A/N: Next chapter! Long one guys, please take your time to read it.
The front door of Kageyama Kaito's apartment was one of the most unique things in the entire complex, at least as far as Mio was concerned. Most otaku and hikkikomori preferred to keep their posters on the inside of their sanctums, but the image of the red haired maiden dressed in the skin-tight bodysuit was brazenly put out on the door for all passersby to see.
"Ano...Jiro-san?" said Mio shakily. "Is this where your friend Kai-san lives?" Mio had heard about those students who would spend the entirety of their adolescent and consequently, their adult lives as well, collecting anime paraphernalia. They seriously creeped her out.
"Er, yeah," said Jiro, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "You girls should probably stand back for a sec."
The members of the Light Music Club nodded at each other, backing up from the door as much as the cramped hallway would allow. The small apartment complex was a modest structure, caramel brown paint covering the walls and several indoor plants along the corridors.
Straightening his shoulders, Jiro raised a fist and rapped his knuckles several times against the door.
"Kai, open up, it's me," he said, loudly enough for his voice to be heard by whomever resided in the apartment.
The slab of wood opened to reveal a dark-haired boy, his bangs covering his eyes, smiling lazily at his friend. He was dressed in a gray t-shirt and his school pants, wearing a pair of slippers. Sounds of guitars duelling with one another were heard from the back, playing from the stereo.
The shorter boy opened the door wider and stepped slightly out of the door frame. "Hey Jiro, thought you'd never get done with that – " He broke off suddenly, and went very pale. His eyes, though still hidden, were undoubtedly scanning the four newcomers from behind his friend.
"Ack!"
SLAM!
Mio looked stared once again at the poster covered door, mouth agape. Turning sideways, she saw Ritsu looking bewildered, Yui looking confused and Mugi doing a perfect imitation of a goldfish.
"Kai! Open up!" Jiro yelled, knocking harder on the door. "I have a situation here and I could really use your help!"
"No! You are my enemy!" came the muffled cry from the other side of the door. "W-w-what are t-t-they doing here Jiro?"
"They're our classmates, dumbass!" replied Jiro angrily, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "One of them is your seatmate, for god's sake!"
Mio sweat-dropped, remembering the odd boy who had chosen to sit beside her. He didn't talk much during their first class together and mostly avoided looking at anyone, though he answered all questions directed at him dutifully. He seemed nice enough, anyway; which made it all the more confusing why he was friends with the tall, loud, scary boy who immediately tried to hit on her.
"Kai! Open the hell up!" Jiro continued, causing a few other passing occupants to look at the scene. He took a break from knocking and smiled pleasantly. "Nothing to see here! Move along!"
Yui, brows furrowed together in thought, broke away from the other girls huddled by the wall and stood side by side with Jiro in front of Kaito's door.
"Hello in there!" she yelled cheerfully, rapping on the door while Jiro watched. "My name is Hirasawa Yui and I'm your classmate from school!"
Yui continued to knock on the door, using rhythmic patterns and turned to smile at Jiro. "My sister always does this when she's waking me up for school."
From inside the apartment, they began to hear muffled guitars playing and what sounded to be anguished yells and screams, indecipherable in their meaning.
"W-w-w-what's going on in there?!" cried Mio, hugging herself as the blood-curdling screams and shrieks continued from within the room.
Jiro sighed, his eyes narrowing. "Damn, he's broken out the Blood Stain Child."
Yui tilted her head. "Ah, is that bad?"
"Yeah. But I have an idea."
Clearing his throat, Jiro leaned as close as he could get to the door, nearly kissing the image of the animated girl on the lips. Several passersby began walking faster to their own apartments, appalled at the scene.
"Hey Kai, X-Japan is lame and outdated!" he yelled at the door.
No answer came, the only sound present being the continued screaming and occasional singing, overdriven guitars and drums playing in the background. Smiling to herself, Ritsu stepped forward and took a position beside Jiro, who had his ear pressed against the door.
"May I?" she asked the sanpaku-eyed boy with a grin. Jiro nodded and stood back.
"Yo, I heard that....er...BECK....um....don't write their own songs! They just have writers who tell them what to sing! Like...like those idols on TV or something!"
