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The next morning, Sayo once again woke ahead of Tae. She supposed it was no surprise, when the other girl did not bother with alarms. Sayo checked both of their schedules and noted that they had the same session again that morning, so she shook Tae awake. “I will sacrifice breakfast for more time to sleep,” she said, groaning from under the covers.
“Come on, the first session is 3 hours long, you’ll want some food,” Sayo chided.
“I just need enough time to run in and bring cranky morning-pants his banana slice,” she said.
Sayo had many things to say, like how Tae was going to waste a meal swipe on one slice of banana, or how if she was going to run to the dining hall and back, Tae should factor in five more minutes to eat something, but she held her tongue. She wasn’t Tae’s parent.
“Well I’m leaving in ten minutes, it’s 45 minutes until the first session begins.”
Tae made a hum of understanding, and Sayo moved to the closet. Today, she decided to wear a fancier pair of shorts in navy that Lisa helped her pick out, with black tights underneath. On top, she wore a loose-fitting gray top, the straps of which tied over her shoulders. In the words of Lisa, it suited her, because it was a refreshing summer look, but with darker, cooler colors. She wore white tennis shoes on her feet. There was no chance she was going to mess with sandals when she might have to step on a pedal board.
Sayo ate breakfast alone, as she did the day before, and walked to the first session. She was early, but today’s lesson was in a different building than the previous day’s sessions, so it took some time to find. She found some girls gathering in the lobby, a large open space with several wide pillars with benches around them for seating. Among them was Miura Eri, who was talking to the girl who had been taking notes the previous day during the introductions, and another girl Sayo hadn’t met. Eri waved her over.
“Ami, this is Hikawa Sayo from Roselia,” said Eri, and Sayo nodded her head slightly. “Hikawa-san, this is Sakurai Ami, she’s a music journalist and a guitarist in Nagoya, and this is… um…”
“Kaneko Rina,” said the third girl, looking a little annoyed that she wasn’t remembered. “We were just talking about you a few minutes ago,” she said.
Sayo wasn’t sure who Kaneko Rina was, if she was a high school or university student, if she was someone who played well or not. Anyone who played after Tae yesterday was a blur. Obviously she wasn’t a professional - this was an amateur only program - but she carried herself with strong confidence.
“Don’t scare her like that, Kaneko-san,” said Eri. “We were watching videos of some of the bands based on notes that Sakurai-san took, and we thought Roselia was awesome!”
“Are you really in high school?” asked Ami. “You’re all very talented. Your vocalist is incredible, and your drummer, I read she was just in middle school!”
“She’s entered high school this year,” Sayo explained.
“Ah. And that’s not to take away from bass, keyboard, and you, of course! I stayed up last night watching several videos,” Ami went on. “I especially liked Determination Symphony.”
“Oh,” Sayo felt her face flush a bit.
“Hikawa-san? Are you alright?” asked Eri.
“Yes, I’m sorry. That just surprised me. That song is… really special to me.”
Ami smiled, apparently picking up on Sayo’s discomfort at having attention on her. “Well, I’ll leave you alone for now, but I might have to do a piece on Roselia soon!”
“Yes, can we please talk about Hanazono-san’s bands?” asked Rina.
“Bands?” asked Eri.
Rina nodded. “Ami and I were watching back in the room last night. Apparently she used to be in this band-” Rina pulled up a video of Tae playing with Raise a Suilen and played about a minute of it, “But then left it to play with this band.” She switched the video to a Poppin’ Party live, much more mellow and cheerful in tone from RAS’s laser light shows and hardcore headbanging.
“Oh, Hikawa-san knows her, do you know anything about that?” Eri asked.
“Oh, you know her?” Ami asked. “She’s very talented.”
“But why choose that band when… ugh!” Rina shook her fists. Soon enough it was time to begin their morning sessions, so they split up again, Sayo remaining on the first floor with Ami, and the other two going up to the second floor.
