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Taki and Umiri are worlds apart. Long after the messy collapse of Ave Mujica, one is the drummer of quite a successful girl’s band alongside four members she’s well acquainted with, and one is the bassist for multiple bands at once, all of which she might as well be a backup for. One is reaching new heights of her career and education every day, and one has no real friendships in a college course she’s just as uncommitted to. Realistically, the only reason they ever got to know each other was that they were classmates in high school. Sure, ‘Doloris’ was also in their class, but Umiri’s relationship with her has ended up distant for its own reasons.
Nothing of note like that ever happened between herself and Taki, but following the natural order of events after graduation, she and Umiri should slowly lose touch until they barely speak anymore. Umiri brought her juice and talked to her every day, and they ended up crossing paths outside of school every so often, but there was never anything to act as glue – to bind them together in the long term.
It’s for this reason that Umiri Yahata wonders how she finds herself standing restless towards the back row of a MyGO!!!!! concert, arms crossed and foot tapping to the beat of her former classmate’s drums all on its own. She doesn’t mind standing out, but it’s not like she goes out of her way to, so when people nearby start whisper-shouting to each other about Timoris from Ave Mujica over the music, she just lets it happen. Her focus is more on the girl’s band she witnessed form two years ago, the one she’s since witnessed continue to strive and grow as a group of “lost girls” (as Chihaya-san has excitedly explained one too many times) while her own band… Is a part of her past she’d rather not think about for no reason.
While drifting, her eyes manage to lock with the MyGO!!!!! member she’s most well acquainted with. How that could happen when she’s all the way back here and Taki’s gaze has mostly lingered either on her drums or Takamatsu-san the whole performance so far, Umiri doesn’t know. Unwilling to back down however, she sends a friendly nod towards the girl and lets her eyes unfocus for the rest of the performance. She’ll just have to explain herself later, as much as she doesn’t want to.
~
Taki Shiina is trying her best to wind down and gather her things after having finished the latest set in MyGO!!!!!’s Kanto tour. “Trying to” because her bandmates never seem to shut up, a constant source of the exact type of excitement she can’t stand, but the exact type she’s begrudgingly willing to put up with for the sake of Tomori and everyone else. A band with ever-growing popularity, they’ve reached heights that Soyo and Tomori have expressed they never expected while playing RiNG back in high school. Taki disagrees, however. She’s known from the start that Tomori’s voice would reach across the world if given a real chance, and she’s been determined to make that happen ever since. Even if the band did include some… choice characters, they admittedly all worked incredibly hard – most of the time – and formed a sound they could all easily lose themselves in.
Wondering why exactly she’s reminiscing about the past again while packing up for the night, Taki runs her train of thought backwards and remembers seeing Umiri in the crowd. Right, that was the trigger, her old classmate shooting her a surprise glare in the middle of a concert after not having seen each other in person for a few months at least.
“I’m heading out for tonight, make sure you don’t forget anything.” She announces to the group, but side-eyes Anon, a common perpetrator of leaving things behind and causing stress the next morning in an effort to find it.
“What are you looking at me for, Rikki? Come on, I’m not that bad…” Anon replies, giving off an ‘innocent’ smile she clearly thinks will garner sympathy. “What are you heading out so early for anyway? Don’t you usually stay a little longer to keep composing or whatever it is you get up to?”
She swallows a snarky comeback and just sighs, “Going to meet up with Umiri. Don’t follow me, though. That goes for you too, Stray Cat.” Raana, who’s crouched on one of the sofas, untangling wires, turns towards Taki to give her a thumbs up. Anon on the other hand, retorts.
“Umiri? Ooh, I haven’t heard that name in a while, what sort of secret business are you up to with her? Maybe I’ll have to spy on you two…”
“Don’t even think about it.” Taki snaps without any real vigour, before she heads towards the door of the backstage prep room and steps out into the venue’s long, narrow hall, 'bye's echoing the rest of her bandmates.
