AveMyGO x LycoReco – Case 01. the easier the better ( Part A )

“Whew…” Purple orbs looked at their own reflection on a large mirror, a black and yellow guitar over her body. “I think this is a good stopping point.”

Misumi Hatsune (Stage Name: Misumi Uika) was the other half of the idol group ‘sumimi’ that consisted of her, and Sumita Mana. Their group name was a play on both of their last names. Their first single, ‘Here, the world’, was a big hit, and it had garnered quite a lot of popularity for the two of them.

However, regardless of their popularity, it was still part of Hatsune’s routine to improve her guitar playing. She loved renting a studio in the agency’s music lesson building to practice her guitar. Win-Wing Production, while it was an agency, also had a branch that offered lessons to interested parties.

Win-Wing wanted to discover young talents, and sometimes contracts and opportunities were offered to their lessons’ alumni. They offer guitar, piano, drums, and vocal lessons with their extremely skilled teachers. Hatsune also attended lessons with a guitar teacher, and on those days where she didn’t, she rented the room and practiced alone.

However, what Hatsune loved the most about her personal practice… was the person in the room next door. Win-Wing’s classical pianist, and piano teacher, Togawa Sakiko. Well loved by her students, Sakiko was always popular with everyone. She was well mannered, kind, and most of all beautiful. She helped anybody who solicited her instruction, and… who wouldn’t love someone like that?

Hatsune took a peek at the small hole at the door. Sakiko had her long light blue hair in braided twintails, followed by a light blue button up shirt, and a balloon type white skirt.

“Yes, you can do it.” Sakiko’s voice echoed from outside the lesson room door. It was then followed by a few piano notes. “Yes. Now, you can practice it slowly until you can play it at the correct tempo.”

“Thank you, sensei!” The voice of a motivated young teen could be heard, and then followed by a clap.

“All right, that’s it for today. I’ll see you next week.” Sakiko’s voice was sweet and mellow. The door opened as Hatsune was passing by it.

The young girl, who was the student, bowed at the idol who wore her usual black hat and tinted sunglasses. The girl left through the lobby door.

“Oh my, Hatsune.” Sakiko turned to Hatsune, then suddenly covered her mouth with a hand. She looked around, and noticed there were others. “Umm… Uika.”

“It’s fine, Saki-chan. Thank you.” Hatsune beamed at the light blue haired pianist, who returned the sweet smile. “Was that your last student for the day?”

Sakiko shook her head. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to stay a bit later for one more student.”

“I see. Well, take care.” Hatsune smiled at her and put her bag over her shoulder.

“You as well.” Sakiko waved a hand at her.

Hatsune felt her heart beat loudly as she waved back and left the building.

“I talked to her today…! She’s so cute…”

Without thinking much about it, she skipped out of the building as she headed home. Aside from being an idol, she also attended university majoring in music… but there was something else.

She pushed the door open to a fashionable looking cafe. “I’m back.”

“Welcome back, Imouto-chan~” A white haired female with red eyes in a kimono greeted her with a hug. “How’s your day? Did you meet your crush?”

“Eh? Ah? Eh?” Hatsune looked around the cafe, noticing that it was just her older sister, Nishikigi Chisato, and Mizuki, was there. “Ah, mm. I met her today. She had a student, so I went and said hi in between her classes. She’s so cute.”

“Really? Yoshyoshyoshyosh~” Chisato started ruffling Hatsune’s hair after removing the black cap as she dragged her inside the shop. “Now, go get changed, Mizuki said there’s a guest tonight.”

“A guest? You mean, a request?” Hatsune stood up straight and attempted to fix her hair.

“Yes.” Takina answered as she removed her twintails. “It seemed to be serious.”

“I see… Okay, I’ll go and dress up.” Hatsune nodded as she beelined for the changing rooms.

Cafe LycoReco. A sub-branch of the DA (Direct Attack) in the middle of Sumida that’s meant to deal with requests from people by the people for the people. After much convincing from Mizuki, Chisato finally agreed to turn the cafe into a bar at night, and it was when most of their requests happened.

Despite now being 21-22 years old, it was still part of Chisato and Takina’s job to pass off as high schoolers in order to carry on their duties. Meanwhile, Hatsune was meant to dress up as the bartender to listen to the people’s requests and problems.

