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

Warmup room C was usually empty for about ten minutes between one band clearing out and the next setting up. This time, however, it was occupied a little early... though not by the intended users.

"Okay," said the first journalism club member, drumming her fingers. "You were right. We didn't need to rush to get here."

The second club member just nodded.

Suddenly a short-haired girl burst through the door and slammed it behind her. "Safe!"

Someone knocked frantically. "It's me! Let me in!"

"Oh!" The short-haired girl opened the door for the briefest of instants to let her friend in. As soon as she was inside, they both leaned back against the door, holding it closed.

A moment later, the door shook as someone tried to force it open. "We know you're in there!"

"It's our practice time!" the second girl called back. "You can't come in!"

"Oh yeah, 'cause that stopped YOU!" The door shook again, harder, but with no more success. "Well, fine! You've gotta come outta there sometime! We can wait as long as it takes!"

"No we can't," said another, calmer voice. "We promised Riko we'd watch her play, remember? It's almost time."

The person outside the door swore. "Must you always point these things out, Ayame?"

"Sorry."

"Fine. But you guys are only safe for now! We'll be back!"

A third voice added, "Good luck with your performance."

There was a loud slap. "We do NOT wish them luck!"

The noise faded. The two girls waited several seconds; then the short-haired one cracked the door open and took a quick peek. "All clear," she said. Her friend sighed with relief.

Then they seemed to notice each other for the first time. They both backed up a bit and stood straighter.

"Jun."

"Azusa."

"Where have you been?"

"On the lam. Fugitive from justice. You?"

"Same."

Jun raised a fist. "Solidarity. By the way, do you have my phone?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, you left it on the table." She handed it back.

"Thanks. I'll need this for my one phone call if we get caught."

There was an awkward silence.

"Guess we're here first."

Azusa leaned back on the wall. "Whatever."

The reporter cleared her throat.

Both musicians were startled; they hadn't noticed they had company. "Hi," said Jun. "Who're you?"

"We're with the journalism club," she replied, including her partner with a gesture. "We talked to your drummer earlier about an article and she told us to come here."

"Oo! Make us the main feature! We're way more interesting than Ri--"

Azusa cut her off. "Sounds great. What's the format?"

"Well, we'll just get you each to say a little about yourselves, and your president can tell us about the band as a whole. We'll take it from there."

"Okay. Uh, Jun, you go first." Azusa had to think.

We can't do this without the gimmicks, can we? They're sure to ask about the visible stuff like Ritsu's chair. She sighed. I can't believe this. My first interview, and I'll have to lie... wait, no I won't! My gimmick works on the "draw your own conclusions" principle. I can just let them guess where I'm from.

"...and so I joined up. Not too many bands have two basses! Make a pun about that in the article! See, 'double bass'..."

"Thanks, we'll think that over." She glanced at her note-taking friend; they both shook their heads. "And you?" she asked Azusa.

"Oh, I'm from --"

Azusa froze. Oh NO. I was thinking about my gimmick. Now I'm stuck!

The reporter raised her eyebrows. "From...?"

"Uh..."

"Fuyuki Junior High," said Jun. "That's the middle school you went to, right?"

"Right! Thanks. It slipped my mind." Azusa couldn't believe it -- she'd been saved by Jun's unawareness of gimmicks. Keeping the secret had finally been helpful.

"Okay. And what do you play?"

She continued the interview. As they spoke, a slumping Yui entered the room, supported by Ui. "Hey!" Jun greeted them. "What's the matter?"

Yui sulkily answered, "The world is over."

"Huh?"

"Win, lose, it doesn't matter. We all die alone."

Ui whispered to Jun, "She found that boy and he turned her down."

"Ohhh." She put a hand on Yui's shoulder. "Well, that's his loss! If I were a boy, I'd totally date you, senior!"

The note-taking girl started scribbling faster.

Yui looked Jun up and down. "Hmm."

"What?"

She shook her head. "No thanks. It's a little too easy to tell."

"I wasn't really offeri-- heyyy! Whattaya mean just a little?"

Azusa's interview was nearly done. "Do you mind a personal question?" the reporter asked.

"Go ahead."

