AN: Just a small break :P Here's some sweet, cliche and uncomplicated Mitsu. xDD Do Japanese high schools even have a graduation ball or a prom?

PS. Listen to Michael Buble's version of 'The Way You Look Tonight' at the last page cut. :P

Word Count: 4,453 word(s)
Pairing: Mitsu all the way, yeaaaa
Summary: Somehow, sometime, it was bound to happen and everyone knew it was an inevitability. Ritsu found the perfect way to make it happen.

Tonight

The polished wood of the hallways of Sakuragaoka All Girls' High squeaked at each step the three senior members of the Light Music Club took. It was afterschool and the buildings were mostly empty because most of the students already left for home or are in their respective clubrooms. The orange-tinged light of the setting sun shone brightly and beautifully through the tall glass windows and accentuated their outlines as they walked in the middle of the almost deserted hall.

Ho-kago Tea Time's drummer and club president, Ritsu Tainaka walked in front of her two friends, the guitarist Hirasawa Yui and keyboardist Kotobuki Tsumugi, and formed an arrowhead as they made their way to the faculty room to look for their club adviser, Yamanaka Sawako. They had something they wanted to request to their teacher and in the drummer's case, a favor.

They reached the faculty room and the girl in from knocked politely before entering the room.

"Excuse us."

Their adviser had her desk positioned closest to the door and rotated in her chair to face the girls.

"What do you girls need?"

Business went on as usual. The birds flew outside and the sun continued on its way to retire for the day. The club president said what she needed and explained as much as she can without revealing her true purpose for such an ambitious idea.

"What?"

Yamanaka-sensei almost yelled the word, but fortunately remembered that she was in the faculty room and her co-teachers were there. She wanted to keep her image of a good and sweet teacher after all. Her jaw dropped in surprise and she whispered harshly instead.

"Come on, Sawa-chan!"

The drummer took the teacher's hand in both of her own and tried to put her powers of persuasion into use. Sawako felt vein throb almost reaching the point of popping, but she managed to calm herself. She stood up and went out of the faculty room knowing the girls would follow. She walked briskly to an empty classroom at the end of the hall and turned to face her students behind her and crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently. The girls looked hopeful, especially the tawny-haired one. No one spoke for a while. Sawako took it upon herself to break the silence.

"No."

The girls were taken aback by the firmness and finality in her tone.

"EH?"

Ritsu racked her brain for solutions. She needed to get this request approved. It was their senior year and time was running out for her. She had to do this now or regret this for the rest of her life. She couldn't go about this in any other way. Her mind was set on this already and once she set her mind to things she saw them to the end, even plotted and bribed to get the results she wanted. She would never do this half-assed. She was going to go all out and just give it all she had. But for that to happen, she needed her teacher's approval and recommendation first.

"No!"

Sawako repeated and put more authority into her tone. The girls were out of their mind! She can't allow that. She wasn't even sure if the principal, student council, and organizing committee would allow that. No. Certainly not. The request in itself was absurd.

"B-b-but, Sawa-chan, we just need a few minutes! We'll just do one song, and it won't even be one of ours! We're doing a cover. And it's a slow song, I swear!"

The president was on her knees now and clutched to their teacher's skirt, little tears in the corners of her eyes, voice no more than a whine.

"I can't let you do that. And even if I did allow you, we're not even sure if the principal, the student council and the event organizers would allow it. They've already hired professionals. You should've requested this earlier. The reason why—"

Ritsu cut off her teacher's ramble.

"Please! I swear if you back us up, I'll wash your car for a month!"

The teacher perked up at that and lost the authoritative aura that surrounded her immediately.

"Make that two."

The president stumbled back.

"Eh? Are you crazy? That's too—"

"Well, then forget about it."

Ritsu clung onto the woman's leg like it was a life saver and she just went overboard the Titanic.

"I'll do it! I'll do it!"

The teacher let out a victorious smirk. The two members that stood side by side gave each other a high five and jumped up and down excitedly.

"We did it, Mugi-chan!"

"Hai, Yui-chan!"

Ritsu was on all fours on the floor, head bowed down low and an aura of gloom surrounded her.

"W-what did I just get myself into?"

The day for the graduation grew near and Ho-kago Tea Time's bassist, Mio Akiyama, with Elizabeth tucked safely in her case and strapped to her shoulder, went on ahead to the clubroom because her three other band mates and friends were all on cleaning duty. She took her time climbing the stairs that led to the music room, a place that's become close to her heart for the past three years. She felt like she was already starting to miss the place. She reached the top and faced the door that she's always viewed as the gateway to warmth and laugh and her beloved tea time. She opened the door, scanned the room, and found it empty.

