> "Dismissed!" Ritsu declared. "Mio, I'll pick you up at twenty past."
> "What?" said Mio warily.

Only as much warning as is strictly nessecery :)

> "So!" she declared. "Are we all here? Mio, Mugi, Yui, Azusa, Jun-chan, oh
> great spirits there's two of Yui," she said, tracing a finger down the row.

> "That's Ui-chan," Mugi told her cheerfully.

> "I've never seen her with her hair down before," Ritsu observed. "That's
> terrifying."

I think my favourite part of this segment is just reading Ritsu's roll call in deadpan all the way through.

> and a punk group called The Girl Gang

Is...Is that who I think it is?

> "And the amazing thing is," Norimi declared, "they're not actually pushing us
> to change our sound, or write new lyrics that are more about the car, or
> anything. They're totally giving us our heads!"

They hired you to do your thing, not to conform your thing to some pre-concieved notion of theirs. Minami know's the Avatar, I'm pretty sure she knows the value of not trying to force people to change :)
Though, now I think about it, I do wonder how Future Industries -found- them...

> "Uh?" Mio wondered, digging in her pocket for her cellphone. "Who's sending
> me mail at this hour?"

Ending on that? You, sir, are a indeed tease.

~Silversword