Overture

Chapter 1 - Overture

“My Dear Future Self,”

“I hope you are faring well.”

“I’m writing this letter in hopes of reminding myself in the future to not be afraid of change and the unknown.”

“Pursue your dreams, always strive forward!”

“You might fail. Heck, you will fail many times, but what matters is that you get back up, learn from your previous attempts and do better the next time.”

“Never listen to the haters, but always consider constructive criticism.”

“And the most important thing of all: always remember; never give up!”

“I wonder where I will be in 3 years? Or in maybe even 5, 10, 20+ years?”

“Are you still playing the guitar, Future Me?”

“Did you get much better?”

“Are you in a band?”

“Did you write your own songs?”

“Did you meet others with the same goals?”

“Did you finally manage to move on from our past?”

“Whatever may happen in the future, I want to tell you, just in case you’ve forgotten, that I’m proud of you.”

“Love”

“Your Past Self (06. 20. 2025)”

Akiko put down the letter on her table as she finished reading it. The old, ragged paper was torn and battered. Akiko only coincidentally found it in a hidden corner of her old room after packing her stuff for her move to Tokyo, and she decided to bring it with herself to read it in her new apartment.

She let out a chuckle at her old words as she looked at her best friend and companion, sitting beside her bed: her acoustic guitar.

“Well, dear past me, I was cringing at myself for writing that, but at the same time, you motivated me, so thank you! It’s been almost three years, huh… I’m gonna enter high school tomorrow, but I still haven't made much progress with my music career. While partly thanks to you, my old self, now I have the courage to play freely.”

Akiko pulled out her laptop and opened YouTube, clicking on her own channel and the ‘upload new video’ button. She dragged the only mp4 file she had in her ‘Covers’ folder, filled out her description and put in a thumbnail. Done with the video’s preparation, she uploaded it and leaned back in her comfy chair.

“Consider my first step: taken. Now we wait and work on the next one.”

Akiko got up from her seat, walked over to her bed, took out her pink and yellow colored guitar from its case and rested it in her lap. She took a deep breath as she raised her pick to the guitar’s strings. 

Even though she had played the instrument basically all day by that point, Akiko still strummed the strings as if she were full of energy, once again brainstorming ideas for her original song.

After a couple of hours of playing random melodies, deluged by the lack of sleep, Akiko’s mind drifted off. She only found out later in the morning that she forgot to pack away her guitar, sleeping with it next to her.

The next day was her first day in high school, so Akiko properly got ready by doing her daily routine, tying her long silver hair in a ponytail and putting on her new school uniform, which consisted of a brown striped skirt, a white blouse and a yellow ribbon.

It’s still quite early, thought Akiko as she looked at the lock screen of her phone, which displayed: 6:00 AM.

Eh, whatever, I’ll just go earlier.

With her guitar strapped to her back, she set off to Taiyou High. It was luckily just a short walking distance, meaning she wouldn’t have much trouble commuting each day, and hence why she arrived around five minutes later.

She scoped out the announcement board outside and learned that she was in Class 1-A. Following the signs, she reached their classroom. Upon entering, she realized that she wasn’t alone. 

The other occupant of the room was a black-haired girl with a small figure, her twintails slowly swaying by her side from the gentle spring breeze. Her back was hunched with her head and arms lying on top of her table. She was seemingly in a deep slumber. 

Not wanting to disturb her, Akiko quietly walked past her and pulled the curtains between the sleeping girl and the sun. Just then, Akiko was able to glance at the sleeping beauty’s face.

She’s sooo adorable! What the…? Why do I have the urge to squish her cheeks?

Perhaps from staring too much, or maybe Akiko’s internal squeaks were somehow heard, but the previously unconscious girl was increasingly waking, gradually opening up her eyes more and more.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you up!”

She looked at Akiko with indifference, probably barely processing anything with her eyes as she was rubbing them intensely.

“No worries. I would’ve had to wake up soon, anyway.” She yawned as she muttered.

“My name is Akiko Koito. And yours?”

“Amaya Genji. Nice to meetcha…” She yawned again.

Amaya looked at Akiko once again, this time properly scanning her from top to bottom, which embarrassed Akiko a little bit.

