Heavy Metal Advice

I couldn’t believe why I didn’t realize it before. I love Haruto Saiki! This is what my heart is telling me! As I thought about this, my heart rate began to increase and sweat began to form around my neck. But I couldn’t deny it anymore. When I asked myself over and over whether or not I truly love her, I always came back with the same answer: yes. And this wasn’t some infatuation or anything of that nature either—I truly, wholeheartedly, love Haruto Saiki. Not as a friend or a sister or a classmate, but as a significant other. Whoa, wait a minute! Am I sure that this isn’t just some crush? Hell no, this isn’t some crush! I love Haruto Saiki!

Okay, so I’m definitely confident that I love her. But now the other question remains: does she love me? Well, that might be stretching things a bit. Maybe I should just start with something a little smaller like: “Does she like me?”; “Will she accept my feelings?”; “How will she respond if I confess?”

Wait, confession…. Should I confess to her? Can I do it? Should I do it? Is this really the best thing to do? Will this ruin our relationship?… Well, it’s not like we can even have a relationship right now. So what if I finally reached this conclusion? It’s not like I can do anything about it. Besides, I’m pretty sure that if our relationship had stayed the same as it was back then, she would’ve still rejected my confession anyway. I’m certain that she only ever saw me as a friend.

After a few minutes of thinking about this, not that it would do much anyway, I decided to go to bed.

I woke up the next day refreshed and energetic. Having released that song really helped me with my own release. I got myself ready and headed downstairs for breakfast. When I stepped into the kitchen, my mother told me that my uncle would be visiting today. Hearing that news lit a fire inside of me. My uncle is one of the coolest guys that I know and I have major respect for him! He only ever visits whenever he has time.

If you must know, my uncle is a professional musician and he currently works as a session guitarist and producer for one of the biggest labels in the entire music industry! But in his younger years, he was the lead guitarist for one of my most favorite bands in the entire world: GrEy. He founded the band with a few childhood friends and they rose up to be one of Japan’s premier bands, and eventually grew to become a global household name! They were leaders in the global rock and metal scene, helping to pioneer the Japanese heavy metal, power metal, alternative metal, and hard rock scenes. They have fans worldwide and are still continuing to this day, albeit with a slight lineup change. My uncle left the band amicably to pursue other interests and became a household name himself.

But my admiration for my uncle goes a little bit deeper. My uncle was the one who actually began me on my musical journey. He introduced me to the wonderful world of music, especially that of rock and metal. It was through him that I discovered my favorite bands. He was also the one who started me on guitar. I had always been impressed with his success and his prowess as a guitar player. When he learned that I wanted to play too, he bought me my first guitar and taught me how to play! I owe a lot of my current musical successes to my uncle.

That day at school, the only thing I could think about was my uncle’s arrival. Nothing else was on my mind. Nothing else! And then, during lunchtime, I stumbled upon Haruto Saiki. I was cleaning myself up in the restroom and was coming back out when I almost bumped into her. We didn’t say anything and she had her face lowered to avoid meeting my eyes. Seeing her here right in front of me by herself suddenly brought back the other thought that had been on my mind the day before. My heart was beating very fast as the thought entered my head.

“Uh-er-um…,” I muttered. Saiki gently bowed her head and then promptly walked straight into the ladies room without a word. I stood there for a moment, collecting my thoughts and calming down my heart. I then quickly made my way back to the classroom.

After lunch, we had study hall and the class decided to use this time to discuss more about the historic cosplay café we were doing for the school festival. To be honest, I couldn’t care less about it. But there was nothing better to do, so I listened to the discussion with my face leaning on my desk.

The class talked about things like setting up a menu, food prices, the café design—the usual stuff. I didn’t participate in the discussion except for listening with my undivided (not that I really wanted to) attention. In the end, they decided on decorating the classroom to depict a hodgepodge of different eras, the menu would consist of typical café items such as omurice and hamburger steak, and the prices would be within the range of 300-1550 yen (about $2.00-$10.60 USD).

“I’m going to help decorate the 20th Century portion of the classroom,” said Ikki as he, Ai, and I were walking home together after school. “I got this great idea about adding some references to the music of that time period.”

