"A drum set huh? Yeah we have one" Yamanaka-sensei calmly sipped her tea.
"Thank god" Me and Rei said together.
"I'll help you get it, I've got to make some calls first though"
"Calls?" We again said in unison. "Why would that be necessary? It isn't in the clubroom's storage?" I asked sensei.
"No no no no. It would probably rust away without proper care. It was there for a bit but since the clubroom remained empty and other clubs and the student council used it for storage, an old member of the light music club that lives nearby volunteered to keep the drumset and some other stuff safe… Actually" Yamanaka-sensei took a look at the tea cup in her hand "I wonder why she ask Kotobuki-san to take the tea sets back… I'll ask her I guess" She took another sip of her tea.
So… An ex-student has the drumset… Make sense… I think?
I wonder how long it'll take to get it here… It shouldn't be a lot, she said that she lived nearby… I gotta be honest… Meeting an old member of the club sounds pretty exciting… Hm, will we even meet her? Well, either way, we are getting a drum set, which is a great thing.
"Soooooo… When will you be able to get us the drum set Sawa-chan?" Emi while hanging from the couch.
Yamanaka-sensei looked back at the couch "That just depends on the girl we are getting it from."
Rei took the kettle with tea and served sensei some more. "Is she… Like, a busy woman or something, Sawa-chan?"
"She is, like any other adult you know?… Also stop calling me that!" Yamanaka-sensei smashed her tea cup onto the table.
Emi rose from the couch and looked towards Sensei "Huh? Why not? I've heard many older students call you that, why can't we?"
"Just because they call me that doesn't mean you can. It's not like I like it you know?" Sawa-cha.. Ahem Yamanaka-sensei looked at Emi with annoyance.
"Aren't we getting a bit off topic? I tried to get the conversation back on track.
"Right right… Look, I'll go out for a bit and give her a call and I'll tell you what she said" Yamanaka got up from her chair and walked out of the clubroom with her phone in hand.
Emi got up from the couch and walked to the table and sat where Sensei was. Rei grabbed the kettle and served her a nice cup of warm tea before stretching and starting to take a nap on the table.
"Thaaaaank you Sasaki" She said while taking a small sip "Anyways, you think we getting that drum set any time soon?"
"Hm… I hope so, it all really depends on this mystery ex-student" I moved my teacup around making the tea inside swirl. "Who knows she might even be able to get it here, hm… Like tomorrow? or so-"
Sensei bursted through the door holding her phone up in an attempt of a victory pose "Guess what girls! We are getting that drum set in 15 minutes!"
…We looked in silence at sensei (Although Rei hadn't woken up) "H-How convenient…" Was the only words I could come up with.
"That's all? I get you a drum set so fast and you just say that?! You know girls? The old members would be saying things like 'Ooooh Yamanaka-sama we thank you for this offering!' or they would be kneeling right now"
"I highly doubt that Sawa-chan… But in all honesty, thank you a lot" Emi said coming back from the shock.
"Uh huh… That was just… Impressive Sawa-chan" I added just noticing what I said a moment later.
Sensei quickly pointed her finger at me "You too?! I hoped that at least you Doujima would call me what you should call me…" Sawa-chan looked to the side dissapointed at me.
"S-Sorry… It's a catchy nickname" I answered.
"So it seems…" Sensei pointed out of the door "Anyway… Let's go to the entrance to wait for the set, by the time we get there we'll just wait a couple minutes…"
…
We all stood on the entrance of the school, the usually busy dirt roads were now empty and just the distant shouts and voices from the sports clubs on the back of the school could be heard by this hour. Rei yawned which seemed to get to me as I also yawned, Emi who was stretching catched a glimpse of me and she too ended up yawning.
We had been standing, sitting, crouching, leaning, running, walking, jumping, etc, around the entrance for what seemed to be hours, but every time I checked my phone and saw the clock it turned out those hours were just minutes.
I checked the road in front of the entrance once more, and just like every time a car was coming this way, I just hoped it was THE car. Sawako, who had been silent this entire time, took a step torwards the road and raised her hand.
The red car stopped in front of us and the door opened.