A flash of blonde appeared by Ritsu's peripheral vision as she realized that Mugi had also joined in the fray.
The keyboardist cupped her hands around her mouth and spoke in a clear voice. "Yngwie Malmsteen does nothing but copy from Johann Sebastian Bach!"
Jiro turned sideways at Mugi who was pressing her ear against the door. "You know Yngwie Malmsteen?"
The blonde nodded pleasantly, still listening at the door. "I heard you talking about him earlier in school today. What sort of music does he play, if I may ask?"
The spiky haired boy's mind spun at the incredible stroke of luck this girl seemed to have – the comparison between Malmsteen and Bach was sure to get his friend's goat!
Unfortunately, each one of their attempts to lure Kai out was drowned out by the continued music playing from the stereo.
"Damn it, it's no use," sighed Jiro wearily. "Maybe I can just ask him when I see him tomorrow."
The three girls who had joined him in his futile attempt looked down at their feet, feeling utterly defeated. Ritsu's hairband failed to keep several wayward strands from being set loose upon her forehead, adding to her already haggard appearance. Yui looked like a deflated marshmallow, having returned to sit beside Mio against the wall of the hallway. Mugi was still listening by the door but the look on her face wasn't looking very optimistic about the situation.
"It's okay, Jiro-san!" said Yui from her seat by the ground. "I can practice by myself. Or maybe I can ask Azu-nyan!"
Ritsu sighed wearily and plopped down beside Yui. "Yeah, well, Azusa lives in a different time zone now. And even if you were both awake at the same time, how's she going to teach you, huh? Over the phone or something?"
Jiro leaned over at Mugi, who was still valiantly listening for signs of life. "Hey, who's Azusa?"
The blonde girl's eyebrows drooped a tiny bit, indicating a sort of melancholy. "Oh, she's our friend. She was a former member of the Light Music Club."
The boy's curiosity was piqued. "Former member?"
"Well, her parents are jazz musicians you see. She spent a year with us at Sakuragaoka and played with our band as well. Her folks got a very good job offering a year later and she, of course, had to go with them. She's finishing up high school in America right now."
"Oh, I'm...I'm sorry," said Jiro, looking pensive. "That can be hard when band members have to split up."
Mugi simply nodded and continued to press her ear against the door. "I don't hear anything."
Jiro grinned."Yosh, now's our chance! Er....Jimmy Page sucks! Jimi Hendrix sucks! John Petrucci sucks! Jeff Beck sucks! Jason Becker....he...he fucking sucks cocks in hell!"
Ritsu grew a sweatdrop. "Oi, watch your mouth, we have impressionable children here..."
"Ne, Mio-chan, what does Jiro-san mean when he says Jason Becker sucks –"
Quick as lightning, the spiky-haired boy shakily gripped both Yui's shoulders as she was asking the question to a stupefied Mio, tears comically streaming down his face. "Please, Yui-sama, don't finish that question....my immortal soul depends on it...."
"Eh?"
"Jiro-san no baka", scolded Mio quietly, patting Yui's head. "Let me give it a try. What was the name of that...t-that...horrible thing he was listening to earlier?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, Blood Stain Child."
"Okay, got it," said Mio, rising up from her seat on the floor. She took a spot near the door, face to face once again with the smile of the animated girl.
"H-hey, what was that n-noise you were l-listening to earlier? T-that was awful! It was horrible...all that screaming...it sounded like...like...someone d-d-d-dying! Is that what p-passes for music these days?! What is this world coming to?! "
The three girls and lone boy looked on at Mio who had crumpled into a crouch in front of the door during her speech, rocking slightly back in forth in a fetal position.
Ritsu grinned, a hand scratching the back of her neck sheepishly. "Heh, it looks like she's scared herself."
Mugi, ever helpful, went over to the long-haired bassist and gently helped her rise up again, patting the taller girl's back gently. "It's okay Mio-chan, we're going home now...."
Creeeeaaaaaaak.
The four girls and solitary boy looked at the now opened doorway, the dark-haired occupant standing stock still. "How...can you talk...about Jason Becker...like...THAT?!"
