Chapter Text
Pride dominated Rin;In her hands was the fruit of weeks, if not months of work. She had put all the effort she could muster onto one single sheet of paper, she had done everything she possibly could, she looked over Umi’s lyrics and studied the way she wrote, worked especially hard in English so she could write the lyrics she wanted, she even borrowed (Or well, stole.) one of Nico’s many idol albums to help inspire her. Gleefully she held up her magnum opus, admiring it.
Something felt off. Rin squinted, looking over the sheet again. It seemed as if nothing were out of the ordinary, all the lyrics were accounted for, she had written the English out correctly, it was in her best possible handwriting. Minute after minute, the missing thing evaded her. Until suddenly her eyes locked to a blank space above her writing. She gasped, she had forgotten the title. Slamming the paper back onto the desk she feverently wrote. At last, it was complete. Lily White’s next song and the best thing she had ever written, Kimi No Kuse Ni.
As soon as her class ended she rushed out, bidding Hanayo a rushed farewell as she clutched the paper close to her chest. She would have stayed with her, but a mixture of obligation and embarrassment had prevented her. Blushing she glanced behind her, catching a small glimpse of Hanayo as the distance between them grew longer and longer. She looked between the paper and Hanayo, quickly. Before hiding her face in her hands. As she looked back for the last time, Hanayo was gone. And so she set off for the club room.
Rin stood outside the club room door. Never before had it felt intimidating, but now it somehow seemed larger, looming. It was a critical moment, they had arranged this meeting a few weeks ago and since then Rin had been non stop working on the song. For a while it was just a haze of ideas floating through her mind, but since that deadline was set she managed to, through relentless passion and willpower, finally compress that mess of thoughts and feelings into one coherent piece. She was so proud of herself, so confident in her writing up to this point. Behind the door were her friends, she shouldn’t be scared. But the fear of rejection was an oppressive weight upon her. “What if Umi-Chan doesn’t think it’s good enough?” she thought to herself “What if Nozomi-Chan doesn’t like it?”. Insecurities like piranhas bit away at her confidence, she swallowed hard. Pushing the door open and abandoning the thoughts, subjecting herself to whatever the following encounter may bring.
“Rin-Chan. You’re late” Nozomi’s voice drifted across the room darkly, Rin didn’t immediately notice where she was, glancing around only to find Umi alone at the table.
“Uh, Nozomi-Chan? Where are you?” from the corner of her eye Rin managed to catch a brief glimpse of Nozomi, but at that point it was too late. A firm, uncomfortable pressure seized her breasts, squirming desperately she attempted an escape only for her efforts to be fruitless. “N-nozomi! Stop! I’m sorry!”
“Nozomi-Chan, can we have less of that this time? Please? I swear you almost killed Rin last time.” Umi sternly said, her eyes intensely locked on Nozomi, who quickly released Rin from her grasp.
Her face emblazoned with a smirk, Nozomi calmly walked over to her seat “Oh come on, it was harmless…” she replied, taking a seat and resting her head atop her hands.
“She was lay on the floor not moving. That doesn’t sound harmless to me….” Umi muttered, rolling her eyes at Nozomi. “I don’t even understand why you do it. It’s so…” shivering, Umi replayed the thought in her mind. “So shameless. Just. Touching someone like that.” she paused between words, slowly forcing the sentence from her mouth.
“Aw nah, it’s fun.” Nozomi countered, her eyes shifting in Rin’s direction “Wouldn’t you agree Rin-Chan?” Rin simply grumbled a “No” in response. “Anyway Rin-Chan, didn’t you say there was something you wanted to show us?” Nozomi prompted, nodding at the paper she was holding.
“O-oh! Right!” she slid the paper across the table, nervously looking between Umi and Nozomi as the two of them read it. Worry had only just began to fade away and yet it had returned as strong as ever just seconds later. Time passed by, she couldn’t bear to watch their faces. “So, what do you think?” she could feel the tension in her shoulders, tight and dreadful.
“Is it meant to be so obviously about Hanay-” Nozomi began teasingly, only to be cut off by Umi.
“Th-this is utterly shameless!” Umi proclaimed “You can’t just write out your feelings like that! I-it’s so obvious!” her eyes retraced the lyrics, her face reddening as she did.
