One For The Vine

June 1, 2024

Today was the big day. After having conducted a rather long and somewhat tedious legal meeting with executives at Time Clock Records, Sweet Juliet was being shown the studio at the company by an engineer who worked for them. “Here we have our first live room of two here at headquarters. Here, our session musicians record the instrumentals for our idol group’s songs, or at least the parts that can’t be synthesized. We don’t have too many full-blown bands, but the few we do have also use these two live rooms. After you guys drop your instruments off, I’ll show you the isolation booths where most vocals are recorded.”

“Wow,” Ai said to the engineer. “This place is really high-tech.” The room was largely colored white and blue, with acoustic paneling all over. The floor was a well-maintained wooden one, with several carpets laid out to help muffle the sounds of footsteps. In one corner was a drum kit used by the session musicians the company employed. “Do I have to use my own kit, or can I use that one, too?”

“As of an hour ago, you’re free to use any instrument the company provides. We have a basic drum kit, two electric guitars, an acoustic guitar, a bass guitar, and two keyboards available per live room, although most of our session musicians bring their own instruments. I understand Ushiyama-san has his own bass guitar, correct?”

“Indeed,” Masato replied as he held up his bass guitar in its case.

“And I know both Takahara-san and Takagawa-san already have their respective instruments since I’ve worked with both of them before through A TO Z SIX.” She then turned her attention to a grand piano located in the live room as well. “In this live room and this one only, we also have an actual grand piano. I’m not sure if you guys want to use it or stick to keyboards, but you’re free to do so.”

“Good,” Momo replied. “In the band, I also play piano for some songs alongside Ryosuke-kun on the keyboards, so that works out for us. With all that said, I think we’re pretty much ready to record whenever you are.”

A bit surprised, the engineer asked her, “Are you sure you don’t want to look at the other live room first?”

“It’s fine,” Ryosuke replied in agreement. “This one will do.”

“Alright, but just so you’re aware, this one is only open for an hour and a half today. After that, another group signed to Time Clock Records is going to use this space. If you guys want to continue, it’ll have to be in the other live room or tomorrow.”

“We’ll come back tomorrow,” Momo replied to him. “We already agreed to be here again around noon. We’ll be here for two hours today approximately.”

The engineer nodded as he wrote down the time of arrival for the band on a notepad. “Okay, that’s fine. You guys should have some more time tomorrow.”

…

Ai was the first to go in and record. As she sat down at the drum kit the company had kept in the first live room, she looked it over and picked up a set of sticks from nearby before hitting a few drums to familiarize herself with the kit. The engineer from before said to her as she then put on a set of headphones, “I assume this won’t take too long since you’ve already played the songs you guys listed here before, right?”

“Yeah, this won’t be long,” Ai assured him. “Let’s start with Metal Machine, since that song needs to be finished first.”

“Sounds good to me.” The engineer then flipped several switches and adjusted the sound levels. “Alright, do you need a click track?”

“No. I got it.”

The engineer was surprised. Rarely did session drummer or the occasional band drummer employed by Time Clock Records not request a click track to keep time. “Hmmm… Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve played this song several times. Heck, I wrote the song.”

“If you insist. Alright, this is Take One on the drums for Metal Machine.”

Ai then counted herself in before playing the drums for Metal Machine. As she did, the rest of the band watched. Another engineer watching her play remarked, “I’m shocked someone so young knows some of the bands she listed off in that meeting. That’s the kind of music my dad was listening to.”

“It’s not rare,” replied the first engineer. “There’s quite a few of the kids who like the old stuff.”

Sadako then asked the two engineers, “Would it be okay if I began recording the guitar parts now? I know them pretty well at this point, and I could just use the demo version as a base.”

The first engineer asked, “Are you sure? Personally, I’d wait for Inuyama-san to finish laying down the drum track.”

“It’s fine,” Momo assured him as she stepped in. “Like she said, we’ve played Metal Machine a shit ton of times, and we got that demo we can use.”

The second engineer volunteered, “I can split off and take care of her.”

…

Sadako plugged her guitar into an amp within one of the isolation rooms normally used to record vocals. As she strummed a few notes and adjusted the knobs on her guitar as needed, she said to the engineer working with her, “I’ve been waiting a long time to actually play guitar here.”

“I know,” he replied. “I heard all about your little scuffle with management regarding A TO Z SIX and your guitar playing.”

“I’m thinking, uh… Maybe we can do some other songs, too. The demo tape we have has four songs on it, and we have a fifth we started working on.”

