A Light In The Town: V

It was loud. Very loud. I had been to live performances before, but nothing like this. The venues were bigger, the singer was clearer, the music was more polished. I cannot say if I liked this all too much, but I certainly did not dislike it, at least once the initial discomfort to my ears had passed. I had obviously never listened to this band before, and I could not compare their performance to how they may have performed in a studio, but they did sound a little sloppy. The singer was moving around so much she was losing the mic, and her words were drowned out, and I suspected she was a little off in her timing. None of that seemed to dull her enthusiasm, nor the enthusiasm of anyone in the crowd.

I stuck to my corner. People came and went, buying their drinks, but I mostly had this space to myself. Everyone else wanted to be as close to the stage as possible. I was content to watch from this distance. It did not seem it would be very fun being jostled around, and if anyone should spill their drink on my uniform, that would cause me some problems I'd rather not deal with. No, I was staying here. I had given up looking for the girl from that day. Partially because I had given up hope of seeing her, but also because I couldn't really pick anyone out from the mass of bodies in front of me. The lights were all on the stage, the crowd was an amorphous black blob. I thought the hair would be easy to spot, but it seemed like half the people here had dyed their hair blonde.

As the performance went on, the band seemed to settle. More of the singer's words came through, and they even had some softer, more ballad-esque songs. A few people used this time to refill their drinks, including myself. I decided I would also get myself one of the snacks on offer, which was just a plastic cup filled with a handful of mixed nuts and fried pasta. It was fine. Salty, a light dusting of cheese-flavoured dust on the pasta. It made me want another drink, and so I handed over the last of my drink tokens. The music died down briefly, and the singer began to MC.

"We're all having a good time?"

A cheer.

"We're all getting a bit wasted?"

A louder cheer.

"It's a Thursday night you degenerates, don't you have somewhere to be tomorrow?"

Even louder cheers.

"Guess not! Well finish up your drinks, you wasters, this'n is our last song. We have been Gerakuten!"

I checked my phone. 9:27pm. I realised now I hadn't checked to see when this place would close. I assumed it would remain open into the night after the performance but I would understand if they shuttered not long after the show. There were probably better places to go for a post-show drink, should that be what you wanted. Places you could sit down, for a start. The band's final song seemed to be their most popular, judging by the reaction of the crowd. They sent the band off with a roar considerably louder than you would expect from a crowd of around 30 people. Suddenly, the lights flicked on.

"Alright, everyone gather round the stage, okay?"

It was the proprietress, Chizuru, who was shouting. She wanted to get a photo of everyone. The crowd was surprisingly pliant, it must be one of those things that are common in places like this. I found a place near the front and crouched down awkwardly as Chizuru stood on her stool and snapped a few photos with both her phone and a decent-looking camera. Soon after, people started to disperse, and 'Kou-kun' was back in action helping to clear the stage. I returned to near the bar, as I still had to finish my lemon soda water.

"So, how was it?"

'Aya-chan' again initiated a conversation.

"It was good! A little loud, but…"

She giggled.

"Yeah, I was watching your face when they started."

She turned her head and tapped at her ear, in which there was a bright orange earplug.

"If this is gonna be a regular thing for you, I suggest picking up a few pairs."

"Huh. I'll keep that in mind."

I scanned the room, which was now much brighter and much emptier than before. Chizuru was helping 'Kou-kun' move some heavy equipment and the band was now talking with—

Her.

It was definitely her. The girl I remembered from the stage. Laughing and joking around with the band. Well, she did say they were friends.

"Here, on the house."

'Aya-chan' handed me one of the remaining plastic snack cups.

"Oh, thanks Ayano-san! You shouldn't have."

"Anything we don't sell would just get thrown away anyway. Think of it as a welcoming present."

Ayano seemed like a nice girl. I should have tried harder to carry on the conversation, but I was a little distracted. I had my chance, and it was going to waste. But I couldn't just walk up to her while she was talking to someone. I didn't know what to do. Wait until she was finished? But they were her friends, likely she'd be with them until they left. And I couldn't follow them into a bar.

