"... And so from even before the feudal era, it was widely believed that the rampant plague and mental illness that affected society was accredited to demons and monsters. This was the way that the upperclass explained it to the lower class and took advantage of this system to exploit the underclass further..."

The Lux Women's University freshman, Ritsu, idly tapped her mechanical pencil against her lips. Her thoughts were elsewhere and most certainly not focused on her Ancient History 101 class that she was presently seated in. Unlike high school, the girl didn't have to worry about the teacher calling her out in class and the professor just kept lecturing. Ritsu turned her eyes back to the powerpoint for a moment and recalled that tonight was her roommate's turn to make dinner.

"Clearly, due to their wealth the upperclass were less affected by the plague and all of the disease-related deaths going around. They lived in significantly more sanitary conditions than a majority of the underclass and as a result they were exposed to less bacteria. However, that didn't necessarily make them immune as no effective medicine had really been developed yet-"

Ritsu cracked her knuckles and surveyed the room feeling a little impatient. She saw a girl that she went to high school with, Mio Akiyama, dutifully take down notes. Ritsu suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"-Oh, sorry everyone. It looks like I went over by a couple of minutes. That's it for today. Don't forget to check the syllabus. Our midterm is next week."

"Hey. Ritsu. We have to practice."

"Coooming, your highness." Ritsu mocked the girl. They had been around each other since high school, even more so because they were in the same band together, however, Ritsu never could quite warm up to the dark haired beauty. Part of her always felt some prickly sense of animosity towards her, unlike most girls it wasn't actually envy. Ritsu didn't really dwell on it and thought that Mio just rubbed her the wrong way or something. It was unusual for her to not be so open to friendship with other people, but Ritsu figured that she had plenty of friends and she'd be fine. She didn't need to be Mio's bestie.

Cold Melodies

The drummer dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone and remembered she had been meaning to text her little brother back about the latest game he had bought. Ritsu lived in a dorm, but her college was situated in her hometown, Lux, so she could stop by and visit her brother pretty frequently.

She made her way to the music studies building and to their band's assigned studio and found Mio and Tsumugi waiting for her. Ritsu greeted them both rather cheerfully. The three had all gone to the same high school and had been in a band together since their sophomore year. Unfortunately, while their guitarist also was planning on attending the same school as they are. She was a year behind them and would be joining them formally in a few short months as Ritsu's freshmen year was already winding down.

"Mugi, you got that tea ready?"

"Mm, just about."

Ritsu flopped down at the table and ignored the dark look from always-so-serious Mio.

"C'mon Mio. Today's lecture was on a completely different level of boring. Gotta take a break to cool off the dome, y'know?"

Mio apparently didn't know as she responded by only rolling her eyes. Mugi, used to the two trading barbs, calmly set the tea down at the table.

The door to the studio opened and Azusa, having commuted from her nearby high school, strode in and without hesitation poured herself a cup of tea. She let out a long sigh and smiled at her band mates.

"How was your guys' days?"

"Mine was pretty good." Mugi pleasantly responded. "We had a very moving film today in my gender studies class."

"Boring. As. FUCK." Ritsu bluntly responded. Mio made a small noise at her immaturity and language.

"Ritsu is being overdramatic. That last lecture was fine."

"Your definition of 'fine' makes me worry about your mental health, Mio..."

"It was only a fifty minute lecture. Surely even your attention span can handle that..."

Azusa leaned back and took a sip of tea. Used to the bickering. Mugi wasn't sure if she should step in and kindly ask her roommate and Ritsu to pipe down at least during 'tea time'.

There was a hesitant knock at the door that silenced everyone. The door to the studio opened slightly and Ritsu could see the part of the face of her quiet roommate, Yui Hirasawa. Ritsu grinned at the despondent girl.

"Yui, it's fine. You can come in."

"Sorry..."

The girl nervously walked into the room feeling kinda awkward that there were a couple of people she didn't recognize. She immediately felt like an intruder despite the open environment of the studio.

"Oh sorry Yui." Ritsu noted realizing something. "Mugi, I know you already know her, but..." She turned to Mio and Azusa. "Mio, Azusa this is my roommate Yui. Actually we just decided that we're gonna be roommates again next year too-because we're cool like that."