“Let’s just get through Metal Machine first,” the engineer said to metaphorically pump the brakes. “Then we can worry about other songs. What songs do you have on the demo tape anyway?”

“Metal Machine, You Always Smile, The Premiere, and Exit Stage Left,” Sadako explained. “We also have another song that we didn’t put on the demo tape that doesn’t have a title yet. The Premiere and Exit Stage Left run into each other, so I could do both songs in one go.”

“Alright then. If we have time, we’ll do those other songs.”

“We’ll definitely have time. The guitar parts for Metal Machine are pretty easy.”

“Sounds good. Take One on the guitar for Metal Machine.”

Sadako heard the demo of the song start up in her headphones, and waited patiently for her part to come in. When it did, she began gently playing the guitar as she had on the demo, silently focused on her work. She had been in this specific booth and the many others at the company headquarters many times as a vocalist for A TO Z SIX, but now, she was in this booth playing an instrument that was not her voice.

When the take was finished, the engineer asked her, “All done?”

“Yep, although I want to do a second one. I have an idea for the outro and I want to see if it will work.”

“That’s fine. Take two on the guitar for Metal Machine.” The engineer then gave a thumbs-up for Sadako to play again, and as she did, she indeed did do something a bit different in the outro of the song compared to the original demo. She focused as hard as she could, and when it was finished, the engineer asked her, “All set for that?”

“Yeah. We’ll, uh… Let me listen to both takes, and I’ll see which one sounds better. When we determine which one is good, we’ll move on to the next song.”

…

June 2, 2024

Around noon, the band walked into the studio to continue their work. The day before, they had managed to make significant progress despite only having about two hours to record. They met with Hideki, who had been assigned to manage them on top of managing A TO Z SIX, in a break room before heading out to record. “Alright, so the plan for today is that Takahara and Takagawa have to do a dance rehearsal since we have a live televised A TO Z SIX show on Wednesday, but that should only take about two hours. In the meantime, the rest of you can work on the songs you left off on yesterday. When they get back, we’ll finish up lead vocals and guitars. Sound good?”

“Works for me,” Momo replied as she and Sadako got up. “We’ll be back as soon as we can, guys.”

“Take your time,” Ryosuke assured her. “Don’t worry about us.”

With Momo and Sadako out of the room, Hideki asked the remaining trio, “So, what progress have we made?”

“Metal Machine is essentially finished,” Ai explained. “It just needs to be mixed together properly. Additionally, we have started work on three of the five songs we have planned for our first EP. Additionally, while talking with Sadako, she came up with a riff she liked, and I’m trying to go through the rough drafts in my songbook to see if I can incorporate it into any ideas I have.”

“Sounds good to me,” Hideki replied with a nod. “What’s your estimated time to completion for that first EP?”

“Probably a week or two, depending on everyone’s schedules. Also, we were hoping that we could potentially get some live performances going before we release any singles.”

“In fact,” Hideki then said as he passed several fliers to them with information about a nightclub near Maruyama High School. “I have an idea for that. There’s a decently popular nightclub near your school that’s run by a man who works for Time Clock Records full-time and operates the club on his off-time. In the past, A TO Z SIX did shows there starting off. We’ll often do trial runs of idol groups there before they put out their first singles. As a band that’s technically a subunit to A TO Z SIX, you will be no exception. The stage is a bit small, but it should have enough room for you guys.”

Masato looked over his flier and asked Hideki, “How many people can fit in here?”

“About three hundred. It’s small, but it’s a good start.”

“I recognize this place,” Ai remarked as she inspected the flier she was given. “My dad’s been here plenty of times. He actually used to work here before he got an office job. My first drum kit was from a small local band that played there a lot. It was beat to Hell and back, but it gave me a chance to play drums before I upgraded to a better kit.”

“Your dad has probably seen some of our older acts there then,” Hideki replied. “That club’s been around for about twenty years under its current owner.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. He worked there under its old owner, but he left only about a year before the current one took over, so he went there before and after.” Ai chuckled. “What a small world, I guess.”

“Trust me. In the music industry, there are a lot more weird connections than you think. Anyway, there are a few dates that are open. I imagine you don’t have enough original material to play a full-length show, so I’m not asking you guys to. That said, the higher-ups want you to also play at least two A TO Z SIX songs along with your original material.”

This surprised the whole group. Ryosuke looked at the other two with bewilderment on his face and replied to Hideki, “…What?”

