Hello everybody. Welcome to the revision of Recording.

The first time I wrote this fic it sorta branched out and became more the kind of gruesome tale you'd find in Stephen King books (which I love). I personally thought there was no problem with that, having a story jump from one genre to another. Jaime Hernandez did it with his graphic novel series collectively known as Locas. But then the fic became huge, complicated, and unwieldy, and basically I stopped enjoying writing it. So I'm going to go back to writing it the way it was originally meant to be written: as a dramatic romantic comedy. This re-upload apparently serves not only myself but an entire body of readers who hated the genre-jump.

This is part one of my comeback plan (see profile). Part two is an idea I have for a fic for a different anime series. Updates for both fics will run parallel with one another. What anime is this other fic going to be about? Well, for now that's a surprise. Enjoy and review, my dear readers.

RECORDING

Chapter One

I Got Us a Show

Weathermen are so unreliable, Nakano Azusa thought dismally as she watched the rain dot the music room window like clear round diamonds. When the second year left for school that morning gray and purple clouds had formed a low, bruised ceiling over the town. The meteorologist had insisted that that was as bad as today's weather would get. Azusa snorted, angry she hadn't exercised better common sense and brought an umbrella.

"Hey, are we gonna practice, or what?" she spoke up, puncturing the silence that hung over the music room.

"We're gonna practice," Tainaka Ritsu nodded. "...eventually," she finished lamely. She rested her head on the table, ready to join Hirasawa Yui in an afternoon nap.

"So much rain this month," Kotobuki Tsumugi sighed, picking a glazed apple fritter apart with her fingers. "It kind of makes you tired, ne?"

Ritsu and Akiyama Mio nodded assent. Yui snored softly, a puddle of drool forming on the table. Azusa, arms crossed, sighed, silently agreeing.

"Hopefully, it'll let up by Halloween so we can go trick-or-treating," Mugi added brightly.

Ritsu considered the window, as if silently imploring the rain to cease. She shrugged nonchalantly. "If it doesn't, we could just stay in and watch movies." She grinned at Mio. "Ever seen Cabin Fever, Mio?"

The raven-haired girl stiffened. She didn't like the sound of that title.

Ritsu's brown eyes glinted at her best friend's anxious expression. She leaned forward and lowered her voice to a husky groan. "It's about five kids caught out in the woods with a flesh-eating virus claiming them one by one!"

Mio sank back in her chair, her pupils dilating and contracting in terror. A low squeak escaped her throat.

"Matter of fact..." The drummer darkly considered the rest of the band. "...any one of us could have it...right nowwww," she hissed.

Ritsu resisted the urge to giggle at Mio's face. The bassist's chin jerked up as she gulped.

"Could it be you? Or Mugi? Azusa?...Yui?" Not that Mio could probably hear her anyway. At this point she'd covered her ears.

"Oh my God!" Ritsu exclaimed loud enough for her friend to hear. "Yui's got the virus and she's gushing blood everywhere!"

"IIIIYYYYAAAAAHHHHH!" Mio shrieked. She leapt up and retreated to her safe corner. Raw shivers racked the poor girl's spine. Yui...blood...crimson, sticky liquid oozing everywhere...It made the bassist's flesh crawl. "I don't see it," she told herself, effectively trying to shun that mental picture.

Ritsu snickered, settling back in her chair. That was a flight response. (Her health class had been studying fear response.) Mugi smiled good-naturedly over her tea cup. Nothing less from these two. Before, she could never understand Ritsu's driving need to scare Mio, but of late the keyboardist had a hunch...

It was then Sawako popped in to join the Light Music Club for tea. She sat in her usual spot, Mio returned to the table, and the conversation flowed as effortlessly as the tea. Azusa added her two bits now and then. But mostly she listened for the rain to stop. I could ask someone for an umbrella...But she was too proud for that.

"So I got us a show," Sawako announced. That caught the entire band's attention (save for Yui, who was still asleep).

"A concert? You did? Really?" Mio exclaimed, her voice tinged with both happiness and anxiety.

"Where is it?" Ritsu asked.

"How did you do this?" Azusa inquired.

The four band members chatted excitedly about their inevitable performance and bombarded their manager with questions. Eventually Sawako roared, "SHUT UP!" and they did.

"I have a cousin," she explained, "who runs a restaurant/bar out in Yokohama. Apparently New Order is on a world tour, and they have a show posted there. But they didn't have an opening band, so..."

