The Critic

"Akane, she's here."The young woman at the VIP table turned her head from the stage where her fiancee sang, looking back at her soon-to-be sister. "Thanks, Mei." She started to stand, turning toward the blue-haired server.Mei rested her hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "Hey, you okay? Are we still going with the same plan?"Akane nodded resolutely. "I want you and Yui to leave her to me and Ran-chan, 'kay? We aren't really sure what to expect out of her tonight, and we don't need you girls caught up in anything. I'll handle any food or drinks she wants, okay?" And we don't need her spouting off about any martial artist boys she used to know.Receiving an acknowledgement in the form of a bobbing chin from Mei, Akane smoothed the front of her kelly green skater dress, adjusting the matching green headband in her hair in her reflection in the mirror behind the service bar before walking to the front reception area to greet the object of her and her bride's mutual dread."Mrs. Saotome." Akane looked up at the middle-aged woman with some measure of contempt. Really?! She couldn't find anything but a kimono to wear to a freakin' bar? "We have a seat for you up front.""Thank you, Akane," Nodoka said as she followed her son's… daughter's… girl… fian… whatever she was, toward the VIP table and took the seat to the left of where Akane's glass of soda already sat. She felt positively naked without the reassuring weight of her family's ancestral katana slung over her back."Lay a whisper on my pillow. Leave the winter on the ground. I wake up lonely, this air of silence in the bedroom and all around…"Nodoka looked up as she took her seat, only just then seeming to recognize the redhead in the deep blue skater dress swaying slowly on the stage. She does have quite a pleasing voice, when she isn't singing her usual… whatever it is she calls music.Akane smiled sweetly, leaning over toward Nodoka. "Hey, can I tell you something real quick?"Her future wife's mother nodded, leaning close. "Yes?"Akane rested her arm gently over Nodoka's back. "I just wanted to let you know, Ranko's told me all about the few times you've hung out. And…" Nodoka winced in pain and surprise as the soft hand on her left shoulder became a vice grip that could have splintered wood."If the words Ranma, boy, or son come out of your mouth in this building, I'm going to rip your vocal cords out of your neck with my bare hands and feed them to stray cats. Do we have an understanding?"With wide eyes, Nodoka nodded emphatically, and only then did Akane release the crushing grip on her shoulder. What a brute! How entirely unladylike! The Saotome matriarch rotated her arm slightly to try and restore blood flow to her arm."It must've been love, but it's over now… It must've been good, but I lost it somehow…"Nodoka looked up to Akane, an indignant glare still present in her eyes. "I expected that she would be performing her own music."Akane shrugged. "So did I." What are you doing, Ranko? "She was probably just saving the good stuff until you got here." She hoped so, because she watching the light fade slowly from Shinji's eyes as he sleepwalked through the third cover ballad in a row.As the song ended to a smattering of weak, polite applause, Ranko sighed, turning to confer with her band. Akane couldn't hear what was being said, but she watched Shinji slump in disappointment as Ranko adjusted the blue ribbon in her high ponytail and turned toward the steps. She exited the stage, walking to the VIP table. "You made it."Nodoka looked up to the redhead, her eyes pleading for rescue from the barbaric girl sitting to her right. "I did. Akane and I were just… talking."Ranko smirked over at Akane. "I hope you two are playing nice."Akane opened her mouth to answer, but Ranko's mother spoke first. "Honestly, dear. Do you have to wear such short dresses up there in front of everyone? It's shameful."Fire in her eyes, Ranko whirled on her heels, turning her back to the table. Starting in on this shit already?! Calm down, Ranko. Bite your tongue. Don't start a scene. Not here. Be good. "I… gotta get back up there." You can't hurt me up there. That stage is my suit of armor.She strode quickly back up the steps and waved to the crowd, fidgeting with her headset to ensure the boom microphone was where she wanted it as a gentle melody began to flow from Crash's guitar."When I met you, I was a mess, and it made total sense to me that you'd be unimpressed. And ever since, I've tried to grow, hoping I could find a way to be someone you'd wanna know…"Akane stood. I gotta walk away for a minute, or I'm gonna choke this lady. "Let me get you a drink, Mrs. Saotome. Would you like something to eat?"Ranko's mother nodded curtly to the young woman who had just threatened her with violence. "A nice curry sounds lovely. Thank you."Her forehead falling into her palm, Akane rolled her eyes. "This… isn't that kind of place. How about some onion rings?" She sped off before Nodoka could grumble