Don't Say Stop Believin', Ch.10 (part 1/2)

Sawako wiped the sweat from her forehead. There! Three costumes complete. That just left...

Huh. Was it two or three? All of a sudden she couldn't remember how many junior students the club had. This had all been simpler last year, when everyone was in the same grade and had a unique instrument. (Cramming a year's worth of emotional turmoil into the last two days hadn't helped either.)

Right, there were two juniors now. Azusa and Jun. She would need most of the remaining time for Yui's costume, so those two would have to be quick. Fortunately, Sawako already had a pretty good idea how to handle Azusa. As for Jun... hmm... well, she'd just see what was left over.

She set to work on Yui's outfit with gusto. This was just what she needed right now -- something to sink her teeth into. She didn't want to think about anything more serious than what kind of frills to use. This was simple. Distracting. Creative. So was it absolutely necessary that her phone be ringing?

Sawako sighed and popped it open. There was a longish text message from Megumi Yamasu, whom she vaguely recalled being friends with now. She read the message.

Huh.

Okay, she definitely wouldn't knock herself out making Jun's costume.

Sawako frowned; she shouldn't have needed to be told about this. It was one more reminder that she hadn't been doing her job this past month. Each club member had been struggling with something, but she'd been too focused on herself to see it.

Especially...

Well, no crying over spilled milk. She was not going to let her girls down today. Back to work. The clock was ticking.

...Lord, she hoped Tsumugi was all right.

The curb was filthy. The air stank of tobacco. Beside her was what looked for all the world like a knocked-up teenager. At any other time, these would be circumstances that Ms. Kawasumi would try desperately to escape.

Now? Given the story she was about to tell, it all just felt... thematically appropriate.

"I come from a very religious family," she told Tsumugi. "We've been the caretakers of our town's temple for hundreds of years -- as far back as the records go. I was raised to carry on that tradition. Whenever I wasn't at school, I was learning my shrine maiden duties.

"Now, every temple has traditions. How to communicate with the local gods. How to tell when they're discontent, and what to do about it. These days, most people don't really believe in all that. They'll visit a shrine out of habit on New Year's, and maybe once in a while when they want good luck with something. But when you grow up in a temple, you grow up believing.

"What's more, a temple as old as ours gets the big legends. And when I was thirteen, I discovered the biggest one of all." She paused. "This is going to sound a bit crazy. Don't you dare laugh."

Tsumugi, absorbed in the story (as she never had been during class, Kawasumi noticed with annoyance), shook her head vigorously.

"Well... supposedly, once every hundred years, a monster would awaken and lay waste to the land. In order to stop it, a young priestess from our bloodline would perform a certain ceremony. The monster would be defeated... at the cost of her life.

"And the next time this was due to happen was my eighteenth birthday."

The blonde's eyes went wide.

"I'll never know what my parents thought about this legend. They had just died in an accident, and I came across it while studying to become the new head of the temple. I decided they must have kept it from me so it wouldn't cast a shadow over my life. But now I knew."

"Did you believe it?"

Kawasumi sighed. "Wouldn't you? Sure, I was shocked at first, but then I realized how special it made me! Everyone dies eventually, but not everyone gets to save the world!

"I could see my whole future ahead. In the next five years, I would do enough living for a whole lifetime. I would spend my inheritance like an heiress. I'd absorb as much education as possible. I'd be on every sports team. For five years, I would live the perfect life -- and then I would die the perfect death."

"And... and what happened?"

The teacher glared. "Do you remember there being a monster attack in south Honshu when you were in kindergarten?"

"Oh."

"I was ready. I had made my peace and left instructions for the next head of the temple. I waited patiently for the disaster to start... and it never did."

Tsumugi was silent. The teacher wasn't surprised; what do you say to a story like this?

"It took a few weeks for me to give up completely. When I finally did... well, I was furious. I tried to burn the damn temple down, and I couldn't even get that right. I was so upset I didn't notice dark clouds gathering. My big revenge fire was rained out."

The blonde winced. "What happened then?"

"Well, obviously I couldn't stay on as temple head after all that. My cousin came to take over. And me... well, I took those hard-earned grades and went as far away as possible. I had no idea what I wanted -- my big life plan stopped on that 18th birthday. All I knew was that I never wanted to see home again.

