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Tangled Up in Indigo, Part 8

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The world gets smaller every day, but the Pacific Ocean is still wide. After-School Tea Time were in the air for nearly ten hours on their flight back from San Francisco. That didn't make much difference to them, though. After playing till 2 AM, doing three encores, and even making a special appearance at the afterparty (or "ho-kago party", as the fans insisted on calling it), the girls wouldn't have woken up if their plane had crashed into Mt. Fuji.

It didn't, of course. Only the finest pilots were trusted with Mr. Kotobuki's personal Lear jet – let alone his precious daughter. The plane landed so softly that the birds in the next lane didn't bother flying off.

Tsumugi's internal clock, trained over a lifetime of global tourism, nudged her awake. She roused her bandmates, and together they disembarked.

Ritsu took a deep, satisfying breath. "Ahhh! The air of Japan! We're home!" She was no longer wearing the paper bag – she hadn't dared ask Mio directly, but she'd removed it surreptitiously before the party, and taken Mio's silence as permission to keep it off.

"Whee! Japan!" Yui fell to the ground and kissed it.

"You'll make yourself sick doing that," scolded Ms. Sawako.

"Yeah. Sorry." She got back up... just in time to double-take with the rest of the band. "Sawa-chan! You're here!"

"Welcome back, girls!" Their former teacher smiled warmly. "I thought I'd meet you in case any of you need a ride home."

"Well, that's very nice of you," said Mio. "But I think we're all okay, right?" She glanced at the others, who nodded.

"I could take some of your things in my trunk..."

"No need," said Tsumugi. She gestured to the rear of the jet, where the roadies – more Kotobuki employees, of course – were busy loading the cargo into a van.

"Oh. I guess you've got everything under control."

"But hey!" interjected Azusa. "Since you're here, why don't we tell them right now?"

The teacher broke into a cold sweat. "Uh, tell them? I thought we weren't going -"

"That's right!" Azusa continued, moving next to her. "Ms. Sawako will be training me to be our new assistant manager!"

"...Um?"

Azusa gave her a big smile.

"Um... yes. Yes, I've decided to do that. That very thing."

The other four applauded. "Hooray for Azu-nyan!" shouted Yui.

"Well, I guess I'll, er, be on my way. Azusa, walk me to my car, would you?"

She did. As soon as they were safely out of earshot, Sawako hissed, "You're going to be assistant manager?"

"Oh-ho-ho no," laughed Azusa. "I'm going to be manager."

"WHAT?"

"From now on, you're just a figurehead. I'm the power. We'll call it 'training' for a year or so, and then you'll get so terribly busy with school that you'll give the manager job to me."

Sawako grabbed Azusa by the shoulders and death-glared her – clear through the glasses. "You little worm! Do you have the least idea how easily I could destroy you?"

"No doubt," she coolly replied. "But not before I told the others everything. You're losing your cash cow no matter what, but are you ready to lose your friends too?"

Sawako flinched.

"And in case you've forgotten, there are a few laws against what you did. You're safe as long as none of us take action... but if we wanted to, we could go public and sue you any time. How many of Japan's best lawyers do you suppose Tsumugi's father has on retainer?"

She flinched again, harder.

"You know you feel guilty – that's why you came today. Just consider this your penance." Azusa smiled again. "And don't worry. I'll let you keep some meaningless, non-paying title. Senior Manager or something."

Sawako stared at the guitarist as if seeing her for the first time. Finally she said, "You always were an apt pupil, Azusa."

She winked. "Learned from the best. Now get out of my sight."

The teacher lowered her glasses, sending a clear message: This isn't over. But for now, she got in her car and drove away.

Azusa returned to the group just in time to see Tsumugi bowing to them. "You're off, Mugi?"

She pointed to a well-dressed man getting out of a limousine. "My butler has arrived."

"Right. Well, take care. We'll give you a call tomorrow."

"It has been a pleasure," she said, bowing again.

She turned around and headed for the limo. The butler, a longtime family servant, met her halfway. "Young Miss Kotobuki," he greeted her. "We are delighted to have you back. Was your trip satisfactory?"

"It was wonderful," she said. "I feel that I have taken another important step on the road to adulthood."

"Oh? Congratulations, then."

"I have learned that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. Sometimes the dreams of youth, when finally achieved, do not bring the joy we always imagined they would."

The butler raised an eyebrow. "Then shall I finally inform your father that -"

"I have no intention of leaving rock music and getting a 'real job'."

