighed. "I liked that name."

"No, the votes have spoken! Even little lion man liked MGC, which is surprising because Ibuki thought that a more intense name would be right up his alley. CE isn't as cool of an abbreviation, methinks." Mioda gestured to a chair, and Sonia sat. "So, what instrument would the esteemed princess like to play?"

Sonia bowed with a mischievous smile aimed at Mioda. "Well, I have always wanted to play the accordion, but I also know the piano if that is not an option."

Mioda made a buzzing noise. "Sorry, ma'am, pianist is taken! In more ways than one," Mioda said, winking at the swindler. "An accordion, though... mayflowerbe. Maybe if we just had you do a solo or two in each song. What does MGC think?"

Souda cleared his throat. "Hey, is that Kuwata kid still comin'?"

"Well, he said he was going to be here on time, but he's not, so Ibuki started without him." Mioda huffed. "Ibuki does not tolerate tardiness! She does make exceptions for pretty girls, though," she said, grinning at Sonia.

"Is he even allowed in the school? They're usually pretty tight with security," Hinata said.

"Oh," Mioda said. "Oh oh oh oh oh oh OH!" She leaped from the conductor's podium and started sprinting out of the band room. "Ibuki will be right back!"

Sonia giggled as the door slammed. "Well, this should be interesting! What instruments are you all playing?"

"I've got the drums, I guess," Hinata said. "I've never played before, but Mioda keeps telling me that it's easy. Souda's bass, and you already know the pianist." The swindler waved. Sonia waved back.

"I don't know how an accordion would fit in to a traditional light rock band," Sonia said, tapping at her chin. "The sound is a bit... out of place, but I believe that Miss Mioda will find a way to make it work. She is the best at what she does, after all."

Hinata nodded and walked to the front to pick up the drumsticks that Mioda had cast aside. He took a seat at the drum set, looking hesitant. "This is weird." He tapped a cymbal as though it might hit back if he struck too hard. "We're gonna need a lot of practice before we play anywhere. Have you ever played the bass before, Souda?"

Souda snorted, looking at the floor. "No. I don't think I'm any good with music. Mioda mostly picked me because of my hair."

Hinata shrugged, giving the pedal to the bass drum an experimental tap. Mioda burst back into the room. "Little lion man can't come in because the school's security doesn't let people enter without scheduling a visit and they don't let visitors use the student rooms for too long so we need to find a different place to practice!"

Hinata blinked. "Isn't Kuwata coming here in the fall, though? He's technically like a... pre-student, or something."

"Ibuki will have to ask the office for a special exception! Good idea, 'Tatas!" Mioda was out the door before anyone could stop her.

"Was that a nickname or her saying goodbye?" Hinata asked, staring at the door.

"Perhaps both," Sonia said with a laugh.

As Kuwata was a shoo-in to attend Hope's Peak, the main office granted him an extended visitor's pass that allowed him to stay in the school until late in the evening. About an hour after Mioda's initial dash out the door, he entered the band room and looked around, mouth dropping open.

"Damn," he said. "This is nice."

Mioda grinned and picked her guitar up from the floor. "At your stations, everyone!"

Sonia raised her hand. Mioda lowered her voice to say, "Yes, what does the young lady in the front have to ask?"

"Is there an accordion or other suitable instrument in here?" Sonia asked, lowering her arm with a smile.

"Oh, right, oh, right!" Mioda bounced over to the back room, shuffled around for a few moments, and returned with a dusty concertina and a triangle. "There's a xylophone back there, too, if that is what Your Highness wants," Mioda trilled.

Sonia took the concertina with a word of thanks and tried playing a note. Five pairs of hands flew to their ears as a loud, distorted chord sounded. "Well," Sonia said, "it seems a bit out of tune." She picked up the triangle, examined it, and asked, "Could I see the xylophone, please?"

"Of course!" Mioda re-entered the back room and wheeled out something much too large to be a children's toy. "It's actually a marimba, but Ibuki likes saying 'xylophone' better."

Sonia picked up one of the sticks nestled between two wooden keys and hit a note. She hummed in tune with the rich sound. "This will do nicely for now, I think. Maybe an accordion and a piano on the same stage would have been a bit much, anyway."

