My Big Bros Want to Help Me Reach My Goal.

The teachers wore my ass out. For over a half hour I had to sit there with my hands on my knees and listen to Kawano-sensei and Houki-sensei yell at me about scaring those poor girls in the Light Music Club half to death and about my grades being bad. Like I give a fuck. I mean, I didn't try to intimidate them. If they were so scared of me that they ran away just from me showing up, then it's their fault.

The worst part about it was the teachers wasted my time that I could have used to practice by forcing me to listen to them blowing hot air out of their mouths.

Even after that long and unnecessary delay, I've managed to make it to the music shop at about 5. I guess you could call this my happy place. It seems a little weird for a dude to say that, but whatever.

The bell jingles when I walk in, and the pleasant musty smell of wood and glue surrounds me. "Hey, Pops!" I call out.

Old man Mitsukoshi comes shuffling out from the back, hunched over with age. "Good afternoon, Ryou-kun," he says in that creaky voice of his.

"Sorry for bein' late, I got kinda tied up..."

"No problem at all," the old man replies. If he's smiling or frowning under his thick mustache and beard, I can't tell.

"What are we doing today?" I ask as the guitar bag comes off my shoulder.

"Well, about that, Ryou-kun..." Mitsukoshi-san replies as he strokes his long white beard. "There were a couple boys that had come in and said they were your friends, so I let them into the lesson room. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, not at all, Pops." I'm calm on the outside, but on the inside my mind is racing. Guys came in and said they knew me? Who are they talking about? Did the Student Council track me down? Does some other gang want a go at me?

"Just one second, old man."

Whoever these guys are that want a piece of me, they better fucking not mess up old man Mitsukoshi's store. Leave bystanders out of it (unless they get involved, like Kouga's sister). That's how real hard-ass delinquents do things.

The back has six rooms, each with curtains over the door, lined along a hallway with old, flickering lighting, filled with faded and torn posters for concerts and other events. Most of the posters are at least 20 years old if not more, featuring the names of bands from America and other foreign places that haven't toured in years. I get the feeling that this was a lively place a long time ago, but the only people I've ever seen in the store are me and the old man. There's only one room that's left open for lessons- the rest are used for storing junk.

I take a deep breath and step through the black curtain of the closest room on the right with my fists clenched. "Alright, whoever you motherfuckers are, if you got a problem with me let's take it outside- Huh?"

"Lil' Bro, what the fuck?" Tanaka replies, with an expression of surprise and confusion on his face.

"Ryou, chill!" Acchan waves his hands. "We ain't tryna fight!"

My two big brothers are seated on the bench in the room that I normally use when I'm taking lessons. They're wearing their uniforms this time, so I don't have to deal with Tanaka's awful fashion sense, but he's still got his shirt unbuttoned and is wearing one of those dumbass t-shirts with the big kanji on them underneath.

What's it say? "Burning Passion"...dude, your fashion sense is three decades out of date.

"What are you two doing here?" Aw, fuck, I think my voice cracked.

"We tailed you, dumbass!" Acchan snaps, jumping up and getting in my face. "You think you get to sneak off and have fun without us?"

"For real, Lil' Bro," Tanaka sighs. "I thought you were meeting a girlfriend and I would have beat you up for that..."

"No way, dude. Girls are stupid."

"That's the best part about them."

"Sorry," I laugh nervously. "I've been practicing so much that I forgot to tell you guys."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Acchan shrugs. "Seriously, though, this place is fucking awesome! Have you seen how much cool shit they have?"

Yes, Atsushi Nakamura, I have, in fact, seen all the "cool shit" in this store, because I've been coming here after school for a solid week. I could roast his stupid ass, but I just laugh and say "Yeah, it's impressive..."

"Yo, play something, dude," Tanaka says as he points to the instrument on my back.

"You really wanna hear? I've only been playing for a week or so..."

"Who cares how much you suck?" Acchan says flippantly. "Chicks love guys with guitars no matter how bad they are."

"Alright, but if you think I'm bad you can't blame me." There's one other song I've been learning that I guess I could try. Here goes. Deep breath. C7, C, C, G- shit, my finger slipped- back to G, and...wait, what comes next? D7? Shit, I can't remember.

"That's all I can do," I sigh as my fingers drop off the fret board. I'm ready for my big bros to start tearing me apart- I know it was garbage.

"Whoa, Ryou, that was super good!" Acchan exclaims.