Huh. Well, that's weird. Azusa's always early. Hmm, guess she decided to take it easy today… The school festival just finished after all.

She moved to the blue loveseat in the middle of the room and placed her beloved encased bass against one of the seat's arms. She sat and unzipped the thick black protector and took out her precious instrument and the piece of cloth she always kept in the front pocket of the case. She proceeded to wipe the bass' body until it's shiny once again.

A few moments later there was a click from the door and it creaked open to reveal her pigtailed junior carrying her fender jazz electric guitar in its case.

"Ah, Mio-senpai."

Azusa, always the polite kouhai, greeted her senpai and entered the room. She placed her bag beside Mio's and just stood in front of the tall girl and watched her clean her instrument. After a few seconds, Mio felt like Azusa was inspecting her and became nervous and she sweated.

"A-azusa?"

Mio slowly looked up; she looked like a robot with stiff and rusty joints.

"Hai?"

Azusa kept staring at her senpai unaware that the older girl was starting to break under her gaze.

"I-is th-th-there s-something w-wrong?"

Azusa blinked at the question. Eh?

"No… Nothing's wrong. Why did you ask, Mio-senpai?"

"W-well, good. Is… Is there s-something on my f-face, then?"

The older girl was now quivering slightly. Her kouhai can be scary when she's staring at someone so intently. And like a string that pulled a kite back to the ground, Azusa snapped back to reality and realized that she had been staring at her senpai and probably made the older girl uncomfortable.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Mio-senpai. I was just wondering about something!"

The junior bowed by the waist and apologized sincerely. Crap. I shouldn't be so obvious. Or else Ritsu-senpai's plans would get ruined… And it would all be my fault. The younger girl started sweating and there was a frightened look on her face. Mio saw this and started to worry about her.

"What were you thinking about then?"

The question startled the junior and it was like she jumped from her skin. Azusa put her hands up and started waving them frantically.

"It's nothing! It's nothing important and surely nothing that has anything to do with you!"

Azusa panicked like a criminal that had something to hide.

Mio quirked an eyebrow at the girl's odd behavior. Azusa surely is acting really strange today.

Before the girl could give herself away even more, the door to the music room burst open and the chaos that is Yui and Ritsu entered the room followed by the ever so gentle and elegant Tsumugi. The two short haired girls were marching like soldiers and Ritsu stopped facing sideways in front of Mio and turned to Yui.

"Well done, Private Yui. You may be at ease. We are back safely in our base."

Ritsu held her head high, puffed out her chest and stood military straight and had her hands clasped behind her.

"Hai, Commander Ricchan!"

Yui imitated the club president's stance and did a mock salute. Mugi perked up at the amusing display and hopped to the spot beside Yui and copied what the brown haired girl did but without the fake firmness.

Mio and Azusa were startled when they saw the blonde join in. Mugi (Mugi-senpai), you too? They turned to each other, sweatdropped at the antics of their band mates and shook their head.

"Why don't we relax and go home early for today? The school festival just finished and we have no other performances until graduation."

Ritsu directed the question at Mio. The girl just gave her a confused look.

"I thought we were still going to have tea here at the music room every day?"

Mio felt a deep sadness well inside her. She was really going to miss this school; but more than that she was going to miss their carefree days of just drinking tea and talking about the most random things. Yui was to blame for the extreme variety in the topics of their conversations, of course. It didn't help that Ritsu only served to add to the weirdness.

Ritsu saw Mio's sad face and started to sweat; her palms becoming clammy as she panicked and racked her brain for some kind of excuse.

"I'm sorry, Mio. I can't stay at school after class anymore. My father wants me to take care of some things for him."

Mugi smiled apologetically and tilted her head.

Ritsu thanked Mugi in her head over and over again. Ah, Mugi you're brilliant. I owe you one!

Mio pictured her friend wearing black ray bans and a long trench coat inside a sleek black limousine with her pack of beefed up body guards, making transactions and negotiations and saying 'it was you!'.

"Oh, I have to go home earlier now too. My parents want me to attend a music class they both teach. I'm sorry too."

Azusa scratched at her cheek and shifted her eyes to the side as she made up some kind of excuse to save her senpai.

Ritsu almost cried rivers. Ah, Azusa thank you, thank you! She decided that she should also make some kind of excuse up to make things look like there really was no way to go around this situation.

"Ah, well I have to—"

Yui interrupted Ritsu as she crumbled to the ground and sobbed like a child. She sniffed and wiped at her face but the tears wouldn't stop.

"No more cake…"

Everyone sweatdropped at this… Of course, they all thought, as expected of Yui.

It was homeroom period and Sawako-sensei had just announced the details of the coming graduation ball for the seniors. They all knew about it for months now, being the first one that their school would be holding in all of its years, but the time and place and attire were not specified.

