Olive Landlord

Could it be that, perhaps, he had transmigrated in another world?

He was hit by a truck, but now he was fine, a floating banner appeared before his eyes, people dressed in medieval clothes... If he had transmigrated, it all made sense; even the reaction of the two women: Natsuo was wearing ripped jeans with chains and a hoodie, furthermore he had his two front locks dyed red and a lot of piercings.

Yeah, they must have thought I’m crazy. He thought.

Natsuo stared at the banner in front of his eyes for some time, then decided to click it. If he had transmigrated, this Rockstar System must be his peculiarity in this new world.

Three options appeared: SKILLS(0), SONGS(0) or ATTRIBUTES(1).

Natsuo was tempted to see first the attributes, since there was already one, but, in the end, he decided to click on the option SONGS. An empty window with a few writings appeared in front of his eyes. It said:

Your songs will show up here after you play them for the first time.

Interesting. Natsuo took his electric guitar out of the case and plucked the strings. He smiled: at least he had his guitar with him. He tuned it and started playing a famous rock song, but the volume was too low; the electric guitar needed amplification.

At that moment, he heard another notification sound:

New skill unlocked: AMPLIFICATION.

Natsuo glanced at it, a bit surprised: it seemed like it had read his mind.

With a thought, he activated the skill and touched the guitar’s strings. To his surprise, the sound spread through the square and caught everybody’s attention.

"Wow, it really works!" he exclaimed.

A satisfied grin was depicted on his face. Natsuo walked to the center of the square and put the opened guitar case on the ground. Perhaps he could gain some money as a street musician.

He took a deep breath and started playing the same song as before.

Everyone on the square turned their gaze to Natsuo, someone with skepticism, others with curiosity. When the boy started singing, silence fell between people. His voice was warm like honey and slightly hoarse; it was pleasant to the ear.

When Natsuo finished the song, people surrounded him and bombarded him with questions.

"What are you doing?" they asked.

They didn’t speak Japanese, but, surprisingly, Natsuo could understand them and reply in the same language too.

"Well, I’m…" he tried to say it in their language, but for some reason he couldn’t find the words. "I’m playing a song." He ended up telling it in Japanese.

Everyone stared blankly at him.

"What does that mean?"

"You know, when you use an instrument to make…" Again, he couldn’t find the word. "…Music."

He couldn’t recall any word related to music in their language.

"MuSiC? Is it something you can eat?" asked someone.

"No, what’s wrong with you? It seems like you’ve never listened to a song…" Natsuo was pretty confused.

How could they not know what music was? Probably they didn’t understand him because he used Japanese instead of their language.

"I’ll play another song, leave some money if you like it, please" he said.

Natsuo started playing another song. Since everyone was watching him, he was more excited than before and put his all on the performance.

People kept listening with surprised expressions: they had no clue of what he was doing, but it sounded nice. Natsuo played more songs and someone left money on his guitar’s case, as he asked.

Right when he was about to play another one, someone approached him.

"How do you do that thing with your mouth?"

Natsuo looked up. A girl with long brown hair and beautiful green eyes was observing him with a curious expression. She looked straight in his eyes and smiled.

"Did you hear me?" she said.

"Yes, I heard you, but your question is strange" Natsuo replied.

"Not really. I’ve never heard someone make those sounds with their mouth."

Natsuo raised an eyebrow. "Have you never heard someone singing?"

The girl shook her head. "I don’t even know what singing means."

Natsuo couldn’t believe her. Could a world without music really exist? He glanced at his electric guitar. If he was the only person in the world capable of playing music, it wouldn’t be difficult to become famous; maybe it was his chance to really become a global rockstar.

"I’ll show you what singing means" he said.

The girl nodded excitedly and Natsuo started playing another song. She observed with curiosity his fingers moving between the strings with confidence. After some time, he started singing.

His voice felt like a gentle hug to the girl’s ear. She was having a bad day, but that warm sound that came from his lips comforted her and reassured her. She couldn’t understand what the guy was saying, but it was beautiful, she could feel it.

When Natsuo finished the song, she realized that she was crying.

"What? Why am I crying?" She glanced at Natsuo. "Sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying. Your song was beautiful… I was having a bad day, but now I feel so much better. Thank you!"

"It’s okay, it’s common to get moved by a song. My name is Himura Natsuo, I’m glad it made you feel better. Do you want me to play another one for you?" He looked straight into her eyes and smiled.

The girl felt her cheeks tingle.

"Oh, no, don’t bother! I’m Olive Landlord, nice to meet you!" She lifted her long skirt and did a curtsy. "It’s almost dinner time… I work at an inn nearby, why don’t you come for dinner?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I don’t know if I have enough money" Natsuo honestly replied.

"Don’t worry, it’s on the house. You comforted me with your voice, so I’m in debt." She smiled.

Natsuo smiled back. "Thank you, I really appreciate it."

"Follow me, then!" exclaimed Olive.

Natsuo nodded.