#YohaRiko | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ryqoshay · 10 months ago

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Putting on Hairs - Post Production: RUSH RIRI

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Rating: G Words: ~1.9k AU: Theater, Monsters, Angels and Demons Time Frame: Sometime after the main story

Author's Note: My first post of '24! Woo!

Summary: Yuu finds a piano meme online and wonders if any of her fellow pianists can play it. Yoshiko believes Riko can.

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Riko’s phone played a little ditty to indicate that a message had come in. However, she ignored the device in favor of continuing talking with her girlfriend across the table.

In truth, Yoshiko would not have minded if Riko had checked her phone. She knew all about the group chatroom that Riko, Maki, and Mia from the other theater, had recently formed to help Yuu learn to play the piano. With everyone experimenting with new roles in the theater, it was no surprise that Yuu was also interested in expanding her abilities to support the actors and the theater they all loved. And she was learning quickly too. Fast enough that there was talk about a new play that would see both Riko and Maki on stage while Yuu would take over the piano in the orchestra pit.

Of course, as far as Yoshiko was concerned, Yuu was nowhere near Riko’s skill, and likely would never be. And frankly, the same held true for Maki and Mia. Riko really was the best musician in the world, and not just when it came to the piano. Sure, the music demon literally had several thousand years advantage over the lamia, flame salamander, and jackalope, so there was that. But Yoshiko was also quite happily biased in favoring her girlfriend, so there was that as well.

The tiny melody played again. And again. And a fourth time.

“Yuu must have asked an interesting question.” Yoshiko suggested, nodding toward Riko’s phone as more notifications continued to come in.

“Yes, but…” Riko started.

“It’s fine, Riri.”

Riko hesitated for another moment before finally picking up her phone and unlocking the screen. She scrolled up through the conversation to find where she had left off. Her brow furrowed.

“What’s up?” Yoshiko asked.

“Yuu found a video and is asking if it is possible for the song to be played on a real piano, not just a digital one.”

“Can it?”

“Well, a properly enchanted piano can play anything.”

“Would that still count?”

“I’m not sure.”

Yoshiko grinned. “I’m sure Riri can play anything.”

Pink dusted Riko’s cheek, which was exactly the reaction Yoshiko had sought. “Uhm, not exactly.”

“Oh?”

“My abilities exceed the physical capabilities of the highest quality instruments of this realm.” Riko admitted, somewhat sheepishly. “So I can only play mortal music here.”

Yoshiko resisted the urge to chastise her girlfriend for her continued embarrassment over her amazing skills when it came to music. “Well yeah, obviously.” She decided to say instead. “Riri is a music demon after all. But isn’t your piano made from Infernal materials, so it can handle anything you play on it?”

“Well yes.” Riko confirmed. “Mine could handle the full power of Amdusias himself.”

Yoshiko chuckled and nodded. “So anyway, are you going to watch the video?”

“It would be rude for me to…”

Yoshiko sighed and slid out from her side of the booth. “It’s not rude if I watch it with you, right?” She asked as she slipped in beside her girlfriend. “You’ve got me curious now anyway.”

“Alright.” Riko agreed before tapping the Play button.

The video, titled RUSH E, was fairly simplistic as it displayed a piano keyboard at the bottom that would play notes as colorful bars dropped from the top. It looked like something a new pianist might use to learn how to play, which was likely why Yuu had watched it. The melody sounded like it could pass as an old video game theme, like one of the classic puzzle games or something similar. And it was quite catchy.

Then it sped up.

And more bars dropped at the same time.

Yoshiko wasn’t an expert pianist by any stretch of the imagination, but even she knew that barely more than a minute in, the song had reached a point where more than two hands would be needed to play. This was apparently not the beginner’s song she had assumed it to be. Still, it was probably within the realm of capability for a skilled…

“E!”

Yoshiko startled as a deep voice belted out of the tiny speaker of Riko’s phone. She then balked as letters started dropping down the screen to be played by the keys at the bottom. It was spelling out the title of the tune. And the R was backwards. Maybe the composer was Russian? That might explain the style of the melody. Still, what kind of twisted composer would try to make a pianist play such a strange thing?

