A loud buzzing sound rattled the air, and Ranko shot up in her chair. She looked around, trying to orient herself. She was sitting at the little dinette table in her upstairs apartment, her English book propped open off to one side. In front of her was the half-finished writing assignment Yui had given her, with a little damp spot off to one side of the paper. She rubbed her eyes, concluding she must have fallen asleep working on it. Yui’s going to kill me with all this homework on top of my work hours.

Again, the shrill buzzing demanded attention from downstairs. The back door? She looked at the little digital alarm clock on her nightstand. “Who the hell brings a delivery to a bar at 9:30 in the freaking morning?”

A third insistent buzz screamed at her. “Alright, alright, I’m coming! Damn!” She stood, yawning and stretching her neck as she descended the stairs. Her back was killing her from sleeping hunched over in that wooden chair all night.

She unlatched the back door just as a fourth buzz began, swinging the door open. “Take it easy already!” She blinked, discovering it wasn’t a delivery at all.

Crash waved, blushing a bit. “Hey, Ranko! Sorry. It’s… kind of the only doorbell you’ve got.”

Ranko nodded, rubbing her eyes. Her hair must look horrible, she worried. “Crash, man, what are you doing here? Seriously, what’s with all the early birds this week?”

The young man cringed. “I’m sorry. I should have known you wouldn’t be up this early. I should go.”

With a wave, Ranko shook her head. “Nah, you’re here now. C’mon in. For real though, what’s up?” She stepped out of the doorway to let him pass, pouring some water in the electric tea kettle in the industrial kitchen and flicking it on.

“I…” He blushed. “I wish I had a better excuse, but I just wanted to check on you. You were pretty touch and go there for a minute.”

She sat down at the counter, nodding, still blinking the sleep from her eyes. “What can I say, you gave one hell of a pep talk.”

The tea kettle beeped, and Crash grabbed it for her, pouring some hot water into a cup he found on the counter and sliding it toward her. She didn’t reach for it. “I’m just gonna let that cool down a minute. Thanks, though.” She managed a sleepy smile. Last thing I need is hot water right now.

Crash removed his guitar case from his back, setting it on the floor. “I wanted to ask, have you given any more thought to what you’re gonna do now, music-wise?”

Ranko shrugged. “I mean, I can sing here as long as I want, I guess. But I don’t have any way to, like, do my own songs or anything. I can’t even play an instrument. So, not sure if there’s much of a market for that outside the bar scene.”

He leaned his backside on the kitchen counter, placing both of his hands on it behind himself. “What if you did?”

Ranko blinked. “Did what?”

He grinned. “What if you did have a way? What would you need?”

She shrugged again. “I don’t know, everything? I don’t know how to play anything. I can’t read music notes, let alone write them. So, unless the audience wants me to stand there and whistle, I guess I’m out of luck.”

“What about lyrics? Just writing the words?” The guitarist gave a little shrug in encouragement.

Ranko smiled and blushed. “It wouldn’t matter much without the music, would it?”

Crash wagged his finger at her. “I see you blushing.” Her being called out for blushing only intensified it. “You’re hiding something. You’ve got something, don’t you?” The pink hue of her cheeks continued to darken. “Can I see?”

“I didn’t say I had anything.” Ranko hid her face behind her teacup, which she hadn’t even filled yet.

Crash smirked. “Yes you did.” He bobbed his head in the direction of the stairs. “Go get it.”

Ranko wanted to crawl under the counter and hide. “It’s… It’s nothing. It’s terrible.”

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He laughed off her words. “I’ll be the judge of that. Go get it?”

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Ranko ascended the stairs, returning in a few moments with a sheet of notebook paper. She found that Crash was no longer in the kitchen, but with a quick search of the lower floor, she discovered him sitting on the edge of the stage in the main bar, unzipping his guitar case.

She handed him the sheet of paper, her face approaching the same shade as her hair. He looked it over, and it was covered with crossed-out words, arrows rearranging words, and side notes in the margin. The words were written in English. “Rise?”

Ranko nodded shyly.

