Hisako Part 3
Hisako and Yui were preparing to leave with Reika and Shimizu to attend their next scheduled performance in Osaka. Yui, however, notices Hisako's conflicted look.
"You still can't stop thinking about Girls Demo, huh?" Yui puts her hand on Hisako's shoulder.
"I can't help, but have this feeling that I betrayed them, even though I didn't want to."
"You can't blame yourself for this. Nobody would have ever known where anyone would go and end up once they pass on. I miss Girls Dead Monster to, they were my main inspiration when we form the band we have now."
Reika and Shimizu are also feeling concerned for Hisako after she and Yui told them what happened as they explored the city.
"Seeing them again makes me really want to go back, but I can't leave you girls like that, you three are also my friends."
Reika and Shimizu stare at each other briefly and both nodded in some sort of agreement.
Reika approaches Hisako. "You know, some artist can actually work with two bands if they want to, but that is only if they can handle the stress."
Hisako immediately stands up with a surprised look on her face. "Wait, musicians can do that?"
"Correct." Shimizu responded. "Yeah, I was once at this Sad Machine concert and the lead singer reveals that he formed a new band while still working with his original. He manages to successfully divide time needed for both bands, including recording time. A lot of bands do this, maybe you should to if you miss your friends this much."
Hisako gave herself time to think, as she feels unsure about the stress that will follow working with two bands.
"Hmm, I guess that could work. Alright, I will do it, but first we got to finish this tour." Hisako grabs her luggage and headed to the tour bus parked outside the hotel they were staying at.
Yui suddenly became concerned herself. "Wait, what would our manager think of Hisako working with two bands."
Reika smiles. "Don't worry, this isn't the first time that he works with a band whose members form their own. He worked with quite a few bands, but most of them broke up or decided to take a hiatus for personal reasons before coming to us. We just need to tell him and I am sure he will be interested in working with them if he is impressed by how they play. I just hope that he can work out with Girls Dead Monster's manager."
"I know Otonashi, so I am sure he can." Yui immediately heads for the bus excited as Reika and Shimizu follow.
Back in the tour bus, Hisako stares at the window looking up in the morning sky.
"Don't worry Iwasawa, I will be back with you soon." She then turns to the rest of the band.
"So what do you girls want to do once we reach Osaka?"
The girls immediately made a list on what they want to do during their free time there with Yui smiling at Hisako.
Meanwhile in Iwasawa's apartment, the rest of Girls Dead Monster are currently working on the rhythms of their previous songs to match the style of their new line up with Iwasawa now being the only guitarist.
They played Crow Song in a slightly different arrangement and were impressed by how it worked out.
"So Yuzuru, what do you think?" Iwasawa asked Otonashi, who was monitoring the band's attempt to change their style.
"Very good, although it isn't better than the original version, it hums along quite nicely."
"Thanks, I wanted to at least make sure that the new style would be just as good as the original if not better." Iwasawa takes off her guitar.
Irie and Hisako, however, are in a state of shock. Iwasawa turns around and notice this.
"Is there something wrong? You two seemed surprised about something."
Sekine attempts to speak as she stutters. "You, you called Otonashi by his first name."
Otonashi and Iwasawa got completely embarrassed as they forgot to tell Irie and Sekine about their new relationship with each other.
"Does that mean you two are together?" Irie continues to stutter as she speaks.
"Yes, both me and Yuzuru are currently together. Sorry we forgot to tell you."
"I can't believe it. Does that mean you two have kissed also?"
"Sekine!" Iwasawa's face has turned even redder along with Otonashi's, knowing that Sekine was straight on with her question.
"On to other business then." Iwasawa changes the subject. "I feel bad about doing this, but if we are going to become a professional band, we are going to have to quit our personal jobs we already have when we first came back."
"Don't worry Masami, Aoki had already announced our resignation and the restaurant is now hiring." Otonashi responded.
"Budget cuts to the day care near where I live forced me to get laid off." Sekine announced.
Irie becomes disappointed. "No fair, I still have to attend school while you guys go on tour."
Iwasawa laughed. "Don't worry Irie, our record label promised to bring a certified teacher to you during our tours so you can still finish school."
Irie wasn't too enthusiastic about it, but at the same time, wasn't too against it.
Otonashi's cell phone suddenly rang and turns his back for a moment to answer it. "Yes? Sounds great. Thank you. See you then." Otonashi hangs up.
"Yuzuru, who was that?"
"Oh, that was the manager of a night club I attempted to book you girls in. He accepted Girls Dead Monster as part of his booking. We are also hired to play at a local animation convention and at the Hanami festival (Cherry Blossom Festival) coming in a few days."
Everyone becomes excited, including Iwasawa, although she was the calmest besides Otonashi.
