Reaching for the Stars

Part III, Chapter 8

The Light Music Club of Sakura-gakou was an organization that Satoshi Tainaka looked upon with mixed feelings. On one hand, he admired them for their skill, talent and drive in making music and performing on stage for scores of people. On the other, he was absolutely jealous of them for the exact same reasons. The boy who had run away had mixed feelings indeed.

In any case, his view could be summed up by a single description. The Light Music Club of Sakura-gakou to him was an absolute mystery. How is it that those five girls can capture the ears and hearts of thousands and still have time to laze around and have tea? It was a mystery he had been longing to understand for the longest time and as he, Yuusaku, Ryuji and Minori gathered together at the school registrar with the Ohashi Light Music Club charter in their hands, Satoshi had the perfect chance to do that.

"So Satoshi." Yuusaku said, turning to the drummer with a cautionary voice, "This is our last chance to back out. Once we pass this paper, the Light Music Club will come to life."

And so would many of the monsters that had haunted Satoshi's heart and mind. The drummer however was determined to face these monsters with his honor held high.

"Most of my life has been about backing out and not taking chances." Satoshi then said, "This time will be different. Let's pass this sheet."

Yuusaku nodded and handed the sheet over to the registrar. Satoshi knew that if ever he was to understand that mystery, burying the Light Music Club in disdain would do him no good. He had to embrace it as his sister did before him and maybe he can grow to face her, Azusa and the rest again without shame at the end of it all. Hopefully.

"Alright then." Yuusaku then said, turning to the three of them with a smile, "From now on, we are the Ohashi High Light Music Club!"

Immediately after passing the newly drafted chapter, the four core members of the club assembled at one of the unused classrooms in the older section of the High School building which would be the new club's headquarters. The music room had already been claimed by the other music clubs after all and Satoshi knew from experience that sharing a clubroom with another music club wouldn't work out very well. Thus, the unused classroom was the perfect place to set up shop.

Sawako Yamanaka was their instructor, the same role she had played for the Sakura-gakou Light Music Club. When she met with the four at the classroom, nostalgia was quick to flood her memory and she nearly broke into tears.

"Were my sister and her friends really that hard to handle?" Satoshi asked in jest

Sawako sniffed and nodded in confirmation. Getting a hold of herself, the teacher helped them secure some furniture for the clubroom. The school didn't have a lot of disposable income so they had to make do with a folding table, a set of folding chairs, a second-hand keyboard, a basic drum kit and an electric water boiler

"Umm… excuse me." Ryuji said scratching his cheek, "We're operating on a limited budget here right? Why did we spend some of it getting a water boiler? We could have gotten some better chairs… or a broom."

"So that we can make tea, of course." Sawako said with a grin, "I'm sure Satoshi-kun can explain."

Satoshi shrugged then told them about what little he knew about the Light Music Club of her sister, most of it involving tea. He remembers Ritsu telling him once that tea was an integral part of the club and that they probably wouldn't be able to operate without that tea. Ryuji was a little skeptical about the logic of that but Minori and Yuusaku had no complaints. Once Satoshi brewed some tea for them all, even Ryuji was swayed over to their side.

"Satoshi-kun, I approve of this practice!" Minori then said, giving the drummer a thumbs up, "Nothing can soothe the soul of a tired advocate of the Mysterious Files better than a nice cup of tea!"

"Yes." Yuusaku agreed, "And perhaps a little tea time might calm down the Palmtop Tiger."

At the mention of the Palmtop Tiger, the classroom door slammed open and a lone figure walked in with a stubbornly puffy face. It was Taiga.

"Alright, I'm here like I promised." She said impatiently, "Do your worst."

"Good afternoon, Aisaka-san." Yuusaku said with a smile, "Would you like some tea?"

Yuusaku then handed the girl his teacup, gesturing her to go ahead and try some.

"Kitamura-kun," Sawako then noted, "weren't you just drinking from that a moment ago?"

"Oh right, I was!" Yuusaku said, laughing at his slip of the mind. Taiga however quickly turned beet red. She must have thought it would have meant having an indirect kiss. Satoshi shook his head in amusement then quickly got on to brewing another cup of tea for the girl.

"Here you go Aisaka-san." Satoshi said handing the girl a new cup of tea, "You can mark this particular cup if you want so you don't get mixed up the next time."

Taiga looked as if she was going to thank Satoshi for a while before changing her mind and taking the cup from him without saying a word. For some odd reason, he remembered acting the same way to his parents back at home and sometimes even to Ritsu. He now knew they must have taken it now that he was on the other side of the fence.

