A/n. Okay, this a songchap. I put both the Japanese lyrics (in quotation marks) and the English translations (in parenthesis). Please note that the lyrics that Van is actually singing are the Japanese lyrics. As much as I am grateful to all those who labor to translate songs so that we Japanese illiterates know what they mean, the translations just don't have a flow or beat so I don't feel the same essence I get while listening to the actual song itself. Do you get it? I know, I'm not explaining very well…
Oh yeah, and who can recognize the lyrics? Tell me if you know what songs they are…no cheating by scrolling down to the bottom!
~*~*~*~*~
She was nearly trembling with anger. Merle snarled under her breath as she watched Folken lead the Plebian girl (the name Merle used to refer to stagehand girl, or the band assistant girl, or whatever she was) to her seat. Merle was prepared to accept the fact that a lowly assistant girl would get herself a seat in the audience, a feat that Merle spent an excessive amount of time trying to accomplish. But Merle would never have even guessed that the Plebian girl would receive a front row seat!
Merle balled her long-nailed hands into a fist, nails biting into her palms. The absolute worst part was that the Plebian girl had gotten was the exact seat that Merle had so strived and consequently failed to get. It was the perfect spot to attract Van's notice. It was practically right under his nose! There would have been no way possible for him to avoid and ignore her if she sat in that seat!
She was still livid that her contacts had been unable to snag that seat. All they had managed was the seat right behind the Plebian girl. Granted, it wasn't a bad seat, she would still be completely noticeable to Van, but her grand scheme would have worked better in the front row…
People were beginning to arrive at the studio. Merle waited for the moment and then straightened herself. She materialized out of the shadows, displayed her audience pass to the security guards and sauntered over to her second row seat. She made sure to glare at the Plebian girl as she turned around to look at her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hitomi settled into her seat and looked around. Folken had reserved her a front row seat true to his word. The audience members had already begun to trickle into the studio. Not many of them sat near to the stage at all. The closest one to Hitomi sat directly behind her, a pink haired girl with an excessive amount of make up. She opened her mouth to chat for a bit while they waited for the filming to begin, which would be in 20 minutes. This audience member seemed to be having a private hissy fit. She glared at Hitomi and sniffed at her, looking down her nose at the girl.
Shrugging, prissy people really couldn't be helped, Hitomi turned back to the stage. Van and the boys were now at the moment waiting back stage. They weren't allowed to be in sight of the audience in order to avoid any chaos. Hitomi had to leave them in order to claim her seat. Supposedly, her seat was very popular, and Folken assured her that people would try to steal it if she didn't get there first, even if it was reserved for her.
Twenty minutes passed.
The audience buzzed with excitement. This was going to be legendary show tonight. Van de Fanel guest hosting and acting? What a dream come true!
To their disappointment, however, it was not Van who came out to welcome the audience. Hitomi smirked to herself as various members of the audience shouted out jabbing remarks and asked loudly where Van was. Luckily, the comedian host was well prepared for their comments and avoided in answering them smoothly.
Van's performance was saved for the last half of the show. Hitomi did like the first half, but in truth, she was getting giddy with impatience. She was obscenely eager to hear Van's new jazz music. Who cared about the other skits? She could just watch them at home later.
And finally, Van arrived on stage.
The response to the musician was dynamic and terrifying. It was as if a wave of sound smashed onto the people and rebounded into the air. The sound was so powerful that windows in outer rooms of the building cracked from the sound waves.
Hitomi plugged her ears and watched Van's response to the audience. He blinked a couple of times in confusion and looked around as if trying to see whom they were cheering for. Then he realized that it was he.
Van had always been uncomfortable with his fame. Sure enough, Van only smiled uncertainly at the audience. He began to relax when his band entered the stage as well.
Slowly, Van began to change as he sat down at the keyboard and looked around at the boys. Hitomi watched as he shook out his fingers and settled himself on the keyboard bench. He adjusted the mike.
"So, how is everyone?" he asked. The simple 4 words brought out a thunderous, if slightly hoarse, noise of happiness. "Good," he said with a shrug. Hitomi giggled to herself. It was obvious that Van didn't give a shit about how the audience felt.
"You guys are in for a treat today. We're going to be playing some new, never been heard music we've been developing. So don't expect any old hits tonight," he said, as if warning the audience to be good. Not that the audience cared of course. They screamed loudly in approval.