"New Order?" Azusa's normally hooded eyes widened. "Oh, my goodness..."

"What's New Order?" Mugi asked innocently.

"Probably the best-known indie rock band ever." The guitarist shook her head in disbelief. "We could get known! This is huge."

"When's the concert?" Ritsu asked.

"November 6th," Sawako answered blithely.

No sooner had she announced the date than wee Azusa was out of her seat, her Fender Mustang strapped around her slight frame. They had wasted enough time gabbing over tea and cakes. Now they had a concert - a real concert with a real band - in less than a month! It was time to practice, damn it!

"C'mon, let's go," she ordered anxiously, plucking out a minor scale on her guitar. "If we have to play with New Order, we can't suck."

"We don't suck!" Ritsu protested.

"We just might in comparison," Mio groaned. She shared Azusa's apprehension about playing with a famous band. She got out her 3-tone sunburst Fender Precision bass, her right hand dashing along the frets, her left hand retrieving her pick from the pickguard.

Mugi hopped up to take her place behind her Korg Triton Extreme. Ritsu, a bit more reluctant than the keyboardist, seated herself at her Yamaha Hipgig drumkit. Mugi warmed herself up with arpeggios whilst the drummer tapped the high-hat.

Azusa nudged the sleeping Yui. "Wake up, Yui-senpai," she said, her voice taking a mock-cheerful tone.

Yui just sighed and buried her face deeper in her arms.

The pigtailed girl shook the older girl's shoulder. "Yui-senpai~" she sang. "Time to wake up~" She continued to prod Yui as she sang, "We have a concert in two and a half weeks~That's not a lot of time to get to New Order's level of greatness~Now Azusa's losing patience so WAKE UP~"

"Just five more minutes," Yui groaned.

Is she kidding? Thoroughly outraged, Azusa hauled the third year up by her collar and shook her.

"No, you may not have five more minutes!" she ranted. "What, has this band changed its name to After School Nap Time? Get your guitar and stop being lazy!"

Despite her getting owned in the face, Yui smiled. "Does Azu-nyan need a hug?" she chirped. Before Azusa could protest Yui had seized her in a tender embrace. The senpai pressed her body against Azusa's and nuzzled her cheek. "It'll be okay," she assured softly. "We always manage to rock ultimate at the festivals, ne?"

The kouhai shuddered, not liking the meaning manage implied. "Hai," she agreed, leaning into Yui's embrace, "but a festival is in a completely different ballpark than a concert." She sighed and linked her hand with Yui's. "But maybe if we use our time wisely, we won't get booed off stage..."

"Of course we won't," Yui murmured.

Mugi lowered her chin, her blue eyes fixed levelly on the two guitarists. She giggled. Quite a convenient situation. On their own accord, her eyes drifted over to Sawako. The sensei was also watching Yui and Azusa; her expression was similar to that of the keyboardist. Sawa-chan and I have a lot in common, Mugi realized. At any rate, we're both privy to... She blushed and turned her attention back to the guitarists. They had broken their embrace, and Yui was strapping on her Gibson cherry sunburst Les Paul.

Yui cleared her throat. "So, uh...Let's play something..."

"Yeah!" Ritsu cheered.

"Aren't you energetic, all of a sudden," Mio commented dryly.

Twirling her sticks, Ritsu grinned, "That's 'cause drummers naturally produce their own caffeine!" She did a rim-shot, the unexpected, sharp sound surprising the bassist. "Let's play Light and Fluffy Time!"

"Yayness!" Mugi acclaimed, setting her fingers to the appropriate keys.

Azusa was practically jumping with excitement. "Count us in before the stoked moment passes!"

"Live from Music Room 3! We are After School Tea Time!" Ritsu crowed. "One, two, three, four!"

A few minutes later...

Mio sighed, out of breath from her singing. The bass strings squeaked slightly as she released her fingers from them. This was her favorite part about playing in a band: that buzz you feel after playing your song, you can practically see the atomic structures in the air vibrating. But, reality...

"Do we sound bad?" she breathlessly asked.

Sawako shrugged as she finished her tea. "I don't know. Do you?"

"We do, don't we? I knew it..."

"Stop fussing and let's play the song again!" Ritsu rooted.

"Anyways," Sawako smirked, "the audience will probably love you regardless of how you sound. To be honest, the lion's share of 'em will be there for you, not New Order."

Azusa blinked. "Eh? Who comes to a concert just for the opening band?"