Clearly, Rin had been found out and yet despite the futility of it she immediately went to deny their claims. “K-kayo-Chin? N-no, this isn’t about her! It’s just a song I thought of randomly. It’s uh nothing to do with real people. Nothing at all, nya.” it was an obvious lie, from how she was stuttering, her clearly flustered body language, and most importantly the fact that her love for Hanayo was incredibly obvious, even outside of the song.
Nozomi set her eyes on Rin, deciding to spare her any further teasing so she could move on to a more interesting target. “Why’re you so up in arms about it Umi-Chan? Does it remind you of something?” she winked at Umi knowingly, hoping she would understand what she was implying.
After a moment of confusion Rin caught on, a devilish smile forming. She gave Nozomi a knowing look, before turning her focus on to Umi too. “Or someone, nya…” she teased, gaining a nod of approval from Nozomi.
Although it seemed impossible Umi’s face managed to redden further. “N-no? Th-that’s so…” she hissed the last word through gritted teeth “Shameless. I-I don’t have feelings for anyone like that!” it was a two on one battle and Umi was clearly already losing, Nozomi and Rin were clearly going to press their advantage. Wincing, she hoped her friends would be merciful.
Rin took charge, speaking before Nozomi had the chance “Yeah? Why’d you get so freaked out when Kotori-Chan does that thing then?” she taunted, accusingly pointing at Umi across the table.
Without missing the slightest beat Nozomi chimed in, attempting to replicate Kotori’s mannerisms “U-Umi-Chan! Please!” she let the moment hang for a second before giggling and watching Umi intently, excited for a reaction.
Unable to handle the accusatory onslaught. Umi firmly placed her head on the desk with a thud. After a couple of minutes she recuperated. “A-anyway. We can’t use this song.”
Rin’s face was suddenly transformed into a display of despair “B-but! I worked so hard on that! F-for so long!” tears pricked the corners of her eyes, she wouldn’t give up hope yet, but Umi’s disapproval had hit her hard.
With a surprising energy and lack of calm Nozomi responded “Umi-Chan what’s wrong with it? Rin-Chan poured her heart into those lyrics, we have to use them!” deep down it meant a lot to Nozomi, each one of them expressing their feelings through Muse. She couldn’t just let Rin’s song go unsung. “Besides, won’t it be more personal and mean more to our audience too? If we sing such a personal song?”
Umi had lost before she could even speak, even if she could find a good way to respond she knew Nozomi would just counter her unrelentingly. Truthfully she had no reason not to use the lyrics, apart from the feeling in the back of her mind that continuously ate away at her. Every time she read over the lyrics faint memories, transparent glimpses of times long passed would appear before her all of them unified by a single factor. Kotori.
“Okay, okay. Let me just take it home and edit it a bit, okay? It’s a three person song after all, and this is written more like a solo. Is it okay for me to change that Rin?” Umi looked at Rin expectantly, utterly clueless to how she would react.
“Okay! A-also edit it to sound less about Kayo-Chin, I don’t want people getting the uh. Wrong idea.” Rin stumbled over the end of her sentence, having lost the ability to lie convincingly.
“I was planning on it.” Umi closed the conversation definitively. Taking the paper and neatly placing it into her bag. “Now, moving on.”
“Whoah, whoah. Moving on? You didn’t give us an answer Umi-Chan.” Nozomi pressed on. Only to have Umi utterly ignore her, the increasing blushing on her face the only indication Nozomi’s words had even been spoken.
“Who’ll be the centre for this song then?” Umi asked, she had originally planned for Nozomi to be the centre of the next song but she couldn’t help but subconsciously look at Rin.
With both Umi and Nozomi’s eyes on her, Rin spoke “Okay! I’ll be the centre, nya!” she took the role excitedly. “But uh, what exactly do I have to do for that?”
“Just lead the dance and stuff.” Nozomi shrugged nonchalantly. “Like what me and Umi did for the last few songs.”
Rin simply stared at the others with wide-eyed confusion “There’s a dance?”
Umi’s head hit the table in record time. Despite her frustration a smile stayed firmly planted on her face, she wouldn’t change these meetings for the world.