Chapter 52: Yoko: Deal With a Devil by kirbymanx/huskynator
It's the weekend and Yoko's closest friends, Panotty, Jaan, Ally went to the edge of town to visit her.
"Guys." Jaan and Ally turned to their friend. But he got cold feet. "Eh nevermind, I forgot." He lied…
He wanted to admit to them how he misses playing music with Yoko and fears losing her friendship because of that…
Yoko still hasn't got a hobby to occupy her sad little head.
Panotty, Ally, and Jaan tried their best suggesting stuff, but it was all but clear to them that she's either not too interested… or a little too klutzy in case of jobs they suggest.
The four of them sat around a table in Yoko's room.
"Ummmm…" Jaan felt herself really stretching. 'Isn't big into sports, wings are sucky to have for indoor jobs, not a people person, doesn't call herself creative…' The well is dry. "I got nothing."
"Me neither…"
"Yep…"
"I'm sorry, Yoko…" Yoko, Panotty, Ally mumbled.
"Thank you for trying." 'I can't do anything right… I suck.'
The angel's friends felt as deflated as she did. 'There has to be a way to make her happy again.' All three thought, give or take different wording.
"May I put on some music?" Ally the human asked, pointing to her phone. No one objected and Ally put it on the table.
The song being played was an upbeat punchy pop song.
Jaan smirked. The half-genie started alternating clapping along and slapping her hands on the table. Enlarging her hands on occasion.
Ally smiled and sang along with the backup vocals with her clear voice.
Panotty had a lightbulb moment. The forest elf hopped to his bag and back to grab his flute and played along with the melody and improvise during the chorus.
Yoko looked at her rhythmic cheerleader friends and the musical elf. Jamming, having fun. Panotty is performing a beautiful solo…
Yoko wanted in on that.
"It's not enough th--" Yoko immediately covered her mouth and her friends turned their heads to her. "I did it again…" The pink-headed angel buried her head in her arms and wings.
Her friends wasted no time doing their best assuring her that it's alright.
"Sucks that you can't enjoy music anymore." Jaan let out.
"Oh!" Panotty snapped his fingers. "Yesyesyes!" The girls looked at him. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before! Yoko, you still love music, right?" He asked to make sure.
Yoko nodded.
"I know you've vowed never to sing again. But what about learning to write your own music?" Yoko's best friend suggested.
Some lights lit up in Yoko and the others took notice.
"You mean like scribbling the notes on paper?" The genie asked.
"Panotty, you're a genius." Ally praised the blushing elf. "You can make music, Yoko~"
"You just gotta learn to read the notes and learn an instrument." Panotty simplified.
"I don't know…" The angel's friends braced themselves for the inevitable slapdown of the idea. "Me and music do not go well together…"
"You don't know that. Maybe it'll be the thing for you." Ally tried to coerce her.
"Maybe disaster happens when I play an instrument too…" Yoko shivered.
'This is why we stopped suggesting music on day 1.' Jaan snarked in her head.
"Muh-muh maybe I'll break the instrument, o-o-or-or all the guh-glass will get sh-shatterred a-again, I don't wanna lose you guys!" Yoko almost shut down, even as all her friends tried to prove her fears wrong.
Panotty got to thinking while he held Yoko. 'Hm… "I don't wanna lose you guys, break glass or break the instrument." Eh…' The elf thought. He jumped off the comfort Yoko cuddle pile.
"'Notty?!" Yoko felt like she got separation anxiety in record time when her friend went to get his flute. But felt comforted he walked back again. She was confused why he held his sideways flute in front of her face.
"Yoko. Play my flute."
Ally immediately realized what he's gonna do, but kept quiet.
"Wh-Whua?" Yoko mumbled.
"Please, play my flute, Yoko."
"B-But it's your special flute."
"I know."
"I'll just break it…"
"You won't." Panotty said with confidence as he pushed it in the nervous angel's hands.
Yoko did her best to not drop it as her nerves told her to. "What if I sha-"
"Just do it, Yoko!" Panotty's patience was thinning.
"Meep!" The angel swiftly held the flute closer to her lips. Jaan dodged a smack in her face.
"S-Sorry." Panotty immediately apologized. He regretted taking that tone to Yoko of all people. "But can you do it for me?" He asked nicely. "Nothing will go wrong." Panotty knew looking at his best friend she wasn't convinced. "Just gently blow in that hole, don't use your voice."
Yoko looked at the hole. 'I can't do anything right…' She looked to Jaan.
Jaan non-verbally gestured she should do it.
Yoko looked at Ally.
Ally non-verbally telling her everything will be okay.
And Yoko looked back to Panotty. Desperate for her to try it.
"G-Gently…" She took two deep breaths. "O-Okay." She held her eyes closed. Her lips reached closer and closer to the flute until it touched the mouth hole. She coiled back a bit, it touched her sooner than she thought with her eyes closed, and it was a little cold.