her reply.Nodoka's eyes widened as Crash stepped up to a microphone on a stand in front of him and began to sing."So I'm gonna wander every desert. I'm gonna sail every sea. All I'm searching for's a reason you'd be proud to be with me! I'll explore a deep, dark jungle, search the depths of every cave. Sure, I'm scared, but you fill my heart up enough to make me brave! I'm gonna go on an adventure. I'm gonna cast away my fears. Gonna earn my place beside you, if it takes a thousand years…"Akane returned to the table, placing a basket of fried onion and a cup of tea in front of Nodoka. Hope she doesn't complain about that, at least. Yui about throttled me when I told her I was serving tea in her bar."Do you actually tolerate this?!" Nodoka gestured to the stage as Ranko and Crash wrapped up the final chorus of Worthy of You."Tolerate what, exactly?" Akane rested her fists on her hips, having not yet sat down. "She sings. She loves it. What's the problem now?"Nodoka flopped her hand down on the tabletop. "I just… do you see the way she… with that boy?! It's… does she have no shame?"Having finished the song, Ranko walked up behind Akane, putting her hand gently on her fiancee's back. "What's going on? You seem upset."Nodoka scoffed. "If you must know, I am. You claim that you're still attracted to women, and yet you're singing love songs with boys?! What are you playing at, child?!"Akane glared darkly. "Keep your fucking voice down with that, would you?! And anyway, it's perfectly normal for a singer to sing a duet with someone they aren't in a relationship with. They wrote it for me, and Crash's girlfriend!"The singer's mother motioned to Akane with a groan, looking up at Ranko. "Real princess this one is, with that mouth!"A resentful sneer forming on her lips, Akane stared through the woman sitting in her place at the VIP table, who Ranko had hoped desperately to impress and thus far earned nothing but scorn from. "Oh, there's definitely a princess in our relationship."Akane looked over her shoulder at the woman who was holding her from behind, her eyes softening at Ranko's face. "But it ain't me."Akane's bristling spine seemed to relax a little as Ranko whispered in her ear. "Let it go, Akane. Please. For me. Don't let her rile you up. Thank you for sticking up for me. I love you."Releasing Akane's waist, Ranko motioned back to the stage with a thumb over her shoulder. "How about we do another slow one, this one with no singing boys? Will that work?" Not waiting for an answer, she bounded up to the stage.Fucking bitch! Who does she think she is? Whew. Stay cool, Ranko. Stay cool.She began conferring with her bandmates, and a moment later, the song selection set, she flitted to the front of the stage, putting on her best stage smile.You might be pissed, Ranko, but you can still show her how much you love Akane. There's a lot of things about me I'll put up with her questioning, but not that. Never that.With naught but Crash's guitar behind her, she began to sing."Did you know the way time stops when our eyes meet? The way that everything else fades out of my mind? Did you know I hear your name in each heartbeat? That you're the one my soul was always meant to find?"Nodoka smiled slightly. "I heard this one on that disc she gave me. I like it." And this is just about the only one.Akane grinned sadistically as she retook her seat to Nodoka's right. "Yeah, it's really pretty. She wrote it about me. In fact, it was originally gonna be just for me alone, and it's only on the album because I wanted a good studio recorded version for us to dance to at our wedding."With pursed lips, Nodoka gave the barest hint of a nod and returned her eyes to the stage, where the teenager who would be her daughter swayed, her haunting voice carrying with only the barest minimum of support from Crash's guitar."Did you know that everything is falling into place? That my life is finally starting to make sense?""And you say she does this every night? Even on school nights?"Akane nodded, still glaring at Nodoka over her previous comments. "Every night she works, until two. Four to six nights a week, depending. It's getting to the point that we have to take reservations almost every night that she sings."Nodoka looked around at the despondent capacity crowd as they watched the firebrand in the striking blue dress croon yet another slow love ballad. "You could have fooled me."You bitch. How dare you! Akane shook her head. Easy, Akane. Ranko doesn't want a scene. Even if I do. "This isn't one of her normal performances." This place is packed. It's Friday night. These people are here to party, and if she doesn't pick it up soon, there's gonna be a riot. Good thing she picked a night when Hana's not here, or there'd probably be a fistfight behind the bar.Ranko closed her eyes as she finished the love song whose title was inscribed on the band of her engagement ring. "... they hear me sing, and they're not wrong. But when they see the joy I feel up on that stage, I'm just the