As she turns the corner once again to exit through a door, her eyes immediately find Umiri in the middle of a mostly empty lounge area, leaning with one foot against a pillar that goes all the way up into the ceiling. It’s hard not to notice the girl, she thinks while walking towards her, especially wearing that iconic black-leather jacket over red that Taki only ever got to see on the occasion when they met outside of school.
“You’ve always had a sense of fashion far cooler than your personality, haven’t you Umiri?”
Umiri’s eyes widen and she starts mumbling to herself, “Wait, am I really that uncool..?”
Eventually, she notices Taki’s concerned gaze and straightens her demeanor. “Well anyway, hi Taki. it’s nice to see you.”
Taki nods. “Likewise. I’m curious though, what brought you here? I recall the last time you watched me perform, it was to beg for Togawa-san and Wakaba-san to get back together with you, no?”
Umiri flinches, “I was hoping you wouldn’t mention that…”
A smirk forms on the corner of Taki’s mouth for just a second. “For real, why are you here Umiri? I’m surprised you didn’t at least text me to let me know you’d be coming.”
“Are you mad that I am? I’m sorry, I just wanted to see MyGO!!!!! perform. I’ve missed being able to see lives since I started playing for other bands again.”
Ah, that’s right. Taki realises she’d heard about Ave Mujica’s disbandment last year, but considering the events of the past she assumed it would once again only be a bump in the road – at least, not something bad enough that the bassist in front of her would go back to the way she used to be living. She regrets making a joke about that, maybe it’s a sore spot.
“What did I say about being uncool? Look, I’m not mad, just curious. We haven’t talked properly since graduation, y’know.”
“That’s true. Oh, well I did have another reason to come.”
Taki raises her eyebrow at that, urging the other girl to go on.
Instead of explaining, however, she simply unzips the handbag she’d been carrying and pulls a small shopping bag out of it. She pushes it into Taki’s unprepared hands with a “here”, and starts to speed-walk away.
Taki’s eyes shift, confusedly, between the reusable black bag in her hands and the girl practically running away from her, finally coming to her senses and running after her. Umiri’s wrist is caught just before she exits through the revolving glass door, a move Taki is sure she’s had to pull on far too many people.
“Umiri.” She states the name definitively, like an order, that to anyone else would sound harsh but which has a sincerity the bassist knows well. Still, Umiri plays dumb.
“Hm?”
“You’re not running away now. We haven’t seen each other in a while, I’d like to talk a bit more.”
Umiri puts her free hand up to her chin in thought for a few seconds, surely aware there was no easy way out of this situation. In the end, she seems to make a decision by grabbing the other girl’s wrist such that their positions are swapped. Taki releases a shocked “Hah?”, only to be swiftly dragged out the door of the venue and down the dark street, dimly illuminated by cold streetlights. She’s now acutely aware of the sparse groups of people who are glancing at and whispering to each other about the two.
“Hey!” Taki yelps once more, twisting her arm free after thirty-odd seconds of being pulled along down the street. She quickly regains her composure and catches up to the quick pace her sudden captor has taken again. “What’s with you?”
Umiri looks back at her and stops all of a sudden. She squints, almost like she’s analysing the person right next to her. She can’t help but stare at the way the street lights reflect off of Taki’s earring.
“Something on my face?”
“No, nothing that’s not meant to be. Here.” Umiri then gestures towards the building they stopped just a few steps from: a restaurant. A moment’s hesitation has Taki following inside, wondering how she ended up here.
~
“Shit, Ave Mujica went down that badly? Sorry, I had no idea.”
“It’s fine. You asked, so I answered.”
“So what have you been up to since, then?”
“Just as I said earlier, playing for other bands again. Something like five right now. I think it’s making me more trustworthy.”
Five… It’s better than the thirty she was in at once during her pre-Mujica days by a long shot, though Taki can’t help but worry about that word she used. She sighs.
“Umiri, I don’t think you ever understood what I meant when I said you can’t be trusted.”
“Is that so? What did you mean?”
