"Karaoke?" "Why the hell not?" They both stumbled, giggling, into the bar. One of the seediest clubs in Toky-3 was also the only all-night Karaoke bar and it had become something of a tradition for the two women to round off their drinking sprees with a few dreadful ballads sung in a key somewhere beyond H. By the time they reached the club however they were always too drunk to care, as were most of the patrons. They located an empty booth not far from the stage and Misato had barely sat down before she was headed to the bar. "Same again?" Ritsuko nodded with a smile. Although she didn't do it as often anymore, she could still put away alcohol almost as well as Misato, it seemed she hadn't lost some of the life experience gained in college. She checked out the current performer on the stage. A man who looked more than a little familiar singing Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes." On closer inspection she realised that it was one of her technicians, Aoba to be precise. She grinned and joined in the cheers for him as Misato returned with a pitcher of Margherita. "What are you yelling at?" Ritsuko pointed at the stage. It took Misato a few moments to realise who was singing but once she recognised him she was back on her feet cheering "Go Shigeru! Atta boy!" He saw her and grinned widely as he strutted, obviously drunk, but loving every minute. Once his number was over he made his way across the smoky room. "Heya captain, how are you?" He then caught sight of Ritsuko. "Dr Akagi! Lovely to see you!" He grinned. Ritsuko raised her eyebrows in recognition, in the middle of lighting up a cigarette. Misato clapped him on the back. "Nice going up there! The crowd loved ya." He cast a sceptical eye at the still-rowdy collection of customers, but Misato didn't notice. "So what brings a nice young man like you to a place like this on a Friday evening? You got a date?" He gestured over to the opposite side of the room. "Yup, I'm here with my two main ladies, Ibuki and Hyuga." Ritsuko's interest was piqued at the mention of Maya's name. "In fact, Maya dearest is up next." Sure enough a drunk but still nervy Maya was now onstage, waiting for her song to start. "How about you two come join us at our table? It'll be fun." "Sure! C'mon Ritsuko!" Misato grabbed her wrist and the cocktail jug, following Aoba over to his booth. Makoto blanched at the sight of them. "Umm.Dr Akagi! Captain Katsuragi! I...erm..." He shot a vicious glance at Shigeru and the two women laughed. "Relax Hyuga, we're not at work now." She flashed a sparkling grin at him. "We're just here to have some fun." She deliberately shuffled close to him, teasingly, moving close to his ear she purred "and isn't that what you came here for too?" Ritsuko couldn't help but laugh at Misato's drunken advances on Hyuga, who seemed surprisingly happy to have her friend so close to him. She made a note to keep an eye on the pair of them, if nothing else it could be entertaining. The opening bars of "The Name of The Game" played and Misato laughed. "Abba? You have GOT to be kid-" but she was silenced by an unexpected glare from Ritsuko, who then turned her attention to the stage. ".it seems to me, for every time I'm getting more open hearted. I was an impossible case, No-one ever could reach me But I think I can see in your face There's a lot you can teach me." "Wow, the girl doesn't sound too bad huh?" The two men nodded their agreement with Misato's statement. "Yup, Maya's really great, she just doesn't give herself enough credit for it and she's too self conscious to sing when she's sober." Makoto took a swig from his bottle of Asahi. "And it's a shame, because she really does sound good." Ritsuko wasn't paying attention to the conversation; she was completely absorbed in Maya's performance. She was stood perfectly still onstage, her eyes fixed on a point somewhere above the heads of the audience, as if she had shut them out completely and was in a world entirely of her own. Ritsuko had heard the song before but never really paid attention to the lyrics. Cheesy as they were, she could identify with them in a way she hadn't noticed before, especially coming from Maya. ".What's the name of the game? Does it mean anything to you? What's the name of the game? Can you feel it the way I do? Tell me please, 'cause I have to know I'm a bashful child, beginning to grow." The noises of the customers cheering, talking and drinking were an annoyance but Ritsuko managed to ignore them as she listened. "And you make me talk And you make me feel And you make me show What I'm trying to conceal." Ritsuko had never suspected that Maya had such a beautiful singing voice. She had now stopped staring over the heads of the audience and was looking around the bar, smiling a little at the mostly positive reaction from her audience. ".If I trust in you, Would you let me down? Would you laugh at me If I said I care for you? Could you feel the same way too? I wanna know." A couple of bars into the second verse Maya made eye contact with Ritsuko. Losing her focus for a split second she went horribly flat for one note, but then regained her composure, or most of it, although she seemed a little tenser than before. Ritsuko didn't notice that it was her who had sparked that reaction in Maya; she turned her attention from the stage just long enough to pour herself a margherita. She closed her eyes and allowed the sound of Maya's voice to surround her. "Your smile and the sound of your voice And the way you see through me Got a feeling you give me no choice, But it means a lot to me." She sighed and leaned back, relaxing into the blue velvet-effect fabric of the booth. She hadn't been as drunk as this for a long time, she knew how dreadful she would no doubt feel the next day but she really didn't care, she was enjoying herself too much.
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