“You play the guitar?”

“Yeah, it’s a Martin OM-28. It was my dad’s.”

“Cool. Can you play something for me?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah. We have time and there’s no one else here. Well, later is also fine if you don’t wanna right now.”

“No, I’ll play a song.” Akiko said as she sat down next to Amaya.

With her trusty companion in hand, Akiko traced through her memory for the right chords. Akiko’s soft strumming broke the silence; the sound it emitted audibly carried the emotions representing her and the song’s original writer’s inner worlds. 

The superb playing practically made Amaya’s head jerk up, like a crackling whiplash in a western bullfight. Akiko, who had been immersed in the song, kept on going with full focus, not paying attention to Amaya’s disbelief and shock. 

By the time Akiko finished, Amaya’s jaw was practically on the floor. It took Amaya a couple of seconds to realize the song was over, rapidly clapping afterward.

“That was amazing! You woke me right up! It’s like I was pulled out of my dream onto a rollercoaster that went through different timelines. It was actually beautiful!”

“Thanks… You’re making me blush.”

“No, seriously, that was something else. I’ve never heard a solo performance that good. Do you wanna go pro?”

“Well, hopefully.”

“You absolutely should! I’ll support you, okay?” Amaya grabbed Akiko’s hands and pulled her closer, seemingly not shy about physical contact.

“Thanks…?” Akiko’s face turned completely red, so she had to look away in bashfulness.

Soon after Akiko and Amaya’s first meeting, their classmates started to appear one by one, along with their homeroom teacher.

“Welcome everyone in Taiyou High School! My name is Yuji Kasai. Just call me Yuji-sensei. I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the year, and I hope you all will get along.”

He paused to look over his students as he blew his bangs out of his vision. Yuji-sensei’s light brown hair fluttered, like a candle’s fire right before going out. Then, he checked his wristwatch and continued.

“We’re actually going to be late to the opening ceremony if we don’t hurry up, so let’s start the self introductions. Who wants to start?”

“Me! I’ll start!” The blonde-haired girl jumped up, therefore revealing her busty figure, making the majority of the boys sneak indecent glimpses at her. 

She seemed to either not care, or maybe she was the dense type, since after swinging her long hair back, she cheerfully continued. “I’m Michi Nakano! Just Michi or Mi-chan for thy. It’s amazing to meet you all!”

Michi gave off a strong impression to everyone present. Whether negative or positive, it depended mainly on gender, as most of the boys seemed to fawn over her already, while the girls just found it cringe.

Is this what they call an extravagant high school debut? 

Akiko was thinking when a tall guy stood up, visibly unaffected by Michi’s introduction.

“I guess I’ll continue. I’m Chang-min Mo, a Korean exchange student, and I love playing football and chess. I’ll be in your care.” He brushed his messy black hair back a bit awkwardly as he smiled at everyone. 

Chang-min’s looks reminded Akiko of a Korean drama’s main character. He was the spitting image of many girls’ favorite type in movies and books. A lot of the girls started squeaking at the sight of Haruto’s pure smile. Not Akiko or Amaya though.

He seems nice at least.

Next up was a blonde guy who was just slightly taller than Michi.

“Haruto Makinohara.” He sat down as quickly as he stood up.

Why did he sound kind of angry?

After him came a sporty type girl with her brown hair done in a low bun.

“Emiko Yagami. I’ll be in the track and field club because I love running and all types of sports, basically. It’s my pleasure to meet you all!”

She bowed politely as Amaya stood up.

“My name is Amaya Genji. I love music. Nice to meetcha!”

When Amaya was done, Akiko felt compelled to go as well, so she did just that.

“I’m Akiko Koito. I play the acoustic guitar. Nice to meet you guys!”

She was a bit nervous during it, but she didn’t stutter, so Akiko considered it a success. After the two of them, the chain of self introductions continued.

Or at least it would’ve if not for an enormously loud shattering bang and the world going completely white, as if everyone was staring into a detonating flashbang. 

The temperature suddenly shot up. 

The sound of burning skin and screams echoed in the classroom as Akiko tried to regain her senses.

Once she was able to see, however, what she had witnessed was horror.