Work Text:
“Has anyone seen Maki these last couple of days?” The silence had to be broken- Honoka popped the question when she saw the open seat in the band room for the second day in a row.
It was a necessary question- yet, seeing as no one gave a response, the answer was still out of reach.
“I guess we will have no drum major for today's practice, then,” came a soft sigh from the back of the room. Eli mindlessly plucked and adjusted a tuning knob on the harp. “Break for sectionals, everyone! Woodwinds, please work on the second movement,” she instructed almost rhythmically, plucking the strings in a harmonic fashion.
You could hear a faint “percussion for super section” on the other end of the pit.
-
“What'll we do for practice today, Nozomi?” That's what was asked by a miscellaneous player as Nozomi shut the door to their designated- and absolutely tiny- room at a ppp .
“Practice without a drum major, it seems! I do hope she can attend Saturday’s competition- having both her and Eli-chi gone would be detrimental! Now, tune with me, dear,” she beckoned. Tuning saxophones is as fun as it sounds. (Not very.)
Sectionals are sectionals are sectionals are sectionals for most of the class. Questions about the music arose and were sorted through easily.
“Hanayo, I think that's the wrong chord,” Kotori chimed in softly to the murmuring after a particularly rough patch.
“Am I?” Panic set in. “I'm sorry, I thought it was a dissonant chord,” she squeaked. Pause. “W...wait, isn't this a dissonant chord?”
“Oh.”
-
“It's odd to think you'll be gone next year, Eli. The band will mourn the loss of many skilled seniors, in fact.” The bow had paused dead in its tracks as she focused in on the pages in front of her.
“I guarantee to you all that my gap will easily be filled.” Footsteps echoed around the chair Umi had pulled out for herself. “For example… you alone have enough power to lead this entire ensemble.”
Umi opened her mouth to say whatever she could manage to muster with her cheeks so red and knuckles so white. “You would, erm- it would be a disgrace upon the band for me to lead. Especially considering my double commitment to the orchestra-”
“Umi, silly, I- and even Maki- have just as many commitments as you do, so that would not stop you from being capable.”
“Then it's clear she'll be our leader.”
“I never mentioned that not being true.”
Being the only two string players in the marching band gave Umi a lot of talking time with her senior. It also gave Umi a lot of time to think and humble herself even further down the pillar.
“You're playing that note incorrectly, by the way. Mind your key signature.”
(She could have saved herself from the embarrassment another day if she had just put down the violin and joined the brass again.)
“Yes, master- I mea-”
“I told you to not address any of us by that, Umi. It's just degrading.”
“Sorry.”
-
No one expected a head of red hair to show up for practice half past three.
It wasn't out of character for her to be distant, but this was just unnerving. Almost as if she was a robot, Maki climbed to the podium with no waver in her step and no word in her mouth. That's when Rin noticed something. She was the closest to the stand, after all.
It was well hidden, but in the harsh sunlight, it was visible.
“I sincerely hope your absences are excused, Maki. See me or Nozomi if you have any inquiries,” Eli offered, but the figure raised on the pillar didn't seem to be pleased with the sacrifice.
“Run through.”
-
“Six AM call time, aw yeah!” With the announcement came boisterous excitement from a corner of the room- Rin and Honoka were giving each other a high five despite every other face in the room not looking nearly as thrilled.
An eyebrow was raised at the two of them. “I would expect you to be the most mortified given the call time,” Kotori giggled. Her flute had slid into the case by now.
“Last week was so hot, though! It'll be a lot cooler the earlier we get there,” Honoka replied, dragging out the statement as expected. “Plus, Rin always gets up early for track, and she said she'd help!”
“That's right, nya!”
“Are you sure you can do it, Rin?” Hanayo questioned. All she received in return was of course, and she could come if she wanted (nya)!
Bla bla bla bla bl
“Makiiii! Earth to clarinet.” A hand waved in her face (and nearly whacked her on the nose). Of course she knew who it belonged to, but it took a moment to acknowledge that the nuisance was here in the flesh.
“Do you need anything, Nico?” Maki took a sip of water. Since she was successfully back to Earth now, why not play along with whatever Nico had planned today?
Instead of a threat or a trumpet to the face, she shrugged, almost in compliance. “I’m just checkin’ up on you! Maki, you were completely zoned out. Maybe you were entranced by the great Nico N-”
“As if! You can't prove I was zoned out!” Here she went again, raving on just to prove herself right.
