Chapter 2: Teenage Dream
Shinobu had anger issues, but she always tried to hide them because her dream was to be like her big sister. Sadly she isn't like her.
Kanae was a sweetheart and with a lot of patience, especially with Shinazugawa. That boy was dumb and with lots of anger in him but she managed to understand him and she could tell she was sure her sister liked him but nothing everyone could have noticed.
She really missed Tomioka, he was her friend after all and she knew the others missed him too.
When he left she was twelve and the others were fourteen, she missed his songs and the depth in their lyrics. He was amazing and his lyrics showed what he never said aloud to them.
His true self but now Sabito and her sister write happy songs without a message, maybe she should take this opportunity to show them her songs. Maybe they will like it.
"Sabito, sister… I know I'm younger than you but our band had a really strong connection with our fans thanks to Tomioka's songs and since he left I don't feel like The Hashiras sound like they used to, so… I was wondering if you would like to check some songs I wrote… I'm not him but… maybe they can work"
Kanae smiled as well as Sabito and they nodded, and the boy said "I would love to read them, maybe today while you, Sanemi and Kanae do the tryouts for our new bass player" she smiled and blushed happy to hear that Sabito would accept to check her songs.
That day after school they started to look for a bass player. Meanwhile Sabito was inside reading the lyrics written by Shinobu.
In the end they decided on Kyojuro Rengoku as their bass player. He was good but he wasn't Giyuu and even Sanemi couldn't deny it.
Shinobu talked to him in private "Rengoku… I would like to ask you something, if it's ok…"
"Sure," he said, looking at her.
"Well, as you might know I'm the younger member of the band and I play the keyboard" he nodded, his stare was focused on her without blinking which felt awkward but she continued "so I would like to lead the harmony because I know the keys that Kanae and Sabito can reach and which key they struggle with... So... Are you ok with that?"
"Of course!" He said raising his voice a lot higher than needed indoors "I'm the new here even though you are younger" he said kindly but still too louder.
Later they found out it was because he had an accident and ended up almost deaf but even with that problem he still could play pretty well and thanks to Shinobu he learned their songs.
The band grew in popularity thanks to the more visceral songs written by Shinobu until; on Kanae, Sabito, Kyojuro and Sanemi's senior year; they won by two points against Ninjutsu, Tengen Uzui's band.
This victory led them to compete in the international competition.
One of the first things the bands wanted to do was checking the sound and the acoustics of the theater they will be performing in.
The other bands took their turn and when it was their chance her eyes met his. She hasn't seen pictures of him since he left, he still has his hair long and he was using a ponytail, his physical appearance seemed like he went to the gym because he isn't that cute little kid but a muscular teenager, but he's still cute though.
Their eyes met for a split second until she and the rest of the guys had to go on the stage. They knew the place, they had been there for other concerts in the past so they were sure that, if Imagine Dragons or One Republic could play there, it meant the sound was great.
After a while they went off stage and Giyuu and his band did the same. He also knew this place, not by first hand but he knew about it and who performed here. This place was perfect.
They jumped off stage and there were his friends. He hugged Kanae and Sabito, shook Sanemi's hand and they introduced Rengoku to him. Then he hugged Shinobu, his warmth and strength of his body, the smell of mind and his cologne hit her like a train.
She always found him attractive when they were younger and she dated some guys in the last three years but neither of them gave her this feeling of safety and a smell she feels familiar with.
After this they broke their hug and he turned to the other guys "It's great to see you again" he smiled at them, he seemed different, more relaxed but still with his sad eyes "Let me introduce you to my friends and band members" he called the rest of the guys and a girl "this is Eddie, the guitar player" he said pointing at a guy with long, curly, black hair, brown eyes and wearing a Metallica shirt, jeans and black, leather jacket, then he continued "This is Samuel, he plays the keyboard" he said looking at me, then pointed at a blond guy with green eyes, he was wearing a plain white shirt and jeans, pretty simple, then a wild guy with black and messy hair, electric blue eyes stepped up "this is Matt, he might look menacing but he's like a huge teddy bear" he said this looking how Sanemi was getting ready to hit that guy "and last but not less... Vero, our lead singer" she had long, blond hair, green eyes, she was wearing blue jeans shorts and black shirt.
They all waved at them and Giyuu introduced us to his friends. Then Eddie walked to them and said "We heard a lot about you all ever since we became friends with him so you can be sure he missed you a lot" they all blushed, even Sanemi who was a little dumb in English understood everything.
Then they all went to have lunch together before the meeting. Kanae invited them to eat the original ramen and they all had lots of fun.
"So how were things in the States?" Asked Sabito to Giyuu when they went to pay. They gathered some money from all of them and went to pay "any girl you haven't told us about?" He said with a little smirk "Because I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed you are different"
"I just enjoy the guys' company and I like to be with them," said Giyuu, looking at him.
"So you didn't like to be with us?" Asked Sabito, half teasing and half serious.
"It's not like that and you know that. I love you all but I don't know... I think I always felt more confidence in English than Japanese" he shrugged a little as they finished "but something I truly missed was the food"
Sabito laughed "yeah and don't tell anyone but Sanemi still visit that place you used to go when you lived here" this time it was Giyuu to smirk mischievously "if you tease him I will kill you man..." Said him also smirking.
"Don't worry I will find a way to do so" then both returned to the table, they finished their food and left the restaurant and headed to the stadium they will be playing.
Shinobu walked next to him "how was the United States?" She asked casually.
"Pretty good, you know I lived there almost all my life so it wasn't difficult to adapt once again"
"Did you miss us?" She said looking up at him.
