Chapter Text
She opens the door to the studio, thirty minutes early, and it's the same place as ever. The instruments sit on the stage at one end like exhibits at a high-end fashion store; various drum kit pieces, amplifiers, a DJ deck... and her keyboard is already sitting there too, since she left it here yesterday. At the other end lies a desk, countless digital apparatuses strewn on the shelves inside, contrasting with merely a computer and a few packs of jerky strewn across the top.
And of course, her beloved's.... wait, she's not sitting at the desk.
"Ah! Chu2-sama!" What's she doing, all the way over at her keyboard? Normally, she'd run right up to her and hug her, but the instrument could fall over if Chiyu gets startled by it... which she still sometimes does, a bit. Not as much as she used to, though~
"Ah, Pareo! I'm looking at some of the songs you have here. It's, uh... I just want to know more about your repertoire."
Oh, blessed day... any day where Chiyu says she wants to know more about her? Music to her ears. She doesn't even bother questioning why.
"About what I play? Chu2-sama... I had no idea you thought so much about me!"
"I-It's just for...! I-I mean, it's just so I get a better understanding of what you're capable of!" Ah, there's her cute grouchy face rearing itself in full force. "For the sake of my next composition. Right."
"Hehe, of course, of course~" Reona mouses over to her side and watches her as she peruses through the sheet music; the same set of treasured tunes Reona always makes sure to keep safe. She's played some of it to Chiyu before, but since then they haven't really been a topic of conversation between the two... so it's nice to talk about them once again.
"I see... I see.." Chiyu's hard to get, sometimes. She's definitely deep in thought, so she really might just be looking through these pieces for musical insight. But also, there's a budding hope in Reona that her earlier comment was actually correct. She's definitely improving her understanding of Reona's musical skill currently (she can tell from the intensity of her eyes), but she's talented enough that she might just be doing that on the side... Is she interested in Reona, or interested in music right now? Sometimes it's both, sometimes it's just the latter, and sometimes she can swear it's just the former...
"Ah. I..." See, there's the raised eyebrows and slightly agape mouth combo, now. "Pareo, this piece, the one called 'I Love'. Do you play this one often?" The last time she made that expression was when Reona showed her a necklace she made for herself, back when she was 8 years old. She can take the emotion to signify a sign of personal interest, right? "...Hey, Pareo!"
She feels a finger poking her on her nose; oh, right! "Huh! Oh! This song? Yeah, it's called 'I Love!' I've been playing that one a lot more lately~" Gee, she wonders why. Hehe.
"Yeah, I already saw its name, idiot..." she says, rolling her eyes. "...but I see. Hey, Pareo." She gets up from the seat.
"Yes, Chu2-sama?"
"Mind playing that one for me?" She says, standing up. "We have some time before everyone else arrives for practice, after all. I'm thinking something soothing in the background will be nice, while I work on my next song."
"Of course!" Bit of a weird change, since normally Chiyu just uses her punctuality as an excuse for extra practice. But she's not complaining; she prepares herself by giving her fingers a light warmup, as her companion heads back to the other side of the room.
As her hands roll the melody in, she can hear Chiyu clicking and typing away. Looking up, she can see a bit of the DJ's face peek out from the side of the computer; she's chewing on jerky with reckless abandon too, of course. She's a messy, adorable gremlin of a girl.
All that typing and clicking Chiyu's doing doesn't really have any kind of coherent rhythm to it; and yet, somehow, it feels like the piece Reona is playing is all the better for it. It's a soothing, warming backdrop of ambience.
As the last chord takes the time to echo from one side to the other, there's a clear tap of the enter button from a computer keyboard, as if it were in response. Shortly after, as Reona turns her gaze across the room, a new piece of music starts playing.
"Eh? Is that your new composition, Chu2-sama?" It doesn't sound like it; the song is a lot cheesier than that (although she wouldn't mind if Chiyu sang something cheesy to her...).
"...N-no. I'm just looking at other pieces of music for inspiration."
"Ah, I see!" Immediately interested in anything her beloved's doing, Reona heads over to the other side of the room. "What's this one called?"
"It's just called 'You.' That's all..." Strange. She's hiding her face from Reona right now; is she shy about something? It's always cute when she's shy.
"I see..." Reona responds. Chiyu doesn't say anything else, so the pair listen to the song in silence. Maybe she's concentrating, rather than being sheepish... oh, how heartrendingly distracting it must be to have to have her beloved Reona by her side~...
This is a pretty odd method for pursuing musical improvement, even by Chiyu's standards. Usually she has her headphones on when she's listening to music, too. But she's not going to complain if her companion's just letting her stand by her side, listening to this piece of music together... so she just takes it in, for a few more minutes.
"...Hey..." A meek word captures Reona's attention again. Chiyu's still hiding her expression.
"Mm? What is it, Chu2-sama?"
"S-so, uh. Remind me, Pareo, what was the name of the piece you just played?"
...She couldn't reaaaallly have forgotten already, could she? "It's called 'I Love'..."
"Y-yeah."
The two linger in silence for a second.
"...A-ah, uh." She's fidgeting, grumbling, muttering under her breath, there's a cute blush on her face... hello? Chiyu? "Uh. Remind me, Pareo... w-what was the name of the piece that's, uh... the piece that's... playing right now."
...? "Uh... um, it's called 'You', Chu2-sama-" Oh. Ohhhhh. Ohhhhh????? Ohhhhhhhh?????
She turns her head over to try and peek at Chiyu's face, and it's blushing furiously. Yeah, that confirms it, right? When you put the two pieces' names together, they spell...
...
"...Chu2-sama!!!" God, she's so cute! She hears a yelp from Chiyu as she divebombs her side for a hug, but she can't restrain herself.
"Alright, alright, calm down!" Reona lifts her buried face from Chiyu's shoulder, and feels a hand combing through her hair. It feels like she's in heaven, all of it's ridiculously corny and exaggerated elements in place. "Sheesh, you're too much..."
"Hehe. Thanks, Chu2-sama." Her day's already improved, and it was bright enough already.
"...Hey. Reona."
"...Yes, Chiyu?"
"C'mere." The loveable fool gets off from her seat, and beckons Reona to it with one hand. She doesn't know what for, but she couldn't care less at this point.
"Certainly!" So she sits herself right down. Then, Chiyu shuffles onto her knees, and sits on top of her, leaning the back of her head onto the nape of Reona's neck. She has to mind herself not to jab her hands on Chiyu's headphones, but it's worth it so that she can start stroking her hair.
The two sit on the chair in silence, comforted in each other's embrace. She doesn't say anything else. Reona figures she doesn't need to say anything else, either; she's happy enough as-is. So she's just content to stare at a screen of elements displayed on the computer, right alongside Chiyu.
She's loving this moment. So she hopes her beloved is enjoying it too.
...Even when Chiyu's face is beet red upon realizing Rokka is looking right at them.