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Since Hina’s graduation, Ako hadn’t had much opportunity to chat with her eccentric senpai. They weren’t particularly close back when Hina was still in high school, but Ako had always found Hina funny, and Hina remarked Ako’s talk of the seven hells and dark magic as “super rururun”. Hina was no longer at Haneoka, and PasuPare was an idol band signed to an agency as opposed to Roselia being an indie band with a rock flavour, so they didn’t regularly play at the same scene. It was by chance that they came across each other at CiRCLE that day, both there to put in some individual practice – well, in Hina’s case, she had been there to help with Chisato’s individual practice; we all knew geniuses didn’t need to work hard.
Chisato had work scheduled immediately after practice, so she left Hina and Ako to their reunion at the café in front of the studio. As usual, Hina’s rambles were all over the place. They were sort of hard to follow. Ako could only equate them to…the mystic runes of Alexandria…or something that made more sense, but Rinko wasn’t here to finish her thought process. About the time when Ako was halfway through her milkshake, Hina brought up the topic of her twin sister.
“Ako-chan, have you noticed that Oneechan is a little weird lately?”
“Sayo-san?” Ako thought about it. “I guess…a little? Her guitar is still super cool as always! Cold as the eternal ice on Mount…Mount…Mount Fuji sounds really stupid here, and it’s not really frozen in the summer.”
“Niflheim? Thrace? Eisriesenwelt?”
Hina’s thesaurus level of knowledge was confusing, but her choices sounded…cool?
“Eternal ice of Niflheim then, hahaha…” Ako answered awkwardly, “Anyway, about Sayo-san lately, I noticed that she is sorta…spacing out at times? It’s never during rehearsals. Just at break time. I don’t know if she’s thinking about something.”
“She’s horny!” Hina offered in a cheerful tone. Ako nodded at first, not exactly catching on, then when she understood what Hina said retrospectively, she nearly jumped, choking on her milkshake.
“H-H-Horny!? *cough cough* Sayo-san!?”
“I searched her bag one day…”
“Hi-Hina-chin, I don’t think that’s a nice thing to do.”
“I’m just concerned about my Oneechan!” Hina waved off Ako’s comment. “Anyway, I found shoujo manga in there.”
As out-of-character as that sounded, it couldn’t constitute as proof that Sayo was…horny, right? She was an adult. If she had been horny, she could buy an actual porn mag.
“It could be that Sayo-san was just looking for inspiration to help Yukina-san with lyrics writing? Yukina-san has branched into writing love songs lately. Said it was popular with our fanbase.”
“Hmm…” Hina mumbled, stroking her chin. “That could be it, but Oneechan marked the intimate scenes with post-its and even took notes.”
Ako might’ve spat out some milkshake.
“That…That is an admirable level of dedication. As expected of Sayo-san. The supreme, devoted, Aphrodite’s…Aphrodite’s…err…fan?”
“Champion of Horny!”
Hina’s suggestion made Ako freeze in her spot. That was definitely not what she was looking for. Rinrin, where are you? Ako-chan wanted to say something cool-sounding, not weird!
“Can…Can we not call Sayo-san…horny?”
“Why?” Hina asked innocently.
“I don’t think Sayo-san would like that very much.”
“Eh? Even though it’s true?” Hina crossed her arms, seemingly deep in thought. “I guess that means we’ll just have to relieve Oneechan’s horniness by finding her a girlfriend.”
“Wait, did you just say we!?”
……………
“Hina-chin, do I really have to do this?”
“Yes! How else can we determine who might be a good candidate for Oneechan’s sappy love?”
Sayo and Yukina were walking into the studio room, prompting Ako to hurriedly cut the phone conversation short. Hina had asked her to tail after Sayo during and after Roselia practice – said that Sayo had been coming home late these days and she was wondering where Sayo had gone. This really was a bad idea… Concerned as Ako was for Sayo’s well-being, stalking her didn’t seem like a good solution. And if Sayo found out, Ako was sure to get a long earful from the former disciplinary committee head of Hanajo.
“You are early, Ako.” Yukina noted when she opened the door.
“Umm…yeah! You showed up with Sayo-san today.”
Sayo, who had gone over to start setting up her guitar, stopped in position and looked a little…red?
“We ran into each other on the way.” Yukina explained. “It is good you showed up early, but I see that you have not set up yet. Let’s stop wasting time and start practising.”
“Yes…” Ako answered in a deflated tone. Was it just her, or was Yukina a little stricter today than usual?