By now, something like half a dozen colors were being used, striking at least a dozen notes simultaneously. Yoshiko wondered how even someone as talented as Riko could play such a piece. She only had two hands after all. Could she play with her wings to hit extra keys? Maybe her tail? Yoshiko smiled as she imagined the scenario; she loved Riko’s wings and tail after all, and wished the demon would let them be seen more often.

As the song reached what Yoshiko assumed was the climax, it looked like the entire screen was filled with colorful bars and nearly all of the keys were being hit at once. Surprisingly the melody could still be singled out amid the cacophony.

Finally, a pixelated image of some guy with glowing eyes dropped. When it hit the keys, E was belted out again and the piece came to an end.

Yoshiko wasn’t sure if she should laugh at the obvious joke or ask Yuu how serious she was about thinking such a piece could actually be played. Then she noticed the serious expression on Riko’s face.

“Riri?”

“I think I know who wrote this.” Riko said. “Or at least who likely inspired it. Торопиться. He was a bit of a trickster and enjoyed tormenting humans with unplayable songs.”

“So, it is unplayable.”

“For a human, yes. For a demon, no.”

“Really?” Yoshiko couldn’t help asking. “I know I said Riri could play anything earlier, but this…”

“It isn’t even the most chaotic piece he’s written.”

“Wow… I kinda wanna see that now…”

“We can head to my place?” Riko suggested.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Yoshiko found herself getting excited. Far be it for her to turn down an opportunity to watch Riko play, and visit her girlfriend’s apartment.

Since Yoshiko’s apartment was closer to the theater where both women worked, they had come to spend more time there. Riko still liked to drop by her apartment to play her piano from time to time and Yoshiko usually joined her. However, it felt like forever since they had done that. Perhaps it was time to start thinking about finding a bigger place to more in together?

Yoshiko flagged down Rin and grabbed their bill from her. She couldn’t wait to witness Riko’s full musical might.

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“Y-Yocchan… what are you…?”

“The others are going to want to see this.” Yoshiko explained as she checked the settings on her phone.

Part of her wished she had thought to stop by her place to pick up some of the gear she used for streaming, specifically a better camera and microphone. And something upon which to mount both. As it was, her phone, with her holding it, would have to do.

“I’m not going to upload the video anywhere public,” Yoshiko assured, “just send it directly to your fellow pianists. And of course keep it for my own viewing later.” She smirked as she added the last part.

“A… alright…” Riko agreed hesitantly before raising the fallboard of her piano. She then set her phone on the music rack as she would be using the muted video there as her score.

Riko closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Then, after holding it for a few seconds, she let it out and opened her eyes. Finally, she summoned her wings and held her hands over the keys.

Ah, so Riri is going to use her demonic power. Yoshiko thought to herself excitedly.

A soft pink, but powerful aura radiated off Riko’s wings and the music demon began to play. Tendrils of the aura drifted toward the piano as the song approached the part where more than two hands would be needed. The infernal energy seemed to solidify into the additional digits as it neared the keys.

Yoshiko watched in awe as the multitude of hands slid through each other to play the parts Riko’s mind had assigned to them. Additionally, she noted that the keyboard itself had gained its own ethereal counterpart that allowed simultaneous keystrokes.

Granted, it wasn’t fair to compare the sound from a real instrument to what could be produced by a phone speaker, but the piece sounded so much better live that Yoshiko almost wished the others could hear it in the same way.

By the time the piece had reached its climax, Riko’s aura had engulfed the entire piano and it sounded like she was playing no less than a dozen instruments. And Yoshiko could hear each one distinctly.

Then, all too soon, the piece was over. Yoshiko blinked back to reality and fumbled to stop the recording.

“That was amaz… Riri?!” Yoshiko dropped her phone and rushed to her girlfriend’s side. The demon’s wings had been dismissed and the demonic aura had completely disappeared, leaving Riko to wobble, almost drunkenly on the bench. “Are you alright?”

