Chapter Text
Kasane Teto fiddled with her keys as she started locking up her record store, the moon's illuminating light slowly fading as the red haired girl closed the blinds on the wall. Various posters of bands hung upon the stone walls of the downtown shop, keeping a nice contrast with the numerous rows of albums lining the various tables in the small room.
This was truly what Kasane Teto loved, and she was so glad she could make a living out of this. Well, living was a bit of an exaggeration, as she had to makeshift the second floor of the store into her house which wasn't super ideal, but it sure did save on travel time. Tonight though, she would have to do a fair bit of walking to get to where she wanted to go.
Teto's one and only good friend Neru had invited her out to a bar tonight, something about needing her to "loosen up" or something, an act that made Teto want to roll her eyes into the back of her sockets. She loved Neru in a sweet platonic way, but that girl could tick her off sometimes.
Teto hurried up the stairs to her small personal room, flicking on the light revealing the quaint setting. Teto's made bed sat at the far end near the singular tiny window that overlooked the street, a small potted plant sat in the moonlight's glow. Walking over, Teto glanced at the full-body mirror sitting next to her bed, taking an extra look at her outfit for tonight. She wasn't concerned of what Neru thought of her obviously- they had known each other for so many years that it didn't matter- but she didn't want to go out looking unkept.
Teto's black baggy bell-bottoms looked well enough, black boots too as she stood on one leg and double checked. Her black crop top was looking fine too, dust from the store not having much of a visual effect thankfully. She considered it lucky that it wasn't Winter out, as the crop top exposed her stomach and that would be very uncomfortable if it was any colder than it was currently.
The red head's hands ran over her hair, flattening any bits that were out of wack and making sure her twindrills that she prided her on looked correct. 'That's good enough' Teto thought to herself, a smile forming on her face as she grabbed her bag and jacket, swinging it on as she walked down the stairs and out of the store.
This side of town wasn't super active at this time of day surprisingly enough- not as much as other places in town at least. She could see lights in buildings and the chatter of some people as she locked the door behind her, slipping the keys down into her bag. The bar wasn't too far of a walk thankfully, and she wasn't worried one bit about this area.
As she walked, Teto looked around at this side of town. When she was a kid, she didn't think some place like this would bring her some kind of soft comfort in her life, but it turned out to feel perfect for her. She always thought she would go out and live in the country or the woods or some place super far from civilization, but it really wasn't that bad here. She could see groups of people talking outside of lit up shops, drinking and laughing with each other, something that made her smile even if she wasn't part of it.
Soon enough, she quickly arrived at the bar. The building was dark save for the words "OVERCAST MOON" lit up on a neon sign overhead. Despite the drab nature of the exterior, this wasn't actually the main bar at all as it was a bit special. Teto had to walk down some stairs to actually get to the door- the owner thought it was cool or something stupid like that- and finally open the admittedly heavy door to get in.
The bar was dimly lit and not crowded thankfully, about 10 or so people sitting inside tonight. Teto glanced over at the counter where she saw that familiar flash of yellow hair that she knew all too well. Her back was to her, so Teto devised an extremely sinister plan to traumatize her friend for the rest of her life. Teto slowly moved up to Neru, silently moving across the floor.
"Jesus!" Neru said as she jumped in her seat when she felt Teto's hands on her shoulders. She shot a menacing glare at the red haired girl, watching her trying her best not to laugh her ass off at Neru's surprised state. "Don't laugh at that."
Teto couldn't help herself and started giggling nonstop, multiple people looking at her awkwardly- something she would probably care about if she wasn't laughing so much. Neru grabbed her by her top and pulled her up onto the stool next to her, giving her a small hit on her head. Teto snapped out of her laughing and rubbed where Neru had hit her on her head. "Rude much"
"You know not to scare me! Jesus Tets." Neru said, taking a drink of her shot. "Sorry for not being able to hang out this past week, work has been absolutely killing me".
Teto knew all too well, Neru's job was a sponge that stole her free time right up, and it was clearly making the yellow haired girl more inclined to drinking than she usually was. Teto was lucky to, for all purposes, have a job she loved doing, but Neru wasn't so lucky being stuck with an office job.
"Don't sweat it girl, I know" Teto said, ordering a shot from the bartender, "I'm just glad I can still talk to you like this."
Neru pulled a smile to her face, taking another shot.
"Maybe you should lay off the shots though, it can't be that stressful." Teto said nudging her side, "I already know I'm gonna have to drive you home, I'd rather do it without you vomiting on me."
"Hey, that was one time alright!" Neru said as she glanced over at Teto, her taller stature making her have to look down, "You're really dragging it."
"Only once? Like that other time you drank so much you vomited on a fucking bird? I don't even know how it stood still close to you enough for that to happen!" Teto replied with a sly smirk on her face. Neru cast her a death glare.
"Why you little-"
*****
An hour had passed and Neru was getting a bit too dizzy for her own good. They had been talking a lot about what had been happening in the past week since they hadn't had much catching up time, and Neru just kept asking for shots. Thankfully, Teto had only taken one, and while she probably shouldn't drive it would be safe enough.
"Yeahh, I was gonna do that yesterday b-" Neru stopped herself as she held onto her mouth for a second, before quickly rushing to the bathroom of the bar. Sure enough, Teto could soon after hear puking sounds all the way to her seat. Lovely. Teto sighed to herself, looking down at her empty shot glass. Her fingers tapped the top, slowly moving around the rim.
The girl softly smiled to herself, happy to have come here to meet with Neru, even if she was a handful sometimes. It was already midnight and she needed to drive Neru home when she was done puking her guts out, however long that would take.
"Want me to buy you something to put in that little thing?" A voice said next to her, causing Teto to whip her head up in surprise.