"It must be hard... you know, when you go out in public. How do you deal with it?"

Luckily, Azusa had an answer ready. "I try my best not to worry about what other people say."

She looked confused. "But doesn't it, you know... hurt?"

"Only if I let it. The important thing is to be true to myself."

For some reason, the reporter was staring at Azusa like her face had turned upside down.

"What?"

"Uh... nothing. Thanks for your time."

Azusa got up. "You're on deck!" said Jun to Yui, having just finished explaining who their guests were. Ui helped her sister over to the chair.

"Hi," said the reporter. "Nice to --"

"Nothing is nice," Yui interrupted.

The journalists exchanged a glance.

As the interview, such as it was, progressed, After-School Tea Time's drummer and pianist arrived, Tsumugi holding the door as Ritsu rolled through. "...some cool nicknames, that's what. Why go by our boring real names when I could be, like, Razrblayd and you could be Lady Spike?"

"That does sound like fun! But do the names have to be weapons?"

"Nah, I guess we could be... um... huh. I'm not sure what else sounds cool."

"We could go by our initials."

"Oh yeah! Lots of rock stars use -- hey, what's with the peanut gallery?"

"They're reporters," Azusa explained, tuning up her Mustang. "They're doing an article on us."

"I know who they are. Already met 'em. But what are they doing in our top-secret pre-concert pow-wow?"

"You told us to come to the warmup room!" the reporter protested.

"To the warmup room. Not all the way inside! You could be planning to sell our awesome musical secrets to the Soviets!"

Azusa did some figuring. It was 2010 now. So the Cold War had been over for... eighteen years? Nineteen? She'd have to look it up when she got home.

"We don't have any awesome musical secrets," said Yui.

"Yeah, but they don't know --"

"Because nothing is awesome."

Ritsu facepalmed. "Do not tell me you've gone emo again."

"I have nothing to live for. Love is over."

"Well, now's not the time to be dead! We have to play, woman! Get over here."

"Why?"

"So I can drum you back to your senses."

She thought. "I'm too depressed to move."

"Then wise up on yer own, dangit! Do you ever see me moping because some dweeb won't date me?"

"That's different, Ricchan. I thought I really had a chance."

Ritsu reacted almost exactly as if she'd been Tasered.

"Uh, okay, I think we're done," the reporter told Yui.

"That's good," she said, sniffling. "I need to be with my dearest Giita. Only he can soothe the pain."

She headed for the music stands. Confused, the reporter asked Ui, "Didn't she say she was leaving? Who's this Giita guy?"

"In the case," Ui replied quickly, scurrying over to bring Yui her instrument.

The reporter raised an eyebrow. She muttered to her colleague, "I would not have expected a girl like that to have a backup boyfriend just in case."

Ritsu came over to do her part of the article. "Hi again," said the reporter. "Kinu, right?"

"Oh, ignore the name tag. It's a misprint. You can call me Poisonette!"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldja believe Queen Lasersnake?"

The other one went up.

"Okay, technically it's Ritsu Tainaka. But I go by..."

Azusa decided this was a good time to stop listening. (Actually, she decided 25 seconds ago would have been a good time, but better late than never.) She concentrated on tuning her guitar. Let's see... low E was a little flat, as usual... why did she always seem to be a little flat, anyway?

Heh, good thing she hadn't said that out loud. She knew exactly what Jun would answer.

Jun.

The guitarist sighed; maybe she should've kept listening to Ritsu after all. At least it had taken Azusa's mind off her "friend".

She just couldn't understand it. Azusa had expected some kind of prank when Jun had first joined, but it had never materialized. After last night's practice, when Jun had helped the whole band get their act together, Azusa had finally lowered her guard. And now this?

Judging by the messages she'd read, Jun was dead serious. She didn't want to mess with the club, she wanted to ruin it -- and that had been her goal all along. What had Azusa done to deserve this? Hadn't she been a good friend to Jun? Why was that less important than some stupid club rivalry?

Her thoughtful silence didn't go unnoticed. "You okay?" Jun asked.

"...Fine. Just worried that Mio isn't here yet."

"That's win-win! If she gets here, great. And if not, I'm the main bassist!"