From behind a pillar, she saw someone stand, a pretty girl with long hair in a flowing white sundress, and then she realized with dread that it was Tae. Had she been there the whole time? Certainly she had only rushed in at the end after feeding Oddie, and only heard - well, they did only gossip about her right at the end. For a moment, Sayo thought perhaps she didn’t hear them, that perhaps she had her headphones in or that all the conversations in the lobby blocked out theirs, but somehow, the cheerful smile Tae tried to give Sayo betrayed the fact that she had heard more than any other expression she could give.
Dozens of childish thoughts flooded into Sayo’s head. ’Well it’s not like you said those things, you just didn’t disagree.’ ‘Nothing was mean, it was just conjecture.’ ‘The mean parts were in the non-verbal parts of the conversation, and Tae wasn’t even watching.’ Realizing the latest thought contradicted the previous, she decided to stop. What Sayo did not do was tell those girls to stop, or to let people enjoy whatever kind of band they like. Whether it was because she was intimidated by older girls, because she wanted to remain well-liked, or because secretly she was perplexed by the decision to go with Poppin’ Party over RAS as well, well, she didn’t want to think about that too much.
She sat down in the classroom, once again in a circle, where she could see each participant and the instructor. Today they were focusing on timing and phrasing, but Sayo’s focus was only half there. She looked at Ami, who was pretty, with reddish hair clipped up in a messy bun, and who wore a checkered jumper over a white blouse. She watched the instructor intently, apparently unphased by their conversation earlier. But why would she be, she was complimentary to Tae and she didn’t know her personally.
Sayo looked at Tae, her long hair reaching the seat of her chair, and a lock of it even falling over her guitar. She seemed to be trying her best to stay focused, but she didn’t seem to be having nearly as much fun as the previous day. They practiced various exercises, taking samples of music and altering the timing to evoke different moods, learning new techniques with their pull-offs and hammer-ons, and learning new tips for phrasing when composing. In all, Sayo found it useful, and tried to focus on the lesson completely to block out that morning’s conversation. It was difficult, when she kept catching glimpses of the white dress or the blue guitar or the long, sleek dark hair.
They stopped for the midpoint break (just ten minutes this time) and Sayo used the bathroom, splashing water on her face to try to snap out of her daze. So far, she hadn’t been called out for falling behind more than the others, but she knew if she wasn’t careful, her timing would suffer. When she returned, the blue guitar and its owner were gone.
“Sensei, where’s Hanazono-san?” asked Ami.
“Ah, she wasn’t feeling well, so I had her go to the infirmary. She said she was just a little lightheaded from skipping breakfast, so I’m sure she’ll be back for the afternoon session.”
Sayo sat back down, not meeting Ami’s gaze. She had no idea if Tae truly wasn’t feeling well, but she doubted it. She continued with the second half of the session, somehow doing worse despite the distraction of Tae being gone. Luckily, this was one of two timing and phrasing lessons, because she felt like she retained nearly nothing in that session.
“Ah, Sakurai-san,” the teacher asked, as they were packing up. “Do you mind bringing a lunch tray to Hanazono-san at the infirmary? It’s the building right next to the dormitory. If you ask at the dining hall they’ll pack up a lunch for you, no charge.”
“Of course, no worries, sensei.” Ami bowed and left, Sayo following.
“Sakurai-san, I can go! I don’t mind!” Sayo said, unsure why she was being so persistent. She just felt that this was something she had to do. This whole trip so far was steps forward and backward with Tae, but she felt that somehow, if they didn’t fix this rift, then nothing would go back to normal again.
“Oh, Hikawa-san. Eri did say she was your friend, right? I’m sure she’d much rather get lunch from you than from a stranger. Well, let Hanazono-san know I hope she feels better soon!” Ami dropped two hard candies into Sayo’s hand and waved as she walked away.
Sayo dropped her guitar at the classroom where her afternoon lesson would take place, and then walked to the dining hall. She swiped once, but true to sensei’s word, after talking with the cook on duty, was able to get two box lunches to go. “Oh, for Hanazono-san? I hope she feels better soon,” the woman said.
“Oh, is Tae-chan not feeling well?” asked another woman from the back. “I hope she feels better by supper, I got fresh parsley in and I hear that’s Oddie’s favorite.”
Sayo almost choked. These women were in on the salad smuggling operation?? Had Tae won them over with cute bunny pictures? How? She supposed this was not the time to solve that mystery, and after thanking them and promising to send along their sentiments, she set off for the infirmary.
