Chapter 10

Easy Come, Easy Go

"Not bad, CiRCLE!" exclaimed a girl who wielded a blazing red guitar. Her eyes, that were as crimson the musical instrument, were brimming with passion. "The next one's going to be the last song for today."

Hina Hikawa held her breath as she watched the next scene that unfolded before her. She didn't know that performing on stage could be this cool. The rock band's performance was so intense that it mesmerized her who stood in the audience's row.

Hina clenched her hands. Her mind was filled with resolve.

The high school freshman later went round and about the lobby of the live house. With a guitar gig bag on the back, the live house staff misunderstood Hina as a member of one of the bands that performed today.

"Huh? I don't belong to any band—ooh, there they are!"

Five girls appeared from the dressing room. They were the members of Afterglow, the rock band that captured Hina's heart a while before.

"Hey, let's stop by Yamabuki Bakery~," said a girl who wore a grey hoodie. Her name was "Mochaccino" or something, Hina supposed.

A redhead drummer laughed. "Didn't you eat five or six beef croquettes before the gig?" The tall girl scrambled her bandmate's hair.

"Mochaccino", unbothered by how messy her hair had become, deadpanned, "Moca-chan's energy was drained by that guitar solo~"

"Hey, Afterglow!" Hina exclaimed as she approached the five girls.

The vocalist of Afterglow turned to Hina. "Huh, aren't you—"

"You guys are zappin' the stage just now!" Hina exclaimed. "I went ba-dump just from watching that boppidy gig!"

"—Hikawa-san from the high school department..."

"That genius Hikawa-senpai?" The keyboardist of the rock band gasped.

"That's me!" Hina gave a salute. "No need to be that formal, tho. Just call me Hina!"

The indie rock band's personnel were students from the same school as Hina but in the middle school division. Though, they would join Hina in high school in a few weeks.

Afterglow's bassist smiled. "Hika—Hina-senpai," She looked at the gig bag that Hina carried on her back. "I didn't know you're in a band."

"Oh, right! The band!"

And the next second Hina already grabbed the vocalist's hands, making the middle schooler flustered and muttered inaudibly.

"Please let me join your boppin' band—" Hina said. "—Mitarai-chan!"

"...Mitarai who?"

»↠ ≈ ≈ ↞«

Hina was lost in thought as she ascended the stairs. In fact, she didn't even know why she suddenly recalled an event that took place about a month ago.

The girl wondered if it was due to what the gossip girls said a moment ago….

Did she regret joining her current band? Would things have gone better if only she joined an indie band Afterglow? There might be no publicity stunt that ended in a disaster like what the agency had made her band do. Too bad, Afterglow had more than enough guitarists. Having three guitars would be overkill, they said.

Hina and Lisa ascended the stairs to reach their classroom that was located on the third floor. As they were approaching the flight of stairs that led to the third floor, Hina could hear a familiar voice just ahead.

"Did you guys know?" said a girl in a monotonous voice. "Sometimes, the number of steps here would increase from twelve to thirteen."

"S-stop it, Moca!" exclaimed another girl. "We don't need that kind of trivia..." Her voice was brash, yet shaky.

"Ho-ho, Tomo-chin's scared~," said Moca at a super slow pace.

Hina's eyes widened. Who would have thought that her little recollection would serve as a sign of an incoming encounter? The second-year student fastened her ascend, skipping two steps at a time. And as the girl caught sight of three first-year students with their signature green plaid skirt, she called them.

"Morning, Afterglow!"

The trio turned around and greeted Hina. As Lisa came afterward, they said hi to the brunette as well.

"Hey, Moca, Tomoe!" Lisa followed suit. She took a look at the third underclassman and asked Moca, "I guess this is Ran?"

Ran nodded. "Hello, Lisa-san. Thanks for taking care of Moca and Tomoe." She glanced at the girl beside her and whispered, "...Okay, what did you tell her, Moca?"

"Mm, there are too many stories that I shared with Lisa-san." The lead guitarist's sleepy tone of speaking matched perfectly with her droopy eyes. She nodded and said, "Moca-chan only tell good stories of cute ol' Ran, of course. Like when you cried because Santa-san was ..."

Everyone giggled at Moca's story, except the girl who became the topic of embarrassing childhood memories. Ran pouted and her face was beet red.

