K-ON!: Shattered Dreams

Chapter 10: Doubts

A long day finally averted, one important Dead Hour escapade, finally done. The girls headed back to the Hirasawa house, tired but fulfilled. They had saved one of their best friends from disappearing from this world forever. For now, crisis was averted. Ritsu opened the door to the house, trudged along and immediately plopped herself onto the couch. After using nearly her full extent of her abilities, she was tuckered out.

"Finally, we're home~" She said, exhausted.

"You just don't waste any time, do you, Ritsu-senpai?"

"Shut it, Azusa. You try running through a bunch of Shadows at a hundred miles an hour, ON FIRE at that." Ritsu retorted, once again.

"Now now, we're all pretty tired after that." Tsumugi assured. Their newest member, off the back of a strenuous first outing with her new Awakened powers, knew her duty at this point. She was quickly learning as the situation now grows dire.

"Yeah, we all are." Yui agreed. "But Mugi-chan, you were the best today. You saved yourself and pretty much everyone for that matter by awakening to your powers."

"Ah, it was nothing, Yui. I'd have still done all I could, even without these powers." She said, taking off her gloves.

"Oh, why are YOU being modest all of a sudden?" Ritsu rolled over and looked at her. "You should be proud of this moment! You took the bull by the horns, and then you clipped it right off! I say, good on you, Mugi-chan!"

"Nice analogy, Ritsu, VERY subtle." Azusa sarcastically said.

"Shut it, Azusa! You should be headed to bed!"

"Well you too, Ritsu-senpai! And I'm poking you if you don't move it!" She gets her naginata out just in case.

"Oho, you wanna play rough, Azusa? Bring it on!" Ritsu said, grabbing her Sais. Jun just sighed, watching this commotion.

"Great, now we're never going to bed."

"Come on guys, get to bed." Yui ordered them both. In playful style, they dropped their weapons and tried to make it to their futons before the other could. Yui just smiled, before turning her attention to Tsumugi. "Mugi-chan, aren't you getting to bed yet?" She can clearly see that Tsumugi's got her tea set out, apparently going to make tea for the first time since she was disowned.

"U-uh... well, I probably won't be able to sleep anyway..." Yui nodded, turning her attention to Jun now.

"And you?"

"Kunoichi don't sleep." Jun replied in a quiet but assuring tone.

"...I see. Well then, Mugi-chan, you don't mind getting us a cup of tea? There are things I want to talk about."

"I'll get right to it, Yui!" She said, starting to make the tea.

"...Things you want to talk about? What kind of things?" Jun asked, curious.

"Well, for starters... what do you make of this whole situation, this whole incident with Mio for that matter?"

"Hmmm... this whole situation..." Jun began to ponder for a bit, thinking of what to say before giving her answer. "It's simple, Yui. As far as anyone is concerned, Mio has been tormenting us all and hurting the ones we love in order to get her way... taking over Japan was just the tip of the iceberg."

"I see... so you're with the general consensus." Yui rested her chin on her hand in thoughts. Tsumugi came in and delivered to them their tea.

"I know that look, Yui." Tsumugi placed down the tray on the table, pouring the tea into the respective cups soon after.

"Do you have another view of this, Yui-senpai?" She asked the guitarist, picking her cup up and sipping from it. She was interested to know what her senior thinks.

"She has that look on her face... whatever she's going to say next would probably sound ridiculous, but I'd believe her if I were you... most of the time, she might be right." Tsumugi added.

"Well... I have been giving this some thought... and while everyone is getting on the 'blame Mio' train, I've got a different outlook on it." She sipped her tea before continuing on. "What if... Mio has absolutely NOTHING to do with what's going on now?" This very statement nearly made Jun choke on her tea, thinking that what Yui just said was implausible.

"G-gah... are you being serious here, senpai?"

"...if this is about Mio, then I'm more than serious." Yui confidently said. This IS one of her best friends she's talking about.

"If Ritsu were to hear that, she'd probably have a fit." Tsumugi said as she sat down with the two of them.

"...Tsumugi-senpai, do you honestly believe what Yui-senpai's saying?"

"I can't say I do, but I can't say I don't either." The keyboardist replied. "What Yui is saying is just a possibility, not a conclusion just yet."

"That's right. But even as we speak now, Ricchan might have jumped too early on the 'blame Mio' bandwagon."

"But Yui-senpai, the evidence is all pointing to Mio, and there's not much else to go on." Jun stated. Her argument was true. Not many people would think that Mio wouldn't be to blame at this point.

"Yes, there may be evidence, but there's not enough to have a strong case... well, all I'm saying is, there might be something going on here. Mio... Mio's not the person we knew back then."

