Cut and paste—Photo Shop style! This is what Miho would look like. I used the girl as the base—I can’t find a signature or where I got the picture to give credit to the great artist, but if you are out there, awesome art! I added other pieces to her and re-colored her outfit to match. The guitar is a Takamine Jasmine, I went over it with the paint bucket tool and it turned out cartoon style with wear on the body, it was just luck. I tried to size everything as correctly as possible—after all, Miho is only 5’2”, so the guitar should appear a bit large. So, what do you think of my artistic editing? Leave a comment below!

Last time: Nao takes Miho out of the tent city and to her home, she repairs her guitar and plays a nice folk piece and takes Miho in for adoption. The family that Nao wanted—she is cured of her extreme depression and is ready to move ahead with the NEW ‘Hokago Tea Time.’ Now, the group gathers to good news in…

K-ON!!!!! “Beautiful World” Part 8.

“She’s a real sweet heart isn’t she Nao-Chan?” Ritsu said as Sawako was fitting her for her stage costume. She was looking through the glass doors of Nao’s stage room where Yui—already dressed in her red and black maids outfit was with Miho on the stage in front of a microphone. Yui was teaching Miho how to sing.

“She’s the best thing that could ever happen to me—even more than joining up with you guys—sorry, but it’s true,” Nao replied.

Miho listened to Yui even though she was wearing rather large pink and silver headphones that were plugged into a box that the microphone went through; this was so she could hear her voice. Miho wore her school uniform—even though it was Sunday; it consisted of a white top with a blue sailor collar and short sleeves hemmed in blue with white striping near the edge; under the collar was a black scarf and on the left breast side was the school crest denoting the Kaganui Family High School, it was circular with three leaves meeting in the middle and was gold and black. Miho also wore a short pleated skirt with a tartan pattern in blue, black and pink. She had black thigh high socks with two blue stripes around the upper portion and she wore slippers.
Miho’s long black hair was shiny and beautiful and she had a pink headband that was more for decorative purposes than being used to hold her hair in place.

Yui was calm and gentle and very patient in teaching Miho to sing; they were almost one in the same with nearly matching personalities.

Once Sawako had fitted Ritsu in her costume of a yellow and black maids outfit she moved on to Mio who fought her at first, but then gave in, to take her mind off of it she said to Nao,” How has Miho been doing in school?”

“Good and bad; she is good at many subjects, however, not exceptional in any of them. The biggest issue is English and Math. With Math, she keeps low seventy percent, so she passes, but not very well. With English though, she has continuously done poorly, so I enrolled her in supplementary classes at the school—a language lab…she goes three hours a day which cuts into her club time, but its better for her in the long run. They have allowed Miho to stay in her club even with the failing grades in English because of the extra help, however, I tried all I could to teach her and I speak perfect English. Miho just can’t get the concept or memorize the vocabulary,” Nao replied.

“But, that’s to be understandable because she hasn’t been in school for two years, so she is immature even at fourteen because of that. How did you get Miho into high school at fourteen though?” Mio asked as Sawako was finishing up her blue with black maid costume.

“Miho was born at a cut-off point where she will be fifteen soon and then she’ll be in the proper age range. As for how she got in though…well, she was able to test as a transfer student and some deals were made with a certain maid with a blue-eyed wife…” Nao replied.

“So you got her in Mugi?” Ritsu asked.

“Its not like I did anything special, but I know a lot of members on the board of directors, so they returned a favor by changing a few of Miho’s exam grades—not to high marks or anything, just enough for her to gain entrance,” Tsumugi said as Sumire was fussing over her wife’s purple and black maid outfit.

“You see girls, Kaganui Family is probably one of the best high schools in the area, its safe for one thing, all girls–like Sakura, and they probably have one of the strictest policies around. That is probably the last school in which you want to even attempt to bully, or disrespect an instructor…Yui-Chan would probably have hated it there because of her tendency to fall asleep in class…you too Ritchan!” Sawako said.

“Did Miho make any friends?” Tsumugi asked noticing Ritsu about to make a retort to Sawako.

“She has more friends than I did at her age; everyone in the club is actually her friend, even the senior girl and the junior girls. I guess her closest friend is the first year girl though, which makes sense because the others wont be there much longer, eventually, like all things the elder girls will graduate; Sumire and I dealt with that—I don’t think we were ever supposed to see Azusa, Ui and Jun again, but obviously we did,” Nao said.

“So, Miho is in the Light Music Club there?” Mio asked.

