Heavy Metal Promise

“Do you want to hang out after school?”

Wait, what? Was I hearing this right? Did she just say what I thought she said? I blinked a few times to clear away any fuzziness from my head. And then I asked back with a simple, “Come again?”

“Do you want to hang out after school?” It was the same question again. Maybe I was hearing this right. I didn’t know how to respond to this question and just looked at her with a blank expression. Saiki was getting really annoyed by me and began to pout out her lips like always. “Yes or no?” she asked me in an almost whiny way.

“Can I ask why?” I asked her slowly.

“I don’t have anything else better to do,” she answered back casually.

“So you’re just using me as an excuse to kill time?!” I yelled out.

“I thought maybe we can talk more about music,” she said with a shrug.

I understood what she meant. At school, she didn’t have anybody else to talk to about her interests. I don’t know about her situation at home, so I can’t comment on that. But with her bandmates also leading their own lives outside of the band, she was pretty much by herself when it comes to exploring the things she likes. I was the only person in school who knows about her secret and shares similar musical interests with her. We don’t really associate much at school, the reason being obvious. She has her friends and a certain image to project, and I have mine. In a way, I was kind of like her secret friend, but a friend nonetheless. Or should I say secret associate? I don’t think we’re at that level of friendship yet, so I’ll just stick with associate right now.

“Alright,” I told her with a sigh. A bunch of stuff happened and the next I knew, we were standing in front of my house. “So, why are you here?” I asked her irritatedly.

“We promised to hang out after school,” she replied casually.

“But we didn’t say it would be at my house!” I complained

“Oh, don’t sweat the small stuff,” she told me with a giggle. She then marched up to the front door without a single care in the world.

“Hey, don’t just go off on your own!” I called after her. How did it get like this? Sure, we had promised to meet after school to hang out, but how did it go from simply hanging out to inviting her to my home? The only way to understand this is to know what exactly happened.

When school was over, I had received a call from my mother. Apparently, she was visiting a sick friend in the next town over and won’t be home for a while. She had asked me to make dinner for the next few days while she’s out. Now, I’m no cook, but I can put together pretty simple dishes like sandwiches, onigiri, and tamagoyaki. Other than those three simple dishes, I rely on cup noodles and pre-heated foods for my daily nutrients. Keep in mind, this was only whenever I have to stay home alone for whatever reason.

Well, continuing on with the story, Saiki had overheard our conversation and immediately offered to come over. I was vehemently against the idea, but she tried to convince me by reminding of my promise. And when that didn’t work, she simply followed me as I walked home. I tried to shoo her away every few feet, but she wouldn’t budge at all. And here we are.

I opened the front door and begrudgingly said, “Come in.”

“Pardon the intrusion!” she said with a cheerful smile on her face.

“If you’d really meant that, you wouldn’t be here,” I muttered under my breath. Saiki had apparently heard my snarky comeback and kicked me in the shins. So, she’s pretty vengeful too, yet another fact about the school idol I didn’t need to know.

I led her to the living room and told her that I’d be back after putting my stuff away. I then walked upstairs to my room. I opened the door and threw my backpack onto the bed. Finally, I’m back in my haven! It was enough for me to let out a sigh of release.

“Whoa, you have a lot of guitars!”

I flinched and let out a yelp before stumbling forward and falling on my knees. I quickly turned around to see Saiki waving back to me. “What are you doing here?” I asked her. “I thought I told you to wait downstairs!”

“It was boring,” she told me.

‘How much of a little child is she?’ I wondered furiously to myself.

Saiki walked in and had her sights set on my guitar collection. She inspected them like some kind of connoisseur. It was weird and terrifying at the same time to see my guitars exposed to someone like her. And then that’s when it hit me—I was alone with a girl in my room. Alone! With a girl! This is definitely something that shouldn’t be happening! First of all, we’re not even close friends! We’re nothing more than acquaintances! Being alone with someone of the opposite sex who’s not even a close friend is a prohibited act and can be grounds for legal proceedings that I am not ready for at all! Didn’t Haruto Saiki learn that from her parents? Doesn't she know of the troubles this will bring to both of us? Does this girl even have any sense of danger?!

