Worries

Standing in front of the door to Masaki’s house stood Chifumi Nagamatsu, the blue-haired drummer of Maid in Melodies. Her big eyes were staring into Masaki’s as she told him her worries about Ishihara-san.

“She keeps saying she will write lyrics for the new song, but never seems to make any progress.”

“Distuwakted, or how do you say that?”

“Something has been bugging her mind - but we can not figure it out.”

It had been a while since Masaki tasked her to write the words to the song he produced. Since she already proved her ability before, writing the acoustic song during the concert, he thought it wouldn’t have been too much to ask for her. But since she seemed to be struggling a lot with it, Masaki had to come up with a plan to help her.

“Thank you for talking to me Nagamatsu-san, I’ll call Ishihara-san to discuss this matter with her.”

Masaki searched his pocket - and found a business card which he handed to the girl.

“If any issues arrive in the future, feel free to call me.”

She slowly reached for the card, stared at it for what seemed like ages, and then put it away in her bag.

“Coooool”

She said, after which she continued to stand there - motionless.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Mmmm…”

She looked up at the sky, her hand rubbing against her chin.

“Ahhh!”

She exclaimed after thinking for a while.

“I am stwarving, do you have a cookie or two?”

This girl is really something…

“Let me take a look in the kitchen.”

Masaki re-entered the house and put his head into one of the cupboards in order to search for the cookie tin.

Bingo!

He reached for the tin and pulled his head out. He turned and suddenly looked into the big staring eyes of the drummer girl.

“Why did you get in…”

Masaki sighed.

“Here, please pick a cookie you like.”

Her eyes glided over all the cookies numerous times - after which she finally made a decision.

“Can I have that one?”

Her finger pointed at one of the cookies.

“Please, have it”

Sparkles appeared in her eyes - just before she took a big bit into it.

“Twhank you a lot, mwaster!”

She said with her mouth full.

Master????

“Please call me Tsuchiya-san”

A slight grin formed on her face.

“Maaaybee”

After which she just continued to stand in the doorway of the kitchen.

“I have to continue working on my tracks, Nagamatsu-san”

Masaki tried to sign he wanted her to leave. But she didn’t move, only nodded.

“Can I pass through the door?”

She moved to the side, still standing in the kitchen.

Masaki sighed.

She doesn’t seem to understand.

“Is there anything I can help you with - otherwise you are free to go home.”

She took a couple of seconds to think.

“No, I think there isn’t anything.”

“So you may leave”

“Ahhh”

It was as if a lightbulb went on in her head.

“Let me walk you to the door”

“Thank you for everything, mwaster!”

She said as she left the house.

“Please don’t call me that”

The girl left through the front yard gate.

X

When Masaki entered the house again, he could see his mom standing on the stairs. She looked at him with a bit of a surprised look.

“Who was that girl in our house sweety?”

“Was that - your girlfriend?”

Oh crap, she must have seen her.

“Just a girl from the band I am working with”

His mom chuckled.

“You didn’t tell me there were such attractive girls in that band.”

Attractive? I guess she is.

During the performances he saw, he hadn’t paid much attention to her appearance. Her hair had a really cute cut and her eyes were really big. He couldn’t deny he found her to be quite attractive, but her looks paled in comparison to their bandleader, Ishihara-san. She definitely is the one that stole the show. Anyways, their looks didn’t matter since Masaki had to stay professional.

“Don’t say stuff like that Mom, this is strictly a business relationship”

His mom continued to walk down the stairs.

“I was just a little surprised, I have seen you with a girl - ever”

Masaki passed his mom and went upstairs to his bedroom. He grabbed his phone and searched for Ishihara-san’s number. When he saw the letters forming her name in his contact list, his heart started beating faster.

Something about her, makes me feel -

A little anxious but also a little -

Excited

Masaki hit the call button and moved the phone to his ear.

“Hi, Ishihara speaking”

“Hello, Tsuchiya production here”

A brief silence followed after which Akane responded.