"Okay, now I'm really worried."

Jun stuck her tongue out. Just for a second, a smile snuck onto Azusa's face... but she caught herself and turned away. It was fake. It was all fake.

Her eyes fell on Ritsu, who was still taking the reporter for a ride. She remembered her conversation with Mio earlier. Maybe it's better that Jun did this now, before we were really good friends. Just look at Ritsu and Mio... close enough to start a war.

Of course, they're on the same side. God only knows what they're fighting f--

Azusa shook her head violently. "Dammit, I'm NOT doing a solo!"

"Huh?"

"Nothi--"

There was a knock at the door. "Hey! Someone open up!"

"It's unlocked," Ritsu called out.

"I have no hands!"

Ui went over and opened the door. It was Sawako, carrying two overstuffed bags. "Wait till you see what I've got here, ladies!"

Noticing the slight disappointment on her interviewer's face, Ritsu smirked. "Thought this one might literally be a double amputee, huh?" The reporter pretended not to hear her.

Everyone else had now gathered around Sawako. "Oo!" said Jun. "What's in the bags?"

"Help me unload them and --" Sawako paused, noticing who'd spoken to her. "Jun."

"Yeah?"

"Glad you could make it. Okay, girls, let's hurry! You don't have long to change!"

At the sound of "change", all but the newest member showed signs of Gulf War syndrome.

"Come on!" Sawako began unpacking the costumes.

Now Jun understood. "We're dressing up for this? Why? Aren't we supposed to be representing our school?"

"Sure -- with style!" Honestly, Sawako could take or leave the school, but she'd decided to stop saying those things out loud.

"Alice in Wonderland!" said Tsumugi suddenly. The others looked, and she was right -- that was definitely the theme for the costumes.

"Wow, Sawa-chan!" said Yui. "These costumes -- uh, sound great." Ui patted her sister on the head. This was the first time all day she'd actually caught herself.

Ritsu, sighing with resignation, reached for her left cast -- and froze. That wasn't an option this time. She would have to get help changing, like a real disabled person... unless...

She turned to Jun. "Hey squirt, can you escort this coupla Lois Lanes to the exit? Changing clothes is private band time, thankyouverymuch."

"But we haven't talked to everyone yet," the interviewer protested.

"You can come visit Mio and Mugi at our school. Or just skip 'em, they're pretty one-note."

"But this article is for tomorrow's issue!"

"I'll give you my digits." Ritsu beckoned to the girl with the clipboard, who handed it to the drummer to write on. "Hit me up this evening and I'll put the other two on the phone. Now shoo!"

As Jun came over to walk them out, Ritsu tugged her arm. "Follow them for at least five minutes."

"What? Why?"

"To make sure they don't double back on us like the back-doublers they are. Five minutes. There's a $25 fee if you come back sooner."

"Hey! You can't just fine me!"

"Sure can. It's all in the club constitution -- shoulda read it before signin'. Now scoot!"

The junior member hurried after the two guests. As soon as they were through the door, Ritsu started detaching her casts. Azusa brought her costume to her, having quickly understood what the club president was up to. "Here."

Ritsu nodded appreciatively. "Thanks."

"You know, Mio's having a pretty stressful day. Are you sure she'll be up to doing a phone interview later?"

"No. I am, however, sure I can do her voice."

Azusa rolled her eyes and went back to the costumes. Yui and Tsumugi were already changing into theirs, which left three unclaimed. "Which one's mine?" she asked.

Sawako pointed at a bunny-girl outfit.

After a long pause, Azusa said, "Seriously though, which one?"

"I know, I know. Sorry. I only had time to do four original costumes, so they went to the senior members. You'll just have to be the White Rabbit."

"That... even if it weren't so embarrassing, it contradicts my gimmick!"

"No, it highlights it. Now come on, get dressed. I bet it's a good look for you."

Why did everyone want to stick animal ears on her? In fact -- "Wait a minute. There's a perfectly good cat in the book!"

" 'Cheshire' isn't quite as easy to indicate as 'White'. Unless you know how to make yourself disappear."

Every day, Azusa was a little more tempted.