“That sounds cool,” I said, trying to sound interested in the conversation.

“Do you know what you’re going to dress up as?” asked Ai.

“Not a clue,” I told her.

“How about we dress up together?” suggested Ikki.

“Not a chance!” I quickly objected. “Anyway” I said, turning my attention back to Ai, “what’s your class going to do for the festival?”

“We’re doing a haunted house,” she told me. “I’m going to be a cursed musician,” she added in a spooky voice.

“So you’re going to be yourself?” asked Ikki with a dumb smile. As expected, Ai slapped him from behind his head without any mercy. Even I knew that that was going a little too far.

We turned the corner to my house and I saw my uncle’s silver car parked in the driveway. My eyes immediately lit up as I saw him get out of the car. “Hey, isn’t that your uncle?” said Ikki.

I quickly ran out to him without another thought. “Uncle Shu!” I cried joyfully.

My uncle turned his head and welcomed me with the gentlest smile. “Good to see you, kid,” he said with a laugh.

“Uncle Shu, where did you come from?” I asked him curiously.

“I just got back from the U.K.,” he told me. “You got my postcard, didn’t you?”

“No, not yet,” I said.

“You didn’t?” He thought about it for a moment and then walked to his car. He opened the passenger side and took something from the glove compartment—it was the very postcard that he had meant to send me. “I knew I forgot something that day,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Did you come back from recording an album?” I asked.

“One of the label’s bands was recording an album in the U.K., and they chose me to produce it for them,” he told me.

“That’s so cool!” I told him.

“Hey, you just left us back there,” said Ikki, who had by now joined me with Ai.

“Ikki, is that you?” asked my uncle.

“It’s your little punk boy from Shinjuku,” said Ikki with a haughty smile.

“How’s your band?”

“We just released our new album last month!” Ikki told him. “It’s called “Sashimi And Rice Makes Everything Nice”!”

“Very punky,” said my uncle with an approving nod of his head. He then turned to Ai and asked, “And who is this?”

“Nitta Ai, nice to meet you, sir,” said Ai with a respectful bow of her head.

“Ah, nice to meet you to,” said my uncle, returning her bow. “I’m Shiomi Shu.”

That’s right, his name is Shiomi Shu. He is my father’s younger brother. He is also my idol. I know that I’ve sung my many praises about my uncle already, so I’m not going to annoy you anymore with them…. I’ll try my best. Uncle Shu is a bit on the short side but has a very fit and lean frame. He has shoulder-length black hair and twinkling honey-brown eyes. And he always wears a content smile no matter how bad his situation is. But don’t take that to mean that he’s stupidly carefree or incapable of being mature. My uncle can be as critical and imposing as he is open-minded and calm.

We wrapped our greeting session and I quickly moved to help my uncle with his things. I took his suitcases to his room and gently placed his guitar on the living room couch. My uncle came into the house and settled in. We said farewell to Ikki and Ai and then my uncle and I were alone together.

“How’s school?” asked Uncle Shu.

“It’s going well,” I replied back happily.

“Made any friends?”

“Yup!”

“How about a girlfriend?”

“Why did you have to bring that up?” I asked back with a groan.

My uncle laughed and I joined in. “But you seriously don’t have a girlfriend yet? You’re a second-year high school student now, for goodness sakes.”

“Well, I guess I’m just not that good looking,” I joked.

“Oh please,” scoffed my uncle. “You know, your dad used to be very unpopular with the girls too. They were all afraid of him because of how his eyes looked. But one day, he helped your mom when she fell down a flight of stairs. They’ve been together ever since.”

“I know,” I told him. I’ve heard that story many times already. Unlike my father, who used to be a loner like me because of the features we shared, my uncle was the popular one. His musical abilities were present from an early age and I’ve heard that everyone, guys and girls alike, would line up to hear him play. And he wasn’t bad-looking either! My dad always used to say that we (he and I) got our eyes from my paternal grandmother. But my uncle got his looks from my paternal grandfather. After seeing an old photograph of my paternal grandparents, I understood what he meant. However, despite having the talent and the looks, my uncle, at least to my knowledge, never had a romantic affair before. I’ve never seen him brought home girlfriends, talk about significant others, or heard stories about his love life. “How about you, Uncle Shu?” I asked him.

