RECORDING
Chapter Twenty-Four
Yamoto Chiharu Desu!
Monday morning found Azusa braving a full day of school after the ordeal of her root canal. The pain in her jaw wasn't as head-spinning now, wasn't as dizzying. She had lived through Sunday on naught but a pint of dulce de leche ice cream, which both nauseated her and sent her bouncing off the walls. But today so far she could eat a bowl of Fiber One cereal; she could drink water and, to her pleasant surprise, coffee. Really, the bruise had become like any other: painful only if you touch it.
All that made the stares she had been getting a lot more bearable.
Azusa! What happened to you? and Nakano-san! Your face! and Who hit you? Such were the questions that assailed the pigtailed girl upon setting foot on Sakuragaoka's campus. Azusa rolled her eyes as she made her way to sociology class. Right now girls were staring at her, seeing only the bruise and not matching it up to the kouhai's face. Some whispered to their gal-pals. Without a doubt, I'll have to answer to some rumors later…
"Ah! Azusa!"
Sighing, the guitarist looked up to see Jun waving her over. Aside from homeroom, sociology was the one class Azusa, Ui, and Jun had together. Furuhara-sensei's seating arrangement put the three of them in a chess knight's move: Azusa sat next to Ui and behind Jun.
Ui craned her neck to see Azusa entering the classroom over her shoulder. Her amicable smile wiped clean off her pale face. Something between a cry and a gasp burst from her mouth, which she now clapped both hands to. Her dust-colored eyes were wide and bright. Azusa had to hand it to Ui: of everyone's reactions, hers was the funniest. But the guitarist would bet a hundred yen at least one of her senpais in the Light Music Club could top it.
"My God!" Ui squeaked. She dropped her hands away from her mouth, which hung open comically. As Azusa sullenly seated herself the brunette blinked stupidly and stammered, "I, uh, heard about this, but…I never thought…that…"
"You were set further on the path to womanhood this weekend, Nakano," said Jun, who had gotten her molars removed over the summer. "You got a crown now, right?"
"Hai." Azusa hitched the corner of her mouth back, her crown standing out with blaring metallic luminosity. She had gone with a silver crown. Yellow metal, she thought, would have made her look like ghetto Kansai hakibutsu (trash).
"Sorry we couldn't visit you," Ui apologized with genuine sorrow in her voice. "Oneechan told me she and the others dropped by."
And what an impression they made. If her father somewhat believed Azusa's reinterpretation of Ritsu's lie, Mitsuki had swallowed the whole thing. As far as they knew, she had considered Tokyo U, got Ritsu and the gang to help her prepare for the exams, but now she was changing her mind. Now Hikaru and Mitsuki were frantically trying to change it back. At least try for it, they said.
Hey, that's right. Azusa blushed as she stared blankly at her desktop. Yui visited me and she touched my…
A cloud of milky steam burst from atop the guitarist's head, which sank lower against her shoulders. Her clitoris ached from the memory of being pinched between Yui's thumb and forefinger — and being tugged at, repeatedly. Admittedly, it was all Azusa thought about since then. Up until then she had been the only person to touch herself there. Having someone else touch me — Yui-senpai, no less…
Trembling violently, Azusa clutched the edges of her desk, head bowed.
"I'm really, really sorry, Azusa-chan!" Ui whimpered. "I didn't think you'd take it this way! Let me make it up to you."
The thought that the guitarist couldn't reconcile herself to but knew she had to was that she kind of liked it.
"What's this?" Jun queried, sweeping something off the top of Azusa's desk with her finger. She rubbed it against her thumb, feeling the thin wet texture. A rust color accented her whorls. "Blood!"
Sure enough, Azusa had a heavy nosebleed going. The blood was copious, the same dark red as her eyes, and it gathered in random drops and puddles on her desk like imbrued landmasses on a map.
Ui immediately produced a pocket-packet of Kleenex from within her blazer and pressed a tissue against Azusa's dripping nose. Jun, meanwhile, was laughing her ass off.
"Hahaha! Ohoho! I thought only boys got bloody noses! Hah!"
Her voice darkening ominously, with a go~ sound effect rumbling in the background, Ui leaned forward. "What did you do with my sister?"