"Good job Yuzuru. Not only playing at these events will make a good start for us, it will also help us see what the audience with think about our music."
At the night club, both Otonashi and the band weren't sure about playing here since this is the first time they have been to a night club, but because they were already scheduled to play, they ignore most of their worries and began doing what they were hired to do.
Although they sound a bit different playing their original songs with only three members, the audience and the manager met their performance with positive reception. He asked them to perform for another night in the club. The band politely refused due to their schedule, but promises to mention the club as part of the road to their stardom. The manager of the club wishes them good luck.
As they head back to their respective apartments, Girls Dead Monster's well-received performance caused them to become excited for tomorrow's concert at a local animation convention in a hotel about an hour walk from Sekine's apartment.
Excited, Sekine begins jumping as she walks. "All right! Girls Demo may only have three members now, but the ovation we got from the night club proves that we haven't lost too much of our edge."
Iwasawa smiled at Sekine. "Seems like whether we have four or three members, the audience won't care as long as we still sound good. We've already seen that when we played earlier and I am hoping that the same effort will be placed on tomorrow's concert."
"I believe that that Girls Dead Monster will succeed indefinitely if they continue to perform like this." Otonashi responded.
Irie smiled. "Indeed."
The next day, the group was almost late to the convention due to them being mistaken as attendees instead of guests. Luckily, one of the staff recognizes them and let them in.
Sekine was a bit frustrated by the event. "Jeez, I can't believe they didn't recognize that we were one of the performers for the scheduled concert and we were almost late because of them."
Irie calms Sekine. "It's okay Sekine. Even if we are late, the staff would have made changes to make sure we perform since no one else took our spot."
"Come on. We only have 20 minutes before the concert starts so we have to prepare." Otonashi interrupts.
The group heads backstage to set up.
Although the band was suppose to play cover songs for the concert, they were also allowed to play some of their original songs with approval from the host, which the girls immediately accept.
Once they first started performing, only half of the audience seats were taken since they don't really know the band, but attendance gradually increased as they continue playing and more and more people took interest. As they reach the third song, all the seats were filled up as the audience cheers loudly as they learn to appreciate their music. Once they finished, the band was left exhausted, but all admitted that they had fun performing in front of the biggest crowd they ever had since returning back to living.
Although the band's most important concert is tomorrow at the Hanami festival, everyone seemed confident about the event since their last two concerts were met with success, but Iwasawa seems to have another idea in mind for the festival and stares at Otonashi as she thinks.
"Hey Yuzuru."
"Yes? What is it Masami?"
"Do you think we can celebrate the festival after the concert?"
"We should be. The host of the concert said that one of the benefits of performing in the festival includes having fun after. I don't know about you, but I am sure the rest of us are ready to have fun."
"Then I want to have fun too." Iwasawa and Otonashi smiled at each other while Irie and Sekine just curiously watched.
Back at the apartment, Iwasawa opens her closet and takes out a pink komon kimono with patterns of flowers that has apparently been inside for a very long time. She faces the mirror and puts her kimono in front of her. Satisfied with the appearance, she puts her kimono in her bag and plans to change into it after the concert tomorrow in hopes of surprising Otonashi. The other members of Girls Dead Monster and Otonashi did not meet her enthusiasm of the festival as they are more focused on the concert rather then having fun, although Otonashi hopes that the girls have fun in the festival.
The next day in the Hanami festival, almost the entire area was crowded with people celebrating the event. In the concert area, the equipment are still being put to place as the scheduled performers get ready. Iwasawa hid her bag under some of the sound equipment to prevent anyone from finding out her surprise to Otonashi and grabs her guitar as they prepare to perform in their most important concert as of yet.
Because the concerts were happening in such a quick time, the girls did not figure what songs to play for this concert, but were not discouraged due to the confidence gained from the previous nights performing. They eventually settled with some of the songs they played yesterday in the convention and the nightclub the day before.
After they performed their selected songs, the large crowd demanded an encore, but the girls are out of ideas on what to play. Otonashi comes to the backstage to see Iwasawa.
"Yuzuru, the crowd wants us to do one more performance, but we already played our selected songs. We did not rehearse for the others."
"Then give it to them. I still know one more song that you are good at no matter how long ago you last played it, because its also your most important one."
Iwasawa understands what Otonashi is suggesting. "You are saying that Girls Demo should play My Song?"
"I would like to hear that again if you don't mind. It really creates an influence on me back in the afterlife to keep moving. I want the crowd to receive that same message that the song brings. Think you could do that?"
Iwasawa kisses Otonashi on the cheek. "Now I can." She then turns to Irie and Sekine. "You girls know how to play My Song?"