“Yes, she plays the acoustic guitar. The band is very interesting, they all play folk instruments—pretty much…One girl plays a violin; she is from the States, a transfer student. Her best friend Konata plays a Shamisen and she is really fast, apparently she is supposed to be a genius or just really good at it. The senior girl is the drummer and one of the junior girls plays a bunch of wind instruments, she’s really good at it too. I never had the chance to hear them though, only for a few moments because I pick Miho up every day,” Nao said.

“You pick your teenage daughter up from school every day?” Sawako asked.

“That’s her punishment for fibbing to me about something so serious. I told her that when she is sixteen she may go to and from school herself, until then, I drop her off and pick her up,” Nao replied.

“What did she lie about? She’s so well behaved,” Mio asked.

“She told me she slept with a woman when she was living in the tent city for money; so I took her to the doctor for a head to toe examination which of course she hated, but I was concerned that maybe she could have caught a disease…well, nothing had ever entered her body, she had never had intercourse in any way except for a little bit of teenage masturbation—which is obviously normal. Miho then told me the truth that she was using that as a way to get me to take her in, so instead of a cruel punishment, I put her in the corner for a half hour and made her apologize and finished with taking some of her freedom from her,” Nao said.

“I think picking her up and taking her to school until she is sixteen is cruel and unusual punishment,” Ritsu said.

“Hey now!” Mio said firmly as she smacked Ritsu in the head.

“Owww! Why did you do that Mio?!” Ritsu whined.

“I think Nao-Chan is doing exactly what she should—besides, if I showed up to school in Nao’s car I wouldn’t consider it punishment,” Mio said.

“Is that why she wears her uniform all the time?” Sawako asked.

“No, that is Miho’s choice, she has ten of them and even though I bought her a ton of nice clothes, she chooses to wear her uniform—I think she is trying to show me that she understands her punishment, or something like that; I really don’t know why and I haven’t asked her, but if its what she wants to do then I don’t say anything against it,” Nao said.

“So, what’s with the huge headphones, are you teaching her to be a headphone girl like you?” Ritsu said jokingly.

“Why does everyone say that!? The headphones are very new, I had them made for me for performances—platinum wiring and jack; oil-filled ear cushions and headband for comfort and isolation; four and half pounds of tension pressure so they don’t come off and the speaker baffles and ear cups are handmade, and perfect for absolute realistic sound—better than my green pair…but, I gave them to Miho, she wears pink anyhow and I wear green, so I guess a mother can’t really deny her child sometimes…” Nao said.

Mio smiled and said, “I can understand why you wanted such high quality…I can’t imagine what you paid, but giving them to Miho is kind of an act of love…So, two questions, can she actually hear Yui instruct her and four and a half pounds of pressure…that sounds really uncomfortable; it sounds like that is punishment too?”

“To answer your questions…I paid the equivalent of four thousand dollars; Miho can hear Yui, her voice just sounds quiet and the tension is really not that bad because the pads have an oil in them, so they counteract the pressure…wow, I actually gave my daughter 400,000 Yen headphones, what is wrong with me…?!” Nao laughed.

The group looked through the glass of the stage room and saw Miho take her headphones off and wrap them around her neck; Yui embraced her tightly and Nao smiled knowing that her daughter was in good hands. Miho pulled the plug of her headphones out of the box and then she and Yui left the stage towards the doors. Miho picked up a pink sweater with the school crest on the left breast side and put it on and buttoned it up. Yui helped Miho to put the sailor collar and black scarf on the outside and make sure Miho was presentable as they exited the stage room.

“It’s the middle of summer kid, why the sweater?” Ritsu asked.

“I don’t like the air conditioner if I’m sitting in it doing nothing, its really uncomfortable to me Tainaka-San,” Miho said.

“See Ritchan, Miho-Chan and I are exactly the same!” Yui said.

“Let’s hope not, that would be embarrassing!” Ritsu replied.

Yui puckered her lips and said, “Ritchan is such a meanie!”

“I think we should eat…after all, everyone came over here, so it’s the least I can do. Believe it or not, Miho is quite the sushi chef; she learned it well in her home economics class, one day she will make a wonderful wife…” Nao said as she led the girls throughout the house to the dining area.

Nao, like the others had also worn a color coded maid outfit, hers was green with black; however, unlike the others whose were satin and lace, Nao’s was vinyl and leather, her costume was once again different in some way to denote her leadership of the band.

“So, I take it that Miho-Chan, Sumire-Chan and I will sit while the rest of you serve us?” Sawako said.

“Sawa-Chan; is that why you dressed us all up like this; because you wanted your table waited!” Ritsu said with a slight bit of whining anger.

“Hey now, you guys are ‘Hokago Tea Time’ the school uniforms are a bit outdated at your age, and the fur on bikini bras and short-shorts were maybe a bit off, but maids…now that just screams tea time!” Sawako said.

