“So you see, Azusa-Chan, we have to bury our eggs in the sand, or they’ll be swept away by the current. After a few months, they hatch and make their way back to the water and continue to grow.”
“Have you ever had any eggs of your own?”
“I’ve still got a long time before I’m ready for that. Can I have more tea?”
“Certainly!”

There was a small table on sitting on a smooth sandy beach. It was a small desert island, a  palm tree in the middle, ruby red dates drooping  from a low hanging leaf. On the table was a expensive tea set, inside the kettle fresh Earl Grey. On one side of the table, there was a very large pig-nosed turtle. On the other side of the table was a petite young woman, her long black hair in pigtails on the sides of her head. She was wearing a pink swimsuit with a small frilled skirt around the waist. Her usual fair skin  was now dark brown.

If you’re reading this, you probably know these characters. But if you don’t, her name is Azusa Nakano. She’s the second guitarist in the band known as Afternoon Tea Time. She’s also the newest member of the Light Music Club, where the band was formed. Right now, she’s having  tea with her junior member and good friend, Ton-Chan.

She reached over the table and poured the tea  into the cup in front of the large reptile. If she hadn’t been enjoying herself so much, she would have wondered when she got so good at poring tea.
The turtle slide the cup until it’s large fin and took a large sip. “This is pretty good! Why don’t you ever feed me any of this?” It exclaimed
“If we put tea in your tank, you’d get sick….”
“Well, you could give me a cup then, right?”
 “I don’t think that’s right…”
 “Anyway, you’re pretty good at this! You should do this more often!”

“Oh….it’s not that good.” Azusa answered, pleased that she was getting praise from Ton-Chan. If  her skin  were lighter, it would have been obvious that she was blushing. She fidgeted around, cupping her hands together and looked up at Ton-Chan
“Ton-Chan……Do you like my music?”
“Are you joking?” the Carettochelys insculpta exclaimed, raised it‘s fins, flapping them in the air. “It’s the greatest! The others really should follow your example and practice more!”
“Really?” Azusa said, excitedly, leaning close.
“Do these eyes lie?”

Azusa stared into Ton-Chan’s eyes…..but her glaze averted right down to his nose.. When she was this close up, she couldn’t help but laugh. She held her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing….nothing!!!”
“You’re laughing at  my nose, aren’t you?!”
“….No!” Azusa exclaimed with a unconvincing smile

Ton-Chan crossed his flippers and stared at her “Let’s put that aside for now..“ it said. “There is something I need you to do thought, Azusa-Chan.”
“What is it, Ton-Chan?”
“I need you to wake up.” the turtle said with an expression as serious as a turtle could make.
“……What? I don‘t understand…”
“…….wake up.”
-----------------------------
Azusa woke up quickly, and looked around. She wasn’t on a desert island anymore. She was inside of the clubroom. She rubbed her eyes, and stood up slowly, looking around the room. This was definitely their clubroom for the Light Music Club, there was the table, a cabinet holding an expensive tea set, and other things they didn‘t really need.. There was Ton-Chan’s tank, and he fit comfortably inside of it as usual.

Stretching, she walked up to the tank, and peered through the glass. Ton-Chan swam to the window of the tank and then floated away. It wasn‘t talking either. It just seemed like a strange dream she was having. It was pretty quiet since she was all alone…Everyone was off doing their class play. She was hoping that they would get some time to practice…But still, it was still important to them though, and she should be happy that they’re doing so well.
“Well, at least you’re still here Ton-Chan…” Azusa said slowly as she looked down into Ton-Chan’s tank.

The door opened slowly, and a young woman peered inside. She was a bit older than Azusa was, and she had bright blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was wearing the same uniform as Azusa was, but she had a light  blue ribbon tied around her neck rather than a red one.
It was the sweet, kind, and somewhat strange, Tsumugi Kotobuki. She played the piano for the Light Music Club’s band, Afternoon Tea Time, and she was usually cheerful.
But now, she didn’t look very happy.
Something was wrong.
“Oh, Mugi-senpai. Did you forget something here?”

“No…” the blond haired girl said slowly, looking around to if someone was hiding in the room. “Azusa-chan, I would have liked to talk to you at a better time, but have you seen Mio-chan, Ricchan or Yui-chan? The play is about to start, and I can’t find any of them!”
She looked completely worried, as a director would be when the two stars and tree extra go missing right at the start of the performance.
Azusa fumed at the thought of Yui-senpai and Ritsu-senpai fooling around this close to the start of the play. Didn’t they stop practicing just for this play? Still, it was strange for Mio-senpai to allow something like this to happen, she must have been dragged along or trying to stop them.

“Have you tried calling them?”
“I called Ritsu-chan about an hour ago, and she told me that they were going to do some last minute rehearsal. But since then, I haven’t been able to reach them.”

She looked extremely worried. Azusa didn’t like seeing her so upset. Well, it’s not as if she was doing anything now, and she hadn’t seen the others in quite some time…

“I’ll help you find them!” Azusa exclaimed, putting on her serious face. “I can’t believe that they would mess around at such an important time! They can’t have gone far though. Tell me the places you’ve already searched.”

“Oh Azusa-chan, thank you!” Tsumugi called out, grasping Azusa’s hands and squeezing them and moving closer to Azusa. ….She had a very tight hold on them. “You’re always so dependable! I’ll make sure to repay you!!”

“You don’t have to do that….” Azusa said slowly, blushing slightly.
“Now, tell me which places you‘ve already searched!”
--------------------------------------------------------
Well, they weren’t in the Occult Clubroom, they weren’t in the Jazz Clubroom, they weren’t in the Art Clubroom, they weren’t in any of the clubrooms  second floors they weren’t with Yamanaka-Sensei, Jun-chan hadn’t seen them, Ui-chan didn’t either. The time for the play to start was rapidly approaching, and there was no still sign of them. They weren’t at their houses, and  no one was answering their cells.
Maybe something serious really did happen to them…
Azusa was getting worried as she started to search the other buildings rooms. They weren’t in the gym. They weren’t in the assembly hall. And they still weren’t in at the stage. That left only a few places to look at school.

Slowly, she opened the door to the storage room and peered her head inside. The room was dimly lit and smelled of dust and old things. Just what would they be doing in here?
No, she had to look inside anyway, otherwise this search would have been completely pointless. She walked inside as the door slowly closed behind her. The further she walked in, all she saw was old equipment, old basketballs, old baseballs, old beds, old coats, old skates, a curtain hung in the middle of the room by a wall.. There didn’t seem to be anyone in here. She walked by the curtain and looked around. Maybe she was just wasting her time. Sighing, she turned around. That is until she started to hear some strange noise. Where was it coming from? It was from inside the room…behind her? She begun to turn around until she saw a figure further down the room.

This someone was sitting on the floor, holding something in her right hand, snapping her fingers with her left hand, ……Azusa slowly walked closer and saw that ‘the someone’ had a short  light brown hair, an average figure…
“Yui-senpai?”

‘The someone’ turned around and smiled brightly. She was wearing a strange somewhat tight fitting brown suit and two green hairclips on the left side of her head. As soon as she turned around, she  ran towards Azusa, calling out.
“Azu-nyyyyyyyaaaaannnnnnnn~~” She spread her arms out to give Azusa a hug, but Azusa held out her hands to keep her away.
Yes, that was her. This was the first guitarist and second singer of the Afternoon Tea Time  band, Yui Hirasawa. She was somewhat a somewhat silly, fun-having person, but as far as Azusa was concerned, she was in a lot of trouble.
“Yui-senpai!” Azusa protested, spreading her arms angrily. “Just what do you think you’re doing  Don’t you have a play to perform in? Don’t you know how to keep a schedule!? You had us all worried! We’ve spent this all  time looking for you!! Why are you so irresponsible?!”
“I‘m sorry, Azu-nyan~….”
“Don’t you know how much you made Mugi-senpai worry?!?” Azusa shouted. “You should be more considerate!”

“But….I was……looking  for something to use in the play in here, and then lost track of time…”Yui said slowly, looking dejected. Suddenly her tune changed as she ran over and grabbed what she was playing with before off the floor
“Look Azu~nyan, do you think I could use this?”
She had some sort of strange looking…baseball glove on in her hand. Well, less like a baseball glove, but it had long stiff fingers with ends that looked kind of sharp…It looked kind of weird.
“How can you use something that ugly in a play?”
“I don’t think it’s that bad….” Yui answered. “It’s brown like a tree, it should fit!”
“Where is your tree outfit? You need to get it on, or you’re going to be late!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I took it off when I got here. It’s…bound to be here somewhere.” She stood up quickly and made a funny pose, putting the glove in front of her face menacingly, putting a grimace on her face. “Hey Azu-nyan~ Guess who I am!”
Azusa looked at Yui and frowned.