"Ah, nice to meet you Yui. I'm Mio a band mate of Ritsu's."

"I'm Azusa. I'm actually not in college yet, but I'll be matriculating into LWU next year. I'm HTT's guitarist."

"Oh, so everyone in here is a member of HTT...?"

"Correctomundo, Yui!" Ritsu cheered. "Anyway, what's up? I didn't know you even knew where the studio was..."

"Oh, right." Yui muttered. "Ritsu! I'm sorry! I can't cook tonight! I have to cram for my theory midterm tomorrow so I'll be in the library pretty late. My phone's dead so I thought I'd come let you know!" The brunette apologized in a somewhat panicked tone.

"Yeah, no sweat Yui... actually how about this...? Why don't you do your thing in the library 'til around six and you can come back here after that and we can all go out and grab something to eat together? I'm sure you'll need a study break by then."

Yui nodded slightly. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll come back a little after six." She grinned at her roommate. "Wish me luck, Captain!"

Ritsu mock-saluted back to her roommate. "May your journey be fruitful, Private Yui!"

"Peace!" Yui quietly closed the door behind her and presumably made her way to the music library.

The girls resumed quietly having their tea.

"Um, this has been bothering me for a while now, but how does Yui plan on cramming for a midterm? All in one night before? That's impossible. I didn't realize that college students could be so irresponsible..." Azusa glanced at Ritsu. "Then again given the bad influence she lives with maybe I shouldn't be so surprised." It was like half a joke/half truth. Ritsu grinned.

"Well, actually Yui has always been doing that and she's been just fine." Mio and Azusa's faces both simultaneously blanched. "She's a prodigy when it comes to learning things it seems..." Ritsu laughed. "Honestly, I was pretty shocked too at first. I mean, she's kind of a space cadet..."

"Well, what's her major Ritsu?" Azusa implored. It'd probably be something light and easy that would enable her to have such horrible study habits the high schooler figured.

"Um, I think she's gonna end up in some sort of musical studies major because she's been taking a lot of music theory classes since she's come here..."

Not quite what Azusa had expected.

"Oh, that's right. Yui is the one who wrote the melodies for our songs, right?" Mio joined in on the conversation. Mugi was attempting to prepare another batch of tea.

"Wha-what?" Azusa practically dropped her tea cup. The girl seemed rather different than the melodies that she had supposedly composed for the band. "I expected her to be..."

"-less sullen?" Mio added in thinking along the same lines as Azusa.

Ritsu and Mugi had tensed at this declaration. They both had a pretty solid idea about what would cause a seemingly inherently bubbly person like Yui to be such a Debbie-downer. Their silence didn't go unnoticed.

"Um, Ritsu, Mugi... do you guys know something?" Azusa cautiously asked. Mio looked deep in thought.

The bassist's mind shifted to a past local newspaper headline. She recalled several in depth news reports on the TV as well. It was the talk of the town.

"Ah, well..." Mugi started.

"Isn't she the sister of the girl in the murder cold case that happened a few months back?" Mio shattered the silence, finally remembering Yui's face from the TV screen. Azusa nearly spit out her tea.

"You mean she's the surviving Hirasawa sister?" Azusa asked incredulously directing her stare at Ritsu.

"To put it simply... or bluntly, I guess... yeah. She is. Her full name is Yui Hirasawa. Her sister Ui was the one mysteriously murdered while they were on their way back from a trip."

"That's..."

Mugi made a face and looked away. Grimacing.

"Yeah, for obvious reasons Yui doesn't have much to say on the subject. She keeps a picture of the two of them in the dorm, but I have a feeling they were really close. Their parents died when they were younger and left them enough to live independently, but Ui was the last member of Yui's family..."

Mio gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Her eyes watered visibly. Ritsu looked away not wanting to imagine would it be like if she lost her little brother Satoshi. Azusa remained silent and stared at her tea cup on the table.

Mugi cleared her throat lightly and everyone's attention snapped to her. "Why don't we start practice?"