Love, Eroge, Music & Other Craziness

by Geek Girl Naruru

Namikaze Naruto is a normal fifteen-year-old high school student. He has a distant relationship with his sister Naruko, who always treats him rudely. One Day in Spring, he encounters a foreign girl playing a piano on one of his travels to a junkyard and helps her in many ways as he discover that her name is Weiss Schnee.

37. The Name That Tie Us Together

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The livehouse that we're supposed to perform at is located in the city next to ours. It stands in the center of a quiet residential area. If I took the train there, I'd have to transfer lines and travel for quite some distance — as such, I had decided to just ride a bicycle instead.

It was a Friday where the skies were filled with dark clouds — and also the day of our rehearsal before the performance. As I traveled on the side roads that is located next to the national highway and extends along the outskirts of the city, I could see the old houses that are lined up together, as well as the warehouses of the People's Association and etc.

For the building in which the livehouse is located, the second floors and above consists of apartments, while the first floor is filled with offices. There's a huge notice board at the entrance that is filled with all sorts of posters and advertisements. A small blackboard was placed on a tripod stand, and the events of the night were written on it with chalk of various colors.

The signboard of the livehouse is not too big. Printed on it was the name of the shop "Bright" with a white cursive font. Speaking of which, even though it is located at such a remote place, Bright is quite famous around here. I've heard that there's quite a few bands and their fans that had traveled all the way from Tokyo just to come to this place.

It was three when I reached Bright, and the sun was still shining high above me. However, there were already a few large cars that were parked in the gravel parking lot located next to the building. There's some young men who were loitering around the entrance that leads underground. Judging from their hairstyle as well as the clothes they were wearing, they didn't seem to be your typical civilians.

I saw a familiar person among those people, and heaved a sigh of relieve. Kakashi-san's wearing a black vest that exemplifies his well-toned body, and it makes it easy for people to spot the spiral tattoo that he has on his arm. There's a guy with long blond hair that's standing next to Kakashi-san. He's biting on an unlit cigarette. The silhouette of the person with a guitar on his back was giving off a dangerous aura around him.

"Yo! You're here already. Kyouko's already in the basement." Kakashi happened to spot me as well, and he invited me over with a wave of his arm.

I walked towards Kakashi slowly, passing by the other Rockers on my way. He then suddenly point at the person next to him and said, "This guy's Deidara. He's our lead singer."

"Hey you, you must be laughing to yourself whenever you call me the lead singer, right? Quit making cold jokes about me being a funny lead singer or something, alright?"

The long-haired guy was saying that in a tone that didn't seem to be joking, and he even gave Kakashi-san a shove on his shoulder.

"Well, that's okay, cause I'm the funny guitarist too!"

"Shut your trap!"

Deidara walked down the stairs. I stopped Kakashi-san as he was about to follow Deidara.

"… Hey, did Weiss come?"

"Hmm?"

"She's the girl with silver-white hair…"

"Ah! You mean that cutest girl? The one who's always angry? She's not here yet!"

"… I see…"

I couldn't help but lift my head and take a look at the gloomy skies as I walked down the stairs. I dazed out for a while. Weiss didn't attend any of the practices in school, and she didn't pick up any of our calls. Which means… she probably won't be coming today either?

"She's the girl you said you quarreled with?"

As we were walking down the stairs, Kakashi-san suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around to ask me that question.

"Well… we haven't quite reached the state of quarreling yet…"

"I see. Then can I make a move on Kyouko while you're still hesitating?"

"Huh…?" I missed my step and nearly rolled down the stairs. I quickly regained balance of myself by leaning my body against the wall.

Since I could hear multiple footsteps approaching from behind me, I moved my face close to Kakashi-san's and asked in a low voice, "What do you mean? Why are you suddenly asking that?"

"Nothing much. I thought it would be better if I confirmed something first."

"But why are you confirming with me? Speaking of which, what's the sort of relationship between you and Senpai?"

"Hmm? How old are you? Shouldn't be past eighteen, right?"

"I'm just in my second year in high school."

"Mmm… then I can't tell you just yet. Wait till you're older before you ask me that question again!"

So what sort of relationship do they share? Now I'm really curious. And with the conversation that left me hanging, we were done with the long flight of stairs, and what appeared before us was a sturdy soundproof wall. I followed Kakashi-san and slipped my body horizontally past the heavy doors of the shop. A stinging smell that consists of a mixture of cigarette smoke, sweat and alcohol assaulted my nose.

Despite the place being very spacious, I couldn't shake off the difficulties that had in breathing. At a short distance away from the door were a few round tables and chairs scattered about, and further in was a slightly old bar located under some purple and red neon lights. To my left was a bare concrete area, and further in was a stage. It seemed like they were conducting checks on the footlights, and the lights shone mercilessly on Kagurazaka Senpai, who was on stage fiddling with her effect units. As for Chiaki, she was helping out in carrying the stands of the microphone. Both the girls were wearing short T-shirts that were nearly showing their navel, as well as miniskirts below. They were quite careless to be standing on a level above others in that attire… but it should be fine, right?

"Kyouko, are all the members here? What? Not yet?"

A girl with long blond hair was yelling at Senpai from the side of the stage. Looks like she's the person-in-charge of the audio equipment. I quickly ran to the side of the stage.

"Young man, did you see her when you were above?"

As she asked me that, Senpai was looking downwards and focusing on the tasks at hand. She should be asking about Weiss. I shook my head in silence.

"I see."

Senpai's answer was rather uncaring. However, Chiaki came running over hastily.

"Is Weiss not here yet? I'll give her a call."

"Ah, let me do it."

Tuning the drum set will probably be the most time-consuming task, right? I passed her my bass while thinking of that, and then I took out my phone as I walked out of the shop. I climbed up the winding stairs and back to the surface, and it was then that I felt like I could finally breathe. But despite the numerous calls I made, Weiss didn't pick up any of them. I don't know if it was because of my harsh words in my voice mail that had made things worse, but she didn't even enable voice messages this time. My hand that was holding onto the phone was trembling, and the disconnected tones were sliding down my throat as though I had accidentally swallowed some marbles in my mouth.

Is she really planning to not come here without even saying anything? Though I had no idea what she's pissed off at, but… gimme a break! What will Senpai and Chiaki think about this? Something came to my mind suddenly. I opened up my wallet to fish out a name card that's inside of it, and made yet another call on my phone — I even keyed in the numbers wrong a few times during the process.

"… Yes? This is Klein Seiben speaking."

"I'm Naruto Namikaze, the person who visited the mansion a few days ago."

"Right. I am sorry for what happened back then. May I ask if it is something about our young lady?"

"Yes. May I know if Wei… I mean Schnee… well, today's the rehearsal…"

"Mistress was squatting in front of the door with her guitar at noon. I could not bear to see her in that state, so I brought her back into the house."

"Eh? T-Then where is she now?"

"She has locked herself in her room and is refusing to come out."

I was stunned for a while. I then collapsed butt-first onto the ground, and heaved a heavy sigh. So she… had planned on coming? But should I be at ease by that for now?

"Which means… that it won't be possible for her to come down today?"

"She should be able to if I am to break open the door and cuff her up with handcuffs."

"That's not necessary. Please do not do that."

Hey you… can you not say such scary things in such a calm manner?

"Pardon me for asking, but is tomorrow the actual performance of the band?"

"Hmm? Yeah."

"If that's the case…"

Mr. Klein paused for a moment, as though he was thinking about how he should word his sentence.

"I am really sorry, but I may have to trouble one of you to make your way down to pick up mistress. I will try to come up with ways to restrain her."

Restrain? And you're not even trying to convince her? Somehow, it feels like he's someone who will really tie Weiss up with ropes and such. Scary. Which means that it will be my responsibility to convince Weiss?

"… Alright. Please do that."

"And that means it's just the three of us who are rehearsing today." I went back to the basement and told them about the conversation I had on the phone. Senpai replied rather calmly with that sentence. But as for Chiaki, she was standing in front of the drum set and looked as though she had something stuck in her throat.

There were lots personnel around the stage — there's the staff of Bright in their blue uniform, the members of Kakashi-san's band, as well as another group of performers who were slightly older than the rest of us. Everyone was busy ensuring that the lights and the audio system were working properly. Despite the air conditioning, the place was filled with an intense heat that will cause one to sweat even if they are just standing about and not moving.

"Young man, we don't have much time left, so start preparing! There's still people who will be rehearsing on stage after us, so stop dilly-dallying!"

I nodded my head and put on an expression that looked like I had just drank something really bitter. I then picked up my bass from its stand. Weiss's not here, and I had no idea where I should be standing on the stage. When the four of us practices together, Senpai will always be standing directly in front of Chiaki. I'll be at Senpai's left, while Weiss will take her place on the right… that's how it should have been.

"Start with the drums. Hurry!"

The sound effects crew yelled angrily through the PA system. Chiaki began to tap out a sluggish set of sixteen beats with her feet, which forced me to focus my attention on the music.

"Gotta be kidding me! You're asking that sort of band to be the opening act?"

We could hear a furious shout just as we were done with our third song.

I jumped in fright and turned around to look at the entrance of the lounge that is located to the left of the stage. Deidara's hollering at Kakashi-san. The opening act which means he's referring to us. Did we rub him the wrong way? The personnels present were all looking at the two of them from a distance away with troubled expressions on their face.

"I said that someone's not there, right?"

"What sort of bullshit excuse is that? We're talking about a rehearsal here, and she's not here!? Oi! Kyouko!"

Deidara pushed Kakashi aside and climbed onto the stage. I reflectively retreated a step back, and nearly tripped on the wires on the floor.

"I've said this before, right? I don't care if it's your band, but if I'm not satisfied with your performance during the rehearsal, then you will not be getting on stage. Or do you think you're in the liberty of looking down on this just because it's a casual gig?"

Deidara was as overbearing as a mad dog. Should our performance for today be unsatisfactory, we won't be allowed to take the stage — so they actually agreed on this beforehand?

"I did agree to that…" Senpai placed her guitar down and wiped her sweat before continuing, "So? What do you want here?"

