Act 2, Chapter 2: Soul On Display

Friday, 5:30 PM. The old Sakuragawa Light Music Club room, its walls lined with faded band posters and scuffed equipment, had buzzed with raw energy earlier that day.

The first meeting of the new term saw the LMC’s three 2nd-year mentors—Ren Takahashi, Mika Sato, and Sora Nakamura—coaching their twelve freshman bands.

Mika guided Toriteba’s pop-rock anthem, her infectious enthusiasm shaping their catchy hooks. But she also reminds the girls to take music making more seriously in her role as the club president.

Sora drilled Yakomori’s metalcore onslaught, his basslines anchoring their ferocious riffs. His teaching was firm and disciplined, preparing the boys to tackle any challenge with confidence.

Ren, despite her laryngeal cancer’s grip, mentored Suede (Pre-Shiguri) into crafting a shoegaze alt-rock anthem layered with Muse-like theatricality and Deftones’ ethereal beauty.

The session had been chaotic, hopeful, and a collision of passion and pain.

Now, as the sun dipped low, casting golden streaks across Osaka’s streets, the three 2nd years walked home together, their footsteps light but their conversation heavy. The school building faded behind them, its silhouette a poignant reminder of the club room's temporary closure for renovations.

Mika, her drumsticks tucked into her school bag, broke the silence with a gentle smile. "What's coaching Suede like, Takahashi-san?"

Ren’s lips curved into a rare, relaxed chuckle, her TTS app chiming through her phone. "Much… better…" Her voice, synthetic yet warm, carried a softness unusual for her. The pain in her throat, an abusive companion, felt more soothed than before.

Sora, his bass gig bag slung over his shoulder, mischievously poked. "Are you about to throw up again?"

"Hell nah!" Ren’s TTS retorted, her pout audible in the app’s tone. She shot him a playful glare, her usual guarded demeanor loosening.

Mika noticed the shift, her bubbly tone softening. "By the way, you seem way more open with Hiroki, Aoi, and Junichi than the others. Why’s that?"

Ren’s gaze dropped, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. Her TTS chimed, gentle and shy. "Maybe… they don’t push me to the edge. More like… comforting me." Mika and Sora nodded, showing deep understanding and empathy, without a hint of teasing, just quiet support.

"Hiroki already knows DAW and basic music production," Ren continued via TTS. "I just give tips, and he’ll freestyle with it. Junichi and Aoi aren’t afraid to take risks, tossing ideas for his songwriting." Her words carried pride, a rare spark for someone battling both social anxiety and cancer.

Sora’s grin softened, tinged with melancholy. "Good thing. Seems like Kaito Yamada’s teaching pushed Hiroki to be better, huh?"

His mind drifted to a memory—confronting Hiroki before his session, his voice firm: "Hiroki, you’ve got this talent passed to your brother. Don’t waste it, ok?" Kaito’s death in the Shinagawa live house crash lingered in Sora’s thoughts, a shared wound with the LMC.

Mika’s eyes mirrored his sadness. "I hope so…" She stopped walking, her face darkening. Sora and Ren paused, confused by her sudden shift. "Also…" Mika’s voice trembled as she listed Toriteba’s scars:
1. Takane Yuzuriha, haunted by Kazuki Maeda’s plane crash in Taipei and the loss of her virginity.
2. Mei Hashimoto, grieving her uncle’s death from a brain tumor, the man who taught her guitar. And the man who passed her the purple Telecaster.
3. Yuna Aoki, scarred by her cat’s death from overfeeding, has been shunning herself from any approaching animals ever since.
4. Hasumi Sakakibara, her will to live crushed by her family’s rigid elite expectations and her father’s dismissal of the LMC as “promiscuous.”
5. Sara Fujimoto, abandoned after her parents’ divorce, her elder sister leaving her alone. Now living alone in an apartment.

Sora, his voice low, then added the burdens carried by Yakomori:
1. Riku Tanaka, mourning his uncle, killed in the Senkaku Island dispute and who gifted him the guitar and the multi-effect.
2. Daichi Sato, still bitter over a middle school soccer match loss to a corrupt referee’s call.
3. Kenta Mori, stripped of his schooling rights after being caught in a middle school riot’s fallout, despite not directly throwing punches.
4. Gojou Komaki, his drumming passion dimmed after dropping a stick in a competition, costing him a trophy.

Ren’s TTS chimed, her gaze soft with empathy. "And Suede…" She listed their losses:
1. Hiroki Yamada, forever marked by Kaito’s fiery motorcycle accident post-Shinagawa gig.
2. Aoi Mizuno, grieving her father, lost in a boat accident that claimed the entire crew.
3. Junichi Enoshima, orphaned by his gambling-addict father’s overdose and his tailor mother’s colon cancer.

"These... are messed up..." Ren’s TTS murmured, her synthetic voice heavy with shared sorrow.

Sora looked down, his hands tightening around his gig bag. "We didn’t realize our chosen twelve carried this kind of pain."

"But," he added, a faint smile breaking through, "I’m grateful they can channel it into their songs."

"Pain births creativity," Ren’s TTS said, her eyes glinting with a rare smile.

"Exactly!" Mika pointed at them, her voice soft but resolute. "Choosing only twelve members was wiser than letting random kids join and quit for dumb reasons. It’s to build a real bond. Much like what we’ve done before."

"Less is more," Ren’s TTS chimed, gentle and certain.

The trio resumed walking, the Osaka skyline glowing under the setting sun. They poked and laughed about school, the LMC, and their bands, but their hearts carried a shared hope: to touch the scarred first-years through music.

The LMC wasn’t just the club room—it was their songs, their stage, and their shared pain woven into chords. Music spoke louder than words, a lifeline for their wounds, like their souls were on display.