“I… You just keep to yourself so often, y’know? We’ve known each other since the entrance ceremony in our first year of high school, yet ever since then I’ve been on the outside of this wall you’ve built around yourself.”
“A wall? What kind?”
“I don’t know! I guess… One that’s so tall, you can’t climb over it, or strong enough that nobody can break it without hurting you. Something like that.” Taki’s face twists into one of mild embarrassment at what she’s just said. “Look, the point is that I never meant anything by that comment I made. Just ignore it, please?”
Umiri doesn’t respond. They sit in silence for what Taki would argue is far too long, before their drinks and dessert finally arrives. They’d decided to just split a vanilla parfait, since neither are especially hungry. Umiri is especially thirsty however, as evidenced by her taking a massive swig of her ginger ale as soon as it arrives.
“Taki, are we friends?”
At that the silence is broken, catching the girl being questioned completely off guard. In all honesty, Taki feels a little offended being asked that. Though reconsidering, she isn’t sure if the two have ever done enough to call each other “friends”. Sure they’re well acquainted, they trust each other’s judgement, they had habits and routines between them in the past, and Umiri was definitely the person she talked to the most in high school, but she supposes they never really knew each other. Frustratingly, she’s reminded now that she had no idea the band her classmate had put so much of herself into had disbanded permanently a whole year ago. Surely a good friend is supposed to have asked about that kind of thing, right?
“Do you consider me your friend?”
Flipping it around on her, huh? Any trace of confidence is wiped off Umiri’s face at that question-answer, leaving only an uncertain, concerned stare behind.
“...Yes, I do.” Her response, however, comes surprisingly quickly in Taki’s opinion, allowing her to finally answer the initial question.
“Then we’re friends.”
Umiri perks up at that, suddenly seeming a bit more present.
“If that’s the case… Would you like to get through?” Noticing Taki’s confused expression, she’s quick to clarify, “The wall, I mean.”
Taki absolutely wasn’t prepared for this many direct questions during what she expected to be a simple reunion, but this one most of all. She had always wondered, to some extent, what Umiri could be like if anyone managed to fully reach through that unbothered exterior. Of course, she saw some of Umiri’s true nature when Ave Mujica and CRYCHIC somehow ended up involved in her life once more, but that always felt wrong to her. It felt like she was forced to watch while Umiri desperately grasped at a place to belong, not understanding why she would never reach it like that. The guilt of being in the dark about how it ended creeps back into Taki’s head.
In contrast to that time though, this feels like an earnest attempt to learn from her mistakes and actually get closer to her, not gain some nebulous sense of trustworthiness. Taki can’t… No, she doesn’t want to let this opportunity go to waste. She takes a spoonful of parfait and wipes her mouth after.
“Yeah, I would. If you’ll let me, that is.”
Umiri instinctively forces down a smile that tries to reach her lips, but realising it’s hypocritical to do so during this conversation of all times, she tries to let it show, all without seeming forced. The result is an awkward, shaky grin that makes it look like she’s either about to laugh or cry. Taki doesn’t bring attention to any of this, allowing Umiri a deep breath to return to normal.
“Hey, you haven't taken a single bite of the parfait Umiri. Aren't you going to eat some?”
“I'm watching my weight.”
“You always say that! Look, I can't force you, but we agreed to split this, a bite or two can't hurt.”
Umiri ponders for a minute, before issuing a sudden order. “...Then give me a spoonful.”
“Hah? You can feed yourself.”
“I can, but I probably won't.”
“So difficult…” With a scowl, Taki suddenly reaches over the table and grabs Umiri's chin so her head stays in place, raising eyebrows at her to ask for permission to go on. Umiri slowly nods, prompting the other to take advantage of her jaw hanging open at the unexpected movement and push a morsel of sweet parfait into her mouth. Taki sits back down, looking the other way with her arms crossed.
“So?”
“It's good. Thanks.”
