Heavy Metal Trip

Ah, the sun. The source of light and life on Earth. No one can deny the invigorated feeling of its healthy rays or the cozy warmth that motivates us to keep on living.

Ah, the sand. The soft, smooth, and silky sand. No one can deny how light it is on the feet with its cloud-like granules that slip in between your toes and softly pad your heels.

Ah, the sea. The majestic open body of water that calls out to the adventurous child within all of us. And who can forget about the cool sea breeze that provides us with relief from the sun’s constant warming rays?…

Why the hell am I here?! It wasn’t in my plans at all to go to the beach during Golden Week. I just wanted to spend my days playing my guitar and creating music, not out in the hot sun in my shorts! How did it get like this? I couldn’t understand it myself.

Yesterday, I received a message from Haruto Saiki to go somewhere together to get inspiration for her album. I thought she’d meant like a concert or a music shop! I had invited Ikki along as another rock music fan and musician since she said I could invite anyone I knew to help with ideas. It wasn’t until we were picked up by a black car that I knew something was up. I was about to call her back and decline her invitation when Ikki suddenly pulled me into the car and we were off. And that’s how I ended up here at the beach.

“Why am I here?” I asked aloud in a half-groan.

“Welcome to my vacation house!” announced Saiki.

“Vacation house?” asked Ikki with intrigue.

Saiki pointed to a large house atop a hill overlooking the beach. Ikki oohed and aahed like a little kid seeing a giant building for the very first time in his life. I mean, the house was pretty impressive, don’t get me wrong. Just by looking at it, I’d say that it was about the size of a large villa. It was two stories tall with paned windows and was blue and purple in color.

“So, why are we here?” I asked her irritatedly.

“Iomi, man,” said Ikki with a hard slap to my back, “when a girl invites you to her vacation home, it’s for one thing and one thing only.” I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He put on a large smile and energetically said, “It’s to have fun!” And he ran down to the shoreline whooping all the way.

‘That idiot,’ I groaned. I turned my attention back to Saiki and asked, “I thought you said that you wanted to get inspiration for your album.”

“I am!” she told me.

“What does the beach have anything to do with writing an album?” I retorted back.

“What doesn’t the beach have anything to do with writing an album?” she replied back smartly.

“Sheesh, she already invited you,” came another voice walking up to us. I glowered at the new arrivals. Two girls, classmates of mine I’m afraid, approached us in swimsuits. They were also Haruto Saiki’s best friends and members of her school clique. The first girl, also the speaker of that last comment, was Koba Fumi. She’s Saiki’s best friend and they hang out together all the time at school. She was a tall girl almost approaching my height and had wavy orange-brown hair. Her eyes were like chocolate throwing stones, which fits the way she constantly throws glares to anyone else she thinks she's too good for. She’s known to possess quite a prickly personality. She had a nice figure, probably even more curvaceous than Saiki’s, as noted by many of the other boys and girls at school, though it’s not like it does anything for me. And right now, dressed in a purple two-piece, I can see that it was true.

The second girl was Tanno Haruka. Based on what I heard, she goes by the nickname Taka. She's another one of Saiki’s close friends, though I’ve also seen her hang out with other cliques before too. If there was one word to describe Taka, it’s ‘baka’. As in, she’s a complete airhead. She constantly spaces out during class and comes up with non sequiturs as if she was part of some kind of comedy act! I don’t know if she’s a total idiot, intelligence-wise that is, but the way she is completely out of it and acts with the attention-span of a child gives credence to this assumption more than not. Anyway, she was a shorter girl with short dark-brown hair in a bob and a small mole over her left eye. She was also quite curvy, though most of it is focused around her bottom half. She was also dressed in a two-piece, though hers was yellow with black stripes.

“Well, I didn’t ask to come here,” I replied back to Koba Fumi.

“Hmph, is the sun too much for your pasty skin?” she insulted with a haughty smile. I was about to say something back when she turned to Saiki. “Haru, why did you invite this guy anyway?” Fumi asked her friend. “He’s just a gloomy loner.”

“That’s a secret,” Saiki told her friend with an innocent smile.

