notes: wELL ITS A THING NOW THIS IS NOW THE ONESHOT COLLECTION SPOT OH B O I. today's prompt decided to let me play with Nodoka and Ritsu's characters, and tbh i really havent studied their dynamics much SO THIS WAS A HURDLE. this is kind of an in between AU (but could be not AU) conversation in the canon college story when Nodoka wrestles with leaving Japan for study abroad. generator given prompt at the bottom!
horizons
Student Council President; a title that only had real meaning and purpose for 365 days out of her entire life. After her term is done, a new season starts, she goes down in the books, and her time becomes just a picture in the yearbook and a name on a list going back generations that all previously held the same position.
What impact could she say the past ones had on her?
Other than Sokabe-senpai, not much.
Nodoka never thought of herself as a leader, even when she held the title that would seemingly be at the top of a chain of hierarchy at her high school. Student Council President seemed like a role that just fell into her hands. She was a model student: good grades, pleasant personality, responsible. It seemed like the obvious choice for her after being class rep so many years that her peers naturally looked to her for student council.
Student Council. An established group that is supposed to lead the rest of the school to live out their youthful days as high school students to the fullest, right?
Whenever she reminisces about those three years, the group that truly brought their class and school together was not hers.
HTT. The excitement, the unity, the craziness, the bonds, the memories; she saw that happen so prominently through their music, through their concerts. That weird magic the five of them had that made high school days, especially her own days, much more memorable than anything she ever felt she implemented as Student Council President. She can clearly remember the impact her friends' festival concert had on the student body. Even more vividly, the feelings people were moved with during the performance, than she ever felt she did during any speech or words at a ceremony.
She supposedly was the one who was supposed to lead, yet she did not feel like she performed her role to the fullest. And for Nodoka, someone who constantly set high standards for herself, and met them, it made her feel ashamed; a failed attempt.
Maybe, she would think, that wasn't her job to do. Maybe she wasn't fit for it in the first place.
Study Abroad! Her brochure says. China, Spain, Brazil, America, France and More!
She sighs and looks out the window of the small, corner cafe she's sitting in. The streets are dark, barely illuminated by the yellow street lights. Leaves are just starting to turn their autumn colors, a mix between the vibrant summer green, and the duller orange and browns.
Fall is the season for change, I suppose.
She taps her pencil against her notebook, not getting anywhere with studying for her international relations exam in the morning. Pushing her books aside, she opens the brochure tucked away in her notebook from earlier, finding the real thing much more interesting than the concepts.
"Oi, sir! One coffee, extra sugar and an extra shot! Oh, and one of those cakes in the display; it's gonna be a loooong night!"
"Comin' up, Tainaka-chan!"
Tainaka?
"Woah, woah, Nodoka!"
The tawny haired woman bounds down to the end of the cafe to the booth she was set up in and plops herself right across from Nodoka, tossing her backpack at the end of the seat and leaning into the table excitedly.
"Nodoka! Who would've thought I'd run into you here of all places! Dang, that's a lot of notes and books; you gotta test? What're you doin' here; this ain't in your neck of the woods!"
Nodoka chuckles at her former classmate's energy, still at its highs at nearly 11:45 at night.
"Good to see you too, Ritsu. Mhn, I've got a big exam tomorrow for one of my classes that I can't say I'm quite fully prepared for. This cafe isn't too far from the main campus, and the big sign advertising fresh caffeine is quite alluring."
Ritsu nods, "Aaah, same, same. This place is kinda outta the way for our campus, but Norimi-chan- ah, Sawa-chan's old bandmate- actually comes here a lot and recommended it for us college kids once."
The two of them settle into their seats once again, making small talk, catching up in the few months they'd had in their first years as college students. A lull comes around 1AM when the both of them decide to take a break from their studies, leaning back and sipping their drinks, picking at their pastries, hoping to get another burst of energy to keep going.
