Chapter Text
Sayo knows first hand the fatigue that comes with preparing for a live. Checking the equipment, preparing promotional items, and other mundane works are necessary steps to ensure a successful live, as tedious as it gets.
That's why when Tsugumi volunteered to help Marina prepare for the annual circle joint live, she immediately raised her hand to volunteer for Roselia.
She would have to apologize to Yukina later since she used Roselia as a guise to spend time together with her girlfriend of 3 months now. She has to though since up until this point their relationship is still a secret to everyone save Tsugumi’s parents.
The prospect of spending a long time with her girlfriend after so long quickly turned from excitement to regret. As it turns out, they weren't the only people volunteering to help Marina. With Maya, Rimi, and Misaki present, she can't really call it quality time with her girlfriend.
Not to mention she made the mistake of grossly underestimating the amount of work leftover. The five volunteers and Marina slaved away until dawn broke, one of them falling to sleep one by one, with Sayo falling last.
That’s when it happened, the slip-up that would make a whole band turn on Sayo.
“Good morning everyone!” a bubbly voice echoed through the room.
“Good morning guys,” A tired Tsugu called out to her bandmates, immediately slamming her head back down on the table.
“Tsugu! Are you okay?”
Sayo looked up from burying her head in her arms, she saw four familiar figures wearing matching circle t-shirts. She shifted her focus from the group to the pile of unfinished papers across the table. She mentally screamed in anguish before tiredly calling over Tsugumi to pass over the papers.
“Tsu, can you pass me the pile of paper in front of you.”
“Here you go,” Tsugumi pushed the pile of papers to Sayo, half asleep.
“Thanks, go get some rest, I'll finish the last of this.” She smiled and squeezed Tsugumi’s hand, a habit she’s formed whenever she sees a sleepy Tsugumi that’s struggling to stay awake.
The brown-haired girl gave her the warmest smile she’s had all week, and quietly buried her head back to her arms.
Sayo smiled fondly and begrudgingly started to work on the pile, but something bothered her. Might be because of the sudden loss of volume in the room. How strange of Afterglow to not make any noise, she thought to herself. She pressed on her work but she couldn’t shake off the chill in her spine. She feels like someone was watching her.
She looked up to the group, only to be greeted by four pairs of eyes drilling holes into her. The four of them looked at Sayo as if she had run over a cat with a car. That’s when she realized she had messed up, big time. All the color drained from her face, she stood up, but just as she was about to talk, Ran took a deep breath, throwing her head back.
‘Oh no.’
“What, The FUC-”
---
Before Ran could unleash her uproar, Sayo quickly put a hand over her mouth and dragged the four outside the room to an empty studio. She rushed them in and checked the outside of the studio to check for people before coming face to face with three people that looked like they wanted to tear her apart and Himari.
“Let me ex-”
“What the FUCK!” Ran said on top of her lungs.
Sayo flinched a bit and before she could even talk back, Tomoe stepped in, “Tsu? Really? None of us even call her with a name that short, what’s next huh? T?”
Without missing a beat Himari jumped in and pointed a finger at her, “What the hell was that hand squeeze? You two have something going on don’t you?”
“Hmmm, she must have laid her hands on our Tsugu, right?”
“Moca!” The three snapped at the girl in question after her off-hand remark. That had managed to make them even angrier at Sayo.
Sayo took a deep breath to make sure she isn’t agitated, she needed at least one person in this room to be calm. Even though she knows none of these girls will do her physical harm, the thought of getting hit by Tomoe doesn’t seem to sit well with her.
“Well? Explain!” The girl with the red noodle banged her hands on the wall.
“I- We’ve been dating for the past,” Sayo took a deep breath and let out a small voice while looking down, “3 months.”
The three of them looked like their eyeballs were going to come out of their sockets, even Moca.
“How? Where did it happen? Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Himari bombarded her with questions.
Ran just crossed her arms and looked unimpressed, Tomoe just mouthed out 3 months over and over again, and Moca looked to be deep in thought.
“We started going out a few months after I first attended Tsu-, Hazawa-san’s baking class.”
“After the class, we went on several shopping dates and after about a month or so we started dating,” Sayo finished with a tint of red on her cheeks, “As for where I asked her out in the cafe.”
“How did you manage to hide it for three whole months?” Tomoe asked.
“There’s a day where all of you are busy with something isn’t there? Thursday.”
The four nodded in unison.