"What?" For a moment, I don't know what to say. They liked my shitty playing where I couldn't remember more than 4 of the chords and fucked up the last one on top of that?

"Yeah, that's awesome," Tanaka says. "Was that the Wonders?"

"Yup. I could only remember the first few chords, though..."

"Who cares? The first few chords are all that everyone knows," Tanaka replies.

"Man, if we learn how to play, too, imagine all the chicks we're gonna be getting!" Acchan crows.

"Yeah!" Tanaka replies. "We can't let Lil' Bro get ahead of us. If he keeps playing guitar like that, he's gonna get famous and pull all the girls and then he'll act like he never knew us at all!"

"That absolutely cannot happen," Acchan agrees, nodding his head and closing his eyes like a Zen monk.

"You guys...Why do you think I'd be an asshole like that?"

"Cause that's what I would do if I was a famous guitarist," Tanaka shrugs.

"Come the fuck on, Aniki...what happened to brothers sticking together?"

"So you think that old guy can teach us how to play, too?" Acchan asks, changing the subject quickly.

"Hold on just a second. Lessons aren't free." I stop Aniki before he can get out of hand. Yeah, old man Mitsukoshi is teaching me how to play at no charge, but it would be one step too far if I asked to get free lessons for my friends, too. It would be taking advantage of the elderly and I don't fuck with that.

"Cut it out with all the responsibility bullshit, dude."

"Acchan, I'm just saying..."

He no longer has his attention focused on me, and is instead staring down at his phone.

"It's Shige," he mutters. "He's down the block."

"Shige?" I've not heard that name before. So Acchan and Tanaka are bringing some guy that I don't know to hang out here, too? I like my big bros, and I'd ride or die for them, but this is a music store, not a fucking party!

"You know, Shige," Acchan replies, deadpan.

"No, I don't fucking know!"

"Dude...he hangs out with us..." Tanaka sighs. "You've talked to him before..."

"I have?" They're bullshitting me. There's nobody in our gang like that.

"Ryou, is there something wrong with you?" Acchan stares. "You know, Shige! Big beefy dude, he shaves his head..."

"Ah." That's his name? All this time and no one ever told me? No, it's not my responsibility to take the initiative and ask, shut up. "Hage?"

"Dude..." Acchan sighs, facepalming. "If he hears you call him that, he'll beat the shit out of you..."

I'm about to snap back at Aniki and tell him that it's Hage's fault for shaving his head so that he looks like a geezer when the actual old guy who owns the store comes tottering through the curtain, holding a few cups of green tea in old-looking, gray ceramic cups. "These are for my guests," he says shakily. "Please, take one."

"Thanks, old guy." Acchan casually takes one of the glasses. He takes a sip and then immediately shouts, "Shit! It's too hot!"

Tanaka shoots him a side-eye. "Oh, I do apologize..." Mitsukoshi-san mutters.

"Acchan, shut up! That's my teacher!" I have to do something before we all get kicked out.

His eyes widen for a second, and then he quickly says, "Sorry, old guy, I was just messin' with ya."

I know Aniki wasn't, but I'm willing to let it slide.

"Now, are you two interested in lessons as well?" old man Mitsukoshi asks them.

"Well, to be honest, we wanted to watch Lil' Bro play, if that's alright with you..." Tanaka says hesitantly.

"My, well, I certainly don't see why you couldn't..." Mitsukoshi-san strokes his beard. "Ryou-kun, are you alright with Tanaka-kun and Nakamura-kun observing?"

"So long as they don't interrupt with stupid stuff."

Acchan furrows his brow but doesn't say anything back to either of us.

"I assume you are alright with that condition?" Mitsukoshi-san turns to my two big brothers, and they nod yes. "Then let's begin. Ryou-kun, let's pick up from last time. What did we leave you on?"

"The first few seventh chords. C7, D7, and E7," I reply from memory.

"Good," Mitsukoshi-san replies, picking up the music stand from the corner of the room and placing it in front of me with the book I've been practicing music from. It's called something like Learn to Play Guitar and it's decorated like it's for kids, so it's a little embarrassing, but the lessons are easy to understand so it's helping me.

"Let's go through those again," the old man instructs. "I want to see what you've practiced at home. First, C7."

"Sure." My fingers twist over the fretboard. Was that where the pinky went? I think so. The sound starts to fill the room as I move my other hand, first hesitantly, then faster and faster.

"Good," Mitsukoshi-san says. "Next, D7."

