Aoi's Family

“Good morning, young boss.” The receptionist welcomed me as I walked into our family business’s office building. I waved back politely, but maintaining the distance my father had taught me to keep with our employees.

It was a busy morning in the middle of the week, with the usual bustle happening around the building. Music equipment was being hauled through the hallways, blended with the muffled sound of recording studios which were in turn being drowned by the soundproofing and ventilation systems. There were also the computer editing labs, with employees hard at work behind their computers, no doubt trying hard to produce the next hit video or song clip.

I served no purpose in the building despite having gone to school to learn musical instruments and audio production. Everyone was working efficiently without me, and my father and brother led the day to day operations. I was likely an uncomfortable presence for the employees more than a helping one, but still, it was the pride of the family and when I could get involved, I would. 

I liked hiding in the recording studios, listening to music that hadn’t yet hit the internet, album, movie, or wherever it was that it was supposed to end up in. Seeing talented people write and perform music was the only thing that hadn’t gotten old from that otherwise soulless business place. As such, I walked into a studio that was recording at the time, and discreetly sat down to observe their work.

There was a young band recording the soundtrack to a movie with visuals playing behind them. They were playing a rock soundtrack with some soulful moments and vocals. Nothing too exceptional, good enough for the movie theaters, which I guess would mean a lot to most musicians. I observed for a good while before making any comments.

“Why don’t we have the strings enter here,” I said, as I rewound the video to show them the moment when I felt the strings would accompany the film's climax better. Everyone nodded as they did a quick take on the string part, took some notes, and started re-recording the track. I felt a bit bad, knowing they were probably obliged to listen to the boss’s son, but the track seemed improved and everyone seemed genuinely happy with the change. I didn’t want to press them much more than that, so I sat there quietly for the rest of it. My brother however, was another story.

“So that’s where you were hiding little brother.” My brother burst into the studio, startling everyone. “Clear the room please I need a word with him.” He instructed the audio technicians to leave the room. They all seemed ready to leave before I intervened.

“I was just leaving, good job everyone.” I signaled everyone to stay where they were and tried to encourage them to continue, as I left the room with my brother. I shut the door behind us and headed to a vacant studio across the hallway, letting my brother in before me. We both took a seat inside. “They still have work to do, you know?” I told him.

“You’re too serious, they could use a break too,” said my brother, as I doubted his intentions.

“Hiroaki, you should know that you can’t just vacate a studio mid recording…”

My brother sighed at my reminder of his duties. In the end, it wasn’t that Hiroaki was disrespectful, he just had little care for formalities.

“Fine, I’ll try to avoid it. Anything good in there?”

“Just standard soundtrack stuff.”

“Ah, same old huh? Shame, I had hopes for that band when I found them,” said my brother, somewhat disappointed.

“Just have to keep trying.” I tried to encourage my brother, even though I was aware it took a lot more to discourage him. My brother handed me a bottle of water that we kept in the studio, and before he could start talking again I decided to ask him something.

“Hey Hiroaki, suppose I want to bring some new talent here…”

“Is it a girl?” he asked. Unfortunately, he guessed it even before I started talking. “Is it a cute girl like dad’s? Is my little brother growing up?” This time, he was completely off the mark. I would never do that kind of thing, nor did I like our father’s habits. “You’re not going to hurt our Eiko, are you?”

“Our Eiko?” I snapped back at my brother, uncharacteristically losing my cool. “Eiko is Eiko.” I took a second to breathe deeply and sip some water before continuing. “It’s not at all like that,” I answered, sternly. He must’ve noticed my expression change, as he backed off and quickly changed his approach. He dropped his casual, cheerful mask that he used around others and genuinely smiled at me instead.

“Tell me about this new talent,” he asked. He leaned slightly forward, interested in what I had to say.

“She’s just a singer-songwriter I met. Nothing special, but different. Maybe with a little training and mentoring…”

“We can do that,” he interrupted, doubting me for exactly zero seconds.

“It… could be difficult,” I answered, as I recalled that weak voice I heard at the park.

“You’re not wrong,” he answered, “but we’re always looking for different things, aren’t we? And we aren’t scared of hard work. Besides, how can I doubt my dear brother?” he said, as he got uncomfortably close to me, causing me to shove him away. He then took upon a more serious expression. “Singer-songwriter is fairly old fashioned. Nowadays we look for composer specialists, people that can really elevate pieces of music. And the singers we have… well… you’ve heard them. They’re all amazing freaks that can stand out even in the busiest and loudest of places, picked among thousands and thousands over the internet...” My brother maintained a cautious tone, but was also careful to not be too discouraging.

“I know. Still, I think there’s an audience for the smaller, imperfect singers that sing their own words from their hearts,” I said with confidence. My brother couldn’t help but burst out in laughter, leaving me confused.

“Now you’re thinking like one of us!” he said, as he continued laughing, “I never thought I’d see the day.”

I simply stared at him until he stopped laughing.

“Does she want to be here?" he asked. "You know very well what this place can do to people…”

“I don’t know.” I answered my brother honestly, as I thought back on all the experiences in our workplace, and all the musicians that came by on a daily basis. Most of the times, our work here was uneventful, but sometimes...

“Well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” said my brother, as he looked at his phone, smiled at me, and hurriedly left the room, leaving me to clean up the room behind him.

My brother was right, but for that I had to face the strange girl once more, something that had become much harder than I thought. I kept going to the neighborhood every Wednesday, the same day I had initially met her, but for the past couple of weeks there was no sign of her. I started to second guess our earlier conversation, perhaps I had let my personal experiences affect my judgement, perhaps I had been too harsh on her. Maybe I simply overestimated her resolve.

Since I didn’t see her at the park, I toured the neighborhood, visiting small shops, bakeries, pharmacies, and convenience stores; but I simply couldn’t find her. Maybe she stood out less than I thought, or maybe she gave up completely. If that’s the case, there was nothing left for me to do, and that’s where my involvement would end. But perhaps due to my arrogance, insisting that my assumption on her personality was correct, I kept visiting.