Chapter 18: The Festival Draws Near!
The last bell of the day rings, also signaling the beginning of the weekend for us.
"Hey did you text Hamada to see if they were still coming right after school?" Frank asked me as we stood up from our seats.
"Yeah I did earlier this morning. They said to go and meet em outside of the music room since they apparently leave all their equipment in there anyway."
"They're just grabbing the bass, the guitar and the amps right?"
I nod my head as Frank and I begin making our way to said meeting spot. "Yeah, I told them we already had two mics, so no need for them to bring one."
After a short walk, Frank and I arrive at the music room and meet up with Motou and Hamada. We exchange our quick 'hellos' and 'what ups' and begin walking the equipment out the back door of the music room, which actually leads close to the back of the parking lot.
"You know, I've actually never asked. Do either of you guys drive?" I said, turning towards Hamada and Motou.
"Yeah, we both do." Hamada answered, setting down one of the amps as he shut the door to the music room.
"What made you ask that?" Motou asked with a hint of curiosity.
"Well I asked because when I look back on that time you guys first came to our place, you came in your friend's van or whatever. I was just curious because I've never seen you guys pull up here in any vehicle. You're are always walking it seems."
Motou just snickers a bit at my statement. "Well yeah, that's cause we live right outside of Akihabara."
I raise in eye in surprise as Frank glances over at me. I'm pretty sure we were both thinking the same thing.
"Uh, isn't that like almost two hours from here?" Frank asked in clear confusion.
"You guys ever heard of bullet trains?" Hamada said, almost as if he was asking a dumb question himself.
"Well yeah but, are they actually that fast?"
"I'll put it to you this way Frank. Hamada and I driving here would take, as you said, about two hours. Bullet train? We get here in about 25 minutes."
"Get the hell outta here. That fast?" Frank asked out of surprise.
Motou just nods proudly and smiles. "Yup. They're that fast.
"Holy crap, that's insane. So...I guess that means you guys are riding with us back to our place then?" I asked them.
"If you don't mind then sure, that sounds-"
All of a sudden the back door to the music club burst open rather loudy, revealing Ina and Akira.
"Hey hey there you guys...are?"
Once Akira had caught wind of Frank and I along with the music equipment, a clear expression of confusion had strewn across her face.
"What...are you guys doing?" She asked.
"We're fixing to head to Frank and I's place with your brothers here. Got some practicing to do for the festival next weekend and all."
"Yup, only got a week left so we're about to start grinding this out as much as possible!" Frank said, heaving a bit at the end of his sentence as he lifted Hamada's big amp into his trunk.
"Holy shit that actually fit in your trunk." I said with a bit of surprise.
"Yup, just as surprised as you actually." Frank replied, shutting his trunk after loading half of the equipment into it.
I begin loading the rest of the stuff into my trunk, which was thankfully a little bigger and easier to work with.
"Alright, all set." I said, shutting my trunk when I had finished.
I walk back over towards the girls and their brothers, who had still been talking amongst each other by the back door of the music club still.
"You ready to go guys?" I asked the brothers in particular.
Motou just lets out a small sigh as if something had been bothering him.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"Well...these two were-"
Akira quickly jumped in front of him before he could finish. "We were wondering if it's okay with you two that we tag along and come watch you guys practice for a little while!"
Motou lets out a little annoyed grunt after being interrupted, but Akira paid him no mind whatsoever. You could definitely tell that they were brother and sister.
Frank and I both looked to one another and shrugged.
"I don't see why not. I can fit four people in my car. Frank and the other person could fit in his."
"I call shotgun with Frank!" Ina shouted out playfully.
Hamada just shoots her an unamused glare.
"You do know, there is literally ONLY shotgun in his car...it's a two seater."
Ina shrugs her shoulders and smiles devilishly at her brother. "I guess you snooze you lose there bro."