Of course, I’m not some depraved delinquent who would try to harm her while alone. But if something were to happen, I would be looked upon as that way and my entire life would be over! I would be the number one suspect! And who am I to blame if that actually occurs? I mean, it’s my room after all!

“H-H-Haruto!” I called out to her. “Let’s go talk outside.”

She turned to me with a tilt of her head and asked, “Why? Couldn’t we talk here?”

“My room is too stuffy and there’s not really a lot of room to sit around and talk,” I reasoned.

Saiki simply jumped onto my bed, which elicited a scream out of me. ‘Is she trying to murder me socially?!’ I exclaimed. Seriously, does she have no sense of danger at all?!

“We can sit on the bed,” she said.

“I-I-I-I….” As you can see, I could only stutter in response. The only thing I can do now is pray for a safe ascension to the afterlife…. No. I needed to make my stand. “Don’t you feel uncomfortable being in a room alone with me?” I asked her.

“Why?” she asked me back.

“W-W-Why?!” I exclaimed in surprise to her response. “You’re sitting on the bed of a guy you barely know! We’re not even close friends to begin with, but my identity as a guy should’ve already triggered some flags for you. I mean, we’re practically strangers!”

“Strangers?” came Saiki in a sad voice. Her eyes became downcast and she wore a sad smile. I immediately recognized those eyes she had. It was the same ones from before. I cursed at myself for bringing them back.

“I-I-I didn’t mean it like that,” I scrambled to tell her. “It’s just, well, I don’t think that we’re that close to be called friends yet. I mean, if I had to use a word, I would say that we’re nothing more than acquaintances.”

“Is that how you really feel?” she asked me. I didn’t answer her and looked away. “I thought that we were already friends,” she said.

“Eh?” That statement came completely out of left field. My cheeks turned red and my body trembled anxiously. Everything I knew, everything that had made sense to me, was quickly being ripped apart. Does she even know what she was saying? Why would someone of her nature and stature want to be friends with me, someone on the totally opposite side of the spectrum?! “I-I-I-I-I….” Once again, I was reduced to stutters.

“Why, you don’t want to be friends with me?” she asked me with a light frown. Her eyes were slowly changing back to those pitiable eyes from before.

Seeing that change hardened my heart and I confidently said, “I do.”

“Hooray!” she cheered, her expression returning back to normal. She jumped off of my bed and walked over to the guitars once again. “These are pretty cool,” she said. Her eyes sparkled like the eyes of an innocent child seeing something amazing for the first time in their life.

I got up and stood beside her. “Do you play?” I asked her.

She shook her head no. “I don’t know how to play,” she told me. “I only know how to sing.” She quickly turned to face me and asked, “Which of these is your favorite?”

I smiled and picked up the Bender Stratosphere. “This one,” I told her. The guitar was red and black and had lightning bolt inlays. The strings were worn from my constant use of it (I was planning on changing them this week but never had the time). The headstock had an Iron Rabbit logo that I painted on when I was in middle school. As I held it in my hands, I felt happiness pour out of me.

“What can you play?” asked Saiki with anxious eyes.

I guess I’ll indulge her. I strapped the guitar on and picked up a pick from my bedstand. After I turned on the amp and plugged the guitar in, I was set. The first thing that came to mind was the song ‘Black Sky’. I played it at a tempo close enough to the original song and played the riffs as cleanly as I could. I hadn’t warmed up prior to playing, so I wasn’t really all into it yet. But I played the song clearly nonetheless.

“That’s ‘Black Sky’!” exclaimed Saiki. She watched me with eyes full of wonder. It made me a little embarrassed and I looked away from her and focused on my hands instead.

I then seamlessly transitioned to another song, an early 2000s hit by the punk band from21. It seemed that Saiki was familiar with it too because she nodded her head along to the riff. I changed to another song, a 90s classic by the alternative band Malice&Maim. Again, she was really getting into it and swayed to the tempo of the music. And then I changed to another one, this time it was a recent release by the band My Horizon. She didn’t look like she knew this song, but she still seemed to have enjoyed it. I couldn’t help but smile myself as I watched her having fun with the music. For the finale, I finished off with a deep cut from one of my favorite Japanese bands: GrEy.

