Many thanks to Fluffy for helping me make this less clunky!

It was a lovely day, a Saturday. Osaka was walking down the sidewalk, enjoying the sun. She had some money on her, so she decided to go to the record store to buy a CD. Yomi had said during a chat at lunch one day that it was good to broaden one's mind and music was a great way to do that. Yomi liked to go on about "culture" and all that.

She walked into the store and browsed through all the discs. She saw a lot of CDs but Osaka wasn't interested in any of them. They all had covers with cute girls and neon colours, and most likely the songs that were on them would just be the same, or like the ones on the radio. She moved further up the shelf to see if there was anything else. It all looked the same.

Then she saw something, something different, something so different it made Osaka stop in her tracks.

She picked the item up. Its cover was striking: an out-of-focus man (who was probably not Japanese, she couldn't really tell his race) in the bottom right corner. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a peach scarf or turtleneck. It was hard to tell. The background of the album had an elaborately constructed scene - a stage with a drum set and piano atop it, A guitar on the ground. The grill and headlights of an old car, peeking out from beneath the stage. An old desk lamp was atop the piano and flowers were scattered on the base of the stage and in a pile on the ground. A plasma ball randomly placed near the base of the piano, all illuminated by a bright yellow studio light. The backdrop glowed different shades of amber, yellow, gold and green. It also had signs saying with signs saying 'arcade' and 'snooker', among other things. Osaka was captivated by the cover, overwhelmed by the explosive vibe it gave out.

The CD was just within her price range, so she went to the checkout. She placed her newly purchased album in her bag and left. When she got back to her house, she opened the case and put the disc in her CD player and put on some wired headphones, the kind with the curly cord you'd see on a landline phone.

As soon as she heard the first note, Osaka was transformed, the rhythmic melodies shifting every cell in her body like she was underwater in an ocean of music. Track 1 had some heavy drums and a heavy message. Straight after it came the 2nd song was fun, the kind you'd hear at the beach. it segued cleanly into the 3rd song, which had some weird vocals. Track 4 was very downbeat. The 5th track had some funny sounds, while the 6th had a funny story. Track 7 had some nice strings that immersed Osaka into the waters of music even further. The 8th song had a really nice synth beat that was often interrupted by an annoying saxophone, and lastly the last track, the 9th, was a satisfying close to the album. Osaka loved it, she loved all of it!

She ejected the CD and went to put it back in its case when she noticed something; it was like the glimmer of... another CD. She opened up the case and found another CD! Osaka couldn't believe it! She hastily took it out and put it in the CD player and put her headphones back on.

The 10th track opened with a strange sound but soon became a funky song. The 11th was very dark, like, extremely dark. The 12 song also had a very dark message but it did have some cool exotic sounds, the three songs seemed to use those strange vocals she had heard on Track 3. Track 13 was a very fun track. Track 14 had a chilling guitar. The 15th track was a fun live track, but it also had a lot of the annoying saxophone; finally, The 16th and final song was a beautiful finale to an amazing and fun album.

Osaka felt satisfied as she finally ejected the second CD from her CD player, and put the album on her shelf. she beamed while she stared at the cover "that was fun". That night the tunes from her album still in her head as she slept; little did she know what events those little tunes would lead her and her friends to.

By Monday the album was still in her head as she was walking to her homeroom, humming the melodies to herself while tapping her bag mimicking the drumbeat, a neat trick she could do. She walked into her homeroom to be greeted by the familiar faces she had gotten to know in the last year.

"Morning Osaka," Yomi said with a smile, wanting to talk to her about something. Instead she was greeted by her friend's blank stare "Osaka?".

It was at this moment when Tomo came over "Hey Osaka, is something wrong?" she asked, playing with the space cadet's hair in search of an answer.

"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine!" She finally replied.

Yomi wasn't convinced "Did something happen to you Osaka? You seem more spacey than you have ever been."

She asked. "Oh no!" Osaka replied "I just had this thing stuck in my head, but it's all ok now!"

"If you say so." Said Yomi as she and Tomo went back to their desks; the former would have to initiate a conversation another time. For the next 6 and a half hours of school, Osaka kept spacing out, the tunes from the album still showing up in her mind; it was all she could think about that day. It made her friends kind of concerned.

Even Kagura was worried. "Do you think it's her autism again?" She asked.

"I don't know." Yomi replied "she did mention something about something being stuck in her head" this only really puzzled the two.

"Maybe you can ask her at your house tonight?"

"I can't, I'm pretty busy tonight. Besides, this is Osaka, it's probably just some passing phase"

"Fair enough"

At the end of the day, Osaka packed up her things and went home. She thought about the album again, like an addiction it was all she could think about. When she arrived home, no one else was there. "They're probably still at work." she guessed, and went back to her room.

Osaka stared at the album cover again, "What are you?" She wondered, "I need to find out more about you." But before she knew it, time had passed again, and it was already night-time.

She went back into her cosy bed once again and fell back to sleep, unaware of the events that would unfold because of that purchase.