"Nah, my stuff is in his trunk, therefore that's the car I'm riding in. Tough luck kid." He said proudly, walking over to Frank's car and hopping in the passenger seat.
Ina lets out a little grunt and purses her lip in a sort of pouty way. "That's not cool."
Hamada raises an eye at her and folds his arms with a grin.
"Why what's wrong? You wanna be alone with Frank that bad? Heheheh."
Although he was clearly joking with her, her face had stricken a fierce shade of crimson before she quickly turned towards my car and pointed at it.
"Hey you're right, I'll just ride with Akira in Hayden's car, good idea bro!" She said nervously before quickly hopping into my car.
Frank just chuckled a bit at the scene before getting into his car finally.
The rest of us followed shortly behind, piling into my car and heading towards our place together.
Once we had arrived, I quickly went inside to open the garage for us all to unload everything and set up.
Once we had done so, we had begun our awaited practice.
Frank and I had made a little potential song list a few days before with some songs that would be good for us to try out. We must have spent about two and a half to three hours in that garage and even with that, we only practiced about half of the list.
"Well." I said, finally taking my guitar from my shoulders and stretching a bit. "You guys about ready to call it quits for the day? It's already past 7."
Motou and Hamada both nod before removing their guitars from their shoulders as well.
"Whoo...I'd say. My ears are ringing." Akira said, digging in her left ear.
I glance back over my shoulder at her playfully after walking back into the apartment with them all following.
"What, you tryna say our music sucks?"
She frantically throws her hands up and shakes her head in a bit of a nervous panic. "Wait what, nonono I didn't mean-"
"Dude...I'm kidding." I said, walking over to the fridge. "I know you meant that it's just loud. Plus we were in there for a while. My ears are probably ringing worse than yours."
She lets out a little playful grunt and smiles. "Ya jerk."
I chuckle to myself as I grab a sprite and toss it over to Frank, who had already been prepared for it.
"Any of you guys wan't something to drink? Got sprite, coke, water, matcha tea and oolong."
Motou and Hamada look to one another briefly and fold their arms disbelievingly.
"I swear you two have to be half japanese." Motou said, shaking his head as he snickered. "Oolong sounds good to me."
"Gotcha." I said, tossing him the bottle, which he catches swiftly.
"Either that or they're just adjusting to the lifestyle and fitting in fairly well. Same for me on the drink if you don't mind Hayden."
Hamada was always a little more reserved as a person when it came to manners from what I could see.
I toss him the next bottle of oolong from the fridge before turning to the girls.
"And for you two?"
"Coke please!" Ina replied as she finally sat at the bar.
"I'll just take a water." Akira said, taking a seat next to Ina at the bar. "Trying to watch my calorie intake and all."
Frank and I both glance at each other with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh...calorie intake?" Frank asked in confusion.
"If anything, I'd say you don't have to worry about that too much, you're already pretty skinny from what I can see." I stated matter of factly.
"Well now, yeah. Took a lot of hard work to get there though." She said, thanking me as I handed her and Ina their drinks.
"Now?" Frank asked, even more confused than before.
She just nodded and smiled. "I used to be overweight. Like...pretty badly actually."
"Really?" I asked, leaning against the counter, now intruiged by her story.
"Yeah, cause all you used to do is sit in your room and binge watch anime or play video games all day while you ate junk food." Motou said, sipping his tea nonchalantly.
Akira shoots him a pretty annoyed glare. "Yeah thanks for the input."
"Anytime." He said, sarchastically raising his bottle up towards her.
Akira lets out a defeated sigh before continuing. "Anyways, my dumbass brother isn't lying. I used to do that stuff all day."
"Aw come on, I seriously doubt you could be worse than me and Frank. Especially with video gam-"
"I'd be willing to bet that I was worse. ESPECIALLY with video games" She said, sipping at her water as she chuckled at her own statement.
Frank and I look to one another and grin.
"Care to wager that bet then?" I asked proudly.