The next few minutes passed in silence: all the students were changing at top speed as their teacher went back and forth making small adjustments. By the time Jun finally returned, Ritsu had long since been ready. She checked her watch. "That was... eight minutes twenty. You pass."

"I stayed extra, so now you owe ME money, right?"

"We'll discuss how wrong you are about that after you suit up."

"Right." She headed for Sawako. "Which one?"

"This one here." The teacher was still looking at Jun strangely, the way she might look at a cake that came out of the oven still liquid.

Jun examined the costume. Unlike the others, it was clearly a male outfit, resembling an out-of-date business suit. The primary feature was a huge top hat with a tag on it that read "In this style 10/6".

"Huh," said Jun. "What am I?"

"The dormouse," said Sawako.

Jun raised an eyebrow. She gave Azusa a questioning look... and on any other day, the guitarist would have taken pity, but not today. She pretended not to notice. (Ui, having followed all this, made a mental note to explain the truth to Jun later.)

Yui was now fully dressed. She struck a pose. "How do I look?"

"Sharp," said Ritsu. "How 'bout me -- uh, Mugi?" Mentally, she half-kicked herself for nearly forgetting Yui's gimmick.

"One sec," Sawako answered for Tsumugi, whose hair she was busy arranging. This was no ordinary hairstyle -- her gorgeous blonde locks, so rare in Japan, demanded special treatment. No costumer could have passed up the chance to work with them, and Sawako was no exception.

So here I am, singling Tsumugi out again, she reflected. One more little bonding experience. One more random tug on her strings, without any thought of what she --

Sawako shook her head firmly. Not now. Get the job done first. Hate yourself later.

She finished putting the hairdo together and spun Tsumugi around to face the others. "Okay! How about this?"

For a few seconds, no one could answer -- their breath had been taken away. Tsumugi was an absolute vision. Her hair was done up in an elegant ball; her long dress had a keyboard-like pattern which by all rights should've looked tacky, but somehow worked perfectly. She looked like she'd stepped right out of a 1950s ballroom dance.

"I trust we're all invited to Breakfast At Tsumugi's," Ritsu said.

The rich girl was startled. "Do you want to come for breakfast? I'm sure that can be --"

"No no, just a joke." She paused. "But now that the subject's come up..."

"Ritsu!" Azusa scolded since Mio wasn't there to do it.

"Yeah, yeah. Never mind, Mugi. And also never mind the following: I like my eggs scrambled."

Yui would normally have been all over this discussion, but she was too busy styling and profiling. "This is great, Sawa-chan! I can't believe I get to be Alice!"

"You are?" asked Jun, now all hatted up. "I thought the other one was the Alice costume. You know, the one for Mio."

"No way. Gotta be Mugi," said Ritsu. "Right, Sawa-chan?"

"You're being too literal," the teacher replied. "Alice in Wonderland is just the theme for these outfits. The band as a whole is Alice."

"Ahem," said Azusa.

"Except the juniors. A little variety never hurts."

Yui was crestfallen. "I want to be Alice! How can we all be when there's only one of her?"

"If it helps, just think of yourselves as different aspects of the character. Ritsu, for example, is her tomboy side."

"HEY!"

Azusa snickered. "It would explain the pants."

"HEY!"

"She's right," said Sawako. "Victorian girls never wore pants. They also weren't supposed to go chasing rabbits alone and exploring secret fairy worlds. ...Probably."

"Probably?"

"Well, I doubt it came up much."

"You are pulling every single word of this directly out of your rear end!"

"Am I?"

"Yes! Directly! No stops in between!"

"Am I?" Sawako repeated, this time staring pointedly at Ritsu's casts.

"Ye--" The drummer stopped, suddenly getting the point. Of course. A skirt wouldn't have worked with my gimmick. "Well, whatever. I can take one for the team."

"Glad to --"

"But I want the record to show that my acceptance of this costume in no way indicates agreement with the idea that I'm the natural one of us to play a tomboy."

Azusa snickered again. Without turning, Ritsu told her, "Yui is a dude-level slacker, Mio has humongous man hands, you would explode on contact with the word 'ladylike', and we're all in a friggin' rock band. There is tomboy to go around." The snickering stopped.