"Nothing! We can still joke about it if it's just your sounds that are lacking, but that's not all that we have here! It's like you're deliberately screwing things up!"

"I like Deidara the most~! 'Cause you'll always say the truth."

"Don't you try laughing it off!"

Deidara pointed his index finger in front of Senpai's chest.

"With your skills, you should be able make up for the missing person during the performance, right? But you're just there playing your solo leisurely!"

"The person who's not here today will definitely be here tomorrow."

"You guys quarreled, right? I've just found out about it. What will you do if she doesn't come down tomorrow? Since she's not here now, you should have gone up on stage with the mindset that she will not be here tomorrow!"

"No way." Senpai pushed Deidara away with force.

I could feel that Kakashi-san, who's behind me, was forcing himself to swallow the words that were about to come out of his mouth. That applies to me as well — I could not say anything at all.

"I don't even want to consider the possibility of her not coming down tomorrow."

"What are you saying…?"

"So… even though I'm letting Kakashi-san down, we won't be going on stage if she doesn't come down tomorrow."

"Oi! Kyouko! Don't be so rash —"

Deidara turned his head around and interrupted Kakashi-san's words.

"Kakashi, don't you step into this!" He then turned back to face Senpai, "Since you put it that way, then fine! Just carry on with your bullshit rehearsal as you please! I'll be going out for now as I have no intention of listening to something that'll cause my ears to rot! Tell me when you guys are done!"

Deidara then pushed the onlookers aside and walked past the shop in huge strides. He then pushed open the soundproof door with his shoulders and stormed out of the place. The stagnant and heavy silence continued on for a long while.

"… Senpai…" Chiaki squeezed out her voice from behind the drums.

"Sorry, I'm always deciding things by myself… but can you guys go along with me?"

Chiaki directed her gaze at me, but I lacked the courage to accept them, so I lowered my head to look at the messy wires beneath me instead. The footlights were blinding me.

"Sorry, but we want to continue with our rehearsal." Senpai shouted in the direction of the PA console.

The next piece was my song, and the bass is the part that leads the melody. Despite so, it's like my fingers were stuck on the strings of my bass — they could not move. If Weiss really doesn't come down tomorrow…

That's something that I am unwilling to consider for even a second. But she really did not come down. Even after the sun had circled the Earth once, and time had fast-forwarded to the final rehearsal that's on the very same day of the the performance, Weiss didn't appear.

(◕ω◕✿)

The next day… it's four in the afternoon. My phone rang — it's from Chiaki. I had just arrived at Bright, and was parking my bicycle at the corner of the parking area. I hastily took out the phone from the back-pocket of my jeans.

"Yes? Something happened?" Even before Chiaki spoke, I already had a bad feeling about all this.

"Weiss… they said Weiss has disappeared!" Chiaki panted into the phone.

"What!"

Shaaa All I heard was something scrapping against the trunks of my jeans. For a long while, my mind was blanked out. I did not even realize that my bicycle had fallen on the ground and the spinning wheels were dirtying my shoes.

"Where are you now? At Weiss's house?"

"Mmm. It's Mr. Klein who told me about it."

Chiaki was tasked with picking Weiss up from her house. We planned to borrow Kakashi-san's drum set for the actual performance, so we asked Chiaki to help with the transportation of the drum set, they are to pick up Weiss from her house on the way — or that's what we had planned. But Weiss disappeared?

"Disappeared… what's going on there?"

"It seems like… she has ran away from home again."

Oh, I see. Running away from home. Again. I could suddenly feel my brain being in a surprisingly calm state… so Weiss disappeared yet again without saying anything. Then… what to do?

"… What should we do?" Chiaki repeated my thoughts with a voice that was close to crying.

"Just come down to Bright for now. It's not like you can do much there. Kakashi-san and his drummer are with you, right? They have to rehearse as well."

Somehow, my voice sounded like it's coming from an old recording. After the call was cut off, I began to think of how I should break the news to Senpai and Deidara.

Weiss disappeared. I did not manage to convey my words into her heart. 'Come up with something by yourself' the words of Senpai were reverberating in my ears yet again. But did I try doing anything at all? All I had done was look on from the sides as the events flowed by me, just like how I've always been. I'm actually the person who's standing closest to Weiss, at a place where I could touch her just by stretching out my arms…

"And so, what do you guys wanna do?" Deidara asked.

I walked down to the basement and reported the contents of Chiaki's call to Deidara as well as Senpai, who was adjusting the balance of the microphone stand. That's the first sentence I heard when I was done informing them. The staff in blue shirts were walking all over the stage, and the sounds of the instruments streaked through the burning air.

What should we do? He's actually asking us what we want to do? Why is he asking us that sort of question!? I was well aware that I was in a anxious and irritated state. Weiss's not coming. Do you even need to ask? Just hurry up and kick us off the stage! Senpai, you too! Tell him that we are unable to perform today! However, Deidara said nothing, and he just stared at Senpai instead.

Senpai looked at him and said, "It's still three hours till the actual performance."

"Are you a moron!?" Deidara asked indignantly, and I felt the same way as well. Is Senpai a moron?

"We've planned for a rehearsal for today as well! What will you do if she doesn't come despite you guys waited for her? It will be really troublesome for us if we are informed at the very last minute that we'll have to take the stage at an earlier time!"

Then you might as well free us from our misery! Why are you asking things like "What will we do"? I don't get him at all.

"Deidara, I know that. But even so…"

Kagurazaka Senpai pressed the microphone hard into her chest. I could hear a shrill feedback coming from the monitor speakers.

"I still want to wait. Can I? I'll do anything that I can to make it up to you for the troubles that we've given you."

"It's not about you making it up to us or not! I don't give a damn about whether that last member of yours is coming or not! At a time like this, you should be prepared to take the stage with just the three of you, right? I can spare more time for you guys to practice, and it will be okay even if you want to change the songs that you'll be performing! I really have no idea why you're so insistent on her!"

"But… this is not just my band. So I can't do that."

I could clearly see the cowardice in Senpai's eyes as she was saying that. The fearless Kagurazaka Senpai was actually acting all timid? I could hardly believe it.

I already had a bad premonition about it on the night of our training camp. But even so, with the truth placed right before my very eyes, I was so depressed that I could hardly breathe. This person here she had gradually lost all of her bandmates because of things like this. And that's why the her right now is afraid of losing Weiss. She's afraid of losing feketerigó.

I couldn't bear to see Senpai in a state like this. However, I was totally helpless. There was a sudden gush of wind in the livehouse. Deidara and I turned our head backwards at the same time, and saw Chiaki rushing in after she pushed the door open. Kakashi-san and the others that's behind her were carrying the drums that's wrapped up in cloths.

"Naruto, Senpai!" Chiaki ran towards us. Her eyes were red and puffy from her tears. There were stains of her sweat that's remaining on her white colored shirt with our band logo spray-painted on it.

"Weiss, she d-disappeared again…" Chiaki could speak no further. She grabbed hold of the legs of the microphone stand, and lowered her head to catch her breath.

I could clearly remember the angry expression on her face that time. Weiss's guitar and Chiaki's drums were perfectly synchronized — just like the arms and legs of a person, or an ingenious canon that goes on and on forever. The scene of the training camp appeared vividly before me. But despite all that, Weiss has disappeared. Without leaving behind a single word. What's with this? Just what are we to Weiss? That's not how things should have ended! We've came so far, so how can we end things like this?

"Kakashi-san, I'm really sorry for the wasted trip."

Senpai said that to Kakashi-san when she saw him moving the drums up onto the stage.

"That's nothing! But did you guys manage to contact the girl?"

Chiaki and I both shook our heads. Since waking up in the morning, I had called Weiss in one hour intervals without putting much hope into it, and all I heard were the cold mechanical replies of "Sorry, the number you have just dialed is not reachable" and etc.

"Comrade Schnee… may be making her way down here…"

Senpai murmured in a feeble voice, which was almost swallowed up by the noise produced by the staff around us. That's really what she believes? Why is she not giving up on it?

"Why are you still insisting on this?"

Upon hearing the question from Kakashi-san, Senpai showed a smile that's like the dusk.

"Because feketerigó is a band for the four of us."

I couldn't stare at that smile of hers, so I turned my face away. Chiaki, who was looking at the floor this whole time, slowly raised her head up. Just then, I saw the band logo that's printed around the chest area of Chiaki's T-shirt. There was a small black silhouette of a bird perched on the "g" of "feketerigó".

"That's…"

Chiaki squeezed a smile and rubbed her eyes when she noticed my gaze.

"I-I made a lot of them. There's one for Naruto… and one for Weiss too."

"… A bird?"

"Eh? Ah, you mean this? Senpai designed it."

So that was indeed the shape of a bird. The feathers from its head to its tail were all black — aside from the yellow at its beak. I knew that bird, but I've only seen it on pictures before. It's a bird that we shouldn't be able to find in this country, but I do know that bird. Why? I turned my head to look at Senpai. Our eyes met.

"I didn't tell you this? That's Hungarian. 'fekete' means 'black', while 'rigó' means bird. Put them together, and you have blackbird."

I couldn't breath all of a sudden. The sounds in the livehouse were getting further and further away from me. At the same time, the words that Senpai said back then, as well as the expression on Weiss's face — they were becoming clearer and clearer in my mind.

"You like this song?" And Weiss nodded in response to that question.

Blackbird. Senpai doesn't know, and Chiaki doesn't know either. It's only Weiss and I who know the real significance behind that song — the name of the band decided by Weiss; the very first song that tied the both of us played together, back at the misty junkyard at dawn.

feketerigó… why did she come up with that name? Why did Weiss and I came up with the same name?

"…Young man?" Senpai's voice pulled me back into the difficult-to-breath atmosphere that's in the livehouse.

The voice of the people conversing; the sounds of footsteps and breathing; the clashing of the cymbals; the sounds of the impact of glass; the feedback from the microphones. The sounds around me were the same as before I sank myself into my sea of memories, but there's one sound that was not around before. The sound of my heartbeat.