Though, she'd end up doing the opposite when she impulsively smacked her hand on her chest. Her wet chest. (Wet sports bras are very uncomfortable.) Only then she realized that her water bottle was only half as full as it had been before her alleged trip to space. Whoops.
With a snicker, Nico was on her way back to the door. “Just stay on it! You'll get a lot more flack from the others than from me.”
-
The competition was an average day with average competitive results.
As in pretty dang good for Otonokizaka.
“Good job, everyone!” Nozomi called out to, in truth, no one in particular. Kneeling to place the saxophone in its case, she watched the others scatter and discuss amongst themselves. Even if they barely scraped by to finals and didn't exactly place in final rankings, that was still finals. The school's first finals in a while, actually. What escaped her vision, however, was soon going to take the attention of the entire band.
Maki saw them. Rin did too, but only once Maki had made a run for it. Two adults, and they seemed to be decked out in pretty nice clothes. As much as Rin wished she could just stare for a few years, she snapped back to reality and darted away.
“Maki, nya, who are they?” Rin wasn't out of breath, but the other girl sure was, given that she was leaning against the trailer.
“Look, I just- I just need to get home. Or away,” she whispered. “Eli's not here- does Nozomi have a car?” When Rin shook her head, she gripped her gloves. “Okay, maybe I can just- hide on the bus. Yeah. Cover for me.”
“You're not stepping on that bus.”
What happened next was a complete blur, but she picked up a lot of screaming and movement. Instinctively, she rushed up. Maybe to grab her hand, maybe to fend off these mean, nasty people who would dare hurt Maki! Feeling invincible, she lurched forward- right on the ground. Ow.
They moved, she realized- right in front of everyone. Rin couldn't do anything.
“You've been sneaking out of cram school for this ?” The male of the pair bellowed almost as if he hoped the whole world would hear so maybe, possibly, she could never look anyone in the eye again.
“Honey, please-” at that moment, it couldn't be told which of them was the honey. “We had placed our trust in you to be focusing on what matters right now...”
“-And you throw away a bright future for a band! Have you seen your grades slipping down the toilet? Have you?!”
“Yes, papa. Yes.”
There was Maki Nishikino, powerless. Not an inch of snark. It hurt Rin to lay her eyes on.
“You're throwing it away for something you're God-awful at, too,” he sneered. This wasn't enough.
“Sugar, please, you're embarrassing us!” The woman- apparently Mrs. Nishikino- placed one hand on his shoulder and her face to his ear. “This will completely ruin the reputation of the company-”
“It's not! If anything, we're embarrassing you,” he suddenly shifted to look her over. A pause. “Hand over your phone.”
“Papa, please, I...” feeling the eyes digging into her back, she gave up on the protest and reached into her pocket. The exchange was painful (it's not as if she'd get it back this time), and he slipped it into his pants with ease.
A bit quieter this time, as if control was found, he continued. “You're jumping off this ship immediately, understand?”
Silence.
“You know we only payed for your music lessons to give you a hobby, but this?” It was the lady's turn this time. “We trusted you to keep the real world in mind. You have to study hard to take hold of the hospital one day, you should know this by now.”
“A band like this isn't for a girl like you! If you were any good anyway, you'd have a lot more people knowing your name by now,” he interjected. “Just stick with what you're good at.”
“What is that even supposed to mean?”
The wind was getting stronger, Rin noted, but her heart was beating louder too.
“I don't think that's how you speak to your father.” Rin expected yelling, but this was even more unsettling.
No, unnerving.
Nonetheless, when Maki's darting purple eyes locked with Rin's yellow for just a moment, something clicked. (It got her even more frightened.)
“I didn't think you'd admit to fame being all you cared about! What the hell?” Some nice last words right there. “I'm not a trophy, I'm your daughter, so why does it matter? Who cares who my friends are and what I want to do? My grades are literally so low because you didn't let me go to school!”
Her voice was raw and she was a dead girl walking, but she didn't care. She got it out. Except she did care because oh boy, was she a dead girl walking or what?
Soon enough, her narrow wrist was in his grip. “You aren't a daughter of mine if you act that way! I'll give you one more chance to apologise for this disrespect.”
Silence.
“That's it.”
With a swift movement, the phone that had slid so easily into his pocket crashed onto the concrete below as Maki made swift movements to gather it (and a couple small shards of screen that had fallen off). With a couple more indecipherable curses, he grasped her other hand and jerked her forward. With a, “Come on, you're acting as if you're a toddler,” he was storming off with her in hand to the car. Maki struggled, causing some bumps with a bench, but he maintained a hold. (She was sure her hand must have been purple by now.)
