Chapter 6. Music makes you lose control

"Thank you, everyone!"

It's 3 am, so other than nightlife, there isn't too much to do. Walking down the rainy streets of Setagaya, alone. Just my guitar case and a beer can I smuggled from the club.

Meters away from the machine, I get my deck out. As I shuffle the cards, my body flows with electricity. One card drawn. In an instant, my clothes twist into a dumb pink dress and an absurd cape.

I hate dresses. And capes. And pink.

The card flips by its own, I aim at the machine with a smirk.

"3 de bastos"

The machine collapses, as if hit with a heavy object. Liquid from all beverages burst out of it, cans are rolling.

I get close, carefully grabbing a card.

Inspecting the can closely, I grab it carefully, then put it in my bag. I take out my phone, and start typing.

"I got one"

The reply arrives instantly.

"Hospital. 5 Minutes."

I shuffle through the cards, then I take one.

"5 de oros"

Walking down the road, I see her. Just right next to the hospital's wall. Long coat, but something on her face I can't quite put my finger on. I recognize it's her, but I don't think that's her true face.

I hand her the can.

"Here."

"A can..."

"Yeah, I don't know what it is but my deck reacted to it, so it must be valuable, right?"

She takes out a stack of bills and hands it to me.

"Keep looking"

I put the bills in my guitar case, and as soon as I turn around, she's gone.

Normally, a card would send the way home. Fatigue wins instead. I get back to the alley and crash right next to a post box.

The light flickers above. This life feels unbearable. Far from home, far from achievement, far from helping him…

I close my eyes, and keep one open, just in case.

I wake up by a vibration on my phone.

It's him.

"Dad! How is he?!"

"He's... looking better now."

I sigh out of relief.

"...but, we don't know how long he is going to stay like this. Medicine only goes that far."

"Don't... don't even think of that! He's going to get better, I swear!"

"But-"

"No, you're going to listen. I'll get you more money to pay for the treatment, I'll pay for anything, just... just trust me, okay?!"

"...Okay..."

I hang up and cry.

I hate him, too.

I hate everything.

But... I can't hate my little brother. Not for anything in the world.

15 minutes of sleep. Right now, I'm not tired anymore. Or so I want to believe.

I stand up and look around, in the distance, an old radio station. There must be something there.

Getting a card out, going through the same ridiculous transformation and jumping leads me inside of it. Surprisingly, it's very neat. Ordered seats with a thin layer of dust, polished floors that seem to ignore time, even equipment in pristine condition, as if it was barely touched by the human hand. The studio smells old, humid, with barely any dust flying towards me. I'm allergic to dust, so this is rather odd.

Each step I take gets me further into the darkness. All the way up until a big, red door. There is a set of prints on the handles, kind of if the door was begging to be opened.

Pushing the door I hear a voice. The door doesn't make any sounds.

"...course they don't exist. We can go through the scientific explanation on the topic again if you'd like, Nozomi."

"Hikari, I swear I saw something move. I don't even have any reasons to lie, I mean, can we just go and call it a day? We got the item, what else do we need?"

The room goes silent.

*click*

A burst of light goes over my head, the door disintegrates. I kneel and cover my mouth.

I can hear steps heading my way, and as I am about to jump and try to do something, the steps stop and head out. I sigh out of relief.

"Good call she didn't get you, right?"

I turn to my left. Out of literally nowhere, a blonde girl pops up and grabs me. I struggle but can't get out of her grip/

A black-haired girl gets close to me, camera on hand.

"I reckon you were trying to get it first, weren't you?"

"I... won’t say anything"

"C'mon, no need to be so reserved in front of the prez. Besides, I think you don't get in which situation you are in"

I stop struggling. The black-haired girl kneels.

"Today we are feeling... generous, to say the least. I can see you're not doing this for yourself. Your brother, perhaps?"

"H-How did you know?"

"A few things. But anyways. "

She places a loudspeaker on the ground.

"I'll lend you this. But you must make a choice. Either you use it for good or let yourself go. Either way, it’s going to get back to me."

The blonde lets me go. I pick up a card.

"Dos de espadas!"

*click*

A desk and audio equipment come falling as if they were cut in half.

But they're not here.

I pick up the speaker and page it.

"Just what do you do?"

A burst of air comes out of it, pushing everything forward.

This will come in handy.