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When it comes to the summer, it often serves as a blessing for the members of Morfonica. The beautiful flora and fauna emblematic of the season helps give Mashiro, Nanami, and Rui inspiration for each of the individual parts that go into their current compositions. The flora and fauna of the summer season regularly gives Touko the inspiration needed to create both new clothes and the next big “thing” to broadcast on her social media. And the warmth of the summer sun even gives Tsukushi the proper motivation to get up in the morning and be only the best leader she can possibly be.
However, this particular summer was most definitely not beneficial for Morfonica.
Touko: (frustrated) GRAAAAAH! I can’t take it anymore! RUIIII, let’s call it quits today! The hot sun is making me all sticky and gross!
Without even the slightest of a breeze to offset the intense heat, the heat emanating from the sun left the atmosphere of the Hiromachi atelier humid and unbearable. Sweat streamed out of the girls’ skin in waterfalls, and the oppressive summer heat threatened to heat their instruments up to melting point. At this point, even Rui was willing to take a break, if only to quench the thirst getting sapped by the sweltering heat.
Rui: (exhausted, but barely showing it) Very well then, Kirigaya-san. This weather would simply be a detriment to both ourselves and our instruments, so taking a break would ultimately be in our best interest.
Hearing the violinist’s words was all it took for the remaining girls to collapse onto the soft blue cushions of the sofa in pure exhaustion.
Touko: (exhausted) NANAMIIII! Turn the AC up, why don’t ya?!
Nanami: (equally as exhausted) On it, Toukoooo~....
Pulling out a small remote from her pocket, the peach-haired girl switched the atelier’s air conditioning on, providing the group with some much-needed reprieve from the sun’s unbearable rays beating down upon them. The cold wind allowed for the posture of the resting girls to further loosen up, with Mashiro’s head eventually falling onto the shoulder of the peach-haired girl next to her, resulting in Nanami’s face regaining a flushed and sweaty complexion. In spite of the bassist’s embarrassment and the guitarist’s visible smirk at this action, Mashiro paid neither of those any heed, as if any of her inhibitions had been melted away by the summer heat.
Mashiro: (smiling in relief) Oh~...Finally…so nice and cool…
Nanami: (embarrassed) U-Uh…y-you said it..Sh-Shiro-chan…
Once the heat-induced haze from her mind managed to sufficiently fade away, Rui reached into her violin case to pull out a washcloth that she routinely uses to keep her violin in peak condition, and quickly got to work meticulously scrubbing every nook and cranny of her violin. After all, she couldn’t risk anything that could sabotage the progress of either her band or her violin-playing. Her meticulous cleaning was eventually interrupted by Tsukushi’s cheerful voice.
Tsukushi: (loudly) Oh! Let me help, Rui-san! I’ve done LOTS of research on instrument maintenance! So, I’ll be of great help to you!
Normally, Rui would politely turn any assistance down. But the words of her blue-haired upperclassman couldn’t help but resonate from within the cranium of the violinist.
“If one were to offer you help, it would be in your best interest to accept that help. This assistance could potentially help you in finding your own note.”
Rui: (nodding) Very well, Futaba-san. You can start with your drum kit-
Once Rui looked back up, any thought processes she might have had quickly screeched and grinded to a halt. Standing in front of her was Tsukushi Futaba, quite possibly at her most eye-catching.
Rui was definitely no stranger to the cuteness of Tsukushi. Her chubby cheeks, large expressive eyes, bouncy pigtails, diminutive height, and freckled skin, are all notable traits of the drummer’s adorableness, or at least, the ones that Rui can name off the top of her summer-heat-mixed-with-a-massive-crush-addled head. But, until then, she had never thought that the normally-cute drummer would ever be aptly described with words like “handsome” or “rugged”. However, one look at the Tsukushi standing in front of her was enough to challenge those previous preconceptions of the drummer.
Letting her hair out of her scrunchies, Tsukushi pushed back her bangs and pulled her long hair back, switching from her childish pigtails into a far more mature-looking ponytail. While Rui couldn’t help but consider Tsukushi’s smile one of her cutest attributes, Tsukushi’s face hardened into a focused glare that would be considered a picture-perfect expression for the calm and composed leader figure that Tsukushi always yearned to be perceived as.
