Watch This Space

The pair stepped off the train and onto the platform, a few blocks from the bar. Ranko noticed that Hana was checking her watch often, clearly worried about the time. She fully understood why, as there was a lot to do before tomorrow. She was honestly surprised Hana had chosen to schedule this appointment during the holiday preparation and with the show coming up.Hana motioned to the little cafe nestled in the corner of the station, just beyond the ticket booth. "You hungry? We could grab a bite if you want."Ranko shrugged. "I'm okay, but we can stop if you want." Truthfully, she hadn't been eating much the last few days; she'd been running on pure adrenaline.Hana nodded. "Yeah, I could go for a tamagoyaki." She meandered over to the order window, making and paying for her selection. When she finished, she found Ranko leaning against the gray metal railing facing the tracks, watching the trains come in. She seemed deep in thought."You okay, kiddo? What's buggin' ya?"Ranko looked up. "Hmm? Oh, just thinking."Hana walked around her side, joining her in leaning on the railing. "I can see that. Anything interesting going on in there?" The redhead shook her head almost absently."Hey, you know you can talk to me, right?" Hana rested her hand on her daughter's shoulder.Ranko nodded, still looking off into the distance where a train was now speeding south down the tracks. "I guess I just don't know what I'd say."Hana put her arm around the young girl's shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "Well, if you think of something, you let me know, okay? I know you've got a lot on your plate right now with the show, this new exam thing, and whatever's going on with you and Mei."Ranko sighed. The situation with Mei and Mikado was eating her up, not only with worry over Mei getting hurt, but with her own memories of him being dredged up. Mei had specifically called out that Ranko had been getting what appeared to be favoritism from Hana and the others, and she felt that going to them about it would just be asking them to choose her over Mei and make things worse. She badly wanted to convince them all that Mikado was bad news – but she couldn't do that without admitting what he had done to her.Hana heard her name called and walked back to the little lunch counter, picking up her meal and picking at it with her chopsticks. She really hadn't been hungry; she just needed to buy a little time. But, it should be late enough now, she thought. "You about ready to head home?"Ranko turned, putting on a bright smile. She did have a few reasons to smile today, even though the reasons not to were currently dominating her thoughts. "You bet."The pair walked the short distance back to the bar, and Hana slid her key in the lock. She fumbled with it clumsily for a moment before turning it in the lock and pushing the door open. As Ranko entered, she noticed that the ladder and some of the other tools they'd used while decorating were left out again. Maybe Ayako found some more decorations to put up? No, that's not it... She realized she no longer heard the attract loop coming from the arcade machine in the back. Did it break? Hana stopped walking, just watching her from behind with an excited smile, seeing how long it would take her to notice.As Ranko approached the little alcove, she stopped suddenly. The arcade machine was completely gone, and so was the pool table! In their place were seven six-top tables and chairs. They perfectly matched the ones that filled the rest of the bar, but Ranko knew they had no extras. They had to have been moved from somewhere. She looked back to the main room, counting the rows - four, five, six, sev… no! The seventh row of tables had been moved. Why? The lights in the back half of the room were turned off, so she hadn't noticed. She reached out, flicking the switch, and found the reason for the rearrangement with a loud gasp.The little corner stage with the karaoke machine - her home for the last two months - had been entirely removed. In place of it, a raised wooden platform now stretched the entire length of the back wall. It was almost breast-high to Ranko where the previous didn't even reach her knees, and there were three steps recessed into the right side to ascend it. Two of the large speakers that had previously been propped in the corner so the music could be heard over the arcade machine had been relocated, one on either side of the stage facing into the room. Off to one side, a small booth had been erected, and all of the sound and lighting control equipment had been moved into it. "What is… how…"The entire front edge of the stage was lined in silver garland, and two large plastic candy canes stood bookending the stage in