Chapter 3: The First of Many

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

Ashura’s voice reverberated throughout the cafeteria, causing everyone’s heads to turn to the podium. Murmurs spread throughout the crowd, unsure of what was going on. Most people didn’t even know who the girl who suddenly decided to take over the assembly mic was and were curious on what she was planning.

Adora, however, was on the verge of tears; she was utterly horrified by what Ashura just did. She still couldn’t take back control of her body as she watched her other persona flip through her notebook, landing on one of her songs. In a poor attempt to hide herself, Adora curled up into a ball behind Ashura’s legs, wishing that her nightmare would be over soon.

“Go ahead and curl up like a crybaby all you want, Adora,” Ashura whispered to his double. “But I’m gonna show you what it means to show your passion. You got a gift, and I refuse to let you sit on it because of some bullshit like ‘You can’t.’” Adora’s heart skipped at that proclamation, unsure of how to feel about this. She had a gift? That… that can’t be right. Right? Seeing his ward finally perk up, Ashura decided to turn back to the crowd.

“What’s up everyone? You all don’t know me, but after today I’ll make sure you do! I’m gonna sing something that you won’t forget!”

He took a deep breath, then he began. Adora immediately recognized the song from the first line; it was a song she wrote after a long week of being harassed. In it, her emotions were laid bare, with lyrics that exposed how weak and confused she felt; that no matter what she did, everything felt like it had to come crashing down. Tears streamed down her face as she heard her own emotions sung back not only at her, but to the crowd of students before them.

The students, who initially were listening out of curiosity, began getting into the song. Some were clapping in rhythm to the beat, while others simply watched on in awe. A few students even began trying to copy the dance Ashura was doing onstage. Soon, the entire cafeteria was enamored by the melody.

Ashura continued to belt out chorus after chorus of a song he had just skimmed over moments prior. And every line, every stanza, he felt it. Despite the melancholy of the words and the loneliness of the lyrics, he sang them with a joyous tone. He knew deep down, Adora had hope. Hope that things would change; that one day, she could look up at the grey sky above and yell ‘Hey, that’s okay!’

Ashura could feel the message in her writing, that she knew life was unfair. But despite all that misery, she could still attempt to hold strong regardless, even if she wished it didn’t have to be so. A large smile remained plastered on Ashura’s face as he hyped the crowd up midway through the song. A small chant began popping up during the chorus, which caused Adora to slowly raise her head from her arms.

Timid, ruby eyes turned to meet a crowd who were now cheering and singing along with their performer. Shakily, she got up and stood side-by-side with Ashura, who noticed her out of the corner of his eye. Drumming a small rhythm to lead into the final part of the song, he grinned to the other girl beside him.

He sang out the final chorus, with the crowd of students and even the student council members to the side all joining in to finish it out. With eccentric gestures, Ashura managed to rile up the crowd as he wrapped up the song. At the final line, he jumped off the stage to strike his signature Rock ‘n Roll Peace Sign pose, getting a massive applause from the onlookers. Almost immediately he was swarmed by starstruck students and the members of the student council. All the while, Adora stared at him in stunned silence.

“That was amazing!”

“I didn’t know you could sing like that!”

“Are you planning on becoming a Muse?!”

“I’m pretty friggin’ sweet, aren’t I?” Ashura flashed a sharp grin at her new fans, who all cheered in agreement. “Who knows, come back tomorrow and I might have something else lined up for ya.” With a wink, she waved off the clamoring students, walking out the cafeteria. After getting a good distance away, she inhaled long and hard. She stood silently for a few moments before erupting into a fit of laughter

“GAHAHAHA!!! GOD, that felt great! I know it hasn’t been too long since my last concert, but damn if that wasn’t refreshing!” Ashura walked through the halls and into the courtyard of the school, deciding to get some fresh air. “I would’ve stuck around a bit more to see how they felt about the song, but…” Taking a glance at her double, Ashura grinned. “It seems like you already know the answer.”

“I-I-I still can’t b-believe it…” Adora stuttered, looking off in the distance with an empty expression. “All those people, all that chanting… the attention… the praise…”

“Yeah, it rocks doesn’t it?”

“NO! It scared the living daylights out of me! We can’t do that again!” Ashura blinked in response to the meek girl’s outburst. She wasn’t expecting that sort of response. “I can’t believe you took over MY body, kicked ME out, sang MY song to a crowd of people I don’t even know, and… and…”

“And?”

“AND DESPITE IT ALL, I ACTUALLY LIKED IT!” Adora shouted, before immediately covering her mouth. Ashura smirked at the proclamation as the ruby-eyed girl began to stutter once more. “I-I-I mean… i-it felt good to have people p-praise me. I never felt like that before, and it scared me. It scared me so bad, and I have no idea how to handle that!”

“So what?”

“H-Huh?”

“You heard me, so what?” Ashura repeated, shocking the other girl. Clicking his tongue in irritation, he continued. “I mean, who really cares about all that other useless crap when the most important thing happened: You enjoyed the performance. No point in performin’ for others if you can’t even enjoy the praise from your own job well done.”

“But that wasn’t me up there! That was all you! You just went up there-”

“And did what you were too much of a wimp to do!” Ashura snapped, making Adora flinch. “How many times do I gotta tell you to stop this scaredy cat bit, dammit?! You want to accuse me of taking your spotlight, no way! Listen Adora, all this happened because I went up there in YOUR body, used YOUR voice to sing YOUR song! This is all YOU! All I did was make your dream a reality!”

“I DIDN’T ASK FOR YOU TO DO THAT!” Adora yelled back, tears coming back up. “I write for myself, and I always dreamt of singing for an audience, but I know I can’t actually do it! I… I didn’t need some random stranger to invade my body and force it out of me…” Before Ashura could retort, Adora shoved into him with all her might, kicking him out of the body and putting her back in charge.

“Just leave me alone. I never asked for your help…” Adora sobbed quietly, bangs covering her eyes as she walked away. Ashura was left floating behind her, stunned by her outburst.

“Ugh… this is gonna be tougher than I thought.”