He sighed. "As you wish."

The rest of the band watched Tsumugi leave. "I'm glad she's doing better," said Azusa. "I've been worried about her."

"Well, this was a pretty weird trip for all of us," Ritsu replied, getting a nod from Yui.

Mio shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. "That's an understatement."

"Are you cold?" Yui asked.

She shook her head. "I'm getting chills just thinking about that rumour again. I've never been so freaked out in my life. Gay this, gay that... what a nightmare."

Yui whispered to Ritsu, "Was that a yes or a no?"

"I'm just so glad it's all over," Mio continued. "No more sick rumours. No more pervert fangirls. Maybe now we can get some normal fans instead of... um..."

She trailed off, belatedly noticing that Azusa was giving her a strange look. "Uh, yes?"

"You know what, Mio?" she said. "I'm really glad this damn trip is over too."

Somehow, that comment and that look made Mio very uncomfortable. "What do you..."

Azusa ignored her and said to the others, "My ride's here. I'm going home now."

She walked off toward a car that had arrived during Mio's rant. The band members saw a familiar figure leaning against the driver-side door. "Hey, it's Jun," said Yui. "I forgot Azu-nyan was rooming with her."

Jun waved hello to Azusa. The two girls kissed, then got in the car and drove off.

There was a long, long silence on the tarmac.

"Hmm," said Yui.

"Yui..." asked Mio without moving, "is Azusa a lesbian?"

"Looks like. She might just be bi."

"...Every single thing I said on this trip was offensive to her, wasn't it?"

"You said a couple of things about the food that were probably okay."

Ritsu picked her jaw up off the floor. "No! I call bullhockey on this! No way would Azusa have gone through that whole mess with us and never mentioned that the rumour was TRUE!"

Yui shook her head. "It wasn't true. We're not a gay band. I guess Azu-nyan was upset for the rest of us, not herself."

"But still! I mean, seriously! Come ON!"

"Does... does she understand what she's doing?" asked Mio. "Does she know this could make her an outcast? Is she ready to lose jobs over it? Has she told her parents? She... she..."

Yui gave Mio a hug. "I'm worried too. But yeah, she knows those things. Our little Azu-nyan's a big girl now."

Mio didn't much want to hear that from Yui, but right now it didn't matter. She hugged back.

"Staged," muttered Ritsu. "Gotta be staged. I wouldn't put it past the little twerp."

Another car pulled up, this time one that all the girls knew right away. "Ui!" shouted Yui, releasing Mio.

Somehow, Ui was across the runway and hugging Yui before her car door was all the way open. Ritsu had long considered the possibility of selling Ui to science if money ever got tight.

"Big sister!" she exclaimed. "I was so worried!"

"Awww," said Yui. "I was fine."

"The paper said you got in a bar fight! Were you arrested? Did those American police rough you up?"

"Nah. I convinced them I wasn't really a Nazi."

Ui looked confused. "Was that on the table?"

"Ignore everything she says," whispered Ritsu. "We'll fill you in later."

The younger Hirasawa nodded. "We will be leaving, then. Thank you for taking care of my sister." With a polite bow, she walked off arm in arm with Yui.

"Turns out I have a harem!" continued the guitarist as they receded. "It's got three girls and one boy."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, Mio says Azu-nyan is a boy inside."

Ui chuckled. "I wondered when that would come to light."

"And Mugi lost her goggles. I think she has contacts now."

Listening, Mio and Ritsu grew increasingly nonplussed. "Azusa was right," remarked Ritsu. "It is a good thing that girl didn't get any alcohol in her. She's too Yui as it is."

The Hirasawas drove away, leaving only Mio and Ritsu behind. Mio had parked her car here before they departed Japan; with no further business here, she began walking to it. Ritsu, who'd hitched a ride with her, followed – being careful to stay just behind Mio, not beside her.

"I think I may finish that song," mused Mio. " 'NO, Thank You', I mean. It's time we made a new video, and I think that song could work. Does that friend of yours still want to direct us?"

"Renge? Yeah, probably," said Ritsu. "Wait. Are you talking to me again?"

"I don't see anyone else here."

"Uh, good. It's just that you've been avoiding me since..."

Mio reached for the car door. "Since...?"

"You know," blushed Ritsu. "Since that thing happened."

For a moment, Mio held very still. Then she spun on Ritsu, eyes blazing, so fast the drummer jumped back.