“Will, you stop fooling around?” a voice called out from behind Yui, hitting her on the back of the head with a hand. Stepping out from the back, it was a young woman dressed in a dark red Victorian dress with long braided back hair.
“Who are you!!?”
“……Tainaka Ritsu!” she called out, in an annoyed voice. But she quickly changed her tune as she took a pose, putting one hand on her hip. “Well, when you look this stunning, it’s a surprise that you can’t recognize me! Ah, it‘s such a sin to be so beautiful.”
Azusa groaned to herself. She WAS right though, she did look at lot different. Well, she was chosen as  Juliet for a reason….She was wearing a strange scarf though. It was a long red and blue striped scarf.  It was kind of old and frayed though.

“You’re not wearing that thing on stage are you?” Azusa asked, pointing at the scarf. “It doesn’t even match with your outfit!”
“Oh, this old thing? I just found it in here, looking for some clothes. It felt so comfortable, I decided to keep it on.. I’ll leave it now before I get too tied down to it.”

“Why not just take it off now?” another voice called out. “You’ll just get your outfit dirty!” Another person stepped out of the darkness. It was the bassist and first singer of the Afternoon Tea Time band, the responsible, serious and  scaredy cat, Mio Akiyama.  She was wearing some sort of old Victorian blue outfit with yellow and blue stripes f. She had her hair tied up, with two long strands hanging over her ears. For some strange reason, she was  wearing a fedora.

“Come on, let’s go you two.” Mio said, putting her hand on her hips. “We’ve wasted enough time as it is!”
“Wasn’t it your idea to come here?” Ritsu said, fuming.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Yui said, as she searched looking around for her tree costume.
“Why are you wearing that hat, Mio-senpai?” Azusa asked. It was kind of weird, but she was relieved to see that they were all okay, and just in time for the play.
“I…..thought it looked kind of cool.” Mio said, turning her head away. But she turned back to Azusa with her serious disposition. “Well, Yui, get your tree costume, so we can get out of here! We can‘t keep getting so wrapped up in ourselves!”

“I think you left it at the stage?” Ritsu said.  Let’s just go back already!”
“Okay.” Yui answered. She stretched her arms, and begun to walk towards the door.
“I think we should look here first!” Azusa said, looking around. If she knew Yui-senpai , she probably left it in here. Her eyes darted around…She couldn’t see it here….Azusa took note of the blue curtain. Maybe it was behind it. She quickly walked up to it, and swept the curtain aside.
What she saw behind it drained the color out of her face.

She was looking at the tree costume. But only someone was wearing it. It was Yui. Only she was wrapped up with tape in the costume with her hands taped in front of her. Her mouth was plastered with tape. In front of her was Mio-senpai and Ritsu-senpai, still in costume, their arms and legs wrapped in tape, their mouths taped up as well. As soon as they caught sight of Azusa, they all started struggling to get her attention.  They were trying to tell her something.
….Was….was…this really happening?

Azusa stepped back shaking slightly. She looked into Yui’s pleading eyes. Right by her eyes, two yellow hairclips. The Yui she met  before was wearing green hairclips….ON THE LEFT!

“Oh, you just had to see that, didn’t you?” Other-Yui said, she said as she slowly closed the curtains. The others behind the curtain followed it as it closed with their eyes. Other-Yui stepped in front of it to block Azusa from helping her bandmates.
She was sure that she saw tears in Mio-senpai’s eyes
“And  here we wanted to surprise you.” Other-Ritsu said, taking off the scarf, and putting it in her hands, looping it around her right arm twice. “It‘s too bad you didn‘t come with Mugi…”
“It’s too bad Azusa.” Other-Mio said, walking to Azusa’s right. “It would have been better if you didn’t see that. It looks like we’ll have to do the same to you!”

“Just….who are you people?!” Azusa shouted. “What’s going on here?! Is this some sort of joke? It’s not funny!” She was sure it wasn’t, but she had to get help! Her eyes darted around for an exit….
“Who am I?” Other-Yui said with a smile and she stepped forward menacingly. “I’m…….the gingerbread man!!”
“Will you stop goofing off!” Other-Ritsu said, lightly knocking her on the back of the head. “Just get…the stuff.
“You didn’t have to hit me..” Other Yui said tearfully. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot!”
That guy isn‘t in this, if you don‘t already know”
“As if we would let someone like in here!” Other-Ritsu spat out.
“I don’t even want to be associated with that person!” Other-Mio shouted, throwing the fedora on the ground. “Who’s idea was this, anyway?”
“We can worry about that later!” Other-Ritsu said, as she put her hand on Azusa’s shoulder. “Now, this will hurt me more than it’ll hurt you! !”
Other-Yui put her hand on Azusa’s other shoulder with a sly grin.
“I can’t let you sleep tonight, kitty!”
“St-top-p-p-p! What do you think you’re doing!!!!”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Other Ritsu said, with a sly smile, as she held up the scarf again. “You’ll feel much much better…..as soon as you wake up!”
And then she wrapped the scarf around Azusa’s head.

“Ahh!! STOP THAT!! Let go of me!” Azusa shouted in vain. Already, they had quickly gotten to work binding her arms to her sides, as she struggled uselessly.
As she realized that she couldn’t move, her mind raced as her options swiftly decreased. What were they going to do with her? What where they going to do with Yui-senpai, Ritsu-senpai and Mio-senpai? Was anyone going to find them in this storage room?  Where they going to go do the same to Mugi-senpai? How were they going to get out of this?
And what was going to happen to the play?!

“Stop it! Please let go of me!!”
Why was this happening? How could this be happening?  She was completely heartbroken at the fact that whoever these strangers where, they were attacking under the guise of her closest friends. They would never do such a thing! But just the image of her friends completely helpless, her unable to do anything for them, and whoever was doing it to them LOOKED like them was too much to bear.She held her eyes shut as hard as she could, as slowly, hot tears streamed down her eyes and rolled down her cheeks
“Please……stop it….”
“Azu-nyan~….”
“……stop it…..”
“Azu-nyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnn~”
Please…..stop it…”
“Azusa! Azusa! Azzzzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuu-sa!!!”
“Azusa-chan, please wake up!”
“Azu-nyan! Azu-nyan!! Wake up!”
--------------------------------
Azusa opened her eyes quickly. As her bearings slowly came to her, she realized that she was laying on the ground. In her orange sleeping bag. Ritsu, Mugi and Yui-senpai were looking over her, looking somewhat worried. They were all dressed in their gym outfits. She was back in the clubroom. It was all some sort of strange dream she had……There was no way anything like that could have been real. She took in a deep breath and exhaled. Even though it was just a dream , she was relived that she wasn’t tied up in a closet it somewhere..

“Azusa, you okay?” Ritsu asked, staring down. “You were screaming your head off!”
“Ritsu-senpai…” Azusa said slowly…..She wasn’t wearing an ugly scarf….She looked at Mugi-senpai, she looked relatively  the same, and she looked at Yui-senpai, who had her hairclips on the right side, and wasn’t holding an ugly glove either. “I’m fine…” she said, reaching her arms out of her sleeping bag and rubbing her eyes. Yes, it was just a dream…But she didn’t want them to know that---
“Have you been crying, Azusa-chan?” Tsumugi asked, staring deeply into Azusa’s eyes. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“What was it about, Azusa?” Ritsu asked. “Was I in it? You better had have not been dreaming something bad about me!!”
“Poor Azu--nyan~!: Yui exclaimed, holding her hands to her face, with a worried expression on her face. “I know what will make those dreams go away!

And almost as if a reflex, she took Azusa’s sleeping bag off, grabbed her by the shoulders to sit her up, and then shoved Azusa’s head into her chest, rubbing the back of her head. “There, there, Azu-nyan! I’ll share my positive energy with you!”

This was the Yui-senpai that Azusa knew so well. The image of that Other-Yui in her mind was already fading from memory. There was no way anything like that could ever happen….Now that she was feeling herself again, she didn’t want to be held like a doll anymore.
“You don’t have to hold me so tightly, Yui-senpai~!
“No way, Azusa!! I can‘t let you go until you stop having bad dreams!”
“Hmmmm…..” Azusa moaned.