As directed, there was a small infirmary on the first floor of the building next to the dormitory, which also housed a full kitchen the residents could use, a large rec room with ping pong and billiards, and a computer lab. Sayo kept this in mind in case she ever got the chance to log into Neo-Fantasy Online.
There was no attendant in the infirmary (not that Sayo expected there to be - in a university, at lunch hour), so she drew back the only curtains around a bed, calling out “Excuse me!” as she did so.
Tae was on the bed, curled up on her side, reading a music magazine - Amped JP by the look of it. Her guitar was propped up against the wall, and the window was open, letting in a light breeze. The flowing sundress seemed to blend in with the white linen sheets and the curtains on the windows and around the bed, and Sayo suddenly felt like she was intruding on a scene that was not meant for her.
“Sayo-san,” said Tae, propping herself up on her elbows. “Why are you here?”
“I brought you lunch,” said Sayo, annoyed that even though she brought herself here, she couldn’t state her feelings outright.
“Oh,” said Tae. She looked like had been ready to get up out of the bed, but instead she just rearranged the pillows, sitting up against the headboard. Sayo was confident she was faking her illness, but the realization didn’t bother her for some reason.
“Here,” said Sayo, pulling the bedside table over and putting the box lunch on top. “The ladies in the dining hall made it with care once they heard it was for you.”
“Oh yes, they’re really sweet. They saw that I was choosing some of the less-popular dishes, and then they started making me this and that to try, like last night, they made this thing with squash.... Nevermind,” she said with a light laugh. She looked down and began to eat her lunch, so Sayo sat in the chair beside the bed, using the other table to eat her own lunch. Tae looked surprised that Sayo was staying, but didn’t comment on this. For a while, they both ate quietly.
“You know, I used to do this a lot,” Tae said, after she had finished about half of the lunch.
“Do what?” asked Sayo, unsure of where this was going.
“Go to the infirmary as a kid.”
“Were you sick a lot?” Sayo thought this was a bit of an invasive question, but Tae had been the one to bring the topic up.
“Ha, I wonder. Is it possible to make yourself sick?” she asked. “When you’re fine but then something happens and you feel like you need to go lay down or else you might…” She shook her head, unable to put into words what she was trying to say. She put down the chopsticks and pushed the table away, drawing up her knees to her chest in much the same way as she did on the train.
Sayo wanted to tell Tae that the teachers expected her back in the afternoon session, or that she didn’t quite grasp what Tae was trying to tell her because she didn’t speak ‘Tae’, but she kept her mouth shut for now.
Finally, Tae continued. “When I was a kid, I didn’t have many friends. Well, really any friends. I met Rei at music school, but at my regular school, I was kind of an outcast. Maybe it’s because I’m not good at communicating, or maybe it’s because all kids need someone to pick on, but once you’re labeled as that kid in elementary school, it sticks.”
Sayo listened, enraptured. This was the most she had ever heard Tae speak.
“Eventually I started learning guitar, and things got a little better, but even then, school was kind of hard. Some days, I would just want to lie in the infirmary to get away.”
Tae turned her gaze to Sayo, but couldn’t hold it there. “When I got to high school, I met Kasumi, and Arisa, and Saaya, and Rimi-rin. I- I had true friends for the first time and we made music together. All the hours I spent alone playing guitar were so that I could create memories with my friends.”
Sayo nodded. She understood well what it felt like to finally have a place in a band and friends among your bandmates.
When Tae continued, her voice was thick with emotion. “So when people question why my choice was Poppin’ Party over RAS, it’s not a matter of genre, or ‘quality’, it’s a matter of where my friends and my memories and my happiness is. And when people say things like ‘Poppin’ Party is inferior’, I get offended, because those are my precious friends.”
Sayo stood, offering Tae a tissue to wipe her eyes. She sighed. She hated getting emotional, but Tae had bared everything to her, so she owed her the same consideration. “Tae-san, I want to apologize. This morning I did not stop those girls when they were speaking about your bands, and I had every ability to do so. Additionally, I think I was unconsciously like them, questioning your choice of band. But now that you’ve shared that with me, I understand. Your friends really are what’s most important.”
