Since footnotes don't seem to carry over from the original document, I just wanted to make a couple of notes for this chapter and onwards:

1.) From this point forth in the story, all responses that are in Japanese will be quoted with (parenthesis) instead of "quotation marks". Conversely, American responses will still remain in the normal "quote" style.

2.) Yakuza is the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia, for those who aren't aware.

Two Steps Back

Sitting in the little sushi bar just about four blocks away from his apartment, Matt was slowly drinking down his Sapporo, which seemed to taste a bit warm to him at this moment. It only made sense at this juncture, since he'd been sitting at this restaurant for about two hours now and milking this tall glass of beer the whole time. Some repeat of a baseball game from the previous year seemed to be playing on the television monitors all around the bar and he felt a bit restless for a while now, as if he was forgetting something. A waitress came up to him and asked if he and his friend would like anything else this evening, but Matt was still spacing out as Noriko chimed in with a stern, "Matt!"

He awoke from his daze only to find himself staring at two inquisitive women. One asking if there was anything else he'd wanted and the other seeming a bit distraught over the fact that he wasn't paying attention. He quickly retorted in his newly acquired Japanese, "We're done here, thank you. Can we please get our check?"

(Certainly.)(1) Replied the waitress as she quickly took out her notepad and scribbled some things on it, placing it in front of the awaiting customer. Matt quickly glanced at the check and placed down some cash on the table almost forgetting that he didn't need to leave a tip in these places because the Japanese looked down upon that. After a short while, the waitress came back with his change and bade them a polite goodbye as Matt and Noriko left the little establishment, which seemed louder than most establishments of that size in America.

Matt was a pretty tall man, with spiky blond hair and a handsome face that the Japanese women melted for. And even though he looked like a "punk", his outfit definitely didn't match that image. In fact, his clothes usually looked like those a yakuza(2) member would wear. The suits weren't terrifically fancy, but he made them work with an unbuttoned top button, no tie, and a jacket to match.

As they walked down the street, Matt lit up a quick cigarette and continued walking, but something kept bothering him and Noriko definitely noticed it.

(What's wrong Matt? You seem to be less your usual self.) she asked him dutifully.

(I'm not sure, Nori... it just feels like I'm forgetting something. Something really important that's supposed to happen.) he replied, in somewhat unmannered Japanese, to his girlfriend, using her nickname. (Only thing I could think of would be Dan's arrival, but that's not supposed to be till tomorrow, right?) he inquired, not really expecting an answer from her.

(Well when did he say he was leaving?) she inquired.

(Dammit! He must be coming tonight! Shit, we have to go pick him up from the airport!) Matt furiously started through his cell phone to try and find some text message or e-mail or something that would tell him what time Dan had promised to arrive at. He looked through all of his archives, carefully inspecting the subject lines and topics of every e-mail and text message that was on his phone, when he finally came upon the proper message. From the e-mail, he figured out that Dan would have landed in Narita at approximately 3PM their time on December 22nd. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 9PM and felt a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

(He could be anywhere...) Matt gestured. (Let's walk over to the Kameido train station... maybe he found a way to get there without me...) He sounded somewhat defeated and disappointed in his grievous error. (He's always been good at finding his way out of a mess... let's see if he'll make me pay for this!) He joked to himself.

(Of course, Matt.. Let's go find him.) Noriko trailed off as they started, rather hurriedly, down the street.

The Kameido train station was actually not very far from where they were now. It was a brisk ten minute walk that would take them to the station and they were hoping to miraculously bump into Matt's friend from the past.

Even at nine o'clock, on a work day, the streets still seemed to be bustling with energy and people. Their hopes of finding Dan were like those of finding a needle in a haystack, but Matt was determined that they wouldn't fail in this venture. As they kept on walking, they stared in multiple directions trying to discern one face from another, but it looked bleak. Matt looked a couple of blocks down and saw the residential 7/11 mart, which was always open. In his anxiety, Matt fished out a cigarette and lit it up. Then, he heard it. A familiar song. Nothing just anyone would recognize. It wasn't one of those main stream songs. It wasn't Japanese. It was only Matt's. He had written so many years before. The only one who could possibly know that song, had to be him. Matt spun ninety degrees to his left to see a large billboard with the band Red Sky clearly advertised upon it. But that's not what caught his attention. It was the man sitting under the billboard, with a guitar in hand and his case on the ground, accepting change. He sat there and slowly strummed the guitar for all the passerby.