“I’m… fine…” Riko replied, letting herself lean against the standing woman. “It’s just been a while since I’ve used so much power at once.” She smiled wistfully. “It felt really good though. I should play like that more often…”

Yoshiko let herself relax and wrapped her arms around Riko’s shoulders. “I’d love to be your audience when you do.”

“Mmm…” Riko hummed, placing a hand on Yoshiko’s arm. She then startled as a loud growl emanated from her stomach. “Ehh…”

Yoshiko chuckled. “Since you’re not in Hell, you can’t just naturally recharge, can you.”

Riko hung her head, and while Yoshiko couldn’t see her face from this angle, she knew she was blushing.

“Shall we head back to the Kousaka Kafe?”

Riko looked up, confused. “But we were just there?”

Yoshiko nodded. “Right, but Riri is hungry again after burning so much energy.” She patted her girlfriend’s shoulder before moving to pick up her phone. “Thankfully, Honoka makes the best food for celestial recharging, although it’s not on the normal menu… for obvious reasons… Anyway, if we’re gonna have her pull out the secret stuff, I may as well pick up something for Phobetor and the others.”

Riko furrowed her brow as she stood. “Envy eats?”

“Sorta. You’ll see.” Yoshiko tapped at her screen. “Lemme just send the video to the others… There we go.” She looked back up at Riko. “Let’s head out.”

Riko nodded and the couple headed for the door. However, by the time they had put on their shoes, both of their phones were chiming.

“Seems everyone is amazed and envious of Riri’s prowess on the piano.” Yoshiko commented, pleased by the incoming praise for her girlfriend. “Oh, and Yuu wants to bring Setsuna and Ayumu over to see a live performance someday soon.”

“Setsuna-chan seems excited.” Riko replied, reading more messages.

“That girl gets excited over everything.”

A bemused expression crossed Riko’s face.

“Riri?”

“It looks like there are other versions of RUSH E; a 2 and a 3. Yuu-chan says they get even more impossible to play.”

“But Riri can play them of course.”

“Probably.”

“Well, perhaps we should have Honoka make a to go box to prepare for the RUSH RIRI concert.”

“… Do we have to call it that?”

Yoshiko simply smiled in return. She knew she couldn’t blame Setsuna for her excitement as she was also looking forward to another demonic piano performance. But first, Riko needed to recharge. Thus, Yoshiko grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and led her out of the apartment and toward the café.

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Author's Note Continued: First and foremost, if you haven't witnessed the chaotic wonderment meme that is RUSH E, do look it up on YouTube, if for no other reason than to better know what Riko is playing here. I'd link it here, but apparently that breaks the ability for this post to be found via searches or whatever.

Anyway, geez... it's February already... And since I haven't written anything since Promptober, that means it's been a little over three months. Well, I have written some stuff, just haven't posted anything. I've worked on some WIPs a little bit here and there but haven't finished anything. Heck, I started this scene shortly after Christmas. But that's just the winter season at work I guess, sapping my energy and concentration and the like.

But on to happier topics. I know I've written several scenes in Happy Life about Riko being supportive of Yohane in all of her oddities. PoH changes their dynamic a little bit. Yohane is more confident, due in no small part to actually knowing she is a fallen angel, but also not having to suppress her feelings for Riko for fear of possibly stealing her away from Chika; spoilers? maybe? Also Riko is far more timid here, being quite self conscious about being a demon and worrying that others may fear her or be biased against her because of her nature. I think this lends well to writing scenes about Yohane being supportive of Riko. Obviously, I'll still write supportive Yohane scenes in HL, but I just find it a little easier to write a Yohane who happily brags to the world about her amazing girlfriend in this AU than in my portrayal of the couple in my canon-compliant'ish work.

Finally, I feel like I may have rushed the end a little bit; pun intended? But I did want to get this posted before the newly announced event in IFH. Here's hoping that stirs up my µ's muse a bit and I can get back into the swing of writing. So many WIPs to finish, so many ideas for new ones, so little time...

#YohaRiko #YoshiRiko #Sakurauchi Riko #Tsushima Yohane #Putting on Hairs #Love Live Sunshine #fanfic #YohaRiri #Tsushima Yoshiko

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