Track 05

The next morning, Hikari sat at the bar in Angelica's, face down on the counter, trying to forget the events that had occurred the night before. It was bad enough that Kamiko wouldn't stop teasing her over Rom, but for Shu, of all people, to show up and do the same? It was infuriating…

Why was this even an issue in the first place? Was it just because they were both leopards or something? But he was always so rude to her! It wasn't like she could actually ever like a guy like him… could she?

The bell on the door chimed as Crow entered the little cafe, noticing the stressed snow leopard as he walked up to the bar, taking his usual seat. Hikari sat up quickly, slightly embarrassed. "Uh… m-morning," she stuttered.

"What's up? You look a little down today," Crow asked, not used to seeing her this way.

"Down? No, of course not!" She faked a smile in his direction before looking back down at the counter. "Just… a little tired, I guess."

"That makes sense. You work about as much as Rom does, and his mood changes when he doesn't get enough rest." Must've been a leopard thing to overwork yourself or something.

"Please don't compare me to him…" she answered, immediately. "We're nothing alike."

He blinked in response to her sudden attitude change, before giving her a small grin. "Nah, I guess you're right." Of course everyone knew how similar they actually were.

"It's annoying, you know? Everyone always has something to say about him around me… I just don't get it," she said with a sigh, as she rested her chin on the counter. She wasn't sure why she was telling him all of this, but she figured it couldn't hurt to continue. Maybe having at least one person who knew how she felt about the situation would lessen the chances of it happening anymore.

While the two talked, Angelica brought Crow a bottle of milk, which earned a curious gaze from Hikari. "What?" he questioned, hoping she wasn't about to tease him for his drink of choice.

Instead, she looked up to Angelica. "Do you have anymore of that back there? And is it possible to have chocolate added to it?"

Crow's ear twitched slightly. No one had ever asked for milk with him before… It kind of made him happy! But what was with the chocolate? "You know… this milk happens to come from my family's dairy farm! It's the best there is! So you really shouldn't add any extra flavoring to it!"

Hikari's face turned slightly red as Angelica brought her the chocolatey drink. She must've looked like a little kid to him. In reality, Hikari just loved anything and everything chocolate. "It's my favorite way to drink it, okay?" She took a sip and her tail swayed happily behind her. "This really is good! It came from your family's farm, you say?"

"That's right!" he responded, excitedly. It was nice to have someone ask about something like this. "I actually got signed to my band while delivering milk here just a couple of years ago! But before coming here, I was always helping out with the cattle." His parents weren't the happiest when he told them the news that he was leaving for the big city, but he still made sure to visit home when he could to help out and always brought plenty of milk back to the agency.

"Farm life sounds interesting… I've always enjoyed being outdoors," she said, thinking back to her flower garden back at Kamiko's mansion. Living in such a large home like that, where everyone was always trying to wait on her hand and foot, she would constantly find herself sneaking outside to be alone. With all of her flowers and other plants, she created a hide out for herself, right around the small basketball court her adopted family owned. She was the only one who used this area, so she was given the freedom to do with it as she pleased. "I spent a lot of time working on writing my songs outside, actually."

"You write music?" he asked, genuinely curious. The only songs he had heard the girls perform were his own, but if they were that good when it came to covering music, what did their own songs sound like? "Why haven't we heard any of it?"

She scoffed before taking another sip of her drink. "I haven't finished a single one... I don't think I'd be happy with performing them. But don't worry! We won't be covering Shingan's songs anymore, if that's why you're asking. I'm going to start writing some new songs, soon!" she announced to him with a proud smile.

"It will be great to hear what you come up with!" He took a sip of his own milk as they sat in silence once more. Aion had recently composed a song that he was now working on the lyrics for, but he was having a little trouble. Since she opened up to him, he figured it wouldn't hurt to do the same. "To be honest, I'm having a bit of a block with my lyrics, my self."

"I know how that feels…" Hikari sighed and sipped at her chocolate milk. "That's a big part of why we haven't haven't released any of our own songs. But… I'd be happy to look over what you have sometime, if you want! We might be able to push through this block together!"

"Hah! Like I'd let some cattle read my unfinished work!" he said, turning up his nose to her. She was clearly unimpressed, however.

"Suit yourself, then!" She handed her empty milk bottle to Angelica, who brought her a new one. She smiled and thanked her before glancing over to Crow, who almost looked insulted. "What..?"

He scoffed. "What do you mean 'what?' This is the part where you're supposed to say 'Let me read the song, oh great and talented Crow of ShinganCrimsonZ! I would do anything to have such a great honor!'" he told her in a mocking female voice while dramatically putting a hand against his forehead.

Hikari simply shrugged. "Eh, you said no, so I assumed your final answer was no."

"Gaaah, do you want to see the song or not?" he asked her, feeling a little frustrated by her attitude.

"Depends," she responded with a smirk. "Do you want help or not?"

Crow let out a defeated sigh, knowing he wasn't going to be able to sway someone like Hikari that way. "Fine, whatever!

She giggled to herself as he handed her the song, then carefully read every lyric Crow had written down. "Hmm… it's not a bad start." Without even asking for permission, Hikari took a pencil and erased a few words he had on the page and wrote in a few new ones before handing it right back to him. "What if you change this part to this?"

Crow perked up in his seat when she started erasing his incredible work. Who did she think she was, making changes like that without warning? He snatched the paper out of her hand, ready to shout about how insulted he was, until he read over what she wrote. It actually flowed much better than what he had before. He raised an eyebrow and glanced back up to her, slightly impressed.

Angelica watched them carefully from the other side of the bar. This was the first time she had ever seen Crow willingly work with someone outside of his own band on a song. Something told her these two were going to make an interesting duo when it came to music, even if this was only the beginning of their friendship.

"I think it sounds a lot better now," she heard Hikari say. "What's the title again?"

Crow rubbed the back of his neck out of embarrassment. "I… don't have one yet," he mumbled.

Hikari pointed to a part of the song that Crow had just written and looked over to him with a smile. "Why don't you use this part to help you come up with the title, then?"

About two days later, Hikari stood outside of the practice room listening to Shingancrimsonz rehearse their new song, which was now called Last Flower.

Kamiko skipped down the hall, just returning from a photoshoot for her new modeling job, and noticed the smile on Hikari's face. "What's up, Hiki? You look awfully happy today!" When she realized which band was rehearsing in the room next to them, she gasped. "Is it because of a bo-"

Hikari quickly covered Kamiko's mouth with her hand. "Don't say it… And no! I'm just happy we are finally getting to work on music, that's all!" she responded, careful not to mention that she helped write the song coming from the practice room.

The lioness pulled her friend's hand from her mouth. "Are you saying you finished our song?" she asked excitedly, her eyes sparkling.

"Eh-!?" She fiddled with her tail nervously. "No… not exactly. But it's coming! I swear!"

Knowing how hard Hikari usually had to work on music, Kamiko simply smiled. "That's okay! Don't rush yourself!" She knew Hikari would sometimes push herself a little too hard, which usually lead to her being quite cranky…

Hikari looked up to Kamiko, a little surprised. Sure she had always been supportive of her, but something felt different about the tone of voice she used when she spoke to her that time. "Thanks, Kami, I know… I just want to make sure this one is perfect before we start performing our own songs!"

"They will be!" the lioness responded, cheerfully. "Come on, this is us we are talking about!"

Hikari chuckled a little. "You know, you're right! Once we get our first song out there, Midicity won't know what hit them!"