What was that? Umiri’s noticeably blushing at the embarrassment of what just happened. She'd said it like an order, but never expected Taki to actually follow through .
“Good, because I'm not pulling that a second time.”
The two just sit without speaking for a while, both taking small bites of the dessert or sips of their drinks here and there - Umiri eating a lot less than drinking, but something’s better than nothing. Just when it's starting to become uncomfortable, Umiri breaks that silence once again.
“How can I let you in?” This is the question that’s been on her mind this whole time. She’s been aware most her life that this ‘wall’ existed, but never exactly how to get rid of it without the risk of getting hurt like she was with Ave Mujica. She also never knew whether she wanted to in the first place, at least not until tonight. But there was something about the way this girl spoke, treated her, was, that made Umiri surprisingly willing to create a Taki-shaped gap in her wall that only she could enter through. All she needed to figure out now was how to carve it.
“Hm… Let’s start here.”
Taki pulls out the shopping bag that had been forced upon her earlier and opens it up for the first time. Inside is a small, fluffy, plush panda keychain, and suddenly she’s silent. She feels the heat start to rise on her face, a barely noticeable smirk appearing. She notices movement from her peripheral vision, and looks up for the first time in a minute. She grabs Umiri’s wrist once again and looks at her with a sympathetic fierceness.
“I’m just going to the bathroom–”
“Why did you buy this for me?” Taki interrogates, completely ignoring the statement she’s interrupting. She knows Umiri is just trying to avoid a simple heartfelt conversation, and as much as she understands that feeling well, she won’t allow her to get away with it right now. Defeated, Umiri sits back down in the restaurant booth across from her friend who’s causing her all sorts of stress and hard feelings. She stays silent for a few moments, as has become routine in this conversation.
“He reminded me of you.”
~
Exiting the restaurant’s crowded warmth and returning to the cold of the summer nighttime, the two of them start aimlessly wandering the mostly empty roads. After an argument over who got to pay, Umiri finally let Taki handle the bill on the condition that it would be her turn next time.
“Where to now?”
“We don’t leave the city for another day, so I don’t have anywhere I need to go. What about you?” Taki neglects to mention the frightening amount of unfinished tracks she’s managed to pile up on her desktop that she could be working on right now. She’ll have time to do that while they travel, she reasons.
“I have no other commitments, I made sure with everyone it was okay that I’d be out of town for the weekend.”
“Hold on, did you take two days off to see MyGO!!!!!? Umiri, you know that isn’t responsible.”
“Days off for me don’t exactly work how they did at RiNG, you know.”
Taki sighs, calming herself. “I know, but it’s still surprising. I hope we made it worth it.”
A nod comes in response, “You did.”
“You can hang out in my hotel room for tonight then, come on.”
The two walk side by side through streets towards a destination only one of them knows, stealing glances at each other every so often but never doing anything about it. At some point, Taki musters up all her courage and reaches a pinky out towards the other’s hand while keeping her line of sight focused straight ahead. Her blind movements mean it takes a couple tries before she actually touches anything, but upon noticing what’s happening, Umiri looks down at their hands and interlocks her fingers with Taki’s, continuing her stride like it’s nothing. Taki considers that maybe Umiri is cooler than she thought.
“Is this what being friends looks like?”
Taki raises an eyebrow and snorts. “Is that a serious question?” Both girls’ faces are noticeably warm this time, despite the chilly air. Her friend responds with only a defensive look, forcing her to continue. “I don’t know what it looks like,” Taki answers, “Guess we’ll just have to see.”
If someone were to see them, that person might assume the two have a strange relationship: that they’re embarrassed or are somehow being forced into this position. Only they know that the smiles on their lips are genuine, if rusty. Only they get to experience this pleasant feeling right now, one they want to maintain for as long as possible. For once, Umiri Yahata feels their worlds might not be as far apart as she always assumed. For once, Taki Shiina thinks she can maybe get used to this feeling. For the first time tonight, Umiri and Taki both let themselves bask in each other’s company and smile completely honestly.