RECORDING
Chapter Eight
Prank!
Mugi grimly dated the neon pink sheet of paper: 10-31-09. Just one more week till the concert, and her issues with it were far from resolved. Rather they sat so heavily upon her shoulders she was sure they'd crush her.
Sighing, she stood and crossed her homeroom to Sawako's desk.
"I need a pass to see my counselor." Mugi's voice was barely above whisper-level. It was the first time she had spoken to Sawako since last Friday.
Avoiding the keyboardist's gaze, the sensei wordlessly filled a yellow pass and sent her charge on her way. Hearing Mugi's gentle voice, slightly tinged with panic, startled and shook Sawako to her core. Those eight words sent her into such a headlong tailspin that she realized she'd accidentally written 10:45 on the pass instead of 12:45. Sawako hoped Mugi wouldn't get busted with a "fake pass."
Mugi never did. She rushed over to the counselor's office to submit a transcript order for Japan Women's University. On the way back to homeroom she was kicking herself for not talking to Sawako. The two of them had been skirting around each other, oddly comfortable and cautious at the same time. It didn't help that of late Sawako didn't come to band practice anymore. But that's no excuse, Mugi thought, her bushy eyebrows knitting. I have to answer her kiss somehow. She didn't know how, though. It seemed kind of ridiculous to the keyboardist that at the age of eighteen she could be so clueless.
She decided right as she opened the door to start a conversation with Sawako. She had the opening line right at the tip of her tongue. Looking right at her sensei, she crossed over to her desk and set the pass down firmly.
"You, uh, were quick..." Sawako commented shyly, tossing the pass into the trash.
"I can usually last longer," Mugi blurted. Idiot! she yelled at herself as the teacher giggled. Well, that was that.
No, that's not it, the keyboardist thought, her head burning with frustration. Say something! Anything! In desperation, she ran through all the lines in her head. What's your sign? What are you doing tonight? Where did you go to college?
Still grinning, Sawako queried, "Are you doing anything for Halloween?"
Mugi's wrist fluttered. "U-um...No. Usually the butlers take care of handing out treats and stuff." Her head swam giddily as it struck her that Sawako might be making plans with her. Her prediction didn't prove false.
"Do you want to do something tonight?"
"D-do something...?"
Sawako nodded. "Like hang out. Go to the mall."
"Oh!...Y-yeah. I'd love to." Mugi smiled, relieved at how easily their plan was coming together. Talking to Sawako after that kiss was easier than she thought.
"Great. There's, um, something I'd like to talk to you about." It made Tsumugi dizzy to think about what the teacher wanted to talk about. "I'll pick you up at six-thirty. Is that okay?"
"Sounds good," the blonde nodded. "Um...Sawa-chan, why haven't you come to practice lately?"
Sawako sighed. "I got a promotion."
"You got a promotion?" Mugi exclaimed.
"Yeah, and it's got me really busy..."
"You got a promotion, Sawa-chan! That's wonderful!" Mugi was beside herself. Smiling radiantly, she leaned on the teacher's desk. "Coffee's on me tonight!"
Sawako blushed from the praise. "Oh, I couldn't let you pay. You're a..." She was about to say student, but they were more than just teacher and student now. The kiss made them ambiguous; tonight's plans made them definite. "I'm getting paid more now. I can buy coffee for both of us."
"Aw, but I'd like to buy you coffee. You deserve it."
The teacher smiled, touched by how much Mugi wanted to do this for her. It was hard to say no to such an eager - and not to mention cute - face. "Alrighty. But I'm buying next time."
Mugi was practically jumping for joy as she returned to her seat. Her heart was pounding hotly and she couldn't stop giggling. She felt like a silly first year, but whatever. Alrighty. But I'm buying next time. Not only was that the prelude to a really seriously awesome first date, it held the promise of them seeing each other again after that. I wonder what she wants to talk to me about...?
"Yo, Mugi-chan."
The keyboardist looked up. Yui, Nodoka, Mio, and Ritsu were staring at her.
"Are you and Sawa-chan dating?" Ritsu asked.
"Ritsu!" Mio exclaimed.
Mugi blinked in surprise. "Well...We..."
"I'm sorry, Mugi-chan," the bassist apologized. Taking a mock-cutesy tone, she pinched Ritsu's cheek. "You know how Ritsu always asks the wrong questions at the wrong time. Right, Ritsu?" she growled, squeezing the drummer's cheek tighter.
Mugi blushed and giggled. "It might be a date. I guess I'll find out tonight."
"Nodoka-chan!" Yui cheered. "You have to come to our concert next week!"
"I have to come to your concert? Next week?" Nodoka, Yui's bespectacled childhood friend, blinked. Lately she had given to repeating requests made of her. "Maybe I could. I didn't know the Light Music Club did concerts."
"We do now," Ritsu sang, "because Sawa-chan is awesome!"
