Reaching for the Stars

Part III, Chapter 2

Prologue

"And, there!" Yui said as she adjusted a webcam in her room in Osaka. Her beloved Gibson Les Paul otherwise known as 'Gui-tah' slung over her shoulder, "Can you see me now?"

"No... oh, there, now I can see ya." Francis replied, turning on the webcam in his laptop in Halifax. Like Yui, he wore his Fender Squier Stratocaster as well. "Is the video over there good too?"

"Yeah." Yui said cheerfully, "What a nice guitar... Fender huh."

"And yours is a Gibson." Francis replied, "The Les Paul and the Strat are popular guitar models. They're the ones that turn people into legends."

"You think it'll turn me into a legend too?" Yui prodded, batting her eyelashes as if trying to get him to say 'yes'. Francis just smirked and said,

"Depends on how good you are on the guitar."

"I think I'm pretty good!" Yui replied brashly, a little hurt that she didn't get the response she wanted. The two of them then laughed.

Over the past few weeks, Francis Suzuki and Yui Hirasawa had been chatting with each other through an instant messenger on a regular basis. There, Francis would learn more about the activities of Afternoon Tea Time and Yui would repeatedly tease Francis about his crush on Ritsu. Though they were nearly half a world apart, it was as if they were sitting right in front of each other. That night though (or morning in Canada), the two of them decided to try doing a webchat. While they were at it, they would take that chance to show each other their guitars - or to see who was the better guitarist. With their guitars unplugged from the amplifiers, the sound that came from them were like that of an acoustic - no effects, no overdrive. It was a long-distance jam session.

"You're a pretty good guitarist." Yui noted as they both set their guitars aside, "You've got a pretty good handle on the hand stuff and the moving along."

"You mean the fretting and the progressions." Francis corrected with a laugh

"That too! You know your terms better than me." Yui sighed, "I never really memorized their names, you see."

Francis quickly thought up a number of reasons as to why. He decided not to share them.

"I take Music Theory classes after school here." Francis said, "Even when I was in Osaka, I frequented the conservatory so all that stuff was practically drilled into my head."

"Oh, so you're a classical person." Yui said, "Isn't the conservatory for pianos and whatever?"

"Not just pianos," Francis said, "they have violins and guitars - though they prefer acousic ones there."

"Ah..." Yui said interested

"I'm more of a rock person though." Francis said with pride, "That's why I chose the electric guitar."

"I see." Yui said, "Anyways, Golden Week is coming up in a few weeks. Everyone here's getting excited!"

"I heard." Francis said, "I saw videos of your perfomance at the graduation ceremony. I didn't think you or Tainaka-senpai would be daring enough to do something like that. After something like that, who wouldn't be excited?"

"I know right?" Yui agreed, "We're going on our first live tour! I can't believe it."

"So what songs did you have for your tour?" Francis probed, "You do have a repertoire, don't you?"

"We do!" Yui said, "Cagayake! GIRLS, Fuwa Fuwa Time, Watashi wa Koi no Hotchikkisu and some others. We're touring the songs in the CD we made."

"The CD eh," Francis said, "Those are good songs, but weren't those songs from two years ago?"

In the face of Francis' question, the once excited Yui fell silent.

"You guys haven't made any new songs since then?" Francis continued

"Ahehe... probably not." Yui laughed, scratching her head, "Looks like I'm going to have to see Mio-chan about this."

"Onee-chan, dinner is almost ready!" A voice then called out from Yui's side

"Ah, dinnertime already?" Yui said, "Sorry Francis, I gotta go. Ui's going to get mad at me if I don't come down."

"Alright." Francis said, preparing to sign off as well, "Be sure to talk to Akiyama-senpai about that - new songs are vital during tours! I'll tell you that."

"You sound like you've been through this stuff before." Yui said on a final note, "Have you been in a band before?"

"You could say that."

