Walk-out

With the Maps app on his phone open, Masaki arrived at the house of Chifumi, the band’s drummer. A regular suburban home, with one relevant unique feature. Attached to the house was a garage, the ideal place for band practice. When Masaki entered the house’s front yard, the garage door was opened and he could see the drummer girl hanging on an old couch that was sitting against the garage’s brick wall.

“Yoh, produwser”

She waved him to come inside.

“You war here early”

“Haruka is getting us some drinks”

Masaki sat down on an old wooden chair standing opposite the couch.

After sitting down, he took a closer look at the inside of the garage. Other than Chifumi’s blue drumkit and the aforementioned couch, the garage contained the usual stuff you would expect. Some cans of motor oil, an old kids' bike, and a few shelves filled with some random knickknacks.

Haruka appeared at the door leading to the house. She held a can of lemonade in one hand, and a couple of glasses in her other.

“Tsuchiya-san, you are here already…”

“I hope you like lemonade, brings you back to the past right?”

She blushed a bit as she put down the glasses.

“You didn’t bring cwookies?”

A sigh escaped from the laid-back Chifumi’s mouth.

“This is your house, why don’t you get some yourself?”

A slightly aggravated Haruka said.

She then looked at Masaki and her face turned a little red.

“I am sorry… eh… I’ll grab some”

Haruka quickly disappeared through the door again.

A smirk had formed on Chifumi’s face.

“It seems like you have a positive impact on her”

Masaki glimpsed at the drummer girl, not really knowing what to say. He felt a bit awkward, entering this group of friends as an outsider.

Haruka came back carrying a tin filled with choco-chip cookies.

“Please have one”

She said to Masaki while holding the tin before her.

Masaki grabbed one of the cookies and took a bite. He could feel the pieces of chocolate melting in his mouth. The taste was the right combination of sweet and savory.

“These are delicious, thank you Miyazaki-chan”

He said with a smile on his face.

“Chan? How cute!”

A voice coming from behind suddenly said.

Masaki turned around and looked at a smiling Ishihara-san, who had just entered through the garage door. She was wearing her guitar case on her back.

“Can you -chan me as well, Masaki-kun?”

“Please quit the teasing, Ishihara-san”

She giggled.

“Well, I’ll get you to eventually. Nice to see you all”

She put down the guitar against the wall and walked up to the cough.

Chifumi put her hand in the air.

As Akane walked past her, the girls looked each other in the eyes and exchanged a high-five.

Haruka, who had now finished pouring the drinks, and putting in straws handed the girls and Masaki a glass.

“Please have a drink?”

She then stood in the middle of the garage holding her drink.

Masaki looked around and noticed there were no more seats available.

Please sit here, he said as he stood up pointing at his chair.

She tried to protest.

“I can’t you are the producer and all..”

But Masaki wasn’t having that.

“We are all equally important… please have a seat, I look for something else”

“There is a foldabwle chair behind those oil cans”

Masaki walked over to the cans, moved them away, and grabbed the white foldable chair behind it. He folded it open and sat down.

“So, what do you usually do during band practice like this?”

“Swipping some lemonade”

“Trying to get Chifumi motivated to start…”

Haruka mumbled.

“We had a long day at school okay… I need some time to r..”

Chifumi interrupted her sentence by taking another sip of lemonade.

That is when Ishihara-san took the lead.

“Alright girls, I’ve some exciting news. I’ve finished writing the songs lyrics”

“Awesome!”

Haruka cheered, sparkles coming from her eyes.

“Yej”

Chifumi said, while slowly raising her arm about half the height she would be able to if she put in the energy.

For her standard, she looks excited.

“Today, we are showing Tsuchiya-san the arrangement we came up with…”

“...and I’ll sing you the lyrics”

She looked down at the ground.

She looks unusually nervous about those lyrics… let’s hope they are any good.

The members finished their lemonade and started preparing their instruments. Haruka and Akane unpacked theirs and started tuning.

Meanwhile, Chifumi was still stretching herself in front of the bench. She then slowly moved toward the drum set.

Masaki grabbed his notepad and prepared himself to make notes.

“You're making notes? It suddenly feels like an exam…”

Ishihara nervously chuckled.

She put the guitar strap around her neck and strum the first chord.

Akane turned around and looked at Chifumi, who just sat down behind the drumset.

“Sure”

“Haruka-chan? You're ready?”