Azusa breathlessly shook her head, her eyes fearful saucers. "D-duthig! I sweah!"
"Oneechan…deflowered like that…" Now Ui was the one trembling. The lack of blood about the snoot and her slanted eyebrows attested that her quivers, unlike Azusa's, stemmed from anger.
"We dihid do duthig! Really!" The raven-haired kouhai shrank away from the livid Ui, still clutching her Kleenex to her face. After a tense moment or two it seemed the ponytailed girl had relaxed — and therefore Azusa and Jun as well — though her right hand remained clenched upon her knee. Maybe the guitarist hadn't done anything impure with her sister, but her thoughts were clearly on such things.
Jun grunted and, leaning forward, placed her hand lightly on the back of Azusa's head and tipped it forward. "Ach. You really oughta have your head like this, y'know."
"Wha' diff'redce does id bake?"
"You don't want the blood going down your throat."
Azusa smirked. "Sboked like ad egsperd, huh," she teased.
A bright red blush suffused Jun's face, and she glared aside. "No way. Like I said, only boys get nosebleeds…boys and shrimpy guitarists."
Ui's brown eyes followed the two musicians, drifting back and forth as they bantered. She couldn't help giggling. It was just so cute to her, to see Jun acting so bashful and yet so affectionate around Azusa, vainly hiding her true feelings. The ponytailed girl ardently wished she had been more observant in the past so that she could have seen if Jun had always been this way. She had nearly squealed when the bassist touched the guitarist's head, tilting her own so her magenta eyes could meet Azusa's garnet ones. Gyahh! How romantic! she thought, tapping the heel of her foot excitedly. I wish I could have a moment like that with oneechan!
"Ah, yes. That reminds me." Azusa lifted her head from her saturated tissues; her nose had stopped bleeding. She fixed Jun with a level stare and dead-panned, "I hear you're pretty into me."
Jun had been resting her face against her hand, which now fell to her desk with a thwump! More pounding blood bloomed in her face. In her vision everything reeled, blurred, sharpened, spun, and drifted. She dropped her head hopelessly on her desk. Why does it have to be this way? she thought, feeling her face throb against her cool desktop. She squeezed her eyes shut so tight that light burst behind the lids. Will I ever get to tell Ui-chan how I feel? Here she was, a few days from seventeen, and having all the rotten love-luck of a thirteen-year-old…or a nineteen-year-old Ken Akamatsu character sent to be landlord of a girls' dorm.
Azusa frantically leaned forward to awkwardly grasp Jun's shoulder. "Hey, take it easy." Seeing that this wasn't enough to placate her distressed friend, the guitarist got out of her seat and crouched next to her desk. "I didn't mean to upset you."
Ui tilted her head, eyebrows puckered in sorrow for the bass player. Sympathy and a deep ache to go over and comfort Jun torrented through her burning veins. The desire was so great that she had to clutch the edges of her seat. She dearly hoped Azusa would answer Jun's feelings and get together with her, yet at the same time she didn't want Yui to experience that kind of heartbreak. Your girlfriend dumps you, turns around, and jumps to the next girl. Ui shook her head. What an awful way for oneechan and Azusa-chan to break up.
"But, um," the guitarist continued. She peered downward and her cheeks pinkened. "I…I love Yui." Looking back up, she smiled, "I'd like for us to still be friends, though."
"How can you say that, Azusa-chan?"
Both Azusa and Jun looked up, surprised by Ui's sudden outburst, to find the ponytailed girl standing up.
The guitarist blinked. 'I open my mouth, words come out," she answered.
"No, how can you just reject her after everything she's been through?" Ui's normally level soprano voice now had enough passion enrichening it for a hundred Justin Bieber fans.
Jun came within a breath of pointing out Ui was the chief source of "everything she's been through," but Azusa's heated reply stayed that.
"If you've forgotten, I'm with Yui-senpai. I can't just break up with her."
"You can, though!" Now Ui's passion level had cranked up to two hundred Justin Bieber fans. "Then I could have her!"