Miho giggled, she loved having such a lively extended family—before she had no one, maybe just the old woman, but now she had four uncles, a true grandmother and a mother. On top of that, she had all of Nao’s friends and they all weren’t even here together…so many people to love her now…

“If everyone would settle down for a moment, I do have an announcement that I was saving for later, but I think I can’t hold it in anymore,” Sumire said.

The girls settled and listened and Sumire said, “I was able to get us the Natsu Rock Fest!”

All gathered except for Miho stared at Sumire in shock; the Summer Fest…they had said that the next time they would go there was to be on stage and not in the audience—Azusa wasn’t with them anymore, but the representation was.

“Are…are…we…on the Thunder Stage!?” Yui asked shaking with anticipation.

“Well, no…not the Thunder Stage…” Sumire answered.

“The Fire Stage then?!” Mio asked with excitement.

“Well…uh…no…” Sumire replied.

“Then which stage are we playing on?” Ritsu asked flustered.

“The…the Blue Court…It’s the best I could get,” Sumire replied.

“But that’s good, we are on one of the better stages, it’s not like we are playing in the White Garden with the Metal bands right!” Yui said excited.

“Hey now…!” Sawako said.

“So, this is it, we will be making our performing debut at the Summer Fest…I wonder if I can get Yakisoba this time?” Tsumugi said off the cuff.

Everyone laughed and Sumire said, “Actually, regardless of us being on one of the smaller stages, we still will get some star treatment. First, we don’t need a tent; we’ll get rooms at the hotel near the grounds. Second, we’ll be served food and drinks, and probably Yakisoba…however, I recommend something like a sports drink if it’s really hot. Also, we’ll have a stand for selling CD’s, Tee shirts, whatever…I recommend that in the time we have, that we build up our merchandise. Another thing, we are scheduled last on the first day, so I don’t know what the rest of you will think about this, but I think we should prepare a large selection of encore’s and keep our strength up. This is the chance to be noticed; from here, the band can play in arenas if and only if there is press after the show—positive press. Finally, I’ve also entered the band in a contest; a battle…”

“Who are we going up against?” Ritsu asked seriously.

“You will be going up against ‘Gang of Girls’, ‘Love Crysis’ and two others…big bands; not the small fry. You see, no one goes up against the larger and well-known bands because winning is nil. The goal is to get in the top three, that is how you’ll be noticed and get press. Now, Mugi told me that you went up against ‘Gang of Girls’ in college and lost in your first year…this time, you can’t lose—you must outrank them, the rest is luck,” Sumire said.

“No…there is another obstacle that we must overcome…we must also defeat ‘Love Crysis’…this will get us the minimum of the third spot…but, I think we need to take first; because, we CAN take first. If we use this time at the Natsu Rock Fest to give it everything we have, then we can be successful. We have a great band, a genius Pianist, an awesome bassist, a very good rhythm guitarist, an intense drummer…and I’ve learned everything I could to be at the level I’m at…sorry, I sound a bit full of myself…but, I mean it, we aren’t some high school garage band, we have real fans every night we play in the clubs, we sell out the CD’s and shirts…and not just ten pieces of each, we have over a hundred, that’s a great start! WE can do this…we just have to give it everything we got. A precise play list, an exacting encore list…skill, power, stage presence…if we are last to go on, then we need to play until we drop! We need to be known, in one night, and then we need to defeat the big bands in the contest!” Nao said.

“Yes Bucho! Let’s win the contest and play all night! We will play the Budokan!!!” Ritsu cheered.

*****

The sky was clear and it was warm but not horribly hot. The sounds of countless people could be heard throughout the field of the Natsu Rock Festival. Bands were playing on all of the stages and music filled the vast expanse.

The largest two stages called the Thunder Stage and the Fire Stage showcased many of the big name bands. At the Fire Stage was ‘Gang of Girls,’ the old rival of ‘Hokago Tea Time’ with Akira at the front, joined by Sachi on Bass and Ayame on Drums. Yui, Ritsu, Mugi and Mio watched them from the side of the backstage area as their guests. They were watching with excitement, however, they also knew that their old friends were also their competition in the contest.

Sumire was at the stand they had set up selling their CD’s and Tee Shirts, they were moving well, but were slow going at the same time—without playing yet, there was no reason to check out who this ‘Hokago Tea Time’ was. Sumire had prepared key chains and necklaces and some people found interest in the steaming tea cup which symbolized the band; but it was the music that had to sell…Sumire knew what to expect, so she was patient.

Nao and Miho stood to the far right of the Thunder Stage as they watched ‘Love Crysis’ play, the fans were cheering and the section was packed. Nao looked at Maki without any real feelings, she had pointed her out to Miho to show her daughter whom she was once married to.