"Never give up on your dreeeams!" Mioda bellowed in her best imitation of Nidai. "Ibuki can give you lessons on the accordion if there's one around somewhere, but for now," she made the same grumbling and stomping motions as before, "will hold their very first jam session! This day, the 16th of March, will go down in history as the day a new genre was born!" She hopped up on the platform where Hinata was seated and waved the other four up to join.

"So so so, Ibuki thinks we should go for something that encapsulates punk rockers on the beach, drumming on old cans so the baby turtles won't bump into them and singing their young hearts out into the night sky so their words travel to the moon and make the man there smile and sing along, except he'll be too late to really sing with them because the sound was too slow." Mioda strummed her guitar once and hummed in approval.

"That sounds kinda... surreal," Hinata said. "Also, I still don't know how to play this." He tapped the snare drum for emphasis.

"Just mash out whatever you want," Mioda responded. "The drum needs to provide a steady beat and maybe have a really cool solo, so just find something you like and stick with it until you can go crash boom bang at a lull in the song." Mioda snapped her fingers. "Crash Boom Bang would have been a good band name! Or Mumble Grumble Crash Boom Bang. Ibuki has regrets now."

"That's kind of an overwhelming title," Souda said, trying to figure out how to hold the bass. "And I'm with Hinata. I don't think I've even touched a musical instrument before."

"Oh, Souda is such a virgin! Such a white maiden pure!" Mioda skipped across the stage to adjust Souda's fingers on the strings. "Kazoo will probably need private lessons-" she nudged him in the side, "-from Ibuki later, but he'll have to do the best he can!"

Souda, overwhelmed by at least three things, didn't protest. Mioda laughed and stepped beside Kuwata to the second microphone. "Alright, here we go! Play us in, Jim-Jam."

Hinata sputtered for a second, tapped the drumsticks together a few times, and started hitting the bass drum and cymbal in alternation. Souda played the same note over and over while a simple piano melody tinkled in the background, and a combination of four notes sounded from the marimba as Mioda started playing a more complicated guitar intro.

Kuwata started spouting nonsense words at the microphone after a few seconds, and, by the end of the song, he and Mioda harmonized into some sort of primal scream. Souda was glad that the room was soundproof so MGC's first improvised song didn't deafen the entire first floor of the school.

Hinata ended the four uncoordinated minutes with a very uncoordinated drum solo, and Mioda cheered as the last cymbal crashes faded. "We did it! What should we call that one?"

Souda had a lot of answers to that question, none of which Mioda would appreciate, but the swindler saved him by saying, "I think we need a little more work before we can call that the finished product."

Hinata nodded. "Yeah, I'm still not really sure what I'm doing."

"You did awesome, Hajammers!" Mioda beatboxed something into the microphone and said, "Ibuki liked it! Maybe Kazoo's bass skills need some Ibuki-related assistance, but this was almost what she had in mind when she was talking about punk rockers on the beach, drumming on old cans so the baby turtles won't bump into them and singing their young hearts out-"

"Okay, yeah, but can I get lessons or somethin'?" Souda asked, plucking at one of the bass strings. "I'm awful."

"Kazoo is not awful!" Mioda stomped her foot. "He is a developing musician, like everyone else is. There is no such thing as a fully developed musician. Ibuki will just help him develop more."

Sonia set her sticks onto the marimba and said, "I think we all have potential. Shall we try another song? Perhaps one that we all know?"

By the close of an hour, the sextet had played dozens of songs, a few decibels of hearing seemed lost, and callouses formed on most fingers. Souda grimaced at his aching thumb and said, "Can we call it a day? I still have a few things I need to work on tonight." The others nodded in agreement.

Mioda blew a raspberry. "Okay, okay, fine, but MGC needs to practice at least a five times a week! Maybe five times a day, even."

Hinata stood from the drum set and stretched. "That was fun, actually. Are we meeting tomorrow?"

Mioda nodded. "Same MGC time, same MGC place!" She turned to Kuwata. "If Kuwatatas can't come every day, Ibuki understands, but he should practice at home as much as possible."

Kuwata set the microphone onto its stand and said, "This is way better than baseball practice. I'll be here whenever you guys are, unless I have a game or somethin'."

"Radical!" Mioda saluted. "You are all dismissed! Kazoo, see Ibuki after class."

Souda sighed and walked across the stage, rolling his eyes at a wink from Kuwata. "Yeah?" he asked Mioda's back. She twirled to face him.