"Heya! Wassup?"

Uh oh.

That voice had came from the frontwoman of the band, and within seconds she had bounded over to the bar.

"N-Nothing."

"Well you were staring real hard at us. Did you wanna say something or—"

"It's her first gig."

Thanks, 'Aya-chan'.

"Oh my gosh really? That's super cute. I thought you were, like, someone's little sister or something. C'mon, I'll introduce you to the band!"

"Ah, no no no, that's fi—"

I was already getting dragged along, so I dropped my protests. I wondered how her bandmates were feeling. Bemused? She didn't hesitate to drag me along, so perhaps this sort of thing was common, and they were used to it. She started pointing them out.

"I'm Stacy, the singer obviously. And so he's Jo, he was the one laying down that heavy bass you heard, and he's Chiba, the drummer. These two absolute babes are Rina and Usa, on guitar, and that is Allie, she is not in this band so you can ignore her."

I looked around and bowed.

"N-Nice to meet you all. I am Kirika Komori, second year student at Yokohama Sakura High School."

I felt a hand rub at my head.

"This is her first gig, you know! She's got good taste, don't she?"

It was Chizuru, who then patted me on the back as she walked away. Then we were all just standing around. It was awkward, but there was my chance. I turned to the blonde girl.

"Um… Allie?"

"Alyx."

Her reply was curt, her voice a little husky.

"Ah, sorry, Alyx! You were playing in front of the department store the other week, right?"

A brief pause.

"Yeah, I was. You saw?"

I nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, yeah! It was great! I wanted to stay and listen to more but my friends were—"

Stacy interrupted with a loud guffaw and patting at Alyx's back.

"Gee, even at our gig it's just another fan of yours, huh?"

Alyx grunted and shrugged off the other girl.

"Yeah, thanks, but I was really just messing around up there. My band couldn't make it, but I had a slot so…"

"Oh, you have a band, too?"

"Yeah and they're playing in a couple weeks, aren't they?"

Again Stacy interrupted, but Alyx nodded.

"And you got some tickets you gotta sell, why not to your cute little new fan here?"

Alyx sighed.

"She's not my fan or anything, she's just a kid coming to her first gig, she doesn't need any high pressure sales techniques from you."

A chance. A small window. It seemed like she was trying to brush me off, but there was a thread I could pull on.

"I wouldn't mind! Tonight was fun, and I'd like to see some other bands."

"See! She's game, too!"

"You live round here… Kirika, was it?"

"Yeah, a few stations away."

"Then it ain't gonna work, sorry. The gig is all the way up in Kashiwa, it's like two hours from here, and it'll end pretty late."

"Um… Is it at the weekend?"

"Friday."

"Then that's okay!"

"Huh?"

She seemed a bit taken aback, perhaps I was coming on too strong.

"Well, if I don't need to be in school, it doesn't matter how late I get back. And if I can't get back, I'm sure I could find a hotel near the station. My mother won't mind, she's pretty relaxed, I think."

Alyx sighed again, but she reached into her bag and pulled out a ticket.

"2000¥. And you don't need to book a hotel. If you want, I can drive you home."

"A-Ah, you don't have to do that!"

I fumbled around for my purse, pulling out two thousand-yen bills.

"It's fine. Gives me an excuse to ditch the after-party and save some cash."

We exchanged the cash for tickets and then she took out her phone and opened the messaging app, bringing up a QR code. I scanned it with my phone, and then we were 'Friends'. She then sent me a sticker. It was a character from some anime from a few years back. It was cute, and unexpected.

"Thanks, I'll look forwar—"

My phone started buzzing. My mother was calling me.

"Sorry, I have to get going. I'll… See you all later?"

I bowed a few more times and headed out. As I left, I heard Chizuru shouting a goodbye. It had been a reasonably fun night.