She looks at me and folds her arms a bit cockily. "Oh, you're challenging me? Sure you wanna wager this Hayden?"
"Name your game then, and we'll see."
"Hmph. Guitar hero?"
As soon as she said that name, Frank and I's faces lit up like christmas.
I let out a little confident chuckle, maybe even a little too cocky for me. "Bad choice there bucko. You just sealed your fate."
"Oh really? And if you lose?" She asked, not even close to backing down.
"If I lose, I'll do whatever you say."
She hops down off of the barstool and takes a step closer to me. "Annnnyyyything you say?"
Although I'm usually very confident in playing guitar hero, I was a little worried at the tone that she had used in the way that she said it. Nonetheless it was already too late for me to back down now.
"Y...yes?" I said, somewhat second guessing my descision.
"Deal! And If you win I'll do whatever you say."
"Hmm, okay that's fair then. You got a deal." I said, shaking her hand. "But first, I'm starving."
Frank nods his head furiously after placing his phone back into his pocket. "Yup me too. I actually just got finished texting Aoi to see if he and the girls all wanted to come over to hang out and eat with us."
After a few seconds, Frank's phone had went off in his pocket.
"That's prolly him now." He said, pulling his phone back out to check it.
"Got a little party goin on over there eh?"
"Nah man, just practicing for the festival with Motou and Hamada."
"Oh, Ina and Akira ended up tagging along with them too."
"Did you know they were friggin siblings?"
"I didn't actually haha."
"But yeah, as good as that sounds, I'm afraid we won't be able to. We're probably gonna be here in soaring club all the way until the school grounds close."
"Who's included in that 'we'?"
"Me, Kotori, Kanako, Ageha, Hotaru and Amane. Whole club is pretty much here."
"Ah I gotcha."
"Was asking that cause the next person I was gonna text was Kanako, but it's cool."
"My bad man. Rain check?"
"Of course, just let Hayden or I know and we'll plan something."
"Tell everyone we said hey."
"You got it."
Frank lets out a bit of a disappointed sigh before placing his phone back into his pocket again.
"What's up?" I asked, tilting my head to the side a bit.
"No go on any of them coming. They're all still at school in soar-uhh...that...thing they've been doing." Frank luckily caught himself mid sentence before blowing thier cover.
"Right then." I said, turning back towards everyone else. "Well then, you guys wanna order something? Or Frank and I could cook. Don't matter to me, guest's choice."
"As nice as that sounds, we actually probably should get going. It's already almost 8, and our parents are kinda strict about her and I getting home late." Motou said, pointing back at his sister. "Unless one of us actually plans on sleeping out somewhere."
Akira suddenly smiles like she has an idea before quickly pulling her phone out and dialing a number.
"Aw that sucks. I kinda wanted to play guitar hero too." Hamada said, a bit disappointed now.
"I mean you and Ina could stay behind, you're parents aren't half as strict as Akira and I's."
Hamada threw his bag over his shoulder with a little heave. "Yeah that's true too, but I don't want to leave you guys behind or anything. Plus we always catch the train home together anyway."
Motou shrugs his shoulders, grabbing his bag as well. "Well, that's fine then. I guess we'll be heading-"
[Hey mom!]
All of a sudden, Akira blurted something out in Japanese. It was only until then that we had all realised that she had been on the phone.
[Akira-Chan? Where are you and your brother?]
[Were at some friends from school's house. Ina and Hamada are here with us too.]
[I see. Will you be heading home soon then? It's getting pretty-]
[Actually mom, that's what I was calling about.]
[Hm?]
[If they say it's okay, would you mind if my brother and I stay at their place?]
[Hmm...so that's what you were calling for then.]
[Uhuh!]
[I see...well, I don't see any harm in it as long as they don't mind.]
[Awesome! Thanks Mom love you!]
With that, she finally hangs up the phone with a smile.
Frank and I had caught a few bits and pieces of the easy words, but couldn't really make most of it out in general.