Noriko hadn't noticed that Matt had stopped and was ready to continue onwards, when she also stopped, not finding his presence near her. She tracked her way back a bit and saw that he was preoccupied looking at another foreigner sitting on the sidewalk with guitar in hand. Leather jacket, ripped up pants, chains connecting pockets, and a cigarette in his mouth gave her all the clues she needed to figure out what Matt had stopped for. (That's him, right?) She questioned quickly, but heard no response.

Matt regained a bit of his composure and started crossing the street towards the performer. "Dan... I'm sorry..." were the only words that he could utter as he approached the musician.

Dan stopped the strings on his guitar from emitting another sound and looked up towards the approaching man. He then gestured upwards with his thumb, to the billboard above him. "Who are these Red Sky?" he asked, as the billboard had really piqued his interest.

"They're a band..." replied Matt somewhat hesitantly, "How long have you been waiting?"

"I want to hear their sound." Dan replied, completely ignoring Matt's question.

"Look, I'm sorry man! I totally forgot that it was today and that's no excuse, I know, but..."

"It doesn't matter... let me hear them." Dan cut him off.

"What is it about them that's suddenly got you so interested?" Matt inquired, as he was a bit perplexed as to why Dan had chosen this particular band out of all the bands he could have potentially discovered. "Their vocalist is not Japanese... Figured I could relate." Dan replied, though Matt thought the answer was a bit half-ass.

"Oh.. um.. I don't have any of their CDs, but my girlfriend might..." He motioned towards Noriko, who was standing a few steps behind him, quietly observing the situation. "They're kind of a pop band, so I haven't really been following them closely, though as you say, their vocalist is indeed foreign, or to be more precise, American."

Dan got up at those words and walked past Matt, towards Noriko, who was a bit apprehensive about his approach. "How's it going? My name is Dan, and your boyfriend is a total jackass, pardon my French."

She was a bit taken aback at his words, but quickly replied in a slightly broken English, "Hello, my name is Noriko."

"Anyway.. let's go get a drink. I hear it's on the jackass..." Dan jokingly motioned towards Matt as all three of them walked off from the corner.

* * *

The dance floor was still loudly shaking underneath the manager's office in Club G-Prix, located in a hot nightspot in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. The two men stood looking onwards into the crowd. The taller man, with long black hair, a debonair face -- tall and handsome with a silk shirt and styled black pants, was Seiji Nakamura, the lead guitarist of the newly burgeoning band, Red Sky. He had a very serious personality and showed that to his fans, at all times, as his image.

The band's music was very much a pop sound and helped take them to the accolades they had received, but Seiji was never satisfied with the status quo. Now standing with his band's manager, Ikeda Takeharo, they were discussing the future and the risks that Seiji felt the band would need to take in order to survive the dog eat dog world of musical entertainment. Seiji was smart with planning. He had been the leader of the band from the start and knew how to use everyone to their fullest potential, in order to achieve greatest success. So he knew that, even if this was something that he didn't fully believe in, he could at least use it to propel the band even further forward. The one major opponent to his way of running the band, was their bassist, Ken Matsumoto. Ken was about the pure music; he was about playing what feels right. Completely not a business man, with no sense of the greater picture. At least that was what Seiji felt. They may have been considered friends at one time, but business was not about friendship. So while Ken was fine with what the band was doing and not willing to change the image to fit that of a greatly maturing audience, he was becoming of no use to Seiji, who had more of "punk" leaning. There was risk of course. But where there's risk, there's typically reward as well. That was what Seiji was battling with.

The other two members of the band fully relied on Seiji's decisions and wouldn't really question him on business matters, but he knew that ultimately, they'd need to agree to the new change he would be bringing. He wasn't too worried about Keisuke, but Christina could be a tough one to convince. Though unlike Ken, she was irreplaceable for the plan that Seiji had in mind.

Ikeda looked at him curiously, (So, that's it then? That's what you think would work best for the company... and the band?)

(As I've said, I think we need to take this risk. We'd abandon a certain audience, I'm sure, but I think we could convert some to our new type of music and maybe gain a further audience that could take us further and out of Japan.) Seiji answered.

(This is punk we're talking about though... What exactly do you plan to do about Ken? I don't even know if the guy wants to try something like that.) Ikeda questioned.

(I've been thinking about this for a while now and no matter which way I look at it, I can't see Ken in the picture. We need to find the image of our band and that'll come from Christina's vocals and a new bassist. I want to find someone and that means that Ken will have to be out of the frame.) he responded.

(That's a cutthroat attitude no doubt, but this could be tough for us to just fire him... We need to make this look like a mutual parting, if you really want to go through with this.)

(Why don't you let me think of that, manager. Meanwhile, how do you think we can go about finding a good new bassist?)