Tsumugi had been staring at the both of them intensely this whole time. Then suddenly, faster than you could pour tea into a cup, Tsumugi was right next to them, and clamped her arms around Azusa.
“M-m-mugi-senpai?!?!?”
“I-I-I want to share my positive energy with you too!” Tsumugi said in a serious tone
Azusa would have told off anyone else, but she didn’t want to say anything that would upset Tsumugi. Besides that, she smelled so nice………What was she thinking of at a time like this?!

“Azu~nyan, I’ll comfort you whenever you need it.” Yui said softly “You can always count me!”
“Count on me too!” Tsumugi added, tightening her grasp on Azusa. “I’ll give you all the energy you need!!”

Azusa turned red in the face. Not only from being held tightly by her two female classmates/band members, but because of the compromising position she was in along with the silly things they were saying as well.
“That’s right!” Yui chimed in, as she loosed her grasp of Azusa (which was still a very tight grasp anyway) “All three of us can share our energy together! San-Mi-Timely!!”
“Don’t you mean San-Mi-Ittai?” Ritsu frowned.  “Don‘t use proverbs if you don‘t know how!”
“Oh Ricchan..” Yui said, wagging her finger at Ritsu disapprovingly. “Don’t you know that Ittai is Hebrew for Timely?”
“We speak Japanese in this country!” Ritsu protested. “How do you expect me to know that?!!”
“But Ricchan……we aren’t speaking Japanese at all!”

“…….” Ritsu stared at Yui, and then just shook her head and shrugged. “Oh, you three are just like children!” But all the same, she crawled over, ruffled Azusa’s hair with her right hand. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.  We’re here with you! You’re taking it better than Mio does, at least.”

“Speaking of which, where is Mio-senpai?” Azusa asked looking around curiously.
“She’s still asleep.” Yui answered, mentioning towards where Mio, a few feet away from them. As if on cue, she rolled over once, and mumbled something about cheesecake. “I didn’t know Mio-Chan was such a heavy sleeper…”
“She usually doesn’t sleep this much……Mio! Mio!! Mio!!! Miiiii~o!” Ritsu called out. “A-ki-ya-ma-Mi-o-san! Get up and chat with us!”
There was no reply. She was fast asleep.
“Tsch, how boring.” Ritsu sighed, leaning backwards, looking up at the ceiling. “There has to be something to do if we---”
Suddenly, her composure changed, with a mischievous look in her eyes. “Ladies, you would say that we’ve just had a ‘special moment’, right?”
“Ricchan, come here and give us more of your energy~!”
“Yes or no, people!”

 Tsumugi and Yui shook their heads in unison. Azusa frowned, she knew Ritsu-senpai was up to something weird.
“And who amongst us is not for this moment we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives, or until we all forget? Akiyama Mio-san, that’s who! For missing out, this calls for a Punishment Game!!”

“What kind of a game?” Yui asked.
“P-p-punishment game?” Tsumugi exclaimed, holding her hands in front of her chest, obviously excited. “How do you play that, Ricchan?”
Ritsu quickly crawled over to Tsumugi and whispered in her ear, pointing at where Mio was sleeping, pointing at the closet. Tsumugi stared at Ritsu with stars in her eyes, and in a flash, she was off towards the closet. Ritsu moved off towards Mio, looking her up and down. She would have to make sure that was she was fast asleep. Bending over, she lightly tugged on Mio’s long jet-black hair.
No response
She put her hand on Mio’s face.
No response.
“You’re sleeping on a rusty knife!” Ritsu whispered. “There’s a piece of glass in your favorite piece of cake! You have a loose pin in your hair!”

The only response she got was Mio’s light snoring. Ritsu smirked, it was some sort of Christmas miracle for Mio to be sleeping so heavily. Tsumugi swiftly appeared right next to Ritsu,  more excited than ever.
“Is she still asleep?” Tsumugi asked curiously
“She’s practically hibernating! Did you find them??”
“I did!” Tsumugi uttered, revealing several large rolls of gaffer tape. “How does this game work?”
“Easy!” Ritsu said with a wink. “We help Mio-san here get into her cocoon, and then after that, she has to spread her beautiful wings!”

“You’re going to make wings for Mio out of that tape?” Yui asked.
“Of course not!”
“Just the antenna then?
“Why would we do that?”
“The thorax?”
“No!” Ritsu said, annoyed. “We’re just going to have fun with Mio and this tape here.”

“Oooo……” Yui answered back. “Just what kind of fun?!” she asked
“If you get over here, you’ll find out!”
“You’re playing with tape again?” Azusa said disapprovingly. “That’s too much, Ritsu-senpai!”
“Don’t be such a spoil-sport!” Ritsu  protested. “….And what do you mean by playing again?”

“…Nevermind that!” Azusa griped. “It seems more than mean than fun!”
“Who in here is for having some fun, raise your hand!”
Ritsu, Tsumugi, and Yui raised their hands.
“You’re outvoted, Azusa!” Ritsu exclaimed with a grin. “Yui, get over here and help!”
“I’m coming~!”  Yui said, letting go of Azusa, and crawling over to Tsumugi and Ritsu .

They begun whispering to each other about whatever they were going to do to Mio. Azusa looked over at them and crossed her arms in disapproval. They could never have a quiet night, could they?
She looked at the clock. It was 1:25 AM….It was pretty late. Maybe she should just go back to sleep.  ….Just what the heck where they all doing inside of the clubroom anyway? They were rehearsing for something, weren’t they? Then, shouldn’t they be going back to sleep? Should she even ask? She didn’t want to look like she couldn’t remember, not in front of Yui-senpai and Ritsu-senpai. She couldn’t think of any songs that she hadn’t rehearsed…. It probably wasn’t anything to worry about.

She stood up and walked to the window to check on Ton-Chan. The tank was devoid of any activity, as Ton-Chan was asleep inside of the jar in the tank. Azusa lightly ran her hand across the side of the tank. There definitely wasn’t any tea in the tank. For a fleeting moment, she wished that they could have another chat. She shook her head, because that was ridiculous.
Still, she leaned close to the tank, and whispered “Sweet dreams, sleepyhead…

“Do we start like this?”
“I think we should start from here…”
“It’s not that hard, you two! Just follow my example!”
“Like this, Ricchan?”
“Will you give me that?!”
“How about this, Ricchan?”
“….Mugi…”

Azusa walked back from Ton-Chan’s tank to where her sleeping bag was lying and climbed on top of it. The least she could do for Mio-senpai is try and convince them to stop
“Mio-senpai is going to be VERY angry when she wakes up..”
“She’ll be fine. Isn‘t that right, Mio-chan~?” Ritsu said with a wave of her hand. Mio only snored lightly in response. “Unless……youwanttotakeherplace?” she said quickly, turning to Azusa

“You wouldn’t!” Azusa protested, recoiling a few inches, putting her sleeping bag over her head, as if it was going to help her hide
“That sounds like fun!” Yui said, flashing Azusa a foxy grin, causing Azusa to put her head under the sleeping back. Ritsu grabbed Yui’s head and turned it back to face Mio. “One task at a time, missy! We‘ve got to do this before Mio wakes up!”
“I’m sure we have plenty of time!” Tsumugi said reassuringly.

“Ah! AH! AH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Mio was awake! The three of them froze up like a stream in the middle of Yakutsk, Russia in the middle of a snowstorm.
“choo~ ……”
She was just sneezing.
Ritsu sighed heavily, regaining her composure. “….That was close, almost gave me a heart attack.”
“ What a cute sounding sneeze!” Yui exclaimed, with a smile
“I wonder what she’s dreaming about?” Tsumugi asked, peering closely at Mio’s face.
“Probably another candy-cane forest…

“We’re getting off track here!” Ritsu stated putting her hands on her hips. “Mugi, Yui, you hold her legs, I’ll use the tape, and we’ll work our way up from there. Make sure you hold her steady!”
“Okay~!”
“I’m ready!” Tsumugi answered, even more excited than before. “I’ve never done this to one of my friends before!!!”
“More the reason we should do it now! Okay ladies, as we discussed before.”

Azusa peered her head out of from under the sleeping bag to see what they were up to now. She watched as Yui and Tsumugi both lifted up Mio’s legs and Ritsu pulled off a long strip of tape from the roll and begun quickly to wind it tightly around Mio’s ankles.