It was needlessly tense for her friends.
Yoko took another deep breath and tried again.
… A pleasant-sounding note came out.
'I can't do anything right…' Yoko thought. And looking at her friend's stunned faces amplified her feelings.
"No don't feel sad, Yoko!" Panotty flipped. "That was a good note! Especially for a first try."
"Huh?" Yoko looked at the flute she held in confusion.
"Panotty's right, Yoke." Jaan said with an earnestness which the confused Yoko sensed. Ally supported the other's statements.
"Play another note, Yoko."
Yoko played another note.
Her friends were happy for their winged friend. Another good note.
Honestly, Yoko felt weird her friends had such positive responses to just playing a note. But it did make her happy. She giggled and gently played another random note, the highest one.
Yoko's friends were happy, Yoko's happy that her friends are happy, which made her friends happy.
The angel's cute smile shined through for the first time in a long while.
"See, Yoko!?" Panotty carefully took his flute back as he kept this momentum going. "You can play an instrument without anything going horribly wrong."
Ally and Jaan were a bit on edge with the short elf's words… but as Yoko looked at all the windows, her wings flapped with excitement. "Oh, you're right, 'Notty~!" She picked up the elf and gave a big hug.
"Wanna go through a lot of practice to learn to write music so you can be this happy more often?"
"YesyesyesyesYES!" The angel twirled Panotty around in the air, both of them laughing.
Jaan smiled. "This is the Harpy I- The Yoko I remember." Jaan whispered Ally's ear as they let the two have their moment.
"This is the most heartwarming thing I've seen all week~" Ally whispered back.
"Let's ask Principal Accord if she can teach you, 'kay?"
"Oh pl~ea~se~!" Unbeknownst to Yoko, she expressed her happiness with her infamous singing voice. Her friends decided to let it be, only Ally was harmed by it.
The time came that Yoko's household requested that Panotty, Jaan, and Ally must leave. They all left the angel in good spirits and a hug.
Jaan wanted to ask a pessimistic question having left to Panotty and Ally, how long this high for her will last. But she knew Yoko might be all demure again the next morning. Still. Progress.
"Amazing job, Panotty~ A lovely display of your heart coming through to Yoko~" Ally romanticized what happened in there. "Ever thought of becoming a fellow crusader in love?"
"Eh… I'm good…"
"You don't sound that good." Ally noted. "You can tell me." She offered a friendly hand.
Panotty knew he can and did. "That way I talked her into this… it's a manipulation tactic I use to manipulate bullies. It feels wrong to use it on Yoko…" Thinking about it gave him a pit in his stomach thinking like that.
"What." Jaan said bluntly to her fellow prankster, sounding almost like she's offended by his reasoning. "Don't sweat it, you know Yoko needs this."
"Still feels wrong, yanno?" The elf shrugged. "I did manipulate her into something she didn't want. Feels dirty doing that to Yoko…"
"Don't worry so much about it." Ally did her best to pep the elf up. "Sometimes a little manipulation is needed to get them loved." … "There's a limit to how far that should go of course! But you're not even near that limit let alone over it."
"Think Principal Accord even has the time to teach her privately?" Jaan questioned.
"Iunno." Panotty answered. "But she knows what she's talking about. Worth a try."
The next day, during recess…
Panotty escorted Yoko to the Music Class, where Vice-Principal Accord was preparing her class.
"Yo! Vice-Prinse Accord!" Panotty approached with all the tact.
"Oh, hello there mister Woodham, miss Tamura." She greeted them equally friendly. "Do you have something to report to me?"
"Uh, sorta. You see… Yoko wants to get back into music." The blonde elf pointed at his nervous pink-headed angel friend.
"Oh dear." Accord feared a little.
"Nono! She wantsta learn how to make music. Write down notes. Maybe learn to play an instrument. Right, Yoko?" Panotty faced his friend, still holding her hand.
"Yes." She timidly nodded.
"Oh, brilliant idea, mister Panotty. I suggest you learn how to use a keyboard if you want to learn to write music, miss Yoko."
"B-But I already kno- Oh, you mean the piano type of keyboard?" She was glad she caught onto that. Don't wanna look dumb in front of other people. "Can I have keyboard lessons from now on?"
"Of course." Accord replied. "Though there's the matter of owning a keyboard to practice at home, I suggest you save up for one if you don't."
"That's no problem. 'Notty, let's buy a keyboard after school!"
"Uh, you know those things are heavy right?" Panotty tried to imply something Yoko just didn't pick up on.
"Thank you for wanting to teach me, school leader lady." The angel gently bowed. "When shall we meet up for my first lesson?"
"Oh, about that…" Accord said in a tone even Yoko knew always meant incoming disappointment. "I'm afraid I'm too busy to help you personally to teach privately."
