When Yuri asked us to join this battlefront, we'd made a deal that GirlDeMo would remain a separate entity. We loved to play, but the fighting she wanted us to do... it just wasn't us. So we played and gathered all of the NPCs in one place. And we played some more and everyone loved us. We were rock stars. It was perfect. More and more people came as time went on. I don't remember exactly when the pink-haired girl joined us, but I do remember she caused a stir when she did. She was so young, barely high school age. And we just weren't sure what to do with her. That is, until I found her strumming my guitar one afternoon not long after the first time she'd seen one of our performances.

She was in the practice room, strumming away to no particular tune and bouncing as she did. She had her back turned to the door and huge headphones in her ears as she played shrieking note after shrieking note. In that moment, I'd seen more of who she was than I'd seen in anyone else. There's just something about the way people act when they think no one is looking that screams innocence and honesty. I walked into the room and sat on a chair, not wanting to interrupt her; the band wouldn't be in to practice for another hour anyway. She slid on her knees and twirled, her eyes closed the entire time as she slammed down on the strings, hitting a final note as she collapsed, the song over. I started clapping, genuinely impressed to see that anyone could have such a great time doing something. She squeaked loudly and turned, guitar held like a weapon by the fret-board.

"Oh! It's you!"

I laughed amused. "You know, you'll break it like that."

She held the guitar normally again, blush coloring her cheeks. "I-I-I'm sorry Ms. Iwasawa! I didn't mean to-"

I chuckled again and shook my head. "I mean the strings. If you're going to finger-pick the notes, you need to pluck them, not slap them. It's not a bass," I said. I held my hand out and she passed me the sunburst electric guitar. I placed my fingers on the strings, making a simple E-chord. "First finger, fourth string, first fret. Second finger, second string, second fret. Third finger, third string, second fret." I strummed the guitar once, letting the one low note reverberate through the room. I handed her back the guitar and watched her momentarily struggle as she willed each of her small and delicate fingers to their proper positions. Her last finger was obstructing a string. "I'll let her figure it out on her own," I thought to myself. I'd learned through years of practice and trial-and-error how to play. Letting this curious little girl figure things out on her own would be the best way to help her. She strummed the guitar, the last string slightly muted.

"Wha- what's wrong," she asked aloud, strumming again, her pinky still not responding. I tried to hide my smile as she stared at the fret-board and back to her fingers. "Oh!" She lifted her pinky up, like British royalty drinking tea, strumming the guitar, the note low and powerful. I clapped my approval.

"That was great," I smiled. She looked so proud of herself as she strummed the chord again and again, E-E-E-E-EEEEE! Her mystifying tail swayed and curled in excitement as she strummed the note a final time. "Amazing," I said softly, taking the guitar back and tuning it.

"Can you teach me some more Ms. Iwasawa, pleeeeeeeaaase?" She clasped her hands together, staring up at me pleadingly.

"Well, I need to get all of the instruments cleaned and tuned before the band gets here, but if you can stay until after we're done practicing, I can teach you another chord before you go."

"Okay," she said, saluting me as she took a seat among the dozen chairs that were arranged in the room we held practices in. It took me about half an hour to unstring, clean, restring and tune all of the guitars. Then I wiped off the drum-set. Everything was ready by the time Irie and Sekine walked in about five minutes before practice started. They waved a hello to Yui as they took their spots, snickering softly at some gossip they'd been talking about. Hisako walked in right on time and we started with Run With Wolves. We were writing as many songs as we could to try and make sure the crowd wouldn't tire of Crow Song. We put all of our passion into the practice, just like we did on stage, the song's rhythm making the cute pink-haired girl clap along. We played it again when we finished, and then played a variant of Crow Song which was to be a one-time event next time Yuri declared an Operation Tornado.

"We need a new song," Hisako said resignedly as we finished our final practice song. We all nodded affirmative. We knew it had to be done, but writing a song was hard work.

"I guess I've kind of had an idea for a new song... I just haven't been able to put pen to paper."

"You want to do the song and I do the lyrics," she asked me. It was kind of an unwritten rule amongst the group. I wrote the music and Hisako collaborated amongst the group to write lyrics that we could all relate to. It was a tough job and I was always grateful that she did it. We left the practice with lifted spirits, but no one seemed happier than Yui as she skipped up to me to take the sunburst.

"E-E-A-C-A-C-E-A," she hummed softly as she strummed each chord, her adorably clumsy fingers finding the right positions on the fret-board just a bit quicker each time. "Mugen ni ikitai, mugen ni ikiraretara subete kanau.." She hummed some more random lines strumming out one pf the three chords I'd taught her each time. I watched her entirely impressed at the musical talent this adorable little girl possessed. I listened closely to the meaning of her words, paying attention to the way she favored certain chords over others.

"Can I see that," I asked, intrigued. I wanted to see if I could play what was so obviously trying to desperately escape from within her.

"Uh, yea, sure," she said, handing the guitar over.

My fingers found a nice starting position as I hummed the notes I was going to play, then I sung softly, "mugen ni ikitai, mugen ni ikiraretara subete kanau." She squeaked in excitement as I strummed the notes she'd so desperately wanted to relay to the world. I hummed softly, then repeated a few more lines I'd heard her hum under her breath as she played. "Mushou ni ikitai," I finished, setting the guitar down. She'd been bouncing excitedly in her seat like a child waiting to see DisneyWorld out of the car window. "Did you like it," I asked her. I wanted to hear her say it.

"That was incredible! The song was so plow-wham-bam! It was amazing!" It had been a fairly energetic song. I smiled, glad she was happy with it.

"We should finish this," I said softly. "You're a great lyricist."

"And you're a good teacher," she said happily, taking the guitar and playing strumming each of the three chords I'd shown her.

"How about one more chord?"