AN: I probably should have waited to upload this, considering it's 12AM right now, but I felt bad for holding back so now here it is. Another chapter of WtCM to hopefully please you guys. This has gotten a bigger number of followers than I expected, and I'm super glad and thankful for all of you-I honestly can't stress that enough. and i'm a sentimental mess when it gets late lmao.
but really, thanks for everything my dudes.
Ciao. c:
The clustered, yet grating sound of piano keys being smashed echoed through the small room, but Maki didn't care; it was the closest thing to actual music she heard all day.
Nishikino Maki, was for the most part, cool and collected...when in public. In Otonokizaka High, Maki was renowned for her music skills, especially when it came to piano. A genius, they called her—and they had every right to do so. She had been playing ever since she was young, and by the mere age of ten, had won various awards from all sorts of competitions ranging from regionals to nationals. She mastered so many difficult pieces with relative ease, and performed them spectacularly on and off the stage.
So one can imagine how frustrating it was for her to not master a simple piece.
It was Blue Rondo a la Turk by the legendary Dave Brubeck. It wasn't particularly hard: the rhythm was repetitive, and although the natural tempo was rather fast, Maki was able to get the pitches. But something felt wrong with the piece, and the more she thought about it, the more frustrated she got.
And frustration plus a piano doesn't equal good playing.
Maki glared at her sheet music with a burning passion. Her violet eyes skimmed through the various annotations that she scribbled on the side, numbers counting the beats the notes fell on.
She didn't get it.
What was she missing?
Maki sighed through her nose and stood, snatching her sheet music off the piano. There was no use frustrating over it now; band practice was going to start soon, and it was on the floor above her.
She stuffed the score into her bookbag, not caring if any of the pages got wrinkled or torn and stood up.
A paper fluttering to the ground caught her eye.
Maki squinted at it, unable to make out anything in the garish colors. She stared, confusion fogging up her mind until she finally figured it out, a ray of recognition dispersing the mist.
It was the flier that one orange-haired girl finally managed to give her after so many attempts.
The redhead bent over to pick it up from the ground, and scrutinized it with a heavy eye. In her mind, she criticized every detail harshly and honestly: the handwriting was horrid, the drawings were a mess, and if those things on the bottom were supposed to be people, then the artist clearly failed.
It was garbage, Maki instantly thought, but instead of crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash, she gently folded it and slipped it in her blazer's pocket before striding out of the piano room.
As she closed the door behind her, her cheeks were blazing red.
Just the mere thought of her considering to check out the cafe was enough to make her embarrassed.
-X-
"Rin-chan!"
The orange-haired girl looked up from her book that she was being forced to "study" from. Otonokizaka's school policy requires students, especially athletes, to follow a certain policy when it came to grades. Firstly, one must not fall below fifty percent in any class—if that were to occur, there would be a period where said student would have an amount of time to raise their grade. Participation in other events are allowed, but not recommended. Secondly, one must not fail an exam for any class—if that happens, then said student must be prepared to take a makeup exam. Thirdly, if one does manage to do a combination of the two listed above but with multiple classes, then said student is not allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities until the next semester.
And unfortunately for Hoshizora Rin, she managed to do all three and was now put in a "rehabilitation" period from track.
It sucked.
"Kayochin!" Rin exclaimed with a grin, "You're finally here!"
Hanayo, whose cheeks were flushed red, gave a heavy sigh and flashed her friend a tired smile. It looked like she had just ran with all her energy, especially with the way she flopped down into the chair across from Rin.
"I...I had to t-talk with...m-my parents," Hanayo gasped. She weakly readjusted her glasses and gave a tired laugh.
Rin gave a crooked smile and propped her elbow onto the table, her chin in her hand. "Did you just run home and run back?" She asked, her smile growing into a Cheshire-grin.
The brunette sighed audibly. "Maybe."