With Chisato and Takina in their Lycoris outfits, Hatsune was now back, behind the counter in black pants, white shirt with the front tucked in, and her hair up in a ponytail followed by circle eyeglasses with a purple tint. It wasn’t sunglasses but it wasn’t normal eyeglasses either. Inside her ear was a comms device.

“You ready for tonight’s shift?” Kurumi’s voice spoke directly into Hatsune’s ear.

The eyeglasses were a facial scanner. Kurumi’s role was to give all the information they could gather about this person and use it to gather as much information as they could.

“Mm. Thank you, Kurumi-chan.” Hatsune nodded as she put on a bartender’s apron and readied for tonight’s shift.

“So, how was today?” Chisato took a seat around the counter, right elbow on it while she propped her head on her hand. “What did you talk about with this Saki-chan?”

“Nothing, it was just small talk.” Hatsune responded with a wry smile. “She’s so cute though… She’s so pretty…” She spaced out as she tried to reminisce about their encounter. “She’s also really hardworking.”

“Hmm~” Chisato hummed. “Ah, Hatsune, could you make me a cup of coffee?”

“Late mission today?” Hatsune ducked under the counter to grab some coffee beans.

“Mm~ One for Takina too.” Chisato nodded, then suddenly the door chime rang.

The customer that they’ve been expecting stepped into the store.

“Good day. Is this Cafe LycoReco?”

Suddenly there was a loud thud behind the counter. Hatsune put a hand behind her head as she stood up and her purple orbs met eye to eye with surprised golden ones.

“Eh? Hatsune?” The customer put a hand in front of her mouth in surprise.

“Saki-chan?” Hatsune’s eyes widened while she rubbed her head that had just hit the counter.

Meanwhile Chisato leaned back from the counter seat and watched Hatsune, then turned to the guest, then turned to Hatsune, then to the guest. “Hm? Hm? HMM?” One word on each turn.

“Please take a seat.” Takina walked towards Sakiko and led her to the chair to Chisato’s right side on the counter. “My name’s Takina. Over there at the door is Mizuki, and as you already know her, Hatsune.”

Mizuki walked towards the main door, flipped the sign to close, then locked the door. “Yo.” She greeted the girl.

“So you’re the Saki-chan! It’s nice to meet you~ My name’s Chisato. No need for the -san, you can just call me Chisato~ Thank you for always taking care of my little sister~” She wrapped an arm around Sakiko’s shoulders as she smiled. “I hope she hasn’t caused any troubles~”

“Hatsune’s been very good, she’s also very kind.” Sakiko smiled at Hatsune who stood in front of her while Chisato squished her. “But… little sister…?” She looked at Chisato’s high school uniform and wondered.

“Yeah~ She’s younger by a year, but don’t mind the small details~” Chisato finally let go of Sakiko’s shoulders and crossed her arms in front of her.

“A- All right.” Sakiko breathed a sigh of relief as she fixed her clothes. “Um… I’ve come to make a request.”

Hatsune opened her mouth, then closed it, still in awe that their client was actually her Saki-chan. Well, calling her her Saki-chan wasn’t right, but to think that it was her Saki-chan…

“Earth to Hatsune~” Mizuki nudged the blonde next to her with an elbow.

“Ah? Eh? Ah, yes. P- Please tell us what you need.” Hatsune snapped out of her thoughts and motioned a hand towards Sakiko as she returned to milling a few grams of coffee beans for Takina and Chisato’s coffee.

“Umm… I think I’m being stalked.” Sakiko folded her hands on the counter table then looked at them. “The past few weeks, I’ve started to feel that every time I walk home from the music school there’s someone following me. When I turn around I don’t see anybody, but I can’t shake this feeling of being watched.”

Chisato leaned her left elbow on the counter as she pulled back to watch Sakiko’s profile from her seat. “Did you feel that while you walked here?”

“Yes.” Sakiko nodded.

“Hm~” Chisato then leaned forward on the counter as she looked past Sakiko, to meet eye to eye with Takina. “When did it start?”

“If I recall correctly, it was about a month ago.” Sakiko put a finger on her chin as she tried to remember. “I had just finished a class with a student, and by custom I accompanied them outside to bid them goodbye. I thought that there was somebody looking at me, but when I looked around I didn’t find them so I just ignored it.”