In the silence that followed gravity seemed to intensify within the classroom. Everybody had frozen in the middle of what she was doing. The girl at the pencil sharpener, the girl laying a report on the teacher's desk. In the midst of all this oppressive silence were Azusa and Ui; one crouching, the other standing; eyes locked. And in that moment they knew each other. They knew who they fought for and who stood in their way. Fighting the gravity, Azusa rose only to slump back in her chair. Ui likewise sat back down, eyes darting. Jun's moan sounded muted in the stillness. Subtle, she's not.
The classroom was still dead silent when the teacher entered…no, the substitute teacher, it seemed: a wiry, hawk-nosed fellow with feathery red hair, wide blue eyes, and glasses.
"Oh good, a quiet class," he commented, setting his bag upon Furuhara's desk. "My favorite kind."
This man spent the last minute of the passing period reading through the lesson plans Furuhara had left behind. He wrote the date on the board — November 9, 2009 — and a few topics pertaining to the lesson. They would be discussing white collar crimes. A few girls whispered among themselves, but no one raised her voice louder than that. If it were at all possible, this substitute teacher had a more oppressive presence than Nakano-san and Hirasawa-san had a minute ago.
"Anybody seen the show I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant?" he asked after the late bell rang.
Some girls shook their heads. One piped up, "I've heard of it."
"Do you all know what it is at least?...Well, apparently that's why Furuhara-sensei's not in today. Yesterday she gave birth to a healthy baby girl." He sighed, tilting his head the way teachers and lawyers do to say, Some messed-up crap in this world, ain't there?
Azusa raised her head, eyebrows knitting. Somehow she found this hard to swallow.
Someone else would find something hard to swallow as well.
"So, she's on her maternity leave," he continued. "She'll be out for the remainder of the year, they reckon. Now," he added firmly, raising a finger. "I teach sociology and psychology. So don't think that the rest of the year's going to be a whoop-dee-doo. I'll be preparing you ladies for your finals."
He did an about-face and wrote his name on the board. Then he turned back around, pointing his chalk at what he'd written with an authoritative rap.
"I am Tokudaiji-sensei, your sub for the rest of the year."
Normally Azusa hurried on up to the clubroom after school. Today she took her time, trudging thoughtfully up the stairs. The root canal still had her tuckered out, and she had a lot of heavy things on the brain.
Nonetheless she appeared delightfully happy, entering Music Room 3 with a bounce in her walk and a singing note in her voice.
"Hi, everyone," she greeted cheerily, making her way to the table.
"Hey, there," Ritsu grinned. She was leaning back in her chair, one hand grasping her tea cup, the other resting behind her head. "Aren't you a happy face."
"I am a happy face." Azusa paused to drop her bag in front of the coffee table with everybody else's. She gestured at the window. "Birds are singing." She swept her hand along her cheek. "My face doesn't hurt as much." She continued toward the table, arms spread. "And I'm here with my senpais. What in the world isn't there to be happy about?"
Mio sat rigidly, her tea cup hesitating by her mouth, her silver eyes watching Azusa carefully. Her gut was telling her that this 'happy face' thing was an act or a set-up of some sort. The kouhai could be sentimental, yes, but not this openly and usually not without some provocation from Yui. The bassist slowly sipped her tea, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Ritsu, nothing daunted, drained the last of her tea. She set the cup on its plate with a satisfied dink! "Well, it's great to see you have so much respect for your senpais. That's the way it should be, y'know?"
"Yes, it should." Behind her Azusa had a hand upon her shoulder, and in the blink of an eye Ritsu found herself seized in a rough headlock. It happened so fast the drummer thought she had been in a time warp. In her ear, Azusa roared, "Especially the senpais who are so kind to HELP ME GET INTO TOKYO U!"
The brunette gave a terrified squeak, her eyes turning into saucers.
Sighing, Mio set her own tea cup down. She remembered the shiny-eyed look on Mr. Nakano's face and knew this would piss Azusa off. Thus, she made no attempt to coax the kouhai off her girlfriend. When Ricchan tells an outrageous lie like that, she really ought to pay for it.
"Do you know what that was like, trying to explain that lie I knew nothing about to my father? And with Yui-senpai…" More steam burst from her: this time, twin shoots of vapor from her ears that set her pigtails aloft. Realizing she had said too much, she released the gagging Ritsu and turned away, face rosy.
Yui inquired, "And with me what?"
