A/N: Ho shit. I forgot to put in a disclaimer in the last chapter 8(. Ah, well, here it is:
DISCLAIMER: K-On! belongs to Kakifly, Kyoto Animation and Pony Canyon.
Anyways, don't forget to leave a feedback. I'd love to hear what you think about this, since if no one likes it, I might not continue xD. As usual, beware of choppy grammars and enjoy!
One-second Interlude
Chapter 2.
A tired sigh escaped pink lips as two finger messaged the bridge of her nose repeatedly. The sigh was soft enough to be drowned by the excited footsteps of the students as they left for home, but was loud enough to gather the attention of a certain long haired brunette.
"Long day, Mio-chan?" Yamanaka Sawako sat down on the desk beside hers, smiling sagely as though she knows everything.
'Or maybe she really did' Akiyama Mio thought wryly 'she's the class' homeroom teacher after all.'
The raven haired younger woman took a deep breath before answering "yes. I have your class for the last period."
"Oh? What happened?"
Mio massaged the bridge of her nose once more "…it's the Four Fiends again."
"What did they do now?"
"…Wakaouji-san kissed Tainaka-san on the lips when I told them to sit down."
At this Yamanaka Sawako burst into laughter. Her boisterous loud laughter gathered the attention of the other teachers in the lounge and Mio felt her face burn at the attention. She mentally prayed for the woman to calm down, which she thankfully did 3 minutes later.
"That's rich," the brunette took off her glasses to wipe her tears from laughing too much "I knew they were dating!"
At this, Mio could feel her jaw drop in disbelief "B-but, they're both students! And they're both girls at that! H-how could you take this so lightly?" all sorts of images began to flash through her mind, images that made her ears burned when the Math teacher realized where her train of thoughts was headed to.
Sawako bowed at a passing teacher before turning her attention back to her younger colleague, eyes shining with amusement "well, Mio-chan, bonds between girls are beautiful, after all." To which Mio only shook her head in exasperation as she packed up her stuff and shoved it into her briefcase as quickly as possible.
"You hang out with Mugi too much."
"Well, no one could refuse my Darling's charming views after all. Leaving early?" the brunette teacher asked when she saw Mio stood up with her briefcase by her side, locking the drawers on her desk for safety.
"Yes, dinner with the parents." And with a last bow to the teachers still in the lounge, Mio left the room. She went towards the front gate in a slow pace as she returned the greeting of several students passing by her.
It's been 2 weeks since she began teaching in Sakuragaoka High School in order to get her teaching credentials. She was ecstatic at the beginning, having the opportunity to teach at her old High School. But damn her bad luck, Mio was dismayed to find that she was assigned to teach Math in class 3-2, where the resident bullies resided.
The Four Fiends, they were called and Mio silently agreed. The group was composed of 4 people, who were all in the same class.
Satou Akane, the dark blue haired national Judo champion who brought pride for the school. Her medals and trophies adorned the principal's office and the student feared her as much as they admired her. She was known as the nicest of the four, unless if you pissed her off that is.
Taki Eri, was the long haired brunette with a side ponytail. She was a gifted Art student, her talents in them were breath taking and even the people who hated her rude and snappish personality couldn't help but to be awed when faced with her newest masterpiece. Her artworks hung in the local museums and some of them were put in expensive frames which were hung around the school buildings.
Wakaouji Ichigo, the one with the twin pigtailed. The calmest and most expressionless of the group, she was more familiarly known as 'Hime-sama' or 'Princess' by the whole school. Her chocolate brown eyes were as cold as the Arctic wind and her voice was the sound of a sheathing blade. No one dared to say no to her, thanks to the regal aura she had, and if you ever dared to make her mad, be ready for a full verbal assault that would render you into a crying 5 year old. Mio had personally witnessed a teacher bowing to her, when Ichigo walked past him.
And last but not least, was the unofficial leader of the group. Tainaka Ritsu, the shorthaired brunette who was always wearing that bright yellow headband. From what Mio heard from the gossiping teachers, Ritsu was a genius drummer. At age 14 she had several recording companies eyeing her talents and competing to get her to sign with them and record an album. That girl always have that predatory glint in her eyes that always meant mischief for any poor souls that happen to cross her way. Ritsu was known as the biggest jerk in school yet it didn't make sense to Mio that she also had the biggest fan base out of the four.
It was this last girl that bothered her the most.