"Aw." Yoko drooped.
"But! Perhaps I know someone really talented with keyboards who has more free time to teach you, please wait for a little bit." Accord pulled out her phone and started to text. She waited for a bit until a notification noise was heard. "She'll be here any moment. Now please be a dear and help me set up class."
As they helped, Yoko and Panotty wondered who.
'She'd have to play the piano, wouldn't she?' Panotty wondered. 'Or a keyboard… Or… a keytar… Oh no…' He knew who.
"Prof Accord, y' wanted to see-" It was that purple-haired, one-horned devil; Peruvis. Who halted what she was saying as soon as she saw that elf and angel. "It's you… And the Harpy…"
Yoko hid behind Panotty in fear of that scary devil girl who faced the teacher. "If this is a beg for an apology to this gormless, feather-brained, daft cow of an and that knnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnNOBHEAD elf, then they won't get it! I don't have to make up for being tossed into a closet and having my jacket taken!" Peruvis goosestepped towards the duo and poked Yoko's jacket. The two admittedly sank being reminded of that desperate action…
Nobody likes you and you suck!
Your singing makes me wanna die!
Screw you, angel! Screw you and your voice! Harpy is the right name for you since all you're good for is screeching like one, your parents must've loved you oh so dearly naming you that!
SCREW YOU, YOU SCREECHING PIECE OF TRASH!
"I'm not expecting you to forgive them for that. Or rather them forgiving you as you seem to think, miss Priestley. But I want you to teach Yoko to play the keyboard and write her own songs, you're a very talented young lady that can teach her, correct?"
Peruvis had a strong frown. "What? Nicking my expensive jacket wasn't good enough. You wanna knock off my flair too?"
Yoko shook her head. She tried to talk but couldn't. Panotty wanted to snap at her but decided against it. Couldn't think of something more advantageous to say either.
"No no, it's because you're a talented song writer and a incredibly gifted keyboard player." Accord spoke for them, buttering the devil up. "And you said wanted to feel less nervous. Getting on good terms with Yoko perhaps can help. You have to put up with students you don't like sometimes to be a music teacher. Sounds like good practice, doesn't it?"
Peruvis' frown stayed as she winched. "I don't know…" Slowly turned to her wrongdoers. "There are enough people who'd take lessons from me."
"That's fair and that's your choice to make." Accord said bluntly.
"G'Afternoon." Peruvis waved as she walked off.
"Wait!" Panotty reached out.
"…what" Peruvis rolled her head in annoyance, erecting her wings for emphasis, the wind gusts giving the angel and the elf some chills, scowling that could make the toughest in this school back-off. Yoko wished Panotty was bigger so she could hide better.
Panotty feared her too. He just stood there stiff.
"I repeat." Peruvis put her knuckles on her hips and bent over so her frustrated, temperamental face was right into Panotty's.
"'Notty!" Yoko whisper yelled. Accord was amused by this display.
"Uh… W-We wanna w-work something out…?" He shivered as he noticed Yoko meeping behind her, probably too scared to even say yes.
Peruvis' body language relaxed just a little. "Spit it out then, I need a chortle."
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh…" He had no idea.
Peruvis pulled out a nifty hourglass app on her phone. "I'm being rather generous in giving you lot 2 minutes." She turned her phone upside down and the digital sand sank bit by bit to the bottom.
"Ehhehuh!" The elf was hyperventilating. He and Yoko weren't even settled if they even wanted this devil's help. But he's seen her perform before, she's way ahead of him musically… "Yoko…" Panotty presented an argument. Yoko seemed to begrudgingly agree. "So we need to…[psst psst]…her if she…[psst pst]"
"That's fine." Yoko gave permission for Panotty to say what he needs to say.
"Sand's run out. Make your case or I'm off."
"Okay." The first-year elf tried to calm down to speak to the third-year devil. "So you're a reasonable succubus, ri-"
"SUCCUBUS?! I'm a DEH-VIL, not a succubus! You speciesist dwarf!" She raised her fist, intimidating them.
"Itwasamistakehonestly!"
"Now now kiddies, leave direct speciesism out of this." Accord put them back on track.
"Thanks, Vice-Prinse…" Panotty skipped to the window in the room. Silently asking everyone to join him. "Perroovis(?)… see that mansion in the distance? The one with a giant birdcage?"
Peruvis squinted her eyes. "Barely, but I've seen it on the highway a few times. Why is this relevant?" She wanted alone time already.
"That's my house." Yoko timidly admittedly.
"Ah… AH!" The devil's eyes widened. She was not prepared.
"Yoko is loaded." Panotty made sure Peruvis got it.
"Loaded?"