"Nyahaha!" Rin laughed, but quickly quieted down when the librarian in the front of the room gave a sharp "Sh!" The orange-haired girl gave the elderly woman a sheepish smile and a thumbs-up. The woman didn't return the gesture and glowered at her.
"You didn't have to run. I would have waited for you, you nyow."
"I would feel bad if I kept you waiting. Plus I know you're having a hard time with your studies."
Rin chuckled quietly and showed off the cover of the book she was reading earlier with pride. "It's okay, I got a head start!"
"Rin-chan?"
"Yeah?"
"The book's upside down."
A nervous sweat began to collect on the back of Rin's neck. She let out a titter, but it fell short and Hanayo had to finish it for her.
"Come on," the brunette said as she took the book from her friend's hands, "let's get started."
An insufferable amount of time went by, and Rin was getting antsier by the minute. Underneath the table, she bounced her knee up and down. The pencil in between her fingers tapped restlessly against the table top. The sound of the taptaptap of the eraser was the only sound filling the library, but it quickly stopped when the librarian shot Rin another look.
Rin stopped herself...for five seconds.
The tapping began slowly, then it began to pick up speed once again.
An angry clearing of the throat stopped Rin for good.
Having enough and feeling quite frustrated for being on the same problem since forever ago, Rin dropped her pencil and watched it bounce before settling down.
"Kayochin," she drawled, slumping in her seat so that she was able to rest her chin on the table.
Hanayo, who was also busy doing her own work, stopped and looked at her.
"What's wrong?"
"How much time has it been?"
"Probably only ten minutes."
Rin was about to give a long sigh, but quickly turned it into a quick gasp as she perked up. She clapped her hands together as her Cheshire-grin came back again.
"Let's take a break right meow!" She announced.
"A break?" Hanayo looked dubious. "Right now?"
The orange-haired girl nodded with all seriousness. "Yes, a break!"
Her friend's pale purple eyes took a quick glance at the half-finished worksheet. "But you've been on the same question for—"
"Exactly," Rin said, "I can't concentrate if I don't take a break. Specifically, a food break. You nyow that you can't work well if you don't have proper nyourishment."
Hanayo stared at her with muddled eyes; it was the expression Hanayo always got whenever she was pondering deeply about something. After a while, the brunette's shoulders sank in resignation as she sighed.
"I guess you have a point," she muttered.
"Nyalright!" Rin exclaimed as she fist-pumped. "I nyow the perfect place to go to!"
Hanayo tilted her head. "You do?" She asked.
Rin just grinned. "That's right!
-X-
Umi's hand slipped...again.
Which caused her arrow to miss the bullseye...again.
Which served to make her even more frustrated...again.
Umi took a deep breath to soothe her nerves. There was no use in trying again if she was going to keep belittling herself for every little mistake she made. She needed to clear and zen her mind, and the only way to do that was to address the problem plaguing her and her concentration.
Which was something that she had been trying to avoid for the entire day.
She wiped the sweat on her brow with the back of her hand. It was an unusually warm day, which compelled Umi to enter the team room. That, unfortunately, was a mistake. The team room was not only uncomfortably warm, but it was also humid with the other girls' sweat. Umi considered going outside, where she would have at least have a breeze to cool her down, but she decided to suck it up and strode over to her locker. She noticed the handle of her bookbag hanging haphazardly from inside her locker.
Umi frowned at the sight.
In her right mind, she would never let this happen. She sighed; last night's discussion was really beginning to affect her more than she expected.
The blue-haired girl opened her locker, and fluttering out were two pieces of paper, dancing to the ground. Umi managed to catch one and could only watch as its partner touched the wet tiles of the floor.
Looking at her hand, Umi saw the job application form for Muse.
"She needs us," Umi mumbled to herself, repeating Kotori's words.
And she knew that. She knew that very well. She knew that something this big would require a large number of people's help.
Umi just didn't know if she could handle such a large group.
She sighed and bent over to reach for the ad. She stopped when she saw that the bottom half was completely soaked now, and the drawing of Honoka and co. was beginning to melt away.