“I really dig this, Ranko. It’s rough, but I like it. How’s it go?” Crash tossed the nylon guitar bag to the side of the stage.

She thought she would pass out from the blood flow to her face. “You… you want me to sing it?”

He grinned. “You bet your ass I do.”

With a halting breath, she nervously sputtered out a few words in broken English. When she started the second line of the first verse, Crash strummed his guitar, playing a chord, then another. By the time the first verse was finished, he was passably providing backing music for her vocals.

“How do you do that?!” She looked at his guitar like it was magic.

He laughed. “Practice. Lots of practice. Beer helps, too.”

She nodded, rolling her neck around on her shoulders with a grimace. “Makes sense, I guess.”

Crash motioned to her. “You okay?”

Ranko groaned. “I’ll live. I just slept on it wrong.”

He stood, setting his guitar on the stage. “Come here a minute.”

Ranko blinked in surprise, but complied, walking over to him. He placed his hands on the back of her neck, pressing both his thumbs just below the base of her skull. She yelped quietly, but after a few moments, the tension in her muscles began to release. “Oh, that’s much better, thanks!”

His fingers continued rubbing her neck, a little more gently now. Her breath caught in her throat, and she shivered from head to toe. Crash blushed with a surprised grin. Is she… Again, he dragged his fingertips over her skin to test her reaction. She whimpered quietly, biting her lip as her entire being quivered under his touch.

“Crash, I…” Her words were cut off by another gentle stroke, lost to a quiet purr. The Cat’s Tongue was utterly paralyzing her with every move of his fingers across her skin.

He leaned down over her shoulder, his fingers running down the right side of her neck, as he placed a gentle kiss on the left.

Ranko shuddered, her eyes widened with shock. She couldn’t believe that he would do that, especially not after what he’d witnessed Takao try. But, unlike Takao, and Michado before him, there hadn’t been a lecherous feel to it. It was almost… sweet, insomuch as she could fathom that word applying to any romantic action performed by a man.

“C…Crash, I… please s… stop…”

He paused his fingers immediately, letting her go. “Oh, gods, I’m so sorry, Ranko. I shouldn’t have done that. Just, the way you were reacting, I thought you wanted me to keep going.”

Ranko breathed deeply, trying to regain control over essentially the whole of her nervous system. It took her a moment to be able to speak coherently again. “I wish you’d have asked first.”

Crash nodded. “Yeah, I should have. I’m such a jerk. I’m sorry, I really am. I should go.”

“Hey,” she said, stopping him in his tracks. “It’s okay.” She couldn’t believe those words were coming out of her mouth after having just been kissed by a guy, but something about the way he had approached her just didn’t feel as gross as she would have expected it to. She didn’t want his affection that way, to be sure, but she also couldn’t be mad at him for it. He really had been trying to be nice.

Much though it pained her to admit it, the way his touch made her feel, physically at least, was unlike anything she’d experienced before. Way down deep, a tiny part of her almost wished for half a heartbeat that she hadn’t had to stop him, but she knew that was just the pheromones talking. At least, she thought she knew that – thanks to the books Yui brought home the other day, she had only just learned what a pheromone was the night before. Even if she had wanted to continue, though, she wouldn’t have, for a far more important reason.

“The thing is, Crash, I’m seeing somebody.”

He nodded with a defeated sigh. “An amazing girl like you? Of course you are.” He picked up his guitar, starting to slip it into its case.

Ranko sighed. Obviously, this had added a new dimension to their relationship that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with, but she didn’t want to lose his friendship. She had her sisters and Akane, of course, but Crash was the only friend she really had. “Hey. You’re pretty cool yourself, ya know.”

He turned, shouldering his instrument. “You think so?”

Ranko nodded. “Definitely.” She frowned a bit, a wave of guilt washing over her. She didn’t regret stopping him, but she hated how sad it had made him. “I mean it, Crash. I’m not mad at you. I’m just… not in the market for a boyfriend right now.”

He managed a smile. “If that ever changes, you let me know, okay?”

Ranko blushed furiously. Don’t hold your breath, buddy. “I promise.”