“Because the agreement was for Sweet Juliet to act like a subunit of A TO Z SIX,” Hideki explained. “You’ll have to include some things from A TO Z SIX into your live shows. They want at least two songs from A TO Z SIX performed, and I’ve compiled a list of songs you guys can do since they rely the most on vocals from Takahara and Takagawa.”

“But we haven’t really rehearsed any. That’s gonna add to our work load and delay things we want to do. Besides, it won’t fit our genre.”

“I had concerns, too, but this was part of the compromises and backroom deals that were made to even make this entire thing a reality.”

“But-“

Ai put a hand on Ryosuke’s shoulder and told him, “It’s fine. We can make this work. Besides, those girls have some pretty good songs.”

Masato then asked, “Will Time Clock Records give us stuff like sheet music or separated instrumental tracks to help us rehearse these songs? Admittedly, I’ve probably listened to A TO Z SIX the least of all five of us, so I’m gonna need some references if I want to play these songs correctly on the bass.”

“Of course,” Hideki assured him. “The list I have contains eight songs. Believe me when I say I went through our entire discography to find songs that not only have Takahara and Takagawa as the primary singers, but songs that were more on the hard rock side. I’ll get isolated tracks and sheet music as soon as I can for these songs. In the meantime, I want you three to listen to these songs and choose which ones you’re interested in performing. Takahara and Takagawa already know about this, and they’ll confer with you three when they’re done.”

…

Momo and Sadako were dancing to an A TO Z SIX song from the group’s newest EP, and as the song came to an end, all six girls posed in pre-determined positions as a group. As they all breathed heavily following the routine, which was one of their more difficult ones they had been assigned, their dance instructor, a former idol herself, said to the girls, “Good job, everyone. I had some concerns about that last routine, hence why I had it simplified for the shows you girls did in April and May, but I think we’ll be able to debut the full dance routine for the Summer 2024 tour.”

“I’ve been itching to do it in full ever since that song debuted,” Miyako replied. “I get why you simplified it, but still…”

“I know, I know, Miyako-san,” Chieko Honda, their dance instructor, a former idol herself, and the older sister of former A TO Z SIX member-turned-actor Kanon Honda replied. “Take it from an older woman like me who’s been there when I say not doing a complex routine properly can fuck your legs up.”

“You’re not that old,” Momo pointed out with a chuckle. “You’re only twenty-six.”

“I’m a grandma compared to a lot of the girls I train, Momo-san. We’ve been through this before.” All the girls and Chieko then shared a laugh. “We’ll take a break for a bit and then move on to our next song.” When everyone split off, Chieko turned to Momo and asked her, “Momo-san, can I talk to you for a bit?”

…

In a small side room, Chieko and Momo had a private conversation away from the rest of the group. “I understand you’ve been busy recently with a subunit.”

“It’s not really a full-blown subunit,” Momo replied. “It’s more of a band that happens to have two members of A TO Z SIX in it. Besides, our music so far is barely similar to the music I sing with the girls out there.”

“I see. Either way, I also understand that after this dance practice, you’ll be joining them to record music.”

“Yep.”

“I just want you to be careful, Momo-san,” Chieko cautioned her. “Don’t push yourself into too many things at once. You know what happened to my sister when she did that.”

Momo sighed. “I know what you’re saying, Chieko-senpai, but this isn’t like that.”

“I’m just saying. Kanon quit the group because she forced herself to the point of exhaustion into two hard lines of work. Eventually, she chose the one with the more stable future, relatively speaking of course.”

“I still remember when she had that breakdown after that one December show in Saitama,” Momo recalled. “It felt so horrible seeing her like that. It hurt to see her go after our December tour wrapped up, but I can tell from talking to you that mentally, she’s in a better place as just an actor.”

“She very much is. Overwork is no laughing matter, Momo-san. The last thing I want is to see you or Sadako-san have a mental breakdown backstage like my sister did. If you feel like you have to commit to one or the other, don’t be afraid to make that choice.”

Momo looked down at the floor, thinking about those words and what choice she would make. “It’s too early to tell what choice I would make. I mean, I love making music with Sweet Juliet, but it’s been less than a month. We haven’t even played a live show yet, although Tomoe-san already has some ideas about us going to Fox Lounge for our first shows.”

“Ah, Fox Lounge,” Chieko reminisced. “I remember going there for my first shows with Morning Rise. I was so worried since I came in as a replacement member of the trio, but after that run of eight shows there, I felt like I was on top of the world.” She then remarked, “If you guys decide to go through with those Fox Lounge shows, let me know. I’d love to see Sweet Juliet perform.”