Hatsune put down a cup of freshly brewed coffee in front of Chisato, then another in front of Takina. “Saki-chan, do you want one too?”

Sakiko entwined her fingers as she looked up at Hatsune. “It feels like tonight’s going to be a long night… so yes, I suppose.”

Hatsune smiled at her and nodded.

“Do you feel this at home as well?” Takina asked as she took a sip of the coffee. “Great as usual, thank you, Hatsune.” The blonde gave her a grin and a nod.

“Not always, but I do feel the gaze all the way to my door, and at times… when I’m in the living room.” Sakiko smiled at Hatsune as the warm cup of the served coffee in front of her calmed her nerves. “It’s not always there, but I only feel it at night.”

“That’s a stalker all right.” Mizuki chimed from behind the counter. “Seemed like they had a day job so they could only watch at night.”

“Right.” Chisato nodded. “Ah, I have a brilliant idea.” She grinned. “How about a live-in bodyguard?”

“Live-in? There’s no way you can do that, Chisato–” Takina raised an eyebrow.

“Nononono, not me.” Chisato stood up from her stool. She walked past the foldable door to behind the counter and wrapped an arm around Hatsune’s shoulders. “Her!”

“Eh?” Hatsune turned to Chisato in surprise, while Takina, and Sakiko reacted together with her.

“What? They mostly work at the same place. They already know each other. She can fight, cook for her, clean her laundry, and clean her house. She can protect her, and pretend to be her boyfriend too.” Chisato nodded as she listed Hatsune’s strengths. “Right?” Then she looked at Hatsune.

Takina put a hand under her chin as she analyzed. “They work in the same industry too, which would make sense why they’d be together more often.”

“B- But I don’t always go to the agency. I’d be out and about in different places most of the time.” Hatsune reasoned.

“She isn’t being stalked in the mornings, so that’s fine. All you have to do is to just pick her up, and you two go home together.” Chisato nodded as her beautiful plan came together wonderfully. “Or if you’re going to be late, she can just go to your work, and then you can go home together.”

“Y- Yeah that kind of works but–” Hatsune turned to Sakiko who only had both of her eyebrows raised at them.

“She can serenade you with her guitar, she has monstrous physical strength, maybe she’s a little chicken over bugs, but if she has to she can ignore them. The perfect bodyguard!” Chisato grinned at Sakiko. “Are you fine with that?”

“I don’t mind…” Sakiko turned away with a blush. “Would you suggest pretending to be a boyfriend be the best choice of action?”

“W–“

“Yes!” Chisato grinned.

“E- Eehhhhh???” Hatsune turned to Chisato, and the blush on Sakiko’s cheeks seemed to have gotten redder.

“Now that that’s been decided, are you fine staying over for a while? She needs to work part time tonight.” Chisato patted Hatsune’s shoulders.

“I- I don’t mind, although I need to work on some music files. Would you have a silent space?” Sakiko nodded.

“Oh, you can just work in the back rooms. Come over.” Mizuki nonchalantly opened the door that leads to the back of the counter. “Hatsune-chan, show her the way, I’m gonna open the bar.”

“Ah, y- yes.” Hatsune nodded and escorted Sakiko to the small tatami room that they often used for breaks. She let Sakiko inside the room, sliding the door behind them.

The inner sliding door suddenly slid open, and Kurumi stuck out half of her body as she waved. “Yo.”

“E- Eh!? A child?!” Sakiko took a step backward as she stepped onto Hatsune’s foot and fell onto her front. “I- I’m sorry.”

“Ah, this is Kurumi, our IT person.” Hatsune introduced as she helped Sakiko get back on her feet. “She lives in that closet, but she won’t bother you as you work, right, Kurumi-chan?” The blonde smiled at her sinisterly.

“Y- Yeah…” Kurumi shook her head. “You sisters really can’t be messed with.”

“I see.” Sakiko bowed. “Nice to meet you, Kurumi-san.”

“I’ll just be outside if you need me.” Hatsune nodded. “Kurumi-chan.”

“I got it, I got it. I won’t ask unnecessary things.” Kurumi shrugged as she watched Hatsune leave the room. “They’re good kids.”

Sakiko nodded with a smile. “I can see that.”

(Case 01 A Part / End)