Now smiling, Tae nodded. Reputation and rank were not the most important to Poppin’ Party. They entered contests when they had specific goals in mind, but they weren’t like Roselia, aiming for the elusive ‘pinnacle’. Poppin’ Party were friends trying to grow together and enjoy themselves. Sayo had it wrong all along. All the older girls did. Tae wasn’t chasing the best ‘career move’, but friendships that had eluded her most of her life thus far.
“Oh, Sakurai-san gave me these to give to you,” said Sayo, handing the candies to Tae.
“You should have one, you brought them and the lunch,” said Tae.
Sayo would never admit it out loud, but she did have a weakness for candy. This time, she perched herself at the end of the infirmary bed, popping the candy into her mouth. “Have you read this issue yet?” asked Tae, changing her positioning in the bed so she was sitting near Sayo, showing her the magazine. As her curtain of hair fell over Sayo’s shoulder, and Sayo could inhale the pleasant scent of Hanazono Tae, she realized, with a blush, that they were close.
“Oh, August? No…” Sayo stiffly grabbed the magazine, but Tae didn’t back away, kneeing just over her shoulder and behind her on the bed. Now and then, she would point to an article or photo, the watermelon scent of the hard candy drifting into Sayo’s nose. Tae’s hair that had fallen onto Sayo’s arm was tickling her, but she didn’t dare move. Why was this affecting her so?
Finally, enough time had passed that it was acceptable to get up, and Sayo tossed the disposable lunch container in the trash. Tae hurriedly took a few more bites and closed hers, completing her meal. “We better get going, if we want to make afternoon sessions on time,” said Sayo.
Tae sat back on the bed, biting her lip a bit. Her demeanor seemed to shift at once from warmth and excitement over sharing the music magazine with Sayo, to a reticence over leaving the infirmary. “You go ahead, Sayo-san. Thanks for lunch. Oh, and you can keep that magazine, I’m finished with it.”
“You’re not coming?” asked Sayo. Tae certainly wasn’t sick, and they had sorted out the issue from earlier, she really couldn’t see any reason to skip this afternoon’s lessons, especially since this camp was a rare opportunity.
“Yeah, I’m still not feeling great, I’ll see you in the dorm this evening.”
Sayo reminded herself that she wasn’t Tae’s guardian and nodded, leaving for the afternoon lesson. Tae laid back down in the empty infirmary, leaving Sayo to wonder if she really planned to do nothing all afternoon. More than likely, she would pull out her guitar, or leave the infirmary and play hooky, she supposed. Not that it was any of her business.
Sayo proceeded to her afternoon lesson, surprised to see Kaneko Rina among the four others waiting. “Ah, Hikawa-san! It was only four of us waiting, I was wondering who else was coming!”
Sayo didn’t much feel like getting into a conversation with the girl she felt held most of the blame for that morning’s gossip. “Yes, I’m here,” she said shortly. She wondered if the sixth spot was empty, or if it was Tae’s, or if it was an older girl finishing a cigarette before the lesson began.
Soon enough, the instructor came, taking attendance. “Is Hanazono Tae now here?” she asked, with concern.
“I was just with her, she’s in the infirmary,” Sayo reported. “She said she was not feeling well enough to come to afternoon lessons.”
“Ah, what poor timing. Well I hope she recovers quickly. Hikawa-san, please check on her after class as well.”
Sayo wanted to say that she didn’t have much of a choice, as they were roommates, but kept that information to herself. She noticed Rina sneak up behind her as they were getting seated. The girl was much shorter than her despite presumably being older, so Sayo had to crouch a bit as Rina spoke in a low voice.
“Hikawa-san, did Hanazono-san look ‘sick’, to you? I mean, she didn’t look like she was… ‘avoiding’ coming to class, did she?”
Sayo wondered if this girl really wished illness on someone rather than wishing that her gossip was overheard, but knew that she herself wasn’t innocent from that morning’s drama. She debated how to reply to Rina, and wondered if somehow Tae was aware of Rina’s attendance in their afternoon class, and that was why she chose to skip. Rina seemed to be guessing at that, at least.
