Disclaimer: We do not own anything, this is 100% purely fanmade

28.

Ritsu rapped on the Akiyama door three times, being careful to keep her arm with the cut covered. She was certain that Mio's parents did not need to see what the other woman had done to her arm. Footsteps grew louder on the other side of the door, then stopped as the door opened to reveal a very pale Mio. Her face was gaunt and full of terror, so she only nodded and stepped back to allow her friend entrance to her house.

"It was so weird," She said as she led Ritsu up to her room, recounting the event that happened earlier in the day. The drummer gave a grunt.

"Yeah, who knew that she had minions."

"Apparently they're called 'devils,' and they will get rewarded if they eliminate anyone associated with Mugi," Mio said as she collapsed onto her bed with a sigh.

"I guess that it made sense to come after us. We are close to her," Ritsu muttered as she leaned against the wall with her arms folded. There was silence for a while, until Ritsu cleared her throat and spoke in a weak tone.

"Have you heard from Mugi lately?"

Mio sat up as fresh tears leaked down her face. Ritsu bit her lip, kicking herself to even bring up the topic.

"No. I haven't," she sighed, not looking at the drummer. Ritsu looked down at the pristine carpet and sighed.

"I think we will need her in order to bring down Yamanaka," she said in a bitter tone. Mio looked at her friend, confused.

"We have to find her, then."

Her tone shocked Ritsu. It was full of bitterness and determination. The drummer pushed herself off the wall and stared at her friend.

"Find her?"
"Yes, find her. We can't take down Yamanaka like this, now can we?"
"Well, no, bu-"
"No buts! Mugi may be the cause of all this but she is the most valuable piece."
"Cause? Valuable piece? You're starting to sound like her more and more, Mio," Ritsu said as Mio hoisted herself off the bed and walked over to her desk. She pulled out a piece of paper and started to write things down.

"Mum said that Mugi is now on the 'Wanted' list, but they want her alive."

"So?" Ritsu asked, confused as she walked over to Mio's side and watched as she scribbled down notes on the paper.

"So, after she killed Kawaguchi, she must've gone under-cover."

"Where would she hide?" Ritsu asked as Mio looked up at her friend with her temple throbbing in annoyance.

"The question is where wouldn't she go. Her father has many different connections all over Japan, and even the world. She might have used one of them to cover her tracks."

"Well that's all fine and dandy, bu-"

"NO BUTS!" Mio snapped as she felt her eye twitch at her friend. There was silence for a bit, until she wrote a few things down then showed Ritsu the paper.
"Okay, we know that Mugi likes pianos, tea and music. They are the main links."

"I see," Ritsu said as she read the writing. She noticed a distinct name that popped out at her, and pointed to it.

"What's that?" she asked, and Mio smiled as she traced Ritsu's finger to the name.

"That's one of her father's recording studios. It's in Hokkaido," she said, as Ritsu smiled as well.

"So she could be hiding there!"

Mio ticked her finger back an forth, leaving Ritsu with a question mark on her face.

"She's not hiding, Ritsu."

"Then what is she doing?" Ritsu asked, confused as Mio placed down the paper and looked back at her friend with a small smile.

"She's planning."

"Excuse me?" Ritsu was surprised, but Mio looked up with a smile on her face.

"She's planning something. Mugi always moves away from Tokyo while she's thinking. We need to find her, and I have a hunch that she's in Hokkaido. However, we'll need to play this carefully. We can't just go smashing down her door, we will need to be more discreet." Mio started to pace the room with her brow furrowed. Ritsu watched, blinking furiously to try and understand this. She hadn't heard from Mio or Mugi ever since they found the psychopathic blonde at "Maddy Candy," and she had passed out from drinking too much. When she woke up, she was underneath a sheltered area with her motor-bike and a bottle of water next to her.

"Maybe," Ritsu started, phrasing her words carefully.

"Maybe she's expecting us to be discreet. We might have to do this normally, I reckon."

"What do you mean?" Mio asked in a snappy tone, looking up from her thoughts to stare at the drummer. Ritsu took a deep breath.

"Look, what if we catch the train to Hokkaido and find the recording studio that she's staying at. We do it bluntly, and then we just go see her normally…well, that's an understatment, but you know what I mean, right?"

Mio nodded, then sat back in the chair.

"If we do it non-discreet, then we'll have to be even more careful that being discreet in the first place."

"That's true," Ritsu said, before taking out her phone and dialled a number.

"Hello? Dad? Hey. I was wondering if we could get two train tickets to Hokkaido? Me and Mio are going up to, uh, visit a friend. Is that okay? Really?! Great! Thanks!" She hung up and smiled at the raven haired girl.

"Dad can get us free tickets with return fares. I don't know where we'll stay, though."

"I'm sure we can stay with Mugi. I'm sure she won't mind," Mio said in a light voice. She had been to this recording studio before, and was certain that her girlfriend would let her stay for a little bit. Ritsu made her way to the door and opened it.

"Where are you going?" Mio asked, confused, but Ritsu simply smiled that mischevious grin of her that Mio missed. She hadn't seen it in so long her heart ached at the sight of it.

"To pack, silly! We leave tomorrow morning!"

"Are you serious?!"

(^.^)

The anger surged through her like poison. She was absolutely furious at what the psychopath had done. The ruby-eyed girl sat on her bed. She drew the curtains and was curled up in the darkness.

"How could she…" she thought, her conscious twisted. Her body shook as the rage seeped into her brain.

"She hurt Yui. My Yui," she raised her head and let her hair fall over her eyes, that were twitching with rage and bloodshot. She slowly got up from her bed and took light steps over to her bookshelf. She threw her guitar chord books and music theory notes onto the floor and dug into the very back of the shelf where she hadn't been in years.

Her grim expression accented her face as she pulled out a machine pistol.

'Mugi-senpai,' Azusa thought as she opened the book and cocked the gun.

'You will pay.'

See you in the next chapter!