“I don’t think you guys should do this…” Azusa said disapprovingly.  “Can’t you play another game?”
“We can’t stop now that we’ve already started.” Ritsu stated, ripping off the tape and pulling off another strip. “Come here and help us!”
“I don’t want any part of it!” Azusa said definitely, crossing her arms and fuming.

Quickly, they worked their way up her knees with the tape, and then to her thighs.
“Don’t you think that’s enough already?” Azusa stated, hoping to curb their enthusiasm. “I’m sure that’s enough tape.”
“What kind of a cocoon stops halfway!?” Ritsu replied.
“We’re almost done now…” Tsumugi added.
You should come and help us, Azu-nyan!”
“I don’t want to!” Azusa said with a sigh, putting her head down. There was just no stopping them… Maybe she could go back to sleep. But the sound of tape ripping and stretching kept feeling her ears.  Her curiosity was piqued. She looked over from where she was laying, but couldn’t see anything. She got up and raised her head, but couldn’t see over their shoulders. Should she go over there? No, she didn’t want to have to answer to Mio-senpai when she got up.
Okay…..maybe just to see what was going on.
She slowly crawled over to the three, and they just seemed to have finished. Azusa peered over Yui and Tsumugi’s shoulders, and her face turned to shock when she saw what they did.  Almost every portion of the stitching  on Mio‘s sleeping bag was neatly wrapped up in tape.

“You guys did all of this?!”
“We still have plenty of tape left!” Tsumugi said, mentioning to the other rolls a few feet away from them.
“That’s not what I meant! Don’t you think this is a bit much?”
“We only used about half.”
“Mio-senpai won’t be able to get out of all of this!”

“There‘s no pointing doing it if too easy!!” Ritsu protested as she inched closer towards Mio “And now the finishing touch….” Ritsu said slowly, as she ripped off a large strip of tape, and slowly moved towards Mio’s face.
“You might mess up her eyebrows like that, Ricchan!”
“Just what are you thinking?” Ritsu spat out, as she placed the adhesive strip over Mio’s mouth. “Just to keep her quite for a while…”
“That’s too much, Ritsu-senpai!” Azusa complained.
“Oh, I feel sorry for Mio-chan…” Tsumugi said slowly.
Azusa knew that she could always count on Mugi-senpai for a reasonable second opinion. Azusa was getting ready to open her mouth in agreement…..

“But I still want to see it…” she admitted slowly.
Azusa closed her mouth and sighed.

“Just what do you call this Punishment Game anyway, Ricchan??” Yui askedk
“………” Ritsu looked around, as if she was looking for something. “..The bagworm! Yeah that’s right, the bagworm punishment game!”
“I bet you just made that name up now, Ritsu-senpai!” Azusa said putting her hands on her hips. “I’m sure you just made this game up now!”

“What did you say, Azusa-chan?” Ritus said  with a whimsical smile, battering her eyes at her. “ I don’t know what you’re talking about~!”
“That’s enough!” Azusa protested, standing up. “I don’t think this is a game we should be playing! I’m unwrapping her.”
“Oh ho?” Ritsu said defiantly. “You’ll have to get through the three of us first!!
And as if on cue, Tsumugi and Yui were upon Azusa, they were sitting down again, and they were giving her another hug, I.e., they were holding her down.

“Agh! Will you get off of me!?”
“It’ll be fun, Azu~nyan!”
“Fun for YOU at least!”
Yui-senpai couldn’t be trusted on this.
“Let’s just watch for a while, okay Azusa-chan?”
Tsumugi was completely all for it too. There wasn’t any hope in stopping it now.

 And now all we have to do is wait!” Ritsu stated confidently, crossing her arms.

………..Several minutes had gone by, and there wasn’t any activity from Mio other than her rolling around a few times.
Tsumugi stared at Mio patiently, waiting for her to awake. Yui was the only one holding on to Azusa now, waiting for Mio with a smile on her face, leaning her head on Azusa‘s shoulder. Azusa was sitting, with a tired look on her face and Ritsu, sitting the closest to Mio, was impatiently tapping her finger on the ground.

“Ahhh, this is taking too long!” she complained loudly, running her hands through her hair. “What good is a game you have to wait until morning for??!?!” She stood up, and prepared to shout loudly…….then she walked back a few feet away, before turning around t
“Are you guys ready?“ Ritsu asked “You‘ll be with me until the end, right?” She was going to need some help during the aftermath, and it would be best to assure their allegiance now than later..
“I’m ready, I’m ready!” Tsumugi said, her eyes shining even more than ever.
“Yui?”
“I’m right here!
“Rea~dy~!” Yui said in a sing-song. She was staring at the rolls of gaffer tape. “You’re going to take a turn next, right Ricchan?”
“As if..” Ritsu mumbled. “Azusa?”
“No way, Ritsu-senpai!” Admittedly, she was a bit curious as to what was going to happen now, but she wasn’t going to take Ritsu’s side in the aftermath.

Ritsu turned to Mio and cuffed her hands to her mouth,  and bellowed “Miiiiiiiiiioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-chan!!!!!!””
Nothing response but Mio’s light breathing.
“YOUR HEADPHONES ARE BROKEN!”
“YOUR BASS HAS ANOTHER SCRATCH!!”
“YOU LOOK LIKE YOU’VE GAINED WEIGHT!”
“THERE’S A POISONOUS  SPIDER  IN YOUR SLEEPING BAG!”
“……..There’s……no more of your favorite cake?”

“That’s no good, Ricchan!” Yui protested. “You shouldn’t joke about things like that! That’s just too mean!”
“You’re always thinking about food…” Ritsu mumbled as she got up and walked over towards Mio, kneeling over and poking her in the face. “Well, don’t you guys have any suggestions? If she isn’t waking up after that, then I don’t know what else will work!” She put her finger through Mio’s hair. “Maybe she is hibernating!”

“Hmmmmm….Let me try!” Yui said, putting her finger in the air as if she had gotten a great idea. “Your shoes are out of fashion!”
“……How about “The picture we took of you came out really bad!” Tsumugi piped in.
“Surely, you two can do better than that….”
“……Your carpets don’t match your paint!” Tsumugi added in again.
“No way!”
“…Your favorite dress has loose threads!”
“Is this a comedy club?!”
“I guess that won‘t do…….” Tsumugi said, a bit dejected. “Maybe we should wait until Mio-chan wakes up? We can take turns watching over her!”
“What good is the game if you have to make work out of it?” Ritsu protested. “Help us out here, Azusa!”
“How about……mice? She‘s afraid of those, right?” Azusa asked, answering before she knew what was doing.
“No good!”

“Oh wait, I’ve got an idea!” Yui said excitedly, raising her hands in the air, hit with a stroke of  genius. She coughed twice and then put on a strange deep voice. “Your socks don’t match your shoes or your pants! And you should stay inside because……You’ll just get your outfit dirty!!”
“That is absolutely ridicu--”

“MMMPH!!” Mio shot up off the ground as she imagined herself outside in public wearing dirty socks that didn’t match the rest of her outfit. Ritsu barely got of the way in time, and crawled backwards in shock. Mio didn’t get far, and hit the ground hard. She was going to just say “ouch“, but all that came out of her mouth was a mumble.

Something was wrong.
She realized that she couldn’t talk!  Something was covering her mouth. She reached to take it off, but she didn’t reach at all. She couldn’t move her arms…or legs…or talk…A cold feeling washed over her, and she had begun to panic, wriggling on the ground, throwing her legs out furiously in attempts to get some sort of leverage off the ground, but to no avail.  She rolled over until she was face down on the ground.

What had happened? Where were the others at? Why was she tied up like this?  Did the same thing happen to them? Was it some weird guy? Was it a thief? A thief? Here? At this school? If there was a thief in this room,…, that must mean that they were after he precious bass!

“ELIZABETH!!!” Mio shouted mournfully, but all that came out was a mumbled “Mummmmpmhph!”