Fumi turned back to me with a glare and said, “You better not hurt her. If you do, I’ll tear you apart till nothing is left.”

I gulped and nodded my head. I was never good with threats, and the way that she had said it was beyond the most hostile of threats I have ever received in my entire life. I could hear the intention behind each and every word. No matter how much I didn’t like her, I can tell you right now that I am certainly scared of Koba Fumi.

“Ah, it’s Giovanni!” blurted out Taka in her typical airheaded fashion.

“It’s Shiomi!” I yelled back.

Fumi let out a groan and facepalmed. “Let’s go,” she said as she led Taka by the hand towards the shore.

“See you later Kani (crab)!” shouted Taka with a wave.

“I am not a crab!” I yelled back in frustration. I had never met someone who’s ability to get my name wrong is on the scale of impossible universal stupidity in my entire life! I mean, how close does Kani sound like Shiomi?! That’s madness!

“Well, let’s get going, Jiomi,” said Saiki.

“Like I said, it’s Shiomi,” I said through gritted teeth.

“I know,” she replied with a giggle. And she took off for the shore.

An umbrella had already been set up and I sat on the towel that was laid out on the sand. Everyone else were having fun splashing in the waves and soaking in the sun. I, on the other hand, wished to be back home in my room with my music and guitars. This wasn’t fun at all. Is this how normies enjoy themselves? I can’t see myself partaking in the same carefree fun as they do. I actually have important matters to attend to, I have no time for this!

“You’re here at the beach and sulking instead of going out to play,” came a voice from above me. “Oh, what a waste of youth.”

I turned to the owner of the voice and almost doubled over from surprise. “What are you doing here?!” I asked in bewilderment.

Dressed in a rather scandalous one-piece suit with her arms across her chest was Moriuchi Jun, the owner of KABANG! She had her hair tied up in a ponytail this time. “I was invited by Saiki,” she told me. “This is thanks for me allowing you both to use KABANG!’s basement studio for your project.”

I had almost forgotten about that. In addition to being a live house with a bar, KABANG! also houses a mini recording studio in the basement. It had been there ever since the establishment’s inception and was used by many of its local acts, many of which are now hugely successful locally and beyond. I had only learned of it from Ikki a few months ago when he told me that his band was using the studio to record a demo. I had suggested it to Saiki when she told me that she didn’t have a place to record. The studio that her band normally uses is a university facility, which was out of the question since we don’t have access to it without her bandmates. And so, we’ve been using KABANG!'s recording studio as our workspace for the album.

“Thank you,” I told her. She looked at me with disappointment and it irked me. “W-W-What?” I asked.

She sighed and took a seat next to me. “Are you planning on doing this forever?” she asked me.

“Doing what?” I asked almost frustratedly.

“Being alone,” she said.

“I’m not alone, I have Ikki,” I told her.

“Do you really wanna have that as your only friend?” she asked, pointing a finger at Ikki who was chasing after a crab before having the tables turned on him and running away from a group of angry crabs. I cringed while watching him and understood what she meant by that statement. “How about Haruto Saiki?” she asked me.

“What about her?”

“Would you consider her your friend too?”

I looked away and said in a quiet voice, “Sure.”

“Sorry?” came Juri. Judging by her voice, I was certain that she had heard me and was only asking to tease me.

“T-T-That’s what she said,” I told her quickly.

“I see,” said Juri with a smile. “I guess I shouldn’t worry too much about you becoming a NEET musician.”

“NEET?! Is that what you thought of me?!” I shouted offendedly.

“Anyway, let’s go have some fun!” she cheered, clearly dodging the question. She quickly got up and ran down to the shore.

“Hey!” called Saiki. She ran up to me and said, “Come on, we’re playing volleyball on the beach.”

“I’m fine,” I told her, making sure that my disinterest was obvious.

“Come on,” she said, and she grabbed my hand and dragged me after her. I was caught by surprise and let myself be in her total control. She laughed with an exuberant smile on her face as she led me down the beach. I saw the sun frame her face like a halo and my breath was taken away. She had on a green two-piece and it glittered in the sunlight. Her hair swayed brilliantly with the cool sea breeze. Her skin never looked more purer against the beautiful blue sea behind her. It was clear that the being before me was not a simple human; she was an angel.

