Riko was the girl all along, huh? It's crazy to think that we would meet again a decade later.
Talk about fate. Her performance influenced me back then, and once again one of her performances would convince me to pursue school idols.
Oh? Someone's in the club room.
AKI: "Ruby?"
RUBY: "Pigiiii!"
AKI: "Oh right, sorry to sneak up on you like that. What are you doing here?"
RUBY: "Me? Oh, I'm just doing some extra work on the costumes."
AKI: "Really? But I thought you'd finished those for the festival."
RUBY: "I did, but after finding all of this sparkling blue material, I felt compelled to replace the costumes' fabric with it."
AKI: "I don't remember buying anything like that with you. We bought accessory stuff remember? Unless... Did you-"
RUBY: "Yes, I went to the store in Numazu all by myself! I went early this morning before the meeting."
AKI: "That's amazing, I'm so proud of you!"
RUBY: "Wh-What are you doing?"
AKI: "Oh, sorry. I guess my instincts told me to pat your head. I can stop if you want."
RUBY: "N-No, it's fine. Thank you, I'm happy that you think I did my Rubesty!"
*CRASH*
RUBY: "PIGIIII!"
AKI: "What was that sound? I mean, I heard an instrument playing, but I didn't want to question it."
RUBY: "Oh, that's what that was."
AKI: "It's probably the concert band practicing for the festival."
RUBY: "Hm? Wait, I think I know who it is!"
...
RUBY: "Look in there."
AKI: "Wait, Dia?! And she's playing a...koto?!"
RUBY: "She has permission to practice here sometimes. She was supposed to practice at home today, but someone's coming over."
AKI: "I see. So she plays here because she can't at home."
How beautiful. If the word grace had a sound, this would be it...
It's like each reverberation of the strings purifies the air. I could listen to this forever.
DIA: "Please do not hide yourself over there. Come in."
AKI: "Huh?!"
RUBY: "D-Dia..."
AKI: "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have been eavesdropping."
DIA: "I don't mind, but you should have said something. I was frightened half to death when I saw your eye through the slit in the door. I thought you were a ghost."
AKI: "I'm very sorry... That music was absolutely lovely. The air around you seemed so different."
DIA: "So you were unable to address me?"
AKI: "Oh, no. That's not..."
DIA: "I'm only joking. Thank you. I'm honored to receive such a compliment."
RUBY: "I thought the same thing, that the air was different. When I hear the koto at home, I always feel like I need to be quiet."
AKI: "Yeah, like something bad will happen if you make any noise."
DIA: "Wait a moment! That makes it seem like my music has some kind of strange magical property!"
AKI: "Right, speaking of noises... We did hear a loud sound coming from in here."
DIA: "Oh, sorry about that. I dropped my instrument. I could feel...a disturbance."
RUBY: "Pigiiii!"
DIA: "Ruby, you wouldn't happen to know what caused this, right?"
RUBY: "N-Not at all."
DIA: "Really? Oh well, it was probably just my imagination. Or overworking myself. Never mind."
AKI: "I'd better head back to the inn. Thank you for the music."
DIA: "It was my pleasure. Feel free to listen again sometime."
A/N - Another challenge to pass the time. Remember when I asked you to make a top 9 members list for each group? Well, now it's time to combine them together to create a top 27 members list. Number one being your favorite member, number twenty-seven being your least.