Fallen For You

"She what?!" Tsubaki squawked, head whipping over shoulder.

"N-now, Tsubaki..." Hiiro gave Tsubaki the kindest, calmest smile she could. It didn't help at all. Tsubaki was already rushing down the corridor through ALTER EGO's dressing rooms. Hiiro sighed and shook her head. Oh well, she'll see it for herself soon enough anyway...

Hiiro brought a hand to her face and smiled slightly. My, my, Tsubaki, how you've changed since first we met! You never used to worry like THIS.

A moment later, Nagisa stuck her head out of one of the dressing rooms, confused. "Hey, Hiiro! What's with all the—? Oh! Tsubaki!"

"Move." Tsubaki was a woman on a mission, nearly shouldering Nagisa's head as she strode past. She didn't slow down in the slightest.

"Oi!" Nagisa ducked in the nick of time. She watched Tsubaki go, indignant and mystified, then she looked down the corridor in the opposite direction and jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Tsubaki's retreating figure. "What's with her?" Hiiro only laughed to herself again.

When Tsubaki reached one of the last dressing rooms in the corridor, she all but kicked the door in. "Aoi?! I heard—" She stopped dead in her tracks, covering her mouth, eyes widening. Aoi was seated at the vanity desk, and she was holding up her right elbow towards the mirror. Through the reflection, Tsubaki could see that it was all torn-up and bloody.

"Tsubaki?!" Aoi's eyes went comically wide as she whipped around, right elbow still in her left hand. For a moment, neither of them moved, each one capable only of gawking at the other. As Tsubaki got a better look at Aoi's elbow, however, she recoiled. It was still bleeding.

Upon seeing her reaction, Aoi quickly dropped her elbow. "Oh, s-sorry!" Then she winced as her arm fell against her side.

Her wince was finally enough to stir Tsubaki into action as well. "Wait here," she instructed shortly, then she turned toe and ran back out of the dressing room. She knew Masaki kept first aid kits hung up all around ALTER EGO, and there was always a stack of spares in her office.

"Why didn't you think to grab one of these first?" Tsubaki sighed as she returned to the dressing room. "Your arm could get infected!"

"About that..." Aoi smiled sheepishly as Tsubaki pulled up a chair beside her. Fate was a strange thing. Aoi was just thinking about how Tsubaki would react to her injury when who should show up at the door but Tsubaki herself? And exactly as expected, Tsubaki was not a happy camper.

"I'll go easy on you, but only because we both know Tsubaki won't!" Hiiro said after she caught sight of Aoi's injuries for the first time.

"What even happened?" the vocalist demanded as she opened up the first aid kit and started rifling through it. Aoi leaned away from her awkwardly as she thought about her answer. Tsubaki saw her move out of the corner of her eye. What? Why? Why did she move away? Anger turned to worry again. Is...is she nervous about this? Am I making her...? W-well! It's her own fault for hurting herself and not going for help!

Some of Tsubaki's anxieties dissipated when she dared to steal another glance at Aoi and saw her smiling ruefully at her elbow. Masaki had ordered new audio equipment for ALTER EGO and Aoi arrived around the same time the shipment did. Aoi offered to help until the rest of RONDO arrived, and halfway during her impromptu unpacking job, one of the other workers tripped on an uneven part of the pavement. Before Aoi even knew what she was doing, she'd thrown her left arm out in attempt to shield the worker from falling.

She managed to save him, but at her own expense. The man was able to steady himself, but in doing so, accidentally pushed Aoi forward. Because she was already more focused on him than herself, she started to fall, and the man was unable to catch her in time. She twisted so that she would land on her right arm, trying to shield the box she was carrying. At the same time, she dropped to her knees in a final attempt to regain some level of control over the fall. The reason she hadn't thought to grab a first aid kit next was because she wanted to assess the damage.