“That’s the day we usually have our dates, I would visit the cafe, spend time with her, and sleepover.”
“You sleep over?!” Himari yelled in surprise.
Sayo flinched back in surprise, “Yes I do.”
“Ohhh our Tsugu is getting it~,” Moca said as she munched on some cookies she pulled out of god knows where.
Ran slapped the cookie out of Moca’s hands and went back to questioning, Sayo, “Why did you never bother to tell anyone?”
“That’s-” Sayo bit her lip.
“Hmmm~ based on Moca’s intuition, I think she’s embarrassed about having Tsugumi as her girlfriend.”
“I- what? Why?”
“Moca can name a few reasons why. One of them is that you think she’s too plain to be your girlfriend, is that right-”
Before Moca could finish her sentence, Sayo slammed her fist to the wall, making everyone in the room silent. She glared at Moca, the intensity from her eyes was like an arrow, accurately piercing Moca’s eyes. Moca swallowed and held on to Ran’s shirt, she never knew the older Hikawa could be this angry.
“Aoba-san. I don’t care if you truly mean what you said before or if you just said it to get a rise out of me. I also don’t care if you’ve been Hazawa-san’s friend since childhood, you WILL take that back.”
Moca just silently nodded her head, while the rest of the room stood in silence. Sayo let out a sigh and rested her back on the wall. She covered her face with her hands, “The real reason why I didn’t tell anyone was because of the four of you.”
“Us? Why is that?” Ran’s aggressive attitude returned.
“I know that the four of you make an important part of Hazawa-san’s life, and I want to be an important part of hers too. That’s why I thought that sooner or later we would have to get along, and I just want to be ready.”
“Aww, why didn’t you just come and talk to us then,” Himari chimed.
“I’m well aware I’m emotionally stunted, and how hostile you guys can be so I just wanted to be safe,” Sayo mused and crossed her arms, “I want you all to know that I want the best for Hazawa-san, and I in no way mean her any form of harm.”
“That ‘best’ includes you?” Tomoe asked.
“I intend to be, whatever it takes.”
The taller girl lets out a long sigh and relaxes, dropping her confrontational act, “I guess if she could be that angry when someone talks bad about Tsugu, she can’t be all that bad. Besides, she’s good to Ako so I approve”
“Tomoe!?” Ran turned to the girl in shock, with Tomoe only replying with a shrug.
“Tomoee~ you can’t be that easy! Come on, do more of that tough girl act!” Himari fussed while smacking Tomoe’s arm.
“A friend of Ako is a friend of mine! Appreciate the cupcakes, by the way, we ate them together last time, they tasted great,” She smiled and flashed Sayo a thumbs up.
“Thank you, I’ll be sure to make extra the next time I bake for her,” Sayo smiled back, making Tomoe blush a little bit.
‘Holy shit that’s dangerous!’ Tomoe thought to herself while trying to calm herself down.
“Humph, I won’t be that easy to win over!” Himari puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms.
Sayo put her fingers on her chin, thinking about something that might win over Himari. She suddenly remembered a conversation she had with Tsugumi about a week ago, “You look slimmer than you usually do, Uehara-san, have you been dieting?”
“You noticed!? Oh my god! It’s actually working! See I told you guys two cheat days wouldn’t change anything!” She cheered happily to the rest of the girls.
“I don’t know why we even doubted her in the first place, Sayo-san, you’re safe!” Himari flashed her a thumbs up, with a similar fashion to Tomoe.
“Thank you Uehara-san, I’m sure you’ll look wonderful by the end of your diet,” Sayo complemented as sincerely as she could.
Himari’s face lit up like a stoplight, and she covered her face with her hands. Tomoe grabbed Himari’s shoulder, “Deep breaths Himari, remember she’s taken.”
While the two redheads are busy Sayo turns to Moca who’s still standing close to Ran.
“I apologize for my outburst earlier, Aoba-san.” Sayo apologized and grit her teeth, “Hazawa-san, had recently said the same thing you just mentioned, and hearing it from another person made my blood boil.” Sayo apologized.
“I’m sorry too, that was out of line,” Moca apologized timidly.
Sayo smiled and sighed. If Moca is still afraid of her after that she can't really call it a win. Then she remembered something, “Aoba-san do you mind if I go out to get something from my bag?”
“Moca’s fine with it~”
“Wait a second! You’re not running away,” Ran angrily shouted, getting pulled back by Moca before she could run after Sayo.