“Tae-san seemed like she’ll recover quickly,” Sayo said, realizing before she was aware of what she was doing that she had used Tae’s given name.
“Oh, were you two that close?” Rina said, her voice wavering a tad.
Sayo shrugged, sitting down and starting to tune her guitar. The lesson went fine, with Sayo able to focus aside from the stress she felt emanating from Rina. When it was time to split up and enter separate practice rooms, she could breathe easier and got even more done. By the time 5 o’clock rolled around, she even felt accomplished, much like she had the first afternoon session, a far cry from the dreadful morning session.
At dinner time, she dropped her guitar off in the dormitory, noting that Tae’s was already back there. She proceeded to the dining hall, where she spotted Tae eating at a table near the large wall of windows, looking out towards the many buildings on the campus. On the other side of the dining hall was Eriko’s group, and Eriko smiled and waved her over. “Wanna eat with us tonight, Sayo? Eri said your band is like… super cool!”
To be acknowledged by Eriko made Sayo’s heart swell, but for some reason, she felt guilty taking up the offer. “Maybe tomorrow? My friend wasn’t feeling well today, I want to sit with her.”
“Ah, Hanazono-san did miss lessons today, I heard. Go be a good friend, Hikawa-san!” said Eri with a cute salute.
“I’ll hunt you down another time instead,” said Eriko. “Maybe I’ll hunt you both down,” she said with a pretend-sly smile.
After saying goodbye, Sayo got her dinner tray and joined Tae by the windows. Tae looked surprised to have company at dinner, but didn’t comment. She never seemed to have anything to say about Sayo’s choices, which Sayo appreciated. Sayo could imagine another girl saying “Oh, finally have time to sit with me?” or “Did the college girls get bored with you?” but she knew Tae would never say, or even think such a thing.
“What did you get?” Tae asked instead, peering at her tray.
“Curry,” Sayo said simply. “I have to pick around the carrots, but I like all the rest.”
“You don’t like carrots?” Tae asked with a laugh. “That doesn’t fit your concept at all.”
“What do you mean? What does ‘my concept’ and carrots have to do with each other?”
“You’re Hikawa Sayo,” explained Tae. “You tell people the way to do things. And the way to do things in Sayo-land should be ‘finish what’s on your plate, someone put love and care into making that’ or at least ‘you shouldn’t waste food’. But you leave carrots behind!”
“Well I try not to pick things with carrots in the first place,” said Sayo, “But I got held up on my way over, and there were only a few choices left.”
Tae laughed again, though Sayo didn’t see what was very funny. Tae herself was eating some kind of stewed tofu that was definitely not on the menu that night. “Oh this?” she said, noticing Sayo’s gaze. “Yamada-san said the spicy braised tofu is good when you aren’t feeling great, it’ll perk you back up.”
Sayo wanted to comment about how Tae wasn’t actually sick, but she supposed the dining hall women didn’t know that. Tae continued. “I don’t know if it’s working, but my ears are burning off.” She smiled. The ear that was exposed through her thick hair was indeed bright red.
Tae asked about what she missed in the afternoon lesson, and Sayo filled her in. Sayo didn’t ask about what Tae did during the four hours that afternoon. Towards the end of their meal, one of the aproned women from the kitchen came to their table, offering two small plates of cake and a bowl of lettuce and herbs. “Yamada-san, thank you for Oddie’s food, but I can’t also accept cake!” said Tae.
“I made a dozen for the girls in the back, and I had a couple extras. Take them, or I’ll toss them,” she chided.
Tae smiled. “Oh! I heard that we’re doing a performance at the end of the week. Do you want to come and watch?”
The woman smiled. “Watch you play guitar? Sure, darling. My days off are Friday and Saturday.”
When she walked away, Tae pushed one of the cakes to Sayo and began to eat. “Where did you hear about a performance?” asked Sayo.
“Oh, I think Tachibana-sensei was talking about it with Ueda-sensei during dinner the first night.”