"Ibuki was serious about those bass lessons," she said, "and Souda knows how rare that is for Ibuki! He should be honored." She crossed her arms with a grin.

"How much time would they take up? Normal practice already cuts into my time in the shop, and I have a few projects goin' on right now, so..." Souda went to bite at a fingernail, but Mioda slapped his hand down. "Hey!"

"Long nails will help Kazoo play better! Some musicians use picks, but Ibuki thinks that you can get closest to the music with just your fingers." She wiggled her digits and said, "The lessons might take an hour a few times a week, methinks? Ibuki and Souda can meet in here, and Ibuki will teach all the basics, and Kazoo will be a more developed musician!"

Souda nodded. "Yeah, I guess an hour's fine. That all?"

Mioda pouted. "What, Kazoo doesn't want to have a nice one-on-one conversation with Ibuki? Fine!"

"No, that's not what I-"

"No, no, say no more!" Mioda pointed to the door. "Be here tomorrow right after class for the first lesson. Maybe Ibuki will throw a headbanging contest in there if Souda is on his best behavior."

"Um, okay." Souda started heading for the door. "See you later, then."

"Buh-bye!"

Souda closed the band room doors with a sigh and began the walk to his shop. Between the band, lessons, homework, and his projects, he knew he wouldn't have any time to breathe until final exams were over.

That was fine. Anything to get his mind off Sonia and Tanaka.

...

Over the next few weeks, Souda's routine developed new facets of complexity. On weekdays, he woke up early to exercise with Nidai and the others, went to class, crammed in some homework from the night before at lunch, finished the second half of classes, went to a lesson or band practice, worked on something in the shop, and went to sleep.

This routine morphed into something impossible to maintain once Mioda started planning actual shows for the band.

"Mioda, I just don't have time right now, okay? Maybe if it was one show, it'd be fine, but regular gigs are just too much."

"Nonsense!" Mioda blew the kazoo strung around her neck. She found it in the back of the storage room one day and had taken to using it and her preferred nickname for Souda interchangeably. "Think of all the cuties you'll meet, all the money you'll make, and, most importantly, all the extra time you'll get to spend with Ibuki!"

"I couldn't turn that offer down," Kuwata said with a lazy stretch.

"Neither could I," the swindler said, giving Kuwata a confused side glance.

Sonia cleared her throat to diffuse the slight tension and said, "Well, we do need the whole band together to play. If Mister Souda cannot find the time for shows, then we will simply have to wait until he is free."

Hinata circled a drumstick around the top of a cymbal as he asked, "When do you think you'll be freed up, then, Souda?"

The group worked together to make a calendar of available dates for the next few months, but Souda wasn't feeling up to it. He could have made more free time if it was really necessary, but he wasn't expecting the band to be such a big commitment with so little romantic payoff, and he certainly hadn't expected Sonia to join. She had been trying to maintain polite relations with him since White Day, but he tried to avoid her at all costs as he tried to work out his feelings toward her.

He tried to avoid his usual glances at her, but the habit that had persisted for half a year was difficult to stop all at once. She sometimes caught his eye and tried to offer a smile, probably to show that she held no resentment, but he would look away in response. Souda became more and more reluctant to attend practices, but Mioda would chew him out if she saw a frown on his face. Quitting the band altogether wouldn't be easy, and he was sure that he would feel guilty for months afterward; even if he was a mediocre bass player at best, Mioda and the others seemed to enjoy spending time with him.

Besides the tension with Sonia and Tanaka, it was nice. He had never felt like a valuable part of a group before, choosing to isolate himself with machines instead of joining school activities, but between the group that met in the gym in the mornings and the band that met every afternoon, he was becoming more comfortable around others and feeling a bit better about himself.

That was why, as the band's first show approached, Souda decided to throw himself into his bass lessons to avoid thinking about Sonia or Tanaka or the conflict he still hadn't quite resolved with either.

Maybe he'd meet someone at a show that could help him forget, but, if not, avoiding actual resolutions to conflict was something he did well, anyway.

...

The night before MGC's first show, the swindler approached Mioda after a particularly intense band practice. Just before he left, Hinata had said that his head and neck might not recover before the next day, but the imposter had not participated in the headbanging.

"Mioda, may I speak to you for a moment?" they said, approaching Mioda at the microphone.