Ever since the first time she stepped in class 3-2, Mio had a sense of apprehension towards her. Something in her just screamed out a warning every time she met the brunette's eyes, as though telling her to stay away. Mio didn't really have a problem with staying away, she was already having an issue from being stared down by 42 people every Math session. Acting nonchalant, she tried to ignore the pointed look of disdain aimed at her every Math class courtesy of the brunette.
Anyway, Mio was known to be almost always calm in every situation.
But there's just something about this brunette that riled her up and awaken her short fuse of a temper that she had spent much time reigning in.
Mio couldn't shake the feeling that the annoyed look she received from the brunette, slowly and abruptly changed into something different entirely. Since when, the teacher couldn't remember, all she remembered was that one day when she met Ritsu's amber eyes, she suddenly felt her throat clogged up, rendering her unable to speak.
There was something in the brunette's gaze that made her stop talking. Mio had to bit on her own tongue to speak again and she could see, no, feel, the amused smile appearing on Ritsu's face. Ever since that day, Mio dreaded the moments where she had to spend time in the brunette's class. If she were able to choose, she preferred the old Ritsu where she glared at her at every waking moment to this new one where the brunette spent the entire Math session keeping her amused amber eyes on Mio's flustered figure.
Another sigh escaped her lips as she reached the bus stop in front of the school. As though not wanting to keep Mio waiting, the bus she was waiting suddenly pulled up and opened its doors, letting the warm air out into the cold April breeze. The Math teacher's obsidian eyes caught sight of a familiar brunette getting into an expensive foreign car, a bright orange Lotus Elise Series 2 which definitely cost more than what Mio made a year.
The teacher could not help but notice that Wakaouji Ichigo got inside the passenger seat and closed the door with a snap before the convertible roared to life and drove away from the parking lot with passerby's eyes following it. Mio mused wryly to herself about how the time had changed without her knowing, and now, High School students started to drive monstrous expensive western cars to school. She kept her gaze on the bright orange car until it disappeared down a curve as the bus she rode turned left to head to the busy highway.
One hour and a stop to a bakery later, Mio arrived at her old house. Her eyes took in the sight of the modest 2 storied house fondly, reminiscing her childhood where she would run around the house happily, thinking of it as a castle and she was its princess. With a smile, she stepped to the porch and rang the door bell. The door opened immediately, as though its inhabitants were waiting for her, and the raven haired woman met a slightly older version of herself.
"Mama," Mio managed to say before her mother pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. The older woman looked a bit younger than women her age, and Mio felt a faint sense of pride that she had the same gene as the person who was choking her right now.
"Let the girl go, darling. She's choking already." The deep amused voice of Akiyama Takahiro sounded over the mother's muttering, getting the attention of the newcomer at once.
"Papa!" Her mother let her go to make space for the girl to envelope her father in a tight embrace which was returned.
Akiyama Saeko gave a sniff as she watched her daughter and husband change pleasantries, her eyes taking in the slender figure of her daughter and thought about how much she had grown up. Meeting her husband's amused glance, Saeko gave a throat clearing cough.
"Let's go inside shall we? It's not nice to disrupt the neighborhood with our reunion." at which her daughter replied with an amused smile before following her father in. Saeko let one smile adorned her face, before she followed her family in, and closed the door with a snap.
~888~
The Akiyama family lapsed into easy conversations as they worked together to set up dinner by the homely kitchen. The conversation ranged widely, from Saeko's everyday activities to Takahiro's work until it reached the topic Mio was reluctant to talk about.
Her new job at a certain school.
She could feel herself sweating bullets as her parents' gaze turned to her in expectation, waiting her to speak as they seated around the rectangle dinner table.
"Well," Mio said as she chewed on an orange chicken slowly as she tried hard to gather her thoughts "my job was…fine. I was offered to teach at Sakuragaoka, which you both already know, and it's been two, um, interesting weeks since then." Interesting? More like horrible.
Her mother seems dissatisfied with her vague monologue, judging from the small frown on her face and Mio dreaded the words that would come out of her mother's mouth.
"How were the students?"
'Argh!' "Um…they were very nice," disrespectful "most of them find my teaching easy to understand," and most slept through the class "and they were…an interesting bunch. They were lively, in short." A freaking handful, but Mio kept those thoughts to herself as she smiled at her parents, who nodded.
A comfortable pause came between them as the three enjoyed the meal. Mio was too focused on picking at the fish to see the strange glances her parents shared with each other. With a nod to his wife, Takahiro opted for silence and watched as his other half took the plunge.
