(I couldn't find the artist so I'm going to guess it is original art. If anyone can tell me if it is then please do!)

I'm about to head out of my door for school before I get a text from Yui.

Dog Whisperer: You should bring your guitar with you to school today.
You: Why?
Dog Whisperer: So you can take it with you when you come to our club today!
You: Since when am I going to your club?
Dog Whisperer: It's better to get started sooner rather than later while you're practicing guitar.
You: But why do I have to go to your club to practice?
Dog Whisperer: Because we have a new memberwe would like to introduce you to as well.
You: Who is it?
Dog Whisperer: You'll see.

I sigh and slip my phone back into my pocket. I rush up the stairs to grab my guitar before once again making my way to school.

~

As I make my way into class, I feel a lot of eyes on me. Especially Taichi's. I see him walk over to me. "Since when do you play an instrument?" He asks.
"Oh that's right, you don't know." I think to myself. I had only become friends with Taichi in my second year so it makes sense for him not to know anything from before that. "Before I came to this school I used to play guitar, but I stopped after I entered."
"Why haven't you told me this before? As your friend, I am offended."
"You never asked."

"Alright class, settle down!" Mr. Miyazaki orders as he enters the room. Everyone scatters to their seats. "All right, let's take attendance. Hold on, what's this?" He looks towards my guitar case. "I didn't know you could play an instrument, Mr. L/N."
"That's what I said!" Taichi shouts.
"Why's it in here?" Mr. Miyazaki asks.
"I had nowhere else to keep it," I respond.
"But, why bring it to school? Are you joining a club?"
"Not necessarily. I'm meeting someone after school and she's going to teach me again because it's been a while I've played."
"Is this that Light Music Club you were talking about not too long ago?"
"Do I have to tell everyone my life story?" I retort.
"Fair enough."

"Do you at least want to show us what you can do?" He asks.
"Why are you embarrassing me again? Don't you think it should be Togashi's turn to be embarrassed? Ask him about his girlfriend or something! Everyone knows she gets into constant trouble!"
"How is Miss. Takanashi?" Mr. Miyazaki questions.
"It's a struggle being her tutor." Togashi sighs.

"Wait a minute, that's not what we're talking about. Play a song for us!"
"How about you play a song instead!" I begin to raise my voice.
"I was wondering when you would ask!" He walks over to me and lifts my guitar case. "May I?"
"You know you'd get in trouble for being this informal with the students."
"Is that a yes?" He ignores me.
"Fine." I sigh. He smiles and opens the case, taking the guitar out.

"Can you play, sir?" Sora, another person in my class, asks.
"Oh, I dabble. Does anyone have any recommendations?"
"Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley." Satsuki, another girl in my class suggests.
"Great choice. Do you have a capo?" I reach into the guitar case and hand him the capo which he clips onto the fifth fret. "Thanks." He takes a breath before strumming the first chord.

To my surprise, he started playing exceptionally well. He even started to sing in perfect English - well, I assume it is because I can't exactly speak English too well. He gets about halfway through when he looks up at the clock. "Crap!" He hands me back my guitar and capo. "Er, I mean, crud! That'll have to do. I didn't realize that much time had passed." The class groans in unison. "I'll finish taking attendance and we'll finish what we started yesterday." Maybe I should let him teach me sometime.

~

"Welcome back!" I am greeted by Sawako as I enter Sakuragaoka for the third time. "I knew I'd see you again. "Do you need directions to the Light Music Club?"
"No, thanks," I said. "I think I've memorized where it is."
"That's good. Tell the girls that I won't be able to make it to the club. I'm doing some paperwork and that's eating up my time."
"Will do," I say as I make my way through the school.

"S-So cute..." I hear Yui say as I open the door to the music room.
"Hey, everyone," I announce my arrival as everyone (apart from Ritsu) was sitting in the corner of the room.
"Y/N, you're here!" Yui exclaims. "Meet Ton!" She says, moving out of the way for me to see a tank with a turtle swimming inside.
"You bought a turtle? Wait, is this the new member you mentioned?"

"It's a long story," Mio admits. "What brings you here?"

"Yui offered to teach me guitar because I haven't played in a while and she told me to come here after school."
"I'm sorry, I must have misheard you," Azusa said. "Did you say Yui will be teaching you?"
"Yes..? Why? What have I gotten myself into?"

