"Oooook… Alright" Hirasawa-san got up and swiped her forehead.

"R-Really?" I asked while looking at her from the couch.

She took some drumsticks from her purse "Ninety percent… I still have to tune it" She hit one of the drums with the stick. "It'll only take me a bit"

"You gotta tune a drum set?" Emi said from behind the couch, on the table.

Ui-san nodded in response.

"Did you play the drums?" I asked feeling curious.

"Oh nono, I was the rhythmic guitarist. Sensei taught me how to tune these" She said while hitting the drums from time to time to check them. "Once in a while we asked her to tune it, but one day she just made me sit beside her and taught me how to do it"

"I'm a bit surprised you still remember" Sensei walked over to us. "You haven't done this is years"

Hirasawa looked at sensei "I tuned this thing for about 8 months of my year in the club, and I'm a good learner, I don't forget this stuff"

Ui-san kept tuning and tuning until she hit every drum and cymbal "Finally, it's done! Come and check it out!"

Emi, Rei and Sensei walked over to us near the drum.

"It's really ready?" Rei asked rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah! And with this my job here is done… Although… I feel like I'm forgetting something… Oh right!" Ui-ssn expressed before starting to look through her purse "I brought you girls a little gift from the old days of the club. Heeeere you go!" She said as she took out a headband with… Cat ears? And placed them on Rei's head.

We stood in silence except for Hirasawa-san "Ohhh, I knew it, they do look good on you!" She said while smiling at Rei

I looked at my friend "R-Rei?" I asked while placing my hand on her shoulder.

She slowly began to turn her head at me "Meow?" She answered completely expressionless.

"You don't have to go along with it…" I said lowering my head

"Meow…" Rei said as she took the headband off.

Sensei walked over to Hirasawa-san "Ui… I don't think the club can go to it's… Old traditions…"

Ui-san looked at her confused "Huh? Why not?" She asked

"Nodoka already… Scolded me for doing the same thing" Sensei daid with a defeated look on her face.

"You dressed us in full maid outfits…" Emi looked at sensei unimpressed.

"Well, that's sad… It was fun dressing up in the club… Aside from the times sensei… Uh, forced it… Maybe it's for the better" Ui-san went over to the door of the clubroom "But enough chatting, it's time for me to leave"

"You won't stay for a cup of tea?" Emi said from the back of the room.

Hirasawa started to stuff the tools she used for the drums on her purse "I'm sorry… But I have some plans…"

"The man is free from of work huh?" Sensei said while ever so slightly smirking.

"Yup! We were going to watch a movie, after he cleaned the floor and I washed the dishes, but I guess the dishes will have to wait till after the movie, since I had to come here" Ui-san got ready and was opening the door "I'm sorry to leave you all hanging. I'll see if I can come to visit anytime, and you are also welcome to come for a visit too! Goodbye" She walked out the door and sensei followed "I'll escort her to her car"

I went to the table at the back of the clubroom and sat beside Rei who had already fallen asleep "She was nice" I said to start a conversation.

"Very… Like, surprisingly" Emi said, sipping a bit of her tea "I mean, leaving her house even though she had plans to install a drumset for us? That's, you know, ridiculous"

"Hmm, you are right" I said while I poked Rei a couple of times to wake her up. She woke up amd looked at me a bit lost "I'm sorry but…" I held my empty cup to her. She looked at me blinking every few seconds "Oh…" She expressed and then went to grab the kettle to serve me a cup of tea. "Thaaaaaaaank you Rei, sorry for waking you up" I said

"It's *Yawn* my duty in the club, and I'm proud of it" Rei said before slamming her face on the table and falling asleep.

"Well, continuing with what you said… Hirasawa-san must be really passionate about the club I guess" I stirred my cup.

Emi leaned back on her seat while sipping her tea "I suppose… But anyway, now we have a drumset, which is nice" She sat normally and put on a serious face "But I still don't have a guitar"

I checked the date on my phone "Hm! Well after sensei comes back we can go to the music store for your guitar"

"That would be nice" Emi leaned back way more until… Oh… Wait… No, no no.

