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The steady cadence of silverware and small talk crowded the air in Rondo’s usual meeting place – a warm, cozy family restaurant not far from campus. The morning hours kept a different rhythm than the afternoon and early evening crowd and as Aoi opened the doors to step inside, she smiled at the clink and clatter of dishes and glass. In some ways, walking into a restaurant in the morning wasn’t unlike walking through the doors of a club at night – while the sound and air of Alter Ego was pulsing and alive, the restaurant’s ambience was pleasantly distracting.
Hm… I wonder if I could use more samples of ambient noise in a track. Ah, but if we have to record them ourselves that might be a problem. I wonder if we could borrow a field microphone for that.
Aoi continued wondering to herself as she made her way to a booth where Nagisa and Hiiro were waiting. A waitress had just set down two cups of coffee across the table and as Aoi settled into her seat, she could hear Nagisa flirting while they ordered a vanilla custard crème parfait.
“Good Morning, Hiiro, Nagisa.”
“Ah, Aoi!” Nagisa bounced up and leaned forward with their elbows on the table. “Good! You’re just in time, I just had the coolest idea for our next show! Can we get like pyrotechnics but they’re all water cannons and full of glitter?”
“Hmm…” As with most ideas, Aoi considered this with perhaps more gravity than it deserved. “That could be good with the right lighting, but I don’t think Masaki would be happy about the mess it would leave behind.
“Eh?” Nagisa slouched back and pouted, crossing their arms, “I guess so… it doesn’t have to be that much water though, we could probably mop it up after without too much work.”
“Really?” Hiiro grinned, “I don’t think Tsubaki would be willing to get soaked in the middle of a song. Speaking of which, Aoi have you heard from Tsubaki this morning?”
“Ah, don’t worry,” Aoi said, “She mentioned that she would be a few minutes late but it shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Oh, there she is!” Nagisa hopped up from their seat and waved their arm high overhead. “Hey! Tsubaki! Over here!”
Aoi turned and looked around the corner of the booth to see Tsubaki shambling into the restaurant, her eyes barely half-open and her hair still slightly wet from a shower. She was so cute early in the morning, drowsy and grouchy and always wobbling off-balance. They were here to plan Rondo’s next show but, with a sleepy Tsubaki in the booth beside her, it was going to take a lot of effort for Aoi to keep her focus.
Tsubaki really is bad at mornings… she took so long to wake up today, too. Ah… is she wearing…
“Mmmn... g’morning…” Tsubaki grumbled as she approached the booth, yawning and squinting her eyes. She tripped on nothing and Aoi stood quickly to catch her by the shoulders before guiding her into the booth. Tsubaki flopped down and folded herself into the corner, teetering for a moment and then finally falling when Aoi sat back down. Her head fell against Aoi’s shoulder before she picked herself up and groaned again.
“Oh dear… Tsubaki?” Hiiro looked across the table with concern, “Are you feeling alright? Is your blood pressure low again? Here, you should order something to eat.”
Hiiro held a menu out and Tsubaki took it, glanced over it, and dropped it on the table.
“Nmnggg… Coffee.” Tsubaki grumbled. “Just give me coffee.”
“Oh, hey,” Nagisa waved a hand above their head to flag down the waitress, “We’re ready to order here! Also damn, that’s a really cool necklace, what’s that made of?”
“Now, Nagisa,” Hiiro laughed and chided them playfully, “Don’t ask her too many things at once, we shouldn’t a bother.”
Aoi smiled to herself at the exchange, only half-listening as Nagisa continued to chat with the waitress and everyone placed their orders. For herself, Aoi ordered a simple plate of a fried egg on toast with coffee, Hiiro ordered a French toast and blueberry platter, and Nagisa ordered a triple layer caramel capped pudding parfait. Tsubaki tried to order just a black coffee but Hiiro insisted she eat something more substantial and, after grumbling adorably, Tsubaki finally agreed to order a small fruit bowl as well.
With breakfast settled, and Tsubaki now nursing a cup of coffee while still half-asleep, Aoi couldn’t stop herself from beaming gladly. She thought to their next show and the planning they would need to do to prepare, took a sip of her own coffee before starting their meeting… but then a single comment derailed everything.
“Ah! That’s where I recognized that shirt from!” Nagisa pointed across the table at Tsubaki and everyone followed their gaze. “Tsubaki, that’s the same kind of shirt Aoi has, isn’t it? It was really bugging me I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen it before.” They laughed as if it was nothing, but Aoi could already feel Tsubaki fidget in the seat beside her. She reached down to gently touch Tsubaki’s hand, but before she could Tsubaki raised her coffee cup and took a long gulp to stall. Hiiro filled in the silence.
“Ah, is it really? Oh, you’re right Nagisa.” Hiiro smiled blithely, placing one hand on her cheek as she tilted her head. “I wonder, do the two of you shop at the same stores?"
“N-no, that’s not it,” Tsubaki set her coffee down with a hint of aggression to match the red in her cheeks, “It’s probably coincidence.”
“Hmmm,” Nagisa leaned over the table, “It looks kinda weird on you compared to what you normally wear though.”
“Really?” Aoi smiled and sipped her coffee, “I think Tsubaki makes it look very stylish.”
“I-it’s just,” Tsubaki stammered, turning away from Aoi to hide her face, “I need to do laundry so it’s just something I haven’t worn in a while.”
For a moment Aoi saw an opportunity there to get the meeting back on track and, hopefully, distract Nagisa enough to give Tsubaki a moment to recover. Unfortunately Aoi was also too busy sighing fondly to herself and admiring how cool her girlfriend looked while wearing one of her shirts to speak up in time.
