Work Text:
*Thump*
*Thump*
*Thump*
Taki pressed her foot down against the pedal. The hammer swung. It made contact with the flat surface of the bass drum.
*Thump*
In the span of a minute, this process repeated 130 times. She’d started at 100 and worked her way up, 1 bpm higher for each minute.
Each minute that Anon had made her wait.
And it wasn’t just her, Soyo was there, tapping her foot just as impatiently. Raana was there was well, though she was off in her own little world, jamming to the slowly-quickening beat Taki was generating. Most importantly, Tomori was there. And it was a crime beyond words to make Tomori wait.
She threw her sticks down in anger and stood up. “Where is that girl?!” she yelled out. “Why is it that we can never make it through more than two practices without someone pulling a disappearing act?!”
Soyo looked over, frustration boiling over as well. “Call her. I may go to a rich girl school, but I will not keep paying for practice time if we keep wasting it.” She put her bass on a stand and stormed out to drink tea and try to calm down. Tomori, worried about Soyo, went to join her.
“Tch.” Taki walked away from her drum set, leaving Raana to noodle away alone. Once she was a good distance away and in a relatively-quiet area of the lobby, she pulled out her phone. “She better have a good reason for missing practice again.”
She dialed Anon’s number, fully expecting no response. After all, they all seem to love being untraceable every few days or so. To her surprise, though, Anon picked up immediately.
“Ricky? What is it?” Even through phone speakers, her voice got on Taki’s nerves.
“Where are you?! You’re extremely late for practice and the show is in three days.”
“I know, I know.” She said, clearly tired of getting the same old lecture again. “But!! I have a good reason for being late this time! I found this store in Akihabara and went in to look for clothes we could use for our concert!”
Huh. Anon actually doing something productive? Something to directly benefit the band and not just herself? Taki looked up in the air, but could see no airborne swine. “Well then, that’s helpful of you. Have you found anything good yet?”
“That’s the thing, Ricky!” Anon knelt down to check the lowest shelf, but found nothing good. She stood back up, sighing. “I thought this store would have plenty of great costume pieces, but I can’t find any! I’ve been looking for nearly an hour, but I guess it isn’t my lucky day.”
“Strange…” For as annoying as Anon could be at times, Taki couldn’t deny her eye for fashion. Her outfits tend to be well thought out and she was always on top of the current trends. If she couldn’t find anything good after looking that long… “Have you checked the whole store yet?”
“Not yet! It’s a pretty big place, surprisingly.” Anon looked around, feeling lost in a maze at this point. The shelves were full of different items, most in shades of red and white. Not the worst, but it didn’t fit her tastes well enough to really consider buying anything.
“I know our aesthetics aren’t exactly the same, but maybe I can help you pick. What section are you in right now? Shoes, jackets, dresses?”
“I’m not really sure? All I see is soup.”
…
“Hah?” Taki couldn’t believe her ears. “Soup? You mean like... the kind you eat?”
“Don’t you ‘drink’ soup, not ‘eat’ it?” Typical Anon, arguing with her over semantics.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying not to let a migraine develop. “That’s not the point!! Is it the food soup, or is there some brand called soup I don’t know about?”
“It’s the food soup.” Anon picked up the nearest can - Campbell’s Split Pea Soup. Eugh. She put it back down as fast as she could.
“Why are you even looking at soup in the first place?! Go to another aisle!” Taki gritted her teeth. Everything about this girl was just so… aggravating! The way she wasted time over frivolous things, the way she used Tomori as a weapon to get her to obey, the way she got SUCH a smug look on her face whenever someone told her she was right. All of it stuck in her mind and refused to go away.
“I’m going, I’m going! Jeez, you don’t have to shout so much.” Anon walked over to the next aisle and surveyed its wares. Yep, just as she expected…
“MORE soup?!” Taki had to stop herself from throwing her phone. “Is the next one just soup too?” She could feel her heartbeat starting to quicken.
100 bpm.
Anon parted some of the cans with her hands and peered through the gap. “Yep! Looks like it.”
105 bpm.
“Ooh! This aisle has a sale on chowder! I guess that counts as a soup after all? I thought they were different technically.”
110 bpm.
“This store has such a wide variety! We should come here as a band some time!”
120 bpm.
“Ricky, do you know Tomori’s favorite type of soup? Maybe I’ll grab some for her on the way out.”
130.
150.
180.
Explosion.
“WHY ARE YOU BUYING CLOTHES AT THE SOUP STORE?” Taki’s outburst reverberated through RiNG’s lobby, making several patrons turn their heads to look at her. “IS THIS A PRANK, HUH? WELL IT’S NOT FUNNY!”
Her words were percussive. Rapid fire. Toms and snares and hi hats and, more than anything, crashes.
“YOU ALWAYS PULL THIS CRAP! STOPPING WASTING OUR TIME, AND GET BACK HERE!”
One last fill, and the solo is over. She hung up and stuffed her phone back in her pocket, walking back to the practice room so she could keep being angry with only Raana as an audience.
Anon stared down at her phone stunned.
“Fuck you!” she yelled back indignantly, knowing full well Taki can’t hear her.
What is with Taki anyway? So much firepower, and it’s always directed at her. It’d be scary if she didn’t already know how easy it is to push her buttons. In spite of herself, she looked forward to seeing how Taki reacts when she finally shows up.
***
An entire hour late for practice, Anon burst in, arms overflowing with cans of soup.
“Sorry I’m late! I had to pick up some stuff.”
Tomori looked up, confused, and took a can from Anon’s hands. She sat down and rolled it on the floor, a tiny smile on her face.
Soyo, not wanting any part of whatever Anon is up to, pretended not to see her.
Raana grabbed a can with her mouth as she played, not missing a single note.
And Taki… scowled as she approached.
“Rickyyy! I’m sorry!” She hurriedly handed her a can of soup with a tiny picture of a panda on it. “I know I’m very late, but I really didn’t realize it was a soup store when I walked in! Honest!”
Taki could hear it in her voice - she wasn’t lying. If anyone in the band was dumb enough to spend an hour in a soup store looking for clothing, it was Anon. She looked down at her lap and turned the can over in her hands a few times, considering whether she should leave the can as is or open it so she can eat/drink the soup but risk damaging the panda. She sighed to herself.
“Anon…” she whispered.
The girl in question leaned down to hear better. “Yes?”
She suddenly grabbed Anon by the collar and pulled her in, locking lips and not caring that the others could see.
“You’re so fucking stupid.”