Miho had finally shed her school uniform and wore little pink shorts adorned with Chinese knot-work and a silver chain belt that hung off her hip. Her top was an interesting mesh of a white Tee with what looked to be pink straps hanging around her upper arms and leading to her shoulder blades exposing her skin. Her fingernails had been painted pink and had synthetic stone stars on each one, kind of like a jewel—it was a great look considering that she had once had cracked and chipped nails embedded with dirt. Miho’s long black hair was in a pair of twin tails with bangs between her eyes and she had her large pink headphones wrapped around her neck with the long white cord wrapped around her body randomly. Miho wore white and pink sneakers on her feet and low cut socks, she even had on a pair of thin arm warmers that were pink and white striped with a pink lacing and bow at her knuckles.

Miho had bad vision and Nao had offered her the choice of glasses or contact lenses; Miho had chosen the contacts, it was actually easier on her than having to fumble with glasses all the time like Nao did.

Even though it was very loud throughout the field, Nao said, “I know they are good, but I believe that the girls and I can win against them in the contest. The other two are Aya and Shiho—Shiho has the green hair…We have issues she and I, I think she always liked Maki and she was always against our marriage because of that—but, that’s ok because I have you now and I love my Miporin with all my heart.”

Miho smiled at Nao and hugged her, she was happy to have a home and someone to share it with too. For the first time in two years, Miho was living, she was happy, not having to struggle anymore and to be loved by a mother—a whole family for that matter.

Nao and Miho both had passes hanging from cloth lanyards around their necks and they walked in front of the guard railing next to the stage on the other side of the huge crowd; the security made way for them without a word. Nao looked up to the stage and raised her arm high so ‘Love Crysis’ could see her next gesture. Shiho frowned at the ‘thumbs down’ that Nao made as a declaration of war and Maki smiled, she saw the girl she kept hearing about–Miho was very pretty, so she was happy for Nao, finally being able to find what she needed—saving a child from the streets, it was just like her to do that.

Nao and Miho made their way to the Fire Stage where ‘Gang of Girls’ was playing and she did the same thing—she declared war on them with a thumbs down as she walked in front of the stage. Ayame and Sachi both smiled, but Akira lost her focus for a split second and then smiled herself—she couldn’t wait to go up against the NEW ‘Hokago Tea Time’—she wanted to see what Nao was truly capable of.

By the evening, the ‘Tea Time’ girls had to meet up; their performance in the Blue Court was going to finish off the main portion of the night. As they gathered backstage they were dressing in their matching costumes of color-coded vinyl bra tops and shorts with black, wide belts and knee high boots—Sawako had thought of making them all copies of ‘Black Rock Shooter’ except in their colors—Yui, red, Mio blue, Ritsu, Yellow, Tsumugi, purple and Nao, Green—it was hard for Nao, Ritsu and Yui because they all had such small breasts where Mio and Mugi were much larger, so the embarrassment they felt made them want to put on something to cover up, but it had been decided that that would do it Sawako’s way. After preparing the girls, Sawako had gone off to the White Garden for some Speed Metal until ‘Hokago Tea Time’ was to perform.

Sumire had joined them until she had to return to the stand, Miho would be assisting Nao with her instrument changes—everything was set up on stage and they had just moments before they were to go on. The crowd was pretty large for the Blue Court being a smaller stage, but that was a very good sign.

Everything was planned from the songs to the stage presence. They would begin with ‘Don’t Say Lazy’ then move into a trade-off of songs with Mio starting and Nao taking the next and they would continue to do it that way until the sun went down and they could go into softer songs. The last would be ‘Singing’ sung by Mio with ‘Fuwa Fuwa Time’ in the middle as a duet as they always have done. Sumire had obtained permission for two cover songs including ‘Boys of Summer’ by Don Henley which Nao would perform this time unlike in the club. They also had ‘Want’ by ‘The Cure’ which Nao would also perform. They wanted to throw in some English songs because there were people from all over the world at the festival. Each songs time frame was planned to the letter and all the girls had the play list attached to their area—either to their microphone stand or in Mugi’s and Ritsu’s case, their instrument.

The stage manager had finally appeared and told the girls it was time, they stood by the entrance to the Blue Court’s stage and looked to each other as Miho handed her mother her large, green headphones—they hugged and as they were introduced, they looked at each other one last time and Nao said, “Tonight we become stars in the sky…” The girls nodded in agreement.

Next time on K-ON!!!!! “Beautiful World” ‘Hokago Tea Time’ performs to the mass of festival goers and the contest begins…will the girls defeat their rivals or be second fiddle yet again? Find out next Thursday!

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