Chapter 2:

My Guitar is Off-Limits

The next day, Saiko was chilling on the couch in her living room talking on her phone. She had the entire house to herself, and her next gig wasn't anytime soon, so the anime girl figured she might as well check in on Turbo Artificial Rapid Intelligence—otherwise known as Tari. The one friend of Saiko's who couldn't make it to the concert. From the look on the anime girl's phone, it looked like Tari was in an African savannah. She appeared to be doing some kind of volunteer work or act of heroism, which was about right for her kind nature.

"Everyone loved us, Tari," said Saiko with pride. "We got so many autographs. We were so good, our manager booked us another gig. We're playing for a couple's wedding next time."

"I am so bummed I couldn't see you guys," said Tari, "but I just got done saving these adorable animals from those horrible poachers. Once I release them back into the wild where they belong, I'll be on my way home."

Normally, Saiko would roll her eyes at the idea of adorableness, but Tari was her friend, and she felt she should be supportive. Last night's successful concert put her in a good mood anyway.

"You're the real hero, Tari," complimented Saiko, earning a smile back from her robotic friend.

Just then, the doorbell rang, cutting their conversation short.

"Oh," said Saiko, "I've gotta get that. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye!" called Tari as the two hung up.

Saiko rushed to the front door to answer it, hoping to God it would be more fans asking for autographs.

When the anime girl answered the door, she found two teenagers—a boy and a girl who looked slightly younger than her. The girl had brown hair and was dressed with a dark blue button shirt and black skirt with white polka dots, sporting glasses and a ponytail. The boy was dressed much more aggressively, with a skull-faced T-shirt, rather old-looking jeans, and the spikiest black hair you've ever seen. Saiko didn't know why, but she didn't like where this was going.

"Who are you losers supposed to be?" she asked.

"Hi," one of them said, ignoring Saiko's insults, "I'm Senbo, and this is my girlfriend Aibo. We were at your concert last night, and we can't stop thinking about just how much we love your music. With every note and lyric, we could tell that it all came from the heart and soul. Your music really spoke to us, and it said 'life is truly worth living'. No other rock star can quite compare to you."

Throughout Senbo's praises, Saiko kept up her hardline stance with an angry glare, tapping her foot with her arms folded. He was clearly kissing her ass so it would be easier to sell her something. She may be vain, but she knew a sales trick when she saw one, and she wished these two would either get lost or get to the point.

"And you know," added Senbo, "I'm an up-and-coming musician just like you. Problem is…I come from a poor family. I mean, not 'poor' poor, but I don't have the money to buy the equipment that you use, nor do I have the talent or the audience to compete with you. We think the key to your success is that lovely guitar we saw at your concert. And I was wondering if, maybe, I could borrow it for a few days?"

The anime girl's bad premonitions were correct. It was worse than being sold something stupid. This twerp wanted to mooch off of her successful music career, starting with her guitar. Such was the price for music fame, unfortunately. She had to stop this mooching before it started. And there was only one way to do that.

"No," she said. "You can't have my guitar."

The couple were shocked by this blunt response. Senbo looked devastated, almost heartbroken, like he just lost a million dollars in the lottery, while Aibo almost looked angry at the young musician.

"Why?" asked Aibo. "Why would you say no to my Senbo?"

"Hmm…" replied Saiko sarcastically, "I'm gonna go with 'it's my guitar and I can do whatever the hell I want with it'."

"I'd take care of it," insisted Senbo.

"Yeah," said an unconvinced Saiko, "well, it's not yours to take care of. Besides, how do you know that guitar is the key to my success?"

"Because it's such a nice guitar," replied Senbo.

"That's the first thing you said I can agree with you on," said Saiko, "but the answer is still no!"

"Oh, but we need a yes," said Aibo.

"Well, you're getting a no," said Saiko.

"It's not like he wants to keep it forever," insisted a defensive Aibo. "He just wants to borrow it for a few days."

"Sure," dismissed Saiko, "first you say it's for a few days, then a few days become a few weeks. Then a few weeks become a few months. Then a few months become a few years. And by the time you're done with it, I'll be on my deathbed, wondering where I went wrong with my life. Then, before I flatline, I'll realize it was allowing your greedy little hands on my guitar!"

"I swear," assured Senbo, "it's not like that."

"You really think I'm that stupid?" asked Saiko, who was starting to lose it.

"No," insisted Senbo, "we don't think you're stupid at all. I'm much more responsible with—"

"How many times do I have to tell you no?!" she asked furiously.

"Saiko," said Aibo, ignoring her question, "he just wants to write serenades for me to show how much he loves me."

"He can prove his love for you without my guitar," replied Saiko, wanting to be done with them already, "and that is final! Now, get out of my house! You're lucky I don't kick your asses!"

And with that, the anime girl slammed the door on the disappointed couple, leaving them to walk away empty-handed.

"Well, that went poorly," grumbled Senbo as they walked.

"Hey, come on," reassured Aibo, "you don't need her to follow your music dream."

"But I do need her guitar," said Senbo. "My puny little guitar is nothing compared to hers. It's gotta be the cause for her success."

"You know," suggested Aibo, "if you want a new guitar so bad, I think I can get you a job. Viger the Magnemite is looking for help at his hardware store."

From nowhere, the bespectacled girl got out a newspaper and directed her boyfriend to the page on the want ads that was advertising for help at Viger's store. It had a nice picture of the store, a list of open positions, and an important detail mentioning that Bob was permanently banned.

"I don't want a new guitar," argued Senbo. "I want Saiko's guitar! The one with her emblem on it! You were there. You saw how awesome it looked. If I had that guitar, I'd wow everyone with my music skills in no time."

"Well, I'm afraid there's not much you can do about that," said Aibo matter-of-factly. "You know you can't break in and steal the guitar. Or do you want to get arrested by that creepy monitor guy?"

At that moment, by sheer coincidence, a police car was driving down the street, with none other than Hal Monitor himself at the wheel. The car was noticeably driving very slowly, and Mr. Monitor was eyeballing the couple suspiciously, giving his trademark perturbed face. Instinctively, they stopped walking and gave him innocent smiles with their hands behind their backs. Mr. Monitor looked suspicious, but continued on his merry way, most likely looking for more " L" activity. After which, the intimidated couple breathed a sigh of relief and resumed walking.

"I never said anything about stealing it," insisted Senbo as soon as Mr. Monitor was out of earshot. "I just want to play it. See how it feels, y'know?"

"Senbo…" Aibo started to say gently.

"I would use it to practice my serenades for you," added Senbo.

Though touched by her boyfriend's sentiment, it was clear that Aibo wanted him to take his mind off of that guitar already.

"Honey," she said, "Saiko was right about one thing. There are other ways you can prove your love for me. Just put Saiko's guitar out of your head."

After giving him another kiss on the lips, Aibo held Senbo's hand as they continued their walk home. This seemed to soften the latter's expression, making the former feel happy that she was keeping her lover out of trouble. In reality, however, Senbo still had his mind on Saiko's guitar, and how he was going to get his hands on it.

Run it through my fingers is more like it, he thought.