“What about me?” he asked back.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” I asked him candidly.

My uncle walked over to his guitar and took it out of his case. “She’s right here,” he said with a smile.

“Come on, you got the looks and the talent, and your personality is very refreshing too,” I told him.

“Eh, I don’t think I’m up for that romantic crap,” he said frankly.

“Have you ever…loved someone before?” I found myself asking.

Uncle Shu was a little taken aback by that question from me and blinked a few times to himself. I guess he could hear it in my tone, because right after he stopped blinking, he asked me, “Are you okay?”

It took five seconds of silence between us before I started telling him everything. I’ve always been an introvert and kept my emotions to myself for the most part. But whenever I’m with my uncle, I always feel fine spilling my guts to him. I trust him. And so I told him the entire story from start to finish, unfiltered and unabridged. My uncle really listened to my story and I could see it in his eyes. Once I was done, I got out my phone and played him the album I wrote with Haruto Saiki. And then I played him the song I wrote the day before. When I was done with telling him everything, I took a seat right across from him.

“I’ve never thought I would ever hear that name again,” finally said my uncle after some silence.

“Whose name?” I asked.

“Haruto Ichiko,” he said. “I see that she and Haruto Yukio really got married.”

“You know her?” I asked in surprise.

“Know her? We went to school together!” he revealed with a laugh. “Back then, she was Takami Ichiko, an up-and-coming dancer from the esteemed Takami family. The Takami family and the Haruto family have a long history together, so it would make sense that the heirs from both families would eventually marry and strengthen their ties.” He turned to me and continued. “I’ve heard that she after marrying Haruto Yukio, she became a professional singer. It was his influence that made her choose that profession, you know. I mean, she always had a very amazing voice. But Yukio was really the one that motivated her to become a singer.”

“You talk like you know them very well,” I said.

“We were in the same class,” he told me with a nostalgic smile. “I still remember it like it was yesterday. Haruto Yukio came from a very prestigious family and had fans in every grade. He was handsome and smart, but that didn’t stop him from being a prissy little Mr-Know-It-All with the ego to match that giant forehead of his.” I laughed a little bit at my uncle’s descriptions, but I guess that was what he was going for. “On the other hand,” he continued, “I came from a very modest background, though many people were already aware of my “prodigy” status. That, and the fact that I was the little brother of a scary vampire one grade above me who scares everyone he comes into contact with. But I like to say that I was fairly handsome and had the muscle tone of a Hong Kong movie star.”

“Really?” I said with a chuckle.

“Now, Takami Ichiko was the school’s own fairy queen,” he said.

“I find that hard to believe,” I commented with a roll of my eyes.

“Oh, but it’s true,” contended my uncle. ”She was light on her feet and carried herself gracefully. There wasn’t a guy I knew that hadn’t dreamed of…maybe I’ll save this part for when you’re older, heh heh. Anyway, she was a little cold to other people, but she was nice whenever she had to be.” He stopped a bit and smiled. “Can you believe it that the three of us used to hang out together? Me, a handsome guitar prodigy from a middle class family, hanging out with two heirs from two of Japan’s most elite families?”

“That is a little hard to believe,” I said with a little laugh.

“But it’s true!” he asserted. “You see, Yukio and I bonded over music. And though we had different tastes, we had massive respect for each other. He was impressed by my guitar skills and acknowledged me as a real musician, and I really liked his music sense and the fact that he came from a loaded family. Ichiko and Yukio had already known each for a long time—they were childhood friends. I first met her when she called my playing crap during an outdoors performance I gave after school one day. And the rest is history.”

“So are you going to speak to Haruto Ichiko to help smooth things over since you both used to hang out together in high school?” I asked him sarcastically.

“Oh no,” he protested with a comedic shake of his head. “She’s one spicy woman that I wouldn’t want to mess with ever again.”