"She needs us," Umi repeated. This time, it was louder than before. "She needs us, she needs us, she needs us," she continued to chant like a mantra. And like any incantation, Umi felt her spirits rising in her body, despite the uncomfortable atmosphere trying to suffocate her.
When she finally stopped, she stared at the soaked flier fondly.
"She needs me," Umi finished.
And with a fire burning in her chest, she knew exactly what she needed to do.
-X-
Honoka was starting to get unbearably bored. She had been standing at the cash register for the longest time, since she had decided to rush over to the cafe from school and arrived practically an hour before her actual shift. Her practicality—she liked to call it her Inner Umi—told her to go back home and catch the bus ride back, but her enthusiasm—something Umi affectionately called Honoka's Inner Dog—told her otherwise.
And, being the person she was, Honoka decided to stick with her gut and was now paying the price for it.
The orange-haired girl sighed loudly. The exuberance that drove her here had been slowly decaying, and now she was left with only half the amount she initially had. In the past three hours, thirty-six minutes, and...fifteen seconds, the activity she desperately waited to occur didn't happen...yet.
"Honoka."
A breath called out her name, the cold air chilling her ear and the rest of her body. Honoka screamed and nearly climbed over the counter, but a frighteningly tight grip held her down.
"D-don't eat me I don't taste good!" She whimpered, cowering with her arms over her head.
An airy, wistful giggle danced in the air.
"My, I didn't know you frightened easily."
The girl looked behind her with teary eyes.
The voluptuous figure of Toujou Nozomi was smiling that closed-eyed smile of hers.
"Geez, Nozomi-chan!" Honoka huffed. Her cheek puffed out as she crossed her arms. "You almost put me into cardiac arrest!"
The purple-haired woman tilted her head, but her smile stayed the same. "Sorry, Honoka. I'll give you a tarot reading to make it up to you."
The orange-haired girl turned around and leaned against the register. "I didn't know people can read taro."
Nozomi opened her eyes, her smile disappearing, and stared at Honoka blankly. The latter felt like she said something completely wrong until the woman broke out into a fit of giggles.
"No, no, not taro as in the food. Tarot as in tarot cards," Nozomi pulled a deck of cards from her back pocket, and Honoka stared at the colorful backs in wonder. The designs the card had were simply intricate: the background was a dark purple while the lines were a shiny silver, but everything was interwoven in such a way that Honoka swore she could make out the faintest of images underneath the mess. There was a certain kind of mystery to the woman standing before her, as if Nozomi knew the answers to life and the universe, and she had documented all of them in the deck she was now shuffling.
"You can read them?" Honoka asked with child-like wonder.
"That, I can," Nozomi said as she finished shuffling. Once she was done, she spread them out amongst her fingers like a fan. "Pick three, but don't flip them over yet."
The ambiguous twinkle in the woman's emerald eyes compelled Honoka to do so.
Nozomi said nothing but smiled, and flipped the first card in Honoka's hand.
A man with blonde hair stood atop a hill, a stick slung over his shoulder with a bag tied to the end of said stick. A creature, perhaps a lamb, was beside him braying. Scrawled under the image were the words "THE FOOL."
"Interesting," mumbled Nozomi.
Honoka blinked. "I don't get it. Are you calling me stupid?"
Nozomi did her little laugh again. "No, no. Tarot cards have more to them than they seem, Honoka. Although it sounds bad, it's actually a very positive card. It speaks of a person with childish enthusiasm, always willing to do new things and find their way of life with an open-mind. Their obliviousness to their surroundings is both a gift and a curse." She stared at the girl for a long while, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly as she studied Honoka. For some reason, the orange-haired girl felt relatively at peace when looking into Nozomi's eyes; perhaps it had something to do with that mystical smile of hers.
After a while, Nozomi turned the card in the middle. It was a robed man, clad in white and red who brandished a two-sided candle like a sword. Before him were all sorts of trinkets that rested atop a table. Among them, Honoka was able to recognize a goblet, a sword, some kind of stick, and a circle with a strange-looking star in the middle. This man was called "THE MAGICIAN" according to the cluster of letters underneath.