This time, I remember where my fingers are supposed to go quicker. "Good," Mitsukoshi-san says as the chord sounds. Man, Acchan and Tanaka look impressed over in the corner. I could really get used to this.

Before the old man can call out another chord, the bell to the store rings off in the distance. "Pardon me, I'll be right back," Mitsukoshi-san says quickly and shuffles off to the front of the store.

A customer? That's a surprise, this store never gets any. I hope this guy doesn't take too long. I've already had enough of my time wasted today.

Since the only people in the store are me, Acchan, Tanaka, the old man, and whoever just walked in, the conversation going on in the front of the store is fully audible.

"Hello," says a deep voice.

"Ah, welcome-" That's the old man. "Shigehiro?"

"Hey, Grandpa."

"What brings you here? I haven't seen you in a while."

"My friends are in the back. I didn't realize one of them was learning from you."

"Oh, yes! They're in the lesson room."

A few seconds later, the curtain swings open again, and old man Mitsukoshi enters with a burly, tanned guy with a shaved head in a Shinchoushi summer uniform.

"Shige!" Acchan exclaims, standing up. "What's up, dude?"

"Nothing much. I didn't realize y'all knew Grandpa. You trying to learn guitar to pick up chicks or something?"

"That's a good idea, but it's actually Ryou who's learning how to play."

Shige (I still am not used to calling him that) turns around and sees me. "Oh, hey."

"Uh...Hi." I'm not that close to him like I am to my other big bros, and he's a pretty hefty, intimidating guy, so I don't want to get on his bad side.

"I don't know if all of you know this," Mitsukoshi-san addresses us, "but Shigehiro is my grandson. He's been playing guitar since he was five. If you have any questions, you can ask him as well as me."

"Whoa, no way!" Acchan exclaims. "You never told us!"

"It wasn't really that important." I think Shige's tanned, craggy face is turning a bit red.

"Dude, that's super cool. Can you play something?"

"Yeah, I can, but I'm rusty."

"Go ahead, Shigehiro," his grandfather says.

"Don't expect much." Shige picks up the cheap electric guitar from the corner next to the practice pads for drums, positions his fingers on the neck of the guitar, strums once, and an ocean of sound fills the room. Holy shit, he's shredding. His fingers are moving so fast that they're a blur. It's like I'm sitting in the front row of a concert.

With the last stroke of his arm, the sound reverberates in the small room for a second before anyone speaks.

The one who breaks the silence is Tanaka. "Holy shit, dude, that was AWESOME!"

"Tanakan, don't cuss in front of the old guy, dumbass!" Acchan snaps.

"You just cussed, Acchan, you idiot!"

"Dude..." I turn to Shige. "That was amazing. Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Uh...haha..." He turns away again. "I'm not that good at it, but it's the only interesting hobby I have."

"Hey, Shige, I wanna try!" Acchan exclaims, jumping to his feet.

"Me too!" Tanaka bumps into him as they run toward the two of us.

"Hold on!" I cut in front of them before they can knock him over. "It's my lesson! I thought you guys were just gonna watch!"

"Sorry, Lil' Bro," Tanaka says quickly, embarrassed. "Shige was really getting into it and it got me fired up..."

"I don't see the harm in some free practice," old man Mitsukoshi butts in. "You don't mind, do you, Ryou-kun?"

"I guess not..." I'm kinda annoyed at my lesson getting so noisy, but at the same time, I gotta respect what my big bros want, since they're older than me.

"Okay." Shige takes the guitar off and pulls the strap over Acchan's shoulders. "So you wear it like this, and your left hand goes here..."

As Shige instructs Acchan, Mitsukoshi-san slips out of the room with an "I'll be in the front if you need me."

Holy shit, this is brutal. Acchan and Tanaka both sound awful. I know I'm pretty bad, but they're making that guitar sound like animals being tortured.

Acchan's just strumming it, not even trying to play any chords, while he wails in a horrendously off-key voice, "Oh yeah! I like to ******* and all my ******** ******** and ******** and I *********** ********** **********, yeah! I can ***** fifty times in a second!"

I don't know what half these words mean, but something tells me even a tough delinquent like me shouldn't be repeating them.

"So, what do you think about my song?" Acchan strikes a pose like his horrendous playing was somehow cool. "I freestyled it. Impressive, right?"

"Dude, you fucking suck!" Tanaka guffaws.

"Fuck you, Tanakan! Why don't you fuckin' try to do better?" They're once again nose-to-nose.