It would make sense that Tae would pick things like that up if she was listening to others during dinner rather than just chatting with those nearby. After they finished eating, Tae took the bowl of salad (specially prepared) for Oddie and they walked back to the dorm. “You can take a bath first tonight, or call your friends or whatever you want to do. I have a few things I want to work on in the computer lab,” said Sayo.
The color seemed to drain from Tae’s face and she paused mid-step. A strange ‘urck’ noise escaped her lips. “Tae-san?” asked Sayo, wondering if she actually wasn’t feeling well.
“I haven’t started my summer homework!” she said, dashing off ahead of Sayo. Sayo sighed. That would have been a great use of a free four hours that afternoon. She followed behind Tae, opening the door to her scrambling to dig out various school things from her suitcase. “You don’t mind if I work in here?” Tae asked.
“No, like I said, I’m going to be on the computer for a bit, then I need to take a bath. Here, I’ll clear off my desk so you can sit here,” she offered, since Tae’s desk was completely occupied by the suitcase she was living out of.
“Thank you, Sayo-san!” she said, plopping down in the chair. If it was a Roselia member, Sayo would take away their phone at this point, but she didn’t think the phone was a big distraction for Tae. For Tae…
“I’m taking your guitar with me.”
The look of pure betrayal that Tae turned to her with was something Sayo was unprepared for. Clear green puppy eyes begging her not to take her favorite toy - and number one tool of distraction. Sayo ripped her gaze away, hoisting the blue guitar onto her shoulder with care. Somehow she knew that Tae would not use her guitar without permission, so she only needed to take Tae’s. “You can have it back when you’ve made some progress.”
“Sa-yo-sa-nnnnn,” Tae whined, reaching out from the desk chair to try to grab at Sayo to reel her back in.
“The sooner you begin, the sooner you can play,” Sayo said, knowing that she sounded like the worst kind of teacher, but also that this type of logic was liable to work on Tae. Sayo left the dorm, moving to the next building. The computer lab was open until nine, it seemed, and curfew was at ten, so she had some time. She logged in as a guest, and opened the (inferior) browser-based version of Neo-Fantasy Online. But she was really only there to hunt down some raw materials and use the chat feature, so it didn’t matter if she was only in the browser for tonight, she supposed.
Rin Rin: yeah, I think we need to re-do that whole raid…
Demon Princess Ako: (-_-｡)
Demon Princess Ako: I… I could not have foreseen this when we began this monstrous quest
Demon Princess Ako: Oh, hi Sayo
Shield of Sayo: Good evening! Is it just you two online tonight?
Demon Princess Ako: Same as every night. Lisa-nee has work, and we have to beg Yukina to play so…
Rin Rin: But we’re happy to see you online! How has your guitar camp been?
Rin Rin: Also since you’re here, let’s head to the Ultearian Meadows to grab those crystals
Shield of Sayo: Got it. And I’ve been learning a lot. It’s only the end of the second day, so I’m sure after a week I’ll be much improved. Did you know Hanazono-san is here too?
Sayo wasn’t sure why she brought up Tae, but she was curious about Ako and Rinko’s impressions, and well, she was curious about Tae. She had never paid much attention to Poppin’ Party before, because the paint-splattered outfits and the cheerful, bright vibe was just… not her style, but she knew Rinko and Ako were more perceptive than they let on. Rinko was on the student council with herself and Ichigaya-san, and Ako was another underclassman. Perhaps they had some thoughts worth considering.
Rin Rin: Hanazono-san is there? Do you see her often?
Sayo almost laughed.
Demon Princess Ako: Tae-senpai is so cool! The way she plays guitar like vroom, wahhh, but also biri biri biri!
Shield of Sayo: We’re roommates in the dormitory actually. She’s doing summer homework up there, so I came to the computer lab to give her some space.
That wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was close enough. Sayo looked at the blue guitar sitting beside her. She wondered how many hours it had spent in Tae’s hands. Suddenly she felt a pang of guilt for deciding to take it without asking permission.
She followed the others to the correct place in the game, and they harvested the crystals, slaying a magical beast or two when it was required. The object they were trying to make, however, required about 200 crystals, so this work was a grind.