I fumbled for my phone that's in the back-pocket of my jeans, and ran towards the entrance of the livehouse. I squeezed horizontally through the small opening of the door, and sprinted up the narrow and dark staircase. Despite me hearing the sounds of someone chasing behind me, I had no time to stop in my tracks to check. When I reached the parking lot, I immediately dialed Mr. Klein's number.

"… Yes? This is Klein Seiben speaking."

"I'm Namikaze. There's something that I'd like to ask you. There's something that I'd like to confirm. Weiss did she… "

"Yes?"

"Did she bring her guitar along with her?"

And a two seconds of silence.

"Please hold on, and do not disconnect the call. I will confirm that right now."

I prayed hard as I waited for Mr. Klein's reply. If Weiss had brought along her guitar when she left her house…

"Sorry for making you wait. I did not locate mistress guitar in her room. I have searched in all other possible places as well, but I did not see it. She should have taken it with her."

"Right!" My answer sounded like I was coughing.

We're still linked to each other, the melody that's tying us together is still not broken yet. Just as I was about to thank him and end the call, Mr. Klein continued,"And also…"

"Hmm?"

"We are now currently locating the whereabouts of mistress. The cellphone which mistress possess is embedded with GPS tracking capabilities."

"What does that do?"

"We can pinpoint the location of the phone via satellite."

Ah… I think I've heard something like that before. Oh right, Weiss's high-end phone is custom-made for her by the request of her ever-doting father, so it's not impossible for him to have activated a service like that.

"Which means… you already know where she is?"

"No. We began tracing her right after we found out that mistress had disappeared. We located her position at three in the afternoon. However, it seems like she changed the settings of her phone, and we could no longer detect any signal from it ever since."

I lowered my head in dejection. She didn't even know how to save the numbers in her phone not too long ago! Dammit!

"… I see. But…"

"But that is better than nothing."

Mr. Klein then told me the position of Weiss two hours ago. I opened up the map in my mind… no, can't do. I can't know where she is just from the address alone.

"I will contact you should there be any new developments. Please give her a slap in my place should you find our young lady before we do."

"Ah, a-alright. Thank you very much." I quickly ended the call.

"… Young man? Is there something."

I turned my head around. Senpai, who was chasing me earlier, was standing on the stairs that leads to the basement. Chiaki was right behind her as well.

"It seems like Weiss has brought her guitar along with her."

The expressions on Senpai and Chiaki's face softened a little when they heard that. Indeed. If she brought her guitar along with her, then there's still a chance. Moreover, she's carrying her handphone along. Wait, Her cell phone? Why did she take her cell phone with her? For what purpose?

I looked at the phone that's in my hand. Shit! I'm an idiot for not noticing the calls earlier, and it's from Weiss as well. The time of the call is — five in the afternoon, which means not too long ago, back when I was still in the basement. Dammit! Why did we always miss each other? No, hold on there's a message in my voice mail. I pressed the button with my trembling fingers to play its content.

Noise. the noise of the wind as well as exhaust of vehicles? There's also a loud garagara sound that I am hearing. Under the uneasy looks of Senpai and Chiaki, the speakers continued to pour out those stuttering sounds.

"… It's me. I'm sorry."

It's Weiss. It's… Weiss's voice.

"… I feel really lost. Chiaki said she'd be picking me up, but I had no idea what to do, so I ran away. Because I'm starting to hesitate once more."

She's hesitating. Hesitating about whether to come here? I gripped hard on the phone with my sweating palms, so as not to miss a single word that Weiss says.

"But… I'm sorry. As expected… I can't go there."

I suppressed my urge to yell with all my might.

"Since I've done such things, I can no longer return to everyone's side… even without me by your side, Ruto… should be okay with that, right? Since there's Kyouko, and there's Chiaki…"

What the hell is Weiss talking about!? Don't give me that crap! Everyone's waiting for her! Everything will not start without her — why can't she just understand that!? Its it because it's something that cannot be conveyed with just words alone?

"Moreover… it's getting harder and harder for me to walk, and my right hand… can no longer move at all. Even if I go there… I'll just be a burden to everyone, so… I'm sorry."

The voice message ended just like that. I could almost shatter my phone with my grip. Chiaki was looking at me from the side with a frightened expression. Your right hand can no longer move? So she can't play the guitar even if she's here? I originally thought that Weiss would definitely get it if we are to play together on the same stage, but she can't play the guitar?

"Naruto, are you alright? Is that… from Weiss?"

I bit hard on my lips and nodded my head.

"What did she say?"

"She said that she can't come. That her right hand is unable to move right now, and she'll only be a burden to us if she's here."

Even I felt like crying when I saw Chiaki becoming more and more depressed. What's with all this? Why? Why have things turned out like this?

"… And then? What are you planning to do, young man?"

I raised my head, and saw Senpai putting on a silent expression that looked like the aftermath of a downpour.

"What else? To find Weiss, of course!"

I may not be able to find her, and I may not be able to make it to the performance, but those things don't matter to me at all. We are the blackbird, and Weiss's the right wing. In order to fly, we'll definitely have to find her regardless of whether she can play the guitar or not.

I played Weiss's voice message repeatedly in an attempt to sift out the clues hidden among the noise that's behind her voice. There should be some clues that can lead me to Weiss. I must find her, and then… then what? For the things can cannot be conveyed using words, what should I use in replacement to link them together once more? What must I do so that I can once again find the thing that links us together? The thing that connects us together…

Music. Something clicked in my mind. I recalled what I had heard. There's some other noise aside from Weiss's painful words that was attracting my attention… right, it's music. The canon of the bells coming from a place far, far away. Dvořák.

"… Naruto? What's wrong?"

I shifted my gaze away from Chiaki's face to Senpai.

"Senpai… you said before that you'd help me as long as I asked?"

Senpai nodded with a light smile on her face — as though she was saying: "I've been waiting for that line for a long time".

"But… I think it will be a really unreasonable request…"

"I'll be the one to judge that — not you, young man."

Yeah. I have such an impressive person next to me, so why didn't I ask for her help earlier? When she was done listening to what I had in mind, the expression on her face remained unchanged. She just grabbed me by my hand and looked at my watch.

"We have less than two hours left. I can't make a trip back home."

"S-So you can't do it?"

"Anything is fine as long as it's by The Eagles?"

I nodded my head repeatedly after dazing out for a second. That means she's willing to help? But can it really be done? I asked myself that, and thought that it was really just…

Senpai swung her hair and ran off. She then disappeared in the depths of the parking lot before long. Next, was the sounds of the engine fading away in the blink of an eye. She's just too quick with her movements.

"What's going on? What was that just now? Where did Senpai go?"

"Sorry Chiaki, but there's no time to explain to you right now." I placed both of my hands on her shoulders and continued, "We may not have the time to rehearse, so we'll have to leave all the preparation work in your hands… sorry, but can you stay here and do that?"

Chiaki opened her teary eyes wide. She then said, "… You're going to find Weiss?"

"Yes. I don't know if I can make it in time, but I'll definitely bring her back. "

"I got it," Chiaki nodded. "You must definitely find Weiss. I have lots of things that I want to scold her about."

I nodded in return. I then counted out the things that had to be done. Can I really find Weiss with that method? I don't know. But I could think of nothing else, so I could only try. We have just under two hours before our performance — I raised my head to look at the sky that was filled with clouds.

I must definitely find her! I must find Weiss who exists under the same sky as me.

(◕ω◕✿)

When I returned to the basement, I sprinted past the staff and ran towards the PA console. I then spoke to Kakashi-san, who was standing on the side.

"Sorry, but can I ask a favor from you?"

Kakashi-san showed an expression of "Huh?" when he was done listening to my request. However, the long blond haired woman in-charge of the audio system seemed to have understood what I wanted immediately. She rapped at the equipment and asked, "So all you need is the time difference between the sounds?"

"Yes. If possible… be as accurate as you can."

"Pass me the source. I'll take a look."

"Oi, hold on! I'm at a loss here!"

"It won't matter even if you don't get it!"

The blond woman took my phone and recorded Weiss's message swiftly.

"Oh? That's quite an embarrassing confession that we have here… hey lad, it's not good to make a girl cry."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" I totally forgot about it — I actually allowed an unknown person to listen to the Weiss's painful words. But then, now's not the time to be thinking about those things.

Kakashi-san grabbed me by my hand just as I was about to rush towards the exit.

"Oi! You still haven't had your rehearsal yet, so where do you think you're going? Also, why has Kyouko disappeared as well?"

"I'm going to find Weiss right now! Hurry up and let me go!"

"You know where she is?"

"I'm currently calculating her position. Lad, hurry up and move! You still have to get a map, right?" The blond haired woman interrupted.

"I'm really sorry! I'll definitely be back before the concert begins!"

I exchanged sights briefly with Chiaki, who was at the drum set. I then flew towards the door. Thank god Deidara's at the resting area. He'll definitely go into a rage if he knew we were pinning our hopes on something as silly as this.

However, we had no other option but to do that. All of this may be for nothing, and we may not be able to get back the wing that's been torn off — but even so, we can't just succumb ourselves to that fate without doing anything.

I pedaled hard on my bicycle, and made my way to the neighboring town — the train station that's closest to my house. I stormed into the stationary store to get myself the largest scale map I could find, a long ruler and a compass. I took a look at the clock in the store before I left — it's already five fourty-five. The dusk of summer was slowly swallowed up by the time. And next is should be the district office. Wait, why the district office again!? I couldn't help but recall the time Weiss and I ran away from home together. The idea I had came up with back then was pretty stupid. I took out my phone and connected myself to the website of the district office.

… Hold on. Which number should I call? I stopped pedaling and parked my bicycle on the walkway next to the railways, and was at a lost of what to do. Come to think of it, I don't even know how I should call that thing they play every evening at five!

There's not much time left, and I'll only be wasting more time should I panic without doing anything. I dialed the number of the district office.