But that was nothing compared to what Rui saw, when she unfortunately had to take her eyes off Tsukushi’s face and hair. While previously wearing a baggy flannel that was notably unfit for the scorching summer season, Tsukushi was quick to discard it, revealing a black tank top underneath.
And from there, Rui saw…them.
Of course, Rui knew that drumming builds up noticeable muscle mass in the forearms, triceps, and shoulders. However, she never anticipated just how noticeable the drummer’s arm muscles are. As if to contrast against her cute and round facial features, Tsukushi’s muscles appeared rugged and firm to the touch, adding some angles to her otherwise round features. And it appears that Rui wasn’t the only one who noticed the drummer’s sudden musculature.
Mashiro: (speechless) Oh…my…
Touko: (shocked) WHAT THE HELL, FUSUKE?! HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS SHREDDED?!
Upon seeing the girls’ speechless reactions, Tsukushi couldn’t help but flash them a smirk, as she flexed one of her muscular arms, which only made her already apparent muscles even more noticeable, causing heat to rapidly rise to the face of the violinist behind her.
Tsukushi: (cockily) Impressed much? Drumming for long periods of time really helps build up my arm muscles!
Tsukushi: (considerably less cockily) Plus…high-intensity workouts with the other drummers…
Nanami: (taken aback) Woah…I never knew you and the other drummers had a workout routine, Tsu-chan…
Tsukushi: (smiling) Well, we do! Ever since I met up with the other drummers to go out for ramen, they invited me to their drummer-only workouts! It helps boost solidarity amongst drummers, and I'd say the results speak for themselves!
While she was confidently gloating about her musculature to her amazed peer group, the petite drummer couldn’t help but internally shudder, thinking back to the individual workouts being helmed by each drummer. While the workouts helmed by people like Ako, Saaya and Kanon can be considered “merciful”, the less said about the workouts helmed by drummers like Tomoe and Masuki, the better. However, the classic adage of “no pain, no gain” proved to work well, for Tsukushi’s energy levels and general endurance were through the roof.
It was only after a mere seemingly-extended-down-to-the-millisecond minute of staring at the muscular girl that Rui realized that precious time was wasted. Which means that, much to her heavily-repressed dismay, she would have to pull her eyes away from the miniature Adonis standing in front of her.
Rui: (strictly) Futaba-san, would you mind getting started on your maintenance work?
In an instant, Tsukushi’s confident smirk deflated as she embarrassingly scurried over to her backpack to pull out some clean rags, before heading back to her drum set.
Touko: (laughing) Bahahaha! Now that’s the Fusuke we all know and love!
Trying to drown out the blonde’s mocking laughter, Rui momentarily set the violin and the now-dirty washcloth onto one of the wooden platforms. Her mindset at the moment was ultimately simple: go back to her bag to retrieve a brand-new washcloth. However, thanks to images of Tsukushi’s hard and firm arms being permanently burned into her brain, the violinist managed to fail at that.
And with the mental image of Tsukushi’s arms buzzing around in her cerebellum like a swarm of cicadas, she didn’t notice her ankle getting caught by the power cord of Touko’s guitar and the warning cries of the other girls, until it was too late.
Upon snapping out of her trance and noticing that her face was seconds away from colliding with the wooden floor below her, Rui screwed her eyes shut. The violinist scolded herself internally, for allowing emotions to prevent her from achieving something as easy as maneuvering from one point to another. And especially over a normal part of the human anatomy that just happened to be attractive to her.
She was only taken out of her internal flagellating session by two things. The first being that wind resistance was no longer acting on her, and the second being that her body hadn’t collided with the wooden floor. She also noticed that she seemed to be wrapped in something that was coated in sweat, as well as fleshy yet firm.
And based on her notably elaborate internal theories and fantasies regarding them, Rui has a dominant theory as to the identity of these fleshy cushions. And upon unclenching her eyelids, her theory was quite instantly proven correct. For staring down at Rui’s uncharacteristically nervous face was Tsukushi herself, with her adorable face contorted into a concentrated grimace.