"Nothing," Azusa snapped, her voice fluttering and the memory burning up her…
"Do I detect some latent hostility?" Sawako greeted as she entered the room. She herself had experienced a bit of latent hostility on the way to Music Room 3, exchanging some unladylike words with Tokudaiji. She put that all behind her now as she sat by Mugi.
"Ritsu-senpai told my parents she was helping me get into Tokyo U," Azusa told Sawako, still facing away from the others.
Fidgeting, Yui added, "She also told them I'm insane."
And Mio said, "And she told them I tamper with Yui's medication."
"Which I don't have," Yui added defensively.
Nervously playing with her tie, Ritsu let her hazel eyes creep from one scowl to the next. Each of them made her flinch. Ohh, their stares kinda hurt… Grunting, she replied in a haughty voice to Azusa, "Fine. You want your parents to find out about you and Yui? I saved you, squirt."
"Tainaka-san." Ritsu blanched as she found herself face-to-face with Sawako, whose neck fluttered liverishly. "You didn't spout any lies about Mugi-chan, did you?"
"N-no! I didn't! Really! Mugi-chan hardly said anything while we were there!"
Tapping her chin, Mugi peered calmly up at the ceiling. Well, well, well, well, well, well. That's true, isn't it? she thought. I didn't have many lines during that arc. Her thick eyebrows slanted and a determined smile spread across her face. One day I'll have an arc of my own…I just hope Sawa-chan can be a part of it. Spoilers.
Once the animosity towards Ritsu's lies died down the Light Music Club loosened up and drank another round before practice. They discussed a great many significant and insignificant things. Things like: So overall, Hair was fun; couldn't tell if we did good or bad; congrats on your gold medal, Mugi-chan; Nodoka should have taken that job, no matter that it would involve being pawed and groped by horny women. When the topic came to Terror Firma, Mio found it appropriate to make her announcement.
"They're not too shabby, huh?" Azusa commented after swallowing a mouthful of cake.
"They were amazing!" Yui exclaimed, clasping her hands delightedly. "They're guitarist was so cool! Did you hear her solo in that song about middle-distance running? And their keyboardist! She plays two keyboards, at the same time! How do you think she does that?"
Sawako chuckled appreciatively. "You were really taken with them, weren't you?"
The brunette nodded vigorously, leaning forward. "I wonder if they put out an album? If they did, I would listen to it!"
What an opening! Ritsu thought victoriously, throwing a meaningful glance at Mio.
The bassist nodded and set down her fork. "You know," she spoke up, "Ricchan and I knew the keyboardist when she was little."
This elicited a flurry of eager questions from Yui and Azusa. Mugi stayed quiet, but Ritsu noticed the interested glint in her blue eyes as she looked at the drummer and bassist. Meanwhile, the two guitarists' ardor could hardly be contained. They jumped on this mamechishiki like dogs on a bone.
"You did? Really?"
"What was she like?"
"How old were you?"
"How did you meet?"
"Did either of you ever have a secret crush on her?"
"Did you fight over her?"
These questions are getting weird, Mio thought.
"We'll explain later," Ritsu dismissed, waving a hand. Again she looked at Mugi to find the ojou toying with her cup, her eyes glazed, as if lost in some pleasant memory. Looking around at the rest of the band, she continued, "Point is, we spoke with Chiharu-chan, Mio and I did, and she's gonna help us record our own album."
Mugi snapped out of her trance to give Ritsu a surprised look just as Yui and Azusa exploded with oaths, exclamations, and more questions, always more questions. Once her shock wore off the keyboardist contributed some of her own thoughts. Even Sawako made some inquiries. Music Room 3 was alive with the words who, what, where, why and how. Mio stutteringly answered the questions to the best of her ability. But for every question she answered about three more came to take its place. This is getting ridonculous, thought Ritsu. She looked at Mugi, who then pinched her lower lip and whistled brightly, just as she had last week. Silence fell immediately.
Sawako shook her head in amazement. "I never could do that."
"Takes practice," the blonde girl shrugged.
The drummer then explained that Chiharu had recently emailed her directions to her place of residence, where they would begin recording on Friday. Afterschool practice would be skipped to bring their instruments over. As she said this, Ritsu's golden eyes focused blearily on her drums. Her arms felt strained just from thinking about carrying them all that way.