"Good evening, I'd like to inquire about something. It's about Dvořák's music… the song that is played everyday when it hits five in the evening…"

When I recalled it much later, it was really stupid of me to ask the question in that manner. I must have caused a lot of confusion to the operator who belonged to the general division. Dvořák's music… who would have understood that? My call was diverted a few times to various divisions, where it finally reached the civil defense.

"You mean that music? That's the radio broadcasting for disaster prevention!"

It seems like the person on the other side of the phone was an old civil servant.

"Should things like an earthquake or fires happen, we'll do an emergency broadcast via those things! The thing that rings at five everyday is not a chime, but a testing broadcast."

Eh? So that's the truth behind that? I never knew that…

"Then… may I know where those speakers are situated in the city?"

My heart nearly sank to the floor when I heard his reply.

"Where huh…? Over forty different locations?"

"Forty…" I was that close to fainting, but I managed to continue, "Can you please tell me… the location of all the speakers?"

All the fire stations in the city, nearly all the public schools, as well as the parks. I spread out the map on the divider on the roadside and marked out all the locations of the speakers that the civil servant had told me. I was getting irritated when I was about halfway into the task. I never thought that there would be so many. Dammit, it's about to reach six o'clock.

Just then, my phone rang.

"Naruto? It's me. Yang-san has crunched out the numbers, and she asked me to inform you about it."

"Yang-san? Oh, you mean the woman at the PA but why you —"

Dammit, I'm stupid. There's no other way she could have contacted me aside from Chiaki! It's my fault for not leaving behind my contact number when I left in a hurry.

After I was done noting down the three digits on the side of the map, Chiaki asked, "Right, what are these numbers for? Is there really a way for us to locate Weiss? It's already so late — "

" — I don't know, but…" I took out my compass. Indeed, there isn't much time left. As I gathered my thoughts, I clamped my phone between my ears and my shoulders, and explained, "At the current temperature, the speed of sound through the air is about 348 meters per second."

"… What?"

"In the voice message, I could hear the sound of the chimes after Weiss's voice fades off. That chime will ring everyday at five."

I forgot when it was, but I had listened to Dvořák with Weiss before — the canon of the second movement of New World Symphony that was created via the absolute limits of the speed of sound. I was really thankful to Jacques's habit of over-doting on his daughter, the ordinary phones would definitely be unable to pick up the broadcasts in the city that clearly. I have that high-end phone to thank for that.

"All the speakers in the city will play at the exact same time. So that means that the sounds from the further speakers will arrive to you slower, right? All I need to do is see the time lag between the chimes, then multiply it by the speed of sound, which is 348 meters. That will allow me to know roughly how far away Weiss is from the speakers. There's three separate chimes in the voice message which arrived at different times, so…"

"Y-You can know where she is just from that alone? But the time between each chimes is so short… a-and… there should be a lot of speakers as well, right?"

"Mmm. So the thing that's left is for me to believe in Weiss."

I drew circles after circles on the map with my compass. Of course, there'll be huge margins of errors since my calculations are based on the estimated time difference as well as the speed of sound, so I wasn't that lucky to get a precise spot on the map where there were three circles overlapping at the same time. But even so, there was still a ray of hope — the intersection between those circles and that line.

"… To believe in her?"

"Because she brought her guitar out with her, and she said she was at a loss of whether to meet us or not."

Aside from that, there's also the last detected location of Weiss that Mr. Klein told me.

"But what's the point in knowing that? The information is already two hours old!"

"So what I am saying is — I am assuming that she is heading directly towards the livehouse right after she ran away from home." There's no other option but for me to believe in that.

Starting from Weiss's house, I used my finger to trace out the route along the national highway, which goes north. The last detected position of Weiss happened to be in that direction as well.

My finger stopped at a certain place that's in one of the intersection of the circles that I drew. I could see a blue line that transversed the map horizontally — it's a river. Would that be the place where Weiss is at? If she's planning to follow that path to make her way to the neighboring city, then it makes sense for her to walk north all the way to the river, then continue along the riverbed where it would lead her to the north-east direction.

That's right. Regardless of how good the receivers of her phone are, in order to hear the chimes that clearly, she will have to be in a place where there's no objects around her that's blocking the path of the sounds, right? Everything makes sense if she's at the river side.

I hung up the call, and replayed Weiss's voice message. Can I hear the sounds of the water that will confirm my hypothesis? Sadly, the sounds picked up by the receiver were too faint for me to make much of it, and so everything will boil down to luck. In any case, it's something that happened over one hour ago. She may be tired from all the walking, and is now resting at a certain place. Or, she might still be on her way from her house to the livehouse. My only option is to believe in the latter.

After stuffing the map and my phone into my pocket, I released the kickstand of my bicycle in preparation to continue my search. As I rode along the narrow road that had no sidewalks, I was constantly overtaken by the cars that sped past me. By then, the dark clouds in the sky were slowly dispersing, and the setting sun of summer was peeking diagonally downwards onto me.

The sun in the west was bright red color, just like that of blood. I was already sweating all over my body when I could see the dikes of the river. I pushed my bicycle up the slopes and took in huge gulps of air that was blowing against my face. At the bottom of the grassy slope was the river that seemed to stretch endlessly. The river was narrower due to the hot weather, and it was dyed by the colors of the sunset.

I took out my map and confirmed that I was heading upstream. Problem is, will I really be able to find her? On the map, the area where the three circles overlap is nothing more than just a triangle that's a few centimeters wide, but in actual fact, that area is extremely big. I could easily see people lying along the riverside, as well as people walking their dogs, and others training on badminton. Upon seeing all that, I couldn't help but think — wouldn't it be great if the world were to disappear in the dusk, leaving behind just Weiss and I. If that were the case, I'd definitely be able to find her.

The sweat on my body was gradually drying off, and the winds were beginning to feel a little cold. My left hand was still grabbing onto the map, while my legs had never once stopped pedaling.

There aren't many significant landmarks along the riverside — there's only the metalwork factory located right below the dikes. I was about to reach the area of the triangle marked on the map. The river before me suddenly became wide. Since I was riding along the side of the river, I was forced to do a detour by making a large turn. To my left, I could see a baseball pitch and a soccer field going past me.

When I cycled through the turn and got back to the riverside again, I stopped my bicycle at a place where there was grass all around me. As I looked at the riverbank that was filled with pebbles, I was overwhelmed by a sudden surge of fatigue. I sat down on the grassy slope. It should be somewhere around here, right? My mind was blanked out by the winds that blew past me. The cool grassland beneath me instantly absorbed the heat from my body due to my vigorous motion.

I only have an hour left. Seems like I won't be able to find her. The real world is hopelessly large, while I am so insignificantly tiny — I felt like crying. With the bonds between the two people gone, there's no way that they'll be able to meet each other again. All that's left is the darkness of the night that's silently but surely creeping up on me. It will no longer return — the thing that ties everything about Weiss and I will never ever return to me again.

I took out my phone and confirmed the time of the voice message. It's already too late for me to do anything, but I should at least give Weiss a call one more time. But all I heard was the hollow sounds of the dialing tone landing onto the grassland drip by drip. I buried my face in between my knees in depression — the hand that I was holding the phone with dropped its way onto the ground. It seemed like the dialing tone was repeatedly slicing my arm with each ring as I counted the number of rings. The thing that had once bonded Weiss and I together…

Music.

Music, I heard it.

I raised my head slowly, and for a moment I thought that it was just my hallucination. I listened intently to the winds that were breezing past the surface of the river, and ignored the inanimate electronic sound that was coming off endlessly from my palm.

I began to seek the faint sound.

There really is the sound of music — I could really hear it. I slid down the grassy slope and stood on the exposed soil on the riverbank. I then closed my eyes and listened intently to the sounds of a guitar. The constant G open chords sounded just like the heartbeats of a bird, and the melody that's riding on it was like the eyes of the bird that were looking through the darkness of the night.

I had heard that song before. It's the first song that tied the two of us together.

Blackbird.

I began to sprint wildly on the soil — before the song stopped playing, and before the sun sets. I ran into the grass patch and went against the flow of the music to seek its source. On the way, I pried open countless Canada goldenrod and had even stepped on their stems.

My views widened up suddenly when I reached the end of the patch of weed. The river had already chewed up the afterglows of the settling sun and was washing it away silently. The night winds were gently flowing through my hair. I looked around in an attempt to seek that song. The lights had gradually disappeared and everything around me was sinking into the deep blue hues of the night. Just then, a flash of light streaked past the corners of my eyes.

It's a place upstream that's far away from me — a dune that is formed from the alluvium of the river. There's a bunch of silver-white hair that's glittering brightly with a gold brilliance under the last remaining rays of the settling sun. I kicked aside the gravel next to my feet and rushed upstream.

"Weiss!"

The person who was squatting on the ground and staring at the surface of the river suddenly raised her head when she heard my voice — it's Weiss alright. The shadow of her guitar case had stretched really far in the direction upstream. She was grabbing onto her phone tightly with her hand, which was giving off the polyphonic ringtone of Blackbird.

"… Why?"

Weiss's eyes were opened wide from her surprise. She mumbled as she stared at me sprinting towards her.

"Why… are you here?"

I swallowed my saliva as I attempted to catch my breath. With my back bent down and my hands on my knees, I replied.

"… Why else!? To find you, of course!"

Tears reappeared on Weiss's pair of reddish eyes.

"Why are you looking for me? You idiot!"

I don't know if I should be angry or dumbfounded, or if I should just laugh instead. In the end, I stretched my hand out towards her.

"Let's go! Everyone's waiting for you… we'll be going on stage at seven."

Weiss hugged her knees and shook her head fervently.

"I can't go."

"Why."

"Because… I went on a disappearing act, so I no longer have the right to go back. Everyone will just be troubled even if I'm around, right?"

I lifted my head to look at the sky that was slowly dyed in the colors of the night. It won't do for me to convey them with just words alone. But even so…

I grabbed onto Weiss's right hand, which she had buried her fingers into the sand. Weiss looked up in surprise.

"How would you feel if your right hand was to say that to you as well?"

"Wh… at?"

"We'll feel really troubled if you're not around! It's that simple. If you don't return to us, we won't be able to play any song at all."

