Hello readers! Here's the next installment, been pretty busy these past couple of days, mostly watching anime! But, hey, it keeps my mind buzzing with ideas for my stories! Anyway, enjoy~!

Chapter 17: One Of Those Bands pt 1

Today was August tenth, and though it was far from it, I personally felt that it was one of the best days that we've had this summer. It wasn't too hot, the sun was shinning, and the few clouds in the sky added to the nice breeze coming through the front window.

We didn't have much else to do for the rest of the afternoon since we had just come in from the park. It was small, sure. But it was rather nice and clean, with a picnic area, finding a neighborhood park like that was hard to come by in Philly; it was thanks to the good people who lived around here that the park was kept free of as much graffiti and trash as possible.

So, for the mean time, we just sat back, relaxed and watched a movie.

The movie was an animated movie called Grave Of Fireflies, it wasn't the best movie ever made, but regardless, it was a favorite of mine.

"Hau~ that's so unfair, unfair," Rena said quietly, from beside my little brother.

"Yeah, why is their aunt treating them so mean?"

I shrugged at Hanyu and Rena. I didn't really agree with how the aunt acted towards her niece and nephew on the movie, but in a way, I could understand why. Being in the middle of war changes people, not just the soldiers who fight, but the citizens as well.

"Well, if it was me, I would've taken being treated unfairly over starving any day," Ant' said. I looked past Rena and gave him a look.

"You know, that is pretty easy for you to say, considering you've never been in that type of situation," I mused. "Don't you think, little bro?"

Rika looked over at Ant' as well, and nodded. "Mii~ He's right, what makes you think that you wouldn't have done the same thing."

"Um ...let's see, for one." Antoine had a thoughtful expression on his face, twirling one of his dreads around his index finger. He did this sometimes when he was thinking hard about something. "If I had a little sister to take care of, I'd think of her first, not saying that Seita didn't. But it was a stupid thing to leave, and even after Setsuko started getting hungry and sickly, he still didn't suck up his pride and go back like the doctor told him," Ant' said in a serious tone. "He wanted to help his sister, I get that. But, he'd rather steal and get caught ...beatin' up one time, rather then go back to where they had food, shelter and clean clothes."

When I thought about it, in a way, Ant' was kinda right. "I ...can sorta see where you're coming from," I uttered. What he said made sense to me.

"I can't really say that I agree with you, Antoine," Rika said. I looked over at her, wondering why she would have a problem with Ant's reasoning. It seemed pretty solid to me.

"And why not, I mean it looks obvious what he should have done while he had the chance."

"As true as that is, you are going more off of what's happening on screen, right?" The blue haired miko asked, talking in her mature persona. "But, what about what happens off screen, there's really no telling what their aunt said or even did to make them want to leave."

"Rika, I think we would have seen if there was any type of abuse from their aunt," I said.

"You didn't know about me and Hanyu liking chess until I told you, because it wasn't 'on screen', remember? And what about Satoko and Satoshi, their aunt and uncle abused them, but would you have know that if they didn't show it?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't find anything to counter the argument.

Alright, she had a point there. A lot of things don't get put on screen, I know that much is true. It's the same thing as asking what Goku's favorite food was, the guy eats everything, and on screen he calls every food he's about to eat his favorite.

"I guess I get what you're saying," Ant' replied, shrugging. "But either way, he should have put his sister first before making rash decisions like moving out to live in a bomb shelter of all places. He should've at least made a solid plan, gotten a job if needed."

Rika nodded. "I couldn't agree more."

And so the discussion ended, though somewhere towards the last few minutes of the movie, everyone of was feeling sadden that Setsuko had died and Seita had to be the one to bury her. The sad music wasn't helping much, either.

"Hau~ that's so sad, why she have to die," Rena uttered sadly.

As for Hanyu ...well, she was actually crying. Much like I did when I first saw this movie with my sister, only my crying was more silent.

"Auauau ...p-poor Setsuko! Poor Seita!" Hanyu sniffled. She was literally close to crying her eyes out, wiping her tears with her shirt sleeve.

"Awe come on, Hanyu, don't cry," Ant' said, trying to cheer her up. "It's just a movie. A sad movie, but still just a movie."

A felt a tug on my shirt and looked over, seeing that it was Rika. "Next time, maybe you should pick something with a little more of a happy ending," she said, glancing over at the crying goddess.

I sighed, giving her a nod. "I'm planning on it, believe me."

It was at that moment that my cellphone started playing the set ring tone in my pants pocket. The song was Connect, the opening of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Kawashita yakusoku wasurenai yo
Me o toji tashikameru
Oshiyoseta yami furiharatte susumu yo,

Itsu ni nattara nakushita mirai o
Watashi koko de mata miru koto dekiru no?