She smiled and said, "Ooh, that sounds serious! You know that kind of question makes Ibuki nervous, but she'll tolerate it from AC-DC."

Mioda had taken to that nickname as soon as she learned its dictionary definition. The swindler wasn't sure how they felt about it. It was better than Porkfeet, they thought.

"I do want to discuss something a bit serious with you," they said. Mioda's smile fell, and she nodded. "I have always noticed your friendly disposition, and it has always been one of your most positive traits, in my opinion, but lately I have noticed its progression into something that borders flirtation." They paused and shifted. "Are you happy with our relationship, Mioda?"

Mioda gasped. "Of course, of course!" She flung her arms around the swindler's middle and said, "Ibuki is so sorry. She had no idea that she was making you feel like that. She'll stop right away-"

"No, I don't think you need to stop," the swindler said, patting Mioda's head. "I would just like to know why this behavior has surfaced. Are you attracted to more than one person?"

"Ibuki loves everyone," Mioda said with the utmost sincerity, and the swindler almost smiled at how simple and pure she made the matter sound. "She'll give and take love from wherever she can get it, but if she ever makes AC-DC feel bad because of that, she'll stop," she repeated.

The swindler tapped their foot. "I suppose I could be open to the idea of a relationship with more than one person if you would explain why it appeals to you. I have no strong feelings either way, but I wanted to get your view of it. Kuwata, for example, has displayed some interest that you haven't exactly been discouraging."

Mioda hopped from foot to foot, tongue sticking from her mouth as she thought. "Oh, oh, it's like when you discover an awesome new song, right? And you wanna just listen to it over and over and it's playing on repeat in your head all day and there's no way you can hear enough of it! But then after a while, you find another super awesome, newer song that you listen to over and over so the other one sort of drops off your radar for a bit, and maybe the older song feels a little sad about that, but then whenever you listen to that first awesome song that made your heart spike with the bass line and that made you dance through the hallways and in front of your mirror, you still love it, love it!" Mioda grinned from ear to ear and hummed a few notes. "It's like that, yeah," she said, more to herself than the person standing across from her.

Her grin dropped into a rare somber expression, and her eyes stared directly into the swindler's as she said, "But that doesn't mean that Ibuki loves you any less, okay? And if you don't like the way Ibuki acts too friendly with others, then Ibuki can stop."

The swindler shook their head. "No, I don't want you to distance yourself from your - from our friends. I admire the way you can get along with such a diverse group, and how you attract and reciprocate so many different types of affection, and-" They cleared their throat. "Yes, anyway."

Mioda's grin returned. "No, no, Ibuki liked what you were saying!"

The swindler coughed. "Perhaps you should explain the situation to everyone else. I am open to whatever sort of relationship you want to have with others."

Mioda gaped. "Oh, no, AC-DC is right! Ibuki has a lot of explaining to do, yeah..." She clapped her hands once and drummed them on her hips. "Ibuki will write a song, of course! 'Trouble in Polyamorous Paradise,' maybe, or, ooh, 'I Still Like You But How Do You Feel About A Threesome!'" Spurned on by the swindler's snort of laughter, she continued naming as many titles as she could until she exhausted her brain. "But AC-DC is really okay with it, right? Some of it is just Ibuki being Ibuki, like with Sonia; she and Tanaka are so cute that Ibuki wouldn't want to mess that up, but Ibuki does know some people who might like to date her."

"Yes, it's fine," the swindler said. "As long as you are happy."

Mioda hugged her beau again and said, "Ibuki is always happy when she's with you."

...

Opening night. Souda's stomach buzzed with anxiety as he adjusted the fingerless gloves Mioda had "encouraged" everyone wear. She had helped the other five pick out their stage clothes, which resulted in some interesting ensembles. Souda had opted to stick with his usual shades of dull olive and pink, but Hinata surprised everyone by going for a completely different style. Mioda's encouragement that the drummer needed the most colorful outfit was taken seriously, it seemed.

"Dude, the stage lights are gonna reflect off that mess and blind everyone," Souda said to his friend, looking up and down at the shades of green, blue, orange, and black. "Also, blue doesn't look that good on you."

"You're one to talk. That color combination is as hideous as always." Hinata looked at his hands. "Should I get the gloves in green or orange for the next show, then?"

"Grorange!" Mioda screeched, hopping into the conversation. "One on each hand!"

