As Lisa played the familiar song, the bass line melding with the guitar, she remembered how great it felt when the whole band was in sync. Song I Am, which had once been new, now felt familiar, like coming home. The drums carried the beat, the guitar supported it, the piano flitted under their sound, the vocals rang clearly, and the bass glued them all together.
It had been a while, far too long in Lisa's opinion, since the band had been able to practice all together like this. Ever since the school year started, with four of the members at university, they had been struggling to meet for rehearsal.
First, their class schedules were all vastly different from each other. They didn't only have class before 3:00 pm, like they did in high school and they all attended class in different parts of the city. In addition, they had a lot of homework, additional practice, and other events outside of classes. Rinko had already missed a couple rehearsals to practice for school, with Sayo missing one as well for a late scheduled class session. With their constantly changing schedules, trying to schedule new practices was an ongoing struggle.
Today though, on this glorious Sunday, the whole band was able to make it. Yukina had a meeting thirty minutes after rehearsal ended, but that didn't matter. They were all there.
Lisa looked to her left, where Yukina stood at the mic stand. She sang as she always did, with power and control. Past her, Lisa could see Sayo. She was almost smiling, looking more content than she usually did.
They were almost at the end of their rehearsal time, after practicing quite a few of their songs. As they finished Song I Am, Yukina turned back towards the band. She nodded once, acknowledging how well they had played. Despite not rehearsing for a while, they were still the best.
"Are there any others you want to run through?" Lisa asked, drawing the others' attention to her. They could probably squeeze one more song in, though that would be cutting their end time close.
"No, I think we're done for today." Yukina replied, turning to look at Sayo for confirmation.
Sayo nodded a couple times, "Yes, this has been sufficient." In the back, Rinko stuttered out an agreement.
With that verdict, the band started to pack up. Lisa stowed her bass and zipped the case up, leaving it on the ground for a minute.
Before the band could head out, there was something they still needed to do. Lisa called for their attention again once they had all put their instruments away.
"I'm still working on scheduling rehearsal for next week." She said, noting the shift in Sayo's expression. She was frowning now, clearly displeased. Rinko looked nervous too. "I'm thinking about Wednesday in the afternoon, around 4:00. Does that work for you?" She glanced from person to person, already knowing from their expressions that it wouldn't.
"I have to be on campus that afternoon." Yukina said, crossing her arms. "Can we do it later?"
"I'll need to talk to the studio, but yeah probably." Lisa pulled out her phone to look at her calendar. "Wait, I have to work that night." So no, they couldn't practice then.
"Hmm." Yukina brought a hand up to her chin. Next to her, Sayo had her phone out as well.
"What about Friday afternoon?" Sayo asked, still with her eyes on her phone.
This time it was Rinko who objected. "I-I have classes then." She looked sheepish, like she regretted saying it.
The mood in the studio, which had been high before, felt like it had plummeted. The new semester had barely started, but they were already having so much trouble planning rehearsals. It used to be so easy, at the same time in the afternoon, but now there always seemed to be a least one member who was busy.
Roselia couldn't go a whole week without practicing. "Maybe Friday evening instead." Lisa offered, since she knew none of them had classes in the evening. "I'll talk to the studio and see what's available." She glanced around at each member, waiting for an objection. This time, none came.
"Thank you, Lisa." Yukina sounded relieved, since for once they all seemed to be available.
With that decided, the band was able to disperse. Lisa made sure she had all of her belongings as they left the practice studio together.
As they neared the front of Circle, she broke away from the group to talk with Marina. The woman was behind the counter as usual, supervising the studio.
"How was your rehearsal today?" Marina asked as Lisa approached, a beaming smile on her face as usual. Ako, Rinko, and Sayo proceeded out of the studio while Lisa talked with her. Yukina stopped near the door, turned so she could watch as Lisa bargained for a time slot.
Lisa lifted one hand in a small shooing gesture for Yukina to leave, so she wouldn't be late for her meeting. Yukina didn't budge.
"Pretty good!" Lisa gave up Yukina, turned back towards Marina, and smiled, trying to cheer herself back up. The actual rehearsal part had gone quite well. "Do you have a studio available for Friday night?"
Marina looked at her computer, typing something on the keyboard. "Let me see." She said, clicking her mouse a few times. "Hmm, the latest I can do is 3:00."
Lisa's mood collapsed back down, like a deflating balloon. "Nothing after 5:00?" She asked, just to make sure.
Marina shook her head. "No, but I have some openings on Saturday, at 11:00 am and 4:00 pm."
Lisa fought back a sigh, not wanting to show her disappointment. "I'll talk to the band."
