Haru Naru ♪♪♪ This World is a Comedy - Chapter 8

Chapter Text

1

There is a sort of relationship in this world, which is the unsavory type, and that's the sort of relationship that Yang Xiao Long and I share. Since our houses are located close to each other, it's only natural for us to attend the same school from our days in elementary school till middle school. However, we were in the same class for nine consecutive years, and we even managed to get into the same high school. There may be some who might say that it's because our intelligence is roughly the same, but the problem is we've both been assigned to the same class again at high school. What can I say, other than our unsavory ties are extremely deep.

"Isn't this great? I'm poor at math and history, so I can copy Haruto's notes. Haruto's not too good with sports, but I am. Let's help each other from now on."

Not long after the end of the opening ceremony, Yang said that while slapping my back with a "papapa" sound, in our classroom that was still lingering with the smell of wax.

You're good at sports, but how are you gonna assist me with that?

"This guy's impressive. You'll see a mountain of CDs when you open his door, and they will all come tumbling down."

"Wow, why is that? Is his house a music shop or something?"

"Why have you been to his house before?"

Using me as a stepping stone, Yang had quickly blended herself in with the rest of our girl classmates which she had only met not too long ago. Her adaptability is really scary.

"Hey, what's your relationship with her?" a guy who was quite interested in me leaned over and asked me with a whisper.

"It's nothing, we just studied in the same middle school."

"But didn't you help her tie her bow-tie prior to the opening ceremony?" another guy suddenly spoke from behind me, and caused my face to go green from the shock. They saw?

"W-Well, that's because… "

"Really?! Oh damn! Are you two a married couple?!"

"Isn't that the opposite from your normal situation? It should be the girl helping the guy!"

They are picking that sort of difficult-to-explain situation as a conversation topic.

Dammit, I hate Yang for that. I've taught you many times already—at the very least, remember how to tie those bow-ties by yourself!

"Have both of you been together since middle school?"

I shook my head for a few hundred times so as to deny it fervently, and all the guys around me heaved a sigh of relief. They pulled me away from the girls, and the group of us moved to a corner of the classroom. They then began to talk in whispers.

"Xiao Long-san's one the cutest girls in our class! That's just great."

"I always thought I didn't like a tomboy girl, but I realized now that I was wrong."

I listened to the guys's assessments with a dumbfounded expression, then looked at Yang's profile, who was still sitting on the table and chatting on the other side of the classroom. Her hairstyle back then was extremely short, and it parted down the center, which made her look really fierce. Since she left her club during the autumn of our third year, however, she began growing her hair. Now, her hair looks prettier and more feminine. But wait, the problem is…

"That girl has a volatile temper, and she's a black belt in martial arts as well. Don't you think it's better if you guys stay away from her?"

"She's in the martial arts club? Should I go join them as well?"

"Do we have a martial arts club here?"

"Even then, most martial arts clubs split up the guys and the girls."

"Why must they be separated? They should allow everyone to practice prone techniques together!"

Can you guys listen to what others have to say?!

But as she sustained a back injury last spring, she is no longer practicing martial arts. At about the same time when the first semester was over, for some reason, she began learning the drums.

But then again, she had zero interest in music back in the past, and she probably couldn't start practicing on the drums by herself, right? As for her reason for wanting to be a drummer, this is what Yang told me.

"Back during the spring when the doctor told me I could no longer practice martial arts, I drank a bit of beer out of desperation… "

"The underage shouldn't be drinking!"

"As I fell asleep in my drunken state, Bonzo appeared in my dreams."

Bonzo is the drummer of Led Zeppelin, and he died from suffocation because he inhaled his own vomit after puking in his drunken stupor. That didn't sound too good. She couldn't have seen his spirit while in a state of near death, right?

"And he said to me, 'All you have left is the drums, Yang.' Since Bonzo said that to me, I had no choice but to do it, right?"

"Was that really Bonzo?"

"I saw him continuously waving his hands at me while standing in the flower fields near the riverside. It's Bonzo alright. His Japanese was really impressive, though he spoke in Tsuguru dialect."

"…that's probably your deceased grandfather, who died last year."

It was only after the second school semester had begun that I came to know the real reason Yang started practicing the drums. Everyday after school, she would continuously pester me into joining the Folk Music Research Club.

"But Haruto you didn't have anything to do afterschool, right? Come on, just join us."

"You're meddling too much. Speaking of which, what's with the Folk-whateverthing? There's no such club, right?"

I tried recalling the introduction booklet of the clubs in school which I got during the opening ceremony in spring, as well as the parade of people who were waiting at the school gates to get the new students into their respective clubs. I don't remember seeing a club with such a complicated name.