The sun shone unusually brightly that day in early May as the familiar school chime rang through the halls of Ohashi High, marking the end of fourth period. Sighs of relief and the sound of chatter soon filled the rooms, replacing the silence and the occasional lecture in both Japanese and English of the class hours. Lunch break had come and the students were off to enjoy themselves. There, in the 1-A classroom, Ryuji Takasu, Yuusaku Kitamura, Minori Kusheida and I sat, arranging our things to prepare to head out. Just as I was about to invite my friends to have lunch together, Ryuji and Yuusaku were already gone.

"Seems it's just the two of us again today Satoshi-kun." Minori said taking out her lunch, "Those two are never around at recess or lunch."

As much as I wanted to tell Minori exactly why the two were up and about all the time, I decided that keeping it to myself would be more beneficial to mankind - or at least prevent some sort of controversy. Unbeknownst to Minori, those two were going around school looking for girls from other classes. Yuusaku told me and Ryuji once that one of his goals for his freshman year was to have a girlfriend by the end of the year - a less than honorable, but common goal among most young men our age. He then proposed that we would spend the break times scouting potential prospects to start off - I declined, but Ryuji was more or less interested and accompanied him on his misguided campaign. I used to look up to that guy as a mature and self-guided individual - my respect for him had gone down quite a bit. Well, he's probably just one of those guys...

I would learn later that rather than scout girls all break long (a preposterous feat, should it be accomplished), the two ended up just talking to each other. Just like the way he treated me when I first came to Ohashi, Yuusaku was a good listener and really listened closely to everything Ryuji had to say. Ryuji would oftentimes talk to me too about things like that, and less frequently with Minori, but Yuusaku was his wingman and they became best buddies. As a result, I spent most of my time with this strange girl playing with the tofu in her bento box.

"Oh... it's shaking." Minori said, astounded by the effects of her poking on the tofu, "If it's shaking it's head like that, then it's telling me I shouldn't eat it. But I'm hungry right now, so I have to eat it. Argh! Why must I be so cruel?"

"It's trying to trick you." I sneered, watching the shaking tofu as well, "It's trying to make you regret eating it - psychological warfare, I tell you!"

"You're right Satoshi-kun!" She said picking up the tofu with her chopsticks and gobbling it up, "There! I stand victorious!"

The two of us then burst into laughter. Another tidbit I kept to myself recently would be an itching concern that Minori's eccentricity was starting to rub off on me. Come to think about it though, Ritsu and I acted weird all the time - weird to the point of estranging everyone except Mugi-senpai and Yui-senpai. That probably says something about how far in we were, but that didn't matter. We were just having fun, and so is Minori here. Enjoying life with a smile, never a negative thought... that's the way to live life, right? Recovering my breath, I got back to my lunch which was an actual lunch box this time. My common fare would've been some pre-packaged convenience store stuff or a cup of instant noodles (which are just plain awesome when you throw in a raw egg - believe me!) but that changed recently and Minori was quick to notice the difference.

"Ah, you finally made your own lunch." Minori said in a congratulatory tone, "Yet another step in the road to self-sufficiency comrade Tanaka! You are making progress!"

"Actually, I'm not the one who makes this." I said, opening the lunch box to reveal a bed of rice along with a number of side dishes I wouldn't ever dream of making myself

"Hmm... so you finally found a girl huh." Minori gleaned.

"Hell no, I haven't found one yet." I denied. My eyes shifted between the lunch box and the pretty girl before me until I finally turned away, "Takasu made this for me."

"Takasu-kun did?" Minori asked surprised

"Since we were living in the same rent house, Mirano-chan said that Ryuji should make lunches for the two of us." I explained, showing her the side dishes (and making her drool), "I had to help out of course, but I get this in return. Takasu's a pretty good cook I gotta say."

"I can see that..." Minori said wiping her drool, "So which portion did you make?"

"Me?" I said, "Oh, I made the tamago and the corned beef wedges. I'm nothing compared to Takasu, but I make a mean corned beef!"