I took the phone out and pushed the talk button, putting the red BlackBerry up to my ear. "Moshi moshi, Kevin desu~!"

"Dude, how much anime have you been watching, seriously?" A voice laughed on the other end; it was my good friend, Carlos.

"Yo what's up, Carlos, longtime no hear, man."

"Yeah I know, sorry I couldn't keep in touch, but me and the guys are having a huge breakthrough right now. But, we need your help."

I was about to ask what they needed help with, until Ant' came and interrupted me, yelling into the phone. "Hey, Carlos, what's up! How's the band!" He hollered into my occupied ear. I quickly pushed him away and glared at him.

"Don't do that! I'm on the phone! And it's rude!"

Antoine pouted and sat back on the couch. "Alright, damn, I just wanted to say hi."

I rolled my eyes at him, then turned my attention back to the speaker on the phone. This was typical Antoine behavior. "Anyway, what did you need?"

"Well, I'm not gonna beat around the bush, here. You know me, Nick and Anthony don't have the best voices. So ...we need you to sing with us in our gig next week."

Wait, what? "Hold on, you want me to sing? What's up with Jino, ask him to do it."

"We did, he said he didn't have time to, I quote, ''act out The Beetles'' with us. Come on, man, your the last one we've got, so unless you have someone else who can sing better then you, what's the problem?"

"I don't know ...I." I thought long and hard about my answer. Sure, I wanted to help Carlos out with his band, he was my friend, but singing in front of your friends was way different then singing in front of a whole crowd of strangers. And it made me nervous as hell just thinking about it. Stage fright was one of my worse enemies.

I was about to decline to help, when I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I looked over and saw that it was my little brother.

"Yeah?"

"You know you have a problem with talking in front of crowds, right," Ant' stated. As if I needed him to remind me.

I gave him a blink expression, still holding the phone up to my ear. "I don't need you telling me what I already know, Ant'," I muttered. I felt bad enough that I was about to leave my friend hanging when he needed me. Antoine didn't have to rub it in.

"Whoa! I'm not trying to tease you or anything," Ant' said, smiling at me. "I'm was just gonna say that if you have a problem with singing on stage, you can always ask someone else to do it."

"And who did you have in mind. We don't exactly know a lot of singers to call up for this."

"Yeah, that true, but we do know one singer who's voice could match even the best female rocker's," He whispered to me, before pointing to the one girl who could sing her heart out with the best of them. I starred over at her, then a small grin made it's way onto my face.

Rika looked over at us, and blinked. "Why are you both starring at me?"

I didn't answer her, and instead talked to Carlos. "Yeah, look, amigo. I can't sing for you at your show, you know I have a thing with crowd starring at me."

"Awe come on, dude-!"

"But!" I interrupted him, "I do know someone who can sing even better then me, she might be willing to help."

"She …? Who's the girl?"

"You'll have to wait and see," I said, standing up from my seat. "Where are you guy at right now?"

"At the spot we usually practice at down the street from my house."

"Alright, I'll see you there, Carlos."

I heard him sigh through the other end. " ...Fine, just make sure she doesn't suck, okay?"

"Trust me, she's far from that," I said. "See you there."

"Bye, man."

Then I hung up the phone. Putting my phone in my pocket, I turned to the others, who were still sitting on the couch. "Rika, You up for a little walk, or no?"

"Um ...sure, sir," Rika nodded, smiling. "Where are we going?"

"You see, we're going to see a couple of my friends." I started walking over to the front door, and Rika got off the couch and followed. "One of them is Carlos, the one I told you and Hanyu about, remember?"

"The one from the store?"

"Yep, that's him. It looks like he may need a bit of help, and you seem to be the best one for the job," I told her. "If you're willing to help, that is."

She thought on it for a moment, then nodded. "Mii~ I don't see why I can't help your friend out, Kevin. He seemed nice when we saw him."

I smiled. "Good, well let's get going, they're waiting for us right now." I looked over at the other three on the couch and said. "We'll be back in a half hour. Ant', you're the man of the house while I'm gone. Also, put the jerk chicken on while I'm out."

Ant' gave a two finger salute, grinning. "Sure thing, put the oven on three-fifty, right?"

"Yeah. See you guys in a few."

"Hau~ be safe you two," Rena said.

I nodded, then me and Rika left out the door towards where my friends were having band practice.

~ ~(XXX)~ ~

It took us only a good ten minutes of walking to make it to 'The Spot' as Carlos loved to call it. The spot was actually a two story storage building that Carlos' parents had brought a few years back; when I used to be part of the band, before I started focusing more on my cooking skills and school, we played here all the time, practicing guitar, or in my case, mostly vocals.

The band used to have four people, including myself, now there were only three members left. But, I still came by to check and see how things were going with the guys from time to time.

From the sound of the bass guitar and rhythmic drumming, it was easy to tell that they were still in the middle of practice.