"Alright, have a nice evening!" Marina waved enthusiastically, which Lisa returned with about half the energy. She said goodbye and then turned to walk towards the exit.
Yukina still lingered there, her lips turned in a slight frown. "Saturday might be tough." She said as Lisa reached her, moving to walk together out the door.
"Yeah, we'll make it work though." Lisa replied, far more optimistically than she felt.
Lisa wasn't sure how she was going to make this schedule work.
It was Monday now, and she was on campus for the day. She had a class in the morning, then a couple hour gap before her next one. During that time, she walked to the cafeteria to get some food and to tackle to problem of Roselia's practice schedule.
She sat alone at a table for four, with just her thoughts for company. Thinking about it like this didn't make it any easier to fix.
No, all it did was remind her that between the five of them, there was very little time available for practice. They all seemed to have overlap issues. This was just for rehearsal; she hadn't even dealt with performances yet.
Lisa pondered it as she ate her lunch, how she should proceed.
The first thing she needed was to be able to see the schedule easier. Right now, each member was chiming in when they couldn't make a practice. This was okay in the short term, but it wasn't sustainable for long term planning.
The events of yesterday's rehearsal had shown her that. If they waited too long, the few open slots they had could be unavailable at the studio.
Maybe some kind of central calendar could work? Lisa used a calendar app on her phone to keep track of her own schedule, but perhaps one could be created that stored the availability of the whole band.
Ooh, now that was an idea. It might not fix the problem, but at least it would streamline it. Lisa clicked into her calendar to see if she could create something like that. Her head was down, so she didn't notice someone approaching.
"Lisa-chii!" A familiar voice called from right next to her, far louder than necessary at that distance. "Long time no see!"
Lisa looked up, locking eyes with vibrant green ones. "Hey Hina," she acknowledged the other student with a smile.
Hina was attending the same school as Lisa, in the same program. They didn't have any classes together, since the program was quite large. As first year students though, they both took the same courses. They had already walked past each other once since the semester started, but hadn't spent any time talking.
"Mind if I join you?" Hina asked, more politely than she usually would.
"Please do." Lisa gestured towards the empty seats at her table.
Hina beamed as she claimed the chair across from Lisa, placing her cup and plate down on the table. "I'm starving!" She declared as she quickly started eating her food.
"A lot of classes this morning?" Lisa engaged her in conversation, rather than continue to dwell on her scheduling problems.
"Yup, and Pasupare practice." Hina replied between bites. She carried the same frenetic energy she always did.
Her words surprised Lisa. "You practiced in the morning?"
"Ever since uni started." Hina now twirled her utensil in her hand.
So Roselia wasn't the only band having issues with schedules. "I see." Lisa replied simply, wondering how morning practices would look if Roselia tried them. She immediately dismissed that idea; Ako needed her sleep for high school.
"Aya-chan's so funny in the morning." Hina grinned, like she was on the inside of a joke nobody else understood. "She's so cute and sleepy."
Lisa wondered how funny that could possibly be, but she wasn't going to question it. "Roselia practiced yesterday, but it's been hard finding time when everyone's free." She couldn't help but grimace.
"Onee-chan told me about that." Hina nodded firmly. "She seems hmm, not very boppin' lately." She lifted a finger to her cheek as she spoke, as if she was searching for the right words.
Sayo had seemed fine at rehearsal, happy even, though that made sense if the problem was rehearsals being cancelled. Lisa thought she should check in on her. "How has Pasupare been dealing with it?" Like Roselia, most of Pasupare's members had graduated. They must've had equivalent or greater scheduling issues.
Hina thought about it for a moment, taking another big bite of her food. "It's always been like this." She tilted her head. "Chisato-chan, Aya-chan, Eve-chan, and Maya-chan are always suuuuper busy. Now they're just busier in the evening, so we mixed it around." She swirled one finger in the air to represent the change.
That was kind of vague, but Lisa understood what she was saying. They were working around the new scheduling problems by practicing early in the morning.
"Chisato-chan couldn't even practice today." Hina took the last bite of her lunch. "The drama she's recording had the same idea and snatched her away."
That was interesting. "So, you practiced without her?" Roselia didn't really do that, rehearse without one of their band members. Yukina preferred to cancel and reschedule practice, if she had enough notice.
Now Hina was guzzling down her drink. "Yup! That happens a lot." She held the half full cup in her hand. "Our manager says it's better to practice with four than not at all."
That could be something Lisa could use. She remembered the day before, how a different member had issues with different time slots. If they'd been willing to rehearse with four instead of five, then they could've scheduled multiple rehearsals. As it was, the time slot needed was already full and they had nothing planned.
"That helps Hina, thanks."