"But… my hand is currently…"

"That doesn't matter! Can you stand? Here, hold on to my shoulder."

"W-Wait!"

I propped Weiss up forcibly.

"If you can't play using your hand, then use your teeth to play! If you can't do that as well, then get on the stage and dance! We're a band! And think about who's the one who gave the band its name!"

"Don't decide that by yourself!"

Weiss's eyes were about to sink to the bottom of the sea.

"Even if… even if I'm around, there's nothing that I can do! I can't even play the guitar"

"Things like that don't matter at all! Even if you can't play the guitar now, there's still the piano!"

I grabbed Weiss hard on her right wrist.

"What are you talking about?"

"It won't do if you're not around! Don't you get it!?"

"I don't!"

Weiss's tears fell towards the ground along with her words.

"Didn't I promise you before? I've gambled my whole life on that, you know? That's why I said things like I'd listen to anything you say if you can't find it. You also agreed to it back then, right? If that's the case, then don't run away. And I promise you that you'll definitely get it this time when you reach the live house. It's okay even if you can't play the guitar. Just stand at the side of the stage and listen to us play. If you still don't get it after that, then I'll be at your beck and call — I don't care if you want me to take a hat and collect money for you for the rest of my life. So…"

Just then, I remembered what Hiratsuka Sensei said to me before. Why am I feeling so troubled when Weiss's not around? It's because I…

"You Know… I planned to live out the three years of my high-school life by not participating in any clubs, and just spend my days lazing around. But when you started to come in my life… because I hoped to keep you by my side, I purchased my bass, modified it and practiced on it. But you — you're always like this. Don't just disappear like that!"

It's because of Weiss's appearance, and because I hoped to keep her by my side. I already went so far and did all these things.

Weiss walked up to me with her unsteady steps and grabbed me on my shoulders. She lifted her head and looked at me with her shimmering eyes, before shifting her gaze onto somewhere around my upper arm. She said with a hoarse voice, "… Idiot. You're an idiot!"

"Just let me be one! Can you walk?" Even though her gaze was still fixed on my arms, she nodded her head.

We cycled along the bicycle track upstream. I could feel Weiss's body heat on my back, and both of her arms were wrapped around my waist. The pedals were getting heavier and heavier, while the skies were becoming darker with each passing distance. The throbbing from just now had not died down totally yet. I dared not look at the time at all. As I gripped hard onto the handlebars, I looked at the two arms that were interlocked around my waist from time to time, so as to make sure that Weiss's still by my side.

Weiss's right here, and now, I am bringing her there. But that's all there is to it — she's only 'here', just like her right hands. It's just a physical existence. The blood that's pumped could not reach her, so she couldn't move. I can't let things end like that. You can't consider this a band. If so… Senpai and I… can we make it in time?

I don't know. All I knew was I could feel the presence of her breaths blowing on my ears. I took another firm grip on the handlebars which were wet from my sweat, and transferred more strength into my feet.

(◕ω◕✿)

The sky was already totally dark when we reached Bright. The windows on the first floor as well as the entrance of the staircase which leads to the basement were lit with bright neon lights.

The place was particularly eye-catching compared to the quiet and relatively dark residential area in which it is situated in. There are — some people hanging around the neon lights — they should be the viewers who are waiting for the performance to begin? I parked my bicycle in the corner of the parking lot that was already filled with cars, before taking a glance at the clock in the office. It's already seven ten. We didn't make it in time. Has the concert already begun?

"Are your legs okay?"

"I-I can walk," Weiss leaped off the backseat and stood on the gravel ground.

We walked by the viewers that had gathered here. Just as we were about to head down the stairs, Weiss suddenly stopped in her tracks and began to hesitate yet again. I grabbed her by her hands.

"Quickly!"

"But… it's already…"

Already what!? Chiaki's still waiting for us! It's because I told her that I'd definitely bring Weiss back. I walked down the stairs briskly. There's a small table situated at the turn, and the staff was there selling tickets for the concert.

"Ah! The two of you…!"

One of the staff was about to call out to us, so I shouted, "We're one of the performers!" I then pulled Weiss by her hands and continued running downwards. When I pushed open the heavy soundproof door located at the end of the flight of stairs, a series of blinding and scattered rays as well as an intense bout of penetrative rhythm came lunging onto me.

As we stepped inside, Weiss and I were immediately cut off from the outside world by the door behind us. I could see the audience moving along to the rhythm amid the dense hot air around us. There's probably about a hundred people there… no, maybe more? And the person in front of the crowd who's bathed in the colorful spotlights and going all out while drenched in her sweat was…

"… Chiaki?"

It took me a lot of effort to hear the Weiss's whispers.

Right, that person is Chiaki. The dancing white drum sticks were etching out beautiful and cruel arcs in the air, just like a whip. I could faintly see Chiaki's burning face amid the gold and white shimmers of the golden cymbals. Beneath the constant shuffles of the light cymbals was the rhythm of the bass drum that seemed to make its way right into our hearts, and even up to our throats.

And then… Chiaki saw me. No, she's not looking at me. Somehow, I clearly knew she's looking at Weiss.

The beats suddenly changed. It's a provoking rhythm in semi-quavers that climbed up the scales in a flash before diving all the way down. That caused a stir among the audiences who was itching for more.

"That's…" Weiss's voice was a little hoarse.

I too knew what it was. 'He Man Woman Hater' — it's the song that Weiss and Chiaki used to duel against each other for over ten minutes, so much so that it felt like they were slashing each other away. Weiss was grabbing on my arm with her left hand, and it seemed to be twitching. She was searching for the nonexistent set of six strings, so as to be able to answer the call of Chiaki.

"Let's go. Chiaki's calling us."

We took a route along the wall at the side of the livehouse and brushed against the backs of the crowd as we made our way towards the stage. We walked into the resting area after locating the door that leads to it — though it is called a resting area, it just nothing more than a passage that leads to the emergency exit, with a few cabinets placed along it.

There's a few guys who had already changed into their attire. They were standing shoulders to shoulders with each other, and ready to take the stage at any moment. Right when he saw me, Deidara grabbed me by my shoulder and slammed me against the wall.

"Oi! Deidara!" Kakashi-san was about to stop him, but his arms were brushed away by Deidara.

Deidara pulled close to me while grabbing me by my collar. The back of my head was hurting from the impact against the wall, and somehow his voice seemed to be especially piercing.

"Quit fooling around, you bastard! What time do you think it is now!?"

"Sorry…"

"Why the hell are you apologizing to me? You should be apologizing to your drummer instead! She's been holding on all the way till now with her solo performance!"

I looked at the stage that was under the merciless rays of the spotlights from my position on the side. Chiaki, she was stirring up the atmosphere of the place by constantly moving her arms as though they were about to snap off. By herself. Chiaki did it all alone.

"May I know… where Kagurazaka Senpai is?"

"That's what I wanna know! Where did she run off to?"

She's not here — that means Senpai didn't manage to make it in time? The piercing tones of the open-rimshot came from the stage, and the descending sounds of the bass drum were slowly fading away. The final note of the drumming performance was burrowed in the cheers from the audiences below. Chiaki twirled her drum sticks in her hands in response to the cheers given to her, and stood up wobbly at the same time. As though there's an invisible string leashed around her neck, she walked unsteadily towards the side of the stage and collapsed into my chest.

"… Naruto, you're…so…slow…"

"Sorry…"

"And I want to scold Weiss a lot!"

Despite her lying limply on my chest, Chiaki shot a fierce glare at Weiss. Weiss shrunk herself to the side and removed the guitar case that was on her shoulder.

"In any case, let me have a drink first!"

Chiaki then accepted the bottled water offered by Kakashi-san and cleared it all in a flash. The flush on her face was nowhere near receding, but she was already looking back at the stage anxiously.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Hold on till Senpai returns, of course!"

"Just give up already!" Deidara said that from beside me.

"You've managed to stir up the audience with your solo performance. You've done all you could already."

"I don't want to!" Chiaki rejected him immediately.

"Weiss, go prepare yourself too, quickly! Senpai will definitely make it back here."

I shook my head. Chiaki had no idea about how demanding my request was. Weiss lowered her head and stared at her right hand.

"Forget it, I get it. I'll go back on stage by myself. Stupid Weiss!" "

"Oi! Chiaki!" I chased Chiaki and ran to the stage.

A wave of cheers from the audiences came assaulting us immediately. As I took a look at the area beneath the stage, all I could see was a sea of people whose face I couldn't see properly because of the stage lights. I could feel goosebumps on my body — Chiaki… she's been fighting alone this whole time in a place like this?

I could faintly hear the yells of Deidara or some other people from behind me, but it's already too late. I was standing on the stage looking at over hundreds people beneath me, and their blood vessels were already infused with the drugs administered by Chiaki. At the place before me — on the stage to the audiences' right, was my Aria Pro II bass on its stand waiting for me.

I could no longer head back. There's something injected into my blood vessels as well — I was burning up. At the instance when I touched the neck of my bass, I could feel a sweet surge of electricity flowing into me. What should we do? Senpai's not here yet, and Weiss's still standing behind me stiffly… if only one of them were to take the stage. There's nothing I can do alone — I've already exhausted myself bringing Weiss here.

"… Naruto, wait… I'm sorry…" Chiaki stuck her head out of the drums and said to me in a hoarse voice, "My legs feels weak. I've probably went too hard just now… please give me a moment, since I can't step the pedals right now. Ahaha, what a problem we have here."

I looked at Chiaki's slumped thighs in despair. I could begin to hear the boos from the crowd beneath us.

"Sorry, I have to rest a little longer." Chiaki's voice sounded like she was close to tears.

Chiaki had been fighting by herself on stage, but what about me? Can I do that as well? But I can't. I could only carry my bass and do nothing with my back facing the audiences. In the first place, this is a situation that you can't face alone. I looked towards the side of the stage. Weiss was squatting next to the wall and looking at me with a painful expression on her face, while Deidara and Kakashi were behind her discussing something. It seemed like Kakashi-san finally gave in. He lifted both of his arms above his head — and both of them took out their own guitars from the cases.