In the light of the street lamp, however, Rin noticed something.
A blue-ish illumination of Maki's face and her lips spelling out a word (well, two) of relief.
“It works.”
-
The pipes sputtered. The engine hummed. The wheels rumbled. The kids were silent.
Never before had a bus ride home been so long, and never before had so many eyes been downcast. It's not as if they didn't have a right to be. Maki was, to put it lightly, one of the biggest team players the band had.
Even if Rin didn't have a clue otherwise, she had seen through the pictures of past years. (How she was able to participate then still confused her.) She had seen the worn pads on the clarinet, the little piece of writing on one of the old hat boxes with a withered signature on it. Nishikino 2016.
She should have said something, but instead, she was straining her eyes, squinting at the screen on a shaky school bus at midnight. Rin, seated next to a whole unconscious Hanayo (who fell asleep nearly an hour earlier), couldn't help but try the only way of contact she could think of. Her trembling thumbs poked the screen.
{[11:58 Rin Hoshizora] Makiii! Are you okay???}
{[00:00 Rin Hoshizora] Maki Im so sorry, Rin should have tried to hide you better}
{[00:08 Rin Hoshizora] Don't let them do smth bad to you please!!!}
“There's not much we can do.” Rin jerked around to see a sad smile in the seat across. “Fate will do as it wants, so let it be.” Here she was, the mythical Nozomi Toujou, almost ethereal in the silver moonlight, telling her to… do nothing.
“It’s doing nothing that got us here, Nozomi.”
“The exact opposite, dear. She tried to do too much,” Nozomi shook her head, turning to face forward again. “I'm to blame here too. Eli-chi and I had been helping her out since day one, but I…”
A deep breath in.
Just as Rin was about to raise her voice just a bit too loudly, a buzz in her pocket saved the sleep cycles of everyone on that bus.
{[00:12 Makiroll] Stop being concerned about m}
{[00:12 Rin Hoshizora] Dude, they're insane tho!!!}
Silence.
Silence.
{[00:14 Rin Hoshizora] Maki... Are you there}
Only twenty more minutes until she could call her, make sure that their drum leader was okay, and curse herself out for sitting idle without suspe-buzz.
{[00:19 Makiroll] Just ask Nozomi what to do.}
{[00:19 Rin Hoshizora] NO she already told me to just not do anything}
{[00:20 Rin Hoshizora] And!! I can't just sit back!!!}
{[00:21 Makiroll] I don't know what to eve either, though. I don't think I have a choice.}
{[00:21 Rin Hoshizora] Are you quitting?????}
{[00:21 Makiroll] I don't know.}
{[00:22 Makiroll] I already had one warning recently. That's why theydragged me out.}
{[00:23 Rin Hoshizora] MAKI}
{[00:24 Rin Hoshizora] WAS THAT THE BRUISE?? OH MY NYA}
{[00:26 Makiroll] Ms Waki already told them everything.}
{[00:26 Rin Hoshizora] Pack your bags. Right now}
{[00:27 Rin Hoshizora] My ma will be fine with it i promise}
{[00:27 Makiroll] Rin, I can't do that.}
{[00:27 Makiroll] That's too much legal trouble and trouble on your family}
{[00:28 Makiroll] I can't just g}
{[00:28 Makiroll] oh go d}
{[00:28 Rin Hoshizora] MAKI}
{[00:28 Rin Hoshizora] Uh UH UHNUSNJDKD}
{[00:28 Rin Hoshizora] THE CONVENIENCE STORE BY THE PARK!!!}
{[00:29 Rin Hoshizora] MEET ME THERE MAKI PLEASE}
Inhale, exhale. The only sound on the bus was her battered breath- everything else had faded into the night. Thank God that Hanayo had elected to have her grandmother pick her up tonight. As much as she loved Kayo-chin, Rin knew doing this during a sleepover would be a bit hard to handle.
{[00:34 Rin Hoshizora] Please be okay, get out of there}
-
2:45 AM. That's when Maki showed up.
Rin was lucky her house was only a block away, or else her mom would have made them go home. When she saw Maki's figure, though, she couldn't hold in the excitement and immediately hopped out of the cozy car.
“Maki, nya~! Over here!” She stood with her flashlight, waving a hand in the air. When their eyes locked for the second time that night, so did their bodies as Rin pounced her for a hug.
“R-rin, I… I really shouldn’t, this is trouble on your mother,”
“My mom doesn't mind a bit, nya! We both care that you're safe!”
“Thank you.”