singer. You're my song…" She looked down at the VIP table, sighing in frustration at the weak response from the crowd. I hope you're appeased."You're killing us, Ranko!" Shinji growled, having just stood on the stage with nothing to do for the whole of You're My Song. "Are you gonna play some real music, or should we all just go home?""You guys, I can't. Not with her here. You don't understand. She's traditional and… weird." Ranko sighed. "I really wanted to make a good impression on her tonight."Crash gave her a quizzical side glance. "Then why did we…"The singer shrugged, not letting him finish his sentence. "In case of emergency, break glass. Be right back."Willing a smile onto her face, Ranko again descended the steps and closed the distance to the VIP table. "What did you think of that?"You'd better keep your damn mouth shut, lady, if you know what's good for you, Akane thought with a glare. Don't make me have to strangle you with that freakin' ridiculous obi. But she instead turned her eyes up to her lover with a bright smile. "It was beautiful, baby, like always."Nodoka scoffed. "I do like the song, and you do have a very nice voice. But…" She looked around at the confused and bored crowd. "If this is the typical reaction you get, I'm very concerned about your career choice, sweetheart."Ranko's eyes flared as she dug her fingernails into her palms. "Oh?!"Breathe, Ranko. In through the nose, out through the mouth. "I'm just never gonna be good enough in your eyes, am I?""I mean, look at them. Half of them were reading their drink menus while you sang." Nodoka shrugged. "I'm sorry if you can't see the truth, honey. It's hard to admit when the dream isn't working, I know, but maybe it's time to consider a more appropriate career for a young lady."Ranko reached behind herself, pulling the blue ribbon and the hair elastic out of her hair and throwing both on the table. She shook her head, letting her flaming locks fall about her shoulders, a sharp contrast to the deep blue ice in her eyes. "Alright. That's it! You wanna see them scream? You got it, lady!""Oh, shit." Behind the bar, Yui started frantically laying out shot glasses on the bar, passing bottles of top-shelf tequila over them with both hands as fast as the pour spouts would allow the clear liquid to flow."Yui, what's the matter?" Mei looked up at her sister, a combination of confusion and concern on her face.The blonde head bartender didn't look up from her work. "I've seen that look in her eyes before, Mei. That's the Sneak face. She's gonna do it again."Mei sighed quietly. Poor girl. She wanted so badly for it to go well tonight. "Oh, boy."Stomping her way to the stage without another word and ignoring Akane's shouts to stop, Ranko snatched her headset off of her head and threw it to the back of the stage with a guttural roar. Ken yelped slightly, ducking under it as it flew over his drum set."Uh, Ranko? Everything… okay?" Crash took a step toward his friend, prepared to offer her a hug, or dodge a punch, and unsure which to expect.The young singer looked up into her best friend's face, her eyes somewhere between rage and despondence. "Crash… let's break the fucking glass.""Whoa, you sure you wanna do that, Ran-chan? Remember Sneak? You were all pissed, and you regretted it later." Crash took another step forward, holding up his palms in a non-threatening gesture as he approached."That was different, Crash." Ranko snatched up her handheld dynamic microphone, and her guitarist winced. He knew full well that she basically only eschewed her headset when she wanted a song to cut deep, and something in her blue eyes confirmed to him that the Dapper Dragons were not going to be performing a sixth consecutive love song."I actually wanted Akane to stay."Turning to the crowd, she flicked the switch on her microphone, ensuring Crash knew that any further debate would be broadcast to the whole of the bar. She waved to the audience, somehow painting a thin smile over her fury."Hey, Firebirds! You have been challenged! Yeah, that's right!" She pointed down at the VIP table, her eyes still focused up at the back of the room. "That lady doesn't think you can get loud!" The audience began to stir, having seen the first signs of life all evening from their favorite little dive bar's artist-in-residence.The raging singer turned her glare down to her mother's eyes, and Ranko could see her gulp from where she stood. "Let's show her how we SHAKE THIS PLACE!"Even as the crowd rumbled to life, Nodoka caught the sound of wood scraping wood as Akane moved her chair a bit further away from her. Even though Akane knew her bride's fury wasn't directed at her, it was uncomfortable to see that kind of hate in her eyes pointed even in her general direction."Thank the gods!" Shinji shouldered his bass guitar and began to pluck at it, and a fast, almost dance rhythm began flowing from Jacob's fingers on the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer behind him.Ranko turned with her left side to