I smiled sadly to myself. I guess I was actually half-expecting him to say yes and help me work this problem out. But I knew that I was being selfish for thinking that.

Uncle Shu had apparently noticed my expression and let out a small sigh. “You wanna hear a story?” he asked.

“What story?”

“You asked me if I had ever loved someone before, right?” he said. “Now, I had never loved anyone before in my entire life, but I did have a brush with romance once.”

“Really?” I asked, a little more intrigued than how I would typically be.

“It was in high school,” he began. “One day, I received a love letter from someone I knew. To be honest, I hadn’t expected me to be the one that she actually liked. But I accepted their invitation to meet them on the rooftop. We had fun talking with each other like we were old friends. And we shared the same passion for music too. And in case you’re getting the wrong idea, no, this is not my friend Yukio who I’m talking about here. It was a girl. She was beautiful and funny and had the cutest laugh I had ever heard before in my life. She could sing, too. I could listen to her sing for hours and hours. But when it came time to the confession, I had to reject her. I told you before that I had never once thought about romance and I don’t think I’m the kind of guy for that kind of stuff. I told her that my passion and love is for one thing and one thing only: music. She was distraught, and rightfully so. But what can I do? She didn’t come to school the next day or the day after that. But when she finally got over it, I saw her pursuing another romance. The new romance she had was more perfect than something she could ever have with a guy like me.”

I listened to his story and felt sorry for the girl. It was unfair for her to have her heart broken like that. But I also understood where my uncle was coming from. My uncle was an honest man who always put others before himself and music before others. He truly cared for her feelings and knew that she would be happier with someone other than himself. “So are you telling me to move on?” I asked him.

“I’m telling you to don’t give up,” he corrected. “Moving on is one way of doing it, but it’s not for everyone. It was the right way for her. But for you, it’s for you to decide.”

“Don’t give up,” I repeated to myself.

“Who is Haruto Saiki to you?” he asked me.

“She’s someone who understands me,” I replied. “And I understand her.”

“Are you willing to do anything to get her back?” he continued.

“Yes,” I confidently answered without hesitation.

“Now, for the clincher,” said Uncle Shu with a smile. “Do you love Haruto Saiki?”

“I do,” I answered with conviction. “But how could I do it?” I asked him.

“You got to find what’s right for you,” he told me. “There are a million ways of how you can solve this problem of yours. You just got to figure that out for yourself. But no matter what, don’t give up.” He strapped his guitar on and plugged it into the portable amp he brought with him. He turned it on and began to play. And as he did, he sang the following lyrics: “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.”

This was the same GrEy song that I played for Saiki the first time she came over to my house. She sang these same exact lyrics that day. Hearing my uncle sing them made me smile.

Suddenly, my phone rang and I went to pick it up. It was Ikki. “Hey, Iomi!” he said loudly through the phone.

“You’re being too loud!” I yelled back at him.

“Heh heh, my bad,” he said with a stupid giggle. “Anyway, guess what?”

“What?” I replied back with a groan.

“This weekend, Shibuya is hosting a rock festival! It’s called ‘Masters of Rock’ and its being co-sponsored by KABANG!” he told me excitedly.

“‘Masters of Rock’? Isn’t that a global music festival?” I asked in surprise.

“Oh yeah, that’s another reason why I’m here,” said Uncle Shu. “GrEy is performing at the festival and I’ll be joining the band for a few select songs.”

“For real?!” I exclaimed.

“MetaDeath will also be performing too,” added Ikki. “It’s going to be epic! Are you coming?”

“I….” I really wanted to go. This was the chance of a lifetime! But now, with everything going on, I wasn’t sure anymore. “I don’t know,” I told Ikki.

“Come on! It’s the chance of a lifetime!” he said. “Sucks though that we can’t invite Haruto Saiki to go with us. She would’ve wanted to go, too, I bet.”

“Yeah,” I agreed glumly. And then that’s when an idea formed in my head. It was a crazy one, too, but I had to try, right? “What if we can take her to the festival?” I said with a small smile.

“What do you…. Oh!” said Ikki.