"Well, y'know, when the opening band is a bunch of cute high school girls..."

Ritsu blanched. "Sawa-chan. What kind of 'restaurant/bar' does your cousin run?"

Sawako toyed with her tea cup a little. "Ah, well, y'see, Tainaka-san...It's a bit of a niche market thing. But it's got an appeal of its own..."

"You're stalllllling!" the drummer sang.

The sensei smiled and looked up boldly. "It's a lesbian cosplay cafe!"

Nothing daunted, Sawako watched as the color ebbed from Mio's face. A virtual shadow fell over Azusa's eyes. Yui flinched. Ritsu gnawed her lip. Only Mugi's expression remained the same; on the contrary, the blonde girl actually seemed delighted.

"I think that's a wonderful and clever concept," Mugi nodded, as if reading her friends' minds. "I'm sure there are plenty of lesbians out there who are into cosplay. They need a place of their own, too."

"Try this concept," Mio grimaced. "Having a bunch of lonely, horny women pawing all over you." The thought alone was almost enough to send the bassist back into her corner. Then she wondered if New Order knew their next venue was a lesbian cosplay cafe.

Sawako snickered and slinked up behind Mio. "This is the perfect opportunity to get you into costume!" she purred.

Mio squeezed her eyes shut as her breath hollowed in her throat. Her palms became clammy. She wrung her hands, as if trying to alleviate herself of the creepy-crawly sensations.

"What was your excuse before, Sawa-chan?" Mugi teased.

Sawako giggled sheepishly as she threw her arm behind her head. "Eheheheh...A good point you make, Mugi-chan." The sensei straightened her posture and quietly considered the blonde keyboardist. Tsumugi was far and away Sawako's best student. She was well-mannered, elegant, got decent grades...and then there was the tea. What's not to like about a girl who makes you tea?

With an effort, the manager tore her bespectacled eyes from Mugi. Sawako indicated the keyboardist and the bassist. "Maybe I should dress you guys up as Yaya and Hikari!"

Ritsu exploded into a fit of laughter.

"No, thank you," said Mio in a tight voice. Do I even WANT to know who those people are?

"No?" Sawako blinked. "Okay. Then how 'bout Chikane and Himeko?"

Now Ritsu roared.

"No, thank you," the bassist said again.

"Mari and Akko?"

"No!" Mio exploded. Aren't there any yuri couples who don't have black and blonde hair?

Azusa impatiently strummed an A7 chord on her guitar, her favorite chord. "I think what we sound like will be more important than what we look like."

"I agree," Mio nodded, eager to end this weird yuri cosplay conversation.

The rain had not slackened by the end of practice. Blowing rainwater off her nose, Azusa watched as Mio, Ritsu, and Mugi departed with their umbrellas. The only person other than herself who had forgotten her umbrella was Yui. At first the kouhai felt a bit peeved at being in the same boat as the clumsy brunette. Then she decided that just didn't matter now.

"Anoo, senpai..." Azusa sheepishly itched an eyebrow. "Do you by any chance follow the weather reports?"

Yui shook her head. "I wake up too late in the morning to catch 'em. Why?"

A drop of sweat appeared on the pigtailed girl's head. Nothing less from Yui-senpai... But she smiled appreciatively at Yui.

"Well, uh...They said it wasn't supposed to rain today, so I didn't bring my umbrella. Pretty stupid of me, eh?"

Yui giggled and a pink blush dashed her cheeks. "Not bad, but try this. This morning I woke up so late that I didn't have time to grab my umbrella!"

"Oi! This isn't a stupid contest, Yui-senpai!" The younger girl sighed. Before the two of them the rain lashed down in sheets. However, they were safe under the overhang, in their pale patch of dryness on the pavement. "...but I suppose you just won."

Azusa gasped when she felt Yui take her hand. The senpai was leading the kouhai into the deluge.

"How far away do you live?"

Azusa blinked at the seemingly random question. The rain was already plastering her bangs to her forehead. She pointed in the direction opposite of that in which Yui was leading her. "The subdivision down by the electronics store."

Yui stopped running and turned to face Azusa. Rainwater dripped from her chin and touseled brown hair. "Would you like to stay at my place until the rain lets up? It's closer."

The pigtailed girl looked upward, facing the tempest dead-on. Who knew how long it would last? It could go on through midnight...

"Sure," she blurted, facing Yui again. "I'd have to notify my parents, but I can stay. Arigatougosaimasu."