"Well, you know everything Ricchan and I know," Mio concluded. Her chair chuffed on the wooden floor as she stood. "I say we practice now. We should fine-tune some stuff before we begin recording."
"I agree," Azusa assented, also standing. Her young head was in a whirl with this great news. Mom and Dad played at the House of Blues and stuff, she thought, clasping her hands over her heart, but not even they've done this! "C'mon, c'mon," she impatiently prodded Yui and Ritsu. The former was scraping cake crumbs off her plate. "Let's go! Let's do this!" Once everybody was assembled with their instruments Azusa bounced from foot to foot like a kid chomping at the bit to go to the toy store. "I can't wait! Can Friday come tomorrow? I don't think I'll be able to sleep!"
Ritsu sighed good-naturedly. "Azu-nyan's all fired up."
"She seems to be acting more her age," Mugi agreed.
The drummer looked at the ojou, noticing that her face was more vibrant than earlier. What's eating her? she wondered. As they ran through some of their songs Ritsu noticed that cloud from before pass over Mugi's face. She took it as perhaps a trance-like state pianists might slip into while playing, but still she asked as they put away their instruments, "Something up, Mugi-chan?"
Mugi stared at her keyboard case for a moment before looking up and responding. She was living deep within her body today; messages took a long time getting out and an even longer time getting in. "I was just thinking…maybe getting a kotatsu for the clubroom would be a good idea."
You were deep in thought over that? Ritsu scowled and raised an eyebrow.
Azusa chewed the inside of her mouth, cheeks pink. Thanks to Yui, the kotatsu now had certain associations. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Why not?" Yui exclaimed. "I think that's a great idea!"
"Because…" The second year frowned and turned a deeper shade of pink. The tips of her ears were practically red. She couldn't say it, but her reason for not wanting a kotatsu was her fear of getting impure thoughts about Yui in front of her senpais.
"We could practice under the kotatsu!" the elder guitarist cheered, eyes shining at this prospect.
"I couldn't," Ritsu grumbled, "but I do like the idea of having tea under a kotatsu during the winter."
"You can't all be serious!" But they were in their own amusing ways. Azusa's wide eyes, devoid of color due to shrinking pupils, swept among her three senpais. Mugi was smiling softly, though her eyes seemed distant. Ritsu had her arms crossed, and she was nodding approvingly. Yui bounced up and down the way the kouhai did when she learned they would be recording. Azusa's head dropped and shook in horror. She knew that under this kotatsu she would only be able to think of Yui pulling at her switch. What if it happens again?
"Ah! Mio-senpai will surely…"
But when she turned to the bassist for a boost she found Mio cupping her chin thoughtfully with an aura of I Kinda Want a Kotatsu As Well.
"N-not you, too?" Now Azusa's eyes were saucers as she waved her arms frantically. "Mio-senpai, we don't practice nearly enough as it is, and this kotatsu will only discourage practice!"
"You might be right," Mio nodded. "But it's not like we sound bad or anything. And this room does get chilly during the winter."
Azusa stumbled as Yui tugged at her skirt from where she knelt before the kouhai. She then threw her arms around her waist and rocked against her until she swayed. "Pleeease, Azu-nyan! I'll feed it and water it and take it for walks!"
"It's a kotatsu, not a puppy…"
"Frankly, I agree with Azusa-chan." These two bits came from Sawako, and everybody looked at her in shock. Azusa had a warm gleam of gratitude in her expression. The sensei continued, "The kotatsu is a single gal's friend. And since none of us gals are single we shouldn't rely on it so heavily."
Raw energy buzzed and torrented through Sawako's calves. She could feel herself starting to go on a roll. She threw back her chair and paced about the room. "No, my friends. Winters like this should be spent with a lover. I will be spending Fuyu 2009 with…" She raised an arm over her head to point dramatically at the keyboardist. "…the Kotatsumugi!"
"Kotatsumugi?" all five Light Music Club members echoed, spluttering.
"Are you really going to call me that?" Mugi giggled, genuinely tickled.
"Well, something like that…Stop your goddamn laughing!" Sawako snapped at Ritsu, who was leaning over the table in peals of uncontrollable mirth.
"I'm not sure I get it," Azusa murmured, itching an eyebrow.