"The so-called folk music is actually referring to rock. If we were to call ourselves a rock band directly, the teachers would never approve it, moreover, with only Blake and I, there's no way they would approve it either. So please, join our club!"

So that's the reason you are desperately trying to get me into the club!

"Stop trying to get me into a club that's not even established yet! Then again, who is this Blake person?"

"My new friend who I just met recently. She's really an awesome girl."

After a careful round of questioning, all the riddles were finally solved. It seems like Yang met this new friend of hers during the summer vacation, and her reason to begin drumming, it was all because of this Blake—somebody.

What a joke. I grabbed my bag and walked out of the classroom. All of our classmates were already focusing their attention on us as we had that conversation, and it felt really embarrassing.

Yang chased me and said, "Hey Haruto! Wait for me! What's wrong with joining the club? You have nothing else going on anyway, right?"

"I won't join that club even if I have nothing to do."

"Why?"

"Because… I won't stay long anyway."

I had originally wanted to say, "I was dragged to your training, and I gave up within a short time span of two days because you don't know how to hold back—you know that as well!" However, for the sake of my health I never said it in the end.

"Really? Then what do you plan to do in high school?"

To study but obviously I couldn't bring myself to say such an insincere but politically correct answer.

"Isn't your life just boring then?"

"So your life's very interesting huh? Why do you care about whether my life is boring or not?" I said that without much thought, and Yang suddenly stopped in her tracks.

As I turned my head backwards, I saw Yang shifting her sight away from me, and was looking downwards slightly. What's happening now?

Yang turned her head away, and asked, "What do you think is my reason?"

I had no idea how I should reply to that. "Because you're very free as well?"

Yang's hands reached out for the collars of my shirt. Before I could even think, my body had already made a spin in the air, and my back slammed against the floors of the corridor.

"Ugh!" My eyes were filled with stars, and for a moment I could not breathe. Despite that, I tried to stand up by supporting myself on the wall with my hands.

"Stop with those random shoulder throws of yours, alright?!"

"That's not a shoulder throw. That's a body drop."

"That's not the problem here! Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Stupid Haruto!" Yang stomped on my feet, turned around, and left.

What's with all that?! My reason for not joining a club was because of an extremely negative one like "finding it all bothersome." However, aside from that, there was another reason that could be considered as something positive I found something that I can do after school.

After watching Yang leave, I went to the first floor, and came to a small courtyard after walking out of the school's back gates. Next to a rusty rubbish incinerator that hasn't been used in a long time, stood a long narrow building. It was of a simple rectangular shape made of cement, similar to a park's public toilets. On its sides were several doors. Since it hasn't been used by anyone for quite a long time, the walls and doors of the building were covered with dirt, making it rather filthy.

The private school expands for no rhyme or reason, and to add on to all that, the number of students enrolling into the school is on a steady decline, all of these have resulted in the increase of many empty facilities and classrooms that are not in use. In the second month I entered this school, I had discovered that one can enter a room on the left side of this building. During my school exploration, I tried turning the handle with a "kra kra" sound, and the door just opened. Later, I figured out that by pressing the door handle diagonally downwards to the right and turning it forty-five degrees, the lock will open.

In the room, there was a tall metal rack, a locker and an old study desk. The walls were pasted with a sound absorbent material, that has many equally spaced circular holes on it. From the marks left on the floor, one can deduce that this place used to house a piano. As of now, the only thing that can be called the school's equipment, was some mini audio system placed next to the desk. Actually, this high school is my mother's almamater. I'd once heard from Mom, that this school used to have a music club, but it was abolished not long after she graduated.

There's a perk to the sound absorbers, I can bring in a huge stack of my CDs to this room, and listen to my favorite songs as loudly as I like. It's a good way to kill time after school. Should I be at home, my annoying sister will definitely be there, resulting in me not having a place where I could enjoy myself in peace.

Since the condition of the room isn't too good, the sound proofing is not perfect. I'll have to stuff a towel into the gaps around the door before I can turn on the audio system. On that day, the first CD I listened to was the live album by Bob Marley, and was led into a reggae mood. I was probably affected by what Yang said.

"Isn't your life just boring?" I had never thought about that. Then again, it is quite a headache for me if my life is deemed boring just because I did not join a club. Isn't this just fine, you can consider it to be a Music Appreciation Club! I'm not causing trouble for anyone either. I am using this room without any prior approval, but since this classroom seemed to not be in use for a long period of time, plus the fact that I'll keep the classroom clean as long as I ensure that no one outside can hear the music that I'm playing, it should be fine, right?

