Track 03

After getting herself ready, Hikari headed out into the city, hoping to find a drum set for a relatively low price, that she would be able to afford with the little money she had saved up. Even after all these years, she still hadn't spent a dime of the money she earned from the arcade. It was purely saved for her to buy her own instrument. She wandered through the streets of Midicity, peaking in the window of each music store. One store in particular made her stop and just stare... Inside of a store called "Kato's New and Used Music Shop," was the drum set from the instrument collection she longed for as a child. She rushed inside and took a look at the price tag and then sighed. 150 Sound Dollars more than what she had saved. Figures...

Kato, a kangaroo Myumon, and the owner of the shop watched as she admired the drums. "Are you interested in that set, miss? We just got that one in. It's actually from a limited edition collection from about-"

"10 years ago... I know. My best friend tried to get it for me when I was younger..." Hikari said, a sad tone to her voice. She had it for about a day, but unfortunately wouldn't accept the gift. She felt slightly guilty for that night, but Kamiko should have known better... She sighed... "Unfortunately, I don't have enough to buy this right now, but it was great to actually find it again."

The owner tilted his head, noticing the sorrow in the young leopard's voice. "Well... You're welcome to try it out if you'd like."

Hikari looked up at him, a small gleam of joy in her eyes. "Wha... Y-Yeah! Okay, I will!" She reached inside of her bag and grabbed her drumsticks. Once she was seated at the drums, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel the beat inside, ready to come out.

She started out playing the beat kind of softly, letting herself get into the rhythm before really going out. As she rocked out to the tune inside her head, many Myumons outside started to gather at the shop window, all very impressed by Hikari's drumming.

One particular Myumon, however, started to walk past the shop, when he noticed the crowd. Rom was just on his way back to BRR from his other job, when suddenly, he heard the beat coming from inside and stopped, turning toward the shop they were all surrounding and approached the window. There, he saw Hikari going crazy on the drums inside of his old buddy Kato's shop. This is what she sounded like when she played...? She was this good and yet she didn't have her own set of drums and had to use his?

He entered the shop, standing next to Kato and crossing his arms. Kato turned to him and gave him a nod. "Hey man. So what do you think? She's good right? Looks like you're not the only leopard in Midicity with mad drumming skills!"

Rom scoffed. "Yeah, she's not bad. Did she buy that set?" he questioned, Hikari still jamming while ignoring everything around her.

"Nope... She said she couldn't afford it, but it's the one she's always wanted apparently. I told her she was free to try it out and... well here she is," Kato responded.

"Wait... seriously!?" Rom uncrossed his arms and put his hand to his head. He took a moment to wrap his head around things. He did feel guilty for the other night when he got angry at her for using his drums. If he had only listened to her play before judging... He shook his head. "How short is she?" he asked, not even thinking things through before jumping at the chance.

"Not sure, man. She didn't really say. Why do you ask?"

"Just... sell it to her for whatever she's got, and bill me for the rest. You've got the phone number to my office. I don't care how much it is." He didn't even give Kato the chance to respond to his request before heading out the door and on his way back home to BRR.

Hikari finally quit playing and stood up, putting her sticks back in her bag, and turned to Kato with a smile. "That felt great. Thank you so much." Just as she was about to leave, Kato called out to her.

"Hold up, miss. The way you rocked those drums... it was almost like they were made for you! I'll sell it to you for whatever you've got with you today," he told her with a smile, making sure to keep quiet about the deal that was just arranged. Knowing Rom, he wouldn't want any credit.

"A-Are you serious!? But I-I can't just..."

"They're yours. I don't think I could send them to a better owner if I tried," he told her, actually meaning what he was saying to her.

"Uhh... Okay! I'll take them! Thank you so much!" Hikari responded, pulling out her wallet to pay the man. As she set up a delivery to have the drums sent to BRR, she took a look out the window, where she saw the crowd of people outside. "Man, what happened out there?"

While Hikari was gone, Kamiko had spent some time with Aion down in Angelica's. She had finally built up the courage to ask him to hang out, and in her opinion, everything went really well! After they said their goodbyes, she headed back up to her room, where she found a sight she wasn't exactly used to seeing.

The moment she opened the door she noticed Hikari sitting on her bed with her headphones in, drumming on her pillow with her drumsticks. The thing that happened to surprised Kamiko, however, was the huge smile that was on Hikari's face. She shut the door behind her, making sure it slammed loud enough that she would hear it over her music. Hikari jumped and pulled the headphones out of her ears. "Oh! Kamiko! You're back! How did it go?"