Amongst the black and white (and occasionally highlighter yellow) of Nodoka's notes, Ritsu's eye spots a rather color pamphlet.
"Ah, what's that?" she asks, not even waiting for a response as she pulls the glossy paper from under one of Nodoka's textbooks.
"Oh, that! That's uh-"
"Study abroad, huh? Woah, that's pretty cool! I've heard study abroad is hella fun! You get to eat different foods, see new things- oh, kinda like when me, Yui and the others went to London! Oooh, America's an option? Hey, can you bring me back this special DVD of The Who? It's HELLA expensive online to buy it and ship it to here and-"
The reserved girl across from Ritsu holds up her hands, waving them about."
"Wait, Ritsu; I'm not going! Well, I've been considering the possibility, but I'm not sure yet! Besides, I don't even know where I'd like to study at, or even if this program is right for me."
The drummer tilts her head in confusion. She'd always seen Nodoka as one of the most capable people she'd ever met; why would this not be for her?
"Why?"
Nodoka returns the look of confusion, "Why, what?"
"Why do you not think it's for you? You can do like, anything, man."
The bespectacled woman frowns. Coming from the fearless drummer and bandleader of HTT? What guts does she have compared to her?
Ritsu folds her arms and looks up, as if trying to recall something.
"I mean, like, in high school, you were kind of a go-getter. You were freakin' Student Council President! You were fearless! Remember when you lowkey yelled at me when we barely knew each other because I didn't submit a request to use the auditorium? Like, damn, Nodoka. I don't say this often to people, but I respect you.
"You're so sure of yourself, and what your duty is. You know me, I just kinda roll with things. I don't think I was a really good president for the light music club, and hell even being bandleader now is weird. I'm not responsible, or as focused as you are."
Ritsu looks Nodoka right in the eyes, a grin on her face.
"That's why I think Study Abroad is perfect for you. If anyone can go to some random-ass country and do amazing things there, it's definitely gonna be you. If what you did for us in high school always saving our asses, looking out for us and Yui, is just a little bit of what you can do in the future, it's gonna be lit, fam."
Nodoka pushes away the slang she doesn't quite get, and meditates on the rest of Ritsu's words.
She really didn't feel like she played a big part. She saw how much Yui had grown in the light music club; more than the dazed airhead had ever grown in their ten plus years of friendship. Sure, she helped out where her student council power could come in handy, but did she really do that much?
"I know Yui really appreciated you for all you did for us," her companion says. Nodoka glances at the drummer, who has a rare smile that felt like it held more wisdom and maturity than she lets on.
"If you can put up with a bunch of crazies like us and make high school not suck as much as it could, Studying Abroad should be nothin' for you, Ms. President."
Nodoka smiles and takes a sip of her coffee. It occurs to her why Yui really grew with friends like Ritsu with her. She chuckles into her cup.
"Thank you, Ritsu; Ms. President, as well."
Ritsu grins wide and points at the picture of the Statue of Liberty on the brochure again.
"Great! That means you're going to America to study abroad then, right? Awesome, so as I was saying, this DVD is exclusive to America, it wasn't even in London, who'd have thought, right?! So anyways, it's the New York concert they did in 2001 and if you can get this DVD there that'd be super. Oh and also…"
Eyes rimmed with glasses watched in amusement as Ritsu writes down little reminders for her of things she wants in America, and she looks outside, the night still dark, hearing the harsh breezes of fall pound on the cafe window.
As she sits in the warm booth, a decision still might have not been made yet, but a renewed feeling of confidence runs through as she listens to the other leader across her.
end
Prompt: Nodoka and Ritsu at a cafe.
Theme/ideas: Leader / Shameful
Optional considerations: Taking place in Fall at night.
AYE, #EndTheDrought #PensReadyMusicSteady #JUST PLEASE WRITE FICS FRIENDS THE K-ON FIC COMMUNITY IS LITERALLY SO DRY