The five then moved to the hallway of the third floor where second-year classes were located (it would bother everyone if five people were standing on the stairway). As the conversation went on it was revealed that Lisa, Tomoe, and Moca were mutual friends. The three then talked about one another; how Lisa and Moca were at the part-time workplace, as well as how Lisa and Tomoe were at the dance club.

Ran let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God they switched topics."

Hina turned to the girl with jet-black hair—whom she mistook with as "Mitarai" when they first met—and grinned. "Eh, why? You were adorbs as a kid!" Hina exclaimed. "I wanna hear more, actually~"

"N-not you too." Ran looked away. "Stop teasing me already, jeez."

It was kinda cute that Ran, a girl with red-colored highlighted hair who was often labeled as punk, was so prone to be teased and became flustered as easily too.

"Hey, hey, Ran-chan, how's the band?"

"Just the same as always," Ran replied in an apathetic tone.

"Did you guys have another gig during the winter holidays?" Hina asked enthusiastically. "You, Moca-chan, and Tomoe-chan were zappin' with the guitars and drums last time!"

The vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Afterglow just listened as Hina went on complimenting how boppin' the rock band was.

"Then, bzzzt! Moca-chan's guitar solo—"

"—Hina-san, sorry for cutting your talk."

"Mm?"

"I just want to confirm something." The junior with red highlighted hair looked at Hina straight in the eye. "Were you serious about joining Afterglow back then?"

Hina didn't see that coming, yet the girl nodded anyway. "Uh-huh." She grinned. "Anything's serious if it's for Onee-chan!"

"...Is that so?" muttered Ran. "I really thought that you were committed to the guitar back then, but it looks like I was wrong."

"Huh?" Hina was dumbfounded. "What are you talking about, Ran-chan?"

"You do whatever it takes to stand on a big stage, even if it means that you're miming the guitar." Ran's voice was quiet, yet stung. "And you don't seem to show any remorse for it."

"Wait, it's not like that!" Hina exclaimed.

"Really?" said Ran. "Your actions tell me otherwise."

"That's…"

"Later, Hina-san." Ran walked past Hina and ascended the stairs to the fourth floor.

"...Okay, what just happened?" said Lisa who had stood beside Hina.

Tomoe and Moca quickly apologized on behalf of their friend. Hina didn't know how to respond to that. In fact, she didn't fully understand why Ran was pissed off. Everything seemed to be fine... until Ran asked her that question.

"Man, that Ran…" Tomoe rubbed the back of her head. "I told her not to bring up the miming instruments topic, let alone lashing out at Hina-senpai…"

"Says Tomo-chin who's got a hot-head herself~" teased Moca.

The drummer of Afterglow sighed. "Now is not the time for jokes, Moca."

Moca quietly nodded. She took a whole fluffy Hokkaido milk toast from a paper bag and had a big bite.

"I just talked about how you guys were boppidy during the previous gig, that's all..." said Hina. "Ran-chan suddenly asked whether I was serious about joining Afterglow the other day and I said yes. But then she scolded me the next second," she explained. "I honestly dunno what triggered Ran-chan, though…."

"Mm… 'Your actions tell me otherwise', huh…" muttered Lisa.

"What's that, Lisa-senpai?" asked Tomoe confusedly.

"Oh, nothing." Lisa smiled. "I just thought, Ran's words before leaving might be the key."

"Ran was furious because Hina-senpai talked about Afterglow's gig so casually after Hina-senpai herself just failed big-time with that incident~"

Hina and the other two turned to Moca. The sleepy girl was munching at melon bread now. Like, how fast did she eat? Didn't she just start consuming a whole toast like half a minute ago?

...But Moca's mysterious eating pace wasn't important for now.

"I still don't get what went wrong." Hina crossed her arms and wore a puzzled look. "Can you explain more, Moca-chan? I suck at reading other people's moods, you see..." She admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Fufufu, let Moca-chan-sensei explain it to you, then~," said the silver-haired underclassman with a mouth full of bread.

"Finish your bread first, duh," Tomoe scolded.

"Aye, aye, Sir~"

Moca ate the remaining three-quarters of melon bread in just one mouthful, making Hina gasped in surprise. Lisa and Tomoe, meanwhile, were chill at the bizarre sight before them.

"To put it bluntly~" The guitarist of Afterglow began; still with her lazy way of speaking. "What PasuPare did was an outright insult to other musicians~" Moca nodded. "Yup, that's the simplest explanation."

"Eeh...?!" Hina exclaimed. "We never badmouth other bands, honest! In fact, we haven't met other bands at all—" She shook her head. "—except Marmalade, our senior idol group!"

