track one/ summer shudder
"Nana, you were awesome!" Hachi told her roommate. Hachi's real name was also Nana, but to ease the confusion of the other members of the band, she was given the nickname Hachiko, 'Hachi' for short.
"Thanks, Hachi," the tired singer replied, smiling a little. She grabbed a towel and wiped away some sweat off her face. "Damn, we need an air-conditioner real bad! It's hot in here!"
"I know what you mean," Nobu piped up. "But I'll bet that it's even hotter outside."
"Well, at least the occasional breeze decides to show itself," Yasu pointed out. The bald drummer grabbed the water bottle and took a drink. "Let's just be thankful we're inside instead of out in the sun."
Shin lit a cigarette and took a drag. "When does the tour start again?" he asked the other for the fifth time already. "I can't remember for the life of me."
"It starts on the thirteenth of August which is next Friday," a new voice stated. Nana's eyes widened a little. "Ren, when did you get back?" she asked, walking over to hug her boyfriend.
"I was listening to you guys play in the hall," the guitarist confessed. "I didn't want to take a chance on messing you up."
"Oh, you wouldn't have messed me up," Nana murmured.
"Well, that's it for today," Nobu told them. "See you all tomorrow!" With that, the band packed up and left.
"Yuki, I'm home!" Shuichi called into the room. The pink haired singer walked through the hall looking for his lover. So far, there was no sign of the blond novelist. He must be working on his story, Shuichi thought to himself.
"Yuki, are you typing your story again?" Shuichi asked. He saw one door cracked open slightly. Curiosity took over and he peeked in.
Yuki was sitting at his desk, typing quickly on his laptop. A cup of coffee sat inches away from the computer and a pad of paper was next to the cup.
"What do you want, brat?" the novelist questioned, his tone sharp and hurtful.
Shuichi stepped back a little, slightly stunned at the fierceness of the other's tone of voice. "Nothing," he finally said. "I just wanted to tell you that I was home and that I was going to be away for a while."
"Why?" Yuki urged.
"Well, do you remember that tour I told you about a couple of weeks back?" Shuichi questioned.
Yuki only nodded.
"Well, my band is part of the tour," Shuichi admitted. "It means I'm going to be gone for some time."
Yuki stopped typing and looked over at the pink haired teen. There was a hint of confusion in his eyes. "What are you getting at?" he questioned the other.
"Well, I was hoping that . . . maybe you could . . . watch it on TV when it comes on, if it's not too much trouble," the teen admitted.
Yuki sighed. "I can't guarantee you anything, brat," he answered. "I still have deadlines and I've fallen behind one as it is. Is that all you wanted to tell me or is there anything else?"
Shuichi looked down at the floor, twiddling his thumbs. "Well, I . . . um . . . what I mean to say is . . ." he trailed.
"Well?" Yuki urged, now suddenly in front of Shuichi. He was leaning over the teen and pushing against the wall for balance.
Shuichi blushed. "I . . . um . . . it's okay for me to come back here after the tour, right?" he asked.
Yuki pushed Shuichi out of the room and shut the door. "Now, where was I?" he asked, going back to typing.
The day of the tour came sooner than expected. There were three emerging bands and one underground band that were supposed to be the main attractions of the tour. Black Stones, Bad Luck, and Trapnest were all emerging, but there wasn't much information about the underground performers.
"Are you all ready to go on?" Hachi asked.
"We're waiting on Shin and Nana," Nobu replied.
"That seems kind of odd to be waiting on Nana, at least," Yasu told the pair. "We're on after Trapnest, but they're nearly done."
"What should we do?" Nobu questioned.
"We have no choice but to wait," Yasu explained. "I just hope they didn't forget when we went on."
Where could they have gone? Hachi thought.
Meanwhile
"We need to get back to the stage," Shin told Nana. "They're probably wondering where we went and I get the feeling that your boyfriend might be nearly finished."
"You're right," Nana told him. "Just let me take care of 'business' real quick and I'll meet you up there." She entered a dilapidated bathroom and shut the door behind her as Shin walked in the direction of the stage.