"Of course I did," he said, completely serious, "do you have any doubt of it?"
"No but since I never knew from you... At least from your own hand... Well I don't know if you did" she said and he could tell she was hurt.
He sighed "I'm sorry if I didn't write to you, I was closer to the others and never thought you would care to know about me"
"I was your friend too... Tomioka..." She said using his last name, it was something normal in Japan but he got used to the American way.
"Yes, you were but... As I said... Not as close as I was with Sabito, Kanae or even Sanemi" he said with a sigh and looking down, then he added "I'm sorry... I will add you to my list the next time"
"Sounds good to me" she smiled and he smiled back. Yes definitely the guy she remembered when they were fourteen and twelve changed, but she still could see his eyes didn't change, they still seemed lifeless from time to time.
They reached the stadium and headed to the press room. The two bands sat together. Giyuu was between Sabito and Eddie, his two best friends, the others were seated like this, on Sabito's left was Shinobu, Kanae, Sanemi and Kyojuro. On Eddie's left was Samuel, Veronica and Matthew.
"Good afternoon my dear bands. I'm Daniel Lewis, the president of the association that organize this event and next to me is the owner of this beautiful stadium, Kirito Ubuyashiki" the man with black hair and purple eyes take a bow as he was introduced "he's also a sponsor of this event since we started to do it"
"I'm happy to have you all here, I hope this year our bands give us a great spectacle" they all clapped and he sat down.
"Ok now. I would like to explain how this will work. There are eight bands from Japan, United States, Germany, Spain, México, South Korea, Argentina and Colombia" he said looking at them "I'm so happy to have you all here and I hope to hear the best of you because I know you are amazing since we heard" he said pointing at mister Ubuyashiki "all your demos and we loved them so we have high expectations.
The judges will be eight, one for each country so you won't have any advantages in the voting but there will also be a voting from our audience. You will perform and you will score points from the judges and the audience. Now... To make things more interesting, we decided to organize something very special" four men brought on stage two bowls, "these two bowls contain the dates of your first performance. Below the day it will say 1 or 2, which means the order of performance. The other bowl is full of songs titles, they will be mandatory to perform and it will be a duet with the team you share day with"
They all looked at each other, all in shock "one for each band so, the lead singer will join the other band on stage, sing and return backstage. Last year Yoriichi and his band did an amazing job, he even had a lot of chemistry with his partner, it was electrified" he smiled big as he remembered last year's winner "another important thing... What matters are the points you earn from the judges and the crowd. Which means that, even if both groups sang on the same day, it doesn't matter. They both qualified because they earned more points than the other two teams so... Do your best" they nodded "alright, let's begin. One member from each band will come here, pick a paper and show it to the rest, then pick another from bowl two"
They began with the United States, Giyuu was the chosen to pick the date and song. They will perform on Sunday as the second group so they would be the last group to perform this round. And their song was Dream on by Aerosmith, a song he can play in his sleep.
Then Mexico was next, a guy with black hair, light brown skin and brown eyes approached. They will be the first group to perform on Thursday and their song was Every breath you take by The Police.
Then Colombia was next and they will be second on Friday and their song will be Demons by Imagine Dragons. Next was Argentina who will be playing first on Saturday and their song will be Seven Nations Army.
After that they moved to Europe with Spain first playing as the second group on Thursday and their song will be Don't stop believing by Journey. Next was Germany which will be first on Friday and their song will be Somebody to Love by Queen.
Last will be Asia. South Korea was next and they will be second on Saturday and their song will be Hysteria by Muse. The Japan crew knew they would be sharing a day with the United States now but still they needed to pick up the paper to make sure it existed. Kanae was the chosen for her band, she showed the paper, first on Sunday and their song will be Separate Ways by Journey.
"Perfect! We are sure you will enjoy those duets. By the way, you will have an extra cover song so the set will be five original songs, two covers and a duet, eight songs per set. Hope you have a great day and enjoy the competition!"
The man left and the group of teenagers started to talk about this, especially the members of the two bands per day.
"Hey, Kanae, do you know Dream on and Separate Ways?" Asked Eddie.
"Of course, we have done them in a couple of shows. I love both but I think Shinobu has a better voice for them" she turned to see her sister chatting with Sam "maybe you can get Giyuu to sing with her instead of Veronica or yourself?" She asked.
"And why should I?" Asked Eddie curious.
"Well. I want to see their chemistry together. Besides, Tomioka isn't the same one we sent back to the USA. Our Tomioka was cold and he couldn't express his feelings"
"My mother is a psychologist and she talked him out of it. Besides, his parents adopted a boy and girl that lost their parents and brothers and sisters in the same car accident that killed his sister. The same man affected both families so they, in order to help, adopted Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado. That boy, Tanjiro, is the sweetest kid ever and he helped Giyuu a lot"
"He never told me that" she said now looking at him "he kept Tanjiro and Nezuko out of the emails"
"I have no idea why he did that but don't ask him yet, wait for him to open up" said Eddie "he needs to feel in control of that information" Kanae nodded.
"I will, I'm the daughter of doctors and I know how to keep this conversation between us" he laughed softly.
"Now I will let you go. That white haired boy will burn a hole in my skull if I don't let you go" she rolled her eyes and walked to Sanemi and reprimanded him for looking bad at her new friend.
After this they said their goodbyes and promised to meet somewhere else after practice tomorrow. Giyuu watched his friends go and he followed the others. Sabito invited him to meet again with Urokodaki but Giyuu denied because he was tired but he will go there early in the morning before practice.
OOooOOooOO
Hope you liked it. I decided to add Tanjiro and Nezuko as a factor for a little change in Giyuu's personality.