“That’s ‘Heart Basket” from the band GrEy!” she exclaimed excitedly.

I stopped and asked, “You know this song?”

“It’s one of my favorite songs from them,” she said.

“I didn’t expect you to know this deep cut,” I told her honestly.

“‘To be apart from you is like living without air to breathe. You are my life and you are all that I need. To show you how much I care, please accept this gift. It’s my heart basket, filled with my love for you.’,” she sang.

“I’ve never met anyone who knew the lyrics so well,” I said, impressed.

“Say, do you post videos online?” she asked me.

That question immediately made me jump and elicited a very embarrassing squeak. “V-V-Videos? Me?” I said with a nervous laugh.

“I often see a lot of guitar players post videos on ITube,” she told me. “You don’t do that?”

I gulped and said nothing.

“Hey, check this out,” she said as she pulled out her phone. She pulled up a video on her phone and showed it to me. “This guy is really good! He’s one of the best on ITube and I like his playing a lot!” she told me. The video was of a guitar player playing a cover. I said nothing and watched it like she told me to. It should be quite obvious to you now just who the guitar player in the video was. “His name is shred’emall_\m/!” she told me. I simply nodded kindly with a smile. She looked at the phone and continued to sing his (my) praises. “I especially like his guitar. He uses this kind in all of his videos,” she continued. “Come to think of it, his guitar looks very familiar.”

That statement made me freeze up. I was afraid of what was coming next. ‘Please don’t notice, please don’t notice, please don’t notice!’ I prayed.

Saiki looked back and forth from between my guitar and the one in the video. After doing that for about a minute, she jumped back and pointed a finger accusingly at me. “You’re shred’emall_\m/?!” she exclaimed in surprise.

I let out a defeated sigh. Looks like I couldn’t escape it. I nodded and said, “Yes, I am.” I braced myself for what was to come.

“That’s so cool!” she exclaimed with star-struck eyes. This reaction was unexpected. I for sure thought I was going to get an earful for keeping this a secret!

“Y-Y-You think so?” I asked her nervously. She nodded excitingly to show her approval. I couldn’t believe it. I let out a sigh of relief and my body relaxed. Looks like I was getting scared for nothing.

“Say, Hiomi, you write original songs too, right?” she asked me giddily.

“It’s Shiomi,” I told her with a frown. “And yes, I do. I post originals all the time on ITube.”

“I knew it!” she cheered. “Hey, do you wanna know a secret?” she asked me with a smile.

“Secret?” I asked. I wasn’t sure at all where she was going with this.

“I’ve always wanted to write my own album,” she told me confidently.

“Don’t you already do that with Nijigami?” I pointed out.

“I don’t really write the songs,” she told me. “I’ve contributed parts here and there, but the band already has an established songwriting team.”

“So you want to make something where you have full control of it,” I summarized. She nodded her head in confirmation. “Being in a band means having to work together. No one is more important than the band as a collective. But writing a solo album gives you the power to truly make something that is undeniably you. It gives you the ability to be free and independent and gives you more chances to explore the things you like.”

“Hey, do you listen to pop or anything else at all that’s not rock or metal?” she asked me seriously.

“I’m not that big of a fan of pop music, but there are a few artists that I do like. Though it’s not like I listen to them on a daily basis,” I told her. “I mean, I do pop covers on my ITube channel too. I don’t mind jazz or folk music, and electronic music is okay. There’s some hip-hop that I like. But as for other kinds of music that I listen to on a daily basis that’s not rock or metal, I would have to say classical music, film scores, and anison.”

“That’s quite a varied taste you have there,” she commented with a serious look on her face.

“What can I say? I’m just a fan of music,” I replied back with a smug smile. This was my time to be arrogant and I put on the act perfectly if I do say so myself.

“Do you want to do it?” she asked me.

“Huh? Do what?” I asked back.

“Help me make an album!” she said with emphasis.

“Me? Why?”

“Well, first of all, I don’t play any instruments,” she replied. Of course, she had just told me that not too long ago. How could I have forgotten?! “Secondly, it would be nice to have someone who knows what they’re doing to help me,” she continued. “I’ve never recorded my own songs before. I wouldn’t even know where to start! Also, I thought it would be nice to have someone who can provide me with feedback throughout the process.”

