Promptober 2026 Day 5: Maiden
Tomori and Anon seemed to notice it at the same time, right as one of Raana’s solos reached its apex. They exchanged a worried glance.
Taki was dragging.
No, she wasn’t just dragging. She was sloppy. She was off. She kept dropping the beat entirely, then skipping frantically ahead to try to catch up, overshooting it. She sounded a little like someone who might have picked up the drums a scant month or two previously, rather than the skilled, confident player that they knew her to be.
Worse still, she didn’t seem to notice. Except when it came to Tomori (she never had anything but glowing praise for Tomori), Taki was never shy with her disapprobation, and during practice was often her own harshest critic. Today, however, all she had to offer anyone was bland, nonspecific approval.
Anon frowned. During their next song, when her lead sheet called for a mellow and sweet major 7th chord, she intentionally fingered a dominant 7th instead. The resulting bluesy twang caused by the tritone made Soyo wince and shake her head*. Gross.*
And yet: No reaction from their drummer.
Cold anxiety suddenly gripped Anon’s stomach. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
After practice, Anon stayed behind as everyone else filed from the room, leaving herself and Taki alone. Taki was always last to leave. Anon quietly watched her wheel the amps back into place along the wall and hang the cables in neat coils on their hooks.
If she found it strange that Anon was staying behind, Taki didn’t say anything. “Ready?” she asked.
Anon shook her head. “Do… you have a minute to talk?”
“Sure.” She merely seemed mildly surprised, which only increased Anon’s consternation. Taki held the door for Anon, then they both stepped out into the cafe. The tables were mostly taken, but they managed to find one near the large sliding door that lead out onto the street. Every time it opened, they were blasted with a wave of frigid air. The girl sitting at the table behind them had zipped her parka all the way up and wrapped her scarf around the top half of her head while she sipped something hot through a long straw.
Anon fiddled with a packet of sugar while Taki watched impassively. For a minute or two, neither of them spoke.
“...Rikki, how do you think practice went today?”
Taki shrugged. “Fine.”
“No big mistakes? No… notes for anyone?”
“Not really.” Taki shook her head.
“Okay,” Anon said. “That’s enough.” She crossed her arms. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Taki’s eyes widened. “Nothing’s… wrong,” she said, but in the space between those two words, she immediately put the lie to them by swallowing hard. “I think I’m just… distracted.”
Anon leaned forward, placed her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers in front of her face. Her look of concern hardened into a reproachful glare. “Rikki.”
She didn’t really expect this to work. As far as Anon’s various charms were concerned, Taki was famously immune. But to Anon’s astonishment, she broke almost immediately. Her cheeks darkened, and she cast her eyes downward.
It had happened at school.
As classmates, Taki’s shoe locker was only a few rows down from Umiri Yahata’s. As the school day came to a close, the two of them exchanged their indoor shoes for their sneakers and stepped out into the courtyard of Hanasakigawa Girls’ School.
Taki had just unscrewed the cap of her water bottle and taken a long drink when Umiri changed the subject.
“Ah– Taki-san, that reminds me,” she said. “Could you please tell me the status of your virginity?”
Taki’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. A sharp intake of breath coupled with the sudden clenching of her fist sent about half the bottle of water directly into her lungs. After several minutes of being enthusiastically thumped on the back, Taki managed to favor her companion with a look of utter consternation.
“What?”
“By your reaction, I take it that it is still intact.”
Taki’s face went the color of sour plums. “I– Umiri?!”
“Never mind, then. It’s fine. I thought that Taki-san might have a word or two of advice for a friend in need of guidance, but I see that you are as ill-equipped as I. Put the matter out of your mind.” Umiri resumed her nonchalant walk toward the school’s gate.
“Put the matter– just one second.” Taki caught up. Her face was caught somewhere between embarrassment and rage. “What advice could you possibly need–”
“I was propositioned,” Umiri said simply. “Do you remember Hanakawa-san, the drummer for Killdeer? Before I quit all of my engagements to focus on Ave Mujica, I played three shows with them while their usual bassist was recovering from COVID-19. Our engagement ended amiably. Last week, I received a LINE message from her personal account asking if I wanted to–” Umiri raised her phone and began to read off of the screen. “Come over for dinner and fu–”
“Okay! Okay. Alright. I get it.” Taki dragged her hands down her face. “Why did I need to know about this?”
“I wanted to know what you thought about it, and ask for any advice you might be able to offer regarding what techniques I ought to employ–”
Taki held up a hand to cut her off again, and she fell silent.
“I can’t help you,” she said.
“Ah, I see.”
“Sorry,” she said, though she wasn’t.
“Thank you for your due consideration.”
Taki was quiet for a minute or two before she spoke again.
“Our class has a Hanakawa, doesn’t it?”
“Hanakawa Shiori, yes. But the Hanakawa-san we were speaking about is a student at another school.”
Something about the way that Umiri said another school made Taki’s eyes narrow. “...what school?”
“Tokyo University.”
“Umiri.”
“Does that change things?” Umiri’s question dripped innocence.
“You were propositioned by a college student?”
“Well, I knew her first as a drummer.”
“Does she even know that you’re still in high school?” Taki’s voice was oddly shrill.
“There is no legal concern.”
“No legal–”
“Ah– Here is my bus. Thank you again, Taki-san. Perhaps we can continue this conversation in the future.” Umiri smiled enigmatically as she turned and walked toward the approaching vehicle.
All Taki could do was stare.
“...oh.” Anon sat back in her chair.
“Yeah.”
“Well.”
“...yeah.”
“Yeah. I would also find that–”
“So–”
“-distracting.” Anon nodded.
“Yes. I don’t know what–”
“No, I wouldn’t either.” Anon’s face was only a shade darker than her hair.
They began to gather their things. The table beside them was empty now - the cafe had begun to wind down. Before they parted ways, Taki assured her that she would be back to normal by their next practice. Anon laid a supportive hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t even worry about it,” she said. “You handled that really… maturely.”
They said goodbye and went in opposite directions. On the way to the station, a gust of icy wind make Taki wince and pull her collar up to her cheeks. This time of year was miserable. She squeezed her eyes shut against the frigid air, leaving herself only a tiny slit through which to see. She didn’t see the figure step into her path, and nearly bowled the person over.
“Ahh–!”
A girl’s voice. Familiar.
“T…Taki-chan…!”
Taki gaped. She had come a hair’s breadth away from knocking the girl to the ground. She hadn’t even recognized her - the girl had her parka zipped all the way up and her scarf wrapped tightly around her cheeks. She was carrying a cup of something steaming hot. A long straw was threaded through the lid. Her only recognizable feature was her silky ashen hair.
“Tomori?”
Tomori reached up and pulled down her own scarf. Her eyes were hard. Her face was set in a determined expression that Taki had only seen once or twice before.
“Taki-chan.” Tomori held out one mittened hand. When she spoke, her voice echoed with forceful confidence, loud enough to make several passers-by turn their heads. “Taki-chan…”
“...I don’t mind if you’re a virgin!”