She smiled, sitting on her best friend's bed with her. "It was amazing, Hiki! I think I like him… a lot!"

This brought a smile back to Hikari's face. Not something Kamiko was used to seeing after telling Hikari about a boy. "Well… that was already obvious. I'm happy for you! But... first I need to apologize."

"Apologize?" Kamiko questioned, unsure of where she was going with this. "What for?"

"Well... remember when you bought me those drums? I wasn't exactly nice to you about it. I do want to say that I appreciate the thought, thinking back on it now. I'm sorry for not showing you that back then. BUT! I found a set of drums exactly like them, and the owner of the shop sold them to me for the amount that I had saved up! I have my own drums now! They will be delivered tomorrow!"

"Hikari, that's amazing! We can finally start practicing the song you wrote!" Kamiko clapped, squealing to herself. This was perfect! "Okay, then it's settled! You're coming with me tomorrow, and we are showing those boys exactly what Monochrome Blush is made of!" The girls both high fived each other, Hikari even laughing a little. She had to admit, she was pretty excited about having a drum set of her own that she purchased with the money she earned all by herself.

The next day, Hikari got up bright and early so she could be ready for the delivery of her drums. She was almost as excited as a little girl on Christmas Eve. When the delivery truck arrived, she slipped on her shoes and ran outside, almost knocking over the delivery man as she took the clipboard to sign for the drums. She had them bring the drum set into the studio on the opposite side of Rom's, that way he couldn't complain that it was in his way or whatever.

When it finally came time for rehearsal, Hikari met Crow, Aion, and Yaiba in the studio, Rom even strolling in not long after he got off work to see what everyone was up to. He listened as Hikari played her drums. Her bandmate was nowhere to be seen, so it seemed she had started without her. But couldn't she allow them to rehearse until Kamiko returned? He crossed his arms and leaned against the back wall, closing his eyes as he listened. He could feel the passion she put into playing her instrument, which he respected, so he let her go... just this once.

While Hikari rehearsed on her own with the boys, Kamiko found herself at a grand opening of a lolita store in town. She was on her way to the studio to rehearse with them, but she got distracted by all the cute clothes in this new shop. She tried on many dresses, hoping to find the perfect outfit to wear to their first official concert, even if it hadn't been scheduled, yet.

As she shopped, she noticed that more and more people started to gather inside of the store, making things quite crowded. In the madness, she stumbled backward, bumping into someone, who seemed to catch her. She started to apologize, when she looked up to see Shuzo of Trichronika holding her up. Her eyes grew wide as memories began flooding back to her. When she was very young, just a few years before she had met Hikari, Shuzo's parents and Kamiko's parents were very close. Both were from upper class families, so just about every event they attended together, (yes, even their play dates) were fancy get togethers, with dress clothes and expensive snacks, imported from all over Sound World.

Around the time the two of them were 3 years old, their parents had dinner at Kamiko's large home, her butler cooking and serving them. While the two young Myumons played in the next room, their parents had a discussion on how beneficial it could be in the future for them if their son and daughter would marry. It was basically the day Kamiko's parents arranged her marriage.

Since they grew up together, Kamiko and Shu were very close. However, once they were both old enough to be enrolled in schools, they didn't see much of each other. Kamiko went to an all girls school, while Shu was in an all boys school. Every now and then, Kami would try to get Shu to come over and play after school, but he had made other friends at school and never seemed to have the time. They grew apart, especially after Kamiko's family adopted Hikari, but her parents never seemed to forget the "deal" they had made when she was young. They would bring it up to her anytime she would meet a new boy she liked, and she always went along with it. It wasn't until their senior prom, when the two schools got together, that all of his changed. Both of their parents got them the most extravagant outfits to wear to the event, and made all the arrangements for the two to go together. Hikari, who had no plans whatsoever to go to some stupid dance with a bunch of people she didn't want to see, watched as her friend grew more and more upset over her lack of freedom to like who she wanted to. Sure, she liked Shu a lot, but she wasn't sure she even wanted to marry him. There were many nights that she would stay up and talk to Hikari about how it all made her feel.

The night of the dance, Kamiko didn't seem like she was even up to going to the dance anymore, since none of it was turning out how she wanted it to. Her prom was something she had looked forward to since she was very young, and Hikari knew this. She hadn't even met this guy Kami's family spoke so highly of, but after all of this, she just knew she didn't like him. While her mother got her ready, Kamiko actually ended up in an argument with her mother about making her decisions for her, which resulted in her mother telling her if she didn't go with him, then she wasn't going at all. Somehow, she felt that things were better this way. Maybe they would get the picture that she wanted to go out and find someone on her own.