Mio took out a small square piece of paper and wrote a note on it to pass to her best friend who sat at front. She wanted to ask Ritsu to be her partner for the dance. She knew if the girl was with her things would turn out fine and she wouldn't have anything to worry about.

Are you going to the graduation ball?

She watched her classmates pass the note like a domino effect until it reached its destination. She saw Ritsu scribble down something quick on a new piece of paper and passed it back. She got it a few seconds later and read what her friend had written on it.

Of course! Are you?

She wrote a reply on a new piece of paper again and passed it forward. Ritsu received the note and opened it.

Of course! I'll be at your house an hour before the event?

Ritsu stiffened. She had to think of an excuse. She can't go with Mio. She wrote the first thing she could think of and passed it back. Mio read what was written on it.

No, no. My dad will be taking me. He said something about it being his dream to drop his daughter at a dance or something. Crazy, huh? Yeah, well that's my old man for ya!

Mio frowned at this. So much for going with her best friend as her date…

Ritsu on the other hand held a hand to her heart which thumped loudly and angrily at her chest. She was completely oblivious to the fact that Mio asked her out but instead stayed paranoid over her little secret. She wasn't sure if she would make it to the day of the graduation ball. She might die from a heart attack from all the panicking she's doing.

It was the evening of the graduation ball and Mio looked at her reflection in the mirror and blushed. She wondered if her dress was nice enough. She had worn a strapless dark blue dress with a little accent of black lace and a black silk sash was tied around her torso with black heeled shoes to match. Her eye make-up had a tinge of blue and her lips were painted with a natural shade of red and her hair expertly tied into a loose but elegant looking bun with her bangs and two long locks left to frame her face.

She was nervous. She wanted to look pretty for Ritsu. She swore to herself that she would buckle up and muster all the confidence and courage she could to ask her best friend to dance and then she would confess her feelings finally. No matter how the night ended, she swore she would never regret admitting her feelings. She had been hopelessly in love with that idiot since their 4th grade, where Ritsu tied her hair up to look like a pineapple.

Mio looked back to that day and smiled dreamily and giggled. She sighed.

Oh, well. It's time to leave. She doesn't want to be late. It's her graduation ball after all. It's the night she would be confessing her feelings. She went down to call her dad to drop her at school.

She stepped out of the car and waved her father goodbye. He asked if he should pick her up and she said she would just call him. He called out for her to have fun and drove back home.

There were already quite a big number of graduates in the gym. The gym was decorated with balloons, streamers, different colored lights and a disco ball rotated in its place stuck to the ceiling. She saw a couple of familiar faces from her class and her old classes from previous years. She saw Nodoka and could only wave at the girl since she seemed so busy discussing things with a technician. Nodoka's always the mature one, huh? She went in search for her band mates.

Thirty minutes into the program and she couldn't find a single one out of them. Mio had been trying to keep herself from crying for just as long but she can feel herself crumbling. She felt her nose start to get stuffy and her throat tighten. She swallowed and blinked, trying to keep the dam holding her tears back intact. She can't afford to be a weeping mess tonight. But it was so hard and she was all alone. A tear dared to fall and she angrily wiped it away.

How dare they leave her alone in a sea of people she barely knew? How dare them when they knew very well how hard it is for her to approach people she didn't know so well! And that stupid Ritsu! She dressed up all for her and she wouldn't even show up and everything's just ruined now and she just wanted to go home so bad!

She pulled out her phone to dial her father's number as she wormed her way through the sea of people to the exit. She put a hand on the door handle when she heard Sawako-sensei's voice over the speakers.

"We have a surprise performance tonight, everyone. Give them round of applause!"

The sound of clapping hands and cheering erupted from the students. A group of people she recognized started setting up instruments.

Wait… Are those— no way… It can't be… Mugi? Yui? Wait, is that Azusa?

The group of people wore similar masks, simple white ones like the Phantom's in the Phantom of The Opera. The masks covered half of their face, from above the brow down to their noses. The masked keyboardist moved to stand behind her instrument, her elegant wavy blonde locks tied in a loose side ponytail, her dress a beautiful mix of black and white. A masked girl with unmistakable short brown hair that could only belong to one airhead and another masked girl with long black hair tied into a high ponytail wore matching dresses but in opposite colors and one had a castanet in hand and the other girl carried a tambourine. The short haired one wore black while the long haired girl wore white. A few members of the Brass Wind Club were at the back of the stage with saxophones in their hands. Her eyes scanned the stage and widened when she found the person she was looking for. Or at least, she thought she did…

A guy in a black tux came out from the left side of the stage and the other musicians smiled excitedly. He carried a beat box with him and set down at the center of the stage and proceeded to adjust a microphone stand to level with his mouth. He had ochre hair and bangs that would probably reach his nose if he hadn't been wearing a mask. His mask was different, instead of only covering the area around the eyes and nose, his continued down one cheek and ended diagonally below the corner of his mouth thereby obscuring 3/4th of his face. He sat down on the beat box and looked straight at the crowd, his head moved slightly, like he was scanning the crowd for a particular someone. When he found her, his lips parted to talk.