"All right then," said Sawako. "Are you all comfortable with your costumes now? There won't be a battle to the death over who gets to be Alice?"

"We're good," said Ritsu. Yui nodded, still a bit disappointed.

"Okay." Sawako let out a long sigh; it was time to ask. "We have eight minutes to curtain. What are the chances that Mio is coming?"

Ritsu and Tsumugi shared a look, each hoping the other had greater confidence. "Not terrific," the drummer told Sawako. "I was sure we had things sorted out, but at this point..."

"What had to be sorted out?"

"Minor interpersonal apocalypse. I'll fill you in later. But we made up." Sawako smiled. A war declared, fought, and ended in four hours. Ah, to be young.

"Mio ran off suddenly after that," added Tsumugi. "She said she had to write."

"Yeah, but she won't get much written," said Ritsu.

"Why not?" Azusa asked.

With a flourish, the drummer produced something hidden in her left cast. "Because I have her pen."

There was a shocked silence.

"Wait," said Azusa. "Why would you --"

"I didn't. This is mine. Had you going, though."

"Will I ever understand why you do these things, senior?"

"Of course. Everybody grows up sometime."

Sawako pondered. "Without Mio, some of the songs lose a lot. We may need to swap. What were you planning to play?"

" 'Fluffy' and 'Stapler'," Ritsu said.

The teacher blinked. "Those are your songs."

"Yeah. You bugged out, remember? We decided to switch back to our own stuff."

Sawako dropped her head into her hands. "You... stupid... kids."

"Aw, c'mon. That P-Muddle music was --"

"That's not the POINT! It never was! Ritsu, what's Mio's biggest problem?"

Something told Ritsu not to make any of the dozens of joke replies that sprang to mind. "Her stage fright."

"Right. The rest of you are okay on stage but need to be forced to practice. Mio's the opposite. She works hard on her own, but it's all for nothing if we can't get her up there. And this is her first time playing for adults -- being judged. Our only hope was to reduce the pressure."

"But Yui's on vocals --"

"Unless she forgets them like she always does! But don't you get it, Ritsu? We couldn't save Mio from being judged or covering for Yui, but we could at least play someone else's songs!"

The drummer's heart dropped like a rock. Of course. How had she failed to think of that? All of "their" lyrics were really Mio's, and she was terribly sensitive about them. She was nowhere near ready to put them up for professional evaluation.

Azusa began, "W-we were just..."

"Mad at me. I know. So you rejected a plan you didn't understand. I'm good at this, Azusa! I have ten reasons for everything I tell you to do. But there's no point in arguing now... what you play doesn't matter anymore. Mio's gone."

There was only one thing Ritsu could say, and she wasn't too proud to say it.

"It was Jun's idea."

The teacher's head turned slowly. "Was it now."

Panic gripped Jun. "Wait! I didn't mean to --"

"Actions speak louder than words, Suzuki. But I'm impressed. That was a pretty subtle maneuver."

"No! NO! I didn't -- I mean, I did, but that wasn't the reason! I just... don't like P-Model!"

"Why so modest? Give yourself a pat on the back. Our best player is huddled in a corner somewhere, crippled with fear. Mission accomplished."

Tears flew from Jun's eyes. "This was never what I wanted! Not really! I... I..."

"...Thought you could cut us without drawing blood," said Azusa quietly.

The bassist spun, and saw that her friend knew. Azusa didn't look angry, but there was no sympathy or understanding in those eyes. There was nothing.

"Azusa... I..."

She turned away. "Do what you came here to do."

Jun felt like she was going to die. The despair was like a physical force inside her head, pressing inward, crushing everything. She had written the script for this moment weeks ago. How had it all turned out so wrong?

All wrong all wrong all wrong all wrong --

"SCREW IT! SO LONG, SUCKERS!"

Jun hurled her hat to the floor and ran out the door. She could hardly see through her tears.

A heavy silence fell. Azusa had no idea what to say. Should she apologize? It wasn't like she'd seen this comi--

"Two fifty-three," said Ritsu, looking at her watch. "Ends in 3. Who had that digit?"

"I did!" said Tsumugi, sounding genuinely pleased for the first time in a while.

"Geez, Mugi, you always gotta win at everything?"

