K-ON!: Shattered Dreams

Chapter 15: My Way or the Highway

The long night had officially ended for the Hirasawas. Ui had carried her sister, Yui, back to their house to regroup and mend their wounds. Tsumugi and Jun were happy to see the sisters back together again, but more importantly, their leader being brought back safe and sound. Jun and Ui exchanged hugs for awhile despite Ui's somewhat battered state.

"So Yui-senpai saved you, huh?"

"Well..." Ui hesitated for a bit.

"She ended up saving me from getting killed by Nodoka." Yui finished for her.

"So Nodoka Manabe is a Number after all." Jun appraised, cupping her chin.

"The VIII has shown herself, which means there should only be one left." Yui brought up that conclusion. Seeing her sister, the III and Nodoka, the VIII in one night, that was the only thing on her mind right now.

"Now hold on, Yui-senpai, let's not go there just yet. We don't know if there's really just one person left representing a Number. Yes, I do know we're missing the I, but there could be more." Jun said, playing down that conclusion.

"Right now, that's the only thing on my mind. We need to find that Number I. I bet he or she is the reason this whole thing started, so we need to find that person, beat them, and then this whole thing is over." Yui said, already jumping onto her next plan of action.

"But it won't be easy," Tsumugi cut in. "considering we still have Mio to deal with. There's the off chance that Mio might be working for that Number I."

"Then we need to tackle Mio first. Ain't it obvious?" Their discussion was interrupted by a very injured Ritsu, who managed to make her way back thanks to the aid of Azusa.

"I found her frozen on the rooftops. Mio got to her, pretty bad too." Azusa analyzed, pointing out the hole on her knee, which made Tsumugi and Ui gasp in horror.

"O-oh dear god..." Tsumugi couldn't bear to look anymore.

"If this is what she could do to Ritsu-senpai, imagine what she could do to us." Azusa said, carrying her senpai and carefully placing her onto the couch. "Mugi-senpai, get me some bandages, quick. She's losing blood by the minute!"

"R-right..." In her shaken state, Tsumugi walked off to get the bandages. Jun, strong and collected as she was, was somewhat sick to see the huge, gaping hole present in Ritsu's knee.

"Mio... gh... Mio... trapped me in ice... my powers... completely disabled... then she just started hurting me... u-ungh..." Ritsu mustered all the strength she had left to tell them what Mio did to her, but then her later words were directed to Yui. "S-so you think she's still 'good' now, Yui?" The lead guitarist pretended to ignore that comment, knowing that the vindictive verbal assault by Ritsu was just pure hatred talking.

"Here are the bandages." Tsumugi returned, giving the bandages to Azusa.

"Thanks, Mugi-senpai." She immediately starts wrapping the bandages around the hole. "Go make some tea or something, Mugi-senpai. It'll help calm you down." Tsumugi promptly does so.



It took a while before Ritsu could sit up properly without feeling too much pain in her crocked up leg. Tsumugi had managed to calm down by making some tea for everyone, as they sat down at the living room area to assess the situation once again. At least now, they have another head to think with, in the form of Ui Hirasawa.

"Now that Ui's here... what's our plan, Yui-senpai?" Jun asked.

"If anything, with Nodoka beaten, Mio might start launching an all-out attack on us, which means we're gonna have a lot of Shadows at our doorstep."

"We'll be ready to fight them off, Yui-senpai." Azusa guaranteed.

"All that leaves is Mio and her lackey, Nodoka." Ritsu added. "So I say, we sneak in and we kick Mio's ass. We make her talk, and then we get rid of her."

"You think it's easy to get in there, Ricchan? Besides, none of us have the strength or fortitude to even face Mio right now. No disrespect, Ricchan, but not even you can take her down, not after what she's capable of doing to you." Yui told her the hateful truth.

"Well I was the closest to getting rid of her. That's a fact, right?"

"I know that, Ricchan. Still, if we are going to take down Mio, we have to work our way up first. Besides, we still don't know whether she IS our real enemy or not." This statement made Ritsu shoot up from her seat. Despite the pain in her leg, the rage felt inside her almost nullified it.

"What do you MEAN she's not our real enemy? You've seen the damage. You know what she's capable of. She's attacked ME, and had every intention of killing me, and you're STILL saying she's not our real enemy?" The rage in Ritsu's voice and tone could not be any more evident. This forced Yui to get up from her seat to go face-to-face with her, getting VERY up-close and personal.

"What's your problem, Ricchan? Mio's your best friend, and you're not even thinking that she's forced to do this? That happens to be a plausible case. So what, you don't trust my judgment?"