“Absolutely!”

Chifumi started counting down.

“3…2…1…”

As soon as she started playing her usual slowness completely disappeared and was replaced with a wave of energy.

It truly something special, hearing this song Masaki spend so much of his time working on alone behind his computer being played by such a talented band like Maid in Melodies.

They played the intro in mostly the same way he sequenced on his computer, aside from some slightly different guitar licks.

Great to hear she isn’t afraid to add her own touches to it.

After a couple of intro bars, Ishihara-san opened her mouth and started belting out the first words. Masaki had trouble holding in his excitement, he finally got to hear the words of the song they had been working on for such a long time.

“The day…”

*Cough cough*

Ishihara-san’s face turned red like a tomato.

She turned around and waved the other band members to stop.

“Sorry, I… I messed up”

Her hands grabbed the can of lemonade, and she poured some more in her glass. Her hands shook a bit. A couple of drops fell on the ground.

“Okay, let’s start again”

She said, after which she swoop some sweat from her forehead.

“Are you okay, Ishihara-san?”

Haruka said, looking out for her friend.

“I am fine”

She turned to Chifumi.

“Please start counting down”

The three of them played the intro again, but this time it was different. Ishihara’s timing was off, and she looked down at the ground. The total opposite of how she portrayed herself in the concerts. This seemed like a totally different side of hers, one that she hadn’t shown Masaki ever before. Her usual stoic nature had made a place for a soft, vulnerable one.

Is she feeling insecure about the lyrics?

Once the band came to the point in the song where the lyrics began again, Ishihara-san's mouth stayed shut.

She stopped playing and turned around.

“I can’t do it…”

Akane then turned to Masaki again and they made eye contact briefly before she looked at the ground again.

“Masaki-kun… can you please turn around… and look at the wall?”

“I am feeling too self-conscious about these lyrics”

Masaki couldn’t think of anything but to agree with this unusual request.

“Don’t worry, whatever makes you the most comfortable”

He lay down the pen and notepad next to him on the floor, before rotating the foldable chair 180 degrees.

“Please start whenever you're ready”

Masaki said, now unable to see the band.

He heard Chifumi counting down, and the band started playing the song’s intro again. This time, Ishihara-san’s guitar playing sounded a bit more confident, but it was still a long shot from the flawless performances she was capable of.

Masaki could hear Ishihara-san take a deep breath, which she used to start singing the texts she came up with.

“The day you entered my field of view”

…

“A shade becoming brighter and brighter”

…

“A vision that faded into my life, a dream I will never let go off”

…

“You are my wonder, my flame of hope. The love I’ll never separate from.”

A love song?

Masaki’s heart made a jump.

When instructing her to sing about whatever she was feeling inside, he had never expected her to sing about love and relations and stuff.

I was being stupid, this is what teenage girls are all about after all...

Ishihara-san is no exception.

“You are the composer, that makes me write my songs”

As she continued singing, Masaki couldn’t help to shake the feeling.

She is writing about me, isn’t she?
It can’t be more obvious.

This is why I needed to turn around.

Masaki’s face turned red as well.

Is this a confession?

It is just a song… this is just some text.. it doesn’t mean anything.

But he failed miserably at hiding his feelings.

“You can turn… turn around again”

Masaki’s and Ishihara-sans eyes made contact. Both of their faces were blushing.

“So… so what did you think of it?”

“Good… good that will do…”

He was so distracted by the whole love thing, that he had been unable to formulate any critical thoughts in his head.

“No critiques?”

“Just keep practicing, I book us a studio slot”

The other two girls remind silent, they probably felt the tense atmosphere between the duo.

“I... I think I saw enough, I need to go”

Masaki grabbed his notepad and stuff and waved the girls goodbye.

“I mail you the studio location”

He sat while standing at the door.

He exhaled the fresh air, on his way to the metro stop. He stopped to take a breath.

What was happening?

The secret band leader, Ishihara-san. The popular girl at his school is always surrounded by a big posse of copycats.

That girl, had a crush on him?

Masaki’s head filled up with a thousand pictures of the two of them, together. Holding hands, visiting all kinds of places. Making music together.

His heart started beating faster and faster, and a strange feeling filled his stomach.

He couldn’t stop himself from randomly smiling.

Masaki looked up to the horizon, having finally realized something important about himself.

I am totally in love with her.