"Ah! I do!" said Yui. She was still on the floor holding onto holding onto her girlfriend's waist. "It's because Mugi-chan's warm!"
Warm the ojou certainly was, which made the bitingly frigid air the six of them stepped out into a lot easier for Sawako. Light rain descended from the pale clouds, chilling them even more with its stinging drops. Yui and Azusa departed immediately, leaving the remaining four to make marginally lengthier goodbyes.
"I'm glad you got Chiharu to record our album," Mugi said, smiling, as she and Sawako started to leave. "I can't wait to go to her mansion on Friday!"
Ritsu and Mio stared after the keyboardist in stupefaction, the former's jaw slack, before they shook their heads and made for the subdivision they both lived in. The drummer didn't need a 'Kotatsumugi' to keep her warm in such undesirable weather. She derived plenty of warmth from holding Mio's hand in her coat pocket. This allowed them to walk closer to each other.
"I think we'll be dead before we learn all of Mugi-chan's secrets," Ritsu mumbled.
"Yeah," Mio agreed quietly. She looked up at the sky, wondering when the day would come when rain became snow. First a keyboardist in a band that opened for us, then an ojou, now she's connected to Mugi. What stuck out to the raven-haired girl was not that Mugi knew Chiharu lived in a mansion but that she had referred to her without honorifics. That really is beyond Mugi's manners. Who was this mysterious old classmate of theirs?
They arrived at Ritsu's house and made their goodbyes at the base of the driveway. Ever since Mrs. Tainaka caught them kissing, Mio refrained from honoring the dating tradition of walking your girlfriend to her door to kiss her goodbye. Ritsu didn't seem to mind, just as long as a kiss with the bassist was involved…which it was this time, of course. And not just one. Three long, satisfying kisses were involved that afternoon. Ritsu still held Mio's hand in her pocket and she could feel her squeezing it powerfully. The bass player's grip loosened as her girlfriend pulled back. It made Ritsu think of squeezing someone's hand when she got shots as a little kid.
If that's so, she thought, then I wonder if she would squeeze harder if it felt better?
To test this theory Ritsu came in for a deeper, more open-mouthed kiss, pressing a bit more of herself against Mio. In her pocket the raven-haired girl's hand was practically crushing her own. She's got really strong hands, the drummer thought. Does she do you-know-what a lot, or something? Ritsu settled her hips against Mio's, and the bassist's other hand began to quiver.
THOCK!
"What's the big idea, you perv?" Mio demanded.
The lump on Ritsu's head was so painful it glowed, not unlike Rudolph's nose. "Ow…Helloooo, Naru…"
"Look, I know we've known each other for twelve years," Mio continued in a rushed voice, "but let's not jump into this stuff. We should be worrying about more important things."
"All I did was kiss you!" Never mind that my intentions were a little dirty…
"You…you were trying to…" The bassist looked down, eyebrows knitted and cheeks flushed. The hand Ritsu had been holding hung by her side, clenching and unclenching.
The drummer stood slowly and flashed Mio a toothy grin. "Well, whatever you thought I was trying to do, it looks like it worked."
BAM!
"I was thinking no such thing!"
"Mio, you're gonna kill me one day," Ritsu gagged into the pavement. The force of her girlfriend's punch had driven her face into the sidewalk.
After a curt goodbye, Mio headed on home. She tried to pretend that she hadn't felt something warming up within her when Ritsu kissed her like that. But, in truth, the bassist was so occupied with that something that she forgot to open her front door and wound up hitting her head on it.
Friday the 13th rolled around without a flake of snow, but quite a few degrees' drop in temperature. The five Light Music Club members were so excited for their first recording session with Terror Firma that they arrived at Sakuragaoka an hour and a half before school hours to prepare. Transporting their instruments to the Yamoto mansion had been their chief Gchat topic the night before. Unfortunately, Sawako couldn't fit all of them and their gear into her car. Finally Yui posed a suggestion that would be their plan for Friday after school. To say that the guitarist had surprised her bandmates was the understatement of the year. At last, it seemed, Yui had grown some sensibility…until they found out it was actually Ui's suggestion through Yui.
After seventh period they immediately departed — no tea, no cake.