"Can I try one?" Minori asked. Giving her a nod, she picked up one of the wedges and had a bite. "UMAI~! That's some awesome stuff! The meat is so tender, but the flavor is still intact, and... is there some mayonnaise in this?"

"Yeah." I said, remembering the way Ami ate her corned beef when I was living with her, "It's a special recipe I made for a friend of mine."

"Corned beef and mayo... ingenious!" Minori continued, pretty much blown away by the mere idea of those two put together.

"Well, you haven't tasted anything yet!" I advised with a grin, transferring some yellow pickles to Minori's box "Have some of Takasu's home-made pickles - have them with rice!"

"Alrighty!" Minori said, trying out the pickle with a bit of rice. She then stiffened up and gasped, "Am I already dead? Am I in heaven?"

"They're good, ah?" I said, trying some for myself and shaking with delight, "It's a really simple dish, but with the dedication and care Takasu puts into this, nothing else compares."

"I see." Minori said with a smile, "Well then, in exchange for those wonderful morsels of heaven, I'll give you some of mine too."

Before I could say anything, she had lifted her box over mine and slid a few pieces of pork cutlet into it. It was a fair trade, I thought, but Minori offered to give me more. I courteously declined on behalf of my stomach which would be on the brink of overcapacity had I accepted any more.

"By the way..." Minori said, playing around with her food again, "I was thinking..."

"Yeah?" I asked, "What is it?"

"Ah, never mind." Minori replied, sticking out her tongue, "I was just thinking out loud again."

Shrugging, I just got back to enjoying my lunch. When the two of us were done eating though, we found ourselves with another thirty minutes of free time.

"Kitamura and Takasu aren't back yet huh..." I said watching the wall clock as I brought my things back, "What are we gonna do till then?"

"Why don't we go explore the school for a bit." Minori suggested, "We've only been here for about two weeks, so we haven't seen everything here."

True enough, the entrance, the central hallway, the first year wing and the outfield were the only places I knew in the school. It wouldn't hurt to do some snooping around ourselves. Getting up from our seats, the two of us headed out of the classroom and strolled around. Both students and teachers were abound in the hallways, chatting, eating, drinking or reading manga without end. Minori and I blended in with the crowd, enjoying the sights and sounds of the immaculate lunch period. Climbing up some flights of stairs though, we reached the top floor of the main building which was nearly devoid of people. Piquing our curiosity, we decided to check it out as well. Walking together through the halls, we noticed the nearly solemn silence of the place and were amazed by the contrast of this floor with the other floors in terms of decibels per square inch. Just then, a strange sound reached my ears... a traditional sound of sorts.

"Ah! A shamisen!" Minori noted, identifying the instrument immediately, "It's coming from over there!"

Minori led us to the source of the sound - the music room. Inside, we saw our homeroom adviser, the old man, sitting alone by himself playing a shamisen with furor. He faced the afternoon sun in the window as he played and he seemed to be at peace, until the two of us came along that is. Wanting to have a better view, Minori and I leaned against the door, making it creak audibly. The man stopped his playing and turned to us with a smile.

"Good afternoon Tanaka-san, Kusheida-san." He said in a gentle tone, "I presume you heard me play."

The two of us nodded meekly.

"Well come on in then." He said readjusting the instrument on his shoulder, "I'll play a song for you."

He patted the floor before him and Minori and I shuffled over to where he was and sat cross-legged. He then played the shamisen with a mellow tone that resounded throughout the room.

"Music truly is a wonderful thing." The man said as he played, "Though there may be hundreds of thousands of languages or dialects our there in this world of ours, music is the one language we all truly understand. It moves us to be happy. It moves us to be sad. It's a beautiful thing is it not? You my students are far apart from me in age, and we may not necessarily understand each other that much anymore but it brings us together almost magically."

"It's a means to express one's self, sensei." Minori said, watching the old man strum each string with care, "It could say things that words can never convey."

"You were listening in class. I'm glad." The man said with a smile, "Here, why don't you give it a try?"