2

When the bell signaling the start of class rang, our homeroom teacher Yuuhi-sensei brought that girl into the classroom, the atmosphere of the class froze in an instant. I didn't notice the change in the atmosphere due to me snoozing while listening to my discman. It was only after Erza, who was sitting in front of me, turned around and prodded my shoulder, that I hurriedly removed my earphones. Regardless of whether it is homeroom or not, the classroom will always be filled with chatter in the early morning. However, I could only hear a few of my classmates whispering at the time.

"Hey, she is…"

"Yup, should be."

"Lucy Heartfilia."

"Eh? The very person? Didn't they say that her whereabouts are unknown?"

I took a look at the lecture stand, and my discman nearly fell onto the ground.

The girl on the stand with her long golden hair tied into a side ponytail, and since it was the same exact hairstyle as that in the advertisements, everyone recognized her instantly. It was indeed Lucy Heartfilia herself. She was wearing our school uniform, but it felt like someone was playing a joke on us. What's with this? I didn't catch what Yuuhi-sensei had said, and for a moment I couldn't understand the fact that she was transferring into our school.

"Let us have Heartfilia-san do an introduction of herself," she said that, but all Lucy did was motionlessly stand there in the front of the class. An asphyxiating silence followed.

At last, Lucy finally spoke, "I don't want to." Just as she said that, it felt like the air of the classroom was electrified.

Wait, what exactly is this girl saying?

"It's just an introduction, so that should be fine, right?" Yuuhi-sensei said. She was speaking slowly and in a low tone, but she was obviously at a loss of what to do.

"I don't want to," she said it again.

"Why?"

"I don't like my name."

Lucy's words had an effect similar to pouring liquid air into the already frozen classroom. I noticed Lucy's expression as she bit into her lower lips. It was the same as that day, the day when we first met, the expression she had when we parted. But of course, I didn't say a word. The one to save the day was Yang sitting at the next of me.

"It doesn't matter, Sensei. We all know her name already."

"Yeah. Her name's Lucy Heartfilia, right?"

"Yup."

The atmosphere of the class became really strange. Whispers like "She's that pianist prodigy" and "I've seen her on TV," were going off one after another. I noticed that Lucy's slender limbs were trembling slightly due to the reaction of our classmates. I was perhaps the only one to notice the signs of danger.

"If so…" Yuuhi-sensei looked at Lucy, and said calmly, "Heartfilia-san, do you have anything to say to your classmates?"

A girl suddenly raised her hands and asked, "May I know when you'll be releasing your next album?"

That question spearheaded the onslaught of questions. "Didn't you say you would be studying at the College of Music?"

"There isn't any new advertisement with you in it. Why is that?" Some of the guys who were still confused about the situation asked.

"What advertisement?" Lucy answered

"It's that shampoo ad. You mean you don't know?"

"Ah, that ad. I do."

"Hmm? Really?"

The classroom suddenly became noisy.

Lucy was looking at the ceiling with a stern face, and it was then when she suddenly spoke with a sharp, ringing voice, "Please forget everything."

The silence that engulfed the classroom was like the frozen surface of a lake. Lucy's strained voice continued to reverberate in the classroom just like back then. "I'll be gone in three months, so please forget me."

Not one person spoke after hearing Lucy say that, nor did anyone know what should be said. The thing that saved us from being at a loss of what to do, was the bell that signified the end of homeroom.

"Okay then Lucy-san, please take a seat over there." Yuuhi-sensei pointed to the back of the classroom.

As I came back to my senses, I realized that there was an unoccupied seat to my left.

"The class representative is Yamanaka-san, so feel free to clarify with her about any doubts that you may have."

Yuuhi-sensei then clipped the attendance records and the already bundled lecture notes under her arms, and briskly walked out of the classroom. Lucy took a gulp, and regulated her breathing slightly. She then surveyed the classroom once with a hostile and wary stare, before quietly stepping down from the lecture stand. The classroom was dead silent. Everyone stared at her every movement as she walked down the aisle between the desks.

Could it be that Lucy would disappear in an instant should the stares stop for a brief moment? Nah, that sounds so incredibly stupid, it's impossible, but I still joined in anyway.

It was perhaps due to all the staring, but Lucy was deliberately hiding her face as she passed by my seat. The sound of footsteps suddenly stopped next to me.

"Ah!" She noticed. Lucy pointed her slightly shaking finger at me, and shouted in shock, "W-W-Why are you here?"