Before long, the last member of the club, Kouji Haruta, arrived as well.

"Hello everybody!" He greeted energetically, "Oh, and I see the Tiger is here too."

Taiga growled at the mention of her newly coined nickname, but chose to sip tea rather than pounce on the clown.

"Oy, now's not the time to get her riled up again, you know." Satoshi said, giving Kouji a cup of tea of his own, "Here, have some tea."

"Aww fine." Kouji sighed, "Thanks Tanaka-san."

The way Kouji said 'Tanaka-san' didn't sit well with Satoshi. He had already tried avoiding Kouji in the hallways the moment he knew he was studying in Ohashi High too since he was one of the few people who knew his old self and his uncreative last name was his only disguise. Approaching him and giving him tea like that must have been a mistake, but not giving him tea when he had made some for everyone else would have raised his suspicion and wouldn't do him any good.

Trying not to mind that for now, He then led Kouji to a seat at the table and the first meeting of the Ohashi High Light Music Club began.

"Without further ado, Aisaka-san, Haruta-san, welcome to the Light Music Club." Yuusaku said, spearheading the meeting as the new president of the new club, "I believe we are all acquainted with each other so let's get down to business. The Light Music Club is basically a band and we have to know who will be doing what."

It was the million dollar question at the moment. With the way things stood, the band had a drummer, a bassist an acoustic guitarist and a pianist. What exactly would the furious Taiga Aisaka and the laid-back Kouji Haruta put to the table? Satoshi knew that Kouji dabbled in playing the piano every so often but he wasn't really an inclined player. Also, he wasn't sure if a setup with two keyboard players would work out very well.

"I used to play piano, but I never really was any good." Kouji said, "My relatives have connections in the local music scene though. I can be like a middleman of sorts, would that be alright?"

"That would be helpful, Haruta-kun." Sawako said approvingly, "That way, the club would easily be able to find a gig."

"Okay, so welcome on board then." Yuusaku said with a nod, "Now Aisaka-san, it's your turn."

Now that everyone's attention was on her, the small girl smirked.

"Electric guitar." She said confidently, "I can play the electric guitar and sing at the same time. And I'm pretty good at it too."

"Prove it." Satoshi then said, shocked that she was so confident about her own talent.

"I can't really do that if there isn't any electric guitar for me to rock out on." Taiga said deviously, leaning back into her chair and humming victoriously.

"Wrong." Sawako then said, "There's uh… an electric guitar in the main music room's store room."

At that point, Satoshi expected the girl to flinch. There was no way in the world someone like her would be an electric guitar player, and a good one at that. She must have just been trying to act cool in the midst of everyone else. However, she didn't. She was dead serious about it.

Led by Sawako, the four club members and the two new prospects marched to the Music Room where they found the alleged electric guitar – a flying V. Sawako didn't mention anything about who owned the guitar but Taiga didn't mind. The small girl wore the electric guitar, plugged it into an amplifier as if it were second nature as the rest watched in awe. She fretted the strings and ran a pick through them, unleashing a loud overdriven growl from the amplifier. She then pointed at Satoshi and said,

"Prepare to weep, nonbeliever! It's a little song I made – it's called Pre-Parade*!"

Satoshi cringed at the girl's confidence. Was she really able to pull this off? Not minding his entrenched doubt, she started to play. To Satoshi's surprise, she was pretty damn good.

The girl then strummed the guitar and played chords like they were nothing to her. Everyone's jaws dropped in amazement but Sawako was exceedingly amused. Taiga wasn't lying about knowing how to play the electric guitar well and the melodic roars of the flying V blew Satoshi's mind. Her fingers tickled the strings effortlessly and her picking was of breakneck speed. How the hell did this happen?

The drummer had thought that he would be the most seasoned musician of the group, but here he was having his ass handed to him by the newcomer girl. She had already handed his ass to him with that flying kick attack a few days ago, but he never would have expected this sort of beat down. However, it was a beat down that he was starting to enjoy.

Taiga's song then ended; sweat dripping down her face and the lingering sound of the last chord she played still hanging about the room. Satoshi then broke the silence by applauding the girl's performance.

"What a kind gesture for a nonbeliever." Taiga grinned, "So what do you think?"

"I think this club will be going places." Satoshi said, "I had my doubts, but this club will be going places."

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: I have updated the Reaching for the Stars section of my profile to include links to the songs I had included, the same way I did for Time Out! Substitution and Full Court Press!