Was it still here? Did they already make off it with? Mio struggled to look around the room for it. She was still in the clubroom, but she couldn’t see anyone else, or her bass. Was everyone else okay? What was going on? Tears came to her eyes as the thought of someone manhandling her precious instrument or  thinking of her friends in the same situation. She wept openly as she struggled as hard as she could to roll herself over to get a full view of the room, but she couldn‘t move. She laid her head on the ground, and  just about gave up  hope. What was going to happen to the bass she saved up so much money for?  All of her earnings gone. What was going to happen to her? Who knows what those guys could do to her? What if they wanted more than just her bass? What about everyone else, were they okay?
Would somebody come to save them?  Anyone would do right now!
“Somebody….please….” she thought helplessly to her self. She struggled once more, and found herself face ground on the ground again, and looked up with tears in her eyes……

Only to find that Yui, Ritsu, Azusa and Tsumugi were watching her wriggle around THE WHOLE ENTIRE TIME!
“MMPH?!?!?!”
“GO FOR IT, Mio-Chan!” Tsumugi cheered. “I know you can do it!”
“Contestant Mio-chan, you won’t win the prize if you give up now!” Ritsu hollered.
“ What?” Mio wanted to shout, but all that came out was another “mmph“. She started into Ritsu’s eyes. Just the one look in her mischievous eyes, Mio realized was exactly what had happened here. There wasn’t any thieves here!
It was just another one of Ritsu’s silly pranks! Instantly, her worry and fear turned into anger, and she angrily attempted to call out “RITSU!!!!” but all that came out was another mumble.

“I think she’s angry, Ricchan.” Yui said.
“She’s fine!” Ritsu stated. “Come on Mio-chan, you’re almost there!”
“It doesn’t look like she’s having much fun!” Azusa protested.
“You can do it, Mio-chan!” Tsumugi encouraged.
“That’s right! Who else would be better at playing this game, to help us tighten our bonds of friendship?”

Mio thrashed around angrily, but to no avail, the tape was wound around her too tightly for her break free. She attempted to stand up, pushing her self up halfway, and then just feel back on the ground again. Typically, she’d be saying
“What kind of a game is this?!”
“What’s the matter with you!”
“Don’t you know how to act?”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
But instead, you could just hear her muffled groans as she tossed and turned. And then suddenly, she stopped. And curled upon the floor sideways and she stopped moving
“……Mio?”
For a response, all they got was her moving slightly, and a muffled sobs. Left with no other option, Mio begun to sob again, she couldn’t believe that her friends could be so cruel to her. Didn’t they know how worried she was about them?!

“Ah, you made her cry~” Yui accused, looking up at Ritsu as she stood up to help her best friend.
“Don’t you mean  WE?” Ritsu snapped back, splitting the responsibility instantly. She didn’t think that Mio would take it that hard! …Or at least not in such a short period of time.
“You said that this wouldn’t happen, Ritsu-senpai!” Azusa said angrily.
“When did I say that?!” Ritsu sighed, looking at her friend crying like a young child. “Oh Mio…….what we going to do with you? Hold on, I’ll cut--”


 Mio winced at the word “cut” and attempted to squirm away.
“Not like that! Geez…….This is going to take some time to do. Let’s skip ahead, shall we?
--------------------After some passage of time--------------------
“Are you guys  going to sit there the whole time, or help me?” Ritsu snapped, looking at her cohorts, as they watched her pull the tape off Mio.
--------------------After another passage of time, longer than the first--------------------
Finally, Mio was freed from her “cocoon”, but she was still balled up in the middle of the floor, crying her eyes out. Ritsu was trying to cheer her up, Tsumugi, Azusa Yui were just watching from the side, Azusa feeling very guilty

“Do…..you know…how scared I was?” Mio shouted loudly between sobs. “That wasn’t fu-nny at all! How..could you guys be…..so cruel to meeeee?!?!?!”
“Oh Mio…..” Ritsu said, sitting on the ground next to her, putting her hand on her head. She didn’t think that she would take it THIS hard. “It was just a silly game we wanted to play, right people?”
“It was all your idea though, Ricchan!” Yui spouted.
“I tried to stop them, Mio-senpai! …But I didn’t do a good job of it.”
Mio threw her arms over Ritsu’s shoulder, and sobbed into it. “I thought something happened to you guys!” Slowly, she stretched her feet out as if she was looking for something ….and then quickly pulled her feet back in.
“I’m so sorry, Mio-senpai!” Azusa shouted with a disappointed look on her face. “I really should have done more to help you!”
“We’re sorry, Mio-chan.” Yui and Tsumugi said in unison.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time….” Yui stated.
“But it turned out like this….” Tsumugi said sadly.

“Mio……I’m really sorry to have made you worry so much.” Ritsu said solemnly. “I didn’t think we‘d scare you that much”
As Mio’s crying slowed down, her grasp on Ritsu’s neck started to slowly tighten…
“Mio…..Mio, you’re grabbing on to me pretty tightly…..” Ritsu said, starting to get a bit nervous. “Mio? ……Mio?……..Mio-chan?”
Mio lifted her head up and stared right into Ritsu’s eyes, her eyes full of tears. “Ritsu…..”
“…..Mio?”
“I was so worried……“ Mio’s expression suddenly shifted, as  her eyes looked even sharper than they had ever been, as she made an extremely angry face at Ritsu. “But….it was alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll just a silly game, right Ricchan? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?!?!!?!?!?!” she said quickly through gritted teeth.

Ritsu knew that glare.
She was in for it now.
She pushed away from Mio, and attempted to run away, but Mio grabbed the back of her shirt and spun her around. “Now it’s time for YOUR punishment game, Ritsu!!” She reached out to grab Ritsu. Left with no other options, Ritsu grabbed Mio’s hands in attempts to overpower her for once

“Haha!” She said with a confident grin. “Not today, Mio-chan!”
 Her confidence quickly faded as Mio quickly begin to overpower her anyway.
“Ahh~!!” Ritsu squealed. “Why are you so much stronger than I am?”
Swiftly, Mio pulled her arms down, and pinned her to the ground by climbing on top of her.
“Ahhhh!!!!” Ritsu bellowed in defeat. “Mugi, Yui, get over here and help me! I thought you were supposed to be with me until the end?”

She looked over to Tsumugi and Yui for help, but Tsumugi was too engaged in watching the too of them fighting. Yui holding chalkboard eraser pretending to be a commentator.
“It looks like Contestant Ricchan doesn’t stand much of a chance against Mio-chan!” Yui said excitedly. “She had better think of something fast! What do you think she can do now, Mugi-chan?” She said, putting an eraser in Tsumugi’s hands
“Um……” It was almost as if she was at one of those contests she saw on TV! She could barely come up with an answer. “She could roll over?” she said slowly as she held up the eraser to her mouth.
“What do you think, Azu-nyan?” Yui said, putting one of the erasers in Azusa’s hands.
“I think she’s getting her just desserts and should just give up.” Azusa answered, holding the eraser to her mouth, before she knew what she was doing. “It was a kind of joke that wasn’t going end well in the first place!”

“Yui! Stop fooling around and get over here! Mugi, stop watching me and help me! Azusa! Do something!”
“It’s not so funny when you’re on the receiving end, is it?!” Mio said darkly, as she reached over grabbed a black roll of gaffer tape. “Now it’s your turn…….”
“Ahhhh! What are you doing with that tape? Get off of me!”
“Just hold still!”
“How can I hold still when you’re crushing me with all of your weight??! You need to work out mo--
“Quiet down for a while!” Mio stated with an annoyed tone, as she slapped a piece of tape over Ritsu’s mouth. She knew that she was touchy about her weight!
“Mmmrgggmph!”

“Here’s an appropriate punishment for you…..” she said slowly, holding up another piece of tape. Ritsu knew where she was aiming, and struggled uselessly. Mio quickly placed the large strip on Ritsu’s forehead, and then pulled both strips off as quickly as she possibly could.
Ritsu pushed Mio off of her in desperation, holding her face in pain, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. “You….you she-devil! How could you do such a thing?” she whined. “That hurt!  None of us when that far!”
“Hmph!” Mio said, turning her head away with a huff, crossing her arms. “It’s what you deserve! Just be glad I’m not doing the exact thing you did to me! Now, go back to----”

Suddenly she was tackled by Ritsu, who holding her own roll of tape of now. Before she got to do anything, Mio was on top of Ritsu once again, attempting to grab her legs

“How does this keep happening?! She complained loudly. She crawled as best as she could to the others
“Mugi! Help me!!!”
“Contestant Ricchan wants to speak to commentator Mugi-chan!” Yui stated. “What do you have to say, Mugi-chan?” she said, putting the eraser up to Tsumugi’s mouth
“Oh….I’d rather watch at this point!” Tsumugi said, completely entertained by Mio and Ritsu’s usual antics.
“I thought you said that you were going to be with me until the end?!?” Ritsu protested as Yui put the eraser to her mouth.