Mio froze. She knew this man. Or she knew who was the person was behind the mask who was pretending to be a man. Her breath got caught in her throat. The person in the tux looked directly at her. Not just in her direction, but directly at her, and she felt his gaze.

His eyes were like a magnet and she felt like nothing more than a thin piece of metal as she was drawn to the center of the dance floor. As if the other students felt the electric connection, they parted to let Mio pass. Now that she was closer she could see that this masked person's eyes were sharp amber just like familiar ones she's spent her childhood and teenage years admiring.

"Good evening, everyone… I hope you're all having fun. We'll be performing one song for all of you. But I will be singing this song for someone in particular. You know who you are and I mean every word in the song, so listen closely. We all hope you guys like it."

The person's bore into hers like the person could see through her soul. The intensity of the gaze made Mio's knees weak.

But when she thought she's had the worst of it all, they began playing a song and that person tapped the beat box rhythmically and started to sing.

Some day, when I'm awfully low…
When the world is cold…

Mio thought she was going to faint. Her eyes were half-lidded and a blush colored her cheeks. She looked as though she was in a daze. When she heard the person sing she knew for sure who it was. There were no doubts in her head. The person there, in the middle of the stage wearing a mask with her bangs let down was Ritsu.

And Ritsu was singing to her. Ritsu was singing a world famous and timeless love song to her.

I will feel a glow just thinking of you…
And the way you look tonight…

The beats were soft and sensual, completely different from her usual powerful and energetic ones and Mio's heart wanted to explode from the softness and sweetness of it all. The saxophone accentuated the piano's notes wonderfully. The tambourine and castanets were an added spice to it all. It was so beautiful to listen to. Mio floated from sheer happiness.

You're lovely, with your smile so warm…
And your cheeks so soft…

Ritsu looked up and made sure to sing the next line looking at her childhood crush, her first love.

There is nothing for me but to love you…
And the way you look tonight…

Mio was so tempted to close her eyes and sway to the music, sway to Ritsu's love. But she kept her eyes open and held the gaze of the singing masked man in a tux.

With each word your tenderness grows…
Tearing my fear apart...

Ritsu made sure this night would be possible, that this night would be perfect. She swore to Sawa-chan that she would clean her car for her. She persuaded the saxophone players in the Jazz Band and bribed them all with various stuff. She probably lost three month's allowances. But she didn't care. This was for her Mio.

And that laugh that wrinkles your nose…
It touches my foolish heart…

Ritsu watched Mio. She could see every miniscule movement, every little rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, every time her eyes fluttered close and opened slowly.

Lovely ... never, ever change…
Keep that breathless charm…

She had to endure not being with Mio afterschool to practice with Mugi, Yui, and Azusa at her house and Yui's alternately. She had even chosen to wear a tux in case Mio was not ready to be 'out' with her. So Mio wouldn't be embarrassed in case she wasn't comfortable with the idea of a girl liking her. She thought about all of this. She did all of this; all because she loved Mio so much…

Won't you please arrange it…
'cause I love you ... just the way you look tonight…

Mio held a hand up to her chest, directly over her heart, and felt every single word and every note. It was like she understood what Ritsu had to do to make all this possible and she felt herself falling even more hopelessly in love with her best friend. The bridge repeated.

With each word your tenderness grows…
Tearing my fear apart...
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose…
It touches my foolish heart…

The saxophones played on. Mugi handled the keyboard gracefully. Yui and Azusa swayed along to the song and added a beautiful emphasis on Ritsu's beats; and as they reached the chorus again, Mio found herself humming along.

Lovely ... never, ever change…
Keep that breathless charm…
Won't you please arrange it…?
'Cause I love you ... just the way you look tonight…

And Ritsu lovingly sang to her and for a moment she saw a vision of the inevitable future. The two of them facing each other, staring into each other's eyes like they were born to do so, like they were born to fall in love, like everything in their lives built up to that moment; the moment when they would say 'I do' and start the rest of their lives together.

'Cause I love you ... just the way you look tonight…
Mmm, tonight…
(Fade)

END

AN: I was in the shower and this song started to play. The idea raped my thoughts and refused to let me rest. I'm still working on TLTB's fourth chapter, don't worry. :) What did you guys think of this? Reviews/comments/reactions are all welcome and appreciated!

~pineappurus