"At university I just sort of drifted, taking whatever courses I did well in. I wound up getting my degree in education just because that's the direction I drifted to. I might've gone on to grad school... but then I got the call. My cousin had been studying the temple rituals, and she felt I should know something. The prophecy I had read was never about me at all."

"What?"

"That business about a sacrifice every hundred years? That was how we used to stop the monster -- before my temple's god took up residence there. He was powerful enough to defeat it for good. The 'prophecy' was just a record of what he had done for us.

"My translation was wrong. I'd mixed up the tenses and moods. It was completely my mistake."

Tsumugi's eyes were full of sympathy. "Ms. Kawasumi..."

"That was why my parents had never told me the hard truth -- they weren't dumb enough to think it was true. Maybe the monster had existed and maybe it hadn't, but either way, it was gone now. I would never have to sacrifice myself fighting it. All thanks to a god whose shrine I had tried to destroy."

The blonde looked down.

"That was the end. As far as I was concerned, that whole part of my life no longer happened. I wouldn't give myself a chance to remember -- I'd find a career and sink my teeth right into it. The most obvious thing to do with my degree was go into high school teaching, so I did. And that's where I've been ever since."

There was silence for a while. Eventually Tsumugi said, "Ms. Kawasumi, I appreciate your trusting me with all this, but..."

"But why?"

She nodded.

"To show you that life goes on. My big life plan ended, but it was all in my imagination anyway. I moved on."

"And are you happy?"

"I'm... content."

Tsumugi lowered her head between her knees. "That's more than I can ever hope for."

"What? No! I'm telling you --"

"Ms. Kawasumi, I'm glad you got over your pain, but mine is not the same. You were disappointed. My heart is broken. I found the person I was meant to be with... and I was rejected. There is nothing left for me."

Kawasumi sighed. Teenagers.

"My life is over. I..."

She fell silent. "You what?" the teacher asked.

Tsumugi looked up, and all of a sudden there was hope in her eyes. "My life is over," she repeated. "That's the answer. I need to do what you did!"

"Wh-what I did?"

"There's nothing left for me here, but I can start a whole new life somewhere else! It's my only chance to forget! I need to kill Tsumugi Kotobuki!"

Kawasumi's eyes widened with horror. "NO. No, no, no. Definitely not. You can't do that."

"Why not?"

"First of all, you couldn't just disappear. Half of Japan would be looking for you."

Tsumugi pondered. "If I lined my clothes with tin foil..."

"Second, imagine how much you would upset your family and friends. I was an orphan, and anyway, I didn't just drop off the map -- my cousin still knows how to reach me. You have dozens of people who would miss you terribly."

The blonde looked down again. "Their love... I am grateful for it, but it can't compare to the one I've lost..."

"I understand the feeling, but are you really going to tell them that? Because that's what it means when you disappear on somebody: 'Your pain is less important than mine.' "

Tsumugi looked away.

"And you also can't do this because..." The teacher sighed. "...Because I couldn't stand it."

"What?"

"It would be such a waste. You're a beautiful person, Tsumugi. You have so much optimism -- so much to offer. I would hate to see someone like you give up and walk away."

"But... but I can't be that person anymore. It hurts so much..."

"Do you really think it would stop if you ran away?"

"Didn't it stop for you?"

"No. Not any faster than it would've otherwise. For months I snapped at people and lay awake nights. You can hide from the whole world, Tsumugi, but not from yourself."

The blonde's eyes were hollow with anguish. "Then there's nothing I can do? I'm stuck with this pain forever?"

"Not forever. I don't know how long, but I promise you, not forever."

There was a long silence. Tsumugi sat with her head low, and Ms. Kawasumi stayed beside her, hoping she had said at least some of the right things.

Finally, the student raised her head. "If it doesn't matter what I do," she said, "I suppose I will remain myself."

"Don't say that like it's a punishment," Kawasumi urged her. "Tsumugi Kotobuki is more than just a name. It's the person you've always chosen to be. It's the love of your friends and the pride of your parents. Don't let one disappointment put an end to all that."

Tsumugi looked up at her. "You felt this way once. If you could talk to your younger self, would you tell her what you're telling me?"

Kawasumi's answer would have been different a week ago. An hour ago. Even now, the words were out of her mouth before she quite realized they were true.

"Yes," she said. "I was wrong to run away. I would tell myself exactly the same thing."

Apparently that was what Tsumugi had needed to hear. Slowly, she got to her feet. "Well, I... I should be going. I need to eat something before warmup time."