Just after this argument, Hikari, who was sitting on her bed with her headphones in while working on something on her laptop heard the door slam shut, and pulled her headphones out of her ears. "Kamiko? Why are you still here? Didn't you have a date with Prince Perfection or something?"

Kamiko sat at the end of Hikari's bed explaining to her what happened between her and her mother, and how she told her that she couldn't go if she didn't plan on having Shu as her date. Hikari felt something snap when she heard these words. All of this to improve their own image... It was disgusting. She loved Kamiko's parents and appreciated everything they had done for her, but there were some things they did that annoyed the hell out of her.

She stood up and went through Kamiko's closet, catching the lioness off guard. "H-Hiki? What are you looking for?"

"A dress... I'm not letting you miss this dance, after how long you've dreamed of going, so we're sneaking out." Since Hikari didn't exactly own anything that was prom-worthy, she had to wear something of Kamiko's. She ended up choosing a long, black, lacey dress.

"Wha!? Hikari, we can't do that! Mama and Daddy will kill us! A-And probably make Sebastian clean up the mess! I'm not sure this is a good idea…" She looked up to see her best friend wearing her dress. It was a drastic change from the things she normally wore, but it looked stunning on her!

Hikari held her hand out to her and helped her up. "You wait here. I will go have a talk with Sebastian about keeping our cover." Sebastian was Kamiko's family butler. With him and Hikari being the only two who lived in the house that weren't related to the family, the two seemed to bond every now and then while being left out of certain conversations. She was sure if she explained the story, that he would be more than happy to help out.

She came back in the room and waved for Kamiko to follow her, and lead her down the stairs and out to a limo that Sebastian had called in for them... to pick them up a few blocks down, that way her parents wouldn't see.

The two went to the dance and had a great time, much to Hikari's surprise. Kamiko remembered seeing Shu there while Hikari was getting them some snacks, and she apologized for everything. Thankfully he was very understanding and told her he felt the same way she did about the whole arrangement, but that they could still be friends.

The girls got into a huge amount of trouble when they got home, but it was all worth it. Her parents eventually forgave her for breaking the deal, but told her flat out that no one else would ever be good enough for her.

Shortly after their graduation, Shu went off to Midicity with a group of his friends from school to start a band, and she never saw him again after that. Recently, she saw that he had changed his name and had become even more successful with a band that was different from the one he was with originally, which she thought was great. Things looked to be working out for him.

And now... here he was. He was all grown up now. She had seen him on T.V. many times, but seeing him again in person was much different. "Whoa... ShuShu," was all she could say, calling him by the name she gave him when they were toddlers.

"Why hello there. It sure has been a while." He helped stand her back up and smiled. "Still as clumsy as ever, I see."

"Hey! That's not true! I'm only... half as clumsy as before!" she joked, earning a laugh from him.

"So what brings you here, exactly? I never would have expected little Kami in the big city without Mama and Daddy~" he teased, flashing a wink to her.

She chuckled and pushed him gently. "Aww come on. You knew I had musical dreams just like you did. Hikari and I just recently got signed here by Banded Rocking Records! We are in a band called Monochrome Blush."

The moment she mentioned the name of the record label she had been signed with, he got an intense look in his eyes, remembering one other particular band signed under them. An old friend and previous bandmate of his was also under that label.

Just as he was about to ask if she was familiar with them yet, she spoke up again. "So what about you, mister? Why are you here in this shop?"

He shook the other thoughts from his mind, getting back to their little reunion. "Trichronika was asked to perform at their fashion show today, but you missed the show! We just finished," he said with a small chuckle. "So I was just on my way out. But you should stick around. They are holding tryouts for the next show now that this one is over." A bright smile grew on Kamiko's face. How great would it be to model for a place like this?

Just then, a voice came over the intercom saying it was the last call for applicants. Shuzo noticed the look in the girl's eyes and got an idea. He held her arm up and called out with his super charming voice, "I have your model right here!" Many girls in the shop squealed, just noticing the idol in the shop and no longer backstage. He pushed her forward as a small spotlight lit up the area that she was standing. After some whispering between the judges, they picked up a microphone and told her she was hired. If someone like the fabulous Shuzo thought she was good enough, how could they say no? The people who were now surrounding them all cheered.

Kamiko covered her mouth, her eyes filling up with tears. She couldn't believe what he just did! She thanked the judges and the audience, bowing before turning back to Shuzo… who had apparently already left.