With a yell, Kai punctuated the statement with a flying kick straight at Jiro's midsection, sending both males crumbling in a heap against the floor.
Kai had grabbed the taller boy's collar and was shaking him furiously. "He's paralyzed for heaven's sake! Don't...you...have...any...SHAME?!"
Jiro, who was still being throttled relentlessly, responded by grabbing hold of the dark-haired boy's cheeks and stretching the skin like taffy. "Idiot! I didn't have a choice! You weren't responding to anything! And why am I the only one you're hurting?!"
"Eto...Kai-san?" began Yui tentatively. The harmless greeting drew another terrified squeak from Kai and nearly sent him bolting back to the safety of his apartment if it weren't for Jiro putting him in a full-nelson lock.
"Man, calm the hell down!" Jiro yelled, which caused the shorter boy to stop flailing. "Look, we're going to discuss things in there reasonably and calmly, alright? Just hear us out."
The boy in the headlock nodded silently before being released. "Fine, you...you can all come in."
Despite the poster at the front of the door, Kaito's apartment really didn't look anything like one would imagine; there weren't rows of anime-inspired figurines, shelves of manga or even posters similar to the one outside. The walls were barren except for a few paintings and a simple futon lay out in the middle of the room. A small kitchen and what was likely the door to the bathroom was present; stereo speakers attached to an mp3 player were placed by the futon. Beside this lay a laptop with a webcam attached, as well as a guitar amplifier and two guitar cases propped up against it. A tall shelf full of what looked like DVDs stood next to a small television and DVD player.
Jiro, as well as the Light Music Club, sat down on the tatami mat while Kai sat on his futon, a blanket wrapper around his shoulders. They spent a few minutes on formal introductions before lapsing once more into silence.
"Ano..." began Ritsu tentatively, causing Kai to flinch. "You live here by yourself?"
The dark-haired boy gulped nervously. "Dad...working...America..."
"Oh, what does your Dad do?" asked Mugi, joining in the conversation.
"Doctor," came the answer again. "What do you want?"
Jiro frowned at his friend. "Oi, don't be so rude. They just need some help."
Yui slapped both palms together and bowed in front of Kai, causing the boy to wrap the blanket tighter around himself.
"Please, Kai-san! Help me become a better guitar player!"
Kai stared at the bowing girl for a few moments before turning his gaze on the other music club members. "You're that band from this morning?"
"You recognized us just now?" asked Ritsu, slight irritation in her voice. "Are we really that forgettable?"
"No, it's not that," replied Kai, shrinking slightly when the band members turned their attention to him. "Don't get me wrong; based on image alone...you would probably already do pretty well."
"Yeah, but?" responded Ritsu, leaning closer.
Kai looked at the girl whose face was inches away from his and promptly began bleeding from the nose. The drummer drew back slightly, even as the dark-haired boy began stuffing his nostrils with tissue.
"Your songs..." he continued through the tissue plugs. "They're not bad per se...they just need a bit more..."
"Edge," replied Mio, repeating what was said that afternoon. "We...already had a discussion about that this morning. How do we do that anyway?"
The blanket wrapped lad put a hand on his chin. "Who're the main songwriters?"
"Um, I guess me and Mugi," said Mio. "Sometimes Yui and Ritsu come up with songs as well."
"How do you write?"
Mio looked deep in thought for a moment. How did her writing process go? Most of the time, whenever inspiration would hit her, she would just jot everything down in a piece of paper. After that, it was getting the words to rhyme and flow. The music usually came last. As for Yui, the music almost always came first, and then the lyrics would be a team effort by the group.
"I suppose we write as the moment hits us," responded the bassist finally. "Whatever we see, then whatever we feel."
"There's no reason to change that, then," said the boy in the blanket, a small grin on his features. "Like I said, your songs aren't bad. And now, I know that they're honest, at the very least."
"So, how do we improve then?" asked Ritsu, a tad impatiently. They were wasting a perfectly good Friday afternoon in her opinion.
"Well, sometimes, it's really just a matter of experience," supplied Jiro, propping himself up with his hands as he sat Indian style on the mat. "The longer you play with each other, the more you get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. After that, your songs will start displaying the strengths more and eliminating the weaknesses."