"That'd cost twice as much, though," Hinata said, "and we've probably spent everything just renting this tiny club for an hour."

"But but but look!" Mioda trilled, peeking out at the band onstage. "We can make mad dough off this show - Ibuki made a rhyme - and then we'll be famous and you can buy all the gloves you want! Ibuki'll have you drowning in gloves by the end of the week!"

"Are you sure that's a realistic dream?" the swindler said, fiddling with their cuff links. They were wearing an unfamiliar disguise that Mioda implied was an original design, so to speak.

"Hey, man, I think we could do it," Kuwata said, clomping across the floor in his oversized shoes. Souda had never understood that fashion trend. Not that he understood any fashion trend. "We got a lot of famous people and pretty ladies up here, so it'll probably attract a lot of publicity."

Sonia nodded, and Souda tried not to look at her skin-tight outfit. "Yes, I have a good feeling about all of this." She smiled and looked out to the stage as the other band ended its set. "Is everyone ready?"

A few heads nodded, and Kuwata put his hand in the middle of the circle. "Okay, 'team' on three!" Five gloved hands followed, and six voices cheered together just before MGC was called up to perform. The band was announced onstage, and Mioda cartwheeled to the microphone. Kuwata followed with a split - in leather pants, no less - and Souda's training paid off as he was able to hold a handstand in front of the bass without falling over. The other three took their places, Mioda introduced the band for the first time, and the first performance began.

To everyone's credit, Souda thought, they had all improved over the past month or so, but his fingers started trembling as he plucked the first few notes from his bass. It still seemed a bit fast to be in front of an audience, but that was the pace Mioda moved at, and no one had really objected to performing so soon after the band's formation.

After the first two songs, one a cover and one an original, Souda tried to beat down the butterflies in his stomach and took a brief look at the audience. He noticed a surprising amount of people and looked back to his hands, feeling his nerves resurface. It seemed that Kuwata was right about publicity.

The crowd responded well, in any case; some people seemed thrown off by the band's variety, the switches from lighter pop music to low, throaty rumbles and long guitar solos, but the cheering at the end of the hour put a genuine smile on Souda's face. He saw a few people pointing at his teeth and tried not to flinch.

The band escorted themselves offstage with a few more acrobatics and collapsed into a group hug as soon as they were out of the crowd's sight.

Mioda's eyes gleamed red under her blue eye shadow. "That," she began, "was everything Ibuki has ever wanted from a performance."

On either side of her, Kuwata and the newly-christened AC-DC patted her back. Souda looked around the circle and saw nothing but smiles.

"That," he echoed, "was awesome."

Kuwata nodded with a grin that stretched his lip piercings far apart. "I can't believe I'm in a band. This is great." He looked down and said, "Thanks, guys."

Hinata seemed almost uncomfortable with the sentimentality and said, "Don't we have some fans to meet? We were the last set, right?"

Kuwata perked up. "Oh, yeah! Hot girls!" With a last glance at Mioda, Kuwata darted down the short staircase to the main floor, and Souda followed.

He lost sight of Kuwata but found himself in the middle of a large crowd. The fact that most of it clustered around Kuwata, Mioda, and Sonia didn't surprise him, but people approached him, as well. He strained to hear what each person said.

"Love your teeth-"

"-and the hair, that's awesome-"

"-can I touch-"

"-hey, it's handstand guy!-"

"-my number, call me-"

"-how long have you-"

"-autograph before you-"

Souda smiled and signed something before yelling some excuse and slipping away. One fan at a time was fine, but he had never done well in large groups. He latched onto Hinata as soon as he found him hiding out in a corner.

"Wow," Souda said, trying to ignore the buzzing in his ears. "This is somethin'."

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting this kind of reception." Hinata looked to Mioda and Kuwata reveling in the attention. "I was asked on at least five or six dates before I came over here. Maybe I should get a sign or something."

"You and 'Nami could get couples' rings." Souda sighed. "I've always wanted to do that."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Hinata said. He patted Souda on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll find someone to get a ring for. Why aren't you out talking to all the girls?"

Souda took another glance at the crowd and winced. "It's a little crazy over there. Not exactly the best place for a romantic first meeting, y'know?"

"What, are you waiting until someone recognizes you on the street or something?"

Souda tugged the gloves off his sweaty hands. "Something like that, maybe. I don't know. I don't want to think about it right now."