Nodoka smiled. It was impossible for her to not find Yui's band and their eccentric manager heartwarming. "Okay. I'll go. Where is it?"
Yui, Mio, and Ritsu suddenly went uncomfortably stiff. The guitarist turned her wide, questioning eyes to the bassist and drummer. Ritsu bit her lip and looked at Mio, who shrugged.
Nodoka's eyes hooded in annoyance and humor. "You have a concert in a week, and you don't know where your venue is?"
Embarrassed, the three band members scrambled with frantic responses.
"Oh! Of course we do!"
"It's in Yokohama!"
"It's Sawako-sensei's cousin's cosplay cafe for...for..."
Mugi turned toward Sawako and inquired, "What's the name of that cafe, Sawa-chan?"
"Hair," the teacher responded.
"Oh, like the musical," Nodoka smiled.
"Like the stuff on your head."
"Oh...Well..." The kaichou considered her four friends. Yui was so fervent that she had her hands clasped imploringly.
Yokohama's not that far away. "Okay, I'll go-WAGH!" Nodoka cried in alarm as Yui suddenly seized her in a hug.
"Thank you, Nodoka-chan! You rule!"
"Y-Yui-chan! My glasses...You're making them crooked!"
Afterschool practice was starting to become monotonous. After hours of arguing and squabbling, Mio and Ritsu had come up with an ideal setlist. It was small, but they were the opening band. Everyday the Light Music Club ran through that setlist from the top. From 14:10 to 15:45 they ran through that set three times.
Azusa struck the last powerchord, bending the strings to give the abrupt ending. The reverb from her Mustang resonated from the amp. Ritsu firmly gripped the cymbals to give the same effect.
"Not bad," Mugi commented brightly.
"Not bad," Ritsu agreed, "except Mio sang the lyrics so dully."
"You want to get up here and sing?" Mio snapped. "I thought not."
Sheepish silence followed the bassist's harsh words. She slouched over her Fender a little and toyed sullenly with the dials.
"Why so much rage?" Sawako asked. "Bad day?"
"No," the raven-haired girl sighed. "I'm tired of 'The Boys Are Back In Town.' I never want to sing it ever again."
"If we stop practicing, it won't sound good for the show," Azusa reasoned.
"And this is what a real band does," Sawako added. "Play the same songs until they want to kill the lyricist."
"Aw-right!" Ritsu cheered. "Dogpile on Mio!"
The bassist shrank away from that suggestion. She readjusted the mic stand for the forty-second time - she counted because singing was so boring. "Uhh, let's move on to the next song. Cover of 'The Magic of a Kind Word.'"
Mio plucked out gentle eighth notes - which came in twosomes separated by one-beat rests - while Azusa played the slow arpeggios. A few bars into the tune, there was no voice to sing the first verse. One by one, the Light Music Club stopped playing the song. They looked at one another, confused.
"Hey, where is Yui?" Ritsu finally asked. Mio then realized she had heard neither Yui's guitar nor her voice since they played their version of 'Your Cover's Blown' for the second time.
"Is she hiding somewhere?" Mugi suggested. She lifted her Triton off the stand, as if expecting to find Yui hiding underneath. "Maybe she's playing a prank or something."
"I wouldn't put pulling a prank beyond Yui-senpai," Azusa remarked, "but I don't think she could fool us so easily. Where is she?" the second year grumbled, scanning Music Room 3 irritably. "Yui-senpai, come out right now!"
Azusa fumed as the silence stretched out. Somewhere down the hall, a locker slammed.
"She hasn't shown one bit of work ethic since the concert was announced!" the pigtailed girl roared. "And now she's ditching?"
"She didn't ditch," said Ritsu. She pointed a stick at the table where they had tea. "See? Her stuff's still there."
"Though I have to say," Sawako piped up, "I had no idea you cared so much about Yui-chan, Azu-nyan. You act like you don't, but you really..."
Azusa's face flushed a mottled rose color. Whether it was from an overload of humiliation or rage, the second year could not tell. Furious steam burst from her ears, causing her pigtails to fly up.
"Me care about her? Humph!" Azusa turned away in an attempt to dismiss the conversation. Mio, however, could see the guitarist's garnetesque eyes swimming as she absently tapped her pedal. "She's almost eighteen. She can care about herself."
Another awkward silence. Nought was heard save for the creaking floorboards and the low hiss from the amps. Azusa was about to suggest she sing the lyrics this time when Mugi's head suddenly snapped up.
"I thought I heard something like a groan." Mugi pointed at a shabby pile of stands in the corner. "Over there."
Ritsu, Mio, and Sawako were already staring at the corner in question. Azusa joined them in the staring, feeling the muscles behind her ears tense. She heard it then: a sigh, a moan...
"It's the ghost!" Ritsu hissed. "Mio, the ghost is following you to school!"