"It's not your judgment I don't trust, Yui. It's YOU that I don't trust." This nearly surprises the rest of the crew, but not Yui. "I don't know where your loyalties lie anymore. Are you with this team? Or are you working for Mio in secret?"

"C-come on, there's no way onee-chan would be working for Mio!" Ui tried to cut in, but Yui stopped her.

"Ui, sit down. This doesn't concern you." She turned back to the drummer. "I don't like that tone you're using, Ricchan. It's almost as if you're SURE that I'm working for Mio. Well let me tell you something, Ricchan. If I were working for Mio, I'd have killed you the next chance I got. And trust me... I could easily do it."

"You've seen the damage she's done to us. You know what she did to your sister, and now you know what she could do to me. Yet you still go out of your way to say that she ISN'T the villain in this whole incident?" Ritsu then grabs Yui by the collar. "What are you on, Yui? Tell me that!"

"You just can't see it, can you, Ricchan? She's your best friend! And you're thinking of going to kill your best friend? What kind of a friend are you?" Out of pure impulse, Ritsu hits Yui with a straight punch directly to the cheek of the lead guitarist, causing her to fall and clutch her face. "AGH!"

"Onee-chan!" Ui immediately rushed to her sister's aid. "WHAT are you doing?" She looked up at Ritsu and asked, nearly yelling the question out at her.

"You people can do whatever you like. I'm gonna go out there and beat Mio myself. I'll end this Hour myself, with no one else's help!"

"Ritsu-senpai, there's no way I'm letting you out of here with that injury!" Azusa got up from her seat. "You're just going to get yourself killed! You'll just be cannon fodder for Mio, you know that!"

"SHUT IT, AZUSA!" The incessant yelling from Azusa just annoyed her. "You can just sit here with the rest of these idiots!" She immediately walked off.

"Ritsu, wait!" Tsumugi tried to stop her, but Yui halted the keyboardist.

"No... forget it. If she doesn't want to help us... so be it." She got up, nursing the area Ritsu punched her on. "We'll stick to the plan. When Mio moves, that's when we strike." Though the atmosphere was tense, the rest of the team kept their cool, agreeing with Yui and calmed down. "If anything... being reckless isn't going to help us."

"What about Ritsu-senpai?" Jun asked. "What if she gets killed?" Yui couldn't bring herself to answer that question after what just happened. Instead of answering her, Yui immediately went upstairs, her sister in tow.

"I don't think she wants to answer you, Jun... and quite frankly, I don't think she wants to think about it."



On the other end of the city, inside Akiyama Towers, Nodoka was calm, albeit furious at the same time at her boss, Mio. Earlier, she had been defeated by the Hirasawas, but now she's questioning why Mio didn't bother to re-capture Ui Hirasawa.

"Well isn't THIS a disaster?" Nodoka paced back and forth a few steps, trying to think of what happened. "Do you have any idea? Any idea at ALL what I just went through, Mio? I didn't think so."

"What's with the sudden hostility, Nodoka? Sure, you were taken down by the Hirasawas... did you really expect to beat them so easily?" Mio snickered, as if just trying to mock her subordinate.

"VERY funny, Mio. I had Yui right where I wanted her, but then all of a sudden, Ui shows up and stops me from killing her!" She frustratingly yelled, nearly kicking over the nearest object, which was a table, over.

"Relax, will you? No one expected it anyways..."

"It was technically YOUR fault Ui escaped!" Her yell was only met by a huge stream of water, which she dodged by just moving to the side. "T-tch..."

"Don't you dare start giving me that tone, Nodoka." Mio got off her seat and turned her head to glare at Nodoka. "Remember who you're working for. I could just as easily snap you like a twig."

"...Yes ma'am. I apologize for my behavior." She kneeled down to apologize to her. Mio walked up to her and slowly raised her by cupping her chin.

"I never expected you to defeat the Hirasawas. Sure, they may have been easier alone, but together... you wouldn't have stood a chance." Nodoka just heaved a disgruntled sigh. "Besides... you're better at something else."

"...and what might that be?" Nodoka asked, inquisitively.

"You can get into their heads better than I can." Mio said, leaving a small peck on the forehead of Nodoka which made her blush.

"T-thanks, Mio..."

"Which reminds me... I need you to go capture someone for me, and she happens to be... right around the corner now." She pushes a button on her remote, where the monitors display the surveillance of the city. Sure enough, that certain someone happens to displayed on the monitor, seen limping towards the Tower.

"...I won't let you down, Mio."

"I'm sure you won't, Nodoka."