Demon Princess Ako: Does this mean you’ll come to the PPP show with us next month? [ ⇀ ‿ ↼ ]
Sayo assumed PPP stood for Poppin’ Party. She supposed she wouldn’t mind going to their show, now that she understood more about Tae and their background. She could always just study the guitar. She just hoped they wouldn’t be wearing the cursed paint-splattered outfits.
Shield of Sayo: Sure, I’ll come with you. At first I wasn’t sure about Tae-san, but she seems alright.
Demon Princess Ako: 👀
Rin Rin: 👀👀👀
Demon Princess Ako: “Tae-san”
Rin Rin: ik
Demon Princess Ako: Sayo-san…
Shield of Sayo: ...Yes?
Rin Rin: Do you
Demon Princess Ako: *like*
Rin Rin: Hanazono-san?
*******************************Shield of Sayo has logged out**********************
Sayo sat back in her chair, her breathing tense. She wished she could open up the chat to view it again, without Ako and Rinko seeing she was online, but knew she didn’t need to. Their accusation was stamped in her head. Certainly she didn’t like Tae, she had barely just met her. And yet, unwillingly, her mind returned to the infirmary, to watermelon candy breath and the ethereal white sundress and the long, silky hair tickling her arms. She shook away the thought, opening a news website to find something… less stimulating to ponder.
A few minutes later, her phone rang. Imai Lisa. She debated ignoring the call, but Lisa rarely called her, and there were no other patrons that she could disturb in the small computer lab, so she picked it up. “Hello, Lisa?”
“Sayo! Hi! I took my break early from work to call you!” she laughed.
“Is everything alright?” Sayo asked.
“Oh yeah, Moca is watching the store, it’s good. I just heard the craziest thing from Ako, though…”
Damn Ako and her quick texting fingers!
“Oh yeah?” asked Sayo, deciding to play coy a bit. She had not admitted to anything, and did not know where her feelings lay at all on the matter, so it was better not to speak more than she had to, or her bandmates would run wild with this.
“Yeah! She said that Rinko and she implied you might like Hanazono Tae and you immediately disconnected from chat.”
Sayo bit her lip. Luckily, Lisa continued the conversation, giving Sayo a moment to collect her thoughts. “Normally that means that it’s either true or totally false, but you had just finished saying she was ‘not so bad’ or something to that effect,” Lisa laughed again. “What’s going on with you, Sayo?”
“Absolutely nothing is going on,” Sayo said firmly. “I’m just going to lessons every day like normal, and we happen to share a room at the dormitories.”
“Fine,” said Lisa, implying she was unsatisfied with this answer. “But Tae-chan is sweet. I talk to her a lot when I go to the music shop, or when she comes into the convenience store. At the very least, I’m glad you made a new friend. Now there’s someone you can talk about guitar parts with, and it won’t go over her head like it does with all of us in Roselia!” she laughed.
Sayo considered this. If Tae could play both Raise a Suilen and Poppin’ Party music, Sayo was sure she could help her with Roselia music or at least chat about it. She had even asked about learning one of the songs, Sayo remembered. The only thing stopping this was Sayo’s pride, she realized. “That’s true, I hadn’t thought of that,” said Sayo, realizing as she spoke that the pause before her reply was too long.
“Well you sound like you have a lot on your mind. You know you can talk to me about anything, yeah?” Lisa said, her voice sounding happy and sad at the same time.
“I do. I just… truly nothing is happening right now, I’m just going to lessons. I’m doing some thinking about myself, guitar, others, I really can’t explain well, but if I find I can’t figure something out on my own, I’ll be sure to rely on you.”
“I’m glad to hear it. All of Roselia… we all are here to support you. And I’m sure Tae-chan would too, if you asked.” She might have been smirking a bit as she said that, but Sayo couldn’t see through the phone. “Well, I guess I should get back to work. Work hard so you can come back as an awesome guitarist!”
“Of course,” said Sayo. “Goodnight, Lisa.”
She hung up, but knew it was too early to return to the dorm. She had planned to play NFO for a couple hours, after all. She had only been away for about 45 minutes now. She clicked through a couple more news sites, texted an update to her parents, and sat back in her chair. It was too late to take a walk - plus she would have to carry Tae’s guitar with her.