We stopped just a few feet away from the shoreline and met up with the others. All the while, I had my eyes glued to her. Saiki noticed my gaze and asked with a smile, “Do you like it?”

That question caught me off guard. “Like what?” I asked back with flustered cheeks.

“My swimsuit,” she clarified. “I haven’t asked your opinion yet when we came here.”

I looked at her swimsuit. It fit her pretty well and accentuated her figure perfectly. In fact, it was really cute. But I couldn’t tell her that, now, can I? It would give rise to misunderstandings—something I would like to avoid. Just the thought of it was enough to make me blush a little and I averted my eyes from her. “I-It looks fine,” I told her.

“Just fine?” she asked in an almost teasing way. I answered with a stiff nod. “Hmm, I see,” she said nonchalantly. “Oh well, let’s go play.” And she immediately called everyone over.

We played 3v3 beach volleyball with me, Ikki, and Juri on a team vs Saiki and her two friends. Now, I wasn’t the most athletic guy. I’m not strong, my stamina is laughable, and my endurance is quick to crumble. The only thing I got going for me in terms of athletic ability is my speed and reflexes. And even those aren’t that different from the average teenage boy. I’m quick enough to react accordingly and I can smoke about a quarter of the guys in my P.E. class, but those achievements aren’t really noteworthy considering that P.E. is the only class that I am barely passing with the minimum grade. With that in mind, our team lost to Saiki’s team 2-7. It didn’t help that Saiki and Fumi were pretty athletic themselves.

After volleyball, Saiki brought out a watermelon and we played the watermelon splitting game. Ikki went first and he walked far away from the watermelon with the bat in hand after the game had started. He came upon the same group of crabs from before and angered them once again with his attempt to “split the watermelon”. You can guess what happened next. Fumi went next and she got pretty close to the target. Taka’s turn found her going all the way to into the sea. Saiki went after her and she was walking in the general direction of the watermelon, but missed the mark by a good four feet. Juri went crazy with her turn and…yeah, that’s all I have to say about that. (Now I know what people who have had near-death experiences feel like). And then it was my turn. I only went last because, well, frankly, I didn’t even want to participate in the first place. But Saiki, Ikki, and Juri kept on pushing me to take part in the fun and I reluctantly gave in. I put on the blindfold and they spun me around three times. Once I came to a stop, my turn to locate the watermelon has started. I casually walked forward and used the bat to help sense where watermelon was. I went left and right, forward and back, here and there—suffice it to say, I was plenty annoyed with this stupid game. And just when I was about to give up, I felt the bat touch something hard. I gave it a few taps and could hear a hollow sound echo from in front of me. ‘This must be it,’ I concluded. I lifted the bat and brought it down hard on the object. I heard a loud crack and it shook me. ‘What did I just hit?!’ I wondered fearfully. I lifted my blindfold to see what it was.

There, smashed into five clean pieces, was the watermelon. The sounds of cheering and wild applause caught my ears and I quickly turned my head to see Saiki and the others congratulating on my victory. I couldn’t believe it. I actually split the watermelon. I actually won at a normie game. The realization drew a smile from me and I felt a warm feeling wash over me. I had never felt like this before! Am I actually happy that I won? Did I actually enjoy playing this game after all? Yes, yes, yes! Mania was quick to settle in me and I let out a victorious whoop, something that was uncharacteristic of me and that I didn’t know I was even capable of! Was this what being a normie means? If so, then I must’ve been wrong in my perception of them…. Maybe.

For dinner, we ate at the villa. Saiki had prepared for us a very exquisite Japanese meal. I had never seen so many colorful and expensive dishes in the same room and on the same table before in my entire life. Were we being catered by some five-star restaurant we didn’t know about? I couldn’t help but feel like I didn’t deserve any of it. But Saiki’s insistence on eating the dishes she had prepared for us helped to dissolve many of the doubts I had. I was grateful for her kindness. And I was also grateful for the food. The meal was excellent and topnotch.

