Chapter 2: The Mouse and The Musician

“I SAID TAKE THAT BACK YOU FUCKING SKANK!!!”

The classroom fell silent, the remaining students in the room looked on in shock at the normally quiet girl’s outburst. The person left the most in awe at the audacity of the bluenette was none other than her tormentor, whose face went pale at the point-blank screech. Sirene slumped her head back, with nothing but white noise filling her ears. Seeing the girl foam at the mouth and her eyes roll back into her skull, Ashura dropped her body callously.

“You bitches wanna go at it too?” The other bullies quickly shook their heads and ran off, afraid of the sudden turn of events. She watched them retreat with her sapphire eyes, only to notice another set of eyes watching her curiously. She glared at the viewer, who simply shrugged and went back to what he was doing. “Weirdo.”

“Ah… ah…!” Adora’s transparent form stuttered out. She kept darting her head from the unconscious bully on the floor to the nonchalant tomboy currently kicking her feet up on her desk. “Why did you do that!?”

“Because that little brat was asking for it, duh.”

“That’s not the issue here! What are you going to do when a teacher comes by and sees this? We’ll be in so much trouble, and then Sirene won’t take this lying down, so she’ll-”

“AAAHHH SHUT UP ALREADY!” Ashura yelled, causing the other students and Adora to jump in fright. “Listen up, Ado. That guitar is my lifeblood, and from what I saw with your details on it, it’s yours too. So don’t you dare let anyone say that your guitar’s trash. Because that’s akin to callin’ your own life trash!” Unfurling the crumpled paper, Ashura smiled warmly at the page.

“And you know what, this friggin’ rocks. Dunno how you did it, but this is a one-to-one replica of Rottweiler.”

“Rottweiler?”

“Yeah, that’s the name of my guitar. How’d ya manage to recreate it?”

“Oh, well… honestly, I have no idea myself.” Adora sheepishly scratched her cheek. Noticing the confusion on her double’s face, she continued. “I’ve always had the dream of becoming a musician, but none of the instruments my father would bring home felt right to me. He suggested I create one of my own, and well, here we are.

“Although, I was never confident enough to go ask the Muse Instructor to help me make one. I always thought it would be a waste of their time…”

“And sitting around like that is why you’ll never reach the top of this world, kiddo!” Ashura pointed a finger to where the ghastly girl was floating, earning a quirked eyebrow from a few of her peers. Popping open her jacket and loosening the tie a bit, Ashura made her way out the classroom. “Where’s that music professor you were talkin’ about?”

“They’re a few halls down to the left, but we shouldn’t bother-”

“To the left, got it!” Ignoring the other girl’s protests, Ashura proudly walked through the halls. Getting some stares from people not used to the formerly quiet girl’s new personality, Ashura gladly relished in the newfound praise, even flourishing her indigo hair a bit. Adora floated by quietly, face in hands as she felt like dying from embarrassment.

Eventually, Ashura found herself before a rather ornate door that was labeled ‘Muse’. She cleared her throat before a harsh voice escaped the tomboy’s mouth.

“OI! ANYONE HOME?!” Adora blanched at Ashura’s blatant disregard for any form of politeness. Were the people from his world just like this or only him? She doubted she’d get an answer from the strange man that now cohabited her body, at least not anytime soon. The ruby-eyed girl was then thrown for another shock as the Muse door opened slightly.

“Who in the world is yelling that loud? It’s not even noon yet…” A scruffy man with shaggy hair poked his head out from the door. He looked around a bit for the owner of the voice before landing his eyes on Ashura, who gave him a cocky grin. “Uhh… can I help you?”

“Yeah, I want my guitar. Heard you guys can make that happen.” The man squinted hard at Ashura, as if he was trying to process what she said. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he let out a long sigh. “What’s wrong, old man?”

“Kid, do you even know how this process works?”

Ashura opened her mouth confidently, before immediately shutting it. She did not. Glancing over to her partner, Adora could only shrug and shake her head.