"H-He means you're rich, Harpy!" Peruvis said annoyed. "I-I mean… What was your name?" She immediately spoke in a more amicable tone, which Panotty immediately detected a suck-up move.
"Y-Yoko."
'Of course, it's Yoko… ' Peruvis was thinking about something that may or may not be a thing in this dimension. "I'll teach you, Yoko. H-How much you w-wanna pay me?"
"Iunno…" Yoko shied away from the purple-haired devil.
"Wh-Whaddya mean iunno?" The junior tried not to lose it. She grabbed her keytar case. "Want me to play a little tune to prove myself?"
Yoko fidgeted. "N-Not really."
"Then what?" Behind her closed lips, Peruvis gritted her teeth.
"..."
Peruvis waited in anticipation of an answer from the shy sophomore.
Panotty stood by to speak for Yoko in case she needed it.
Accord was there to mediate.
"...y...r.. "
"I'm what?" Peruvis took a step forward spooking the angel literally a meter in the air, barely missing bumping her head against the ceiling.
"Eeeeee!" Yoko landed curled up on the ground behind Panotty.
"Ehhhhhhh…" Panotty suspiciously went quieter the closer the devil got.
Peruvis herself jumped a little when Accord's hand gently cupped her shoulder. "What I think they're trying to tell you is that they're scared of you."
"Scared of me? What's there to be scared about? I'm just an average devil!"
"Yoko." Accord spoke out from behind Peruvis, with both her hands on junior devil's shoulders.
"Y-Yes?"
"Peruvis would like to be your friend."
"Huh?"
"Oh."
"Oi! Whut?"
"I'm helping you as well as her here." Accord said at a volume only Peruvis could hear without moving her lips. "To help you learn to be a teacher."
"..." She was weighing her options.
"And you will get paid if you are friendly with her."
"Quite, yes, I wanna be your friend, Yoko. Don't gimme that face, Elf. I do wanna be her friend."
Yoko took a peek at her devily schoolmate. "A friend? Y-You wanna b-be my friend and teach me?" She slowly stood up.
"Yes." Peruvis said. "I'll be your teacher and your friend. As long as you promise not screech." Those words made Panotty and Accord quietly go "really?"
Yoko looked at her own feet out of habit at the reminder of what a danger she is.
Peruvis cussed in her head. "I'll be your teacher, friend, and you can keep that jacket guilt-free. Deal?"
Amazingly to everyone but Yoko, that got Yoko's attention. "R-Really?"
"Yeh." The one-horned devil nodded. Holding out a hand to shake.
"Thank you so much~" Yoko shook her soon-to-be new private music tutor's hand with both of her hands. Surprising the surprise-disliking devil. "I really love your jacket~ Makes me feel safe."
"You're welcome? Anyways, I'll teach you everything I'll know and will know. From reading notes, to keys, to writing your own songs."
"What do keys have to do with this?"
'Geez, this girl is a prat…' "We'll get to it. Soooo… What'll you pay me per lesson?" Peruvis got excited. Panotty rolled his eyes.
"Uhmm… Does a 1000 credits from my allowance sound good, Perry? C-Can I call you Perry?" ... "P-Perry?"
The devil stood there stiff. Panotty walked up to the purple-haired girl two classes above him and poked her. She fell over like a tree.
Later that day Peruvis was walking around once again. Attending classes, writing music and lyrics, performing for others on her keytar, texting at the lockers, whatever Peruvis does in between classes.
"Urgh." And Panotty stomped by to take free time away from the devil. "What now you short, chaotic, nitwit, Elf?" She groaned, trying to remain cool in case the forest elf is up to his usual pranks.
"I know you're not really Yoko's friend." He stated.
Peruvis shrugged while pulling an expression that said Really? That all you have to say? "Whatcha gonna do about it, Shorty?" She said in between texting while on edge.
Yoko's friend fumed. "I'll be there with her for her lessons to make sure you treat her right!"
The girl at least two years his senior groaned. "An empty threat, and moot to boot, she'll be paying me well, of course I'll treat her well, I have the incentive to treat her well, she'll be my shrill, harpy, sonic boom capable princess until she stops paying me."
Panotty wasn't convinced.
"Let's make a deal, tree hugger, stop victimizing me and I'll guarantee I'll never intentionally hurt your pwecious widdle cwush." She mocked him, but not in a mocking tone, in a disdainful tone.
"It's not a crush…" Panotty protested.
"Just promise me you will leave me alone. It's all I'll ask out of you. And getting me (and Yoko I guess) drinks."
"Fine… For Yoko." Panotty conceded.
"Good. Now leave me alone, I want this school day to be over already, I do…"
Authors' Notes:
HUSK: Peruvis probably isn't actually an angry type of character in Puyo Puyo Quest. It's something we sometimes do. Some characters' characters are a little different. Actual Peruvis seems uncomfortable with everyone and everything to me.