"Will you be all right?"

She nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Kawasumi. I feel..."

They both knew she couldn't finish the sentence. She didn't feel better. Not yet.

Kawasumi decided to break the tension. "You know, you have one reason to stay that I didn't have."

"What is it?"

"The money. You'd be running away from that too."

"My... my parents' wealth is no comfort right now."

"Oh? Well, if you're not using it, give it to me."

Tsumugi actually smiled at that. She made a bow and turned to go.

The teacher watched her carefully, just to be sure, as she walked away. To her great surprise, Tsumugi was still smiling. Had a little dry wit really amused her that much?

Then Kawasumi realized the truth. She wasn't smiling about that. She wasn't smiling at all.

She was putting her mask back on.

As the door closed, Kawasumi sighed deeply. She'd done the best she could. Tsumugi was out of immediate danger; now there would be time for Sawako to call her family. They were the best equipped to help, and anyway, this was their mess to handle.

The teacher leaned back; then, deciding to let fatigue outweigh good sense just this once, she lay right down on the cement. All her energy was gone. She had spent the last ten years avoiding... not people as such, but connections. Human contact had been off her list of fun activities. After all this time, opening up to Tsumugi had been like suddenly hitting the gym after years on the couch.

She briefly considered lighting another cigarette, but that would have required getting up. So she just lay there pondering, with her confession echoing in her head. The same thing. I would tell my younger self exactly the same thing.

So what should I tell myself now?

The sound of the door interrupted Kawasumi's thoughts. When she saw who was there, she jerked upright and brushed herself off, hoping to save a little dignity. "Megumi. Did you do what you needed to do?"

Yamasu wearily nodded and sat down next to her. "For whatever it was worth."

"We should get going, then. Unless..."

"Yes?"

"You didn't want to stay for their concert, did you?"

"God, no."

Kawasumi silently thanked any deities that might really exist. She noticed that Yamasu's head was lolling a bit. "You're not drunk again, are you?"

"Headache. Massive."

"Hang on, I have some aspirin." Extracting a bottle from her purse, she handed it to Yamasu -- who poured out ten pills and swallowed them all.

"It's okay," she said, seeing Kawasumi's shocked expression. "They really lowball the safe dosage on these things."

"Even so, you realize you'd better not drink for about a week now, right?"

Yamasu's eyes were like dinner plates.

As a rule, each time Matsuo had escaped, it had taken Yui and Ui a bit longer to find him again. It came as a surprise to them both when he turned up in the main hall, clearly waiting for them.

"Darling!" shouted Yui, who rarely looked a gift horse in the mouth.

"Hi, Yui. Ui." He nodded to the two sisters.

"You aren't running! Are you finally ready to talk about us?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "Look, this has been an... interesting experience."

Yui frowned. "Are you doing that thing?"

"What thing?"

"I can't think of the word. Hang on." She whispered something to Ui, who whispered something back. "Letting me down easy! Are you doing that?"

He lowered his head. "Yes, I'm trying to."

"Stop it! Just go hide again, okay? We were having fun." Ui doubted that was the word Matsuo would choose, though the attention ought to be flattering at least.

"Yui, listen to me. It's not that I don't like you. You seem like a really nice person..."

"Then what's the problem?"

"You're just... not my type."

Indignation flared in Yui's face. "Oh really? Do you have something against the blind?"

"Wh-what? No! I --"

"Because I'm not blind!" Yui whipped her dark glasses off. "See? Normal eyes! Your shirt is purple! How would I know that if I couldn't see, huh?"

Ui snatched the glasses and put them back on her sister. "Shh!"

"So there's no problem now, right?"

Matsuo facepalmed. "Yui, I knew you weren't blind. You recognized me."

The guitarist blushed. "Oops. If anybody asks, that was sonar, okay?"

"Sure. I don't care about this... thing you're doing. It has nothing to do with us."

"So you admit there's an us!"

"No! By 'us' I meant the absence of... I mean... oh, forget it. The point is we're not going to date."

Yui stood firm. "Is it because of the girl from before? 'Cause I can take her!"

"No, she's... I'm not with her anymore."

"Then we --"

"But I'm not looking for someone else," he hastened to add.

"Sometimes you find things you're not looking for! I never thought I'd become a guitar player, but it's the best thing that ever happened to me!"

"I'd just... rather be alone for a while."