"Correct," said Kai, grinning appraisingly at Jiro, who flashed a victory sign. "Don't worry – the 'edge' will come when it does. Just keep writing like you normally do."
"Yosh, thank you for the advice, Jiro-sensei and Kai-sensei!" exclaimed Yui excitedly. "We're going to reach the Budokan in no time!"
Kai's mouth drew into a thin line as he crossed his arms. "Not with your mediocre guitar playing, you won't."
"Eh?!" Yui said, cheeks puffing out in indignation. "I'll practice a lot more then!"
"You've got good attitude at least," said Kai, finally disentangling himself from his blanket fortress and crawling over to the rack of DVDs. The girls looked a tad uncomfortably as he shuffled through a few titles before making his way back to his original spot.
The dark-haired boy held up a DVD case in front of Yui, that of a long-haired man with a multi-colored guitar hanging in front of him. "John Petrucci's Rock Discipline. Use it every day for two hours or more."
Yui's eyes glowed with intrigue. "Waaaah...his guitar is so pretty! This will help me get better right?"
Kai scratched the back of his head self-consciously. "Well, in a way. It's still up to you to actually practice, y'know. Read up on some music theory on the internet too."
"Yui's got perfect pitch, though," said Ritsu. "Does she really still have to learn the scales and stuff?"
"Well, perfect pitch is useless if you don't know how to use it correctly," said Jiro with a serious look. He had always envied those who were naturally talented with their instruments but it just motivated him to get better as well. The only thing was, what was the point? These girls were obviously at the start of their career as a band, while he was...
"Shit, Kai, what time is it?" he said suddenly, looking a bit worried.
"Relax, it's only five o'clock. Hang on, I'll boot up the laptop now."
It took but a few minutes for Kai to fully boot up the laptop and turn on the webcam. Ritsu leaned beside the dark-haired boy to look closer at the screen, causing him to fidget uncomfortably.
"Who're you talking to?" she asked, curiosity in her eyes.
Swallowing nervously, the short boy tried to stammer out an answer. "T-t-t-...."
"He's talking to our friend," supplied Jiro helpfully, causing Kai to sigh in gratitude. "He's also studying abroad and we keep in contact with him like this every week."
"Cool. Hiya over there! What's your name?" said Ritsu enthusiastically into the lens of the webcam while Mugi, Mio and Yui waved sheepishly from behind.
A few moments passed before the screen of the laptop displayed what looked to be the inside of a room, the most prominent item being a bed and what seemed to be a keyboard propped up against an adjacent wall.
"John? Are you there?" spoke Kai into the mic of the webcam.
"Yeah, I'm here!" answered a voice off camera. Seconds later, a blonde haired young man appeared on Kai's computer screen. He had the fine, angular features of an American, complete with blue eyes and pale skin. He wore a friendly smile and a red key-tar was strapped around his shoulders. He played a few rapid notes before smiling again into the camera.
"Whoa, I see some females there Kai!" he yelled excitedly. "Three...no, four of them! You've been taking my advice seriously I'm guessing?"
"Man, shut up!" yelled Kai, ignoring the giggles from Ritsu and Mugi. "I'm going to send you the guitar tracks now so you can work on layering the bass on them."
"Straight to business eh?" laughed the boy with the key-tar. "Seriously, what's with the girls in there? Last time I saw you, you ran away from anything with ovaries."
"They're the light music club from our school here," answered Jiro. He pointed out each band member and their respective instruments like a teacher calling roll-call, with each of the girls dutifully introducing themselves as well.
"Oooh, an all-girl band? You bastards are so lucky!" yelled the blonde haired kid. "Hey ladies! The name's John Takeda."
"Takeda? You're half-Japanese?" asked Mio, moving closer to the laptop.
"Sure am," replied John with a grin. "I'm the lead singer and bassist for our band."
Mugi smiled in slight surprise. "Band? You mean with Jiro-san and Kai-san?"
A megawatt grin formed on John's face before playing a rapid series of notes on his key-tar. He ended with a dramatic pose. "Yep, we're called Quicksilver."