Mioda had spotted the two boys in the corner and waved them over, jumping above the now-dispersing crowd. They walked across the room and saw their classmates gathering around the band members.

"Huh," Hinata said. "I didn't know they were coming." His face broke into a smile as he noticed Nanami some distance from the others. He tossed a "be right back" over his shoulder as he headed for her, and Souda sighed. He averted his eyes from Sonia and Tanaka talking with Nidai and joined Mioda, Kuwata, Saionji, and Koizumi.

"Big Bro Kazoo!" Saionji cheered. Souda groaned, and Mioda blew the kazoo still around her neck. "You looked less awkward and sweaty than usual onstage, but maybe that was because you were farther away."

Koizumi coughed. "The outfits are a bit much, I think, but I don't know what else I was expecting from a band run by Mioda."

Souda shrugged. "I like 'em. Not that different from what I usually wear."

"Yeah, your regular outfit's an eyesore, too," Saionji chirped.

The group managed to stick together long enough for Koizumi to get a picture, and everyone dispersed afterwards. Mioda decided to treat everyone to dinner, but she left out the fact that she had only enough to pay for fast food.

Thus, as Souda noticed the group was heading for a familiar pair of yellow arches, he said, "Hey, shouldn't we be goin' somewhere fancy to celebrate?"

"Maybe when Ibuki makes more mad dough," Mioda replied. "Just be glad someone's buying food for you, Kazoo!" She laughed. "Ibuki made another rhyme."

The swindler sighed. "I'm sure they've seen stranger groups. Mioda, if you don't think you can pay for the amount of food I usually eat, I-"

"Say no more!" Mioda held a hand up. "Ibuki pays for all to thank everyone for giving her the best experience ever, ever." She paused. "Ever."

"Yes, I loved performing," Sonia said, clasping her hands together. "When is our next show?"

"Ibuki's not sure yet. She'll have to look at the calendar." Mioda opened the clear doors to the restaurant and took in a deep inhale. "Aah, smell that grease! The salt! The gum under the tables! The offensive body odor! Ibuki loves it all."

The swindler nodded with a soft smile, and Kuwata hopped over to the line. The group did receive some odd looks from other patrons, but they ignored the widened eyes and downturned mouths as they ordered and headed for a table.

Mioda clinked a french fry to the side of her paper cup and said, "Okay, okay, Ibuki has an announcement! She's going to tell the rest of the class, too, but she wants her band mates to know first."

Souda thought that he saw the large form next to her mouth something, but Mioda continued. "As the whole wide world knows, Ibuki and AC-DC are super close-" they linked arms, "-but Ibuki, despite this hunk a' burnin' love that she has, loves everyone, and she'd like to see more than one person if everyone involved is a-okay with it."

Most of the band said something of encouragement or approval, but Souda remained silent as he thought for a moment. He had been raised to appreciate only traditional values, a man and woman in a monogamous relationship, and that might have been what he wanted for himself, but he didn't want to start anything with Mioda over it. It had been a good night, and there was no need for him to ruin it. He nodded to show his support and continued eating.

"I don't think the others will be that surprised," Hinata said. "You are pretty, um, friendly."

Mioda laughed in agreement and raised her milkshake. "Then Ibuki will make a toast for the band she formed with her friends and for her, um, friendliness! She might just explode from all this friendship."

Six paper cups clacked together under fluorescent lighting.

"So, hey," Kuwata said, thumbing at his straw, "did we make any money from that show?"

Mioda laughed again. "No, no, MGC paid to perform that show! It was free to go to!" At a few sour expressions, she said, "Hey, Ibuki knows that everyone has their reasons for joining, but the thrill of being onstage is better than the money." She sang the last word three times, bobbing her head. "Ibuki knows you all think the same. She saw your faces." She kicked Souda's shin under the table and grinned. "You can't lie to Ibuki!"

Souda shifted. "Well, yeah, it was pretty cool. We'll get paid once we get more shows and fans and stuff, right?"

Mioda started to nod but broke into a gasp. "Oh! Oh! MGC needs band merch! Posters and shirts and those vintage-tacky snap bracelets and CDs and keychains and kazoos that mumble, grumble, crash when you blow into them and-"

The group launched into a discussion about graphic design, and Souda grinned. Despite the pit in his stomach that sloshed bile and nerves each time he looked at Sonia, he thought he would be okay for a while.