"But why?" Yui grabbed his hands. "Why can't you at least give it a try?"

Matsuo pulled away. "I have a 'why' for you too. Why me?"

"Because I love --"

"Yeah, but why? You just came at me out of nowhere! Why did you pick me?"

"Because we're... I mean, Romeo and... I, I didn't pick you! Fate picked us both! It was love at first sight!"

In Ui's mind, everything suddenly made sense. It was as if she'd put on glasses and could finally see clearly.

She had been wondering for weeks why exactly her sister had fallen in love. She didn't doubt Yui's sincerity, and unlike her bandmates, she'd refused to write it off as some kind of random phase. It wasn't weird or incompatible with her personality. Ui had just wondered what had prompted it.

Now she understood. It was no accident that Yui kept bringing up Romeo and Juliet and saying "against the odds". When she'd run into Matsuo, her rival guitarist, she'd been struck by the idea of a star-crossed romance... and that idea had so enthralled her that she had willed herself into love with him. There was nothing fake about how Yui felt. She was really in love -- with the idea of this boy.

And that wasn't fair to either of them. Matsuo was being harrassed, and Yui was building higher and higher hopes on an imaginary foundation. If she ever managed to wear Matsuo down and they started dating, she would probably find that they had nothing in common. The best thing for both of them would be if he rejected her, right now, too firmly for Yui to argue against.

But Ui could tell that he wasn't going to. He was too nice, too determined not to hurt Yui's feelings. He might take stronger measures, but not... unprompted...

Can I really do that? Can I hurt Big Sister, even if it'll save her from greater pain?

"-- not your fault, but like I said, you're not my type."

"Then I can change! I'll become your type! Tell me who you want me to be!"

Yes, I can. I have to.

"Tall. I like tall girls. Six inches taller than you."

"Perfect! That's a start!" said Yui. "Let me write it down!"

As she dug in her pockets for a pen, Matsuo noticed Ui looking at him. Subtly and silently, the younger girl raised her hands to her face... and used her index fingers to mime angry eyebrows.

He looked at her doubtfully. With a heavy heart, she nodded.

Yui had now found a pen and was writing on her contest programme. "Buy... all... the platform shoes. Okay! What next?"

"Nothing," said Matsuo.

His voice was so different that Yui jerked her head up. "What?"

"I've been patient long enough. I don't want you. I'll never want you. Get lost."

"But --"

"No buts! No discussion. Just beat it."

Tears were in Yui's eyes. "M-Matsuo..."

"Go away."

"I... I'm just..."

"Just annoying? Just crazy? Tell you what. If I ever need a stalker, I'll give you a call. Till then, go back to playing in the sandbox."

"I play in a band!" said Yui, anger flashing in her eyes.

"You play in a girl band. That's like half a real one. I dunno where you got such a big-name guitar, but it's totally wasted on --"

Yui shoved him over so hard he saw stars.

"Jerk!" she shouted, and ran away crying. Ui hurried to follow, but before leaving, she gave Matsuo one last look. A look of sympathy, of gratitude... and of sorrow for all three of them.

We should talk. About, y'know, stuff. Meet me in the main hall nowish. R.

Ritsu thought for a moment.

PS: I'll be the one in the wheelchair.

Satisfied, she put her phone away. This wasn't going to be a lot of fun, but what choice did they have? The timing of this feud was just unworkable. They could go back to Defcon 5 tomorrow, but for now they had to drop to 3 or lower. (Or did Defcons work the other way?)

She surveyed the area carefully, watching for Mio. People sometimes called Ritsu inattentive, and whenever they did, she had a good laugh in her head. Little did they know that she was secretly a master of observation! Not the slightest detail escaped her keen eye. She would know Mio was here before Mio herse--

"BOO!"

Ritsu launched halfway out of her chair. "Who? Who's there?"

She turned around to see a grinning blonde behind her. "Oh, just you, Mugi. Don't do that, geez."

"The temptation was irresistible," she said. "How has your day been?"

"Great! Okay. Decent. Not good." She sighed. "Fought with Mio."

"Oh no!"

"We're gonna sort it out now, I hope. Lemme know if you see her."

They watched for Mio. After a minute or so, the drummer realized she hadn't held up her end of the greeting ritual. "How's your day been, Mugi?"

"Wonderful. I am thoroughly enjoying the event."

She quirked an eyebrow. "You're sure."

"Why would I not be?"