Nana finished and came out to wash her hands when she saw another girl at the sinks. She looked no older than sixteen, but she seemed dressed up for something. The girl's hair was no longer than Nana's own and was dyed black with red and blue streaks running through it. She was wearing a black muscle shirt with red phoenixes running across the front and back. Her pants were black with red flames on the left leg and three phoenixes on the right leg. For some reason, her arms had bandages covering the lower part of both. There was a tattoo of Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas on her left upper arm.
The girl noticed Nana and looked up to see the other in the mirror. The girl's face was pale, most likely from some powder, and her eyes were of a stunning silver blue hue. She possessed at least five piercings per ear and one lip piercing, but no others. She was skinny to top it all off. She appeared to be a teenage outcast's source of jealousy.
Nana approached the sink cautiously and turned on the water, looking at her hands. "You supporting a fan club or something?" she joked to the other.
The girl glanced at Nana, appearing angry at the comment. "Excuse me?" she asked, voice dripping with instant hatred.
"I just asked that because I saw all the phoenixes on your clothes, so I just assumed that-"
"Exactly," the girl interrupted. "You assumed. I hate it when people think of me as part of some fan club. It makes me sick."
"Well then, why are you here?" Nana questioned, looking back up at the girl.
"I'm the leader of the underground band that's on this tour, Nana Osaki," the girl replied.
Nana's eyes widened. "I'm sorry if I offended you," she apologized. "By the way, what is your name? I would tell you mine, but you already know what it is."
"Why would you care?"
"Look, since we're touring together, I'd rather not have us be enemies," Nana pointed out. "Now, are you going to tell me your name or not?"
The girl looked down to the floor for a few seconds before looking back up to Nana. Her expression seemed to turn from angry to pained, but with no explanation for the sudden change. "Hikari Tateishi," she finally replied.
"That's a cute name," Nana complimented.
Hikari appeared angry again and opened the door. "I hate my name," she stated before leaving. Nana shook her head and dried her hands. She opened the door and ran towards the stage.
"Hikari, where were you?" a teen boy asked.
"What, is it illegal to do anything without asking for permission?" Hikari snapped back. "I was washing my hands and Nana Osaki ran into me, thinking I was part of some fan club!"
"Well, you might get that a lot if this band continues to be classified as underground for much longer," another teenage boy pointed out.
"No one asked you, Yami," a teen girl told the second boy. "Hikari, you ready for our turn when it comes?"
"It'll be a while, but I'm ready for this," Hikari told her. "Thanks anyway, Riika."
Riika smiled back. "No problem," she answered. "Since we're the only girls, we've got to look out for each other, right?"
"Right," Hikari agreed. "Now, what do you say we try to see just how good the Black Stones claim to be, huh?" she suggested.
"I don't wanna go and see them," the first boy complained. "We can hear them from here, can't we?"
"I think it's a good idea to go and take notes of them, though," Riika told him. "C'mon, Kaze. Don't be such a wet blanket."
"I'll go with you two," the last boy finally said.
Riika smiled. "At least Inari knows when we should do something other than sit around and be bored the whole time," she told Kaze and Yami. "Let's go, Inari."
Inari and Hikari followed Riika to the side of the stage and spied on Black Stones, studying how they played. There were moments when they found themselves bored with the performance, but when it was finally done, they rushed back to the practice room. The guitars and bass were tuned in a matter of seconds and a stage hand went to help a few others set up Kaze's drums. Hikari gathered their microphones and gave them to another stage hand that was setting up the microphone stands and the amplifiers.
Hikari, Riika, and Yami went to a corner of the room and sang a few warm-ups to stretch their throat muscles, but Yami sprayed his throat, wincing slightly at the immediate numbing sensation. He hummed a couple of notes and picked up his bass, playing for a moment before leaving the room to wait in the hallway. Inari picked up his guitar and waited in the hall with Yami.
"Hey, it's you again!" Nana exclaimed, walking toward Hikari. Her band had been told to go to the practice room, but she didn't think the girl would be in the room.
Hikari flashed an angry expression at her. "Well, Nana, are you convinced that I'm not part of some childish fan club?" she snapped. "Are you actually going to take us seriously now?"
