Chapter 9
When a Fleeting Mistake Ruins Everything
Hina threw herself to bed. The girl didn't bother to hide the sky-blue guitar inside the wardrobe like usual. She felt so drained after that failed gig.
The thought of being caught faking their performance was still fresh on Hina's mind. The first minute went well, only to turn into a disaster when the pre-recorded sound abruptly went off.
Neither Mom nor Dad asked anything about Pastel✽Palettes' debut. Seemed like they already knew about her band's predicament, so they only told Hina to rest tonight… Which made her wonder whether the agency live-streamed their performance or maybe someone from the audience managed to record it and uploaded the footage to some video sharing platform.
If so, they didn't only deceive ten thousand people. It might be millions if their incident went viral.
That was quite an achievement for a bunch of inexperienced musicians. An awful one, though.
Hina didn't see her older twin on the way to the bedroom. Sayo might be practicing guitar as usual in the neighboring room. She could only hope that her big sister wouldn't happen to stumble upon any video or news related to Pastel✽Palettes…
The younger Hikawa twins let out a heavy sigh. The intention to play the guitar alongside her sister seemed so bleak now. Sayo, in no way, would be pleased to perform with a fake guitarist such as Hina. And as her thoughts were filled with Pastel✽Palettes' epic failed debut, she slowly went into slumber.
By the time the teenager awoke, she could hear chirpings. It usually came from the neighbor's pet bird. The girl rubbed her jade eyes and blinked a few times before she got up from the bed and took her phone.
Hina's stomach was rumbling. She could use a slice of bread to calm her hungry belly before soaking herself at the shower later.
By the time Hina entered the living room, she spotted Sayo sitting on the sofa. Both of their parents weren't around. It was Sunday, so they might be performing their routine to jog then shop for weekly groceries at the shopping street.
"Morning, Onee-chan." Hina yawned as she walked toward the kitchen.
Sayo didn't reply. Her gaze was fixated on the screen of her phone.
Hina shrugged. It was no breaking news that her older sister was generally unresponsive when it came to interacting with Hina. She took a slice of bread and put it into a toaster.
"What are you watching, Onee-chan?" Hina turned to Sayo again.
"Just some music videos," Sayo finally replied. She swiped her phone's screen and muttered, "A band that's faking their live performance, huh? ...And what's this idol band thing?"
Hina's heart sank. The video's thumbnail didn't show her face, right?
Sayo clicked her tongue. "What a disgrace."
The toaster went ding.
"O-onee-chan, don't play that video!" Hina approached the sofa in panic. "Their music is so not boppidy—I mean, so terrible that you're gonna faint if you hear it!"
Hina prayed frantically in the heart. She begged Jesus, Buddha, or whoever divine deities out there to forbid her older sister from watching that video at any cost.
"...Is that so?" Sayo was puzzled at Hina's exaggerated reaction. She swiped the screen to another section of the video-sharing app and said, "It's a waste of time to watch that kind of charade, anyway."
Hina felt bad to her bandmates for calling them a group of terrible musicians. She couldn't help it. Sayo would dislike her even more if she were caught faking guitar.
No, Hina couldn't let that happen.
While Sayo was watching another music video, Hina checked what circulated on the video-sharing platform. There were a bunch of videos that covered Pastel✽Palettes' debut. She read the titles of the top videos: "We've Been Punked by This Idol Band", "Shame on You, Pastel✽Fails!", "Chisato Shirasagi Can't Tell the Difference Between Acting in Dramas and Performing Music Onstage", and "Lip-syncing is too Mainstream! Here's Arm-syncing Bunch!".
The view count of each video had exceeded one million in less than 24 hours. Pastel✽Palettes had become viral, indeed.
Hina then peeked at thousands of notifications on her phone. It came from her Twitter and Instagram. The girl cleared them all. The abnormal flood of notifications must be connected to the epic fail debut. Hina didn't need to open them to know what kind of comments and mentions were addressed to her. She was ten billion percent sure that all of them were negative comments.
It was common how netizens loved to bully people who made a blunder. They felt no remorse from typing nasty words because the victims were strangers to them. Besides, the bullies felt protected by the so-called anonymity of the internet.
Hina turned off all notifications from her social media apps. No use reading hateful comments from people she didn't even know.
»↠ ≈ ≈ ↞«
Hina Hikawa loved Monday, as opposed to everyone else. Haneoka Girls' High School was a fun place, so she couldn't relate with some of her friends who dreaded returning to school after two days off.
Besides, she wanted to meet her friends and talked about the sorry state of her band and social media accounts.
The high-schooler walked through the streets of her neighborhood. The sky was cloudy and the road was soaked. A light rain had engulfed the surrounding areas earlier this morning, leaving dampness in the air. She glanced at a row of sakura trees along the river; at least the pink petals brightened the area.
Hina approached a bridge and spotted a friend of hers. The classmate leaned her back to the fence, completely unaware of Hina's presence.
"Hey, Kao—"
The teal-haired girl didn't finish her morning greeting. It turned out that her friend was talking over the phone.