"Because this morning you looked like a meltdown waitin' for a place to happen."

Tsumugi's smile didn't waver. "Where did you and Mio get that idea? I assure you, there's nothing wrong."

"C'mon, Mugi. We're your friends. Pretty good ones, we like to think..."

"The best!"

"Then give us a little credit, would ya? We've known you for a while now. We know a thing or two about how you're feelin'." Of course, Ritsu reflected, that was no figure of speech. They literally knew only one or two things. But with Tsumugi, even getting to that point felt like an achievement.

"I assure you, nothing is wrong," said the blonde. But her lips didn't quite close. After a long moment, she continued, "And if there were... I might be unable to discuss it."

Ritsu raised both eyebrows.

"No matter how much I wanted to tell you, or how sorry I was to make you worry... it might just be too painful to talk about. It wouldn't mean I didn't trust you. It might... it might just hurt too much."

The drummer smiled. "Gotcha. I'll remember that in case it ever comes up."

"Thank you." She smiled back. "Oh, look!"

Ritsu looked where she was pointing. Across the room, Yui was arguing loudly with a male student. "Oho!" she said. "That must be the famous rival guitar dude."

"She made him sound taller."

"Definitely got the looks, though. Good choice."

"Do you think so?"

"Well, yeah. Why, don't you?"

She shrugged. "I suppose."

Ritsu glared sidelong at Tsumugi. For the first time in a while, she felt a bit condescended to by her friend, even though she probably didn't mean it. Gee, looks like Richie McMoneybags thinks she has higher standards than I do. Well la-dee-da.

A shout of "Jerk!" un-distracted Ritsu. She turned to see the boy knocked on his back and Yui running away... in tears.

"Oh no!" said Tsumugi.

Ritsu shook her head sadly. "Dangit, Yui, didn't I tell you this would happen? This is what happens when you don't follow Ritsu's Rules of --"

"Not now," her friend whispered.

"Huh?"

"Please, Ricchan... don't make fun of love. Not today."

The drummer looked closely at her. "Okay. Fair enough."

There was a brief silence, during which the boy from Southwest Tokyo Academy struggled to his feet.

"Welp," said Ritsu, "we better get over there."

"To Yui, you mean?"

"To him. We'll see her later. Right now we got us a friend's honour to avenge!"

That seemed to please Tsumugi. "Would you like me to push you?"

"I am an independent woman, thank you very much."

"It would just be faster..."

"Velocity is the price of independence."

She began to roll toward the boy. Tsumugi followed, only to be stopped short by Ritsu's outstretched arm -- there was a further development. Two more boys had joined him, wearing uniforms that matched his own.

They talked to him for a moment; he answered, gesturing in the direction Yui had gone. Further remarks were exchanged... and then the newcomers started laughing.

In a voice as cold as ice, Ritsu said, "Push me."

When Mio got Ritsu's text message, she was all the way on the other side of the convention centre. She sighed and headed for the main hall, frustrated about pretty much everything.

She had spent the afternoon pretending to see the sights. In reality, she had been making one last attempt to pull her fragmented lyrical ideas into a proper song. By distracting herself a bit, she had hoped to stir up the creative juices.

Alas, the plan had a fatal flaw: she was too distracted already. Her mind had just kept coming back to the whole mess with Ritsu. What was she supposed to do? Mio was sick and tired of tolerating dishonesty; she wasn't the one who had gone too far. But what was friendship worth if she could just walk away from it?

Had she come up with lyrics? Oh yes. In fact, she'd gotten some whole songs finished. Songs with titles like "I Hate My Stupid Best Friend" and "Your Friendship is a Poisonous Spider" and "What the Hell is Wrong With You, Ritsu?" (It was probably no coincidence that she'd written that last one right after breaking a nail.)

At last she reached the meeting place. All right, she thought. Let's find "the one in the wheelchair".

It didn't take long. In fact, even a genuinely blind Yui could have found her. She was laying into someone -- shouting at a volume normally reserved for her little brother, and with a level of rage even he had never provoked.

"-- threw away something really special! She poured her heart out to you, and you just dumped it in the sink and asked for a refund!"

"It's not like that!" said her target, a boy from some other school.

"Oh, I'll just BET it's not! We saw you, scuzzwad! You were laughing at her with Moe and Shemp here!" She indicated the two other boys with him.

"I --"

"Denial denied!"

He shut up.

