“...Don’t we want to be a serious band?”
Yeah. She’s absolutely right. That’s what I told everyone.
“Does being serious mean sweeping our problems under the rug and acting wishy-washy?” Serika spoke slowly, verbalizing her feelings that had been hazy moments ago. “Saya is strict with Shinohara-kun because they’re both part of the rhythm section. It has nothing to do with being older or younger. If we want to make good music, then there shouldn’t be any room for compromise.”
After a moment, I replied, “So I said something unnecessary to Yamano, huh.”
“You know what I told Saya the day before yesterday? I told her she was fine as she was.”
That’s the day Yamano waited for me at the station. While Mei and I were talking, she went home with Serika. Serika gave her the exact opposite advice I did.
“But Saya changed. She started compromising. She began prioritizing having a happy-go-lucky atmosphere during practice over making good music. Because of what you told her.” Serika’s tone was blatantly critical. “Saya trusted your words over mine.”
There was no room for argument. As an upperclassman, I had been zealous in my desire to give guidance to my underclassman.
“I didn’t like how dark the mood was becoming,” she continued. “And I really was scared that we would break up.”
However, I had failed to understand how much my words could change a person and the repercussions that would come with it.
“But we would be getting our priorities backwards if we didn’t say what needed to be said because of that.”
I had been so caught up in the immediate problem that I had forgotten what our initial goal had been. It was my fault that Serika was crying.
“Sorry,” I said. Mei and I were in the wrong. As the ones lacking skills in the band, we needed to be more self-aware.
“As things stand, we can put on a pretty decent concert,” she said.
Serika hadn’t reprimanded Yamano for her remarks up until now.
“But we won’t be able to change the world. The miracle we experienced during the school festival won’t happen again.”
I had assumed she hadn’t spoken up because she was scared of aggravating the mood further.
“Obviously, it’s more fun if we all get along in perfect harmony.”
But Serika hadn’t said anything, because she agreed with Yamano.
“It’s terrifying when the mood is awful. I was worried they would argue to the point of quitting the band. But shouldn’t we take that risk if we’re going to be serious? Natsuki, didn’t you choose this path knowing that? Can you really call our current environment serious?”
Serika is absolutely right. I was relieved that the mood had reverted to being easygoing just like before. But being like before means we’re back to the same leisurely practices from a few months ago. If we weren’t trying to change the world with our music, then it wouldn’t be an issue, but we said we’d do this seriously, so Serika resolved herself. On the other hand, she was lamenting my obliviousness.
“Natsuki, what does being serious mean to you?”
Yamano was harsh with me because I’m the one who wanted to take the band seriously. I couldn’t say a word.
Serika peeled her eyes away from me and picked up her bag and guitar case. “Let’s do our best tomorrow, Natsuki.” She left me behind and walked out of the park.
I was frozen in my seat for a while. I swayed back and forth on the swing, sinking into a deep sea of thoughts.
What does it mean to be serious? What do you have to do to prove you’re serious? I don’t know. I don’t know the answer, but there is one thing I do know. No matter how I think about it, I realize I was all talk.
✦ ✦ ✦
And so, Saturday, the day of the concert, arrived. Since I was the PR manager of the band, I posted the information on Twister once again. It was nothing compared to the other bands, but we got dozens of likes. Not even ten percent of the entire audience would be there for us, but we were sure to have a few fans present. After all, we might not have been given that many tickets to sell, but we had filled our quota.
“Erm, it was around here, right?” I mumbled.
The music club was about a ten-minute walk from Takasaki Station. Its chic storefront had a sign with “Club Jaguars” written on it. The other three were already assembled near the entrance.
“Good morning, err, or more like afternoon, huh?” I said. The music fest was starting in the evening, so we were meeting postlunch.
“Hello, Natsuki,” Mei said.
“I’m gonna pull out all the stops today!” Yamano exclaimed.
“I ate gyudon for lunch. It was tasty,” Serika said. She appeared the same as always. Or at the very least, she was acting like it.
Neither of us brought up the events of yesterday, and the four of us entered the music club while jabbering about random stuff. Someone who looked like event staff was standing by the counter in the lounge. Serika walked right up to them, so we followed after her.
“We’re Mishle (temp). Thanks for having us today,” she said.
“Okay, you’re checked in. Also, what’s with the ‘temp’ in your name?”
“We have a new member, so we were going to change our band name, but we couldn’t come up with one.”
“Ha ha! Gotcha. Backstage is thataway, good luck!”
Once we finished checking in, we submitted our set list and stage layout. This was the music club where Serika worked part-time, so since she knew the event staff already, the process went smoothly.
“Next, we should greet the other bands,” Serika said.
“I-I’m nervous,” Mei stammered. “Besides us, all the bands on the list are amazing.”
“I know, right! What if someone tells us ‘Brats aren’t supposed to be back here’ or something?!” Yamano said.
Now that’s too prejudiced! Only characters in anime say stuff like that—no real person would... Wait, they wouldn’t, right?
“Don’t worry; it’ll be fine. I know everyone,” Serika said.
For the three of us, everything was a flurry of newness, but we had Serika as our dependable guide.
“Oh, it’s Serika-chan! Let’s have a good one today!”
“Hi, mister. Looking forward to playing with you.”
“Hey, I’m too young to be a mister!”
Evidently, the older guys from other bands doted on Serika quite a lot. A few even acknowledged our existence as Serika’s friends and said, “Let’s both do our best out there!”
“Kusabi said hello to us...” Mei was trembling after a big shot indie band greeted us.
“It’s hard to believe we’re going to play on the same stage as bands that good,” Yamano said, her eyes on Mei.
“Personally, Maruido shook me up more,” I said.
Yamano’s eyes widened. “Huh? Is that band popular? I’ve never heard of them.”
“No, I just like them,” I lied. Maruido is going to become super famous in the future. They’re the second-newest band after us at this festival, but of all the bands playing today, I know they’ll be the most successful, since I traveled back in time. Man, this sure is a valuable experience!
“Yeah, Maruido’s performances are out of this world. I don’t get why they don’t have more fans.” Serika tilted her head, confused as to why her acquaintances weren’t more popular.
Don’t worry. Their number of fans is going to skyrocket soon.