Chương 49: By the Boot Straps
Reminders: (surname 1st, name last)
Yoshida Hachiro- drums
Kurata Sosuke- guitar
Tani Rinko- electric violin
Fukuda Kagami- currently plays the role of vocalist.
Honorifics:
san-Mr/ Miss
kun- semi/formal title for guys of same age as speaker
In the end, Hachiro-kun had no power to do anything.
Or rather when he came back from allegedly doing it his face was awkward and twisted.
I was waiting in the room with Fukuda-san and Sosuke-kun when he calmly asked. "So? How'd it go?"
He didn't answer right away as he begrudgingly stood in a corner of the room with his hands on his hips. Finally, he huffed. "...Are you the project event organizer's son or something?"
"No."
"Don't lie."
"Don't go making excuses. It's simple, I'm from an actual band that has already performed at actual locations with others meanwhile no one has ever heard of you. So if you walk up to them saying you can't work with me, they'll naturally think the problem is you and be less willing to listen to whatever you have to say."
Sosuke-kun muttered. "What the hell? That's unfair."
"It's a matter of experience." Kagami stood. "So, now that you've wasted a day, are you still set on starting a song from scratch?"
Hachiro's head snapped in their direction. "Why would I change my mind about that?!"
"The current contest isn't a test for originality. They're testing for compatibility and adaptability by forcing everyone to play with unfamiliar individuals. They'll likely test for originality for the second or third tests-
"So you are related to one of the event organizers!"
"I'm not."
A vein bulged on Hachiro-kun's face. "Then stop acting like you fucking know everything!"
Fukuda-san studied him for a bit.
Even though he wasn't saying anything Hachiro-kun got more angry. "What? What's with that look?!"
Fukuda-san shook his head. "Nothing. I can't tell if you're hopelessly stubborn or just an idiot."
Now Fukuda-san why would you say that? I should say the same to you! In an attempt to keep the peace, I spoke up.
"U-um... as someone with more experience... shouldn't we listen to Fukuda-san...?"
But Hachiro-kun shot me such a murderous look I could only look down. Sosuke-kun stood.
"I finished writing the melody."
He got up and approached Hachiro-kun and the two looked it over together. The whole time the three of us were sitting in this room together waiting for Hachiro-kun, Sosuke-kun didn't say anything even once. I was speechless.
Why is everyone like this? It's not fair. Bai-san's group looked pretty stable, whereas mine... it's hopeless. What's even more hopeless seems to be repairing the relationship.
During the whole discussion, we waited for them to eventually share the lyrics with Kagami, Hachiro-kun who had decided to share the beat he came up with and finally, we started to play something together.
"What is this?!" But seeing the sheet only made Fukuda-san furious for some reason.
Fukuda-san's fury made Sosuke-kun hide behind Hachiro-kun.
"Are you blind? It's the song?"
But Fukuda-san simply shook the sheet for a while without saying anything before finally sighing. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"
Hachiro-kun blinked at him, "What are you complaining about? You'll be singing that's it-
"Tani-san!"
I flinched. Everyone stared at me. Why was he yelling my name? I didn't do anything!
"You only included Kurata-san and yourself and completely left out Tani-san!"
"Oh..."
Oh. . .
I looked at Sosuke-kun who made no eye contact whatsoever.
Hachiro-kun shrugged. "I've never played with a violin before, we were going to discuss it with her."
"How come you never consulted her then?"
". . ." Sosuke-kun continued to look elsewhere.
"I-It's okay." It wasn't the first time I had heard this before, in fact trying to join a band as a violinist had always been pretty difficult for me... although Bai-san never seems to have any trouble at all with her band.
"Listen," Fukuda-san pinched his nose bridge. "We're not going to be friends. It's not a requirement, but at the very least everyone needs to be communicating especially when it comes to roles."
Surprisingly Hachiro-kun and Sosuke-kun had nothing to say to that.
"Alright, my bad." Hachiro-kun said something, but technically it should have been Sosuke-kun.
As we proceeded to get the melodies down a problem arose.
Sosuke-kun and Hachiro-kun had different melodies in mind.
Hachiro-kun had a melody in mind when he wrote the lyrics but Sosuke-kun's melody was also entirely different from the song. Up till that point the two had been allies but in the end they ended up arguing. Sosuke-kun surprisingly said Hachiro-kun should change the lyrics to fit his song while Hachiro-kun said they could just change the song.
Surprisingly Fukuda-san went quiet and pulled out a sheet of paper. He asked Hachiro-kun to sing the melody and then scribbled down the notes on the sheet. He then proceeded to sing a few times, repeating himself each time until the lyrics fit the beat of the song, even though it changed it still sounded slightly like the way Hachiro-kun intended it to be sung.
As always his voice enchanted me and had me feeling hopeful even though he didn't even sing the full song. It seems to have had an effect on Hachiro-kun and Sosuke-kun as well because when Fukuda-san showed them the revised version they didn't object.
I thought things were taking a turn for the better but when it came to my part Fukuda-san said the song might change depending on me.
"Tani-san, you're our accent. If anything our star. The sound of your violin will be standing out no matter what we do."
"Y-yes." That's usually the case but this is the part where usually I end up clashing with my bandmates. I tensed.
It must have shown because Fukuda-san added. "It's not a bad thing. It'll give us a uniquely elegant sound. Feel free to add to the song while we play, do what you want to do. We'll revise the sheet accordingly."
Sosuke-kun and Hachiro-kun frowned at hearing this.
And during the performance, I got yelled at a lot.
"No. Not there. Do it at the end of the verse!"
After listening to a couple of tries Fukuda-san suggested I lead in the beginning, being supported by Hachiro-kun and later Sosuke-kun. The sound improved.
The next day, we established the rhythm.
I played a little throughout the songs, and show up more in the chorus, as not to overshadow the vocal part. I clashed with Sosuke-kun who wanted the sound of his guitar to be heard, so I could only accentuate it here and there. In the end, we got a uniquely elegant rock sound that left me blushing and the others beaming and soon it was time to go.
It was only after leaving that I realized we focused more on getting down our parts than we did Fukuda-san's singing. I returned to the practice room only to find him practicing on his own with a recording of our final attempt. I lurked for a while wondering if I should practice some more with him.
Tomorrow was the day we'd be judged. Without realizing it he somehow managed to straighten everyone up, and I felt apologetic but I knew we'd get by somehow.
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