"No," said Mio. "You listen. I'll tell you what happened. NOTHING happened. Absolutely nothing. You never came back to our room that night. I worked on lyrics until I collapsed. You went to the other room, for reasons known only to yourself, and did whatever the rest of you like to waste your time on."

"Chinese checkers," muttered Ritsu, rolling her eyes. "Azusa is as exciting as a pop quiz."

"Shut up! I'm not finished."

The drummer obeyed.

"I repeat: nothing happened. Furthermore, if anything HAD happened, it would NOT have meant anything. Because I would have been stressed and tired and emotionally vulnerable, and you, being a cruel, insensitive monster, not to mention drunk off your ass, would have chosen that moment to play a stupid joke. It would have been meaningless and unimportant. If it had happened."

"Uh, right."

Mio stabbed a finger at Ritsu. "And moreover! If anything had happened, WHICH IT DIDN'T, and if that situation had hypothetically gone any farther, it would have been a gigantic mistake that we would both have regretted forever. If we'd even come close! Which we did NOT, and COULD not have because YOU WERE NEVER THERE!"

Ritsu felt three inches high. She managed to squeak out, "Th...that big a mistake?"

"HUGE!" screamed Mio. "The kind of mistake that leads to suicides and nuclear wars and galaxies crashing together! It would have been the worst mistake since NEVER, because no mistake in history would compare! And the only reason the very IDEA of this mistake isn't melting our brains is that it only exists in a hypothetical of a hypothetical, because it could only have happened if something that NEVER HAPPENED had happened! WHICH IT DIDN'T!"

By now Ritsu had actually fallen over. Mio paused to catch her breath.

"Because," she finished, "your friendship is the one thing I can't ever lose."

Ritsu stared. "M...Mio?"

"I can live without fans. Or with crazy ones. My reputation can be a disaster. If it comes to it, I can even give up music completely. I can lose my money, my things, my other friends. But I can't lose you, Ritsu. I don't know who I would be if I did."

The drummer was speechless.

"That's why it would have been such a terrible mistake. Because we're both straight, whatever any rumour says... so we could never have looked at each other the same way again. It would have broken the thing that's most precious to me."

"I understand," said Ritsu, her eyes getting misty.

Mio reached out a hand to help her up. "Now don't you ever, ever make me talk like that again."

Ritsu got to her feet, and then surprised Mio with a hug. "Love ya," she said.

The bassist sighed and hugged back. "You too."

They took their seats in the car and began the drive home. "I'm sorry," said Ritsu. "I never meant to -"

"Didn't happen," Mio reminded her. "And anyway, you gave me the solution to our image problem, so let's call it even."

"I did?"

"You asked if I was talking directly to the audience now, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Heh, cool."

They drove on in silence for a while. This time it didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable. It was the silence of best friends.

"By the way..." said Ritsu.

"Yeah?"

"...'NO, Thank You' is a stupid name for a song."

"Hey. You get to talk when you write a song that doesn't have robots or dinosaurs in it."

The silence returned for a while.

"So..."

"Yes?"

"Boys in short shorts, huh?"

"We're never discussing that again."

More silence.

"Mio..."

"Yeah?"

"Next time Yui goes 'Hmm', let's pretend we can't hear her."

THE END

At long last, here's the conclusion. I don't know why I never got around to posting it here; hopefully those who were looking for it were able to find it at FanFiction.net. There's also a ninth "chapter" there, consisting of several omake scenes and a way-too-long afterword where I explain the motivation behind the story and some of the references. I'm not gonna post that at dA because it seems like more of an FFN sort of thing, but do check it out.

In the time since I finished this story, a sequel idea has been growing in my mind. I may have to write it sometime. But that won't be till I'm done with my new K-ON fic, which I'll start uploading here shortly.

Previous: Part 7
Notes and Omake (at FFN)
© 2011 - 2024 CommodoreZeke
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Kagamicchii's avatar
Yes. Just, yes. Seal Icon  This fic was amazing from beggining to end. I seriously cannot explain how awesome this was. I have literally never ever laughed this hard before in my life.. The ending was just perfect <3 Although I got kind of jealous when Azu-nyan was with Jun...Llama Emoji-10 (Shy) [V1]  *Clings to Azu-nyan* *Nuzzles*Hetalia Switzerland Nosebleed  XD And oh, if only you could hear the fangirly squeals near the end with the conversation between Mio and Ritsu omg yes.Llama Emoji-23 (Shyness) [V1]  You, my dear friend, deserve a cookie! *Gives cookie* cookie