"Not explicitly like that, Hina." Lisa giggled. "...Well, I think I get the issue here. Please correct me if I'm wrong, Moca." The brunette rubbed the back of her head.

Moca nodded as she munched at yet another bread.

"What ticked Ran off was the fact that you guys made a pro debut with very minimal effort—only lip-syncing and miming a pre-recorded track—while a lot of musicians out there went through thousands of hours of practice and crazy stuff just to be able to perform in a small live house, let alone a concert hall filled with ten thousand audiences."

Hina dwelled upon Lisa's words. If she compared it to her friend's example, Pastel✽Palettes' road to their debut was way too convenient… And the fact that their moment of glory was short-lived might be due to that; just like the old saying: "Easy come, easy go."

Lisa smiled. "I know you're having difficulties relating to that, but... You can start being considerate from now on, Hina."

"Our early days were no walk in the park either," Tomoe added. "You see—aside from Tsugu and me—we didn't have any experience in music." She smiled in reminiscence. "We gathered on the rooftop after school to learn instruments, writing lyrics, and composing music... Be it breezy spring or scorching summer."

"Good ol' days~," said Moca.

"Welp, we still do that once or twice a week, though." Tomoe chuckled.

Hard work.

That phrase was a mystery to Hina. Throughout her sixteen years of life, she never experienced hardships. She could learn new skills with little to no effort. A gift that acquired her the title "natural genius" from people around her. Although, Hina herself didn't realize what was so special about her talent.

But putting that aside, she should apologize to Ran the next time they met. The teal-haired girl didn't realize that she had offended the underclassman as a musician.

»↠ ≈ ≈ ↞«

"Hey, Kaoru-kun."

"Yes, little kitten?"

"Can you disguise yourself as me tomorrow?" asked Hina. "The school isn't so boppidy anymore, but I don't want Mom and Dad to find out that I'm skipping school."

Kaoru wore a dumbfounded face.

"That… would be quite a challenge." Kaoru avoided eye contact. "I need to find out a trick on how to make myself look shorter."

"Hey, no need to be so serious!" Hina laughed. "I'm just joking~"

Hina and Kaoru walked through the courtyard of Haneoka Girls' High School. The school was over just a few minutes back and having no club meetings this afternoon, they went straight home.

The rest of that school day didn't go any better. Shortly after Moca and Tomoe left, one of Hina's classmates—who was always at odds with her since they were put in the same class—made another scene. The band drama made her classmate question the legitimacy of Hina as the top student of Haneoka and wondered if her faking business was also applied to academic fields as well… Cheating on exams, for instance.

Hina pouted as she recalled the scene from a few hours back. She could take it if her classmate only addressed Pastel✽Palettes' fake performance, but to accuse her of cheating in other fields was kind of unbelievable.

The false accusation spread like wildfire. Now, most students in the school suspect Hina as a fake genius and they didn't bother to murmur around when she was in sight. Including now, where a couple of sports club members were whispering around as Hina and Kaoru were passing by.

Hina didn't give a damn about what they said nevertheless.

"Are you still pondering what Satomi said, perchance?" asked Kaoru, making the idol band guitarist's mind return to the present time.

"Whoa, you read me like a book!" Hina giggled. "I never know you're a psychic! A boppin' one, at that!"

Kaoru smiled. "My, you hold me in too high regard."

"Welp, about Satomi-chan…" Hina said. "It's not like I was that bothered by her accusation—and I don't hate her after all that, don't you worry about us, Kaoru-kun!" She gave her friend a bright smile. "I just need to ace the exams as usual to prove her wrong~"

"Hey, that other school girl looked like Hikawa-san, isn't she?"

Hina turned her head at the mention of her name and caught sight of two third-year students chilling below a sakura tree. At last, Hina could hear something other than fake performance and cheating exams.

"Yeah, but her air is the total opposite of Hikawa-san, huh..."

Whatever did they mean by "a girl who looked like Hikawa-san", though? Well, Sayo would come into mind, yet to think that Hina's older twin would set foot to Haneoka… No, the probability was so slim, just like the SSR drop rates in a gacha game. And it was Sayo herself who forbade her from visiting each other's school.

But how could she be so wrong….

"Hina Hikawa, we need to talk."

Hina couldn't believe her eyes.

Sayo Hikawa, her identical twin, was waiting for her in front of the school gate.