Ah. Is this where everything will end? I finally brought Weiss here after many difficulties, but it's already too late. When I realized it; when I ran out of this place; when I was looker for her; when we returned together — everything's already too late.

Just then… there was a change in the atmosphere of the livehouse.

My ears had picked up the slight change — there's a brief gush of wind, followed by a strength that supports me, who was at the brink of collapsing. I steadied myself and turned around to face the audience. Behind the staggering crowd was the opened soundproof door. The person standing there had long black hair tied up together in a braid, and it was fluttering along to the escaping hot air — just like the tail feathers of a bird.

A few of the viewers close to the door had noticed it and turned their heads around. The silhouette swung her arms and tossed out something. I could barely catch the glittering object that soared above the crowd in darkness. The sharp sound of rubber squeaked through the microphones. The audience died down in an instant, and a moment of silence fell onto us.

"… What's this?"

"What just happened?"

"Who's that?"

"Eh? What?"

Small ripples began to form. However, all I was looking at was the thing in my hand — a tape with the title of its song clearly labelled on it. I see, it's this song! Somehow, it feels like Senpai already knew everything right from the start.

"… Senpai?" Chiaki whispered.

I fed the tape into the tape recorder that belonged to Weiss, which was hanging right beneath the microphone. The moment I pressed the play button, the cheers from the audience rang once again. The crowd split into two, and that person began to make her way grandly up the stage that's bathed in colorful lights.

Senpai looked at me, Chiaki and finally Weiss. She then put on a gentle smile. Just then, the melody of the piano began to play.

The spinning tape recorder was playing out the crisp chords of the piano, and the microphone that had its head lowered was gently picking up the sounds that was being released. I immediately knew what was going on here, so Weiss should know too.

Even though it was chopped into segments in the hands of Kagurazaka Senpai and pieced together again to form another song, I could still recognize it immediately upon hearing it — it's the sound of the piano played by Weiss.

Senpai allowed the melody of the piano to continue flowing as her back continued to face the audience. At the same time, she said to everyone with a low but clear voice.

"Not all of our members are here yet."

Chiaki tilted her head in confusion. As for Weiss, she had raised her head in shock and was looking at Senpai. Indeed, not all of the members of feketerigó are here yet. Even though Weiss's physically here, her soul's not here. Therefore…

"As usual, let's start by warming up with the songs of The Eagles till everyone's here!"

Upon seeing the energy returning to Chiaki's eyes, Senpai turned around and grabbed onto the microphone. I gently buried the chords of my bass onto the crisp sounds of Weiss's piano.

Next, Senpai's voice joined into the foray — The Last Resort.

::::::

She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island

Where the old world shadows hang heavy in the air

She packed her hopes and dreams like a refugee

Just as her father came across the sea

She heard about a place people were smilin'

They spoke about the red man's way, how they loved the land

And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide

Seeking a place to stand or a place to hide

Down in the crowded bars, out for a good time

Can't wait to tell you all, what it's like up there

And they called it paradise I don't know why

Somebody laid the mountains low while the town got high

::::::

It's a hoarse singing voice of a traveler who traveled over the seas while bringing along only her body and her life.

The Last Resort is the last track in the album of The Eagle's Hotel California, and it's a requiem dedicated to the native Americans whose homeland was plundered, sullied and destroyed. It's a slow and sad song. Right now, the melody that's carrying the song is actually segments plucked out from Beethoven's piano sonata — though I wonder how many people had actually noticed that?

It's probably only the few of us here. Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major — what's being played is the variations of the final movement, which is Gesang voll, mit innigster Empfindung, a title written in German by Beethoven.

How long did it take for Senpai to achieve something like that? She had obtained the source of the music from Weiss's CD, arranged them together without changing the tempo of the pieces, and changed it into a song sung by The Eagles. That was indeed what I had asked her to do. It may sound easy on paper, but she had actually done it for me. And that's the reason why Weiss is here right now.

Even though it's just series of notes connected together and spewed out from the shabby tape recorder that was hanging from the microphone stand, Senpai, Chiaki and I had all found Weiss in there. Weiss should have found it too, right? The place she is in our hearts. She's not playing anything and only listening from afar, but that's even more reason for her to understand, to understand the reason for her to be here.

::::::

Then the chilly winds blew down

Across the desert through the canyons of the coast, to the Malibu

Where the pretty people play, hungry for power to light their neon way give them things to do

Some rich men came and raped the land

Nobody caught 'em

Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus people bought 'em

'nd they called it paradise

The place to be

They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea

::::::

The hard sounds of the cymbals were gradually fading away as we entered into the second chorus, and Chiaki's drums came in right after. The colors of the silently swaying audience was exactly like that of the sea which exists in the eyes of Weiss, while the sound of Weiss's piano was heading straight into that sea.

The sextuplets of the forth variation were wobbling along with the waves. When the singing part of the song was over, Senpai used her Les Paul guitar to engage in a really lengthy exchange where her guitar and the piano entwined together, and with that we entered the sixth variation.

However, my steps stopped right there.

The melody of Weiss's piano was about to come to an end, but The Last Resort was far from over. When the scale changed into G major, the requiem of the Indians will become our elegy. I began to pray.

Finally, Weiss's piano had reached its end, and what's left was the melody of my bass, as well as the sounds of Senpai's guitar as it mimicked the cries of the seagulls. Weiss has disappeared. A void opened up in our sound.

The singing of Senpai sounded like a prayer too filled with overflowing hope, which gave her a reason to bleed.

::::::

You can leave it all behind and sail to Lahaina just like the missionaries did, so many years ago

They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming"

Brought the white man's burden down

Brought the white man's reign

Who will provide the grand design?

What is yours and what is mine?

'Cause there is no more new frontier

We have got to make it here

We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds, in the name of destiny and in the name of God

::::::

What a helpless and cruel line it is. And thus everyone left her. Senpai's singing was echoing in nothingness.

However… suddenly, I noticed it. There's someone there. On the other side of the melody of Senpai, and above Chiaki's tempo that's entering in slowly — the sound is right next to me. The melody sounded way too natural. It's as though the melody had branched off from my bass, and is extending into the sky endlessly. It gently encased itself around the sounds of Senpai's Les Paul guitar. As I breathed the accompaniment of the chorus into the mike, I narrowed my eyes and looked towards the other side of the stage.

Behind Senpai's tall silhouette, I could see a silver shimmer. It's the silver-white hair that's glittering under the dazzling stage lights.

For a moment, I wondered if that was just a hallucination of mine. I mean, my ears could always hear things that aren't there. But thankfully, that's not an illusion at all. Senpai then sang out the final prayers. It's a song that portrays the helplessness of those who had their homeland stolen from them, to those who plundered the homeland of the others.

::::::

And you can see them there, On Sunday morning

They stand up and sing about what it's like up there

They call it paradise I don't know why

You call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye

::::::

As though Senpai's melodious voice was sucked into darkness, all that's left were the sounds of the guitars that's streaming out constantly. One of the guitars sketched out the finale of the song, while the melody of the other flew its way into the faraway skies.

I took another look towards the other side of the stage. It really isn't my hallucination — Weiss's right there, plucking the strings of her Stratocaster with her slender, fair and mirage-like right hand. The cymbals behind her clashed, and the sea of people beneath us erupted into a roar.

I could hardly remember what happened after that. The clash of solos between Weiss and Senpai's guitar continued for five minutes, and they might have went on longer if it wasn't for me stopping them. There was no time for us to rest after The Last Resort was over. The audience beneath us were already urging us impatiently by stomping on the floor.

We didn't converse much on stage, since each and every second up there is precious to us. The many things that had slowly gathered in us over the eight months were hurled beneath the stage in one go in thirty minutes. Some of them might have drowned from that.

Once we were done with digesting all the songs, we were cheered off the stage as we walked away with our bodies drenched in sweat. Chiaki could no longer stand, so thank god Senpai got to her before she fell onto the floor.

Kakashi-san and his band members, together with the other band that consisted of middle-aged members, were all putting on smiles on their faces. The only person to put on a grumpy expression was none other than Deidara. However, that grumpy person then spoke.

"Oi. You guys are the opening act, but for some reason there are some people down there who are demanding an encore."

He pointed towards the stage rather unwillingly — it's just as he had said! The sounds of clapping and stomping from the audience were coming to us in a rhythmic manner, which sounded like the ground was rumbling. I had already planned to succumb myself to the rather comfortable fatigue, so I showed an apologetic smile and replied.

"… But the amount of time for the concert's limited…"

"Quit complaining! Get on the stage now, or else the building will just collapse onto us." Deidara kicked me on my back.

It seemed like the staff had no intention of moving the instruments on stage either, and they were all looking in our direction. I guess we had no choice but to do it.

I then shot a glance at Senpai. She had allowed the exhausted Chiaki to sit on her thighs, and then she said to me, "Looks like we'll have to allow Comrade Chiaki to take a rest. You two can take the stage!"

Us two… both of us? And that means. I looked at Weiss. There was a red hue to her fair skin, and the colors of her eyes were the same colors of the summer sky.

"See, this is the name of our band!"

Senpai patted Chiaki on her chest. The logo of feketerigó was printed on that area of her T-shirt.

"So there can only be one song for our encore."

Weiss had already nodded her head in agreement before I could react. She stepped onto the stage without any hint of hesitation. The neat sounds of clapping and stomping then shattered into pieces of applause. It was when I looked at Weiss carrying her guitar on her shoulder without fear that I realized this — despite the difference in the genre, Weiss's still a professional musician, so she's already used to all these things. The only problem is, that doesn't apply to me.

Just as I was procrastinating, Weiss looked me in the eyes briefly. She then used her thumb and index finger to play that song.

— Blackbird.

With that, I was forced to go on stage as well.

The spotlights and Weiss's face were all so dazzling — I couldn't pay any attention to whether I had sung well or not at all.