the crowd and arched her back behind her, hanging her left arm behind her head elegantly. Hey, ballet paid off after all, Mrs. Kanzawa! I get to use it to stomp the life out of somebody! She raised her microphone in her right hand, and began to sing."I'm good at cooking. Yeah, the furikake salmon that I make is the best." The first four words were delivered staccato sliding into the rest of the line delivered at almost the speed of Demon in Your Radio. Her voice was soulful and deep, as would befit a song normally sung at half the speed.Mei looked up at Yui, puzzled. "She wrote a diss track about salmon? I mean, I guess, if anybody could do it…""Not half-bad looking…" She paused for a half-second and gave the crowd a wink with a kick of her heel as the audience roared their agreement. "... even though sometimes I need half the afternoon to get dressed."Akane chuckled grimly. Sometimes longer, babe.Ranko kicked her right leg high above her head in a move taken straight from her cheerleading choreography. "They say I look best in red, but I would rather rock a purple or a jewel-tone blue." As she delivered the line, her hands slowly explored the torso of her bright blue dress. Holding her leg high up with her right hand, she spun in place thrice in the span of a single bar."Take the right side of the bed…" Ranko gave a playful wink to the VIP table. "... because the left's where the alarm is set for you-know-who-WHO!"Akane blushed, not caring in the slightest about the scoff of the woman to her left. Ranko had not shared the lyrics to the song with her before she took the stage, as she'd been desperately trying to hold on to the last sliver of hope she had that she wouldn't need to sing it."I can have lots of fun doing simple dates like dinner and an action movie." Ranko smiled brightly, affecting a playful giggle in her voice. "Adored by everyone…"The crowd exploded in a roar of approval as the singer snapped her head back to the VIP table, all trace of happiness and playfulness in her face replaced with something else entirely."So, where the FUCK'd you get off thinking you could come improve me?!"Akane grimaced. Oh, it's on now, Saotome. You don't know what you just unleashed.Nodoka shrank in her seat a little. Where everyone else in the room saw hatred, the singer's mother recognized something else in her child's eyes. Something deeper.Pain.Hopping backward twice until she was surrounded by her musician friends rather than in front of them, Ranko gestured out to her sides as the rhythm sped up, changing tune for the second half of the verse structure. The majority of each line was sung as quickly as the longer portions of the previous section, but now it was the last few syllables of each line that received the slower, slithering emphasis."You don't care at all about the band I've got, and don't like who I'm kissing."Akane exhaled heavily. Whoa boy. We're going there, huh?"So focused on the myriad of shit I'm not, you don't know what you're missing!" Ranko gestured to herself to articulate her point, and Ariel had to slide the gain on the house speakers to ensure that every note of verbal venom was audible over the audience's cacophonous cries."I am slowly getting even less impressed the more I learn about you. I'm not remotely feeling even kinda stressed; I'm doing fine without you!"Nodoka leaned back, cupping her hands over her mouth. Is that really how she feels?"I can understand that you've been at a loss. I know that you don't get me. But maybe realize that you are not my boss, 'cause, fuck! You've barely met me!"Akane cringed. I hope you know what you're doing, Ranko, because I don't think there's any coming back from this.Ranko slowly writhed from her ankles up to her shoulders and back down again, her left hand spread wide on her abdomen as her right spun the microphone up to her mouth for the chorus."You don't know me! So, don't think that you get to judge! You can complain about me endlessly, but you're never, ever, EVER gonna get me to budge!"Her eyes aflame, Ranko extended her left arm, pointing quite rudely directly into the face of her mother. "No, no! I don't know you! What makes you think that you get a say? I'm gonna show you what this girl can do when I'm tuning out the noise and doing it my way - hey!"Making a gesture with her hands like an explosion radiating from her sternum, Ranko continued the chorus. "My life is moving forward at the speed of sound. You're never gonna slow me!"She turned her back to the crowd, before looking over her right shoulder at the table where her future wife and her former mother sat. "Cause you decided that you didn't want me around, and that's. Why. You. Don't. Know me!"Akane looked over to her left, watching the woman in the kimono physically slump as every word struck her with the force of a hammer. She barely had a moment to recover enough to straighten her back again before the second volley of words came from the irate siren commanding the stage and the rapt attention of everyone in