“Ritsu, get over here!” Mio commanded, dragging Ritsu has hard as she could.
“Ahh!!” Ritsu moaned. “Nooooo~!” She grabbed onto Tsumugi’s waist as hard as she could.
“You’re holding me so tightly, Ricchan…” Tsumugi said softly.
“Stop using Mugi as a shield!” Mio complained. She kept trying to get to her, but Ritsu kept ducking behind Mugi. “Hahaha! This is what we call team work!”
“It seems more like cheating!” Azusa commented.

Ritsu held up her own strip of tape, and reached back, ready to slap it on to Mio’s face. But she reached back too far.
And the tape landed right on Tsumugi’s right eyebrow.
“…………………”
Everyone the room became deathly quiet.

Ritsu blinked twice and weighed her options………..She slowly pulled the tape off, and looked down on at it.
There was a large tuff of hair on it. It looked like the whole thing had been ripped off. Ritsu slowly looked back up at Tsumugi, and slowly stared at her eyebrow. It looked as if nothing had changed though.

Tsumugi had tears in her eyes as if someone had broken her favorite tea set. She suddenly stood up, walked up to where Mio was before, picked up her own roll of tape and swiftly walked back to Ritsu. She reached over to Ritsu’s left arm and rolled up her sleeve to her shoulder, and then quickly applied a long strip of tape and ripped it off.
“Ahh!!” Ristu squealed, wincing. “What’s with this sudden betrayal!?!?”
“But that’s what you did to me, Ricchan!”
“THAT was an accident!” Ristu spat out, slamming her hand on the ground with each syllable. “Don’t go after me, go after her!” she pointed at Mio. “SHE’s the enemy, not me!”

“Tsumugi, help me out here!” Mio stated. “It’s time you get a taste of your own silly pranks!”
“…..Okay!”

“WHAT?!”! Ritsu shouted, as she was slowly surrounded by Tsumugi and Mio.

“It’s looks like Ricchan is in a pinch!!” Yui said, completely immersed in her job as commentator . “What do you think she should do now, Commentator Azu-nyan?”
“I don’t think she can do anything against Mio-senpai and Tsumugi-senpai.” Azusa answered.  “It would probably be best to run away.”

 “Traitor! Back-stabber! You long-haired charlatans! You fuzzy haired backsliders!”  Ritsu complained loudly. She had to think on her toes. Quickly, she grabbed the bottom of Mio’s gym outfit, pulling it over her head and pushed her over. She turned to Tsumugi with a frown on her face.
“I can’t believe that you would change sides so quickly!”
“Well….I thought it would be fun!”
“I’ll give you something fun!” Ritsu spat out, as she ripped off a piece of tape and slapped it on Tsumugi’s right foot and ripped off just as quickly.
“Ouch!” Tsumugi yelped. She readied her own strip of tape and went after Ritsu’s own foot
“You copy cat!” Ritsu complained. She went after Tsumugi’s cheek
“That hurts!”
She went after the forehead
“Will you cut that out!?”

Mio, back on her feet, went at the back Ritsu’s neck with her own tape
“Knock it off!”
She went after the left hand.
“Cut that out!” Mio complained. “I need that hand!”
She went after her forehead again.
“Stop that~!”

“It doesn’t look like Ricchan is AHEAD in this game, right Azu-nyan? I’m looking FORward to see Ricchan try and take the HEAD here!”
“…Yui-senpai….” Azusa murmured, embarrassed at hearing such a horrible pun.

 Tsumugi  went after Ritsu’s forehead again this time.
“That’s enough already!” Ritsu pulled off two strips of tape and slapped them over Tsumugi and Mio’s foreheads, and pulled them off, ripping off some hair.
“That’s too much, Ricchan!”
“My hair!” Mio bellowed. “RITSU!!! You’ve done it this time!!!” she complaing, waving her arms in the air. Mio and Tsumugi stood up in unison, looking very, very, very unhappy. Ritsu crawled way as a star, and quickly stood up to run away as they chased her around the room in circles.

As the others around in a circle right next to them, Azusa yawned loudly, stretching her arms over her head, and dropping her eraser. “Yui-senpai, I’m going to bed.”
“Oh stay up with us some more, Azu-nyan~!” Yui said, still using the eraser to communicate.
“I’m tired~”
“Oh, come on Azusa, it’ll be fun~!”
“I am going to bed.” Azusa fumed, as she went back to her sleeping bag, Yui looking dejected as she watched her leave. Azusa crawled back into her bag, and closed her eyes, and attempted to go to sleep. Ritsu, Mio and Tsumugi were still running around the room in circles, protesting between each other.

 Yui took her attention off of them for a while to talk to Azusa.
“Azu-nyan? Are you still awake?”
“…….yes, Yui-senpai?”
“Make sure you have a good dream, this okay?!”
“……….”
“Azu-nyan? Azu-nyan?”
Azusa was now fast asleep.

Yui crawled over to Azu-nyan to watch her sleep.  She took no time in poking Azusa in the face. Azusa rolled over to her side in response and mumbled something about fish.
She was just so cute, Yui wanted to give her a hug. She was just about to……until she was grabbed from behind by Ritsu around her neck.

“Hold on there, lady-friend!” Ritsu snapped. “I thought you said that you were going to be with me until the end, eh?”
“I am, Ricchan!” Yui said, trying to get out of her grasp. “I’m still here! And I always will be!”
“You know exactly what I meant!” Ritsu complained. “You have to help me take care of these long-haired adhesive wielding archfiends!” she said, pointing behind her. Tsumugi and Mio were quickly closing in on them, still holding rolls of tape.
“Don’t you mean that you just want them to go after me instead of you?”
She was right on the money.

Before Ritsu could answer, Mio grabbed Ritsu by the leg, and attempted to drag her away.
“Enough’s enough, Ritsu!”
“If enough’s enough, then why don’t you cut it out then! We can all just go back to sleep!!”
“You’re not getting off that easily!” Mio snapped.
“Now it’s……Time to Pay The Price!” Tsumugi said, strange mixture of awkward and enthusiasm.
“…..Yeah…..!” Mio agreed slowly. “Mugi! On three! ….One! Two!! Three!!!”
Tsumugi grabbed around Mio’s waist and they both pulled, Ritsu lost her grip around Yui, and found herself being slowly dragged away.

“Ahhhhhh~~! Nooooooooooo~!!!” Ritsu yelled (over-dramatically.) In a last ditch effort, she grabbed Yui’s right thigh as tightly as she could.
“That feels funny, Ricchan~!”
“If I’m going down, you’re going with me!” Ritsu snapped.
“I’m watching over Azu-nyan!” Yui complained.
“Not tonight!” Ritsu objected. “After all…..…..~Oh yes, I’m right here~!” she said in her best imitation of Yui.
Slowly, they dragged Ritsu away, but she kept her hold of Yui, bringing her along .
“Noooooooooooooooooooo!” Yui whined loudly. She attempted to grab on to Azu-nyan, but she just missed. “Azu-nyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn~! Wait for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~!”

“Hold her still!”
“Get off of me!”
“Like this?”
“You’re holding me instead!”
“Will you stop putting that on my head? Honestly, this isn’t fair!”
“Azu-nyan~!”
“Quite down for once!”
“Let me try!”
“Why are you going after me now?”
“No reason~”
“Stop that!!”
“My hair!”
”That hurts!”
===================
Azusa opened her eyes slowly, blinking several times as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. How long had she been asleep? Not long enough if it was still dark out.  She did a quick scan of ceiling, sure enough, it was the Light Music Club room. That was comforting….. She closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Here eyes snapped open. Something was wrong. The sleeping bag was feeling more smug than usual….perhaps even too snug.

Something was wrong, definitely, She attempted to get up only to realize that couldn’t, and hit the ground. She struggled to stand up once more, and quickly found out what was wrong. She looked down at herself, and found that she was wrapped up in bright pink tape. In shock, she was going to shout “WHAT THE!”, but all that came out was a soft sounding “mmph-mph”.  It was over her mouth as well. Worried, she looked around for the others and saw that they were all watching her closely. Exactly as she was….covered in tape. It really didn’t make any sense, but she was looking right at them, Mio on the left, Ritsu in the middle, Tsumugi on the right, and Yui was behind Ritsu.