The anxiety of a week's worth of sleepless nights and noctunal paranormal activity came back to haunt the bassist. The music room was silent for a moment. Then another muffled groan. With a terrified whimper, Mio sank into a crouch. "Go to your happy place, go to your happy place, go to your happy place..." However, this action caused her foot to crudely pull the jack out of the amp she was cowering next to.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The feedback was explosive. It sent poor Mio mindlessly running - anywhere, it didn't matter - with the neck of her bass clutched in her left hand. She went scurrying right to that forbidden corner. And from that corner rose a blurry humanoid shadow with messy hair...
Covering her ears, Mugi scrambled to the shrieking amp and switched it off. All that was left of the feedback after that was the memory of it which rang in the Light Music Club members' ears. Sawako straightened in her chair and dug her pinky in her right ear.
"Itai! Anyone else's ears hurt?"
Shuddering from the chaotic turn of events, Azusa nodded.
Mugi stared wide-eyed at the damned corner that caused all the melee. Mio lay flat on her back, unconscious and white as a sheet. "Mio-chan!" The keyboardist cocked her head. "...And Yui-chan...?" she murmured, spotting the guitarist in the corner, standing over Mio and drowsily rubbing her eyes.
Disorientation from the tinnitis and the events themselves kept the band from putting two and two together faster. Then, leaving their instruments, they all rushed to the corner. Mugi squatted over Mio whilst Ritsu shook her and attempted several wake-up slaps.
"You don't suppose she's had a heart attack, do you?" Mugi whispered warily.
"Nah." Ritsu pursed her lips and shook her head. "She's just passed out. She'll come around."
"She's so docile," Sawako sighed.
The drummer grimaced. "Good grief, but that was scary. Even I was a little frightened."
Meanwhile the livid Azusa was laying into the confused and still sleepy Yui.
"I can't believe you'd just nap through band practice!" Glowering, Azusa put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Actually, it figures you'd do something like that just to make me miserable!" The kouhai would have gone on ranting had Yui not silenced her with a gentle hand on her face.
"Azu-nyan...Azusa, I'm sorry. I'm very sorry to have worried you."
Azusa blinked, surprised by how sincere Yui sounded, not her usual blithe tone. The kouhai could feel her knees shaking as she looked up at Yui.
"I feel bad about all the trouble I've caused," the senpai continued, "but Mio-chan's singing was so quiet it made me sleepy."
"I figured," Ritsu snorted. "Ya hear that, Mio? Even Yui-chan thinks your singing's boring!"
"I didn't think you'd worry so much about me," Yui finished, lightly dragging her fingertips along Azusa's puffed out cheeks.
"I...shouldn't worry about you." The younger girl sounded breathless. "You're almost eigh...eighteen...You c-can worry about yourself."
"True." Yui could have thought of ways to toy with the second year, but instinct urged her otherwise. At long last, Nakano Azusa seemed ready to give up the game. "But Azu-nyan worries about me nonetheless, ne?"
"I can't help that."
"It's alright. Maybe I need someone to worry about me-"
"I knew you guys were dating! Guitarist love for the win!"
Gasping, Azusa forcibly broke hers and Yui's tender embrace. She placed a petite hand against the wall, steadying herself. She shot a withering glance in Sawako's direction.
"We are not dating!"
Nonplussed by the second year's outburst, Sawako smiled crookedly. "From an outsider's perspective, you guys look like a couple."
"Well, you're wrong! You've lost your perspective!" Azusa spluttered. Yui sighed, knowing the game was up. It doesn't have to be up now, though.
"Azu-nyan."
"What?" the kouhai roared, whirling to face Yui.
The elder girl grinned. "Want to have dinner tonight?"
Azusa's mouth fell open. Then it seemed to flap open and closed, like a fish out of water. Unbelievable! How can she make such intimate plans so blatantly? And in front of everybody? She narrowed her eyes at Sawako, who had pulled a victory fist and cheered, "Score!" The kouhai shook her head. "Tonight's not a good night. I have to help my parents hand out Halloween candy."
"Aw, come on!" Yui pleaded, grabbing Azusa's arm. "Ui's making lemon chicken pasta, and there's raspberry sorbet for dessert!"
Azusa seemed to relax her guard a bit. She leaned on one foot and pulled at her black hair pensively. Then she sighed, "...Alright, then. My parents could probably manage the trick-or-treaters without me."
Ritsu snickered while Mugi splashed cold water on Mio's face. "Man, Azu-nyan, you and Yui-chan have so much in common. I mean, all it takes is food to convince you."
"Don't compare me to her!" Azusa snapped. "I only agreed because Ui-chan's gonna be there, rather than just the two of us alone!"
"Well, three is company," Sawako giggled.
Ritsu frowned as Mugi once again dashed a cup full of cold water on Mio's face. It did nought to rouse the bassist. The drummer took the cup from Mugi and filled it halfway with water. "Lemme try something. This worked at a sleepover once when we were little."
She set the cup on the floor next to the unconscious Mio. Ritsu then lifted the bassist's arm, and dipped her hand in the water.