the back. The posters that had adorned the back wall were gone, leaving a clean backdrop. On the left side of the stage, in the very corner, stood a small, sparsely-but-tastefully decorated Christmas tree.She stepped up the stairs, and she heard a loud mechanical clunk of a breaker being flipped. The Christmas tree lit up. The colored lights that used to flash patterns on the walls when the music played had been repositioned, pointing up at the center of the platform, where a stool and a microphone stand waited. The stool also had some garland weaved through its legs, and a few red baubles hung from it. Ranko covered her open mouth, taking another step forward. Resting on the stool was a single red rose, with a red ribbon tied around it, holding a small tag. She turned it in the beams of light to read it. Three immaculately-calligraphed characters adorned the tag. They read, "for our star.""Surprise!"Ranko turned, and found Yui and Izumi popping up from their hiding position behind the bar. Both were wearing denim overalls smudged with dirt and wood stain, and Yui's hair was tied back in a tight bun."You… you guys. You did this?"Yui nodded. "Mm-hmm. Just barely finished in time, too. Mama was supposed to keep you out another hour or so." The blonde rolled her eyes at Hana with a playfully mock-judgmental smirk, and the matriarch sighed in defeat.Hana shrugged with a smirk. "The meeting didn't take as long as I expected, and I ran out of excuses, Sorry, girls."Ranko looked out over the room from her perch, in disbelief of what had been done for her. "But, how? We couldn't afford this…"Yui pointed to the equipment as she spoke. "The lights, speakers, all of that we already had, we just had to move 'em."Izumi grinned. "As for the stage itself, well, I guess it's a good thing one of us is marrying a building contractor soon, huh?""Girls, I… I don't know what to say. It's beautiful. I just… I can't believe you did this. Thank you so much." She walked up to Yui, then Izumi, and then Hana, hugging them each in turn.Hana smiled, wrapping her arms around Yui's shoulders on her left, and Izumi's on her right. "You deserve it."Ranko bit her lip. On one hand, she was absolutely floored with the surprise and the amazing thought of it all. On the other, it broke her heart that Mei wasn't there, and she worried that the girls having done this without her input would only add fuel to her jealousy.Hana looked around at the ladder and other remnants of the construction effort. "Well, since we're here early, we might as well help get this cleaned up."Ranko nodded and started moving toward the pile of tools. "Of course."Izumi, however, stopped her with a gentle palm to her sternum. "Not in my suit you're not. Go get changed, silly."Ranko blushed. "You got it!" She turned and rushed up the stairs.When she returned ten minutes later, she heard more voices than before, and they were arguing. She paused in the stairway to listen for a moment."Look, we're doing a concert to try to save this place. We had to make it look decent. We've been working our asses off getting ready. You'd know that if you'd been around at all!"The second voice was definitely Mei's. "Well, excuse me, Yui, for finally having a life and not being able to be here seven days a week."Yui's voice responded, sharpened but not raised. "Yeah, but you could have told us if you needed time. You just didn't show up and left us short-handed."Mei scoffed. "I didn't think you'd miss me all that much, with Princess Diva here to pick up the slack."Izumi growled in frustration."What is even going on between you two? What the hell happened?""It's bad enough that she's taking over everything about this place, but then when I go try to find a little happiness for myself, she has to shit all over that, too! Telling me how I shouldn't be going out with Mikado. Doesn't she have enough people here to kiss her ass so that I could get the occasional night off?!""That's enough," Hana snapped. "Look, I know you were the youngest here for a long time, and it can be hard when someone new starts getting attention. But you know what a mess that girl was when she got here. She needed us. She still needs us. All of us. She misses you something terrible, Mei.""Oh, I'm sure her throngs of adoring fans will stroke her ego just fine. By the way, not that anyone's all that interested, but Mikado's coming by for a while tonight with a couple of his friends."Ranko gasped, and the world spun. That jerk, here? In the only safe place she'd ever known? Where he could humiliate her again, in front of an entirely new group of people whose respect she craved?She ran back up the stairs, grateful she'd passed on Hana's offer of breakfast. There would be less to throw up.