"I want Mugi-chan's teeeea," Yui whined. She dragged her feet across the pavement, her right arm struggling with the weight of one of Ritsu's drums.
"Jesus Christ!" Azusa finally snapped. Her girlfriend had been at this ever since they left. The raw, bitter air and having to carry another drum of Ritsu's did nothing to brighten the kouhai's mood. "We are about to do the most important thing in our lives! Get serious about that and NOT THE FRIGGIN' TEA!" Her dry tongue dashed out into the dryer air. Azusa didn't mention it, but she also longed for a cup of Mugi's red tea, maybe also a slice of moist, rich German chocolate cake.
Smiling, Yui picked up her pace so she could walk alongside Azusa. She rubbed her face, cat-like, against the pigtailed girl's arm and cooed, "Azu-nyaaan, does someone need a hug?"
"Huh. I'd like to see you try that with that drum in your arms."
"If you break my drums I'll break you," Ritsu warned from behind. She carried no drums, but she pulled Yui and Ui's old toboggan which now served as a pack mule for Gitah, Elizabesu, Mu-chan, Korgy, and the Zildjan cymbals from Ritsu's Hipgig. This was Ui's suggestion through Yui, and it brought Afterschool Tea Time a fair amount of embarrassment. The sight of four girls carrying drums and one girl pulling a toboggan — in November — that scraped rudely across the snowless ground turned quite a few heads.
"Here." Yui turned her own head to find Mugi suddenly beside her. The blonde keyboardist smiled sweetly — under one arm she bore Ritsu's snare drum, and her other arm was extended to offer the guitarist a steaming thermos.
Yui's eyes tripled in size. "Is…is that…?"
"Yes," Mugi whispered meaningfully whilst meaningful music played in the background. "Yes, it is."
Yui eagerly accepted the thermos with an exclamation of, "Mina-san!" She raced ahead of the group to stand with the thermos held high above her head. "Do you see this? It's Mugi's tea! Today a child is born unto us and his name will be Mugi's tea."
Cue a beam of light and angels singing.
Ritsu, exasperated, turned her hazel eyes upward toward the sky. "This fic is so cracky I don't know if I should read it or smoke it."
"What's a fic, Ricchan? Can you eat it?" Yui rejoined the band on their excursion to the Yamoto mansion, gulping chamomile tea. At Mugi's request, she passed the thermos around so everybody could drink some. "Is it like that fruit you find in those cookies?"
"That's a fig, Yui-chan." Ritsu gratefully accepted the thermos when it came her way, and she took a long pull from it. Wiping her mouth, she called, "Mio, do you want some Chamo-not-the-ermine tea?"
The bassist's bitter reply made its way to the brunette from far behind. "I don't think I could drink it…"
Poor Mio was left to carry the bass drum, which she bore with both arms wrapped around it. Her eyes squinted and her mouth tightened from the effort. "Why couldn't you play tambourine?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Tambourine's for sissies! Now move, leadfoot!"
The raven-haired girl sighed and plumbed her back so she could walk faster.
"Really, Ricchan, what's a fic? Is it a game...which you just lost...?"
They arrived at the mansion just as the sun had descended below the horizon. Its structure was gentle yet heavy in the starless night sky. It was on the outskirts of the Sakura district, down a slope and surrounded by trees.
"It's…kinda spooky," Mio gulped. "Maybe we can come back tomorrow when it's light out."
Ritsu rubbed her arm, which was sore from pulling the toboggan. The mansion was a little eerie. But it could have had ghosts and zombies shooting out of it and the drummer would still refuse to turn back around. Not after coming all this way.
"We can't shirk this, Mio-chan," said Yui. "It would be rude."
Nodding, Ritsu edged up to the stone wall and pressed the 'call' button on the intercom. Almost immediately there was an answer.
"Hai?" A male voice — deep, rich, and with the professional tone of a butler.
"Good evening, sir," the drummer greeted with feminine speech in a falsetto voice. "Please do pardon us, but we are mere cap acquaintances of Chiu-chan—URGH!" she grunted as Mio crowned her. And Ritsu sank to the ground, one eye fluttering.
"We're friends of Chiharu…ojousama," Mio spoke, unsure of how to refer to her old classmate to the butler, "and we have an appointment with her tonight."