Hiiro raised a hand to her mouth. “That’s no good though, Tsubaki. Even if you don’t have anything else to wear you should at least iron it first. It’s so wrinkled it looks like someone rolled around all over wearing that.”
Hiiro was good at hiding it but, by now, Aoi was certain that she knew. She was speaking kindly but she knew exactly how incriminating those words sounded.
“I was already running late.” Tsubaki shut her eyes and furrowed her brow. “Can we get started already?”
“Of course,” Aoi chuckled softly, “Now then, let’s – oh.”
The waitress returned with their food, setting dishes out before them and carefully balancing Nagisa’s triple-layered parfait as she leaned all the way across the table to set it down. Nagisa’s eyes sparkled like fireworks as they stared at the huge jiggling tower of pudding in front of them.
While the waitress sorted out everyone’s side dishes and went to fetch a pot of coffee to refill their mugs, Aoi finally slipped her hand down across Tsubaki’s palm and squeezed her hand beneath the table.
“Tsubaki, are you alright?” Aoi whispered as she leaned in, trying to keep the others from hearing or taking notice. “Do you want me to keep playing along and diverting them?”
“I—” Tsubaki flustered. “I don’t know! I didn’t realize I grabbed your shirt, I forgot you left it last night and I just picked up the first thing I could see when I got dressed this morning!”
Ah, Tsubaki… was impossibly cute. Aoi caught herself staring a moment, daydreaming for a breath, and then a wide smile spread across her face almost involuntarily. The thought of seeing Tsubaki sleepily rifling through the piles of clothes they’d left at the foot of her bed last night, the image before her of Tsubaki wearing one of her shirts, the mix of irritable drowsiness and embarrassment on her face – it was all Aoi could do to restrain herself from leaning down and kissing Tsubaki right then and there.
Maybe she should ask Tsubaki if she was free tonight as well?
Still, Aoi didn’t want her to feel too stressed by all of this and while Hiiro might stop short of saying anything outright, Nagisa was prone to blurting out ideas the moment they happened upon them. It was time to start their planning meeting in earnest, while everyone was eating and it was harder for anyone to change the subject.
“So then, regarding our upcoming show,” Aoi folded her hands over her coffee, “I’ve already confirmed the stage setup and times with Masaki but we should go over the setlist to work out what we’ll need to prepare and practice over the next week.”
“Ah, the setlist!” Nagisa dropped their spoon and nearly choked on their parfait. After chugging a glass of water, they grinned.
“Aoi, remember I had some great ideas about the next setlist and the transitions we could use!”
“Yes, I remember. Or I suppose I remember that you mentioned it but I don’t think you told me those ideas in detail.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s ‘cause I wrote them all down,” Nagisa’s face wrinkled up and they thought hard for a moment, “Oh! Shit! That’s right, I gave them to you yesterday on that piece of paper. Do you have that still, Aoi?”
“Do I? I think I put in my shirt pocket and then…”
Ah.
Aoi blinked. She did indeed have that paper, in a manner of speaking. Aoi had in fact put it in the breast pocket of the shirt she’d been wearing yesterday. The shirt that Tsubaki was wearing right now. A quick glance to her side confirmed that Tsubaki had covertly tapped the pocket and found the note there, then quickly lowered her hands and froze.
Hmm… How to handle this…
“I must have forgotten it at home.” Aoi tried to play it off with a smile but Hiiro and Nagisa just looked at her blanky.
“Aoi, are you feeling alright?” Hiiro asked, “Even with as absent-minded as you are sometimes you always keep track of things for our shows perfectly.”
“Aaah~” Nagisa sat back and groaned, “Damn it, I can’t remember the order at all. We’ll have to come up with the set list from scratch now!”
“Well, it’s not that—”
“Fine.” Tsubaki cut them all off, her eyes fierce and her ears red as she reached into the pocket of her shirt, or rather Aoi’s shirt, pulled out the folded scrap of paper, and slammed it down in the middle of the table. “Here.”
Nagisa blinked. “Woah, Tsubaki, so that’s—”
Tsubaki glared at them with ice in her eyes and she uttered her words with a razor’s edge.
“Don’t say a word.”
The table fell silent. Everyone watched Tsubaki as she sat back, her posture rigid and her hands clutched tight around her coffee mug. Nagisa slowly leaned back, adjusted themselves, and then reached slowly for the folded paper.
Then the waitress passed by and Nagisa jumped up to flag her down.
“Hey, waitress! Can we get a chocolate cheesecake for my friend who just graduated the virgin sorority?”
Aoi opened her mouth to interrupt but she was too late. In a single, swift motion, Tsubaki snatched the spoon from Aoi’s coffee, swung wide across the table, carved an enormous chunk out of the side of Nagisa’s parfait, and ripped a fist-sized glob of pudding out in a single scoop. As Tsubaki chomped unceremoniously on the bite, the carefully constructed triple layer parfait collapsed on itself and caramel spilled across the plate.
“Ah! My pudding!”
Nagisa looked as if they might cry. Tsubaki looked like an overheated tomato and there was more steam rising from her face than from the coffee in front of her.
“Can we move on with the meeting?” Tsubaki managed to get those words out before embarrassment completely overwhelmed her and all the while, Hiiro was laughing to herself behind her hand. Aoi could only smile happily, a lovestruck lesbian utterly incapable of keeping her thoughts away from Tsubaki for more than a minute.
Somehow, despite all of this, the members of Rondo eventually planned out their next setlist and concluded their meeting more or less on time.