"That doesn't mean I have magic, does it?" Honoka asked disappointingly.
"No, but it does mean good fortune," Nozomi said with a smile, as if that was something better than magical powers (spoiler: Honoka didn't think it was). "This card tells us we have the power to make life-changing differences in this world, but only if we have the audacity to do so. And according to your previous card, you do."
Honoka couldn't help a small rush of pride running through her, especially with the way Nozomi looked at her.
"Now, for the final one," the woman began as she reached out.
The sound of the bell ringing twice startled the both of them, and Honoka'a grip on the cards faltered. Fortunately for Nozomi, she managed to catch her precious tarot cards before they touched the ground.
Honoka's eyes widened when she saw two unfamiliar faces looking around the cafe.
"Newcomers!" She beamed, "Welcome!"
The two girls, who seemed to be freshmen judging by the looks of them, turned to Honoka. One of the girls had short orange-colored hair and bounded over to the register, while the other (which Honoka recognized as one of the girls she gave a flier to the other day) timidly followed behind.
"Is this U's?" The short-haired girl asked with a large grin.
Honoka and Nozomi stifled a laugh. The stranger's smile wavered a bit, until her friend tugged at her sleeve.
"Rin-chan, it's not U's, it's Muse. We've been over this."
The girl named Rin made a shocked noise and turned to her friend. "Eh? Seriously?"
Now that was enough for the two baristas to lose their laughter. The two customers quickly followed suit, with Rin scratching her head and the bespectacled girl covering her mouth. Eventually, they calmed down and got back to business.
"Welcome to Muse!" Honoka greeted with a blinding grin, "How may I help you?"
Rin hummed and held her chin in her fingers. She narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized the menu above Honoka's head, her lips pursing just a bit as she pondered about her order.
"I'll settle for a vanilla cake and an ice coffee!" The short-haired girl finally decided, nodding her head with confirmation.
"Great," Honoka said as she punched the order into the register. When she was down, she looked at the girl standing beside Rin. "And you?"
"Er, a latte. And a slice of a vanilla cake as well."
The barista nodded and punched that order in as well. "Will that be all?"
The two girls gave a nod.
"All together, that's going to be—"
Both girls gasped when they saw the price being displayed on the register. Honoka looked up with curiosity, and saw them blanching at the sight.
"Rin-chan, we don't have enough!" The brunette whispered. Unfortunately, her "whisper" was loud enough for Nozomi to hear as well, and the woman stifled another laugh.
Rin gave a shaky, yet reassuring chuckle to her friend. "Nyo worries, Kayochin! I'll be back before you nyow it!"
And with that, Rin sprinted off with lightning speed, but not before she ran into the glass door with a loud "MEOWCH!"
-X-
Hanayo was in heaven.
She basked in pure bliss with every bite she took of her cake. It was amazing: the inside hid a treasure trove of strawberries, which complimented the frosting of the cake very well with their touch of sourness, and the actual cake was soft and moist, practically melting in her mouth. Whoever the chef was, Hanayo wanted to give her best regards—that person was her hero.
Rin's laugh broke Hanayo out of her trance.
"Nyaha! Looks like Kayochin is having the time of her life right meow!"
The brunette looked at her friend, whose face was covered with frosting, and laughed. "It's what I've always dreamed of."
The orange-haired barista, Honoka, looked over her shoulder. She was busy cleaning used cutlery by herself; the one named Nozomi had disappeared into the back and hadn't return since.
"You've heard of this place before?" Honoka asked.
Hanayo took her time to finish the last of her cake before speaking. "I heard about it from my mother. She said there was a cafe that used to be big back in the day, since she's been living in the area all her life, but now it's become a 'no-name.' She would always tell me how good the food was, and I got interested in it, so…" She trailed off when she noticed that Honoka was looking at her with a very serious expression. It scared the brunette a little; she didn't know that the cheerful barista was capable of making a face like that.