How could something like this happen?!? She looked at their expressions. No one seems to have the expression of anyone other than the five of them being involved….So that meant that someone did this to her while she was sleeping! She had difficulty speaking, but she had to ask somehow.

“What did you guys do?!?!” Azusa fumed loudly, staring directly at Ritsu and Yui.
“Everyone kept fooling around!” Mio complained. “And then everything turned out like this!”
All Azusa heard was mumbling from under the tape.
“What? I can’t understand you, Mio-senpai!”
Mio couldn’t hear anything but Azusa’s muffled voice.
“Can’t you hear me Azusa?” she sai, staring at her. Azusa shook her head in response.  Mio sighed to herself and laid on the ground, dejected. It looked like she was having trouble communicating with anyone.

“I just wanted to play with Azu-nyan~…” Yui whined loudly.
Whatever Yui-senpai was saying, Azusa didn’t want to hear it. She turned to Tsumugi.

“This is the first time I’ve done anything like THIS before!”
Tsumugi looked strangely happy. Azusa always thought she was a little different, but she didn’t want to know if she was into THAT too. Sighing, Azua turned to Ritsu.

“Well, this wouldn’t have happened if you guys just listened to me!” Ritsu fumed.
She could understand her! Azusa’s heart rose…..and then sank as she realized the only one she could coordinate with was Ritsu.
“What’s with that disappointed look, Nakano!?!?” Ritsu protested, squirming over to Azusa and butting into her lightly. “If you’ve got any problems, then say it!!”
“This is all your fault, Ritsu-senpai! I knew this was going to happen!”
“If that’s the case, then why didn’t you stop us? You weren’t exactly against the punishment game for Mio, were you?”
“I was!!”

“What are we going to do now?” Mio ‘yelled’ angrily, struggling to sit herself upright. “We can’t stay like this, it’s the weekend! No one will be here for rest week!” She wormed her way over to Ritsu to stare her in the face. “Do you know how serious this is? What if we need to eat? Or get thirsty? Or have to use the toilet”
Rtisu blinked at her. She couldn’t understand what she was saying.
“We could just wait for someone to come!” Yui answered.  “I’m sure someone will come looking for us!”

“And let someone see us like this?” Mio gasped.  The very idea of someone seeing her in this state made her shudder. They were already becoming infamous for their tea and cake,  what would happen if people thought they were into THAT too? “What will people say of the Light Music Club then?!?” She looked over at Azusa, but she wasn’t going to be able to get any help from her.
Her anger quickly turned into fear. “What are we going to do~~~~??” she whined.

Mio put her head on the ground, depressed. It was starting to look hopeless… But wait…They had several tools in the club room! Maybe all of their slacking off would come to use!!.
“Ritsu!” she said, staring at her. “Go and get a knife!”
“What?”
“Get a fork!”
“I CAN’T understand you” Ritsu complained, shoving her legs into Mio.  “Go talk to Yui!”
“Cut it out!” Mio whined, shoving back into Ritsu.
 Azusa leaned back and sighed, attempting to free  herself one last time. The tape was fastened too tightly.  What time was it? She didn’t even want to think about being like this for ANOTHER minute.
“I’ll get it!” Tsumugi piped in. Leaping up suddenly, she was on her feet, and begun slowly hopping towards the tea cabinet. The others watched her with hope and confidence.
“Go, Mugi-chan!”
“You can do it, Mugi!”

Instantly, she fell over, flat on her face. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes.
“…..Ouch..”
“Let me try!” Yui stated.  She struggled for a few seconds and then quit. She tried again more frantically, but eventually stopped in exhaustion.  “….I’m too hungry.”
“Can you take this seriously?” Ritsu spat out “Just how do you expect to eat like this anyway?”

Yui ignored Ritsu’s protesting and laid on the ground, exhausted. She looked up and sighed. Struggling, she wriggled over to Azusa, and sat down next to her.
“Are you okay, Azu-nyan?”
“I can’t understand you, Yui-senpai…”
Yui stared at Auzsa closely, trying to figure out what she was saying. After all of this, even with all of the (bright pink) tape, Yui couldn’t take Azusa’s serious expression seriously. Laughing to herself, she leaned on Azusa’s shoulder.

“Get off of me!” Azusa complained.  She shook under Yiui, but she couldn’t move.

“That‘s enough…” Ristu sighed. “I‘m leaving!”
“And how do you plan to do that when we’re like this, Ritsu-senpai??!” Azusa chided, shaking from beneath Yui. “Can you even open the door like this?”
“Well, do you have any BETTER ideas?”
“……No…..”
“Well, it‘s better than waiting for someone to come and get us. Follow me!“ She commanded. She wormed her way towards the door,. Tsumugi watched her, and then quickly followed behind her.
“What are you doing?” Mio asked. “What are you guys doing?“
“Listen to me! …..Don’t leave me behind!” she whined, following after Tsumugi.

Azusa was started to get tired, rested her head on the ground. She had to wonder….Did they even practice any music today to go through all of this?

“You’re doing it wrong!”
“Climb on top of me.”
“I still can’t understand you!”
“You’re crushing me~ You should exercise more!”
“You didn’t mean me, did you?!”
“Get off of me!”
“I’m tired….”

Yui looked at Azusa, and started to speak. Just what she saying? Azusa was tired, but still attempted to figure out what she was saying. Something about…being okay… and…weight? No………wake? Wake? Wake up?”

Then Azusa fell asleep.
-----------------------------
Azusa woke up slowly, blinking several times as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight. It looked as if it was just the afternoon. But instead of being trapped inside of her sleeping bag, she sitting in her set in the club room. She lifted her head off the tape and looked around. No one else seemed to be around.. Was she asleep again….. She put her hands on the desk to stand up, until she noticed a piece of paper taped down where her head was.

She lifted it up off the table and looked it. It was blank. She turned it around and saw in large red text
LOOK BEHIND YOU!
Azusa spun around to see what was waiting for her.
Nothing. No one was there.
“Surprise!”
Ritsu jumped out from behind  the large chair in the front of the room. Mio, Tsumugi and Yui jumped out afterwards. It looks like they were just up to one of their games again. While they planned this surprise for Azusa, it didn’t look like they put much time into practicing it. Just like with their music!

“If you have time for silly games like this..” Azusa said, crumbling up the paper and tossing it towards the trash-bin “…then you should practice more!”
“Oh ho?” Ritsu said with a coy smile. “You’re one to talk, Sleeping Beauty!”
“I was tired, that’s all!” Azusa said flustered. “That’s because I was……….” …..What was she doing?

Azusa couldn’t remember what she was doing before she went to sleep. The whole punishment game definitely didn’t happen, neither did her chat with Ton-Chan (unfortunately), and that other thing, she didn’t even want to remember happening.
“You were….?” Ritsu said, waiting for her to finish.
“Practicing late last night.!” Azusa said hurriedly. “Is this all you’ve been up to until now, Ritsu-Senpai?”

“You’re really the…cat’s meow, aren’t you Azusa?” Ritsu said with stifled laughter. “We should all follow your example, right?”
Azusa looked at the others. Tsumugi and Mio were smiling, but they wouldn’t look her in the eye directly…That could only mean? She hurriedly put her hands on her head to feel around for cat ears. There wasn’t anything there. But then she noticed that Yui was standing pretty close behind her, and hand her hands behind her back.

Azusa turned around and looked at Yui disapprovingly. “You’re not about to make me where something strange again, are you?”
“What ever do you mean, Azu-nyan?” Yui said, with an unconvincing smile. Azusa turned to look out of the window and sighed. Yui insintincly followed her gaze to see what she was looking at, and instantly, Azusa grabbed Yui’s right hand from behind her back.
She wasn’t holding anything.
“If you want to hold hands, you should just ask~!” Yui said, smiling brightly.

“Oh, you two are just like bats and dogs!” Tsumugi said with a small laugh.
“That’s cats and dogs, Mugi-senpai.” Azusa said, turning away from Yui, not seeing Yui stand on her tiptoes behind her. “Just long have I been asleep?”