"Lemme tell you a little something about the girl you just pre-dumped. Yui Hirasawa, second year. Guitar genius, cake enthusiast, technically capable of singing, and above all, friend to all she surveys."

By now, Mio had put together what she'd just walked in on. Poor Yui...

"See, she's like a baby bird that just rolled out of the nest. Totally innocent and pure -- nothing ever really hurt her before. She also can't fly and needs food all the time."

"Okay."

"We've always known something was gonna mess that up eventually. Life won't let you just be happy forever. We've been bracin' ourselves for the crash."

"Then --"

Ritsu lunged forward. "But WOE BETIDE the fool who crashes her!"

"H-hold it! Listen! No one was laughing at Yui!"

"For I will strike down upon -- wait, what?"

She backed off slightly and he stood up again, saying, "It's not like you think. You were too far away to hear us."

"We wouldn't laugh at a blind person," added the shorter of the boy's two friends. "That's cruel."

"I just couldn't be her boyfriend. I'm... not available right now. But I tried to turn her down without upsetting her. She wouldn't listen."

Ritsu admitted, "That does sound like Yui."

"There was no nice way to get her to understand. And by the way, I'm the one who got shoved over. Twice."

The drummer blushed slightly (as did Mio, still a ways behind her). "Well... we'll call it even, then. I guarantee you Yui's feelin' shoved."

Tsumugi, ever the courteous one, made a bow. "We apologize for misunderstanding you."

"Forget it," said Yui's purported boyfriend. He began to turn away, but the drummer, still skeptical, caught his wrist.

"So tell us... what were you guys laughing at?"

He looked to the side. "It doesn't ma--"

"Your band," said the taller boy, who had been smirking the whole time. "Your lazy slacker band."

All three girls' eyes widened with shock.

Looking awkward, the guitarist explained, "I told them what school Yui was from. Apparently you have a... reputation."

"For slacking," added the taller boy.

"You're not helping, Jirou."

Ritsu addressed the accuser directly. "What's your malfunction, pal?"

"You're the Sakuragaoka light music club, right? Everybody from your school talks about how pathetic you are. All the other clubs feel better because at least they're not you."

"You got something against the disabled?"

"No, it's about your behaviour. You've been a punchline for two years. They say you almost never perform, and when you do, your songs are these... puffy things that make no sense. There's one about what, a hole punch?"

"A stapler!"

"Apparently you never practice either," the shorter boy added. "You just drink tea all the time."

"Oh yeah? Who says?"

"You named your band after it."

There was a pause. "That's... sort of an ironic thing..."

"It's a stupid name for a stupid band," said Jirou, towering smugly over Ritsu. "Why are you even at Regionals? You're no good and you're too lazy to get better. We laughed at you because you're a joke."

Mio had never felt so small. She wanted to curl up and die. And if it was this bad for her, how much worse must Ritsu be feeling? She watched helplessly as her friend's head sank low...

...only to jerk back up again, startling Jirou. She grabbed his tie and yanked on it so hard his face came down to her level.

"Y'know something?" she asked. "I've been hearin' a lot lately about how lazy we are. From Sawa-chan, from Jun, from stupid Principal Whoosis... and I am SICK of it. Guess what? You're the first one I don't have to be nice to. You get yelled at."

"Ch-choki--"

"Aw, breathe through your ears! Here's the thing. To the untrained eye, sure, we're a slacker band. We don't spend a lotta time playing the same stuff over and over. We like our tea and sweets. Gee, it's almost like we're young girls or something. But remember what they say about icebergs? It's all under the surface.

"Sure, I don't practice a lot -- but it doesn't matter. The beat is in me. Never stops! Guys like you drum your fingers when you're bored; I do it to let the inside out for air. Practicing is just gilding the lily.

"Or take Yui. Please." (That was to Matsuo, with an eyeroll.) "She's a frickin' natural music genius. Probably doesn't even realize it. She's never as good when we force her to play, but leave her alone for a while and she'll Jimi up the place. Should we step on that just to silence you gossippy grannies?

"Or take Mugi. She doesn't need genius, 'cause she's got skill. I've never seen anyone who's just so capable. Everything she tries, she's good at. And the absolute best one of those skills is tea-making, so why shouldn't she use it?

"There's also a couple of junior students. Not important. But then we have Mio."

The bassist's heart skipped a beat.