the building."I write curses in the words to almost every single one of my songs. The crowds love my verses…" Ranko smirked as the crowd roared again. They don't get loud, huh, Nodoka?"So, please, stop thinking you can tell me that I'm doing it wrong?"Ranko began snaking her hand gently up her leg, the sultriness to her movement somewhat belied by the disquiet in her eyes. "You don't approve it. I know that every time you see me up here singing, it hurts. Hate how I move it…"She hooked her thumb under the hem of her dress, moving it just a half-centimeter up her leg to the ravenous cheers of her followers. "... and how my temper's even shorter on most days than my skirts!"Akane blushed, hiding her face from Nodoka behind her hand. Didn't have to go quite that far, lover.With a smirk and a shrug, Ranko continued the second verse. "I'm not a lady. You can't stand the way I spend my time out rockin' in bars. But, hey, just maybe…"She stared down off the stage, directly into the very soul of the woman who had let Genma Saotome steal her away to a lifetime of torture and neglect."... it's where orphan girls like me go when they wanna be stars…"Nodoka covered her mouth with both hands to hide her gasp. Does my child really feel that way? That she's an… an orphan? My gods, what have I done?Ranko bounced on her toes, her arms extended as she spun as if to gesture to the whole of the room at once."I know that you think that I'm a laughingstock, some dumb attention-seeker. I guess you haven't seen 'em lining up around the block to hear me blowin' out the speakers! My songs are playin' loud on every radio. They love how I design 'em. People waving photos at me everywhere I go, just hopin' that I'll sign 'em!"Ranko shrugged again, giving a smug smirk down at her mother. "I don't really think I'm gonna pass your test, your dumb evaluation…"She looked skyward and raised her arms wide above her head, as if willing the roof to come down on her head just to punctuate her words. "But the thing is, I've already been told I'm the best by the charts in SEVERAL NATIONS!"Akane could not hear herself scream over the rest of the bar's patrons, caring not a whit what the dumbstruck woman to her left thought about it."YOU DON'T KNOW ME! So don't think that you get to judge! You can bitch about it constantly, but you're never, ever, ever gonna get me to budge! No, no, I don't know you! What makes you think that you get a say? I'm gonna show you what this girl can do when I'm tuning out the noise and doing it my way! Hey!"Ranko rolled sideways as she dropped to one knee, continuing to carry her momentum until she sat on the stage with her legs out to the side, one knee popped up at a right angle and the other leg straight."My life is moving forward at the speed of sound. You're never gonna slow me! Yeah, you decided that you didn't want me around, and that's. Why. You. Don't. Know me!"With another wink to Akane, Ranko sneered into the microphone in her hand as she snapped directly into the third verse without pausing for so much as a breath. "I'm athletic. Yeah, I'm pretty fucking good at some obscure martial arts." As she finished the line, she kicked her legs upward, propelling herself back onto her seven-centimeter blue heels as if to demonstrate her point."It's poetic that now, instead of breaking boards, I'm up here breaking boys' hearts!"Any sliver of doubt remaining in Nodoka Saotome's mind that her child could whip a crowd into a frenzy ended instantly as her child whipped her hair to the side, grinding her backside toward the crowd with her open right palm plastered across it."Don't do much fighting, but I've found a better way to go deliver a strike. Crowds delighting, watching me taking you apart with just a wink and a mic!"Something seemed to change in Ranko's eyes, and her anger somehow shrank in the presence of a stronger set of emotions that Nodoka instantly recognized. It was resentment, and anguish, and shame, all of them far, far too long buried and left to metastasize in the forgotten corners of the very bottom of a broken young girl's heart."Yeah, I mastered dozens of techniques that I hope never to use…"Again, Ranko threw her right arm forward, pointing in accusation directly into the eyes of her mother."... 