"I'm tired of this!" Ritsu shouts, catching us all off guard. We all look over to see her sitting on the floor in tears. "I'm tired of drums!"
"What's the matter, Ricchan?" Yui asks.
"'Tired of drums'?" Mio repeats in confusion.
"'Tired of' is a bit strong." Ritsu retracts her statement. "But! Look at this! It's the Light Music Club's activity record that the student council made. Nodoka gave it to me." Ritsu clicks the mouse and lets the video play.

"It's the culture festival from our first year!" Mugi reminisced.
"That was fun!" Yui said.
"I saw it, with Mio's..." Azusa recalled.
"Stop it!"
"What happened to Mio?" I ask.
"Ignore that!" Ritsu interrupts me. "Look at the drums."

"You're dark!" Yui shouts. I can hear Mio groan behind me. What happened at their first-year culture festival? And... why are they wearing maid outfits? "But your forehead's shiny."
"Shush!" Ritsu immediately covers her forehead.
"There's no light on you." Mio had recovered and looked back at the video.
"That's because you're in the back." Azusa pointed out.
"The drummer's hard to see from the front," Mugi adds.

"This isn't the only one." Ritsu clicks on more videos to show us. "Last year's welcome concert..."
"It's dark," Mugi said as Ritsu changes the video again.
"And this year too!"
"Oh, I see your leg," Azusa said. Ritsu walks away from the group and begins to softly cry while everyone studied the videos more.
"She's pretty far back," Mio spoke.

"So... what's wrong?" Azusa questions Ritsu. She stays silent for a while before answering.
"I want to play something else." She admits.
"Huh?" Mio, along with everyone else, is baffled at this response. "Wait, a minute. Who's going to play drums if you don't?" Ritsu begins - or at least attempts - to whistle to avoid the question "And didn't you say you don't like all the fancy fingerwork?"

"I did," Ritsu gets up from the floor. "But let's swap instruments once in a while."
"That sounds fun!" Yui cheered.
"That might be a good idea." Mugi agrees.
"Then do you want to try the guitar?" Yui offers.
"Can I?"
"I don't mean to be rude, but I thought I was going to be taught guitar?" I ask.
"We can teach you both at the same time," Yui said. "I'll be the greatest teacher!"

Yui hands Ritsu her guitar and Ritsu put the strap around her shoulder. "Ta-da!"
"Looking good!" Mugi complements.
"You look good with it!" Ritsu rubs the back of her neck in response to Azusa's and Mugi's praise.
"But it's a bit unusual," Mio admits.
"Play something." Mugi requests. Just then, Yui erupts into tears.
"What's wrong?" I try to calm Yui down.
"Giita is cheating on me!" I sigh.
"Didn't you say that whenever you lended me your guitar as well? And besides, you're the one who handed it over to her." Yui turns to stare out of a window.
"Thank you. It's been fun."
"You're such a handful," Azusa said.
"I have the utmost respect for you that you have to deal with this every day," I whisper to her.

"Master Yui, what do I need to do?"

"'Master'?" I repeat. Yui recovers immediately. "It's okay. I'll teach you. Both of you!" I retrieve my guitar and sit down next to Ritsu.
"Press down on the strings with your left hand, and strum with your right," Yui instructs.
"Sorry, but I knew that already."
"Then what should I teach you?"
"Are you kidding me?" I say to myself.

"Well, I guess there's no helping it." Azusa grabs a stand and places it next to us. "Let's start with 'Fluffy Time.' It would be best for you to look over all of the chords as well, Y/N, as a quick reminder." She takes a chord book and hands it to me.

"Thanks, Azusa." Azusa continues to explain the basics of guitar to Ritsu, but I wasn't paying too much attention. I skim over the chords I remembered, and replicated the ones I didn't onto my guitar strings. But in doing so I began to realize that my fingers had grown a lot stiffer than what they were a few years ago. I could just barely perform an F chord.

"I'm not cut out for guitar," Ritsu had snapped me out of my concentration.
"That was fast," I say to her.
"There's so much to keep track of," Ritsu returns Giita to her rightful owner. "You have my utmost respect now."
"Thank you kindly," Yui replies.
"Welcome back, Giita." Yui hugs Giita close to her. "Yes, good boy."