(Hmm... well, Saikou Records is running a battle of the bands competition around a few Tokyo landmark spots, so there's a possibility that we could find someone at one of those.)

(That's not a bad idea.) Seiji thought to himself, (I'll personally come along to check some of these out. I hope you don't mind helping me out.)

(I don't know if that's such a good idea... You are still a popular band and people will recognize you.)

(Don't worry, manager, I'll make sure to go incognito.) Seiji chuckled.

(Don't treat this matter lightly... and remember, this better work out for the company first and foremost. The band is second.) Ikeda threatened.

(Of course, manager.)

"I won't allow you to pick just anyone, Sei..." a female voice trailed in from behind the two men. "If you really want this new sound to work for us, he better be able to keep up with me." she continued.

"Of course, Chris... I wouldn't think of it any other way. How much of our conversation did you overhear?"

"Enough to know that we're short a bassist and that I'm going to be the vocalist of a punk band now."

"So pretty much all of it. How do you feel about it?" Seiji inquired.

"I could care less... As long as we make something beautiful, it's all I care about. So as long as your new plan doesn't compromise our sound, I'm fine with whatever. I'm sure Kei won't care either, he just loves banging on those drums to his heart's content."

Christina slowly emerged into the room. She was definitely not Japanese, as could be clearly seen from her appearance and dress. She wore a pair of jeans and a black halter top. Her blond hair was tied into a pony tail behind her and she had a pair of stylish sunglasses on, inside the bar, even though it was very dark. Some would say that she looked like a typical American, perhaps a model, but she was actually from England, though you couldn't tell, considering she didn't exhibit any sort of a British accent. The one undeniable truth was that she was beautiful and part of the reason that the image of their band succeeded so much.

(Well, if that's how you two feel then I'll talk with some people tomorrow and we can start taking a listen to some of these bands out there. See if we can't pick some new sound for you folks. Christine, can't you speak in Japanese, please? I have enough trouble trying to follow you as it is.)

She smiled cautiously at their manager and flipped him off. Then turned around and walked out of the room.

(I'm sorry about that, manager...) Seiji tried to cover for her. (Sometimes I can't tell what she's thinking. Though she has a point. Well then, I'll be counting on you.) Seiji shook hands with Ikeda and exited the room as well, quickly slipping out of the club, without getting noticed.

With this, certain events were set into motion that would involve some key figures and bring certain new successes to the newly developing band, Red Sky.

* * *

"You know Matt... I've come here for a reason." Dan said, as he stared distantly, past his long time friend, at a muffled television in the back of the bar. "I got out of there because there's too much to hold me back... I can't keep working those menial part time jobs and I don't have the education to work the nine-to-five days either... nor would I want to." He took another drink of his beer and put down the next empty bottle. "I need to play music. More importantly, I need a new start. Somewhere that nobody knows anything about me. Where I can make myself whatever it is that I want to be."

Matt listened closely to what his old band mate was expounding upon. He listened and took note of what Dan was trying to get across. Matt had finished college only two years earlier and went out to Japan to teach English in the schools, but his ultimate goal, what he had studied for in school, was to become an engineer. What better place than Japan to become one though? Always on the cutting edge, always so vibrant, and always so traditional. This place had grown on him, so much so, that he was willing to do anything to just remain there.

"So then, what do you want to do? How do you want to approach it?" Matt finally spoke up.

Dan folded his arms and sat back a bit, leaning his chair backwards. "I was hoping you might have something? You been keeping up with music at all? Playing? Singing? Writing?" Dan inquired, in hopes of some positive feedback.

Matt shook his head, "None really... I met a guy who's a pretty good drummer out here... and we played a bit, a while back, but we haven't done anything really since then."

Dan was a bit disappointed at the response and quickly ordered another bottle of beer, with Matt protesting slightly. "Are you still into it at all? Do you still have a desire to perform?" Dan asked.

"I'd do it again, I guess. But what are we going to do?"

"Um... excuse me guys, but what about this?" Noriko piped in with a piece of paper in her hand that she had ripped off the wall next to them. The paper read, "SAIKOU RECORDS PROUDLY PRESENTS: BATTLE OF THE BANDS - TOKYO", which actually read in bold English letters. It had more text in Japanese about contact information and the general description of when and where, but Dan didn't really need to listen or read anymore of it.

"Call your drummer... we're doing it." Dan quietly said, trying to hide his excitement. "Noriko, you're the best! Wanna dump this guy and come hang out with me?" Dan teased at Matt, who seemed a little taken aback by the speed of the situation.

"Hey, you little shit! You're livin' with me for the near future, so don't be makin' an enemy out of your savior!" Matt retorted with his own humor.