Nighttime arrived and everyone gathered on the front porch. The stars were out and twinkling brilliantly in the night sky like a school of sparkling fishes in the open sea. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have my breath taken away by such a beautiful sight. Everyone else was also gazing up at the clear night sky and taking in the the beautiful sight too.

“The stars are really pretty tonight,” said Saiki next to me.

“Yup,” I agreed.

“I envy the stars above and how they shine so bright. That’s how I want to live my life. Be in the moment and live for a second. But my light will still shine for years to come,” she sang in a quiet voice so only the both of us could hear. The lyrics were from ‘Rock Star God’, a song by the British band Voodoo Pieces. It fit the moment perfectly. But judging by her choice of song, I could tell that it also had a specific meaning for her too.

“So, did you get the inspiration you needed?” I asked her.

“Yup,” she happily answered back.

“I’m not sure what kind of inspiration you were looking for, but it’s good that you found it,” I told her. I turned to her and leaned my elbow against the porch’s railing. “Ready to get some writing done once we get back?”

“I’ll have you know that I was writing the whole time while we were here,” she told me with a sly smile.

“You’re lying,” I said in disbelief.

“No, really,” she asserted. She took my hand and led me back inside the villa. She then rushed upstairs and brought back a stack of paper. “During the break between the beach and dinnertime, I wrote everything that came to mind from our experiences,” she told me.

Now that I think about, during that little break in between, while I was cooling off with the others in the main room, I didn’t see Haruto Saiki with us at all. She had just disappeared on us until dinnertime. I hadn’t given it much thought then since I was too tired from playing out in the sun.

She handed me the papers and I looked through them. Scribbled in neat and girly characters on both sides of the stack were lyrics and storylines and song synopses. There were also written melodies and chord drafts and what I think were harmony ideas. I now want to take back everything I had said about this trip. I couldn’t believe how beneficial it really was for Saiki’s writing.

I read over some of the lyrics and they made me smile. ‘Finding yourself is like playing a game. Follow your heart to the end goal. Once you split your demons apart, inside you will find the prize you are looking for’; ‘You are not alone in this fight. We will stand tall together as a team. Even when the odds are against us, our different gifts put together will let us win in the end’; ‘Sometimes a breather is all we need. Let’s get away from everything that’s messing with our heads. We want to feel the sun on our faces and the freedom that being in the sand brings’; ‘Being at the top is a lonely desire. I’d rather be with my friends. Happiness may be subjective, but I will never be happy alone.’

Judging from these lyrics, I could tell where she got the inspiration from. “These are really good,” I told her honestly.

“But they’re not perfect yet,” she said. “They’re more like a brain dump. I still need to revise them and make them perfect.”

“At least you’re off to a great start,” I offered.

“I think I can get them revised by the next two days,” she told me. “By the way, have you—?”

“Worked on the music?” I interrupted her. I simply answered with a nod. “I came up with some riffs and chord progressions and melodies,” I said. “I can show them to you once we get back into the studio.”

“That’ll be perfect!” agreed Saiki with a nod.

“But these lyrics are pretty good for first drafts,” I said in all honesty. “Especially this one.” And I pointed on the paper to show her which one I meant.

“Which one?” she asked as she leaned in close to see where I was pointing.

Her body brushed up against me and her hand grabbed mine in order to get a better view of the paper given our slight difference in height. I could feel her warmth rubbing off on me and a sweet scent entering my nose. My heart was beating really fast and my face reddened. To tell you the truth, this was the closest I’ve ever gotten with a girl in my entire life! Okay, maybe that was a bit exaggerated, but ever since my first year in middle-school for sure. I won’t go into anymore detail; that’s a story for another time.

“Ah, that one,” she excitingly said once she saw which one I was referring to. “I actually like it too. The lyrics just came to me one day and….” She had turned to me with a smile as she was telling me the story behind the lyrics when our eyes met and she suddenly stopped. The distance between our faces was very dangerously close and we both held our breaths. It felt as if we were both frozen in time.

Suddenly, the door opened and Fumi entered the room. That shocked us right back to reality and we dropped the papers onto the floor. Realizing what happened, we both quickly bent down to pick it up all up.

“What are you both doing?” asked Fumi.

“Nothing!” Saiki and I said in unplanned unison.