"Mii~ they sound good, better then I expected," Rika remarked, standing next to me at the door. She then looked up at me. "How long have they been doing this?"

"A few years, give or take." I answered, as I put my finger up to the door bell. "Though, even if they're good, they are not at their best, yet. For now it practice, practice, practice." Then I pushed my finger down.

There was a loud buzzing noise, that was the one thing I hated about the storage building. I was hoping that they had gotten the bell changed. It was annoying to be in the middle of your stride, only to be thrown off key by the bell's buzzing.

The instruments stopped almost at the same time, then the sound of footsteps as Carlos voice came through the door. "Alright, guys, take five." The sound of the chain lock being taken off was heard, then a moment later, the Hispanic guitar player was standing in the door way with a smile on his face. "Kevin, what's good, bro!"

I smiled as we shook hands and did our usual bro-hug, before pulling away. "Nothing much, same old shit."

He grinned. "Just a different day, right?"

"You know it."

"Well, come on in, don't want you standing in the door way all day, now." He stepped to the side as me and Rika walked into the building. Everything mostly looked exactly how it was when I'd last been here, aside from the few new boxes that were next to the wall in the corner. Carlos closed and locked the door, then lead us over to the next room across from the staircase leading to the second floor.

In the room were my two other friends, Nick and Anthony.

Nick was a pretty short guy with dark brown skin and dark brown eyes. He stood at around five foot six with an small Afro style haircut and had a mustache on his face that had been there since we were in our last years of middle school. Anthony, or Tony, as we usually called him, was a average height of five foot nine inches. He had slightly tanned skin and wore an Mordecai and Rigby Regular Show baseball cap over his shaggy blonde hair.

I walked in with a smile and waved. "Nick, Tony. It's good to see you guys again!"

"I know, right!"

"Yeah, it been too long since you came here!"

The two met me half way and we shook hands and bro-hugged. When we split up I took in the setup of the room itself; the room wasn't big in any way but there was enough space to fit in their band stuff, there were posters of different bands on the walls where their instruments were set up with a sound system and amplifier for the guitars. It was cold in here, but given we just came from walking in the heat, it was welcome.

"Soo, from what you said on the phone," Carlos started, walking over to the rest of us. "You said you had a singer for us," he said, before pointing down at the blue haired little girl. "That wouldn't happen to be this kid you brought with you, would it?"

"Um, yeah." I smiled and began introducing Rika to everyone. "Boys, this is Rika, she's one of the girls who staying at my house for the time being."

"Mii~ it's nice to meet you all, sirs," Rika greeted with a big smile on her face. "Kevin told me a lot about you."

"Awe~ she's a cute one, isn't she, Nick," Anthony said, chuckling at her.

Nick shrugged. "I guess ...but there is only one question," he said in a serious tone. "Can she really sing? Or were you just exaggerating when you said she was better then you?"

"Oh ...you heard that, huh?"

"I had the phone on speaker so they could hear," Carlos said. He strolled over to his guitar and picked it up off the stand, throwing the strap over his shoulder. He strummed it a few times, then looked over in me and Rika's direction. "If you can sing. You are gonna have to prove it, little lady."

Rika just blinked at him. "You mean I have to sing, like right now?"

"Of course." Nick said, as him and Anthony walked over to their respective instruments, picking them up to play. "We're not going to just go off of Kevin's word, not that we don't trust him or anything. But, he's the best singer we know, and if you can sing better then him, then we want to see for ourselves."

"Mii~ ...but, I'm not that good."

"It's good to be humble, kid. But, we'll be the judge of your skills, though," Anthony said, sitting behind his drums, taking up his drumsticks. "Now come on up here, we wanna see what you're made of."

Rika gave a sigh, looking up at me. "Do I have to sing …?"

I couldn't help but smile at her, this was the first time I've ever seen Rika get nervous about anything. She always seemed so confident in everything that she did, even when Hanyu got embarrassed in her place. "Rika, you've got a great voice. You should show it off, trust me, you will do alright."

The blue haired miko huffed, puffing out her cheeks. Why did she have to be so damn cute all the time? "Fine, but if they tease me, I'm blaming you."

"They won't, I promise." I said, before giving her a playful shove towards the makeshift stage. "Now go up there and show em' what ya got!"

She walked up onto the stage and Anthony passed a microphone to her. "So, Rika, are there any covers you wanna sing?" He asked while he handed it to her.

"Mii~ what's a cover …?"

"It's song that you sing that was made by someone else," Nick answered. He stuck his black-power fist pick into the back of his Afro before he continued. "Are there any you want to sing? Just make sure we know how to play it, though."

"A song I want to sing ...let's see, um," Rika took a moment to think on it. Then she gave her song of choice, which was one of the songs she had listened to on my MP3 player recently. "Do you know 'World So Cold'?"

