Debut

"Of course there is."

Natsuo transformed the scythe back into his guitar and checked that it was on tune.

"Gregory, do you think you can give it a try with the song you’re practicing?" he asked.

Gregory thought about it. He wasn’t experienced enough to understand if he could perform or not, but he would have liked to give it a try.

"I don’t know, you have to tell me. If you let me try, I’ll do my best!"

Natsuo reflected for a moment, then decided that trying wouldn’t hurt.

"Okay, give me a moment" he said.

That would be their first performance as Rockstar Isekai, he had to arrange a few things.

"Olive in the center, Gregory to her right, a few steps behind" he asserted.

The two did as they were told, even if they didn’t understand what Natsuo was doing.

Natsuo placed himself at Olive’s left.

System, summon the drums and two mics. He thought.

The drums appeared in front of Gregory, two boom microphones appeared before Olive and Natsuo.

Gregory took place on the stool and grinned excitedly. Olive stared at the microphone with interrogative eyes.

"I’ve never summoned it for you before, but this is a microphone. It’s used to amplify the voice, try talking close to it" explained Natsuo.

Olive said a few words into the microphone and her eyes widened when she heard her voice being so strong.

Alice was baffled. She had never seen anything similar and didn’t understand how those things could be helpful, but waited in silence for them to start whatever they were doing.

Natsuo’s eyes shifted from Olive to Gregory, then to himself, and he wrinkled his nose.

“Our outfits don’t match” he said.

System, change our outfits!

New skill unlocked: OUTFITS.

A dazzling light enveloped their bodies and, in an instant, their outfits changed.

Natsuo wore a white t-shirt and a dark leather jacket that matched with the dark leather trousers. He smirked, it was exactly what he had imagined.

Olive lowered her gaze and reddened completely. Alice, who was looking at her, put a hand on her mouth, shocked.

“N-Natsuo, what do you have in mind?” Olive asked, embarrassed.

She wore only a black leather bralette with two skull designs, a black leather mini skirt and black leg warmers higher than the knees held up by strips that, supposedly, were attached to the safety shorts under the skirt. She also wore folded black mittens covering her arms.

Natsuo glanced at Olive, who had her gaze fixed on the ground, her face completely red. The Rockstar System even changed her hairstyle, tying some of her locks into a high bun and leaving the rest free.

Damn, she’s pretty. Natsuo thought.

“I’m sorry, the System did everything on its own…” he replied.

He felt a bit guilty, because the System probably just followed his ideas. In Roselond, those clothes must be incredibly shocking: girls were always covered from head to toe. But he didn’t mean to change them, Olive was pretty like this.

“They suit you, though” he added.

“Oh… Do you really think so?” she asked timidly.

Natsuo nodded.

“You look stunning, really” commented Gregory. “These clothes are a total hit!”

Natsuo and Olive turned to him, who wore incredibly low waisted dark leather pants, a thick belt and a fishnet tank top. He seemed to be pretty satisfied with his outfit.

Natsuo sniggered. He didn’t think the System would provide them even with outfits: now they really looked like a band.

He cleared his throat and approached the microphone.

“Hi everyone, we’re Rockstar Isekai!”

Everybody in the courtyard turned in their direction.

“Welcome to our first official performance! Today we’ll play a song dedicated to all the soldiers who fought in this battle. We want to bring joy for the hard-earned victory of today. Enjoy!”

Natsuo turned to the other two. Gregory nodded to say he was ready. Olive took a deep breath, then smiled determinedly.

“Just do as always, you’ve got this” Natsuo tried to encourage them.

He snapped his fingers four times to mark the rhythm, then whispered the count.

“One… Two… Three… Four…”

He and Gregory started playing the intro. Gregory still had some difficulty, but he started off great.

Everybody’s eyes widened. They were hit by the sound without mercy, the music completely captured their ears and minds.

Olive stepped closer to the mic and wrapped it with a hand. Her heart was beating fast and her hands were trembling. She had never felt like that, but soon it was her turn, she had to calm down.

Right when it was her moment, Natsuo looked up and they made eye contact. He nodded to encourage her and she smiled, reassured.

She opened her mouth and started singing. Her voice was strong and clean, she articulated every note boldly.

Natsuo grinned satisfied: she was doing great.

Everybody’s eyes were locked on the performance, pleasantly surprised.

When the chorus came, a wave of adrenaline ran through Olive: she grabbed the microphone pole and bent over it, scratching her voice a bit to add flavour to the song.

Natsuo smiled amusedly, he didn’t expect her to be so excited. Gregory was struggling with the drums: he had an immersed expression, trying not to make mistakes.

Natsuo, for his part, was happy to perform again with a (half) band, but he knew that they could give a lot more than this. He played his guitar boldly, to drag the other two, and, at the same time, sang adlibs and harmonized with Olive.

Soon it was time for his guitar solo. He looked into the audience and smirked.

His eyes pierced Alice’s with their confidence, making the girl blush unknowingly. He was cool.

Natsuo lowered his gaze on his guitar and started his solo. Everyone listened with bated breath, unable to take their eyes off him. It was like a magnet was attracting their attention to him and they couldn’t fight back.

When he was done, they played the chorus for the last time, then there was the outro. Natsuo played his arpeggios perfectly. Olive waited carefully for the right time, then screamed the last line of the song, ending perfectly with Natsuo’s last chord and Gregory’s last hit.

After plucking the strings for the last time, Natsuo raised his arm and did the rock sign with his hand.

They made it.