Riika stepped in between the two girls, taking a defensive position. "You want me to take care of her, Hikari?" she asked, her voice protective.
"Don't, Riika," Hikari told the girl. "If a fight happens to break out, I don't want you getting involved."
"That's a cool name, too," Nana said to Riika. "What's your last name?"
"It's Ishizaku," she replied. "Before you get any of the rest of us pissed off, let me point out something: Hikari is my best friend. If I ever find her hurt from being near you, your head will be rolling on the floor faster than you can blink. Do I make myself clear?"
Nana looked Riika directly in the eye with a fierce expression and smirked. "Crystal clear," she told her, voice equally angry.
"Riika, back off before you regret it," Hikari warned. "Plus, we need to work our way to the stage. Otherwise, we might just be late."
Riika nodded and began to calm down. She looked at Nana. "Looks like you got lucky this time," she said, walking away.
What the hell was that about? Nana thought.
"Who's the cutie?" Shin asked, pointing at Hikari. He was half watching, half listening to the lead guitarist/vocalist.
"She's a bitch that goes by the name of Hikari," Nana answered, voice spiteful. "I just ask one question about her and she flies off the handle."
Shin didn't hear the second part of Nana's bickering. "Hikari, eh?" he muttered. "She's talented. Not only that, she looks at least a year younger than us. Being cute helps on top of it, but . . ." He stopped for a second. "By the way, what's the name of the band?"
"Does Shin have an early crush?" Nana teased.
"No," he lied. "I just wanted to know the name of the band, that's all." His blush began to fade as he finished.
"I think the name of it was . . . Phoenix Resurrection," Nana answered.
"That's awesome," Shin added. "They've got talent, but Hikari has the most, I can feel it."
Nana stood up as she rolled her eyes. "Men," she muttered under her breath as she left the room. Nobu entered the room. "Women," he added, a little louder than planned.
"Hey Nobu, come over here," Shin told the other. Nobu slowly walked to where Shin was watching. "Look at them. Watch how they play."
"The keyboardist is cute," Nobu instantly replied.
"Not as cute as the leader," Shin retorted.
"Take that back, Shin!" Nobu teased.
"I shall never take back the truth!" Shin told him, pretending to strangle the other.
"Shin, I know you can't handle the truth, but there's no point in fighting it!" Nobu joked.
Shin wasn't paying attention. He had let go and was listening to the sound of Hikari's voice. He loved the sound of it, and his heart skipped a beat when she looked over for a second and made eye contact. She turned back to the crowd and started strumming slowly on her guitar. Riika joined in with the organ sound on the synthesizer. Yami's narrating could be heard in the background.
"There was a girl," he began in a low tone. "She was driving home from school after a long day of final exams. The plan when she got home was to call her boyfriend and find out why he didn't show up at school that day. He usually never missed a day of school without a good reason.
"When she called his house, his mother answered. She sounded as if she had been crying before picking up the phone. When the girl asked what was wrong, the mother told her that the boy had been hit by a car on the way to school that morning. The girl hung up and rushed to the hospital.
"He was slightly disoriented when she arrived, but he recognized her immediately. A nurse stopped her and whispered that he probably wouldn't make it through the night. The girl was devastated, for she loved him with every fiber of her being. She asked if there was anything that could be done. The nurse's only reply was to just wait and hope for the best.
"The girl stayed near the bad that he was in and never left his side. Her reason was that if anything happened to him, he would at least see her before he left the world. He had told her that he didn't want to be alone when he died, and she was doing everything she could to respect his last wish.
"Sadly, the boy died shortly after the sixth hour of admission at the hospital. The girl had managed to tell him good-bye before he passed on, but she became depressed and lonely. She didn't want to be alone, but she was afraid to die. She decided to keep living in hopes that she would see him again soon.
"Two years later, on the night of her graduation, the girl was driving home from a party. There was a drunk driver on the other side of the road and he hit her head-on, killing her instantly. Her wish to see her love came true, and they remained together in Heaven."