“For about an hour.” Mio answered. “We were going go practice…..But then it ended up like this.” she said a bit dejected.
“Ah, we’ve got all the time in the world!” Ritsu said loudly. “You girls worry too much. Now hurry up and get ready, we‘ve got to get going.”
“Where are we going?”
“Just to go visit the other clubs just for a little while. Don’t you know that curiosity killed the cat?”
“Why are we visiting the other clubs?” Azusa asked. “Shouldn’t we be focused on our own?”
“You’ll find out when we get there~”

“Let’s just let sleeping cats lie and get going!” Mio commanded. “The sooner we get there, there sooner and come back and practice for once.
Azusa looked around as everyone got ready to leave. Something was definitely going on here, and everyone was talking funny…..Ritsu and Yui were looking like cats that swallowed canaries….Now even she was doing it! Maybe she was just imagining things. She picked up her bag and followed the others out of the door.

Slowly, Azusa opened the door again and peered inside, taking one last look at Ton-Chan’s tank. It was still there, and he appeared to be sleeping. Satisfied, she turned around and closed the door.

“Did you forget something, Azu-nyan?” Yui asked as she finally rejoined them at the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh, nothing…”
“What were you dreaming about?” Yui asked again, following slowly behind Mio, Ritsu and Tsumugi. The others were talking about peppermints and basketballs, it sounds like Mio started the subject up or something…
“Er…..” Azusa murmured. She thought to herself about the…dreams she had? The one with the closet she couldn’t fully remember, talking with Ton-Chan definitely was a dream, and she wasn’t even sure if that other event in the clubroom was really even a dream. Did someone come to help them? Or maybe she was dreaming now? Which was it?
“It was fine..” she answered quickly.
“Were the rest of us in it?”
“Yes.”
“What happened in it?”
“Just the same old stuff we’re always getting up to…..not practicing, and fooling around.” There’s no she could tell anyone about her OTHER dream, they would make her into the cat’s meow…..Ugh, was she still doing that still?”

“Azu-nyan,” Yui said with a serious expression. “Make sure you don’t have any bad dreams, okay?”
“Oh, Yui-senpai……”

“Well, how about Strawberry Peppermint Field Goal!” Mio exclaimed from ahead of them. “I think it’s a nice name…”
“I’m itching just imagining it!” Ritsu protested. “Try again!”
“Sweet White Chocolate Carmel Free Throw?”
Ritsu looked as if she had just been slapped in the face. “W----what do you think, Tsumugi?”
“Well…..” Tsumugi said, holding a finger to her fance, deep in thought. “It certainly is an interesting title…..How about ‘The Wizard’s Baker?’”
“That came out before we were born!”
“Well, what names do you have, Ritsu?” Mio stated, feeling a bit dejected that her names were being rejected again.. “You sure know how to be judgmental!”

“Orange Reflection!”
“That name sounds like you just stole it from a magazine!”
“How rude!” Ritsu gasped loudly. “I put so much time into trying to make that title…and you brushed it off like nothing!” She turned away from Mio, peering over her shoulder, and started making sobbing noises. “We always use your songs, why not one of mine?! You’re so cruel to me, Mio!!!”

“Ritsu…..I’m sorry….” Mio said slowly, walking behind  Ritsu, peering over her shoulder. “I didn’t know that’s how you felt…”
“Well, if you’re really sorry.” Ritsu said quickly, standing up and moving behind Mio “Then give me a piggyback ride!” she said, jumping on Mio’s back, and grabbing onto her shoulders.
“Ugh, RITSU!!” Mio shouted angrily. “Will you get off of me!”
“Go Mio-chan! Let’s ride off into the sunset!”
“Get off of me, you’re heavy! My back is going to telescope!”
“Oh come off it, I’m not that heav---”

Azusa sighed as she watched Mio-senpai and Ritsu-senpai’s usual antics. But strangely, they were getting a lot of attention, even more than usual. All of the other students that they passed by would stop and star at them, whispering to themselves and sometimes even pointing.
“Do you think they’re being a bit too loud, Mugi-senpai?” Azusa asked. “People are starting to stare…”
“Well, you know Ricchan and Mio-chan…..” Tsumugi said with a smile. “This is how they get along!”
“They could do it a bit more quietly…”
“I think it’s funny!” Yui stated. “They’re always so active!”

Finally, they caught up with  Mio andd Ritsu, Mio with a very angry look on her face, Ritsu kneeling on the ground, tending to a large lump on her head
“Don’t EVER do that again!” Mio shouted.
“Ooooh……” Ritsu moaned, tears in the corner of her eyes. “I don’t ever hit you like that!”
“Ritsu-senpai, you tried that last night.” Azusa stated.

“What are you talking about?” Ritsu snapped. “In the years of our abusive relationship, I’ve never harmed a hair on Mio’s head!”
“That’s a laugh!” Mio spat bitterly. “You’re always making me the light of your jokes!”
“You mean like that silly bagworm game, right?”
“…..Bagworm game?”

“……” Was that just a dream she had last night? Azusa started to become increasingly worried..
“Ritsu-senpai, were where you last night?”
“What are you talking about? We were all together last night…”
Azusa was relieved…somewhat
“…at Yui’s house!”
She was worried again.

“Are you feeling well, Azusa-chan?” Tsumugi asked, putting her hand on Azusa’s shoulder.  “Is something wrong?”
“Yeah, you’ve been real weird lately.” Ritsu pipped up. “Are you sick?”
“Maybe we should go to the nurse’s office first.” Yui stated.
“I’ve got some aspirin if you need some.” Mio mentioned.

“No, no no, I’m fine.” Azusa stated, putting her hands up in front of her. It would do best if she started to keep this to herself until she got everything straight herself.
“Are you sure, Azu-nyan?”
“Positive!”

“Well, if we’re done discussing that, then let’s go inside!” Ritsu exclaimed, opening the door before her. They had arrived to their destination already, one of the of the other clubrooms. The proper thing to do would have been to knock first….But you know how these things go.
Well, the door was already opened…Ritsu stepped inside first, and the others followed behind her slowly. The room had it’s windows covered by black sheets, and was dimly lit by black candles. Two girls about their age were sitting at a table, reading books with strange covers. Both of them were wearing glasses and deeply emerged into the books they were reading, and didn’t even seem to mind that someone just came in without knocking.

“Yo! We’re back!” Ritsu said with a wave
“Please pardon our intrusion.” Tsumugi added
“We brought it back today just like you asked!” Yui said excitedly. “And we brought Azu-nyan this time too!”

“Where is this?” Azusa whispered to Mio
“This is the Occult Club” Mio said, looking a bit disturbed. It looked as if the atmosphere of the room was getting to her. “We came here earlier when you were asleep.”

“Welcome…” Occult Member A (did they have names? Well, you get the idea here) said, looking up from her book. She gazed right through the other members to look right at Azusa. “This is the third one, isn’t it? You’ve still got one more to go.”
“Ex….excuse me?”
“It’s nothing…” she said quietly, as she lowered her head again. She looked up, and whispered into Occult Member B’s ear, looking at Azusa again. Occult Member B whispered something back, and then swiftly stood up and walked over to Azusa.
“Please return the good luck charm you’re using.”

“…..” What charm was she talking about? Azusa patted herself down, for anything that she might be wearing. What was she talking about? She didn’t mean her member charm, did she?
“I don’t have any charm like that…”
Occult Member B stared into Azusa’s face again, looking quite unamused. It looked like she was being completely serious. But what was she talking about? She felt around in her pockets…nothing…Nothing on her skirt, nothing on her shirt, nothing on her jacket……..
A cold chill came over Azusa as she thought hard….She knew something was odd when she woke up……..
They didn’t, did they?

Slowly she put her hands on her head, and she froze as she realized.
SHE WAS WEARING CAT EARS AND HAD JUST WALKED THROUGH THE SCHOOL WITH THEM!
“AHHHHHHHH!” Azusa shouted, and swept them off her head. She made to throw them down on the ground, stopped halfway, walked over to the table and put them down on the table. Then she turned around and looked at her  band mates. Everyone of them looked like they were about to laugh, even Mio and Tsumugi.
“What’s the meaning of this!”

“ Well, we were a bit worried about you, since you’ve been falling asleep so often…..” Yui struggled to say, trying to hold back her laughter. “We found ourselves here, and they said that we should bring something of yours that they could make a good luck charm out of!”
“Isn’t that the sort of thing you should tell me first?” Azusa shouted. “And since when were these cat ears mine?”
“Well, we thought we’d put them on too once we got here!” Ritsu added between laughs.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU GUYS!” Azusa shouted, crossing her arms and fuming. “I’m leaving!”

And before anyone could say anything, she was out of the door./