Van turned and the caught the eyes of his band members. He hunched his shoulders up as a signal and they began to play.
Dilandau and the bass player kept up the beat. Van and the vibes percussionist provided a slow intro and the brass instruments created a pulse. Hitomi grinned to herself in total approval of the music and amusement as the audience slowly came to the realization this was jazz music coming to their ears.
Van began to sing.
"Subete wa mou owatta to
Mimi o saii da mama de kimi ga iu
kotoba wa tada nagareteku
Yasuragu koto no nai ashita e"
(Since I thought everything was over
Closing my ears
What you're telling me is floating away
Towards tomorrow there is no comfort)
"Inori sae mo kieta yoru
Nani o shinjite doko e kimi wa iku
Namida iro no ryuusei ga asake warau you ni ima sugiteku"
(When the night even prays, it disappears
What do you believe and where are you going?
The shooting star is the color of tears, is like laughing, passing away now.)
It was almost a surreal feeling that came to Hitomi. Hitomi felt like bursting of awe. Van was truly a talented musician. She watched him sway slightly to the beat and move as he played. She caught Van's eye as his fingers gently pressed out notes and chords on the keyboard.
They both smiled at each other once Van's vocal part was done. The audience immediately began to applaud Van's new future single, but then they became confused when Van and the boys hadn't stopped playing yet. Hitomi stopped herself from sniggering. Apparently, the audience wasn't aware that Van's new music included purely instrumental segments.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Van felt almost bitter when they finished the first song. Sure, the audience was loud and supportive, but Van could feel that their applause wasn't sincere. Grimly, he acknowledged the fact that a majority of the audience wasn't applauding his music, they were only applauding his false image of a pop star.
He quickly found Hitomi in the audience and gave a small, discreet smile to her. His eyes wandered around Hitomi and caught sight of another girl. A pink haired girl who looked almost like…
Van abruptly averted his gaze, switching off the mike. No, he was not going to think of Her. She wasn't sitting behind Hitomi. He wasn't going to let her distract him.
He turned to his band members and informed them which song they would play next. Those who would play different instruments quickly changed. The vibe percussionists carefully moved the vibes aside and picked up a set of conga drums. The trumpeter took off the mouth piece of the trumpet and put a new mouth piece on. He gave that to Van and took up the keyboards in Van's place.
Van turned back to the audience. He waved to them for silence, which didn't succeed as many female and male members of the audience alike assumed that he was waving personally to them. As a result, they only became more rowdy and violent as well as many people accidentally slapped others in the head in an attempt to wave to Van. Van flinched and sighed. He turned to Dilandau and nodded.
On cue, Dilandau immediately pounded out an interesting but loud combination. Somehow, he managed to drown out the audience and their noise. This shocked the audience so much that it became silent. Dilandau continued to play even after they became silent.
Van grinned o himself. He and Dilandau developed this percussion piece together just for loud audiences like these. The only catch was that the drummer had to be loud and energetic in order for it to succeed in calming the audience. Fortunately, Dilandau had such an excessive of energy that he could play this percussion piece ten times in a row before becoming both tired and deaf.
"Give it up for Dilandau!" Van yelled when Dilandau finished. Out of the corner of his eye, Van spotted Dilandau making waving actions in protest. "On second thought, never mind," he said quickly before the audience could become loud again.
He looked around at his band and made the hunched shoulders again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Merle gripped her seat arms in shock and fury. What the hell was Van thinking? Did he really think he could pull it off playing jazz music? Did he really think his jazz pieces would ever become popular? Would they sell?
To Merle's greater shock, this piece didn't even have any vocals. It was purely instrumental. It wasn't even possible for Van to sing at all. He was fully occupied with playing the trumpet.
She slunk back against her seat in despair.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hitomi nearly peed in her pants with glee. It was amazing! This jazz piece was so energetic that Hitomi wanted to get up and start dancing, but then somebody would probably steak her seat so she stayed put.
At one point, halfway through the song, the audience once again thought that the piece was over and began to clap. Hitomi listened with further amusement as the audience realized its mistake and the clapping died off.
Next to her, a girl said to her friend, "I don't get it. I can't even tell when a song is over! What the hell is Van playing anyway?"
Hitomi couldn't stop herself." It's called a solo" she snapped to the girl. "A trumpet solo. Got it?"