Sekine nodded. "I practiced that song in my apartment after remembering how you disappeared. I think I am good enough for it."
"I was also working on the beat of that song not long after I returned to the band so lets put it together and give it a try." Irie grabs her drumsticks and heads out to the stage with the rest following.
As the girl performed a rock version of My Song, this version of the song starts to affect some of the audience the same way as it affected some of the members of the SSS due to the meaningful lyrics in the song. Some of the more emotional ones broke down in tears as the rest wave their hands up slowly as they listen. After the encore performance, the audience heavily applauded Girls Demo and signifies their satisfaction with the performance.
The concert was finally over and Iwasawa went to the girl's restroom to change while Otonashi, Irie, and Sekine enjoy the festival themselves. When Otonashi was trying to win a prize in a game booth shooting various items, Aoki, wearing a simply designed kimono bumps into him while also trying to enjoy the festival.
"I thought I would bump into you Otonashi when I saw Girls Dead Monster performing. Seems like they are doing very well with only three members."
"Hey Aoki, thanks for coming. How is the restaurant business by the way?"
"Pretty good. I was promoted to assistant manager while I was trying to hire staff to replace you and Iwasawa since you left."
"Good for you. Once I get the girls to the record label, my promise to Iwasawa would be fulfilled."
"I wish all of you good luck, but promise me that we will see each other again after all of you have made it."
"I will. See you around." Otonashi now focuses on the prizes after saying goodbye to Aoki and shoots down the most difficult target in the back that was moving back and forth. Most of the prizes were guitars and he was given a black PRS Custom guitar as the prize, which he plans to give to Iwasawa along with a cute teddy bear he won throwing rings onto the bottle.
Iwasawa came out in her pink kimono as she meets Otonashi near the game booths and as she expected, Otonashi became surprised at her change in appearance.
"So what do you think Yuzuru?" Iwasawa blushed a little.
"Wow, very beautiful." Otonashi continues to stare much to Iwasawa's embarrassment.
"So shall we go and have fun?" Iwasawa asked.
"Huh? Oh yes, of course." Otonashi comes back to his senses and prepares to enjoy the whole day with Iwasawa when she notices the guitar and teddy bear.
"Yuzuru, you started having fun before I came out?" Iwasawa becomes displeased.
"I actually tried winning these prizes for you Masami."
"What?" Iwasawa stares at her prizes and smiled.
"Thank you Yuzuru." Immediately Iwasawa becomes happy as she grabs Otonashi's arm and head towards the other booths.
They spend the whole day trying out different booths and eating at different places, one of which caused Iwasawa to immediately buy water after eating a spicy takoyaki, causing her to chase Otonashi briefly after he tricked her into trying it.
They then went to a fortune-telling booth to get some hints of their future together as a couple. The fortune teller predicts that the two will encounter some difficulties at first, but will eventually prevail at the end and continue to live happily afterwards.
Sekine and Irie went to different areas trying to enjoy the festival, but Sekine forces her to go into a simply-built haunted house which causes her to run out of the exit being chased by Sekine.
Later in the evening, Iwasawa sits down leaning her head on Otonashi's shoulders as they watched the cherry blossoms flow by the river.
"Yuzuru, think we can do this again someday?"
"I am hoping to do this with you again in the fireworks festival in the summer. It would be very beautiful to watch and enjoy together." Otonashi holds Iwasawa on the shoulder.
"Agreed." Iwasawa lifts her head up as she continues watching.
Sekine, Irie, and Aoki, who are looking forward to relax after being involved with many popular events in the festival, soon join them.
In Kyoto, Hisako prepares to take a trip back to the city where she was briefly reunited with Girls Dead Monster. Yui takes notice of this.
"Going back to Girls Demo huh?"
"I love being here with you and playing with you Yui, but…"
"You feel that you can't leave your friends." Yui finished Hisako's sentence.
"I guess you feel can't handle the stress of being with two bands huh? If that's the case, then you should go back."
"Huh?" Hisako becomes confused.
"I knew that you were considering going back ever since you reunited with Girls Demo. If this is where you feel the most comfortable, then you should go."
"But what about Alive and Well?"
"Don't worry, I will take care of that problem. For now, I will tell the band and manager about the situation and see where we can go from there." Yui smiled.
"The tour is already over anyway so we shouldn't be in too much trouble. Go to where you feel you belong."
Hisako hesitated at first, but eventually decides to let Yui handle their band. "I maybe going back to Girls Demo, but I got a feeling that we will work together again someday. I'll see you sooner than you think."
"I'll be looking forward to that when the time comes. See you later Hisako."
Hisako left the hotel as Yui watches.
This is the longest chapter I have written so far, but I probably won't keep that up in the later chapters. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, because there is still more to come.