(◕ω◕✿)

I remember Kakashi-san saying before about how he would sometimes swap roles with Deidara to form a joker band that focuses on laughing at how bad each other was. But after listening to them in person at the resting area, I couldn't help but to tsukkomi at them in my heart in no way was that bad at all!

I actually preferred Deidara's vocals. According to the information Chiaki gave me, Deidara's professional accompaniment with his vocals is one of the reasons why the concerts are so spectacular.

Speaking of which, the thing that made me depressed the most was the main act — a band that is made up of four middle-aged guys. It consisted of a piano trio and a guitar. During their self-introduction at the backstage, there's an elementary school teacher, a guy who runs a sweets shop, and a construction worker and stuff. My initial impression of them being "just an amateur band" was shattered in an instant right from the start of their very first song 'Enter Sandman' of Metallica. Despite them being so incredibly good, they actually only play in their spare time?

"It would be really depressing if you listen to those old guys when your new singles aren't selling well." Kakashi-san whispered to me jokingly.

So that's the reason for putting them as the main act instead of that band of yours which consists of two professionals? So you guys are actually just the appetizers?

"But we don't call them old guys for nothing. They are impressive when they start out, but they'll tire out as they go on. It's quite interesting, so look forward to it!"

Well, it was really funny to see the later parts of their performance in a mess when the middle-aged guys started gulping iced vodka while they were still on stage.

The celebration party for the performance was not done at a pub, probably because they considered the fact that we're only in high-school. Instead, we went to a Chinese restaurant. The second floor was filled with over twenty people, though some of them were customers that were unrelated to us. The whole situation was a mess, and it was made worse since the middle-aged guys had already drank alcohol even before they got there. The tatami room had cushions and short tables, which made it feel more like a hotel rather than a Chinese restaurant. As a result, we had relaxed ourselves a little too much. Some of the people even placed a few cushions together and laid on top of them.

Prior to the start of the celebration, Kakashi-san and the other three members began playing rock-scissors-paper all of the sudden. It seemed like they were deciding on who would be the one to drive, meaning that the unlucky one won't be able to drink. The final duel was between Deidara and Kakashi, and the defeated Deidara was visibly pissed.

However, Chiaki and Senpai chose to ignore Deidara totally. With the laws of Japan totally erased from their minds, they began to binge on wine. Oi, someone stop them immediately!

"Senpai, when did you start to drink?" I asked her as I looked at her drinking cup after cup of Shaoxing rice wine.

"It is said that back in the olden Europe, the parents would feed their babies with gin if they cried in the middle of the night!"

… Why are you telling me such a scary trivial knowledge!?

"Hey, Kyouko…" Kakashi-san, who was sitting beside Kyouko, said this while drinking, "It's always my dream to marry a girl who's younger than me but holds her liquor better than me, and to let her take care of me for the rest of my life."

"I'm sorry, but I have my sweetheart already."

I had no idea which of her words were true and which were fake.

"Speaking of which…!"

Chiaki, who was sitting next to Senpai as well, was originally competing with the middle-aged guys in drinking. She then suddenly placed her glass down with a "hic!" and stood up.

"It seems like everyone's no longer pursuing the issue, but I still say that Weiss's actions today are unforgivable!"

Weiss was next to me eating the salad slowly. She flinched at that sudden statement.

"That's right! She was that close to betraying her comrades. That's quite a heavy offense!"

Senpai knelt on one of her knees, and put on a sinister smile on her face.

"S-Sorry!"

"There will be no need for the Special Investigation Team if an apology is all you need to solve everything!"

Chiaki said that before slamming her hands on the table. Weiss hid herself behind my back in fear. Even though the middle-aged guys had no idea what was going on, they joined in the fun with, "Yeah, pay with your body!"

"I heard that Comrade Schnee had no idea how important she is in our hearts?"

"B-But I…"

They were obviously bullying her. But I'll definitely be in for some deep trouble should I interrupt them now, so I had no choice but to remain silent.

"Then… what do you want me to do?"

Came Weiss's voice, which sounded like she was close to tears. You can't say that yourself! Chiaki pulled her body over as though she was about to step over the table, and placed an empty whiskey glass in front of Weiss.

"Drink."

A caramel-colored liquid flowed out from within the glass bottle. No wait. But that's Shaoxing rice wine, right?

"I-I can't drink."

"Don't worry. I'll add sugar in it for you."

Chiaki dumped a huge spoonful of sugar into the whiskey glass. I can't see how that will solve the problem.

"Chiaki, calm down, don't enter into your old-man mode!"

"Can't I? I'll become an old man anyway!"

"Like hell you will! You're a girl! " Geez!

"If we let Weiss off the hook this time, she'll definitely do something again that will bring the band on the brink of dissolving!"

"That has nothing to do with the band dissolving or not — Hey, wait!"

Before I could stop her, a desperate Weiss had already held her breath and brought the glass before her lips. In the next instant, Weiss collapse on the floor with her face flushed red, and what came right after were the sounds of cheers. Oh please, she's not performing a stunt here! Goddamn those drunkards!

I carried the flushed Weiss to the restroom. Weiss's face had already turned slightly green when we were on our way back. Just as I was about to help her back to her seat, I nearly bumped into someone at the turn of the corridor. I raised my head and saw Deidara.

"Ah, s-sorry… umm, well, it's been hard on you today."

"You'll have to work harder in many areas!"

"Right." I shrunk my neck. Just then, Weiss struggled a little beside me.

"… Thank you… for earlier." Weiss raised her head and murmured that towards Deidara. I had no idea what she was referring to, so I turned my head around and looked at her.

"Earlier on… he helped me connect my guitar to the wiring."

I then turned to face Deidara again. I see, so that's the reason Weiss appeared onstage so suddenly.

Deidara's frowned and stared at Weiss's hand for a long while before saying, "You right fingers can't move… but by how much?"

"Eh…?"

"Y-You can see that?" I was way more surprised than Weiss was.

"All it took is a look for me to realize that. Don't underestimate a guitarist! If you continue to play it the way you do, there won't be any future for you."

Weiss looked at her hand, and fell into silence. She then squeezed past me to make her way back to her seat first. I was about to follow her, but Deidara grabbed me by my shoulders.

"… Is there anything you want?"

"Are you planning on staying in that band forever?" Deidara asked me with a frown. I nodded my head rather unnaturally. Why did he ask that?

"You should quit for the sake of the band."

"Eh? W-Why?"

"Your standards are a mile away from the rest of the members!"

Whoa! I knew that very well myself, but it still hurts to hear him pointing it out directly.

"You know that as well, right?"

"I do, but…" My gaze landed on my fingers. I opened my left hand and clenched it up again. I then lifted my head to look at Deidara.

"This is my band."

"Is that so? Do as you wish then."

Deidara pushed me hard by my shoulder towards the direction of the seat s. Just as I was about to head back, I could hear another of his sentence coming from behind me.

"If you guys give me that sort of bullshit again next time, I'll definitely punch you till you drop."

Despite being severely reprimanded by him, I was quite thankful for that last line it means that we still have a chance next time.

"So there's a next time huh. Well said."

I was shocked by that sudden line. I turned my head around. Standing on the corridor was Kagurazaka Senpai, and behind her was the drunk Chiaki.

"The sexual harassment inside there is getting out of hand, so we ran out!"

Chiaki ran over and grabbed Weiss by her arm. Weiss almost turned around and ran away in fright.

"It's time for us to hold an evaluation meeting. Weiss, you can't run away even if you want to!"

"Uhh…"

Chiaki pulled the teary Weiss towards the direction of the stairs. I had no idea if she was still drunk or sober. The four of us gathered at the entrance that leads to the first floor, and began our evaluation meeting.

"Since we're a revolution army, why don't we start by evaluating ourselves? Let's surround Weiss and yell out what we think, okay? That's what they always do during sports activities and such."

"That's just plain bullying!" And where the hell did you get those ideas from?

"That's already outdated! We're in the twenty-first century now. The modern-day revolutionists should do their self-evaluation like this…"

"Hyaa!"

Kagurazaka Senpai suddenly locked both of Weiss's arms behind her back, and began to tickle her by her armpit. It just so happens that I was sitting two steps below them — I was kicked by Weiss as she was struggling, and was that close to rolling down the stairs.

"Y-Y-Ya!"

Weiss kept twisting about in Senpai's bosom.

"The self-evaluation's not over yet, Comrade Schnee, so stop your useless struggling!"

"Stop this for now!"

I couldn't help but to interrupt them by prying them apart. This time, Weiss hid herself behind Chiaki. And as for Chiaki, she patted Weiss on her head to console her.

"Young man, you're quite lacking in your critical judgement!"

"You just want to sexually harass her, right!?"

"But it should feel comfortable, right? Of course, I'm not saying it in a sexual connotation…"

Senpai suddenly pulled her body close to Weiss and looked at her face. Does she not know when to stop? I was planning on dissing her a little, but I suddenly noticed the gloom that's looming in her eyes, so I shut my mouth instead.

There should only be one thing that she's really asking — it should have felt really great when we were performing live, right? That's what Senpai's eyes were telling me.

I turned my head, and saw Weiss timidly sticking her head out from Chiaki's back. After staring at her own right hand for a while, she nodded her head slightly. Senpai gave a sigh of relief, and that wasn't something I had imagined in mind.

"Well then…"

Senpai stood between us and stuck out her hand with the palm facing downwards.

"There's a chance for us next time."

The very first person to place her right hand above was Chiaki.

I then stretched out my hand, as though I was attempting to cover their hands. Finally, Weiss stretched out her right hand as well, the hand that lacks strength, which fingers were unable to open out fully, and was so dreamily pale and slender. But to us, it's a right hand that we could not do without. She placed it above our hands.

It's already late into the night when the party was over. A few of the drunkards were planning for a round two while they are still on a high. More than a dozen of the drunks had gathered and stood motionlessly along the dark sidewalk in front of the Chinese restaurant as though they were some sort of factory waste.

"I feel so dizzy…"

Weiss moaned as she leaned her whole body weakly against my shoulders beneath the flickering streetlight. Even though she only drank a single cup of wine (and more like spitting it out immediately after she sipped it), it seemed like a hangover was beginning to kick in on her.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

"Not to that stage yet."