Standing next to her was- not to sugarcoat it- one of the prettiest women Teto had ever seen in her life. Standing at what must be over 6ft- taller than Neru- she had beautifully long teal twintails that was so long it could surely reach the floor. She wore a black and blue bomber jacket with a sports bra underneath, exposing so much of her beautifully clear skin that was dimly visible in the bar lighting. Teto didn't want to risk looking too low, but she could barely tell she was wearing blue jeans that hugged her body extremely well. The woman's face in front of her held what could only be described as a soft smile mixed with a slight tiny of a small smirk. Teto's bi receptors were going absolutely haywire in the presence of this woman.
"Uh, i would but I have to drive my friend home, she uh-" Teto stopped as she heard more belching from the bathroom, "she's already a bit far gone". Teto was internally screaming that such a pretty woman approached her and her first impression was her friend puking her guts out in the bathroom. Thankfully, she seemed to smile and laugh to herself about it.
"Damn, Every time I try that with someone it never ends up working" The woman said, motioning her hand to the seat next to Teto, "You mind?". Teto shook her head feverishly. "I feel like I've seen you before, don't know where though, you live around here?"
"Yeah I live a few minutes from here. If you've seen me its probably from my store, though I don't recall seeing you before.." Teto said as she looked at the girl now seated next to her.
"Oh that must be it then, record store right? Yeah, It's all coming back to me now, I went there once to buy something." She said, tapping her pointer finger to her chin, "It was an old Pink Floyd record I was missing, that's it!"
"Oh really? Which one? I don't remember how much Floyd I carry anymore."
"Dark Side, I know I know it isnt the deepest cut ever but I couldn't find it anywhere for the life of me, people must've been buying them up left and right. I'm Miku by the way. I probably should've led with that." The teal haired girl sat her arms on the counter, long hair swaying by her sides.
"Teto. I'm surprised I don't remember you, you certainly look distinct enough" Teto said, before stopping and trying to add to her statement, "In a good way of course! Not any kind of odd way."
The woman just lightly laughed in a tone that washed over Teto, making her feel very weird but in no bad manner whatsoever. It was like she was hit with nice cool air after a day in the scorching sun.
"Don't worry, I wasn't thinking that you were implying I'm weird or anything, I know my hair is a standout." Miku said, her slender hand brushing through one of her twintails. "Though I could say the same for those cupholders of yours."
Teto instinctively laughed from the unique interpretation of her twindrills. "Yeah well, don't try putting anything in it because it will instantly fall out and I will become very pissed." She said with a giggle, resulting in a smile from Miku. Miku was about to open her mouth again, but Neru had suddenly came out of the bathroom. Teto glanced back.
'Now? Goddammit Ner I can't with you sometimes'
The one time Teto was actually getting hit on by a girl and it had to be right now. Just her luck. Somberly, she turned back to Miku.
"Sorry, I have to go help get my friend home, but it was nice talking to you!" Teto said, slowly scootching herself out of her chair. "I can buy you something before you go though, act of kindness?"
"Hmm? Oh! I don't drink! Thank you though!" The woman said with a slight laugh. Teto didn't really react, but more internally wondered why the girl had come here if she didn't even drink at all. "But thank you though, have a safe ride home!"
Miku lightly tapped one of Teto's twindrills.
"Cupholders."
Teto just let out a light laugh at the comment again. "Alright, I got to go, nice talking." Teto turned around to look at Neru, who looked like she had just been through five separate world wars. Teto rushed over and wrapped her arm around her shoulder, helping her walk out of the bar and up the stairs. Neru wasn't even saying anything, just hard to carry to an annoying degree for the smaller girl.
"You really need to stop drinking so fucking much Ner." Teto said as she came up to Neru's car, unlocking it with the keys she hastily found in her friend's pocket. She sat Neru in the passenger seat, bending down a tad to look at her face.
"You good girl? Neru?" Teto asked. Neru looked at her and was definitely not dying of liver failure, so she decided taking her to the hospital wasn't much of a concern currently." She shut the door and hopped in the drivers seat, ready to get this drunken woman home and go to bed herself.
***
“Alright girl, just try to not throw up everywhere. I even got you a trash can.” Teto said as she sat it next to the bed she laid Neru on. The girl was absolutely passed out, but she would be ok.
Before Teto left her house, she wanted to take a quick trip to her bathroom to make sure she had still looked decent. It was almost 2am by now, and it took everything from her to not just fall asleep on Neru’s couch in the other room.
Looking in the mirror, she instantly noticed something off. Something had gotten… stuck in her hair? After quickly fishing out the white object in her drill, she could see that it was a piece of paper. Quickly flipping it over, she could see a phone number written on it.
It took Teto a second to connect the dots, and her face instantly felt hot. Had that girl really given her a phone number so quickly?! That had to be the fastest someone has ever given her one, and it isn’t like Teto was a complete stranger to people trying to hit on her in public.
She stared at the number on the piece of paper. Miku… that was her name. A smile formed on Teto’s face. She hadn’t serious attempted flitting in a girl in over a year so maybe she would completely botch this, but it sure was worth a shot wasn’t it? Besides, that girl was beautiful AND funny, at least from her limited experience.
Teto put the number into her phone, texting it saying “Cupholders, right?”, figuring that she could just say something vague so it wouldn’t look too weird if it was a fake number or something.
Teto put her phone away and got ready to leave, glancing over to Neru who was sleeping away in her bed, rolled over onto her side. She really was a mess, it almost worried her sometimes.
The redhead locked Neru’s door and started walking back home in the darkness of the city night. A small smile was persistent in her face. She figured Miku would text her tomorrow when it wasn’t 2am, but she needed to remember that it would probably be a tad busy tomorrow too- as busy as a corner record store can get.
Life going your way really is such an amazing feeling.