'cause you let that BASTARD burn through everything that I had to lose!"Akane covered her mouth, her eyes wide. Oh, baby…But despite Akane's reaction, it was Nodoka that was truly rocked. She… she blames me? For all of it? No wonder she's so angry. Does she truly think I didn't want her? That I didn't fight for her?Ranko wagged her finger side to side, daggers of soulless ice radiating from her eyes directly into her mother's heart. "I know that I'm not what you had hoped to find. I'm not what you expected. But just 'cause I have been completely redefined, don't mean I need corrected! Pretty sure it's been at least eleven years since I've even got a letter, so don't think you'll just show up and shed a couple'a tears, and tell me you know better!"The singer shook gently on the stage, her choreography largely frozen in place. Akane prayed the song was nearing its end, because there was nowhere in all of existence she wanted to be more than standing beside that stage holding the love of her life."You swear to me you really care for me, but if you did, you'd know that the time I really needed you there for me was fifteen years ago, and…"Ranko's eyes widened as if she'd just remembered she were giving a performance and not just launching a lifetime of weaponized abandonment and resentment out of her chest like a missile directed at the woman she held responsible for all of it. Even through the tempest her heart was processing, she noticed the look in Nodoka's eyes. It wasn't anger. It was… sadness. Despair, even.She was past the point of caring."You don't know me! So don't think that you get to judge! You can go ahead and threaten me, but you're never, ever, ever gonna get me to budge! No, no! I don't know you! What makes you think that you get a say? I'm gonna show you what this GIRL can do, when I'm tuning out the noise and doing it my way! HEY! My life is moving forward at the speed of sound. You're never gonna slow me, 'cause you decided that you didn't want me around, and THAT'S! WHY! YOU! DON'T! KNOW ME!"Taking a moment during the gap between verses to steady her emotions, Ranko flashed her eyes up at Crash, who gave her a reassuring nod. He's right. Better skip that fourth verse. No matter how mad I am, some things can't be unsaid. Instead, she proceeded directly to the fifth and final verse."I'm graduating. Even though I won't be at the top of my class, I'm celebrating, 'cause I made it through three years of lessons kicking my ass. My friends love me. My classmates clear a path for me when I walk down the halls. Posters of me, my face a meter high, hung up on everyone's walls, and…"Ranko clapped her hands twice, thrusting her elbows out to her sides and then firing her right fist into the air."I'm cheerleading. Yeah, and I'm the first in seven years to land a quadruple twist!"The singer flung herself backward into a back handspring, even with the microphone still in her hand, twisting twice in the air before landing in a seated position on a large felt-covered box containing the main amplifier rack for the electronic instruments."I keep succeeding, rackin' up all these achievements in a life that you missed…"Ranko smiled to the back of the bar at Yui and Mei, who were holding hands behind the main bar and watching in horror as their little sister immolated any chance she would ever have of a relationship with her biological mother in front of just shy of four hundred strangers."I've got four badass sisters and an awesome mom. You'll never meet her, but her name is Hana."The crowd whooped loudly in acknowledgement of the bar's longtime proprietress, even absent though she was."She gave me a stage so I could drop this bomb, with lyrics sharper than your dumb katana!"As the middle-aged woman at the VIP table shuddered, Ranko hopped to her feet and stalked to the front of the stage. She wanted Nodoka to see into the depths of her heart for this part. The fury. The ache. The unforgivable emptiness of it all."You thought that you could change me in a couple'a days. It never really fazed me. But if you were so determined to help set my ways…Ranko's voice ceased to be anything resembling music. It was the howl of a wounded animal too-long cornered. "… you probably should have RAISED ME!"Not minding in the least that her mother was openly wiping tears from her eyes, Ranko's eyes flared, the firebird within roaring to life to protect the fragile, broken little girl that remained hiding underneath."I was really hoping I could earn your backing, but on second thought, just don't bother!" She made a dismissive wave with the back of her hand before extending her right arm and pointing to the front door over the heads of the crowd."I think it's probably time for me to send you packing, JUST LIKE I DID MY FATHER!"Without lowering her arm from its position pointing to the front door, her final chorus was not sung, so much as it was spat. Her chest heaved with every word she flung like a shuriken."You don't know me, so don't think that you get to judge! Haven't found a thing you like in me, but you're never, ever, EVER gonna get me to budge! Fuck no! I don't know you! What made you think that you got a say?! You think there's a million things a girl like me can't do, but just back off, and watch me anyway! My life is moving forward riding waves of sound. I'll never let you slow me!"Ranko willed her hand to stop shaking around the microphone, but made no effort to stop the tear streaking down her cheek."'Cause I've decided that I really don't want you around, and that's! Why! You! WON'T! KNOW ME!"Nodoka stood while the last note from Jacob's synthesizer still hung in the air, every cell of her body quaking. "I… should go."Akane did not hear her over the deafening chanting of her bride's name.