"I could tell you about Mio for hours. I could write you a screenplay. By the end of it, you'd be afraid of her and in love with her and ashamed to show your face in the same room. But I don't have to tell you a thing. Know why?"

"Let g-- OWWW! Wh-why?"

"Because in a coupla years, you're gonna be drinking Mio brand fruit punch. You'll see her face every time you pass a magazine stand. Mio's gonna be a star, 'cause she's one of the few people who actually deserve it. She devotes herself and works her butt off.

"The rest of us, maybe not. I dunno if I have the talent. I dunno if Yui and Mugi have the commitment. But Mio has it all. She writes, she plays, she sings, and man, have you seen her chest? Out to here! The only thing holdin' her back is shyness, and she's got us to push her through that.

"You just watch, bozos. In five years, if you're not her biggest fans, it'll be because you got hit by a bus or something. Any questions?"

The shorter boy raised his hand. "Why a bus?"

"More momentum and greater chances of job-related stress."

"But all of us at once?"

"No. Same bus, different times."

"You sound like you know something we --"

"CAN THIS WAIT?" yelled Jirou, barely conscious from strangulation.

"Oh yeah." Ritsu released his tie. "Sorry about that."

He looked up at her. He couldn't speak yet, but his face said it all: You are a complete psycho lunatic NUT. He hightailed it to find a water fountain; his friends quickly followed.

"And that," said Ritsu to Tsumugi, "is how we're gonna handle bad reviewers when we're famous."

"I think there may be some laws against that," said Mio.

Ritsu looked behind her. "Hey! How many of my conversations are you gonna listen in on today?"

"Sorry. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Well, quit it. You're at an unfair advantage. I've got no peripheral vision in this thing." As she spoke, the drummer made a three-point turn with her wheelchair so she could face Mio.

"Ritsu... what you said..."

"You mean about Yui being a secret genius and you being super awesome and --"

"Yes."

"It's okay, Mio. You don't have to say it." Ritsu smirked. "Total BS."

There was a sudden silence. The drummer braced herself, expecting to be punished for breaking the mood yet again. But Mio didn't move. Her face was a blank.

And then, without warning... she cracked up.

In no time Ritsu and Tsumugi were laughing too. The dark clouds of the last few hours had finally broken. All the drama, all the stress, all the anger fell away from them like heavy luggage after a long trip. Mio knew that, as usual, she ought to be annoyed with Ritsu... but she was just so tired of it.

"BS or not," she said, catching her breath, "it... it meant a lot. Thank you."

"No problem. He was just one wet blanket too many, y'know? A camel can only carry so many haystacks or whatever."

"Haystacks?"

Tsumugi suggested, "The straw that broke the camel's back."

"Right," said Ritsu. "I figure that takes at least one haystack. Camels are tough."

Mio laughed again. One more thing her friend could always be counted on for -- a good malapropism. "Well, I appreciate your defending our honour. Just try not to get arrested doing it."

"Look," said the drummer. "Confidentially between you and me, maybe rumours don't come outta nowhere. Maybe, just maybe, there is a certain laziness factor at work among us. Maybe it even has a specific source a lot of the time. A source who's not especially proud of it."

"Ritsu..."

"Hey, don't look at me. I meant Yui."

"Uh huh."

"Anyway, it's possible that such a thing might be true. It might be something we should listen to from a teacher, or even a more responsible, not to say stuck-up, member."

Mio crossed her arms.

"Totally meant Azusa. The point is, I won't pretend the word 'lazy' is totally inapplicable to us. But y'know what? That's our business. Our problem. Guys like him?" She gestured where the boy had been. "I don't wanna hear them say it."

Somewhere in the bassist's head, a connection was made.

"Also, maybe it's the chair talking, but his height was totally unaccepta-- you okay?"

Mio had grabbed Ritsu's shoulder to steady herself. She felt dizzy. Everything was coming together in her mind faster than she could handle.

For a month, she'd been trying to write songs, and had only come up with bits and pieces. The frustrations of each day had given her plenty of material, but no common theme. There had to be some way to put it all to use, but she'd never come up with it. And now, suddenly, there it was. It was as if her little snatches of lyrics were moons drifting around, and the planet they were meant to orbit had just now shown up.

"Write," Mio muttered.

"Huh?"

"Write! I have to write!" She took off at top speed.

Ritsu stared after her. Cocking her head at Tsumugi, she remarked, "Never a dull moment, huh?"