"People change... Hell, everything changes, Yui-senpai." Yui then slumped onto the couch.

"Well... that's what I think. Still, there's no proof, or rather, not enough proof to support either cases."

"There's still time, Yui." Tsumugi encouraged. "It's not really set in stone yet."

"...You're right, Mugi-chan. As of now... we'll just see how things go."

"And you'll need to provide a very strong case. Especially to Ritsu-senpai, even though convincing her is going to prove tougher than usual." Jun added.

"We'll worry about that when we get to that point. For now, we'll just let things slide." Yui said as she got off the couch. "I'm going to bed. Good night everyone." With that, she walked to her room and decided to hit the hay.



However, after 'eavesdropping', one person wasn't particularly happy. After hearing all that, she couldn't particularly sleep. So instead, she found herself a rooftop in the distance, away from the Hirasawa house. As pissed off as she was, she didn't have enough anger in her to just burn everything in sight, so she was content in flame-slashing the air in front of her, picturing her enemy, Mio, in front of her. She screamed out of fury as she kept slashing the air.

"That Yui... who does she think she's kidding!" She yelled, doing skilful slashes with her Sais. She stopped for a bit to breathe. "Mio not having anything to do with this? Is she stupid or what? God freaking DAMN IT!" Her anger was now at an all time high as she threw fiery slash after fiery slash into the air.

She had to stop, however. The power she used earlier during the fight in the Plaza still hadn't been replenished. As reckless as she was, she was neither invincible nor immortal. She was gasping for air even after that short 'training' session. She decided she had to turn in for the night, after releasing as much anger as she possibly could.

"My, my, what a beautiful display of rage you've put up. I'll note that down immediately." That voice was all-too-familiar for Ritsu. She didn't bother to look over her shoulder to respond.

"Shouldn't you be sucking up to Mio like you've usually done, Nodoka?" She turned around to face her. "I bet she's REALLY lonely without you."

"Spare me from your jokes, Ritsu." Nodoka said as she slid off and landed on her feet. "You'll just make more of a fool out of yourself."

"Before I turn you into ashes, you'd better start telling me what the Hell you're doing out here. It's past the Dead Hour and I'm not interested in fighting right now."

"Me? Fight you? You wouldn't stand a chance. Besides, I have more important matters to attend to." Nodoka adjusted her glasses.

"If it involves Yui, don't even bother. I'm not letting YOU get any closer to her." Ritsu said, priming up her Sais just in case Nodoka tries anything funny.

"Oh, it doesn't involve her at all. In fact, Mio's a bit more interested in YOU right now." This caught the drummer's attention.

"...seriously, that is going to get your burnt alive now."

"I think Mio's right. You seem to have all this rage and anger inside you, you're just willing to let it out on someone right now. Forget about Yui, Ritsu... she doesn't agree with anything you do after all." Ritsu just glared at Nodoka. She was right, though. Ritsu and Yui have never been on the same page, but Ritsu's resolve was clear.

"You think I'd betray Yui over some pointless disagreements? Get over yourself. I ain't joining you." The response just made Nodoka sigh.

"That's too bad really... what will I tell Mio when I get back?"

"You can tell her that she can take that offer and stick it up her damn..." Before she could finish though, she was interrupted again.

"Why don't you tell it to my face, Ritsu? Or are you afraid to look me in the eyes anymore?" Ritsu looked up to where Nodoka was seated before. That figure in the darkness was all too familiar for both of them.

"Oh good, you've shown your ugly face here." She proceeded to crack her knuckles. "Now get down here so that I can make you UGLIER!"

"Nodoka, what did I tell you to do?" Mio asked her subordinate, ignoring Ritsu completely.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard... have fun with her, Mio." She said, immediately getting off the roof she's on.

"So, alone at last, with the villain of this damn situation!"

"Villain?" Mio cracked a sick grin on her face. "I prefer the term 'Savior'."

"SAVIOR MY FOOT! You're gonna kill us all at this rate, I just know it! Now that you're here, I can finally END all of this!" Upon hearing, Mio jumped off and landed onto the floor below, her arms crossed. She stepped forward, almost as if accepting Ritsu's challenge.

"I grow tired of all this insolence... but if you insist, then I must ask." She drew her katana, pointing it directly at Ritsu. "Are you ready to die a Fool's death?" She threatened, but mere threats weren't ready to stop a bullet train known only as Tainaka Ritsu.

"You're the one who's gonna be dying, you idiot!" Immediately, she dashed in and jumped up high into the air, diving down and clashed with Mio's katana using her Sais. "I'M TAKING YOU DOWN ONCE AND FOR ALL!"