“I promise I’ll come back, I just need to get something from my bag.”
Without paying mind to the angry Ran she made her way to the other room and came back in a flash with a bag in hand. She reached inside the bag and handed Moca a bag of cookies. The cookies were chocolate-colored and had teal frosting. A few of them were shaped like guitars.
“For you,” Sayo held the bag in front of Moca.
Moca’s eyes were dazzling, she couldn’t remember anyone besides Tsugumi or Saaya that gave her free sweets. She gently took the little bag from Sayo, she took a guitar-shaped cookie out of the bag and inspected it carefully.
“Is it poisoned?”
“Aoba-san..”
“Kidding~ Let’s have a taste.”
“I wouldn’t resort to poison,” Sayo whispered, making Moca swallow the cookie prematurely.
Somehow Moca avoided choking on the cookie, even though she had to swallow large chunks she got a good taste of the cookie, “This has Moca’s seal of approval,” Moca gave Sayo a thumbs up.
Sayo shyly shot her a thumbs up back, but the moment between the two got cut short by another outburst from the red noodle of rage.
“Guys what the fuck! She’s a member of Roselia! We can’t let her date Tsugumi!”
“Oh give it a rest Ran. She’s cool, she won’t hurt Tsugumi,” Tomoe interjected.
“Not to mention she’s super hot! She’s a perfect match for Tsugu!” Himari added.
“Moca has 100% agreement on Himari’s statement.”
“Ugh, you guys are unbelievable! Her being in Roselia means she’s going to be fully devoted to music, she’s going to end up neglecting her!”
“I would never-”
“Can you guarantee that?”
Sayo was speechless, and without missing a beat Ran continued.
“Can you say with certainty that you value Tsugumi over music?”
Sayo backed off and gripped her shirt. That was the question that she had been dreading even before the two started dating. Would Sayo be able to give up Tsugumi for the music she’s worked up to this point in her life? The music that enabled her to meet the amazing people she knows now, the thing that drives her to be the person she is today.
Ran’s gaze is fiery, like a hunter that got their prey right where they want them. Sayo swallowed another lump into her throat, she scanned the other members, the ones that seemed to support her before now looked at her with the same intensity, waiting for an answer from her.
She took a deep breath and steeled herself, she had to give her an answer, “I-”
BANG!
Before she could answer the door to the studio swung open, and the one that did it was Tsugumi, with a look on her face she had never seen her wear before. If she had to describe her face in one word it would be fury. Sayo tried to grab her hand to stop her but she quickly swatted her hand away.
Tsugumi knew about the conflict Sayo had when it came between music or her. Sayo knows she knows, but it’s a topic that they decide to never breach until they’re ready. The fact that someone breached a topic that Tsugumi deemed taboo was enough to set her ablaze.
She walked slowly until she came face to face with Ran. Without so much as a warning, she quickly threw her hands over Ran’s face.
The whole room seemed like time had stopped. Everyone had their jaws on the floor save for Ran’s who’s running a hand over the spot that Tsugumi just hit. The slap didn’t have any strength behind it, but the pressure it carried was enough to crush steel.
Tsugumi made her way to Sayo and wrapped her hands around Sayo, burying her head in the crook of her neck before facing the rest of Afterglow, “Me and Sayo-san, are in a relationship. We’ve been in one for three months.”
The three members of Afterglow nodded their heads furiously and Tsugumi continued, “I love her, and she treasures me. Do any of you have any problems with that?”
The three of them shook their head with just as much intensity, while Ran just slowly did it. Tsugumi settled her head back into the crook of Sayo’s neck and mumbled, “Sayo, sleepy.”
“R-right!”
Sayo carefully guided her over to the lounge, she sat them both down at the edge of the sofa so Tsugumi could lean into Sayo perfectly.
“Are you comfortable?” Sayo asked in a quiet voice.
“Plenty.”
Sayo smiled looking down at the calm expression on her girlfriend's face, the expression like she didn’t just slap one of her best friends of ten years in the face and intimidate the other three into accepting her relationship.
Sayo sighed. Tsugumi always tended to lose a lot of restraint when she’s met with extreme amounts of fatigue, that’s why she’s really prone to pushing herself too hard. She looked at her watch, it was still only 10 in the morning, which means they still have plenty of time before rehearsals start.
She rested her head on top of Tsugumi’s head, and in an instant, the comfortable feeling of having her girlfriend in her arms quickly washed away her worries and she drifted to sleep just as fast.