K-ON!: Shattered Dreams

Chapter 6: Lost One

Yui and Ritsu waited for at least an hour before Azusa returned. When the 2nd guitarist did come home, she had Jun around her shoulders, barely conscious after her little run-in with Mio. Azusa set her down on the couch, checking her body temperature by feeling her forehead and neck area with her palm.

"Tch... she's cold... at this rate, she'll get hypothermia." Azusa analyzed. "Yui-senpai, I need hot water and a towel, quick!"

"Got it!" Yui responded, turning straight to the bathroom to get some hot water.

"...So Mio got to her." Ritsu said, clenching her fist. "How many more of us is she gonna hurt, huh?"

"To be honest, Ritsu-senpai... I don't even know what'll happen next." Azusa said, resting Jun properly such that she's comfortable. Yui returned to the living room with the hot towel and hot water.

"Here, Azu-nyan." She hastily passed the items to Azusa, who then quickly administered care to her friend.

"Now... we wait. Her temperature should stop falling, and her body should stabilize." She assessed, but before anything happened, Jun managed to stir from her barely conscious state.

"U-ungh... A-Azusa...?" She called out, trying to get up, but Azusa forced her back down.

"Now's not the time for you to talk. You're cold, and if you move any more, your hypothermia could be your downfall. So please, rest." Jun scoffed for a bit, but she knew this was for her own good, so she went back to rest.

It took a full hour before Jun could move without worry of her temperature dropping again. She sat up from where she was, slowly, just to make sure she wasn't hurt anymore. The first thing she saw was the rather concerned look on Azusa's face. "Azusa, what did I tell you about putting on that worry face?"

"Simple, I actually AM worried about you. I REALLY thought you were dead when I found you!" She said, in an exasperated tone. She still has not rested since bringing her here, so that's why she got so cranky.

"Azusa, calm down, please. All she did was throw ice bullets into my chest and hit me a bunch of times. No big deal, really." Azusa just sighed, displeased. "Really though... there are things I need to tell you all."

"What things, Jun?" Yui asked, interested.

"It's something me and Azusa know... did you tell them, Azusa?" Azusa felt the stares of Ritsu and Yui.

"No... I didn't think it was relevant."

"...Azusa, it IS relevant... it has to do with the Dead Hour as well." This came to the attention of Ritsu.

"Seriously? Azusa... what have you been keeping from us?"

"It's not her fault... maybe it's best we let you know right now... so far, only me, Azusa and Ui have figured it out. It's only fair we tell you right now." Azusa went to sit next to Jun, while Jun got herself comfortable. She knew this was going to be a long explanation.

"So you two know something... about the Dead Hour?" Yui asked.

"Well... we don't know much about the Dead Hour itself, but I did find one common factor about the people who CAN walk the Hour. Ritsu-senpai, Yui-senpai, I want you to take your weapons out." The two seniors looked at each other, before shrugging and showed Jun their weapons. The jazz guitarist inspected the weapons, starting with Yui's battle fans. She then looked over Ritsu's sais. "I knew it..." She said in slight amazement.

"What?" Ritsu asked.

"You two have them too... the Roman Numeral on your weapons. Ritsu... you're the 5th and Yui, you're the 2nd... you're both Numbers too!" Ritsu had that confounded look on her face.

"I'm sorry... 'Numbers'?"

"That's... the label we've decided to give to people who have those numerals and those who can walk the Dead Hour. I confirmed that when Mio was able to walk the Dead Hour too. She had the numeral of 4 on her katana."

"Gee, as if I didn't know that." Ritsu said, sarcastic demeanor evident in her voice.

"So... let me get this straight." Yui said, stepping in to connect the dots. "You don't know much about the Dead Hour, correct?"

"No, Azusa and I don't know much about it." Jun confirmed.

"But what you do know is that the people who CAN walk the Dead Hour have a Roman numeral etched into their weapon."

"Not only that," Azusa interrupted. "But the people who can walk the Dead Hour have a special power born inside them to fight in this Hour. For example, I have my wind spells. Jun here follows the way of the Kunoichi. Yui has lightning, Ritsu has fire. All of these powers... we were given these to battle within the Dead Hour."

"Yeah... still, we need to know. What are we fighting for? Who's our enemy?" Yui said, pointing out all their objectives now. She knew now. People in the Dead Hour have a weapon, engraved with a Roman numeral on it. Along with that, they possess some sort of special power to fight in this Hour. Yui also took in this factor; there are now, including Mio and Ui, 6 people who walk the Dead Hour... of course, this is what she thought.

However, Jun had more to tell.

"There's more, however... and it seems a lot graver than what my people have told me." Jun's serious tone caught wind of the rest of the room. "It seems... there's a Number close to losing their will."

"...huh?" Azusa asked, interested. "There's someone close to losing their will... meaning they haven't awakened to their power yet?"

"Yes. If we don't do something... she'll disappear from this Hour... and this world." The two seniors, having heard this, knew their mission hadn't been limited to just facing Mio, and they inquired.

"Who? We'll save them from disappearing from this world." Yui asked first.

"Yeah, I mean... sure, they have to go through this hour like us, but we're not gonna let them disappear from the world entirely." Ritsu said that bit more confidently.

"All right... you guys better be ready for this." The current members of the HTT nodded, listening in.

"Just give us the name... we'll figure things out from there."

Jun took a minute to take in a slight breath of air, before uttering the name.

"Kotobuki Tsumugi."