“This was another reason why I tried to warn you against marching up here…”

“Fine, I don’t know. But it can’t be that hard, can it?” The shaggy teacher rolled his eyes before opening the door to the classroom.

“Here, just come in. I’ll explain it so you understand what you’re getting yourself into, kid.”

Ashura situated herself and kicked up her feet on a desk, which the teacher either didn’t mind or didn’t care for. He simply dragged a swivel chair and sat on it backwards, leaning on the backrest.

“So, you most likely forgot the explanation I gave to your class at the beginning of the school year, so let me explain it again. Getting a Muse Focus isn’t as simple as us making one for you or you just pulling out a random focus and calling it a day. The instrument has to choose you AND it must come from deep within your soul. This isn’t something that anyone can just do lightly.”

As if to demonstrate his point, the man held his hand open and concentrated. With an ethereal shine, an intricate saxophone materialized in his hands. Ashura’s eyes lit up at the demonstration, eager to do it on her own.

“Now, it takes quite a while for one to not only decide on what their instrumental focus should be, but-”

“I got mine in mind, I know exactly what I want. I just need it by my side once more.” Ashura sat up straight, meeting the man’s eyes head-on. “Just tell me the ritual or whatever I need to do in order to do that, please Mister, uh…”

“Truesdale.”

“Mr. Truesdale! Yeah, please, you gotta help me out, Teach.”

Truesdale gave the bluenette a deadpan stare before shaking his head.

“Do you just have a hearing problem or something, kid? Well, you didn’t even let me finish, so probably.” Slouching even further onto his chair, he continued. “Look, having all those prerequisites aren’t even enough for the instrument to come to you. Your heart and soul both have to be in the right headspace for it to come to you. That’s why we don’t have people coming in here every two seconds. Most of your peers aren’t the type to go crazy over magical instruments. They’d much rather deal with a sword or staff that they can just train to use rather than something that chooses them, simple as.

“The fact is, I’m only here to train those who already have a Muse Focus. The most I can do is give you the rough outline of what you can do to bring it out, but it’s all on you to realize it. Until then,” The teacher lazily waved off Ashura before playing a few notes into his sax. The notes caused the chair she was sitting in to float up and make its way to the exit. It unceremoniously tossed her out the classroom and onto her ass as she looked back at the music teacher. “Can’t help ya, kid. Sorry.”

The door shut on her as the duo was left to their own devices. After a few moments of silence, Ashura kicked the nearest wall in frustration.

“What kinda bullshit is this, huh?! I can’t get back my damn guitar unless it chooses me? It’s my goddamn guitar!” Ashura kept swearing up and down the hall before storming off.

“H-He has a point, Ashura. This isn’t something we can rush, and we shouldn’t try to rush it either…”

“I ain’t rushing shit! I just want my guitar back!” Ashura snapped. “It’s- you know what, forget it. It’s fine, whatever. Let’s just go eat, maybe I’ll stop bein’ so pissed if we eat something…” Without another word, Ashura let himself swap places with Adora once more, letting the meeker girl take the reins.

“H-Huh? I’m walking again?!”

“Yeah, you’re on lunch duty, chop chop.”

x-x-x-x-x

Adora managed to make her way to the cafeteria, grabbing her lunch and finding a lone table. As she sat down, she did her best to fade into the crowd as she began to eat. Taking out her notebook, she began to quietly write down lyrics for songs she would never sing in peace. At least, that’s what she would have been doing, had Ashura not been sitting right next to her.

“These lyrics are kinda sick, Addy.” The visage of the tomboyish girl floated over her shoulder, peering down at the notebook with curiosity. “You’re not doing anyone any favors by keeping these to yourself.”

“Stop looking at them! Besides, there’s no way anyone would listen to this anyways. I’m mostly just writing this down for myself. It’s my hobby.”

“What, writing songs but never playing em? Sounds like a damn waste of paper, then.”