"Sure thing." Minori said as she took the shamisen, laid it gently on her shoulder and started playing. Just as Minori said back in Vaisravana's heaven, she knew how to play the shamisen fairly well. Every sound that resonated was crisp and gentle and a look of passion could be seen on her face as she played. Our old instructor watched with delight then asked me if I too wanted to play it.

"No thanks." I declined, "I'm more of a percussion person, you see."

"Then the taiko would suit you better." The man said, handing me large sticks and showing me a set of taiko drums nearby, "Go ahead. Play as you please."

Hesitantly obliging, I took the sticks and tried each drum once. Keeping track of Minori's playing, I picked up a beat and struck the drums accordingly. The two sound the two instruments made blended well in the room making the man smile.

"An instrument playing by itself can make a wonderful sound, but when others accompany it, stand by its side if you will, then the beauty just overflows." The man said happily as we played a few bars of a traditional song. When we were done, the man nodded and a tear slid down his cheek sparking in the afternoon sun. Today, he told us, was his last day here in Ohashi High but he said that he was extremely happy, if not fulfilled.

"Not many people appreciate music nowadays..." he said wiping the tear, "but I'm sure kids like you will change that. The future is in the hands of the youth after all - your dreams will shape this world of ours."

Hearing that, I remembered something Yui-senpai told me before their performance at the Osaka live house a few months ago. She said that music was a way to reach one's dreams - to reach out to others and bring them together. Could that be what our old instructor was trying to say? Turning to us, the man put his hands on our shoulders and said,

"Always remember to listen to what the music is trying to tell you. It's the language of the heart."

With that, the school bell rang and Minori and I thanked him for letting us play for a while. Collecting his shamisen and putting it into a case, the man headed out the school campus. He wanted to play a song in the school before he finally left for retirement but got our impromptu performance instead. Seeing that old man walk out of school with the energy of a youth was an invigorating sight and Minori was amazed by what we had done. She then turned to me and said,

"About that thing earlier in lunch. I was just thinking about whether or not I should get a bass guitar. Maybe I should."

"If you really want one then do it." I said supportively, "I'll be your comrade-in-music then!"

"It's decided then!" Minori cheered. The two of us then returned to the classrooms, talking about instruments along the way. By the time we got back though, Yuusaku and Ryuuji were already there. Yuusaku greeted us as he always would but Ryuji seemed especially shy yet again. I wonder what was going on.

To Be Continued

Epilogue

Sawako Yamanaka walks through a crowded intermediate train station with her things in tow. Though the long commute times and the ever-present delays wore down on her, she was quite cheerful as she moved on to her next train. Her first train had brought her from Osaka to Tokyo and now she was taking a more rural train line into Ohashi. Reading the map posted on the wall, she drew an imaginary line from Osaka to Tokyo which passed through a number of different prefectures and smiled.

"This is the path those girls will be taking." She muttered to herself, "I hope they're ready for it."

Her train then arrived at the station and she hurried on over to board it. She took a seat in the middle of the train and set her things beside her as the train filled with people. A small girl with a surprising amount of luggage then took the seat in front of her, brushing aside a number of people in the process. Sawako considered talking to the girl, but decided against it, noting the girl's snarls and negative behavior. She'd be pissed off if she had a student like that - inattentive, mean-spirited and defiant. Someone like her wouldn't be a stranger in a punk rock band, she thought, but she might end up just breaking the instruments (which some bands did). Unluckily for her, this girl, Taiga Aisaka, was going to be one of her future students in Ohashi High. Unaware of their shared destination, she just took out an MP3 player and listened to some punk rock. She would then ask herself if she would ever really outgrow her musical taste. Maybe not.

Author's Notes: Well, well, my beloved readers. Things are moving along smoothly in the story and in my life so consider my hiatus over. This is subject to change though since you never know what challenges college will throw at you but bring it on! Hope you all enjoy this as much as I do - and there will be more songs! This is a song fic after all :D