"Ne, Mio-chan," the long haired girl nod, as she took off her foggy glasses thanks to the steam from the miso soup "are you happy?"
The youngest Akiyama freeze suddenly, before turning to her mother "um…I am?" her parents knew that the girl was confused. With a nudge from her husband, Saeko tried to elaborate.
"I meant, are you happy right now? You are currently single, correct?"
Mio choked on her ice tea at her mother's words. The parents scrambled to calm the coughing girl down and passing napkins to clean the girl's wet face. Mio raised her arms in an 'Okay' gesture and waited for her parents to return to their seat before replying.
"Yes, I'm single, and I'm very happy. What's with the questions?"
Saeko met her husband's eyes once more before speaking "Well…there's this one person from your father's office…and well, we were thinking if you want to go out with this person?"
Mio's mind went blank for a second.
"What?"
"It's only one dinner, Mio-chan," her mother tried to calm her raging daughter down "just one short dinner, and you don't have to see him again." Mio looked highly affronted at this and turned to her father, who put down his cup immediately. He didn't really want to choke on his drink like his daughter did.
"Just one dinner," her father's calm voice calmed Mio down as their eyes met "please."
Mio loved her parents to death, and that was no exaggeration. It's just that, as much as she loved them, her parents could get so pushy sometimes it frustrated her to no end! She was a good girl and she knew it, and thus was why her once burning decision to reject her parents' offer faltered immediately when she saw the pleading faces of her mother and father looking hopefully at her.
Mio let out a defeated sigh "fine. Just one dinner." She rolled her eyes inwardly when her mother let out a happy cheer and turned her eyes to her amused-looking father "when is it?"
"Wednesday night, 8 o'clock over at Niwa no Hana Restaurant," Takahiro answered as he tried to get his wife to return to her seat "would you take the car or a taxi?"
"A taxi's fine. I don't really like driving anyway." Mio replied morosely as she rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly.
An Omiai.
Her parents called her over to dinner to get her to agree to an Omiai.
How did she know?
Well, this wasn't the first time they had tried to rope her into it.
Somewhere at the back of her mind Mio knew, that she would regret making this decision somewhere in the future.
~888~
The loud screeching of tires rang through the room, followed immediately by shrill gunshots as the car swerved to evade a wayward garbage bin. The brunette let out a curse as her car grazed the railings when she tried to pull a smooth turn.
"Dammit!" she threw the controller at the screen when her car slid out of control and plunged into the sea. With cuss words escaping her lips, Ritsu buried her head under the comfy pillow, rolling around on the king-sized bed in annoyance as red words bearing 'GAME OVER' flashed across the screen as though mocking her failure.
The sudden shrill ringing of the phone by the bedside table was not helping her mood at all and Ritsu let it ring for about 15 times before she slammed her fist on the loudspeaker button.
"Yeah?" she drawled as she turned to her back and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Don't 'yeah' me, Tainaka Ritsu!" the yell caught the girl by surprise and she fell out of her bed in shock. Scrambling back up the bed, Ritsu gaped at the blinking phone which seemed to pulse with anger.
"Mother?"
"Yes, I am your mother. Please don't sound so surprised, darling. You know I would call my only daughter every now and then." Ritsu could see her mother rolling her eyes at this and she couldn't help but do the same.
"What do you need?"
"I want to remind you about Wednesday's dinner," the short attention spanned brunette fiddled with her XboX controller in boredom "I hope you still remember?"
" Yes, I remember. 8 o'clock at Niwa no Hana right?" Probably one of those dinner party with some snot-faced rich brat again, Ritsu thought disdainfully. She remembered the unpleasant times she had spent during meetings like that, and she was not surprised to see that she was not looking forward for more of those. The woes of being the daughter in a well known family.
"Yes. I don't care If you wear jeans, dresses," Ritsu cringed hard at this one "or even a swimsuit, I expect you to be there, on time. Capiche?"
The daughter heaved out a sigh "Yes, Mother."
Her mother hummed out, pleased at the response, and continued asking about her daughter's day which were answered reluctantly. 15 minutes later, the phone clicked, signaling that her mother had finally hung up and Ritsu let out a frustrated scream into one of the fluffy pillows on her bed.
'She wanted me to attend those dinner dates? Like hell!'
Amber eyes burned at the wall.
'I will not go to the stinking dinner!'
And the clock chimed loudly in reply.
A/N: AHA. A date chapter next? We'll see 8D