"That your Mom?" I asked. "Pretty sure I heard you say Mom."
"Mhm." Akira said with a grin.
"I heard something in there about sleeping too I think?"
"That's right." She said, still grinning.
"You know it's kinda rude that you didn't ask these two first here Akira." Motou retorted.
"Ahah...right, I'm sorry about that." She bowed apologetically.
"Wait, ask us...what?" Frank asked, just as confused as I had been.
All of a sudden, Akira looks back up towards Frank and I.
"I asked my mom if Motou and I could spend the night here! I-If that's okay with you two...of course."
Frank and I both look to one another and shrug.
"I don't see any problem with that." I said.
"Me neither. Hey, now you two CAN play guitar hero."
I let out a little proud chuckle and nod. "You got that right. Hope you're ready Akira."
"I should probably say the same to you and...oh, wait. You guys are gonna stay too right?" She asked, turning towards Ina in particular.
"Yup, just texted my Mom and she said it was fine." Ina said, phone still in hand.
"Guess it's a good thing we always got extra clothes huh?" Motou said, placing his backpack back down on the ground.
"Well yeah, we always stay at each others places anyway." Hamada said, setting his bag next to Motou's.
"Yup, Ina and I always bring extra too. Never know when you'll need it."
All of a sudden, Akira turns to me and smirks.
"What?" I asked her.
"You okay with two girls in your shower tonight hm?"
I could tell that she had been trying to get some sort of embarrased reaction out of me, but it didn't work out so much in her favor. It had actually turned tables for her once I had retorted back.
"Yeah why wouldn't we? Last weekend we had three different girls in it."
As soon as I had finished that statement, everyone in the room's jaw had hit the ground. Everyone except Frank of course.
Akira just raised an eye at me quite disbelievingly.
"Y...you did?" She asked nervously.
"Well, yeah." I simply stated.
"Wait, who?" Ina asked, now just as intrigued.
"Well last weekend, Kanako, Hotaru and Ageha all stayed the night after we hung out that day. Kinda like they would have tonight if they woulda tagged along too."
"Ohh duh! That makes sense." Akira blurted, sighing heavily afterwards.
"Why did you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?"
"You sighed like you were relieved or something."
"Well, kinda I guess? I already knew you guys were close to them. They've made that quite known when we talk to them at school."
"They do?" Frank suddenly asked.
"Mhm. Kanako and Hotaru were actually hanging around us at lunch today." Akira responded.
"That's cool, I didn't even know you guys were friends like that really."
"Well, we had always sort of talked to Ageha since we sat in front of her in class for a while now, but we just recently started talking to Kanako and Hotaru more because of her being around them all the time."
"That makes sense." I said.
All of a sudden Akira got closer to Ina and began to whisper in her ear.
"Hey should we just tell them flat out what Kanako and Hotaru said the other day?"
Ina's eyes grew wider as she shook her head.
"Nonono, we can't do that. They told us to help them out remember? Not blurt it out."
"Tch, I mean what's the difference? Whether we help them out from the side or just flat out tell Hayden and Frank, they're still gonna find out that Hotaru and Kanako like-"
"Oh hey, speak of the devil." I said, pulling out my phone which had just begun vibrating.
'1 new message-Hotie' the screen read.
I flick my screen to the right to open it.
"Ina and Akira are over there?"
"Huh. Guess Aoi told them."
"Yeah they are."
"Awww...the one night we can't come!"
"Yeah haha, unfortunately."
About a minute passes by and all of a sudden my phone starts ringing.
"Hmm? She's calling me now?" I thought to myself
"Hey Hotie, what's-"
"Hey did...did those two say anything...about me?"
For whatever reason, it sounded like Hotaru was a bit distraught.
"Huh? Oh, you mean like how they've been talking to you guys more lately or whatever?"
"...Is that all they said?"
"I mean...yeah? Was there supposed to be something else?"