"Hmm, John does like to take control doesn't he?" whispered Kai conspirationally to Jiro who could only nod. It was true; their vocalist and bassist had quite the magnetically charming personality that was extremely popular with their classmates back then. Even through a computer screen, he managed to captivate people, even those he had just met, almost effortlessly Add this to the fact that he could play most any instrument and it was no surprise that John Takeda was their frontman.
"Yeah, we played a few live shows while I was studying in Japan" continued John, sounding nostalgic. "It was great fun, eh guys?"
Kai and Jiro murmured their agreements. The mood in the room seemed to darken inexplicably as soon as the blonde boy said this, causing Mio to gulp nervously.
It was Mugi who spoke again, trying to relieve the tension. "Ano...so, you still perform together then?"
"When we can," replied Jiro, smiling hesitantly. "We usually have jam sessions via webcam like this, but like Ritsu said, it's kinda hard with the time difference and all."
"Yeah, we try our best," said Kai, before adding under his breath, "even without our spine, we still manage to move..."
A beat of silence ensued before Jiro looked seriously at John through the webcam again.
"How's Tetsuo?" he asked quietly. Kai seemed to shrink, silently crawling back to his futon and wrapping his blanket around himself again.
"Doing alright I guess. I played him the new songs – I think he approves."
Mio looked over at Kai who was sitting silently on his mattress, as still as a statue. "Who's Tetsuo?"
Silence ensued for a while as the dark-haired boy said nothing before swallowing heavily and bowing his head.
"Kitamura Tetsuo – he was our drummer."
"Oh, he's also studying abroad then?" asked Ritsu.
There was a long uncomfortable silence that passed as neither Jiro nor Kai talked. Even John was silent on his end, not even tinkering with the keys of his key-tar.
John finally exhaled heavily. "Tetsuo got into a car accident a year ago. He's in a coma."
A sudden wave of cold hit the members of the Light Music Club, settling in their stomachs like blocks of ice. Mugi covered her mouth in shock while Yui fell silent. Ritsu's eyes were cast downwards and Mio began to hug herself once again.
"His parents flew him over here in America to get treatment. So far, he's stable at least," John continued all traces of joviality gone from his voice. "Me, Jiro and Kai make our music and I play back what we've made for him. He opens his eyes sometimes."
"That's horrible..." whispered Mugi, her tiny fists clenching.
More heavy silence ensued for a few moments, before it was broken by a sound from the laptop, signifying completion of a file transfer.
"Got the guitar tracks," said John excitedly, regaining his composure. "I'll work on these first thing tomorrow morning and I'll send it back to you for some touch-ups, alright?"
"No problem," said Kai with a thumbs up. "Me an' Jiro here'll talk to you next week, same time?"
"You bet. Later minions! Nice meeting you ladies!" And with another charming smile, John's webcam was turned off.
"Hey, when you said 'spine' a while ago, were you referring to your drummer?" asked Mio, as Kai got up to store his laptop in a case.
"Yeah. Listen, you girls come to school early tomorrow alright? I'll bring you all some homework."
"Ehh?! Homework? You've gotta be kidding!" whined Ritsu.
"It's the only way you'll ever reach Budokan level," replied Kai seriously, before smiling at Jiro. "At least, while we're all still young."
A/N:
Sanpaku, or sanpaku-ganis a Japanese term that means "three whites" and is generally referred to in English as "Sanpaku eyes". The term refers to the iris being rather small that it can only cover about two-thirds or less of the vertical of the eye; imagining an eye as divided into four portions, the iris only 'colours' one portion, thus leaving the other three in white, hence "three whites". Gangsters in anime are typically drawn this way.
I mentioned many different guitar players here; in particular, Jason Becker, who is a neoclassical rock guitarist who performed with Marty Friedman (former Megadeth guitarist) in the guitar duo Cacophony. He was diagnosed with ALS and is consequently confined to a wheelchair. He is in stable condition and continues to compose music via a special software he operates with his eyelids.
Blood Stain Child is a Japanese melodic death metal from Osaka. A notable feature of Blood Stain Child is their tendency to incorporate both dance and trance related themes and elements into their music. The band's sound includes death vocals complemented at times by clean vocals.
BTW, cookie to anyone who can guess who the girl in the poster is :)