Introduction

Some stories are meticulously written by their authors with utmost care, out of their will to express themselves. Other stories simply unfolds on their own in the writer's mind and demand to be told. "Pink To The Future", believe it or not, falls completely in the second category.

First of all I want to thank the authors of K-On Abridged, since the premise of the story is based upon a gag they wrote (or re-dubbed, if you prefer).

After that, I have to apology to all lovers of the original K-on manga and anime, because the ties with the original story-line are quite loose. The main reason why I made this story a K-on fanfic it's because it was inspired by the Yui/Azusa dicotomy, and I really wanted to develop that in a very unusual but "deeper" way.

With that said, I wish to thank in advance all those who will overcome the inevitable flaws of this fanfic, enjoy it, and possibly tell me what they think about it, whether in the form of a review or a private message.

K-on (c) belongs to Kakifly

Prologue: A Pink and Future Secret

It was a spring day like another at the Sakuragaoka Girl's High School - or at least that's what everyone thought it was. A young girl was standing in front of a window, in a small landing between the intersection of a stair: the girl in question was Yui Hirasawa, lead singer and lead guitarist of a light music circle's band known as Hokago Tea Time. As she was reminiscing the days gone by, she started talking out loud to herself:

"When I was in the elementary, I was always spacing out. When I was in Junior High School, I was always spacing out. But now that I'm a third-year High School student, it's time to begin my plan to rule the world !" As soon as she finished that sentence, she made a villainous, yet somehow sweet and childish long chuckle.

"Yui-senpai ! What are you talking about !?" Yui turned around and saw an astonished Azusa looking at her. Azusa Nakano was the one-year younger rhythm guitarist of Hokago Tea Time, and was in many aspects the exact opposite of Yui. As Yui was cheerful, outgoing and naive, Azusa was always determined, logical and quite introverted.

"Azu-nyan !" Yui replied with the widest smile, calling her friend with that silly nick-name she made for her, as she always used to do. She was just about to run at her and hug her, when Azusa stopped her firmly:

"Stop right there ! What where you talking about just now ?" she said, more perplexed than worried.

"What ?" Yui asked back. After a second, she remembered: "Oh, right ! That thing about me ruling the world ?"

"Yes !" Azusa replied back with an even more pressing tone.

Yui gave her another childish smile, this time with a little streak of playfulness as if she was teasing her, then she said:

"But you don't have to worry about that, you silly ! I'm going to make a world where everyone is happy. Always." Of course, Azusa wouldn't take seriously that statement even for a second, but she couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right.

"Just out of curiosity, what that plan would consist about ?" she asked, knowing perfectly that she would regret she did that.

"Hehe" Yui chuckeld again: "I can't tell you, it's a secret plan !"

"I thought we were friends, Yui-senpai..." she replied seriously, only for the sake of teasing her back "Friends have no secrets, you know..."

"I told you it's a secret, right ? Well, here's the catch..." this time Yui got nearer and started whispering to her friend

"You see, my plan is so secret..." she stopped again, and only when she was sure that nobody could overhear their conversation, she ended the phrase "...that I don't know it myself."

For a moment, Azusa couldn't believe the nonsense of what she heard. "But as soon as I discover that..." Yui concluded with a louder, determined voice "...nobody's going to stop me". Azusa was unable to tell if Yui was serious or not, and that made her worry about her friend's mental sanity once again. She shrugged and dismissed that feeling: that's how she always felt about Yui after all.

"Let's go to the club, now. The others are waiting" she told her with a disconsolate voice.

"YAAAY !" Yui screamed happily, throwing her arms up in the air.

That very night, Azusa was all set for a good sleep. She pretty much forgot about the discussion she had with Yui, since it wasn't the first time she heard her weird stuff. She closed her eyelids and fell asleep slowly, but nothing could be prepare her for what she would see when she opened them again.

As the sun hit her face, Azusa rubbed her eyes still half-asleep. She found herself lying on the middle of a street, still wearing her yellow pajamas. As she soon as she had time to recollect she noticed buildings on both sides of the streets, and she was immediately struck from something very peculiar: they were all pink.

"Lucid dreaming..." she mumbled to herself as she got to her feet. Her suspicion was apparently confirmed by what she saw thereafter. Pink: pink everywhere. She saw a group pf people assembled not very distant from her. She instinctively reached the sidewalk and walked toward them, and when she finally recovered completely her senses, she realized that not only the buildings but all their clothes as well were mostly pink.

Some had blue jeans, while other people had other bright colors on their shirts, but every person's clothes were mostly of that color. Nobody, absolutely nobody where wearing dark or dull colors. No traces of black, grey and similar colors could be found anywhere. She finally noticed that even the street under her feet itself was pink, its shade different just enough to tell where the sidewalk would begin.

As she got near, all the people looked at her with a welcoming but puzzled look on their face. "I'm in pajamas, after all..." she thought to herself. The more the seconds passed, the more she felt uncomfortable: all of this was somehow too vivid to feel like a dream, no matter how a person would call it.

"Hello, young girl ! Did something happen to your clothes, may I ask ?" A middle-aged man asked, with a quite dumb smile on his face. "Well, I..." she paused for a second, then said "...I'm sorry, I'm not even sure how I ended up here."

"Oh, some kind of amnesia ? I'm sure it's temporary !" the man answered with a reassuring voice, still keeping the same facial expression.

Azusa felt her disquieting sensation get stronger every minute. Something was wrong about this, because everything felt real... too much real. She looked at those people faces, and that sure didn't reassure her: they all had that happy, dumb expression she noticed on the man she talked to. When she gave another, more detailed look to her surroundings she literally froze on the spot.

The city was literally filled with any kind of luminous signs and billboards, all pink when it was possible. Electronic displays where all around, showing the very same rotating sentence: "BE HAPPY". And the billboards all showed the same figure, one figure whose cute smile Azusa could recognize among millions: an adult version of Yui.