"Big Bros-" I start to jump in to break them up, but before I can do anything, Shige steps in front of me, grabs both of them by the back of the collar, and picks them up and separates them.

"Don't mess up the guitars." Even though he's speaking in a calm tone, I can tell he means business. Holy fuck, I definitely don't want to get on his bad side. He picked both of them up like they weighed nothing.

"Sorry," Tanaka quickly says.

"I think you should try the bass," Shige tells him.

"Dude, the bass is lame. All you do is pluck the strings and the bassists never get any girls."

"Tanakan...Don't disrespect the bassist."

"What's this?" Acchan's found the drum practice pad and the sticks. "Hell yeah!" He immediately starts wailing on the pad with the sticks like it's a freshman that owes him money.

"Stop, you'll break it!" Shige rushes over to him and snatches the drumsticks away. It's like watching a father trying to control his unruly kids, and they're completely ignoring me. This is what I feared would happen- I can't practice with this distraction.

Maybe if I step out for a few seconds, they'll calm down once I'm back. They're so preoccupied with arguing over whether or not the drummer is cool that they don't even notice me slip out...and nearly run smack into old man Mitsukoshi.

"Ah...sorry!" One more careless step and I would have trucked him.

"Don't worry about it. I came to check on my grandson." He turns his head toward the lesson room, where the argument that Acchan and Tanaka are having is so loud that you can hear every word of it from out in the hallway. "The youth are so lively, aren't they?"

That's not exactly the word I'd use. "I apologize if we're bothering you..."

"Not at all, not at all! This store hasn't been this energetic since the eighties. It makes me feel like I'm a young man again and back with my old band."

"You were in a band, Pops?"

"The Wave Riders, the best in the former Awa Province." I can hear a bit of a glimmer of pride in the old man's voice.

"Never heard of 'em..."

"That's quite alright. Most of our fans were old-timers. I doubt there's any alive today...Ryou-kun, how has your free practice gone?"

"I haven't been able to get anywhere..."

"Hmm." Old man Mitsukoshi scratches his pointy white beard. "I think it might be good for you to have a goal to work toward, if you feel like you're not making any progress."

"Like what?"

"Let me think...do you know about street performances?"

"Me? Going out and playing for tips outside the station or something? I think it's a bit too soon for that..." Scratch that, it's way too soon. I'd have to write my own song and play in front of strangers when I've not even learned most of the chords yet.

"I agree that you may not be at the level to play on your own, Ryou-kun, but I don't think you would have trouble backing up Shigehiro. In three or so weeks, I believe you'll be ready. That's during your summer break, I assume."

"Yeah, but why are you bringing Shige up?"

"Well, you four are a band, aren't you?"

We are? I wasn't thinking that. I thought Acchan and Tanaka came here to goof off.

"I'll think about it." I'm still honestly not sure.

"I'm looking forward to your answer," the old man replies, and shuffles back off toward the front of the store.

When I return to the practice room, there are no instruments being played. Instead, my three friends are sitting around a notebook where Acchan is writing with a pencil.

"What about this one- the Blazing Rock Heroes?" Acchan asks, smugly.

"Lame," Tanaka immediately replies.

"You fuckin' come up with one, then!"

"Uhh, what are you guys doing?"

As soon as they hear my voice, they all stop and turn around.

"Coming up with band names!" Acchan crows.

"Band names?"

"Yeah! You, me, Shige and that idiot over there."

"Hold on." This all seems way too sudden. First the old man mentioned it, and now they're bringing it up, too. "You just tried these instruments for the first time, and you're already talking about starting a band?"

"Duh," Acchan replies. "Bands are fucking cool, dude. Imagine all the girls we'll get."

"Yeah, but we're all beginners..."

"We've got Shige," Tanaka replies. "What's with the hesitation, Lil' Bro? Do you not want to do it?"

To be honest, I don't know. I didn't intend to take up playing the guitar...it was nothing but chance. I stumbled into Mitsukoshi-san's store when I was trying to hide from my sister, and I kept coming back because he was a nice old man and I needed something to do to kill time, but the more I play, the more I like it, and the more I want to get better, and it looks like my big brothers are completely hooked.

I could walk away right now. I could play every now and then as a hobby, just to amuse myself, and spend the rest of my teenage years fighting off boredom. But at the same time, Acchan and Tanaka look so excited, and I can't bring myself to rain on their parade.

"I guess I'm in."

"Alright!" Tanaka whoops. "Which one of these do you like the best?" He hands me the notebook.

"Dude...these are all garbage."