Which meant that the fleshy yet firm objects cushioning Rui’s fall…were Tsukushi’s holy arm muscles.
For a moment, there was no noise or any other stimuli threatening to snap Rui and Tsukushi out of this hot yet pleasurable haze. Any and all of Rui’s cognitive functions simply ceased to be, as her brain started to get filled to the brim with any and all features of the drummer’s visage. All that existed at the moment were widened purple eyes staring into concentrated brown eyes. Tsukushi’s lips appeared to move, but Rui was unable to pay attention to the words coming out of the other girl’s mouth, for she was more occupied by the movement and hypothetical softness of the drummer’s lips. With Tsukushi’s adorable yet oddly-rugged facial features occupying all of Rui’s vision, heat quickly spread out all around Rui’s face, concentrating mostly around the violinist’s ears and cheeks, and coloring her face in various shades of red and pink.
It took 10 seconds (that ended up feeling like a much longer time period) for the shouts emanating from Tsukushi’s soft lips to register in the crush-addled mind of the violinist.
Tsukushi: (concerned) Ru…sa…Rui-san! Are you okay, Rui-san?!
Eventually, Rui snapped out of her mental fog, and upon realizing the highly-awkward position she found herself in, wrestled out of the rock-hard arms of the drummer, as the taller girl stood back up on her feet and tried her hardest to reclaim any sense of dignity that was lost in that short yet emotionally-tumultuous moment. The violinist intentionally faced away from the other girls, so they wouldn’t notice her desperately trying to keep her persistent blush and thoughts of Tsukushi’s strong arm muscles at bay. Luckily for the very-flustered violinist, Tsukushi spoke up, momentarily diverting the attention of the three remaining girls.
Tsukushi: (confidently) Alright, girls! Let’s all do our parts and maintain our instruments to the best of our ability!
After fiddling with her phone (no doubts because she’s posting a picture of the incident to the guitarist’s shipping-related group chat), Touko lazily stood up, before Nanami and Mashiro followed her lead.
Touko: (rolling her eyes) Alright, Fusuke…Fine, fine…
Nanami: (jokingly saluting) Aye, aye, captain!
Mashiro: (confused) Um…Tsu-Tsukushi-chan…what should I do? I don’t exactly…play an instrument…
Upon being reminded of that, the clumsy leader’s mouth instantly clamped shut in embarrassment, as giggles erupted out of the mouths of Nanami and Touko.
Tsukushi: (facepalming) Oh, right! God! How could I have forgotten?!
Mashiro: (nervously) Oh! D-Don’t worry, Tsukushi-chan! I’ll go and help Rui with her violin maintenance! Uh…y-you don’t mind that…right, Rui? Uh…Rui?
Having successfully fought off her blush and the fog blocking a good portion of thoughts beyond those related to Tsukushi’s looks, Rui turned back to the white-haired girl, and gave her a nod of approval.
Rui: (nodding) Very well, I hardly mind.
Upon hearing the violinist’s approval, the vocalist grabbed one of the cleaning rags and rushed forward to assist her.
However, a few minutes after Rui’s proposal, Mashiro quickly got a metaphorical front row seat to Rui’s rapidly deteriorating concentration in favor of the buff drummer in front of her. It was as if Rui’s eyes were cameras, dedicated to capturing every angle of Tsukushi Futaba, from every freckle on her cheeks and shoulders, to each individual movement of her developed arm muscles, to even the slightest flashes of a developing set of hard abdominal muscles from underneath her black tank top. Mashiro was in shock at the sudden amount of sheer emotion radiating from the usually-stoic Rui, with the violinist’s dull purple eyes widening in admiration and her pale face rapidly flushing assorted tints and shades of reds and pinks.
Mashiro: (internally, shocked) So…Rui likes b-buff girls?...This is new…I never thought I’d see Rui this…emotional…
From within the miasma of her now-halted mental processes, Rui’s now-speechless mouth managed to croak out a couple of words directed to the girl next to her.
Rui: (speechless) Kurata-san…I love her…