"Then why don't Weiss join us for round two as well!" But Chiaki's unreasonable invitation was rejected.

"I'm going home."

Weiss carried her guitar — or more like she's being supported by the guitar — and walked unsteadily on the streets of the night. Wait, you're not planning to walk home by yourself?

"I'll send you back! It's faster with a bicycle."

"What!? Naruto's not joining us?" Chiaki sounded flustered. "But Senpai said she's going as well!"

"I can't drink. Moreover, Mom's gonna complain if I get home late."

"Oh, I see." Somehow, Chiaki's smile was a little forced. "Then see you tomorrow!"

"Mmm, tomorrow… but it's Sunday?"

Even if it's the holidays, club activities can only be carried out during the weekdays.

"What are you talking about? I'll pop up at your house tomorrow morning before going home, so remember to prepare ochazuke for me!"

"… Fine."

Chiaki was about to rejoin the group of drunkards who had begun moving in small separate groups. Weiss, who had been grabbing my arm the whole time, suddenly called out to her.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for today… and sorry."

"But I've done nothing." Chiaki smiled.

Nothing of that sort. I actually wanted to thank her as well. It's because Chiaki was around, because she had been there waiting for us.

"Won't… you be sad?"

Chiaki tilted her head in response to Weiss's question. I turned my head around to look at Weiss's slightly green face from the side.

"Go along with Kyouko now. But didn't you say before that you're the same as me?"

"I'm not sad. It's much more painful if we cannot be together."

I had no idea what Chiaki's talking about, but it seemed like Weiss did. She showed a teary smile and nodded her head.

"So I'll drown you in vodka should you pull another disappearing act!"

"Sorry!" Weiss cowered in fear.

Chiaki ran away from us while waving her hands. Weiss then sighed uncomfortably. She doesn't look like she can stand properly at all.

I sent Weiss back home on my bicycle, but the journey was much more difficult compared to ferrying her to the livehouse during the evening. It's because she had leaned almost her whole body against me, and I had to carry her guitar as well as my bass. Moreover, I couldn't see too well since it was dark. The only improvement was that it was way cooler than the evening.

I chose to ride slowly along a lane without any cars. I could hear the cries of the insects, the sounds of the car engines coming from faraway, as well as the jiri-jiri sounds from the dynamo of the bicycle's light.

"Ruto…"

When we were riding along the road next to the dikes, the silent Weiss behind me suddenly spoke.

"Hmm?"

"Actually… I was lying when I said that my whole right hand was immobile right down to the wrist."

"I know."

"How did you know!?"

Oi! Stop! Don't headbutt the person in front of you when he's cycling with two people on board!

The bicycle that Weiss and I were on was slithering along the road like a snake.

"Because you were grabbing on to me tightly while I was escorting you over to the livehouse!"

"Ah…"

"… Oi! Don't loosen your grip! What if you fall off!"

That's dangerous. Just what exactly does she want!

"So you pretended to believe in my lie despite knowing all along? Idiot!"

She suddenly became angry for no rhyme or reason. What's going on now?

Though to put it more accurately, I wasn't a hundred percent sure if Weiss was lying or not -— I just felt that there's a possibility of it being a lie. Regardless, all the possibilities would have dropped to zero if I didn't bring Weiss along with me forcibly back then.

"You know, I wasn't really joking when I asked you to play with your teeth! You should be able to do it since you're that good, right?"

"How could I have done that!?"

I suffered yet another headbutt on my back again. Man, that hurts.

"Are you content as long as you can listen to me playing the guitar?"

"Well… not just the guitar. There's also the piano as well… didn't I say so before?"

"That's not what I mean…!"

I could feel the air behind me became incredibly scary all of the sudden, as though someone was about to strangle me by my neck.

"Actually, I don't really like the original way you play the guitar. Your techniques are good, but…"

"You're just jealous!"

"Shush! But now, it won't do if you're not around…"

That was my heartfelt thought that I couldn't convey to her earlier via words. Weiss headbutted me thrice, before saying, "Say it once more."

"Hmm?"

"But now… what?"

"It won't do if you're not around…?"

She didn't understand the meaning behind those words?

"It's because for both Senpai and Chiaki, your guitar is —"

"— Kyouko or Chiaki, that doesn't matter. What about you?"

"… Me? I really like the way you play your guitar now. Somehow, it feels different from how you would play back when you were playing alone. The way in which you play has changed as well, right?"

Weiss pressed her forehead on the area close to my shoulder blade, and fell silent for a long while. We were already on the national highway, and there's only a short distance to go before we pass the overhead bridge and reach the railways. We'll be quite close to Weiss's house after we go past the railroad gates.

"Me too."

I could feel Weiss's murmurs on my back.

"I can't help falling in love… with Ruto…"

"…!"

I braked hard on my bicycle before the crosswalk. Weiss's head swayed behind me.

Did she just… say something really strange? No wait, or was I just imagining things?

"Hey, Weiss."

"Don't stop all of the sudden! The guitar knocked into my leg."

"No, wait… Just now —"

There was the sudden sound of a ringtone which interrupted my words. It's from Weiss's phone. She got off the passenger seat and pulled out her phone from her pocket. Who's the one calling her?

"… It's from Klein." Weiss frowned when she looked at the screen of her phone.

I called Mr. Klein right after our performance to tell him that I had already found Weiss, and told him not to worry. But it's already this late into the night — I should have made another call to her.

"… Yes? … Mmm. We'll be there soon. We're almost at the train station, and we'll head right back… Eh? E-Eh?" Weiss's voice was becoming more and more flustered. What's going on?

After hanging up the phone and stuffing it back into her pocket, Weiss carried her guitar and jumped onto the passenger seat of the bicycle.

"H-Hurry! Just go somewhere, anywhere!"

"Eh? What do you mean by anywhere? We're about to reach your house, no?"

"I don't wanna! I don't want to go home today!"

I was stunned. At the crossroad in the middle of the night, Weiss was hugging me tightly from behind And she said she doesn't want to go home.

No wait, calm down. It's probably… not that…

"Quickly!"

Under the urge from Weiss's headbutt, I began to pedal the bicycle slowly. Just as we went past the crossroad, a powerful beam of lights from a car came shining in front of us. The car roared to a stop diagonally-right in front of us.

It's a foreign-made car that I was familiar with, and I immediately knew the reason behind Weiss's fluster. The door to the driver's seat flung open, and the person who stepped out of the car was none other than Jacques.

"What time is it now!? I-It's so late already, and… and she's together with you!? Just what is happening around here!?"

I almost fell off from my seat in fright after seeing the incredibly scary face of the furious Jacques.

"Eh? Why…? Umm, you're back in Japan already?" I thought you were in Paris?

"I've just returned not too long ago!"

Whoa! That's just too much of a coincidence! Weiss was hugging me tightly and hiding herself behind my back. I don't know if it was due to the shock, the fear or the tiredness, but I was already ramming hard on the pedals before I knew it. Jacques's angry roar disappeared behind us before long, and all that was left was Weiss's warmth behind me.

The winds of the summer night brushed by my ears. I could almost hear the words that Weiss had said earlier, but I was no longer in the mood to ask her about it again. There's just too many things that cannot be conveyed with words alone.

I cycled around the places close to her house, and in the end I sent Weiss back home.

As for the hollers of Jacques, the cold glares of Mr. Klein and the two Dobermans baring their fangs at me, I don't think it's necessary for me to go into details about them. Overwhelmed by fatigue, I slept through most of Sunday.

And then Monday came. It's the first time we gathered after the performance. I had overslept by a lot, so I stopped by a convenience store while on my way to school to buy some cold drinks as an apology. The strap of the bass case dug hard into my shoulders, and it was soaked with sweat as I was burning under the harsh sunlight of summer. That felt really uncomfortable.

I was revitalized when I finally reached the much cooler courtyard at the back of the school. Just then, I could hear the sound of music. It came from the clubroom. The door was opened slightly as something was stuck in between — I could hear the sturdy sounds of the drums, the crisp sounds of the guitar as well as the singing of Senpai coming from within the room.

Why are they playing with the door opened? Ah, I remember Senpai saying something like getting the blouse to stick on their skin from their sweat or something… oh please, don't tell me you're really carrying it out!

I had already walked right up to the clubroom, but I stopped in my tracks when I realized the song that they were playing inside. It's Desperado. There's no way I could be wrong about it. But Senpai said before that she definitely won't sing that song.

I leaned against the concrete wall of the old music room and concentrated on seeking Senpai's voice. Somehow, I think I can now understand the reason she did that. Her very first band was dissolved on the very next day after Senpai had sung that on stage by herself. There's a depressing reason behind it, but that song must be something really special to her. And that's the reason why she could no longer sing it again after that.

And it feels like I can understand the reason for us to practice on the songs of The Eagles whenever everyone's not there yet. Despite them experiencing many changes to their members, the songs of The Eagles still sound as solid as ever. Even if it is a song that's formed by overlapping the sounds of various guitars, they were still able to replicate it perfectly once they hit the stage. Moreover, all the members in the band are the vocalists, so the chorus will sound especially rich.

As long as someone's not there, the missing void will be incredibly obvious — that's the sort of band they are. And the reason we play it each and every time is because Senpai wanted to confirm that fact.

… Wait! Weiss, stop playing the beats of the bass as well! That just feels really depressing! Did they actually realize that I'm not around? I then recalled Deidara's words from the celebration party, and my feelings sunk even lower.

"You should quit for the sake of the band."

It may be true that I'm the only one who's dragging the band down. However, I was finally able to say it out loudly and clearly "This is my band." I readjusted the strap on my shoulders. There's Chiaki, and there's Weiss as well. feketerigó will be born once I walked in. Regardless of how sad the song that we're singing is, Senpai will never be on her own again.

I once again immersed myself in the Senpai's voice as she sang Desperado

- Come down from your fences, open the gate — It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you -

Before the singing of the desperado came to an end, I was already grabbing onto the handlebar and pushing the slightly opened door.

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