Azusa blinked. So did Sawako.

"I'll have to pay later," said Yui. "I don't have that five bucks I thought I had."

"Yeah, no time now anyway. We'll settle accounts after --"

"You KNEW?" shouted Azusa.

Now it was Ritsu's turn to blink. "You didn't know?"

"Here I was going crazy over Jun, and you were gambling on her? How long did --"

Sawako interrupted. "Sorry, Azusa, you'll have to hash this out afterward. Time is almost up."

"And still no Mio," said Ritsu. She'd been so sure...

"That was always a possibility. I don't like it any more than you do, but I did plan for it."

"Really?"

The teacher nodded. "You'll just have to --"

"Play the dinosaur song."

Everyone turned. Jun had left the door open on her way out -- and Mio had just come through it.

"You made it!" said Yui with delight.

"Knew it! High five!" To Ritsu's amazement, Mio actually returned it, though her stern expression didn't change.

Sawako checked her watch -- time was almost up. "Change her!" she ordered. "Everyone help get her dressed!"

The mobile club members got to work on Mio, who, incredibly, didn't resist. Ritsu wasn't sure if her friend actually accepted the situation or if she simply wasn't processing it. "The dinosaur song," she repeated. "You need to play it."

"Do I sing?"

"NO!"

The drummer couldn't help being a bit miffed at the force of that reaction. "So who does sing?"

"I do."

Eyebrows went up all around the room. Mio was going to sing by choice?

A volunteer poked her head through the stage door. "Ryuumei Academy, right? The drums and keyboard are set up for you. Come on through. Curtain in one minute!"

"Sawa-chan, hurry up and get a seat," said Mio. "I want you to hear this."

"Huh? Oh, right," she said, remembering that she was supposed to be in the audience area. She addressed the group as a whole. "Girls, you can do this. I believe in you. See you out there!"

She hurried through the other door. Ui gave her sister a good-luck hug and followed.

The band, now as prepared as they would ever be, proceeded to the stage where the larger instruments awaited. (Ritsu rolled her eyes to see a chair in front of the drums; Tsumugi moved it for her.)

"Glasses, senior," said Azusa to Yui.

"I have them!"

"Oh. So you do. Good."

Mio put hers on too, to Ritsu's alarm. "You okay with wearin' those?"

She didn't answer. Ritsu could tell it wasn't a matter of rudeness -- it was absolute focus. She'd never seen Mio so psyched-up before.

"We set?" Ritsu asked the others. Everyone nodded with varying degrees of honesty.

If they'd sat down to think about it, none of them would have been in any shape to play. Azusa had just been betrayed by a friend. Yui had been rejected in love. Tsumugi had been ready to leave the country an hour ago. Even Ritsu had spent the day on an emotional roller coaster.

But Mio was back. Against all odds, the five of them were here, together. And that made all the difference.

In the darkness, Yui and Azusa shifted slightly, making sure their guitar straps were positioned right. Tsumugi boosted her confidence with a "we can do it" gesture.

Ritsu could just barely hear Mio say to herself, "This is MY solo."

And the curtain started to rise.

Jun was still sobbing as she ran out the front door. She stopped at the steps, suddenly realizing she had no idea where she was going. What was she supposed to do now? Her parents wouldn't be here to pick her up for over an hour. If she called them now, what would she tell them?

She didn't want them to know what she'd done. She didn't want anyone to know.

Why had she expected otherwise? What part of this could she ever have been proud of?

"Thought I might find you here about now."

She looked up to see Ms. Yamasu. "H-hi."

"Hi. Nice suit."

"You were right," said Jun, struggling to get her tears under control. "It wasn't what I wanted. I mean, not the way it happened..."

"Come on, Jun. I'll give you a ride home."

Unable to stand up any longer, she fell against Yamasu. The teacher put an arm around her student; she could let it go, just this once. It was rough being young.

As they slowly went down the steps, Jun noticed that the vehicle waiting for them was a taxi. "Don't you have a car, Ms. Yamasu?"

"Nope. It's rarely safe for me to drive."