"... Of course, it's an honor to be able to comfort a damsel in distress!" Kaoru Seta exclaimed. "Allow me to read a passage from the great bard—hello?" The tall girl looked at the phone screen and chuckled. "What a timid princess."
"Morning, Kaoru-kun!"
Kaoru put the phone into her grey blazer's pocket. "Greetings, little kitten." She waved her hands and spoke with a dramatic tone. "Aah, it must be God's will that allows us to meet here again!"
Hina averted her gaze to the other side of the river. "Hey, you're right!" She pointed at an area beside a three-story building. "That's the spot where I fished for rainbow trouts the other day."
"Ah, yes." Kaoru nodded. "I can still taste the extravagant flavor of your signature roasted rainbow trout."
Hina's eyes were sparkling with excitement. "Ooh, so you really liked it?"
"I'd say your approach to cooking is quite daring." Kaoru smiled. "In fact, it is eye-opening. Now I realize that the wonders of the culinary world are truly endless."
A smug smile was formed on Hina's lips. "Imma make even more revolutionary dishes, then!" The girl raised her fist in enthusiasm. "Be my food taster, Kaoru-kun!"
"I would be more than happy—" Kaoru's sentence stopped halfway. She faked a cough and turned her gaze to the river below. "—oh, I wonder how our little rainbow trout kittens are doing right now? I hope they don't feel too cold down there."
Hina guessed it was a yes, but she was rather confused with Kaoru's sudden interest in rainbow trouts' wellbeing.
"Anyways, have you heard about my band's debut?" asked Hina. She gave a dry laugh and continued, "Our band screwed up big time that people called us Pastel✽Fails now."
"It was tragic indeed..." Kaoru's smile faded. "My heart aches when I saw what people said about the little kittens of Pastel✽Palettes all over the internet."
"Oof, so we become public enemy number one now."
"I might not be able to do much, but..." Kaoru said. "I'm all ears if you want to pour your heart out."
"Thanks! But I'm okay with it, really," Hina grinned. "Welp, internet bullies don't care that people who they mock have feelings… So why should I care about the stuff they say?" The guitarist of Pastel✽Palettes shrugged. "Besides, I don't know any of them."
Kaoru smiled. "You are a strong princess, Hina."
"But to be honest, I kinda fear that Onee-chan will find out about our fake-performance thingy…" Hina said weakly.
"Huh?" Kaoru muttered. "You didn't tell your sister about it?"
"She didn't even know about me playing the guitar because I kinda hid it from her."
"A secret between sisters! How fleetingly so..." Kaoru said. "Are you planning to surprise her with a musical tribute, perchance?"
"Huh? Nope."
"Aah, I could picture the scene right away!" Kaoru rubbed her locks. "It was a starry night. A fair maiden gazed at the sky from a balcony. She let out a sigh because unlike the stars above, she was there all alone. The sound of a Mexican guitar from below then broke the silence …"
Hina was lost in thought as Kaoru's narrative went on and on. Her friend's guess was off the mark, but it might be a good idea to perform something special for Sayo someday… Though, maybe without imitating the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and not involving a mariachi band.
»↠ ≈ ≈ ↞«
The courtyard of Haneoka Girls' High School was lively with students who got around and about to various places on the school premises. It was sunny there; a striking contrast to the weather in Hina's neighborhood.
Hina and Kaoru walked to the main school building's entrance. Not a straight walk, as Kaoru was stopped multiple times by other students who wanted to exchange morning greetings.
Being the school prince had its disadvantages, huh?
Hina bet that her classmate didn't have much private time at school.
"Good morning, too…Uh, Hikawa-san," said one of Kaoru's fans.
The other two fans gave eye contact to each other, then followed suit.
That slight pause was kind of odd, even for Hina's standard. No use to pondering about that, though, so she greeted them back with her usual cheeriness.
Everything seemed to be fine until Hina and Kaoru were about to enter the main school building. Hina heard some students chattering about Pastel✽Palettes. Their voices were too loud for a whisper, yet too quiet for a normal talk as well. And they talked about her as if she wasn't there.
"Hey, that band is still on the trending topics."
"The one with Hikawa-san?"
"Speaking of, I'm disappointed with Hikawa-san..."
"I know something's off with her, yet I don't expect her to stoop so low."
Hina stared at the four gossip girls confusedly. She couldn't help but wonder what was their deal. If they had a problem, they should have just talked straight to her. So Hina took a step toward the gossiping girls, but Kaoru managed to slip by her from the side.
"Greetings, little kittens!" Kaoru smiled at the girls. "I see you are having a good time talking to your peers. May I join the fun?"
The four girls were startled in surprise. Their expressions were just like robbers who were caught in the act. Hina wanted to laugh at their funny faces, but she desperately held it. Even she knew that it wasn't the right moment to laugh.
"W-we're... just h-having small talk, Kaoru-sama!" the first student stuttered.
"Yeah, it's nothing interesting—" the second girl added and made eye contact with the other two. "—Right?"
The third gossiper nodded. "It's just a petty talk about..." She gave one of her friends a poke.
The fourth one, realizing the signal, looked around to make up a topic. And just a couple of seconds later, she exclaimed, "Where Amano-sensei bought his eccentric wigs!"