I could hear a faint sigh on the other end before she finally responed.
"No that was all really."
"Oh okay gotcha. What made you call me all of a sudden?"
"Because I wanted to hear your v-"
Suddenly Hotaru stops mid sentence and goes silent.
"I-I mean...I just was sad we couldn't hang out. Yeah!"
"Ooookay...I mean, yeah we are too but it's alright. You guys can come hang tomorrow if you want since they'll still be with us."
"Yeah that sounds...wait, what do you mean still?"
"Oh they're spending the night here."
Little did I know at the time, but that was quite possibly the worst thing that I could have said.
"O-Oh...I see."
All of a sudden, Hotaru's usual giddy and carefree tone had completely disappeared.
"Yeeeah...you alright Hotie? You sound different."
"Yeah...I...I'm fine."
"O...kay. Well yeah, like I said they'll all be spending the night and we're all hanging out tomorrow too for more festival practice and all."
"All? Wait...are they not the only ones there?"
"No? Ina, Akira, Motou and Hamada are all here. I mentioned that to Aoi earlier when I called him."
"Oh...I didn't know. Heheh...well that's better then."
I raise an eye at her little off comment.
"What's better?"
"Uh..um..o-oh, what's that Aoi? You need my help? Okay coming!"
"Hotie? What did you mean by-"
"I'll text you later okay? Bye!"
*click*
"W...what the heck man." I said, chuckling to myself afterwards. "She's so goofy sometimes."
"Oh lord. Can we please just go get food now loverboy?" Frank said playfully, already grabbing his car keys.
"Why you always got something to say? You can't ever just leave me be can you?"
"Nope, you're my best friend so that's impossible."
I just let out a long sigh and grab my car keys as well.
"Just go get in the goddamn car please."
The others all share a laugh at Frank and I's bickering before following us outside.
After a quick trip to the store and a few groceries later, we headed back to our place to cook, Frank and I specifically of course.
We had decided on hamburgers ironically, even though the whole time we were at the store, Akira kept saying she wanted to see how Japanese we were when it came to cooking.
Of course, hamburgers were much more in Frank and I's play area since...well, obviously since were americans.
"Wow, these are really good guys. Thumbs up from me!" Akira said, literally giving a thumbs up before chowing back down into the hamburger.
"Yeah no kidding, these are top notch." Motou added along.
"Thanks guys. But I mean, hamburgers and steaks are kind of our specialties anyway. One day you guys should come hang with all of us when Aoi cooks. He's got that shit down packed." I said, taking a bite of the juicy burger.
Once we had all finished eating, the time to settle our little bet was finally upon us.
"So, ready to lose Hayden?" Akira said with a cocky smirk.
"In your dreams kid. Lets do this."
I turn on my pc and start up the game after her and I each strap a guitar around us. Needless to say when we had first started, I had the utmost confidence since Frank and I actually haven't ever been beaten before, save for the times we would sometimes beat one another.
But after we had made a song selection and both selected expert difficulty, shortly after doing so, I had realized that maybe I had spoke too soon.
Akira had not only beaten me, but she literally didn't miss a single note. Literally 100% notes hit. I had only gotten 94%.
I let out a long sigh and take the guitar from my shoulders, defeated.
"Well...I'm sincerely impressed. You're the first person to ever beat me, but you didn't just beat me...ya flat out shit on me."
Akira smiles and fist pumps victoriously before facing me with her arms folded proudly.
"Know what that means?"
"Haaaa...yes, yes I do. Alright, do your worst I can take it. What you gonna do? Ask me to eat a worm? Make me wear a dress? Come onnn, I can take whatever you-"
Suddenly she points at me, almost directly in my face at that.
"You...are gonna take me out on a date tomorrow after you all have band practice."
Us four guys all glanced at one another several times to make sure we had all heard right.
My eyes had grown three times wider after I had realized that she had actually just said that.
"Huh?...HUUUUUUH?!"