"You seem a bit rigid," Azusa says to me. "There are some finger stretches you can do. Want me to show you?"
"That would be great, thanks."
"Hold out your fret hand with your fingers closed. Then spread your index and middle fingers, then your middle and ring, then finally your ring and little fingers. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4..." I repeat her instructions. I can feel my fingers slowly begin to cramp up.
"Ow!" I yelp.
"It'll be difficult at first, but keep at it and you'll nail it in no time."
"Alright. Thanks again, Azusa."

I feel a buzzing in my pocket and take out my phone to check. "That's my sister," I say. "She's looking me home now. I guess I'll see you all tomorrow. If I'm allowed to come over, that is."
"It's no problem," Mugi said. "You can come over and help yourself to all of the tea and cake you want!"
"That wasn't exactly the reason I'm coming over, but I won't turn that offer down."

"By the way, can I take this book home with me?" I ask Azusa.
"Sure thing," Azusa answered me. "See you tomorrow!" She waves.
"Bye-bye!" Everyone else bids their farewells and I do the same.

~

It's the next day and I have returned to Sakuragaoka. As I walk through the halls stretch my fingers in the same way Azusa told me to yesterday. "1... 2... 3... 4..." I walk up the final flight of stairs and reach the Music room. "1... 2..."
"Stop it!" I can hear a muffled garbling coming from the other side of the door.
"3..?" I push the door open and see Ritsu and Mio standing over Mugi's keyboard with their hands on each other's cheeks.

"What did I miss?" I say to the girls.
"Ricchan is still trying new instruments," Yui explains.
"Mio's cheeks is an instrument I've never seen being played before. I wonder what it sounds like?"
"Enough!" Mio lifts Ritsu's hands off her face.

"Ricchan, aren't you going to try the bass?" Yui asks.
"Not the bass!" Mio cries.
"Why?"
"I'm on the bass. I don't want to do anything else. It has to be bass. The low, deep tone... Being the group's support... And it's fun coming up with bass lines to come up with everyone else's part. Not too showy but not completely buried under other sounds: I've always wanted to be a bassist like that."

"I know," Ritsu said. "That's why I'd never touch Mio's bass." These two must have a very strong relationship to understand each other like that so easily.
"Makes me jealous, Master Tainaka." Yui and I must have thought the same thing.
"Don't mention it,"

"I said too much," Mio uttered. She stares down towards the ground with an emotionless expression and doesn't move a muscle.
"Huh?"
"Mio! Mio!" Yui attempts to snap her out of it but to no avail.
"Oh no! Mio has turned into the living dead!" Ritsu said.
"What's wrong with Mio?" I ask.
"Mio's just a little shy," Azusa explained. "I guess she just opened her heart too much."

"Hey there, how long are you going to be frozen?" Yui lightly shakes Mio. "Hey, Ricchan, leave it all to me. You'll be all right, Ricchan."

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I know how it is without looking so I say, "I've got to leave now. Bye, everyone!" I gather my belongings and turn the door handle. "Oh, by the way, I don't think I'll make it tomorrow. I'm doing some things with my family."
"Thanks for stopping by," Mugi said. "Goodbye!" They all wave as I leave the clubroom.

~

I returned to Sakuragaoka once more two days later. As I traversed the halls I could sense glances from students in every corridor I walked down. It makes sense, though. It's a bit unusual to see a guy frequently visiting an all-girls school.

I climb the first set of stairs and reach the second floor when I see a familiar face. It seems that she has noticed me as well. "You're the girl I saw at the Welcoming Concert, right?"
"I was at the Welcoming Concert, however, I don't think I noticed you. Are you the one that Yui is teaching guitar to?"
"Well, technically yes, but-"
"I knew it! Yui has grown up so much! It's so nice to see that she has dedicated herself to something so much that she's teaching others!" I was going to say that she wasn't exactly doing a good job but I think I'll keep that to myself. "I'm Ui Hirasawa." She introduced herself.

"I thought you two looked like siblings."

"Yui has mentioned you a lot. She told me that she had met an interesting boy that had a broken guitar as his instrument." Ui looks to the guitar case on my back in concern.
"It's an acoustic guitar. It's not broken, but Yui (for some reason) thinks the soundhole is not meant to be there."
"That sounds like Yui," Ui smiles to herself. "I know my sister can be... a handful. So I apologize on behalf of her. But give it some time and she'll quickly become one of your closest friends!"
"No need to apologize. I enjoy being around the Light Music Club."
"From what Yui tells me, she enjoys your presence just as much."
"That's good to hear."