Sawako made it to the audience area just in time. She quickly found the volunteer who had given the one-minute warning and explained the "mixup" about their school; the volunteer jotted down the right information and went to tell the emcee. Relieved, Sawako found a seat in the front row, which was reserved for teachers and --

"Hello, Sawako."

-- and staff. "Principal Yamada. Glad you could make it."

"Same to you. I was worried by your sudden absence yesterday. Did the appendectomy go well?"

"Uh, yes." So much for the mystery of what she'd told the secretary.

"And now the moment of truth is upon us. I look forward to seeing your students' progress."

"You'll be amazed, sir. They're a whole new band."

"I hope so. Their competitors have made strong performances."

The competitors! It came to Sawako like a flash of lightning. She'd been a fool. She'd spent a whole month trying to bring her own club up to snuff when she should have been sabotaging the competition! THAT was the way to win, not --

She shook her head. She wasn't going to be that person anymore. Well, not as much.

"Next up: The Sakuragaoka High School Light Music Club!"

The curtain lifted. Sawako held her breath. Her part was over, for better or worse. All she could do now was trust in her students.

And if the look on Mio's face had been any indication, they wouldn't disa--

kssh kssh BAdadum BAdadum

"Don't you dare call me lazy!
You know I'm really crazy!
When swans go gliding by,
They're kicking really hard just below the water's surface!"

Sawako grinned. So this was Mio's big point.

"I've got to trust my instincts,
No matter what the world brings!
I know my future's bright...
So if I take a break, is it really such a problem?"

Sawako couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. There was no sign of the girl's usual trepidation. She'd been exaggerating when she promised Principal Yamada a whole new band... but this was definitely a whole new Mio.

"My eyes are peeled, I see my target up ahead there
I'll mark it down and make a map so I can get there
There's nothing wrong with taking shortcuts if you need to
Or better yet, just find some wings and fly like birds do"

By now the crowd was starting to notice the details. There were hushed whispers all over the room, mostly about Ritsu's chair, Azusa's origins, and Tsumugi's dimensions. Yui was getting a bit less attention, but that was unavoidable -- the glasses and cane together would have made it easy to tell, but she needed both hands to play. The cane was on her back instead, held in place by Giita's strap. (To make up for this, Sawako had supplied a special cane for Yui's costume that was more eye-catching, a dark red one with full U-shaped handle -- in fact, it was basically a vaudeville cane. Not much therapeutic value, but it wasn't like Yui actually needed the thing anyway.)

And as for Mio, well...

"I broke a nail! Whatever -- I'll glue it back together.
And just like that, I feel like I've done something right.
In little things and big ones, you've gotta give yourself love,
'Cause if you don't, how can you ever love another person?"

Sawako had made plans upon plans for this day, but somehow Mio had still managed to surprise her. She'd been expecting one of two possibilities: total panic and controlled panic. They might not get Mio on stage at all, and if they did, it would be with great reluctance on her part. She would be timid up there. She'd shrink back, make herself small, probably try to hide behind Yui and Azusa.

That timidity was the real reason why Mio had refused any showy gimmicks -- and why the one she had would work perfectly. What was a shy girl without her glasses? Sawako was no psychologist, but she was sure there was a subconscious level to it, something about putting a wall between yourself and the world. That was certainly what her glasses were meant to accomplish (albeit for a rather different reason).

This gimmick should have made Mio picture-perfect. It would have on any other day. But today...

"Don't you dare call me lazy!
You know I'm really crazy!
When hawks go flying by,
They keep their talons back so that nobody can see them!
I try to keep my hopes high,
But life's a real bitch sometimes.
I'm not full-grown just yet...
So if I'm out of pitch, is it really such a problem?"

Sawako didn't know how exactly, but today, Mio had gone straight from in tears to on a tear. She had found her inner Catherine -- the fearless take-no-crap girl rocker inside. (Way inside.) And the thing about fearless take-no-crap girl rockers was that they never wore glasses. It didn't matter if they were half blind -- stuff could get out of their way.

"Look in my eyes, and you won't see what's in my heart there
Make no mistake, my motivation's off the chart there
My dreams are big, I give 'em all that I have inside
But I can't dream unless I get some sleep, now can I?"