“You want me to collaborate with you?” I asked her seriously. She replied back with a nod. Her expression was serious and confident.

I closed my eyes for a moment to process this. Haruto Saiki wants me to help her make a solo album. She’s the lead singer of one of the biggest bands and hottest acts in all of Shinjuku, but she wants to create a album all on her own. And she’s asking me to help with the process. What do I say in this situation? She doesn’t play any instruments, so it’s clear that I would provide the music to her vocal lines. I have some experience with music production since I had to produce all of my videos. Besides guitar, I can play bass and a little bit of piano. I can’t play the drums to save my life…but I do know a drummer.

After mulling through it in my mind, I reached a decision. “Alright,” I reluctantly said.

“Yippee!” cheered Saiki. She jumped up and down with joy. She then turned to me with a beaming smile and said, “That’s a promise!”

“So, what kind of album are you planning to make?” I asked her.

“I’ll show you tomorrow at school,” was her reply.

The next day, I was sitting at my desk like usual. It was the second break of the day. Haruto Saiki rushed into the room with a bunch of albums in her arms and stopped at my desk. She was breathing hard from running and letting out exhausted groans. My reaction: I simply leaned back from her with an ‘I thought I was going to get tackled and die!’ expression on my face.

She laid the albums on my desk and said, “Here!”

“Did you run all the way from your locker just to bring these?” I asked her with widened-eyes. She didn’t reply with any clear words, but from what I can make from her tired groans, I took them as a yes.

She held onto my desk as she caught her breath. After finally calming down, she turned to me with a smile and said, “Listen to these albums.” She then raised her hand in a salute and said, “That’s all. See you later!” And she zipped out of the classroom like a raging typhoon.

I was at a loss for words after seeing her leave like the wind. After blinking my eyes a few times to return myself back to reality, I turned my attention to the albums on my desk. There were twelve of them. Some of them I recognized, some of them I didn’t. I picked them up one at a time and examined them: Iron Rabbit’s ‘The Devils of Loudun’, HiSS’ “Rock Live” live album, SwordsXSunflowers’ “Glutton for Chaos”, Memory Hall’s “Pictures & Languages”, Metallic Silver’s self-titled, ABC40’s “1940m”, Band-Aid’s “World Conqueror”, Utae Hikari’s “Love Station”, Tokyo Symphonic Orchestra’s “Collection of Arias from ‘The Mystic Drum’ and Other Works”, Stefan Miyuki’s “Illuminated Past”, Mike Jason’s “Suspense”, and Morn’s “Chase the King”.

After going through them twice or so, I put them all in my bag. The albums were all different styles, which led me to think that perhaps she was going for a progressive and eclectic album. I thought a bit more about the different sounds each of the albums represent and how they could be weaved together to make sense. As impossible as it sounds, I’ve seen many people combine disparate sounds before and it can give rise to some interesting and seriously good music. Was this the direction that she wanted to go in?

A week had passed and I returned all of the albums back to Saiki. She gratefully received them back and asked, “So?”

“So?” I repeated back.

“What did you think about them?” she asked anxiously.

“They’re all really good,” I answered back honestly. “I mean, some of them I already knew, but it was still very enjoyable to hear them again. And the others were really interesting too. Are these the sounds you want to incorporate in your writing?”

“It’s more like they’re what I want to try to achieve,” she told me.

“Well, at least you have a starting point for developing your own album,” I said reassuringly. “Have you had any ideas for some songs yet?”

“I’ve had a few inklings,” she told me with a blush. “I’ve managed to jot down some melodies with a piano, but that’s all I’ve got.”

“I see.”

She turned towards the sun and held her hands behind her back. With a smile on her face, she lightly leaned forward on her tiptoes. The light from the sun illuminated her profile like a brilliant spotlight. I was more than amazed at what I was seeing. It was just like witnessing the presence of an angel right before my very eyes.

“Thank you,” she told me.

“Thank me for what?” I asked her breathlessly.

She turned her head towards me and put on a bigger smile than before. “Thank you for keeping your promise.”