"By Three Days Grace," Anthony asked. Rika nodded.

Carlos held his guitar in both hands and shrugged. "I guess we can play that, always did love their bass player ...alright, let's see what you got, kid." he said, before looking over at the Afro styling member of the group. "Nick, give the count down."

"Right~!" Nick exclaimed, clanking his drumsticks together a moment later. "One, two! One, two, three, four!"

Then they started playing the beginning instrumental of the song, it wasn't great but it was good enough, all that was left for Rika to do was vocals. She sighed, taking a deep breath, then at the right moment, she started singing.

I never thought I'd feel this,
Guilty and I'm Broken down inside,
Living with myself,
Nothing but lies

I always thought I'd make it,
But never knew I'd Let it get so bad,
Living with myself
Is all I have

I feel numb,
I can't come to life I feel like
I'm frozen in time

Living in a World so cold,
Wasting away,
Living in a shell With no soul,
Since you've gone away,
Living in a world so cold
Counting the days,
Since you've gone away
You've gone away

The expression of surprise on their faces was priceless, and I'm pretty sure Rika would be thinking the same thing if she wasn't facing in my direction. There was just something about her voice, she could easily be a singer if she want to. This made my mind go back to the character song Rinne No Hate Ni, if that wasn't proof that Rika could rock out, I didn't what song was.

I'm too young, to lose my soul
I'm too young,
To feel this old
So long,
I'm left behind
I feel like I'm losing my mind

Do you ever feel me
Do you ever look Deep down inside,
Staring at your life
Paralyzed

I tapped my feet and smiled, giving her a thumbs up. She beamed at me and kept singing. She was really doing great, better then the last few times I've heard her sing.

Living in a World so cold
Wasting away,
Living in a shell, With no soul
Since you've gone away
Living in a world so cold
Counting the days
Since you've gone away
You've gone away
From me
I'm too young, I'm too young

The song only last for a little more then three minutes, after the last verse was done, the boys stopped playing and no one said a thing for a moment. Rika turned to the three a second later and grinned as she saw the expressions on their faces.

"Mii~ so ...how did I do?"

Carlos didn't say anything to her, he just took the guitar off his shoulder and marched over to me. "Alright man, be straight with me. Did you bring us some type of child star or something?" He asked, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Cause normal kids can't sing like that! And her voice sounded, you know, adultish a moment ago! What's up with that?"

"That, my friend, is called voice actors talent," I said with a grin on my face. "Rika's wants to be a voice actress when she gets older, plus she is really good at changing her voice."

"For a kid she sure has a lot of talent, I'll give you that," Tony said, smirking. He then looked over at the blue haired girl and gave her a thumbs up. "You've got quite the voice there, Rika. Talk about potential, huh, Nick?"

"No shit, she surprised the hell outta me." Nick then took his pick and started picking out his Afro, it was something he did subconsciously since he been doing it for so long. "So, kid, I think everyone here has already decided. You wanna sing with us at our gig next week?" He asked her.

"Yeah, we could really use the help," Carlos added. Rather then letting go of me fully, he turned around my neck and held me in a playful headlock. "And who knows, you might make a few fans, blue bird."

Rika raised an eyebrow at what she'd just been called. "Blue bird …?"

"Well, the name sorta fits. Blue hair, great voice, I think blue bird is a good nick name. So what do you say, will you help us out at our show?"

"Mii~ ...I need some time to think about this," Rika answered.

Carlos sighed, most likely saddened by not getting the answer he wanted to hear, but he respected her wishes. "Alright, there's no rush. No rush at all, we still have a week left until the show. But can you at least give us an answer by Thursday? The gigs on Sunday, so, we need to practice so we don't suck."

"Sure thing, sir," Rika said with a smile.

Carlos nodded. "Okay then." He said, before he went over to the stage and started unhooking his things. "Anyway, we're done with practice for today and are about to head on home. You two can leave," he then turned his head to look over at us. "Nice vocals by the way, a little bit of practice and you'll be a pro."

"Thanks, sir~! See you soon!"

"Yeah, by guys," I said, giving the three a wave. They all waved back, then went back to cleaning up the wires and gather their instruments as we walked out the front door. It was a bit cooler then it was before, but not by much, though we did stop by a stand to get water ice.

Rika seemed to really be thinking this singing thing over, she even asked me for my opinion, but I just told her that it was up to her. If she wanted to sing at the show, she could sing, if not, Carlos would understand, he was the sorta 'ride the waves' type of guy.

Whatever happened, it was up to Rika. No one else could choose for her.

So part one is done, and the next part will be coming out soon. Remember to review and if you have any ideas, feel free to live them with you're comments! Also, Three Days Grace rules~! Been listening to them since 2006!

Peace~!