Work Text:
Sayo got a mosquito bite. She didn’t know when it happened. Probably in her sleep. She woke up that morning to an itch and, craning her head while her back faced the mirror, she beheld a beautifully swollen welt right between her shoulder blades in the reflection.
This sucked. Roselia had a stage performance that night. She couldn’t let the mosquito bite distract her.
So, she put on some medicated cream she found in her family’s drug drawer that purportedly stopped itches. The expiry date was three years ago, but it should probably work, right? Right? Sayo didn’t have the time to care. She needed to rush to rehearsal. Minato-san wouldn’t be happy if she were late.
Sayo quickly put on some clothes, fixed up her appearance so she wouldn’t present as slovenly, grabbed her guitar and pedals and rushed out the door. She made it to the live house decently early. Minato-san was the only one who had arrived earlier. Minato-san seemed pleased to see Sayo and quickly caught her up with the progress made on the preparations for the night. Sayo likewise gave enthusiastic suggestions. This would be perfect. They were both confident.
Soon after, the others arrived. Shirokane-san brought their stage costumes – she had taken them home to make some last-minute changes. They put on the costumes, made sure the fit was good and nothing was bothering them. Last time, the ribbons on Minato-san’s sleeve came undone during the live and while it led to an interesting little MC blurb that the audience enjoyed (Sayo also ended up fixing said ribbons for Minato-san and she would never admit to how hard her heart had pounded when Minato-san smiled and thanked her on stage), they decided that it was not an experience worth repeating. If it had been the ribbons on their boots that had come undone, that could be bad. They all knew how clumsy Minato-san was – she’d probably trip on them and fall off the stage.
The costumes fit perfectly. The first version had been a bit too…revealing for Sayo’s liking – the backside of the dress only reached mid-back, leaving a considerable amount of skin bare. Sayo insisted that Shirokane-san line the top of the dress with black lace to prevent such exposure. Plus Sayo’s long hair that covered up everything else, the dress had become…marginally acceptable.
Everybody was fine with their costumes, Udagawa-san more-than-fine as she launched a really long rant about how Shirokane-san was the Vivienne Westwood of Hanasakigawa. Well, she didn’t namedrop Vivienne Westwood per se, but some in-game clothing shop NPC from Neo Fantasy Online. Nobody knew what she was talking about until Shirokane-san translated her words.
Anyway, they finally got to rehearsing (after turning down Imai-san’s cookies. Cookies could come later during break. They couldn’t keep going off on tangents before even starting). They set up their instruments, did sound checks, made sure everything would remain functional even under stage lighting. It was all routine stuff, but they never slacked off on performing them. Roselia might have become more close-knit than when they started, but they wouldn’t let that interfere with their professionalism.
Then they ran through their setlist. Minato-san nitpicked as usual. They had a break before running through the setlist again to fix those minor issues. Even Minato-san came out of it pleased. They were ready. It was just a matter of waiting for the audience to file in and the show would begin.
The night started off on a blast. Black Shout and Louder were riots as always, then they shifted to Kiseki for a change of mood, followed by Sanctuary that would pick up some pace for the Neo Aspect finale. Sanctuary was not too much of a challenge for Sayo usually. It was tough on Udagawa-san and Minato-san, but the guitar parts were relatively simple. Not that Sayo would be complacent, but it was a welcome break before the Neo Aspect riffs. That was what it was supposed to be until Sayo felt something in her back.
It had built up all afternoon and into the night. The lace that scraped at her mosquito bite was starting to win against the waning anti-itch cream. Sayo almost longed for Neo Aspect to happen, let her go crazy on the guitar so that her movements would scratch the welt, but no…the smooth, slow notes of Sanctuary made the lace rub against her back in an almost sensual manner. It was itching like crazy!
What to do? Could she reach a hand back to scratch the welt? She wasn’t confident she’d have enough time to do that without missing a note, and even if she could do it, the audience would notice. Was there a wall or a table corner for her to inconspicuously rub her back against? Shirokane-san’s keyboard? No, no, no! That would look like sexual harassment! Who had a free hand to help her out? There were lots of hands in the audience below. They were waving glowsticks in the air as though to chide Sayo’s predicament! Who else? Everybody in the band was playing their instruments…
Minato-san.
Sayo would’ve screamed for Minato-san to help her if she could, but she was on-stage, so that wouldn’t work. Please look this way! Sayo was shouting in her mind. Luckily Minato-san did look her way upon the chorus. She waved and smiled as she sang. “Dearest, you are my dearest.”
Sayo would’ve been so lovesick she might’ve drooled when Minato-san went off the original plan to literally call Sayo her dearest, but at this very moment all Sayo could think of was the mosquito bite and she met Minato-san’s eyes with such desperation she might’ve been crying a little. At least Minato-san caught on, walked over, and wrapped an arm around Sayo’s back to bring them close enough that she could at least try and discern what was wrong. Sayo mouthed “mosquito bite” but Minato-san just looked at her in confusion. Sayo couldn’t exactly say it aloud. Minato-san wouldn’t hear her unless she was loud enough to get picked up by the mic, which would be bad in its own way. All Sayo could do was press her back against Minato-san’s palm and slide down until the welt aligned with Minato-san’s fingers.
Instant relief.
But nobody other than Sayo knew the purpose of her movements. It just looked provocative, and that sent the audience in an uproar. Udagawa-san might’ve missed a beat while watching them. Shirokane-san’s jaws dropped. Imai-san gave a whistle – rude! This wasn’t how you should carry yourself in a public performance, not that Sayo was one to speak as the cause of this incident. To Minato-san’s credit, she kept singing through it all, whether anybody was listening to her anymore. But she was frozen to her spot and looked very red in the face. At the end of the chorus, she walked back to center stage and then stayed there like a statue for the rest of the show.
It finally ended. The audience loved it at any rate. And Imai-san and Udagawa-san who were giving sloppy grins to Minato-san and Sayo, until Minato-san glared so hard at them that they returned to some semblance of seriousness anyway.
“Good work. Some issues to fix but it is getting late so I will go through them during tomorrow’s practice. You are dismissed,” Minato-san said. Shirokane-san grabbed Udagawa-san before the latter could say something stupid and the two vanished into the change rooms. Imai-san was probably about to follow through with the unsaid stupid remarks, but Minato-san kept glaring and glaring and that shut her up…sort of.
“I can take a hint. I’ll leave you two to your…performance review,” Imai-san said, and winked!
They were finally alone. Sayo didn’t know what to do. Should she apologize? Should she explain? Or should she pretend nothing happened-
“Come with me.”
Minato-san grabbed Sayo’s hand, towed her to a single-occupancy washroom, and locked the door behind both of them.
“Err…Minato-san…?”
What met Sayo were not harsh words or even a punch but a kabedon. Well, Minato-san tried. She was too short and too weak though, so Sayo sort of went along with Minato-san’s half push and backed herself into the wall. Minato-san then grabbed a fistful of Sayo’s dress and yanked down while going on her tip-toes to bring their faces to level. Of course, Sayo had to bend down to accommodate such desire. Whether Minato-san noticed, Sayo had no idea – didn’t stop her from forcefully capturing Sayo’s lips with her own.
Minato-san was kissing her.
Minato-san was kissing her!?
Sayo never had the chance to close her eyes. They remained wide even as Minato-san finally let her go.
“You can’t think you could provoke me like that without consequences, right Sayo?” Minato-san said with a sly smile on her lips. It was gorgeous.
Sayo gulped.
“Right.”
Damn. She could not wait to face those consequences.