A pause. Then: "Hai."
With a mechanical groan, the iron gate slid open along its track. The bassist deftly hauled up her dizzy girlfriend, and the five of them proceeded.
Once they were past the stone wall the Light Music Club could get a better view of the estate. Rolling verdant hills cascaded for a league owned by old Devore Yamoto, fenced in by tall cement walls like the one they just passed through. On the left were rows of dirt, like a sheet of burlap rolled across the green — during haru and natsu they served as herb, flower, and vegetable gardens. On the right nearest to the band babbled a marble fountain with rainbow lights coloring the jumping water in the lowest bowl. Farther ahead there was a vacant tennis court.
And in the center of it all, down the slope and along the cobblestone path, like a pearl set in the center of a beautiful ring, stood the actual mansion. Its wide applewood double doors were thrown open to admit Afterschool Tea Time. Soft golden light from inside seeped out into the bitter night, accenting the silhouettes of a tall man and a small girl.
The toboggan clattered along the cobblestone path, speeding up dangerously as the five of them descended the hill. When they arrived at the deck Chiharu crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at it.
"Oh my, I thought this might be a problem," she sighed. "I should've sent Bobbo for you guys. Bobbo — he's my driver." She turned to the mustached man beside her. "Arakawa-san, please take these instruments up to the acoustic room."
"Hai, ojousama."
As relieved as Mio was of her burden when the butler took Ritsu's bass drum in his arms, she felt bad for the guy. "I hope he doesn't think we're imposing."
"He's not paid to think, Mio-chan," Chiharu assured her. "He's paid to make us happy." She noticed Yui shivering and rubbing her arms. With the slightest hint of a smile on her pale face, the brune ojou curled her left hand in a beckoning gesture. "Well, c'mon in. The acoustic room waits for no—"
Her hooded eyes fell upon Mugi. Stopping herself short, Chiharu flew back in alarm. "Tsumugi! Why're you—"
"I was hoping you would recognize me, Chiharu," Mugi smiled. Mio and Ritsu watched with wide eyes as she stepped forward into the light.
Chiharu's eyes were also wide, and her dark eyebrows furrowed in a myriad of confusing emotions. "How could I not?" she gasped, frowning. "That, the talk I had with Mugi-chan, I—" She clapped both hands over her mouth and blushed deeply. Her eyes were saucers. "Sumimasen!" she cried, backing away from Mugi and bowing skittishly.
Mugi beamed and stepped closer, a warm hand extended. "You even remember my nickname, Chiharu! That makes me so happy!" Her hand touched the brunette's shoulder, and Chiharu jerked away as if scalded.
"I had no idea you were in this band, Tsumugi." She was no longer friendly or familiar. She was Azusa and Suiseiseki — throwing in 'desu' left and right. Shuddering, she lowered her head miserably and grumbled, "Well, then, let's record, shall we?"
She stalked into the mansion, leaving the Light Music Club to stare after her. Even Yui stopped shivering long enough to wonder what had come over Terror Firma's keyboardist. Mugi's beryl eyes swam as she dashed after her, right hand reaching.
"Chiu-chan!" she cried with a punctured lung. "Chotto matte!"
And Chiharu did wait. She halted. Then she sighed, clasped her hands behind her back, and continued walking.
Mugi stood there with her back to her bandmates, right hand still out but touching nothing. A freezing gust set her aurum curls flying as her hand slowly lowered to her side. Yui and Azusa stared at her, waiting with baited breath for what she would do. Mio and Ritsu peered aside at each other, wondering what all this meant.
Finally the blonde girl turned to face them. Instead of tearful, they found her smiling widely. "You heard her! Let's record!"
"Yay!" Yui bolted into the mansion with Azusa trailing behind. After a moment Ritsu stuffed her hands in her coat pockets and followed. Mio hesitated.
Mugi's…forcing herself.
A/N
Cracky chapters are cracky.
DAMN IT YUI! You made my precious readers lose the game! Now COME OVER HERE AND ACCEPT YOUR PUNISHMENT!
References were made to Scott Pilgrim, Haruhi Suzumiya, Rozen Maiden (just like Suiseiseki, Chiharu ends every sentence with "desu"), Negima!, and...I think that's it.