In Progress K-On: 25 Years Later

[Ether's Bane]

It's a K-On fanfic!

First, to give you an understanding of this fanfic, here's a timeline, which is also the prologue. Bolded events are things that happened in the actual anime. Non-bolded are my own ideas.

Timeline/Prologue

2008: Houkago Teatime forms as Yui Hirasawa (guitar/vocals), Mio Akiyama (bass/vocals), Mugi Kotobuki (keyboard), and Ritsu Tainaka (drums).
2009: Azusa Nakano (guitar) joins Houkago Teatime.
February 2013: Houkago Teatime release their first album, Kirameku Niji under Avex Trax. It goes gold in Japan and has moderate success in the Western world.
July 2013: Houkago Teatime tour for the first time, going on a nationwide tour.
March 2014: Second album, Daiyamondopurinsesu, is released to critical acclaim. It goes five times platinum in Japan and sells seven million copies worldwide.
October 2014: Houkago Teatime sign with Geffen Records.
November 2014: Houkago Teatime goes on a European tour.
April 2015: Recording sessions start for their upcoming third album.
June 2015: Recordings are interrupted when Yui checks into rehab for cocaine abuse.
August-October 2015: Infighting within the band causes them to almost split up.
February 2016: Houkago Teatime officially announce that they are taking an indefinite hiatus.
July 2018: Ritsu dies in a self-caused car crash after driving drunk.
September 2018: Houkago Teatime officially split up.
March 2019: Mio gets married to Hitoshi Nakamura.
August 2020: Yui posts on the band's website that they are doing a reunion tour in Japan and the United States. Session drummer Naoko Matsuda is hired for the tour.
January 2021: Naoko joins Houkago Teatime as a fully-fledged band member.
February 2021: Recordings for their third album officially resume.
July 2021: Houkago Teatime's third album, Pinku no tetsudō ni noru, is released, but to not much success.
October 2021: Now it's Yui's turn to tie the knot, to Kengo Takahara.
December 2022: Mugi leaves the band.
January 2022: Ex-Redferret keyboardist, Miyako Sato, joins Houkago Teatime.
February 2023: Azusa confirms that she has been battling alcoholism for the last two and a half years, and goes into rehab.
November 2023: Fourth studio album, Kēki no shūmatsu, is released, and goes triple-platinum in Japan and gold in America, marking a return to form.
January 2024: Houkago Teatime go on a tour of the Asia-Pacific region to promote their new album.
October 2024: Azusa gets married to Daijiro Suzuki.
March 2025: Houkago Teatime confirm via their website that they will be releasing a more progressive rock-styled album close to the end of 2026, featuring appearances on guitar on selected songs by the band’s mentor, Sawako Yamanaka.
May 2025: Mio is charged with tax fraud.
September 2025: Mio is cleared of charges.
December 2026: Houkago Teatime release their fifth album, [I}Kaosu no uchū pawāzu[/I]. Although it helps bring in a new fanbase, it also alienates a fair number of the original fans.
February 2027: A greatest hits album is released, as well as a live CD.
June 2027: It is discovered that Daijiro has been cheating on Azusa. Due to this, their upcoming tour of Canada and the US is cancelled.
December 2027: Due to infighting, the band almost breaks up again.
January 2028: Daijiro and Azusa finalize their divorce.
April 2028: Naoko and Miyako leave Houkago Teatime.
May 2028: Azusa commits suicide. In light of this, the band officially calls it quits, again.
June 2035: Setting for this fanfic.

 

[Ether's Bane]

Chapter 1: The Memory Remains

Yui Hirasawa was at home in her million-dollar bungalow. On a whim, she decided to go to her attic and look at some old pictures and things. She had a sudden longing to remember "the way things used to be" and reminisce about her life as a rock star. Houkago Teatime had been through some brilliant highs, such as winning the "Up-and-coming Band of the Year (Pop/Rock)" award from a prestigious music magazine in 2014, and some excruciating lows, such as Ritsu's tragic death in a car accident. The memories flooded her mind as she walked up the stairs.

She stepped into the attic and walked over to the shelf, and then she took off a photo album from it that was marked "HOUKAGO TEATIME: THE EARLY YEARS". It was full of pictures of their high school days until shortly before they got signed to a recording label, from their Light Music Club years at Sakurakou High School to the gigs at bars, nightclubs, and similar things that they played. Yes, they had come a long way from playing "Fuwa Fuwa Time" in front of their school - they had achieved a fair bit of fame since the Light Music Club years - and infamy, too.

As she thumbed through the pictures, unknown to Yui, a boy who seemd to be only about seven or eight years old climbed up the stairs into the attic at that moment.

"Mom? What are you doing in the attic?"

Yui turned around and saw her son there.

"Oh, it's you, Shinji! I was just looking through my old pictures from when I was in a band."

"You were in a band?" asked Shinji in amazement.

"Yes, I was," said Yui. "We were called Houkago Teatime. And do you know why we were called that? It was because we couldn't decide on a band name when we first started out! Pretty funny, huh?"

Shinji then looked over at Yui's first guitar hanging on the wall, a Gibson Les Paul Sunburst. He seemed almost awestruck by it.

"Is that really your guitar?"

Yui, who was almost in a nostalgic trance looking at the old photo album, sat bolt upright from her semi-slouch with a start.

"Yep," she said. "That's the one I call 'Gīta'. She was my very first guitar, from back when I was in high school. In fact, I remember the first time I ever played her live. Guess what happened that day?"

"What?"

"At the end of our gig, our bassist tripped over one of the guitar wires, and she ended up showing her underwear to the crowd!"

"No way!"

"Way. And, to top it off, the crowd absolutely ate it up!"

"You mean like candy?"

"No, Shinji. I meant that they loved it, and she even got a fanclub in our school because of it!"

"Wow!"

"Ah, yes. Good times, good times..."

Suddenly, Yui had a flash of inspiration. Houkago Teatime had been broken up for seven years! She thought that maybe, just maybe, she could get the band back together. But how...? Naoko and Miyako didn't get along well with her and Mio, and Mugi quit thirteen years ago, and she even mentioned that there was zero chance of her ever coming back, plus, she was now with the even more successful prog-metal band Wings of Icarus, and, to top it off, they were missing a rhythm guitarist. There was no way she could ever get the band back together. Or was there...?

Yui hurried over to the phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Hello? Mio, are you there?"