I wasn't meant to be left on a shelf (EPISODE END)

For better or for worse, our incident earlier freed up Fueko's plans for the day. She was livestreaming, but called it off to make sure we were alright. So, she was more than willing to help out today. I think she's just glad the two of us survived fighting a monster Anxi on our own. ...We'll have to wait another half hour for them to make it to the hotel, but whatever. We've got a few hours of sunlight left, so we'll still be able to get something done.

...

Ah, there's the sound of Fueko's car.

"Fuetchi! Chisa-tan!!" Mizuki rushes over, pulling the two into a big hug. "C'mon, c'mon, join us Asahin~"

"Fine, fine!" I giggle, joining in on the hug.

"We were worried sick about you two..." Fueko whimpers out. She's usually as calm or collected as me-- but I don't blame her for breaking. These Anxi have been pretty scary recently.

"Nah, ya didn't need to," Mizuki huffs playfully, "The two of us are a damn deadly pair~"

We break up the hug, catching the others up on everything that had happened before heading into the hotel with our instruments in tow.

"What's up, Chii-chan?" I ask, having noticed her uncomfortable expression.

"Huh? O-oh, no, it's nothing."

Obviously, it's not. But, I offer a light smile. "...You sure?"

"Well..." She rubs the back of her head. "I just feel weird... b-being in a place like this."

"An abandoned building? We were at the mall just last week."

"Y-yeah, well I mean... That was in a better state than here, y'know?"

"I guess I get it." Fueko chimes in. "This place must have been abandoned for a decade or two. The mall must've just been hit by the pandemic."

Mizuki scoffs. "It's not so bad. Just give it a light cleanup, throw out anything that's molding or covered in Anxi sludge, and you've got a perfectly modest living place. Take it from me."

"No electricity, though...?" Chisaki muses.

"You can charge yer' phone at most restaurants and cafes these days. Anything else isn't essential."

"...Fridges? Heating?"

"Most things aren't essential." She relents so quickly I'm unable to hold from snickering. She sticks her tongue out at me. "I-in any case, I'm lucky to have friends to help with stuff like that." I sense the feeling she was ready to throw a punch at me, having still not fully worked off the energy from a half hour ago. That would've given poor Chisaki an interesting show.

"Anyway, we still need to figure out who's going to be filming." I deflect, wanting to get back on track before the sun starts to set.

"I elect Chisa-tan."

"W-what? M-me...?" Chisaki retreats into her scarf.

"No offense, but Fuetchi gets distracted easily."

"Ah... none taken." Fueko embarrassedly laughs it off. "It'd be better if Chisaki gave it a shot, yeah."

"I've never done anything like this before, though..."

"That's fine, " I step in, laughing to myself as I get my guitar out of its case, "It's just going to be me and Micchan screaming for two minutes straight. It's not exactly high art."

"If... you're alright with me filming, then."

"More than alright. ...Oh, right--" Remembering she doesn't have a smartphone, I hand her mine to record with. "Just try and feel it out by vibes. We'll shoot two takes, then get some footage of us smashing up the furniture. The two of you can join in on that last part, if you want. I don't mind."

Chisaki nods, a smile lightly forming on her face. I turn to Mizuki.

"You ready?"

"Ready and rarin'." She finishes tuning her guitar. "I'll count us in."

I nod to Chisaki for her to hit record.

"One, two, fuck, you!!"

I'm scared to walk the streets again

Since you've made enemies of friends

Your pragmatism's a fucking lie

I just wanna see you fucking die!!

[Instrumental]

I'm tired, every day, waking up thinking that I would see your face

Your smile, gave me life, now it haunts me every time I close my eyes

I hoped that you would fucking see!

I'm not your stupid fucking sheep!

I know that I can never sleep

As long as you're alive!!!

You asshole wolf, you alpha bitch

I'm tired of your fucking shit

I swear that I'll never quit

'Til I see you fucking die!!

Vultures swarm empty graves, begging desperately for me to misbehave

I tried my best to live your lie, hoping your bullshit would make me feel alright

I'm giving up, I'm feeling useless, cuz' I'm full of shit and hopeful delusions

I want to say everything is okay

But deep down inside I know I was just dinner on your plate

On your plate

On your plate

This one's a fun one. I'm still not confident on the lyrics, but when have I ever been truly happy with anything I make? It's an acoustic thrash disaster, just like me and Mizuki. If I keep trying to make it sound better, it's ultimately just going to sound worse. So, I'm happy I've managed to get it to where it is.

After another verse and chorus or so, we close out the song, stopping to catch our breath. Fueko and Chisaki both applaud us, with the latter handing my phone back so we can see the end result.

"Looks good. We'll run it from the top in a bit-- try and get some other angles so we can splice things together."

She nods affirmatively, seemingly having really gotten into the performance. "I've never heard your music before, I love it!!"

"Aw shucks, thank ya' Chisa-tan~" Mizuki chuckles to herself, trying to hide her embarrassment in her water bottle.

"What's the song about? I-it went by so fast I could barely keep up..."

I scoff playfully, trying to cover my emotions. "...It's just a song about being betrayed by someone you thought you could trust. It's not deep."

"Ah, right. That makes sense!" God, that dumb grin on her face is so cute. It's nice seeing her in any other state than 'nervous wreck.'

"I can show you some of our other songs later." I look to Mizuki. "You ready for round two, Micchan?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, Asahin."

I'd say our second go went better than the first. Chisaki was on point, too-- getting some gnarly shots of me and Mizuki screaming our lungs out that'll go great for the video. I'd say she's got a knack for this, honestly. Plus, it was a lot of fun smashing shit up afterwards, especially since we could do it as a group. Maybe it's good that we got scammed today.

...Well, not really, but there's still a silver lining.

We've finally earned ourselves our first groupie.