“Of course. Hell, I’ll invite everyone in A TO Z SIX if I can.”

“That could easily be arranged. You know, my uncle is actually a really big fan of some of the bands your one friend in that band really likes.”

“You mean Yes, Genesis, and Rush?”

“Yeah, stuff like that. Do you think he’d enjoy the songs Sweet Juliet makes?”

“I sure hope so,” Momo chuckled. “Our whole shtick is progressive rock. If he’s into that sort of thing and he likes what we made, then we did our jobs.”

…

Instead of five hours, Sweet Juliet had managed to work for six hours, taking the extra hour to rehearse as a live band. By the time they left the company headquarters, it was now late at night. Momo walked into her dorm and quickly got undressed. Normally, she would have put pajamas on, but in the warm weather of the summer months, she went with just underwear, a luxury she had as someone who had a dorm to herself. After finishing brushing her teeth and washing her face, she emerged from the bathroom she shared with the dorm next to hers and crawled into bed, but instead of going to sleep, she pulled out her phone.

She texted Ryosuke, ‘hey r u up?’

He replied back quickly, ‘yeah wbu’

‘can i call u just to chat? we didnt get a chance to alone w Sadako round’

‘ok’

Momo then called Ryosuke, who was just finishing getting dressed in pajamas to go to bed. He answered his cellphone with, “Hello?”

“Hey, Ryosuke-kun,” replied Momo. “Like I said, we didn’t really get a chance to speak to each other alone. Not that I don’t like Sadako-chan, because trust me, I’d do anything for her, but it’s nice to talk to you sometimes when no one else is with us.”

“I agree,” Ryosuke replied, a bit surprised Momo had gone out of her way to call him at night. “I’m just surprised you chose to call tonight instead of just waiting until we got to school tomorrow.”

“I know, I know. I just like talking to you. Anyway, did you talk to your parents about the potential performances Tomoe-san laid out?”

“They know already since I talked to them on the phone when I was in the studio,” he replied to her. “They’re still figuring stuff out, so I’ll have an answer tomorrow.”

“That’s fine. I just wasn’t sure if anything he laid out was gonna conflict with the Theatre Club or your acting stuff.”

“It shouldn’t. The dates I want to do are the fourteenth through the sixteenth and then twenty-first through the twenty-third. That’ll give us six shows to get our name out there.”

“And that second half of shows will be the day after we release Metal Machine as our first single,” Momo pointed out. “You have no idea how excited I am for this, Ryosuke-kun.”

“I’m pretty pumped up, too. It’s gonna be fucking awesome. I can’t wait to go back in the studio on Tuesday after school.”

“Me neither. We got a lot of shit done today, more than I thought, actually.”

“Now all we need to do is finish the EP I wrote, figure out the names of those last two songs from it, and decide what to wear for those six live shows.”

“Hmmm…” Momo thought to herself about what she could wear on stage. “Well… We aren’t an idol group, so we don’t have to dress up like them, but…”

“I was thinking more of a casual look,” Ryosuke said. “After all, like you said, we aren’t an idol group.”

“Yeah, but… There are plenty of rock bands that have casual looks. For me at least, I want something that stands out a bit. Ai-chan showed me some of the outfits Peter Gabriel wore, and they’re certainly very attention-grabbing.”

“Attention-grabbing is a God damn understatement for some of those costumes,” Ryosuke chuckled. “That guy wore a woman’s dress with a fox head on stage, and that’s not even his craziest costume. I saw some of the shit he wore from the pictures Ai-san sent and they’re really out there.”

“Yeah, and it’s funny too, because the rest of Genesis is dressed relatively normally, and then out comes Peter Gabriel with a pyramid on his head or whatever. Anyway, I’m sure we’ll cobble together some outfits before we go on stage. Time Clock Records has a shit ton of old and disused costumes in storage that I could probably cannibalize.”

“Good idea. It would certainly keep our costs down, and given we’re new and untested, we’re gonna have to save money in any way we can.”

“Exactly.” Momo then turned over in her bed, adjusting the covers as she did.

“Are you in bed right now?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I just got undressed and brushed my teeth literally a minute before I called out.”

Ryosuke, confused, asked her, “Un…”

“Undressed.”

An awkward silence followed as Ryosuke realized what Momo meant. “You… You…”

“I have underwear on, Ryosuke-kun. Don’t get your hopes up.”

“You go to bed naked?!”