Hina finished her drink and practically slammed the cup down onto the table. "No problem!" Now that she was done eating, she leaned down to unzip her bag. "While I'm here, did you do the lab report yet for science?"
As Hina pulled out a binder full of paper, Lisa realized the true reason she'd wanted to eat with her. Even though they didn't have any classes together, they were still taking the same courses. That meant very similar assignments.
Lisa humored her and looked at her lab, offering a couple tips and corrections. It was the least she could do, since Hina helped with her band problems.
Lisa needed to take those ideas, her own and the ones from Hina, and form them into some kind of a plan.
This was the last question on the lab report. This familiar report was the one Lisa had helped Hina with during lunch. She had most of it finished already, but needed to add the final touches. It was due in a couple days, which meant it needed to be done soon.
When Lisa got home from campus, she sat down to finish it. This took a while, but by dinner time she was almost done.
After dinner, she finished the last question. Science in university was only a bit harder than science in high school had been, at least so far that was the case. Once the assignment was complete, she could move on to the task that had been haunting her all day.
Roselia's practice schedule loomed over her.
Lisa started by picking a tool for creating a combined schedule. She decided to call it the master schedule, since it would hold everyone's information.
That was something she needed for sure, to be able to see when everyone was busy. The calendar app she used on her phone would work, as long as she made a separate account to house the master schedule.
She started the new account by adding her own classes and work shifts to it.
Once Lisa had finished adding her schedule on the account, she copied the link to the schedule and texted it out in the Roselia group text.
"Hey everyone, please fill in your schedule at this link. Mark any time you can't practice."
Sayo responded quickly. "This is an excellent idea." She added a thumbs up emoji after it.
"I'll add to it now (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧" Rinko soon followed.
Next was Ako. "Can the background be made darker?" Lisa didn't know how to do that, so she said no.
Yukina's message came last. "Good work, Lisa." The simple message brought a smile to Lisa's face.
She clicked back to the calendar to see what had been added. Now, instead of just her own classes, it was full of classes, rehearsals, and study sessions from her bandmates.
As she expected, there was very little free time to spare. Almost any time that they used to rehearse was filled with a college course or rehearsal time. Evenings rarely had all members available. Friday night was free, but Lisa already knew that the studio was booked that night.
Saturday, which Lisa had hoped would be a good day, was littered with events.
There were plenty of slots where only one member was busy, which was always a different member. Sayo and Yukina had some late practices, Rinko had classes that ran later than the others, Ako was busy during the entire high school day, and Lisa couldn't forget her very own work schedule and heavy load of coursework.
The next step could be to schedule them for four person rehearsals, just to keep the band practicing often. The longer Lisa pondered it, the surer she was that that was the best way forward. They needed to practice regularly, whether that be with four or five members.
She couldn't make the decision alone though.
Lisa left the calendar app, going to dial a number instead. The number she dialed was one she knew by heart, one that held a strong grip on her.
The line rang a couple times, before being answered.
"Lisa?" Through the phone, Yukina's voice sounded fuzzy.
"Hey Yukina." Lisa wondered how her own voice sounded, as it bounced away to a radio tower and back to a spot less than fifty feet away. "Do you have a minute?"
"Yes, of course." Yukina sounded tense.
"Everyone added their classes to the calendar." Lisa started there, with what had been done. "And I've been looking at it."
"I am too." Yukina replied, with a slight shuffling sound on her end of the line. "Saturday doesn't look like it's going to work." Disappointment was easy to hear in her tone.
"Right, about that…" Lisa wasn't sure how to say this, wasn't sure how Yukina was going to react. "I've been thinking, if there's a week when we can't get everyone together then, maybe we should schedule four person rehearsals."
For a long, stifling, unbearable moment, there was silence from the other end of the line.
"Do you think that's best for Roselia?" The words, which in the wrong tone could've been an accusation, were instead spoken softly. It felt like an honest question, like Yukina really wanted to know what she thought.
Lisa had already decided on her answer. "I do, yes." She said the words firmly.
"Go ahead then, I trust your decision." There was no pause before those words. Though fuzzy, Yukina spoke with certainty.
Lisa's heart, which had been behaving normally today, reacted strongly to those words. "I'll try to schedule the next one tonight." She managed to respond in a normal fashion.
"Alright. Talk to you later."
"Bye."
Lisa hit the button to hang up the call, setting the phone on the table. She took a deep breath, playing Yukina's words again in her mind.
Yukina trusted her to do this right, to do what was best for the band.
Lisa wasn't going to let her down. She picked her phone back up, with a silent apology to Rinko, and dialed the number for Circle.
She hoped the Friday afternoon slot was still available.
End Note: Had to whip out the old suffix chart for this. Here's the link if you're interested in seeing it: /4ezEq7f