“Did I ever give you my number?”

Masaki ignored her statement and started talking.

“Have you made any progress on the song's lyrics?”

But Ishihara-san ignored his question.

“Mmm, I guess Chifumi must have talked to you.”

“What did you think of her? She’s cute right?”

Her too…

“But not as cute as me, right?”

“Excuse me, I called you to talk about a business matter”

Ishihara-san giggled.

“You can’t ever have fun - can’t you?”

“You still didn’t tell me who you find cuter”

Masaki sighed.

“Let’s make a deal. I tell you who I find more attractive after you finish the lyrics”

He could hear Akane think.

“Well, I’d better finish them, right?”

“Thank you for calling me Masaki-kun”

She said, before hanging up the phone.

That conversation didn’t feel that productive.

Masaki had little confidence in Ishihara-san finishing the lyrics anytime soon.

X

The next day, Masaki and Kazuki were hanging around town after school. The two of them were sitting on a spring rocker in a park, looking a bit bored at each other. Masaki still hadn’t heard back from Ishihara-san, something that had started to annoy him. He had to find a way to stimulate her to finish the lyrics, but couldn’t come up with anything. Now that he and Kazuki were alone, away from anyone from school eavesdropping, this might be a good moment to ask his friend for some advice.

“There is something I’d like to tell you Kazuki.”

“You can tell me everything Masaki, I am all ears!”

His friend seemed rather excited.

“Remember I was working on a track in the schoolyard the other day?”

“I am helping my dad with producing some tracks for a band”

Kazuki looked really excited.

“Woh! That’s so cool Masaki”

“What is this band called?”

Masaki was afraid he was going to ask about that, but he didn’t want to give the band's name away. He had to avoid him finding out he was working with Ishihara-san at any cost. The was a bit embarrassed about the band's name as well, so that helped as well. He couldn’t be seen as some maid-loving freak, his friend would keep teasing him about that forever.

“They haven’t picked a name yet”

Kazuki started glimpsing.

“What about the Broke Bonobos or the Gross Gorillas?”

Masaki chuckled.

“I’ll tell them your ideas, but that was not really why I told you about this.”

“I asked the singer to create lyrics for the song I produced, but sh- is clearly struggling to come up with them. I don’t know how to help them - I need something to stimulate their creativity”

“Mmm…”

Kazuki took some time to think.

“What about doing some fun activity with the band members - to get a feel of what they like”

Doing a fun activity with Maid in Melodie's members sounded like a good time. That way he could wear off their guard a bit and get to know their interests. That might inform the type of lyrics they needed to go for. Meeting all the band members together before going into the studio might also be a good idea.

“Thank you a lot Kazuki, that’s a really good idea”

“Do you have any ideas what activities we might do?”

“Jet-skiing, paintballing, snowboarding, going to an arcade”

Masaki sighed.

“Those just sound like things you’d like to do, Kazuki”

“I am sorry pal, but you're not going to be invited”

Kazuki rubbed his head, he chuckled.

“Too bad, I was already looking forward to it…”

X

After getting home, Masaki called Ishihara again to invite her to an activity.

“Hello, Ishihara-san, I like to invite you to get lunch this weekend.”

“Lunch? You ask me out for a date? How brave of you…”

Masaki tried his best to correct himself.

“I didn’t mean just us, I meant with all the members of the band.”

“Ah, I see - “

“You don’t want to go on a date with me”

“Well that was not what I said”

But Akane continued with the teasing.

“So you want to go on a date? Just like the last time at the elderly home”

“Please reconsider the type of location you take a lady”

Masaki sighed.

“We are not going on a date, this is a business-only activity with you and the other 2 members.”

“Can you make sure to invite the other girls to -”

Masaki explained the details about the activity location.

“Alright, I’ll do it”

“What clothes should we wear? Will you be wearing a suit?”

“Just something casual”

Masaki said his goodbyes and hung up the phone.