Hina laughed out loud. There was no way she could contain her laughter when the bald world history teacher was mentioned. She recalled the moment when his baldness became public knowledge. Hina spotted that her teacher's wig was crooked, so she took it off and informed him of that. Lots of students were present when the incident took place; making the news traveled fast like a wildfire.
"Hair is such a fleeting existence, isn't it?" Kaoru chuckled. "They grow without us realizing and just fall away with no prior notice…"
Kaoru had a small talk with the gossip girls for a while. After the girls went into the main building, the pony-tailed girl smiled at Hina.
"In a situation like this, it would be wiser to give them a friendly talk." Kaoru glanced at the gossip girls who walked away. "It'll show them that you aren't bothered by their opinion."
"And making them panic!" Hina exclaimed. "You're boppin', Kaoru-kun! I would never have thought of that approach."
Kaoru tilted her head. "What were you going to do, then?"
"Imma slap them!" Hina grinned, which made Kaoru gasp. "JK, JK~ I just wanted to know why they didn't say those things directly at me."
"M-my, that would create quite a scene…" Kaoru touched her chin. Her face then turned serious. "But jokes aside, Hina, I would suggest you lay low until people are bored talking about your band's incident."
"That's not so boppidy…" Hina pouted. "What if there's someone who mocks me right in front of me?"
Kaoru chuckled. "Now that would be a different issue, isn't it?"
"So, can I slap them like the scenes in soap operas?"
"...Please don't slap anyone."
The two then entered the main school building. Rows of medium-sized lockers filled the entryway. About a dozen students from different grades were changing their loafers into indoor slippers. The morning routine was also a chance to talk about various stuff.
The 2-A girls opened their own lockers. Hina reached for her indoor slippers; while Kaoru was, once again, approached by little kittens. The teal-haired girl switched her shoes and thought that it must be kinda tiring to constantly deal with people.
"But you know, Hina was—"
Hina heard a familiar voice from the neighboring aisle. She stored the loafers and focused her ears to hear whatever Lisa Imai had to say next. Having just learned that she was a hot topic in school made the girl feel kinda restless whenever someone mentioned her name.
"—I mean… A couple of days before, Hina played her guitar and sang Pastel✽Palettes' song with ease," Lisa continued. "I saw it with my own eyes."
"Maybe so…" replied another girl whose voice didn't Hina recognize. "It doesn't change the fact that she faked her gig, though."
"You're right, ahaha..." Lisa giggled awkwardly. "But w-well, there must be some reason why her band was forced to lip-sync and mime the instruments!"
Yet another girl said, "Did you mean, they want to attract people with their whole idol band genre, but don't want to go the extra mile?"
"Um…" Lisa muttered.
"Putting a famous actress and rising model is enough to garner fans." The first student snickered. "It doesn't matter if they can't play instruments."
What they said irritated Hina, yet deep down she knew it was the truth. The whole thing was a publicity stunt. Otherwise, why would the agency let Pastel✽Palettes debut without proper musical training? They even told Hina and her bandmates to play pretend band right from the start.
The girls parted ways. Hina caught a glimpse of two strangers who mocked her band—one was a third-year student, while the other went to the same grade as the guitarist. A moment later Lisa appeared from behind the neighboring locker. She just went straight to the hallway and didn't see Hina or Kaoru.
Hina walked past Kaoru (who was busily quoting Shakespeare to her fans) and called Lisa.
The brunette turned around. "Morning—whoa, Hina?!" Her face was bewildered at the sight of Hina. "You heard that… I suppose?"
"Yup, clear as day!"
"I'm so sorry..." Lisa avoided eye contact. "I couldn't refute their arguments."
"Nah, no need to apologize, Lisa-chi!" Hina shook her head. "What they said was true, anyway."
"Hina…."
"Why the long face, little kittens?" asked Kaoru. She wasn't accompanied by anyone. In fact, her fans were already dispersed.
Hina giggled. "Do we look that depressed?"
"Your face is reminiscent of Juliet when she wakes up from the deathlike-coma and finds that Romeo had died from poison."
Lisa stared at Kaoru's feet and cleared her throat. "...Hey, you might want to turn around."
"I get that Kaoru-kun's long legs are boppin', but I kinda wonder if you have a fetish for legs, Lisa-chi…"
"Wha—no!" Lisa looked away. "I just wanted to ask Kaoru to switch her loafers with indoor slippers!"
Kaoru looked at her own shoes. "Oh, my apologies… I shall replace my footwear at once and find a fleeting broom." She rushed back to the shoe lockers.
Hina poked Lisa's arm. "Someone's in her class rep mode."
"Do I look like the part already?" The vice class representative of 2-A wore a proud smile. "I just point out a basic etiquette, though…" Lisa said. "Besides, it's our friends who will clean the floor later."
Although Haneoka was a private elite school, they didn't have janitors. The girls were expected to clean their own classes and various areas, just like students in most schools out there. Funding wasn't the issue. Japanese people were simply taught to be clean and tidy since childhood, that's why.
Kaoru never returned. Based on what the prince said before leaving, she might spare her time to clean an area between the lockers and the hallway. So Hina and Lisa went ahead to their classroom.