A/N: Once again, here is the Darkwood concert. As with the previous two stories, listen to the songs while you read, and enjoy!
With the lead up to the school talent show taking up so much of everyone's time, nobody could really spare any time for side projects or the like. They had their faces to the grindstone - Valentine included, which Sheva, now his girlfriend, understood completely and didn't give him a hard time about it - so that their performance would be perfect.
Like with previous years, the Darkwood siblings were a big multi-song concert at the end of the entire talent show, to which all nine of them would be performing. Valentine, who wasn't much of an instrument player, was planning to sing a solo song, then would later join the rest of his family for their group performance. Of course, his sisters had their own parts, but everyone else, even Kaneki and Mishka, would likewise be doing a particular portion of their own, or a duet, like his parents.
Now, on the evening of the talent show, Valentine finally got the opening he'd been looking for. Everyone was ready, all waiting to drive over to the high school for the start of the talent show - to watch the other students, then get ready for their group portion at the end - when Valentine entered the living room and spoke up.
"I have something unrelated to announce, and I'm not really sure how to say it, so I guess I'll just do it..." Valentine shrugged, then nodded to Sheva, who had been nervously hiding around the corner for her cue. "I'd like to introduce everyone to Sheva."
Twenty four pairs of glowing eyes turned to see Sheva step out and nervously stand close to Valentine, staying quiet until Yuuki started to chuckle.
"You two look so cute together."
Smiles broke out, then Serenity piped up. "I'm sure Valentine's told you about us, right? We won't hurt you, ever. Alright? We're not as scary as you might think."
"Speak for yourself, Sere!" Valentine frowned, since Sere was the scariest one out of all nine of them! "You're the Yandere, remember?!"
"Now, now, you didn't have to go saying that! I was avoiding that particular detail for a reason, sweetie." Serenity teased, but smiled at Sheva. "I only get messy to people that seriously deserve it. I like you already, so you don't need to worry, Sheva."
"You'll get used to it, trust me." Valentine whispered to Sheva as Tobias stood up and approached them, his staggering height making her gulp slightly before he crouched down onto one knee and smiled warmly at her.
"It's nice to meet you, Sheva. Would you care to join us at the school talent show?"
Amidst the humour, dramatic, musical and various other talent acts, the parents and students filling the auditorium were polite with their applause and cheers, going through act after mundane acts for the entirety of the talent show. Sheva, seated beside Valentine and his aunt Mishka - apparently her name was actually Tabitha - both of them linked at the elbow until word from Tobias came that it was time for them to sneak backstage to get ready for the end of the other students' acts.
"You can do it, Val!" Sheva gently kissed him as she whispered to him. He returned the kiss, nervously smiling at her little wave as they all snuck out with ease and went backstage.
Since they had done this before, twice now, they'd gotten ready in record time, got into position at the back of the curtained stage during the second last act, and prepped their various instruments and adjusted their outfits accordingly. In all that time, the final act was nearing completion and applause broke out.
"Cloak." Serenity whispered as she used her Photokinesis to turn everyone not involved in the first song completely invisible to the crowd.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! As is tradition, the Darkwood family will now take the stage, performing their signature musical prowess!" The student MC announced into the microphone, and the curtain rose, just revealing Rize and Tobias, much to the crowd's curiosity.
"We're switching things up a bit since last year." Rize explained into her micrphone. "We'll be doing a few duets, plus two songs as a whole group. Some of us also have single songs, and if you ladies and gentlemen remember from last year, our encore requires you to cheer until we say you've earned it!"
The crowd began to applaude, but Tobias held up one hand, the other resting on the top of his signature guitar. "We haven't even told you what song we're going to sing... Why are you clapping?" Some of the crowd laughed, and he chuckled into his headset - he needed his hands for the guitar, and using his Telekinesis for a wired mic would just get in the way, as they'd proven last year - then he smiled and said. "Myself and Rize are going to be singing What Lies Ahead, by Semblant. Next will be Yuuki's song."
With that, and a short applause, they began to sing the powerful vocals, with Tobias playing his guitar and singing the male vocals, including the aggressive screaming.
As expected, the crowd were cheering when they came to the end of the song, but they suddenly vanished into thin air, simultaneously replaced by Yuuki and Rachael, both of whom were wearing their identical leather outfits and their biker jackets with their spider logo's on the backs.
"Yo!" Yuuki giggled slightly as the crowd gawked. "I'm up first, then it'll be Rachael's song after. We're doing duets, so after us will be Valentine."
"You forgot to tell them what yours is..." Rachael reminded her - they were leaning on each other's shoulders with headsets like their dad.
"ARS Nova, it's the intro for Arpeggio of Blue Steel." Yuuki shrugged as if it didn't really matter.
And like that, the three time singer of the Darkwood concerts set into motion, singing in both Japanese and English alongside her twin, the fast paced then relaxed, then fast again moments of the song ebbing and flowing like the ocean waves, accented by their masterful stage presence throughout the whole song.