"Muse used to be big?"
Hanayo nodded.
The barista furrowed her eyebrows together, and held her chin in between soap-covered fingers. "Then what happened?" She muttered. It seemed like she was merely voicing her thoughts aloud, and didn't expect an answer.
"I don't know," she said quietly, feeling perturbed by the sudden change of atmosphere in the cafe. Although she went for a sip of her latte, the warmness of the coffee did nothing to soothe the chill crawling up her spine.
"Well no matter!" Honoka said, her usual cheer springing back to life. "We'll just do our best to build this place back up to its former glory!"
"Yeah!" Rin's sudden cry startled Hanayo; she had been so quiet the brunette forgot she was sitting next to her.
"And hey, since the two of you enjoyed the food," Honoka clapped her hands together, causing some of the soap on her hands to drift to the floor, "how about you help us?"
"Help?" Rin asked, her cheeks puffing up just a little as she tried to ignore the bubbly goatee on Honoka's chin.
The barista nodded. "Yeah, help! You guys can help with advertisement at school, and if you really wanted to, you can get a job here! It'll be a blast, and you'll get to meet everyone, including the chef!"
"The chef?" Hanayo asked as her eyes widened at the news. A chance to meet the god(dess) who created such amazing delicacies? How could she even think of passing it up?
"Yep!" Honoka declared with a grin.
Hanayo quickly turned to Rin, who was already looking at her with excitement. The energy twinkling in her friend's golden eyes was all the confirmation Hanayo needed.
"You got a deal!" The two girls said in unison.
-X-
"I'm home!" Nozomi called out as she shut the apartment door behind her. She locked it while kicking off her shoes at the same time, and sighed with relief; she should really buy new shoes that didn't give her sore feet.
"Welcome back!" A distant voice called out. Nozomi followed it to the source, and saw Eli's back being hunched over a book.
Nozomi smiled fondly at the sight; watching Eli cram for her college exams was endearing, for some reason.
"Working as hard as ever, I see," she said, walking over to her lover to place a soft kiss on the blonde's cheek. On the last minute, however, Eli turned her head and met the woman's lips for a short while before pulling back.
"How was work?" She asked, returning to her assignments.
"Good. We got a little more customers today—most were the regulars but two new faces came."
"Oh?"
Nozomi chuckled as she pulled a chair over to sit next to Eli. "Yep. Honoka's already trying her best to recruit the newbies. Apparently they're juniors, but they look like freshmen. One of them knew about Muse's glory days too."
Eli hummed, sounding half-interested, as she set down her pen and leaned back into her chair, slouching. "Anything else?"
The purple-haired woman reached into her back pocket and pulled out two pieces of paper. "Honoka's friends came by and turned in their job applications."
"Did they?" Eli asked, a little impressed. "If those newbies that Honoka tried recruiting end up joining too, then our team is going to be bigger than it has been in a while," she explained as she took the applications from Nozomi's hand.
A purple card lined with silver fell out from between the applications.
"Ah, so that's where the third card went," Nozomi said as she flipped the card over.
"Did you give someone another reading?"
Nozomi said nothing and stared at the image in front of her. It was the picture of a knight atop a white horse, a flag in one of his hands. People surrounded the knight and his horse, and a man resembling a pope was conversing with him. On the bottom of the card, "DEATH" was written.
The purple-haired woman felt the tug of a smile on the corner of her lips.
Despite its name, the card of Death was a positive one. It spoke of a time of "destruction," where change led to personal growth and transformation, leading to a life with new beginnings.
In the back of her mind, Nozomi wondered what changes awaited Honoka's future.
"Well, she already changed a lot so far, hasn't she, Elichi?" Nozomi said as she showed the blonde the card she was holding.
Eli took a glance at the card then flicked her eyes up to stare at her lover. Her blue eyes shimmered with confusion.
"I don't get it," she bluntly said.