She turned back to Van before the girl could respond, her gritting teeth soon turning into a smile as she listened to the music.
The jazz piece ended. The audience began to shout out request of old hits and singles. Van looked bewildered as the requests merged to a roar of noise. Dilandau hit a cymbal suddenly and the audience immediately calmed down.
"You know," Van said. "I think we can play an old song. But I get to choose."
He turned to his band and shouted out a song name. The band got to work again. This time, some of the band members merely put their instruments back into cases while others replaced their instruments with entirely different ones. Dilandau was the only one who stayed put. Soon, there was an ensemble of a guitar, drums, keyboard, and synthesizer. Van himself took up the keyboard. He adjusted the mike and began.
" nigiyaka na hitogomi ni tokeru tsubuyaki ga
ashi moto ni chirabatta omoide nijimaseru"
(The whisper that dissolves into the bustling crowd
makes the memories scattered underfoot blur together.)
"mayoi aruku machi no kagayaki wa glaring one way
kogo e sou na boku o terasu"
(The blazing of the street where I walk about lost (glaring one way)
illuminates me as coldly as though it freezes.)
"tsumetai toki ga yume o furaseru kono te no naka o suri nukete
negai kazo e mezame ta toki ni yureru maboroshi ni kimi ga utsuru
boku o michibiku kasu kana shiruetto"
( The cold times make dreams fall like rain and slip through my hands."
When I woke up from the countless wishes, you are reflected in a shimmering illusion –
the silhouette whose faint smile leads me along.)
This time, the audience was totally consumed into the music, perhaps because of its familiarity. Hitomi, having never been a fan of Van's before becoming his girlfriend, did not know this song. But she immediately fell in love with it. She could hear the passion in Van's voice, which was enough.
Van's eyes began to wander again. He caught Hitomi's eyes and brightened. He smiled through his singing and held her eyes. Hitomi leaned forward in her seat. One of her hands slipped up and clutched the edge of the stage. Van seemed to shift forward in his seat at the keyboard. It was as if it were only the two of them inside the SNL studio. Just Van singing only to Hitomi.
The applause was genuine and heartfelt. It was one of the few times that Van sincerely smiled to his audience instead of gracing them with his usual confused grin.
Hitomi immediately leapt up from her seat the moment the cameras stopped rolling and dashed backstage. She raced through, dodging random staff members of SNL and found Van.
Van saw her at the same time as she and opened his arms to her embrace. That was all they could do. With all the people around them, they could not kiss so instead contented themselves with the embrace and shared a smile together.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Merle tried desperately to calm herself.
Van had definitely noticed her, she had seen him look away. But after that, it was as if had never noticed her at all. He was too engrossed in his music to look back at her again. It was frustrating the way Van's gaze always seemed to be near her seat but not totally on her. Van had been looking at something else, but what?
All evidence that the thing was the Plebian girl. The first time, Merle had successfully convinced herself that Van was not looking at the Plebian girl but herself. Perhaps he had only been too shy to look at her. But the other times, it was plainly and painfully obvious. Van had not been looking at Merle at all, only the Plebian girl.
No, no, that's nonsense, Merle quickly thought to herself. There had to be another explanation. Van couldn't have been locking eyes with that chit of girl. It was hard to stay convinced. During the last song, Van's intense gaze was plainly locked with the Plebian girl's.
Well, even if he was looking at the girl, Merle could change that. As the throng of exiting audience members thinned, Merle quietly stole away to the back stage area. The time had come at last to see and speak to Van once again.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Disclaimers: Escaflowne's not mine. Neither are the songs.
A/n The first song is See You Space Cowboy, from Cowboy Bebop, and the third song is Glaring Dream, from Gravitation. You can imagine the second song for yourself since it was purely instrumental, but the song Van was actually playing was Tank, from Cowboy Bebop.
So there you go, the performance. Now I'll take this time to explain why I chose those songs. The Cowboy Bebop songs are one of my favorite songs/pieces of all time, plus I think they fit perfectly well with Van's style. And the Gravitation song…well, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Gravitation. Glaring Dream is the ending theme. I thought this song was especially appropriate. The voice actor of Van is the same actor as Shuichi, who is the main character in Gravitation. Since Gravitation is about popstars, Shuichi sings as well, and although his voice actor doesn't actually provide his singing voice, I still think the style fits really well with Van…did that make sense at all?
….Review?