I got up from my chair and futily reach out to Emi "E-Emi!"

"Oh fu-" Were the last things Emi said before falling to the ground (chair included) waking up Rei.

"Emi! A-Are you okay?! I-Is the tea cup okay?!" I asked while running to the other side of the table.

Emi slowly got up from the ground "Yeah, yeah.. The tea cup is fine… Sadly my uniform isn't" She looked down and… Yeah, a big light brown tea stain appeared in her shirt… It didn't help that Emi didn't usually wear the uniform's blazer and just tied it to her waist. "D-Dad isn't going to like this… Do we have any uh… Napkins?"

"Napkins aren't goint to help you, but I could clean it for you" Rei walked over to us.

I looked at Rei a bit surprised "You know how to clean these kind of stains?"

"Yeah, I used to drink lots of tea with my grandma, and when a little kid drinks anything they are bound to spill some… Maybe I spilled too much, since one day she taught me how to clean them myself" She said… Huh you learning something new every day, even about those whl you thought you knew perfectly… "So yeah, just give me your shirt Emi" Rei extended her arms towards Emi.

"Uh… Thanks for the offer but… What am I gonna use? the blazer doesn't really fully work as a shirt you know?"

Rei grabbed and took the hoodie she usually wears off "Here, use this for now you can give it to me tomorrow when I give you your shirt back, ok?"

Emi took it a bit hesitant. "Thanks… Rei"

…

After that tactical clothes change we said goodbye to Sawa-chan as she walked back to the club room.

We were about to walk out of the main school building but we made a small stop before.

"Hiii Hidetoshi-san!"

"Hello…"

"Hello dadd- Ahem… Father…"

We all greeted Hidetoshi-san, who was standing besides the entrance/exit.

"Oh, hello there" He greeted us back, tipping his hat. "So, done with the club for today?"

"Kinda, technically we are still going to do something club related now" I mentioned.

"We are gonna get that guitar I mentioned the other day" Emi said to her dad.

"Alright… Also, I forgot to ask… What's up with that hoodie?" Hidetoshi-san asked looking at Emi.

Emk looked at her dad a bit nervous "O-Oh? T-This thing? Hehehe… Um I was… You know… Uh… Feeling a bit cold… And my deaaaar friend Rei let me borrow it"

Hidetoshi look at her daughter for a second, then to Rei "Is that really okay Sasaki-san?"

"Yeah… Just today though… She has to give it back tomorrow" She said, not even looking at Emi's dad.

"Ok then, I guess you should be packing a hoodie on your school stuff, maybe a scarf too? Hm, do you need some new gloves also-" Hidetoshi ended up being interrupted by the other Hidetoshi in the conversation.

"Nono, I'm okay, really, J-just today I felt I bit colder than usual you know? W-We'll be leaving now, okay?" Emi slowly started to go out of the school as she spoke.

"Uh… See ya tomorrow Hidetoshi-san…"

"Bye"

Me and Rei waved at Hidetoshi as we walked out catching up to Emi.

…

"You are completely sure that the guitar will be there? Emi said while we stood in front of the store.

"It has to be here… I hope… Akiyama-san that she would have it today" I walked to the store.

"Oh nice, I was waiting for you!" Akiyama-san said when she saw us enter the store. "Wait a bit" She turned around and looked around. "Here! You girls are lucky my friend even gave me a case for the guitar" She turned around once again this time holding a big brown guitar case. "I guess this is for you" She looked at Emi while putting the guitar case on the counter in front of her.

"W-Woah… I didn't it was big to be honest" Emi walked over to the counter "Eeexcuse me" She opened the case. Inside was a red-ish wood acoustic guitar, it lacked any kind of branding, but looked very pretty, although…

"T-The strings…" Rei said when she saw the guitar… The strings were rusted…

"Oh don't worry about that, I can change them for you" Akiyama smirked at us. "Foooor a price of course"

Rei looked slightly annoyed "How much"

"A thousand yen, I grab some new strings and change them in 5 minutes" The store owner looked at Rei, almost challenging her.