"Sorry for the wait" A woman with light brown hair neatly tied up in a small ponytail "Making a whole drum set fit in this little thing was a bit of a problem, but thankfully we made it fit"! She looked at us and smiled… Huh… So this woman was a previous member of the club?
"The delivery was quicker than any of these girls expected, no need to apologize Ui" Sawa-cham said walking up to the woman.
"Ok! Let's get all this stuff out of the car!" The woman said before looking back at us again and stopping for a second. "Oh how careless" She said while chuckling a bit nervously "I'm Ui Hirasawa, I guess sensei already mentioned I'm an ex-student and ex-club member" Hirasawa-san stopped awaiting our introduction.
I extended my hand for a hand shake. "My name is Yumi Doujima! It is a great pleasure meeting you ma'am!" D-Dammit, was the 'ma'am' way too much? I thought to myself before Hirasawa-san shook my hand with a big smile on her face.
She then looked towards Rei "... Rei Sasaki… It's a pleasure" Rei and Hirasawa-san continued to stare at each other for a few seconds, she probably expected a hand gesture just like with me… But Rei isn't really the type, and Hirasawa seemed to notice since she changed her focus to Emi.
"Emi Hidetoshi, nice to meet you" Hirasawa-san seemed to get Emi and just nodded.
"It's so great being able to meet you all!" Ui-san placed her hands together and smiled to us "I'm happy to know that the club is back on business! But now, we should get the drum set over to the club room" She went to the back of her car and opened the trunk of her car.
We followed her and there we saw two big drums, some steel sticks and the bigger cymbals.
"Most stuff is inside those drums, the supports, pedals and cymbals don't fit so they go separate" Hirasawa-san went and grabbed one of the drums "Aaalright… Sensei, could you please bring the other drum? You girls, could you bring the rest of the stuff and also close the car?" She pointed with her head since she had her hands full with the drum.
I went ahead and grabbed the pedals, which turned out much heavier than I expected. Rei went and took the cymbals and stacked them, and last Emi grabbed the supports and closed the trunk. Ui-san put the drum down, checked her purse and closed the car with the key. "Ok!" She took the drum again "Let's get into the club room"
Sensei and Hirasawa were walking in front of us as we carried the stuff into the school…
I ain't the kind to eavesdrop but this one time I couldn't resist and walked a bit more forward to hear what they were saying more clearly.
"Oh, I thought Sumire or Kotobuki-senpai would come for them eventually, I didn't expect them to leave the tea sets here" Ui-san chuckled a bit nervously "But considering what you've told me, it worked well right? It's like the older clubs" She smiled at sensei.
Sensei looked to the side "I guess you are right. I was extremely happy when I saw that they were still here" Sawa-chan smiled.
We passed through the entrance of the school, Hidetoshi-san actually recognized Ui-san and they greeted eacjotjer nicely but since we were carrying all this heavy stuff their interaction didn't last long.
"Aaaand here it goes" Hirasawa- san stretched after dropping the drum in front of the chalkboard beside the entrance of the club room. "Alright girls, please bring me those thing you carried here"
We walked over to her "Thank god…" Rei said almost in a whisper not because she was trying to stay quiet, but because her voice didn't come out because of how tired she was. We put all the parts of the drum besides Hirasawa-san, she then placed her purse on the ground and opened it to reveal that it was full of tools to set up the drum set.
"Ok, just wait a bit and I'll get these drums perfectly playable" She then proceeded to start and set up the drum set.
"Um… Don't you need any help, Hirasawa-san?" I asked since, she must have been already tired from carrying that heavy drum all the way from the gates to here.
"Nonoz don't worry, I'll get this done before you notice!" She smiled at me.
"Bu-" Before I could even finish that word sensei interrupted me.
She placed her hand on my shoulder "Don't worry about her, Ui does this kind of stuff. Once I went to her house and she had made a whole giant feast for everyone else goingz and she made it all on her own.*
"That's… Incredible… In the most literal meaning of the word" Rei said while looking at Hirasawa-san.
"She'll be done before you know it, trust me" Sensei walked to the back of the room and sat on the table.
I guess we just have to wait for her to finish the drum set… It's crazy that she'll actually do it, after you know, packing it, driving here and then carrying it over here.
Ui-san seems like an interesting person…