Watching

On their way to the concert, Masaki and his Dad didn’t talk much to each other. That wasn’t usual for them, both of them were introspective people after all. Rather than talk all day, they had the tendency to get lost in their own thought. In contrast to Masaki, who was staring out of the metro’s window, his dad was busy scattering his notebook full of various observations. Masaki tried to peek over his dad’s shoulder to see what he was writing down, but he couldn’t read any of his dad’s undecipherable handwriting. His dad seemed to have noticed and stopped writing. He turned his head to look at his son.

“Are you curious about what I am writing about?”

Ever since Masaki was little, his dad brought a notebook around everywhere. Whenever he was playing in the playground, his dad sat on a bench, scribbling something down. So this definitely wasn’t anything new for Masaki, however, he had never really questioned what he was writing down exactly. But now the two of them were going to the concert, he could only wonder if it had to do anything to do with that.

Masaki nodded.

“Sure”

His dad smiled and readjusted his glasses. It almost seemed like he had been anticipating this conversation.

“Well, when I go to scout a band I write down my expectations beforehand as well as any questions I have beforehand. This helps me remember what things I need to pay close attention to, once the concert starts. It is easy to get riled up by the atmosphere, so this helps me to stay grounded.”

Masaki sighed.

“I thought we were just going to jam out together, father and son. I should have asked Kazuki to come…”

His dad glimpsed.

“Remember, we are here to observe and try our bests to make an objective judgment. You shouldn’t let your personal excitement cloud your opinion. Look at the band and try to see how the members interact with each other. Look at the audience and try to determine what keeps them engaged.”

“But most importantly, remember that the sum is greater than its parts. In the end, a rock concert is an experience, there is a certain magic to it that just cannot be explained with a million notes.”

Masaki smiled, it was always great to hear his dad got so passionate about his work.

“Thank you, Dad, I’ll take it into account.”

The metro slowed down and stopped at a station, the last one before they were meant to get off. Two girls of Masaki’s ago entered the metro, they were talking loudly to each other.

“Hisaki-kun is so cute! I love how that one strand of hair never wants to stay straight. It’s like it has a will of its own.”

“Yeah, that fits his stubborn nature perfectly. Remember how he turned his back on the audience for a whole song after that pigtails girl tried to climb onto the stage?”

“It was so weird to see him play his bass solo from the back, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

They must be going to the concert too, Masaki thought.

“Are you writing this down too, Dad?”

He whispered into his dad's ear.

His dad put his finger before his mouth and whispered back.

“An industry secret…”

Creepy.

His dad certainly was out of the ordinary…

X

After a few minutes walk, the two of them arrived at the concert venue. Like the venue, where Masaki saw Akane’s band perform, this one was located in the basement of some business as well. Although, it seemed a little busier judging from the long line that had formed in front of the entrance. The audience seemed a bit different than the last time, instead of there being a good mix of both genders, this time the audience was mostly made up of teenage girls. Some of them were wearing shirts with the band’s name written on them.

“Nebula Veil”

Ah, so that’s what they're called.

“They seem quite popular”

Masaki said to his dad.

His dad nodded.

“With all these fans with t-shirts and stuff, I wonder why they don’t have a record contract yet.”

His dad smiled.

“That’s exactly what we’re trying to figure out tonight.”

His dad grabbed his notebook and started scribbling again.

He never stops writing, does he?

When there were only a handful of people left in the line before them, his dad put this notebook away.

“Word of there being a scout spread quickly around here.”

If a fifty-year-old guy showing up to some high school boyband wasn’t suspicious enough…

“Please show me your tickets”

Masaki grabbed the tickets out of his pocket and showed them to the bouncer.

“Have a nice night!”

The bouncer said as he let them into the venue.

Masaki and his father joined in the long queue that had formed in front of the bar in order to get a drink, after which they entered the main concert hall.

When they entered the door, the hall had already filled up to the brim. Masaki and his dad found a place in front of the venue’s back wall. The giggles and excited voices of the teenage girls drowned out the background music that playing from the PA system.

“It seems like the concert was completely sold out, Dad.”

Dad nodded.

“If it weren’t for my inside connections, we wouldn’t have been able to get any tickets to today’s concert.”

“So is there anything I should pay attention to now?”

“Not that much, we have to wait before the show begins.”

“Try to place yourself into the performer's heads, inexperienced bandmembers like these must feel quite a bit of anxiety.”

“Are they able to play well and connect with the audience regardless?”

“And when they make some inevitable mistakes, how are they able to recover from those?”

The PA music stopped and the lights went out. A brief silence fell over the room, followed by loud screaming as the band members entered the stage. They were wearing some dark Visual-kei outfits, and their bleached hair was styled in exuberant ways. Without saying a single word to their audience, they started playing their first song.

An uplifting J-Rock tune featuring sleek guitar licks as well as some memorable vocal hooks the girls shouted along with. Despite Masaki catching them playing the wrong note once or twice and their drummer getting a bit out of sync, they certainly seemed to have the audience captured with their performance. Not bad for a beginning band Masaki gathered.

“They are quite good aren’t they?”

His dad nodded.

“There is potential here.”

It seemed like his dad noticed the same little mistakes as he did. His dad was lightly bopping his head to the rhythm. Does that mean he enjoys it? He wasn’t the type that wrote their feelings on their face. Masaki was quite similar to his dad in that regard. The main difference was… Masaki wasn’t enjoying this concert at all…

Sure, they weren’t bad or anything, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he would rather listen to another band perform. He closed his eyes and saw Akane standing on the stage, playing her guitar. The thought of listing to her beautiful warm voice made Masaki’s skin shiver. His heart started beating faster, and his stomach felt funny again.

Akane Ishihara…

No!

That was a done deal, he had to focus on Nebula Veil, his dad had put in all this effort after all. He couldn’t let it go to waste. Even with that said, it was impossible not to compare this performance to the one Masaki witnessed just a couple of days ago. While Maid in Melodies didn’t draw in the audience quite like this band, they were better musicians technically.

And Akane was more attractive to look at…

But surely these girls would think otherwise.

X

After the band finished playing, his dad turned his attention to Masaki.

“What do you think, should we offer them the card?”

Masaki shrugged his shoulders.

“They are really popular, I am sure they would be able to sell a lot of singles.”

“But their drummer, their timing isn’t great. We have to resort to quantizing his beats or even hiring a session drummer to fill in for him.”

His dad smiled, he must have been thinking the same.

I am sorry Dad, but I have to disappoint you.

“I think a good producer could make them a big hit, but I don’t think I am up to the job.”

His dad looked a bit shocked.

“Masaki, I think you are perfectly capable! You’ve shown me you could clean up tracks like these many times before.”

Masaki shook his head.

“I feel no connection to this band. I think you were right dad, it’s too early for me to produce a real band like this.”

“Let’s head home”

His dad looked unusually angry at him.

“Masaki - you wanted this right?”

Masaki started walking to the building's exit, and his dad followed him.

His dad was silent for a couple of seconds.

“Please tell me what’s on your mind Masaki, I want to help you out.”

But Masaki wasn’t just going to share what he was feeling with his dad. Admitting he had rather worked for Akane’s band. That he lied because he was too shy to talk to a girl? He let his emotions cloud his judgment, something his dad always warned him for. He would be able to take him seriously after that for sure. Teenage hormones getting in the way of his work. What did he even feel for Akane anyway? This was all just stupid, Dad was right, he should have waited until finishing high school.