"Five hundred" Rei responded. "Eight hundred" Akiyama replied. "Six hundred and fifty" Rei offered "Eight hundred and fifty" Akiyama raised the price.

Rei remained quiet for a few seconds… "Seven hundred, and, I also buy this 300 magazine"

They both looked into eachothers eyes for a bit… "Okay, seems fair" Akiyama accepted the offer and shook hands with Rei.

"Great" Rei seemed relieved.

"You still paid the thousand" I mentioned.

"But I got a magazine" Rei said as she took a thousand yen bill out of her wallet, smirking.

Akiyama-san took the bill and grabbed the guitar "Just wait there, I'll be done before you notice"

We turned away from Akiyama since she did the same.

"So… This is the store you said you hung out around?" Emi looked around the small store.

"Pretty much" I answered.

Emi continued looking around, seemingly interested on the little tv hanging at one of the corners of the store. "And what did you two do here?"

"This… Mostly" Rei said while she read the magazine she bought.

Emi looked at Rei unimpressed "Uh… And that's fun? You could see the same info on your phone, and more easily… And free"

"Meh, this has it's charm" Rei shrugged while not looking away from her magazine.

I peek into what she was reading which was just a standart music magazine, although Rei seemed to focus on the pedals it was advertising "I actually didn't get a phone until like, two, or three years ago, so these were the easiest way to get info"

Emi looked a bit… Well it was hard to tell what she was expressing but she had a weird face "Huh… Well I guess this place is… C-Cozy? It's really small…" Emi was right, the store was in fact really small. I would describe it like a rectangle, with us three standing here probably just one or two persons could fit in here.

"And it's done" Akiyama turned around… Again, with the guitar, she placed it on the case in the counter.

Me, Rei and Emi looked at it "Oh, It's much better now" I said while I looked at the perfectly shiny golden strings on the guitar.

Akiyama closed the case "Yup, I chose some nice strings" She gave the case to Emi. "Well, girls, I guess it's time for you to go home"

"You throwing us out?" Rei asked pouting

"Look behind you" Akiyana said dryly.

We turned around looking at the glass door of the store.

H-Huh? It was almost night, the sun seemed almost down completely. "Is it that late?" I asked confused.

"We did spend a lot of time at the club" Emi said.

"And then we walked all the way over here" Rei added.

"Time passed way to fast…" I said finishing the idea. "Well, thanks for everything Akiyama-san, this was truly unvalueable help" I said before bowing.

"I'm glad to help a friend… Now, be careful on your way home… Don't go wandering around too late alright?" She said looking specifically at me.

"Y-Yes, of course" Me and my friends walked out of the store.

…

We had been walking for just a few minutes now, and I had come to a small decision.

"So…I was thinking, I think we should play, Please give me wings" I proposed.

"The folk song?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, it's not that hard, my singing isn't very good but I could play the notes with my guitar, you do the bass and Emi the rhythm with her new guitar"

"Hm… Do you think I'll be able to learn that so quick?" Emi asked.

"Well" I placed my hand under my chin "If you give it your all you should be able to. I'll teach you everything you need ok?" I smiled at her.

She looked at me, then looked away "That sounds nice" She smiled back at me. "Anyways, my house is right up this corner, so goodbye for now, see ya tomorrow" She waved at us.

We waved back and continued the road to our houses.

"The bass in that song is pretty slow" Rei mentioned annoyed, I knew that she likes to challenge herself with the bass but I had to pick a safe song for our first performance.

"I know, I know, but Emi has to learn it in very little time, so an easier song works the best" I answered.

"I guess you are right…" Rei said "I-It's… Kinda… Cold, right now, don't you think?"

"Maybe… But for you it's mostly cause you are so used to wear a hoddie all the time"

"You… You are probably right… I should have also worn the blazer…" Emi hugged herself to try and warm up a bit.

"Well, tomorrow you can wear two hoodies after Emi returns the one you borrowed to her"

"Yup, tomorrow is gonna be a nice and warm day"

We continued to walk together.