"Now, unlike my sister, I won't forget to tell you what we're singing for my song. It's called Pomp and Circumstance, an old Vocaloid song we really like. And, just for you, we're going to sing it in English. Enjoy~!" Rachael blew a kiss across the crowd and started singing with Yuuki.
Near the end of the very provocative song, with a cheeky wink at the crowd, both sisters swung their arms out wide open, causing a wall of water to suddenly rise up and fall back down, but instead of splashing and making a mess, it split into an imitation of the red curtains behind them, splitting apart to reveal Valentine standing alone, smirking widely as he winked right at Sheva before speaking.
"Valentine, by Xandria. After me, it'll be Serenity's duet with Alice." Valentine had a wired mic, and with his surprisingly powerful soprano voice, he sang to an absolutely speechless crowd. Nobody had expected him to have such a potent voice or so much skill, in fact, most were still struggling to verify his gender!
And just like before, he vanished into thin air the second the song ended, but nobody reappeared in his place for several seconds until Serenity and Alice seemed to shimmer out of nowhere at centerstage.
"Ooooh, yeah, that definitely got their attention." Serenity teased into the mic. "Well, We're singing a special song to us, it's called Crime Scene, by Eve To Adam. After us will be Kaneki, he's gonna be drumming and singing, right?" She turned to Alice who nodded.
"He chose a good song too." Alice smiled before adding. "Now, let's get started, before you make another mess."
With a laugh, they both sang the song in a surprisingly skilled duet style, despite the singe vocalist. The crowd started to cheer as it ended, then a flash of orange flames erupted from the drum set behind them, and they just faded away like the Cheshire Cat, leaving Kaneki to idly twirl his bright red drumsticks in his fingers.
"Another Way to Die, by Disturbed. Last of the individual acts will be Tabitha, otherwise known as Mishka. Once her song finishes, we'll all stop playing mind games with you and sing two songs together as a group. Now, onwards..."
With that, Kaneki started up the drum intro and eased into the vocals, quickly filling the auditorium with the vibrations of his drumming as his scarlet-painted drumsticks left afterimages in the air against the black back-curtains behind him.
Suddenly, just as the guitar solo began, Tobias suddenly reappeared in a flash of his bright blue fire and took over the solo with flawless timing, his eyes already ignited with Cryo-fire as he played. Once the solo ended, he just faded away again, like it was nothing.
Cheering exploded out as he did that, and with a shark bang and a huge burst of electricity, Tabitha suddenly appeared in her own way, her Ukaku wings - the infamous Thunderbird mask firmly on her face - spread out wide to bring all eyes on her.
"My song's not much of a surprise... It's Electric, by Metallica!" Tabitha's voice came out from under the raven-like beak with the circular lenses glinting with the yellow light of her eyes as she started to strum her bass with the fast paced song, only for Tobias and Kaneki to just reappear in bursts of their respective flames and play alongside her while she sang.
With three of them on stage, it felt much more like a concert now, so most of the crowd started to cheer and some even sang along with her until the ending, earning raucous applause from all of the adults and most of the students.
Then, just as if they'd received a silent cue, the rest of the Darkwood's stepped forward from within the invisible veil, all smirking as Tobias spoke into his headset over the applause and cheers.
"We figured you'd like that little surprise reappearance. Now, so... You've heard us all separately... Now let's go with our family tradition. You should recognize it in the first... five, ten seconds." Tobias didn't even say what it was, instead Kaneki just began that oh-so-familiar drum intro, then Tobias did that special vocal effect that went right with it: "Oh-wah-ha-ha-ha!"
The crowd lost it, Down With The Sickness was synonymous with their family name, as it was the intro music for the Darkwood show since the very beginning of the first season and still used to this day.
When the song ended, the cheering and clapping did not, so all nine of them held up their hands to signal for quiet. Now it was time for a change of pace, and a new song.
"So, symbolism aside, we've got a new one for you this year." Yuuki spoke into her headset as she took a couple steps back to form a line with all of her family, Kaneki stepping out from the drum kit, and her father and aunt lowering their own instruments as they formed a straight line across the stage. "Baba Yetu, by Christopher Tin."
Kaneki was the one to start the pace, then Alice, Serenity and Tabitha joined in, then the twins, then Valentine, and finally Rize and Tobias took their roles as they completely threw a curveball at the crowd again, stunning them into utter silence.
The choir-like song, with it's powerful, emotional music had many people in the crowd in tears as their combined voices - without any instruments playing at all - sent vibrations through everyone's chests.
As the song gently tapered to a close, the crowd was silent for a moment before they started to clap, one by one, a slow applause that rose into a thunderous roar, even louder than how they just sang.
"I think they've earned that encore." Tobias smirked as he signaled for calm, which took a few long moments. "So, I think a certain someone among us has requested to sing the encore by themself; Isn't that right, Valentine?"
Valentine smiled as the crowd started to cheer, and he was given a huge burst of confidence to see that Sheva was clapping too, her cheeks trailed with a few glittering tears.
"Nightfall... by Xandria." Valentine nodded with a smirk as everyone gave him smiles and winks before fading back through Serenity's invisibility illusion.