She peered at the guitar case leaning against the desk beside her. A strange curiosity, a desire to know more about the girl she shared a room with overtook her. After double checking that she was alone, she unzipped the case, looking at the blue ESP Snapper. The bright blue color really seemed to suit Tae, somehow. She had noticed the chrome-colored pickguard previously, but seeing it up close, she could see it was well-cared for, with no smudges or fingerprints. Sayo was careful not to add any. The headstock and frets were fairly standard, it was nothing out of the ordinary like the new guitarist for Raise a Suilen played. But somehow, Sayo could tell this guitar was incredibly loved.
Gently, she hooked her finger around one string and plucked. The high e note seemed to ring in the empty room, surprising even Sayo. Quickly, she zipped up the case, realizing she had rationalized that Tae was not going to touch her guitar, and here she was touching Tae’s. Even though she was still early, she grabbed the case and returned to the dormitory, planning to take an early bath. Tae was still at the desk when she opened the door, Sayo’s guitar untouched below the only window in the room, between their two beds.
She seemed to perk up a bit at the return of Sayo and her guitar, but Sayo could see that she was working on English, and her pencil hadn’t moved as much as one would expect over the course of an hour. “Tae-san, is English not your best subject?” asked Sayo.
She shook her head. “I’m ok at the multiple-choice questions, but these long-form answers are impossible!” She stretched backwards, and Sayo heard several ‘pops’ as her back cracked.
“I can look over your answers for you, if you like,” said Sayo.
Tae’s face lit up, with relief washing over her features. “Really??”
“I mean, I’m not top of the class or anything, but I am a year ahead of you, so I’m sure I can be of some help.”
“Thank you, Sayo-san!” Tae smiled brightly, enough that Sayo became brave enough to continue.
“Um-”
Tae looked at her, with patient consideration.
“In exchange… I would like you to help me with my arpeggios and picking.” She remembered the way Tae picked out perfect arpeggios, or how she moved the notes around to different strings like it was second nature to her. “I-”
“Sure!”
Sayo had been about to explain how she understood this likely wasn’t a fair trade - how Sayo reviewing homework wasn’t the same as Tae spending time teaching her something she should probably already know, and she was going to maybe explain about the level she was at so Tae could get an understanding of what she was getting into. Sayo was even going to say it wasn’t strictly necessary, she would check her homework either way, but she had time to say none of this as Tae agreed right away.
“I’ll work on as much of this as I can while you’re in the bath, and you can check it while I’m in the bath. Then we can practice tomorrow before morning class? Or maybe at lunch? Whenever you prefer. We could ask the teachers if one of the practice rooms is available in the evenings as well,” suggested Tae.
Sayo didn’t even have time to be embarrassed about asking Tae for help, and Tae gave her no reason to. There was no questioning the request with Tae, just a simple ‘yes’. In exchange, Sayo silently vowed to make sure Tae’s summer homework was acceptable.
As she got out of the bath and reviewed what was written, she realized that was easier said than done. The verb tenses on the written answers were all over the place, there were missing articles, and some of the sentences were so strange, Sayo wondered if they were complete gibberish, or if Tae was going for something so ‘Tae’, it was incomprehensible to Sayo. She realized it would be impossible to edit these without the author present. When Tae returned, they changed their plan - mornings would be Tae’s summer homework time, lunch would be reviewing summer homework, and evenings would be guitar review. Tae sighed- she was obviously not a morning person- but it was the only way.
“Sayo, do you think you can get Oddie’s breakfast? Since I’ll be busy?” asked Tae.
“The banana? From the dining hall?” Sayo did not want to impose on the ladies at the dining hall, nor did she want to take porcelain out of the building, but she did understand how it was more pragmatic if she was the one to run this errand.
“Yes. Oddie will be angry if he doesn’t get it.”
“I suppose it can’t be helped,” said Sayo. She went to bed that night a little overwhelmed, but pleased at least that she had a plan. Extra work, and extra practice in particular, never bothered her, so those hours she would be spending in the evenings working with Tae on her picking and arpeggios really was a better use of her time than just hanging out in the dorm. She would return a better guitarist than she left, for Roselia’s sake.