Hikari suddenly busted out a sad sounding solo on her guitar as Riika quietly played the synthesizer, remaining on the organ sound. Hikari closed her eyes as she played, impressing all who heard it. Even her band mates seemed a little surprised of how she performed. She seemed to be pouring all her energy into how she played and her voice was nearly breaking when she began to sing the only verse of the song.
"But now that you're gone,
What will happen to me?
Will you haunt my dreams?
Will you let me be?
There's no hope of hearing your voice again,
So why do I try to keep holding on?
There's no erasing the past events,
But I think about you everyday,
And I miss you more than you know.
I still love you, sister,
But I've finally let you go."
The crowd cheered as the song finally ended. Shin was greatly impressed with the stunning performance, but he wanted to see Hikari more than ever. Why did they have to be in different bands? He watched her tell her thanks to the audience and exit the stage. It was now or never. He saw her walk down the hallway and followed behind her.
Hikari slumped against the wall and slid to the floor. She was exhausted, but she didn't want anyone worrying about her.
Suddenly, it sounded like something had been pushed against the vending machine. She stood up quickly, raising her defenses if needed. "Who's there?" she challenged, masking her weariness.
"You know, I was never very good at stalking beautiful women," Shin joked as he came out from behind the vending machine.
Hikari relaxed slightly. "I thought you were Nana for a second," she explained, taking a step toward him.
"I don't think Nana would be as clumsy as I am when it comes to this," Shin replied.
"I suppose I'm to assume that you don't agree with her dissing our band?" she questioned, putting a hand on her hip.
"I watched you guys from the side of the stage," Shin confessed. "I thought you guys have some serious talent, but Nana was just blowing off steam from your argument earlier. Give her a bit of time and some space and she'll cool down." He paused. "Although, I have to admit, she can be quite the bitch sometimes."
Hikari giggled a little, immediately covering her mouth and forcing herself to stop. She found Shin staring at her and tilting his head. "Why'd you stop?" he asked her. "Your laugh is the cutest I've ever heard."
"Really?" she questioned, a bright red blush forming on her cheeks. She looked to the floor and avoided eye contact with the other.
"By the way, I have a question I wanted to ask you when you went off the stage," Shin suddenly remembered. "That last song you sang . . . what was it all about?"
Hikari looked up at him, fear in her eyes. "Why do you want to know?" she asked him, caution creeping back into her system.
"Just for the sake of curing the curiosity I have," Shin admitted. "I won't tell anyone if it's something that you can't talk to anyone else about, but I'm not gonna force you."
"No, it's not that," she told him, her expression softening to the point of tears. "It's just that . . . the song was about my older sister. Her name was Yumi. She was only two years older than me, but she was always kind to me and helped me with anything I might have had trouble with. She was the top student at school and the star track runner.
"When she was sixteen, she got a boyfriend named Allen. He was an exchange student from America. They ended up falling in love. He died in the hospital after the car crash and my sister died two years later. It made me depressed."
Shin embraced her. "You shouldn't let what happened affect you," he pointed out to her. "You can't turn back time and change what's happened. You just need to accept it and embrace the fact that it's all in the past, painful as it may be."
"Um . . . you do realize that you're hugging me, right?" Hikari asked him.
"I'm aware," Shin replied. "I don't care what it looks like, but if you're not comfortable with it I'll stop."
"No, it actually feels . . . comforting," she responded, slightly amused with what she had said. She appeared slightly confused about what to do next.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know what to do now. Isn't there something that comes after this?"
Shin chuckled. "If you want to hug, just do what I'm doing."
Hikari nodded and wrapped her arms around Shin's waist. This feels . . . nice, she thought. Is this supposed to feel like this or am I doing something wrong?
Shin stroked her back gently, wanting to ease the tension. He felt himself instantly connecting with her, but he wasn't about to jump the gun.
Hikari suddenly began to hyperventilate. Why am I feeling scared if it's just Shin? she mentally questioned. This feels familiar, but I feel something bad following it. What happened?!
"Hikari, what's the matter?" Shin asked, sounding panicky. "Hikari, can you hear me?" He scooped her in his arms and went to find help.