Instead of a seamless part of the picture, Mio's glasses had become weird and jarring, like a cowboy hat on a samurai. It didn't make sense. It was a mystery.

Was "mysterious" a good gimmick? Sawako didn't really care. Her girls' happiness was all that mattered.

Well, that and getting attention, which this did. And Mio being on her game, which this entailed. And keeping her job, which this just might make possible. And prize money! She hadn't even checked if there was any!

"I get a little thinner, then have too much at dinner
And just like that, I feel like I've screwed up again.
Sometimes my goals are too high -- I'll find some I can live by.
'Cause if I don't, how will I dance my way through all my troubles?"

By this point, Sawako would usually be shifting in her seat a bit. There was a reason Ritsu's song had only been a backup plan. It was a classic drummer composition -- loud and catchy as anything, but not really varied enough for a whole song. The chord progression was pretty much the same throughout. It needed an extra bridge or a solo or something.

This time, however, the song had her undivided attention -- and she wasn't alone. The audience was eating this up. Even Principal Yamada looked impressed. Was it Sawako's imagination, or was he nodding ever-so-slightly on the beats?

"Don't you dare call me lazy!
You know I'm really crazy!
When peacocks strut along,
They wait until the right time to show off all their feathers!
I want to be a beauty,
So losing weight's my duty!
But pressure's all around...
So if I bend a bit, is it really such a problem?"

Mio's personal hangups were really showing through, but still, these were definitely her best lyrics yet. Where Ritsu needed to learn to vary more, Mio knew not to vary too much. Each chorus and verse was different, but shared a common structure with the others. Best of all, this song wasn't about her damn school supplies.

"Is that a Red Point here now? No, wait, I'm in the clear now.
And just like that, I feel like I'm invincible!
Put on rose-coloured glasses, forgive your own trespasses...
'Cause if you don't, how can you face the world with arms wide open?"

The audience was still loving this. Sawako, who knew the music and could thus concentrate on the words, was the only one scratching her head. What the heck was a Red Point? She'd have to ask Mio later.

The tension was now building. Ritsu's drums were getting louder. Yui was hamming it up, with Azusa keeping a steady guitar line underneath. Tsumugi was getting sounds out of her keyboard that Sawako had never heard. This next chorus was definitely going to be the grand finale.

"Don't you DARE call me lazy!
You know I'm really crazy!
When swans go gliding by,
They're kicking really hard just below the water's surface!
I'll always trust my instincts,
I'll take the crap the world brings!
I know my future's bright...
So if I take a break, what the hell is such a problem?"

Mio let go of her bass, gasping for breath, as the others played the outro. Ritsu hit the final double-beat triumphantly -- and the audience was on its feet before she'd even silenced her cymbal. Sawako joined in the applause wholeheartedly, beaming with pride.

She could see by the looks on her students' faces how excited they were to get a standing ovation. They must be thinking they'd won for sure -- blown the competition away. Sawako knew better. This wasn't a response to the quality of the performance, but to the energy of it. The band had played and sung with incredible passion, elevating an already catchy song to Top-40 level. They'd taken everyone in the room down the rabbit hole with them.

Sawako couldn't have been happier for her girls. She was glad they didn't have the perspective she had. This was the best they'd ever played, but it wasn't good enough.

Regionals was more than some local "battle of the bands". It was the first step on the way to national and even global competitions. There were kids here who had been born with guitars in their hands, kids who put music before school or friends or anything else. That was the expectation at this level. Sawako had needed to see for herself to realize the truth: her club had never, ever had a chance.

And she was so damn proud of them for trying anyway that she could hardly stand it.

The audience finally took their seats. "Thank you!" Mio called out. "We are After-School... uh..."

The bassist went quiet, and it suddenly hit Sawako that this was her first time on a proper stage. The stage lights were bright so the crowd could see the band. But the band couldn't see the crowd... at least, not until their eyes had a few minutes to adjust, and they weren't too busy playing to notice --

"AAAAAAAA!"

Mio passed out. She hit the floor like a rock. Azusa and Yui rushed to her side.

There was a hush as the audience looked on in horror.

"That's our show, folks!" said Ritsu. "Thanks for coming! Hey, anybody know CPR?"