……………
Practice went on for two hours before they had their first break. It had gone fine. If anything, Ako was the one who lacked attention and got scolded multiple times. During break, she had to practise some more individually to make up for the mistakes while everybody else was at the café enjoying a cold drink on this summer day. Ako sent Rinko to help her spy on Sayo instead.
“So how did it go, Rinrin?” Ako asked quietly when they were back.
“Umm…I don’t know what to say…”
“Eh? So…was Sayo-san on the phone with somebody? Or was she particularly close with Yukina-san or Lisa-nee, or…you?”
“Of course not me!” Rinko blushed hard at the suggestion. “I don’t really know…but yes, I think Hikawa-san might be acting a bit…preoccupied.”
“Right. Like right now she’s just staring off into space,” Ako remarked after a glance at their guitarist. Rinko nodded.
“Not really at space, more at…Yukina-san…”
“Did you say Yukina-san!?”
Rinko waved her hands frantically in front of herself. “I…I don’t really know! I’m just…guessing. I mean, she could be looking at Imai-san speaking to Yukina-san, or the clock behind them…”
Hmm…this really got Ako thinking. Practice continued soon after, and two hours later they were ready to go home. Yukina and Sayo said they would be staying for a bit longer and said they’d take care of the clean-up. Lisa graciously accepted, urging Rinko and Ako to follow. Lisa was oh-so-adamant. Ako had to lie that she was taking a detour for ice-cream in order to lose her and go back to CiRCLE to continue her surveillance. By then, Yukina and Sayo were exiting the studio. Ako dodged behind a lamp post to avoid being noticed.
They were walking in the direction of Yukina’s house, most likely. Ako had been to Lisa’s place before and knew Yukina was her neighbour. They had mostly been walking in silence, save for a couple short exchanges about music here and there. Along the way, Yukina had slipped her hand around Sayo’s, and Sayo took it cautiously, pulling them closer. Ako’s eyes nearly bulged out. Yu…Yukina-san was holding Sayo-san’s hand!?
At last, they reached Yukina’s house. Ako had been expecting Sayo to escort Yukina here and turn back for her own home, except Yukina seemed to have invited Sayo inside. Ako had to get to the bottom of this. This was breaking news, damn it! She knocked on Lisa’s door after Yukina and Sayo vanished into Yukina’s house, hoping Lisa had come home by now. She had, luckily. She opened the door for Ako.
“Eh, what are you doing here at this time, Ako?”
“I…I don’t have time to talk about it now. Let me borrow your room.”
“Ah…I haven’t cleaned up…”
Ako pushed past Lisa, said a hurried greeting to Lisa’s parents, and bounded up to Lisa’s room. Lisa followed after her, looking confused.
“You’re spying on Yukina?” Lisa noted when Ako pulled the curtains open by a crack to peek through to the other side. Yukina’s curtains were open, leaving the view of the room clear. Sayo had sat down on Yukina’s bed, back facing the window, as she conversed with Yukina who was putting a CD into her stereo.
After inserting the CD, Yukina went to sit by Sayo. They stayed like that for a bit till Yukina leaned to rest her head on Sayo’s shoulder. Ako gulped. Sayo then reached a hand onto Yukina’s, which led Yukina to look up to her. They came close to each other. Really close. Ako knew what was to come. Her hand on the curtain trembled in recognition.
“Li-Lisa-nee, they…they are…”
“Kissing?”
“Eh? You don’t seem surprised!” Ako shot Lisa an accusatory glare. Lisa just shrugged as she kept looking at the scene on the other side unfolding. The kiss had deepened. Yukina had pulled herself over to straddle Sayo, Sayo reaching around her to lock them in place. This was getting too intense. Ako knew she shouldn’t be watching, but she couldn’t stop herself. Maybe Hina was right. Sayo was horny…
In a sudden reversal of events, Sayo took the initiative and pinned Yukina onto the bed. As she dipped down though, Yukina held her at arm’s length, turning over to the window and gesturing. Shit! SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! Had Ako and Lisa been found out?
That didn’t seem to be it. Sayo’s gaze over to Lisa’s house lacked focus. Ah, so Yukina had been gesturing to the curtains. Sayo hurriedly pulled them close.
The show was over. Ako stuttered as she turned to face Lisa. “They…They are gonna have…s-s-se…”
“Sex?” Lisa finished for her, completely nonchalantly. “At least they remembered the curtains this time.”
As Ako stood like a block of stone in absolute shock, Lisa rubbed her head. “Come downstairs with me for some cookies. We can bring them over to Yukina and Sayo in half an hour. They should be done by then.”