"It was nice chatting with you, but I should probably head up to the clubroom now."
"Hopefully we'll meet again. Goodbye, for now!" Ui waves as she descends the stairs.

I make my way up to the third floor and I stand outside of the music room.

"But even if I'm not in the spotlight," I hear Ritsu's voice through the door. "Even if I'm in the shadows, even if only my legs are shown, the drums are what-"
"Yeah!" Yui interrupts. I linger outside the room for a bit longer, not wanting to interrupt. "You've got to be on the drums! When I look back, getting ready to play, you hit your sticks together and give us an energetic count. And that really gets me pumped up to play. You also taught me a lot. We're in the same band, but what we see, and how we think, are different. We all have our own places, and we're all different, but-"
"When we play, we become one!" Ritsu finishes.
"Yeah!" Yui agrees.
"I sit here, as I look at your backs, and listen to your sounds, and bang on these, I love it!" It's good to have Ritsu back. I say that like I've known Ritsu for longer than I have in reality. These girls have an unbreakable bond. You can tell that simply from the songs they play together. The synchronization, the lyrics, the vocals, all of it. At that moment a thought crossed my mind. Is there room for me in this bond? Or will I just be alienated?

"And I finished a song because of you," Mugi said. Let's cross that bridge when we get there.
"I don't want to miss Ho-Kago Tea Time's next song!" I said, entering the room.
"Perfect timing, Y/N. Sit down, everyone." Mugi grabs her keyboard taps a few of the keys before playing. She plays a few chords while humming to herself. The tune was pretty catchy.
"I like it," Ritsu said.
"You can sing it too!" Yui insisted.
"That'll be wonderful!" Azusa agreed.
"Yeah, I like it," Mio said.
"Mio, write the lyrics for it," Ritsu ordered.
"I-I already have a title for it."
"What is it?" Yui asked.
"'Honey Sweet Tea Time.'"
"So it leads back to tea." Ritsu smiled.

"I feel honored to be the first person not in the band to hear this song," I said.
"You should feel honored. This is a privilege. Even Sawa-chan hasn't heard it yet! What are you going to give us in thanks?" Mio smacks the back of Ritsu's head; she yelps in response.
"You don't need to do that, you know," I say to Mio. "I have a friend like her, and me and him say this kind of stuff to each other all of the time. I'm essentially immune to banter like that."
"Sorry," Mio replies. "It's just impulse."
"I'll take that as your thanks," Ritsu said.

~

The sun sets once more as I make my way back home. This time, however, I have Yui with me. Ui was looking for her to come home early and get some stuff from the shops. And seeing as we live close to each other, I decided to help her bring the shopping to her home.

"What do you think?"
"Hm?"
"Our band. What do you think of it?"
"What made you bring this up?"
"Ritsu switching instruments for the past few days got me thinking about our band a lot. We all stay in the same positions, practice the same instruments, have the same tea time. I began to think that maybe we're getting boring, and that's why Ricchan wanted to switch positions. To change things up a bit."
"I've only known you girls for just about two weeks, so my opinion might be invalid, but you said it yourself: You all have your own roles. You all do what you all feel is natural. How would it be if Mugi started playing bass, or Azusa played the drums?"
"It's would be... very strange."
"Which is why you should do what feels natural. You should do what you love. Don't push yourselves and become what you all don't enjoy just for the sake of others. And besides, even if you are 'getting boring' I know you'll still have supporters. Ui for one. Then there's Sawako, and your friend Nodoka. And me, as well."
"Thanks, Y/N." Yui grinned.

"That was a bit of a serious talk," I said.
"Yeah," Yui agreed. "But it's good to be serious sometimes. I know I don't show it much, but I'm a lot more serious than people realize."
"Really? Then give me an example."
"..." Yui is deep in thought. "I hate when that happens."
"When what happens?" I ask.
"When you do something a lot but then when someone asks to give you an example of that thing and your mind goes blank."
"I thought that was just me!"

"Well, here's my house." Yui pointed. "Thanks for helping me carry this stuff!" She waves as she opens the front door, dropping the bags and all of their contents in the process. I watch as Ui comes out of the door and helps Yui pick the stuff up. She looks up and gives me a smile, waving me farewell alongside Yui. I do the same.