“What would you know? I can’t even get up in front of my class to do my report…” Adora muttered as she continued to quietly eat her meal. Ashura rolled his eyes at this before sitting across from Adora and folded his arms.

“Alright, we need to get you to stop that shit!”

“H-Huh?”

“This whole introvert bit! I can see it clear as day that you want to perform for people, but you got it stuck in your head that you can’t.”

“B-Because what if I mess up? What if they don’t like it? What if-”

“Blah, blah, blah~ All I hear are excuses! Starting today, I’m going to break you out of that dumb ass shell you decided to hide yourself in.”

“W-What are you planning this time, Ashura?” The apparition smirked at this, worrying his host. Pointing a finger at her, Ashura began to detail his plan.

“As it seems like I gotta take baby steps to make you stop being such a pansy, we’re gonna make you stand out to these people! And what better way to do so than performing for our crowd here?”

“WHAT?!” Adora suddenly shouted, jumping out of her chair and getting weird looks from the people around her. Blushing in embarrassment, she muttered an apology before sitting back down, shooting a glare at Ashura. “T-T-That’s an insane plan! Did you not hear me just now? I can’t do this! No, I won’t do it! I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!”

“What’s so wrong with it, huh? You got your song, your stage, and an audience.” Ashura pointed up to the administrator’s podium in the cafeteria, which overlooked the entire room. Some students were standing by it, simply talking about any announcements that needed to be said throughout the hour. “All you need to do is go up there, ask to borrow the stand, and sing.”

“I…I…” Adora’s heart was racing too much at this prospect. She hated doing anything even remotely social, it scared her to no end. She would always find excuses to avoid balls and gatherings other nobles had invited her father to, and she would spend her time in any parties hosted by her father in her room. The mere idea of her going up and talking to the auditorium of over 200 students was bringing her close to tears.

And yet… despite her own fears, her insecurities, and her crippling anxiety, there was another thought that was daring to claw its way into the introvert’s heart. That this could be her chance, to show to everyone what makes her happy, to let people hear her song. It’s been her passion to songwrite, but she never had the ambition to let others hear it. Adora gulped hard, sweat dripping down her face hard as she debated on going up and risking it.

“I… I can’t do it!” Adora yelled, attempting to run out the cafeteria in fear. “It’s too much for me!” Her heart was racing too much, her legs were shaking uncontrollably and her teeth were chattering. Her throat felt dry as she suddenly stumbled down, falling before a group of students. She looked up in horror as she somehow managed to run into the direction of the Student Council members by the stage.

“Are you okay? Do you need help?” one of them asked kindly, offering a hand to the bluenette. Adora was seconds away from rejecting the help and retreat, just like she always did. But as she opened her mouth, her consciousness was forcibly ejected from her body as she felt herself fly out of her back. And she watched as her body suddenly gained a sharp, toothy grin as she accepted the hand up.

“Sorry, I got too excited for my own good. Yeah, I could use your help a bit.” A tomboyish voice said, getting up to meet the other students face-to-face. “You see, I’ve been writing this song for a bit, and I wanna share it with the rest of the cafeteria. You guys mind me using that podium over there?”

“Ah, of course, go ahead! Do you have a Muse Focus too?”

“Nah, just my own voice. Do I need a focus to perform?”

“No, that’s okay, we were just curious is all. It’s not every day we have a non-Muse perform for us, you know!” The student council members gingerly led ‘Adora’ to the stage, where she placed her notebook on the podium and adjusted the microphone.

Adora stared in horror, muttering to her body to stop what she was doing and to please let her back in the body. Sapphire eyes shot a quick glare at her, and Adora was afraid that she understood the meaning behind those eyes. Ashura just told her ‘Sit back and watch.’ Taking a deep breath, Ashura suddenly shouted into the mic, gaining the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.

“HEEEEYYYY!!! WHO’S READY TO HEAR SOME GODDAMN MUSIC?!”