“Above the waist and in the summer, yeah,” Momo shrugged. “It’s too fucking hot to be sleeping with clothes on, especially when you have a dorm room to yourself. I don’t have to worry about anyone seeing me like this, although I can tell you I’ve seen everyone in A TO Z SIX in various states of undress due to us usually using common changing rooms. Yes, that includes having nothing on, Ryosuke-kun.”

“Holy shit…” Ryosuke was blushing intensely at what Momo was telling him. “Oh my God…”

“You learn to stop giving a fuck, especially when you have a job to do and a crowd to entertain. Besides, we keep that shit under lock and key. It’s not like we’re gonna let just about anyone into our changing rooms.

“But… But…?”

“This isn’t a porno,” Momo laughed. “If some asshole tried to get in, they’d be on the wrong side of a fist real quick, and it’s not like we’re busy lezzing it out between shows.”

“…Holy shit, I’ve known you for two years, and I didn’t know you could be like this.” Ryosuke also laughed, albeit a bit more nervously. “I was told girls could be just as pervy, and yet I didn’t see it for myself until now.”

“Some of the shit we say to each other would horrify our teachers. You know, of all of us in the group, Sadako-chan is probably the least dirty-minded. She never really talks about boys or men. I remember one day I was talking to her about how hot one of the swim coaches was when I was a first-year and she was a third-year middle schooler, and she just nodded along and vaguely agreed with it. When I mentioned how big one of the gym teacher’s boobs were, though, she seemed to pay more attention.”

That last comment seemed to pique Ryosuke’s curiosity. “Huh… I’d say that’s a sign she’s gay.”

“Gay? I mean… I don’t know. I’ve known Sadako for a while, but she hasn’t confided in me if she is or not.”

“Would there be an issue if she was?”

“Not at all from me,” Momo assured him. “But I’m afraid someone in Time Clock Records wouldn’t like it.”

“Why not?”

“Ah, I didn’t tell you about that part, huh?” Mono then sat up in bed as she explained some things to Ryosuke about the image idol groups projected to their fans. “So you know the whole ‘pretend girlfriends’ or ‘girlfriend experience’ shit we sell to our more obsessive and devoted fans? Well, there’s another aspect of that where Time Clock Records likes to play into the idea that all of the girls in idol groups like our’s are gay for each other. Our dance routines might have us lovingly stare into each other’s eyes or pull each other close. We may have song lyrics that could be interpreted as lesbian in a wink-wink nudge-nudge way. There’s plenty of fake hints we drop, and trust me, A TO Z SIX is pretty tame in that regard.”

“So let me get this straight… You’ll pretend to be gay for marketing?”

“We won’t say we’re gay, because nine times out of ten, we aren’t, but we’ll play it up, and we certainly won’t explicitly say we aren’t. That said… I’d be remiss if I said there weren’t old people with backwards views in corporations like Time Clock Records. If Sadako-chan really was gay and the wrong people found out, I dread to think what could happen to her. However, if she really is gay and she comes out and people have a problem with it, let’s just say I’ll make sure there won’t be a problem anymore.” Momo raised her fist and readied it for a punch for dramatic effect. “If anyone fucks with her or anyone else in the group, they fuck with me, and I’ll put a stop to it.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Ryosuke replied, feeling reassured by Momo’s response. “You know, I’m really enjoying spending time with you, especially when it’s one-on-one like this.”

“Awww, thank you, Ryosuke-kun,” Momo said with a smile. “You know, I think we’ve grown a lot closer these past few weeks.”

“Yeah, we have. I really love talking to you.”

“Me too.”

“Yeah…”

Yet another awkward silence soon followed. Momo sat on her bed, still largely in the nude, pondering what the two of them had just said to each other. Her heart began to race as thoughts of him filled her mind. She felt as though with those few words, the relationship between her and Ryosuke had changed, and there would be no going back. Finally, Ryosuke broke the silence by telling her, “Well, um… I’m gonna go to be-“

“Ryosuke-kun,” Momo then said to him to cut him off. “Uh…”

“What?”

Momo tried to formulate a response, but came up empty. “It’s nothing. I gotta go to bed, too. Goodnight, Ryosuke-kun.”

“Goodnight, Momo-san.”

Momo then hung up and laid down on the bed, taking a deep breath and sighing as she wondered about what had just happened. She placed her phone on her dresser and remarked, “Don’t tell me… Don’t fucking tell me…” Embarrassed, she pulled the covers over herself and then covered her face with her hands. “I’m in love with him…”