I hugged my head with my arms, and laid on the table. I realized that everyone in class had their eyes set on me. Give me a break.

"Huh? You two know each other?" Erza looked at Lucy, and then at me.

I repeatedly shook my head, as though I wanted to wipe the table clean with my forehead. "No no no, I don't know her. She must have gotten the wrong person."

But Lucy said, "Why are you lying?!"

"You're the one who wanted me to forget you, right?"

"See, you remember! I've asked you to forget me!"

Aaaaaaaaahhhh… I don't know anymore!

"Mmm, that's why I'm telling you, I've forgotten everything already. Who are you again?"

"Liar!"

I guess our conversation must have sounded really stupid. The discussions between our classmates were getting louder and louder, while Yang's and Erza's curious stare was even more piercing. Second period was classic literature which I hated the most, but at that very moment, the sight of that old hag History teacher was like a savior in my very eyes.

Even if I factor in her unbelievably beautiful face and that celebrity status of hers, Lucy is the type of girl like my sister that I do not want to get close to willingly. Ever since the day she transferred here, she would be surrounded by groups of curious girls and guys and was asked a lot of questions. But except for the occasional "Don't know" and "I do not wish to answer," she hardly answered any of the questions.

"Why did she transfer here at such a strange time?" During our lunch break, Yang looked at the group of people and softly asked. "Our school is just an ordinary high school, and she picked fine arts as her elective. So why?"

In our school, we have to pick either music, fine arts or calligraphy as our arts elective. Honestly speaking, it's rather strange for a pianist to not pick the field in which she's good at.

"Just ask the person in question and you'll get the answer."

Yang shook her hands and said, "I can't break past that human wall that's surrounding her."

She then took some of the stuff from my bento and ate them with huge bites. Recently, I've prepared more food in my bento, in anticipation of her grabbing a portion of it.

"Then again, when and where did you meet her?"

"In my dreams…"

"Haruto, you want to take a trip to the infirmary?"

"I-It's tough to explain everything."

"There's still a long way to go before lunch break is over, so you can explain everything from the beginning."

Yang's eyes were giving off an unyielding look despite her smile. As I was trying to avoid the topic, she had already finished my bento as quickly as she could.

Lucy continued with her anti-social behavior during lessons without caring the least bit, she didn't take notes, and her textbooks frequently dropped onto the floor. There were some teachers that didn't give her any special treatment despite her being a transfer student, and immediately asked her to go up to the lecture stand, but she insisted on remaining at her seat by replying, "I don't want to."

To be honest, I thought she was really cool, since I couldn't have done that even if I wanted to. From what Yang told me, all she did during physical education was sit and look on from the sidelines. During lunch break of the second day after her transfer, it seemed like Lucy was finding the situation of being surrounded by the curious girls to be slightly unbearable, and had sought for my help quite a few times by looking at me pleadingly through the gaps of the human wall.

Well, I can't help even if you want me to. Most of the questions asked by the girls were mundane things like, what sort of place the studio was like; which celebrities were at the broadcasting company, and if she had met any of them.

Just as I was about to pull out my chair and scoot away from that group of people, I heard someone slamming the table with a sudden bang. I turned my head over, and saw Lucy standing in the center of the group of girls, and pointing at me through a slit in the human wall.

She said with tears in her eyes, "Go ask that guy over there. That hentai owns all of my albums, and he should know a lot about me."

Lucy kicked the chair down, then ran past me and out of the classroom in a flash. Countless stares landed on me, and Gray was the first to speak.

"What's the relationship between this hentai and Lucy?"

"Who the hell are you calling me hentai bastard?!"

"From the conversation you had with her, it sounded like you knew her beforehand."

"Yeah, so what."

Dammit that girl, she actually said something as irresponsible as that, just so she could run away from all of them…

"Haruto, Kushina oba-chan worked as a music critic, right? She should know plenty of things about her. Could you ask a few questions when you get back home? Things like why Lucy chose to study at this school. Lucy refuses to say anything about herself." Erza said that to me.

I doubt my mother know things like that. You think the world of classical music is small? Though I was thinking of that, I just gave an ambiguous nod so as to escape from the scene.

3

When school ended, Lucy disappeared from the classroom in a flash. Ever since her transfer here, her whereabouts had become the biggest mystery for Class 1-B.

"Her shoes were still in the shoe cabinet, so I don't think she's heading straight home after school."

"Gray, when did you leave school yesterday?"

"Hmm, about five."

"I saw Lucy near the staff room."

Homeroom's about to start, but Lucy's nowhere in sight. A group of students had gathered around her desk which is right next to me, and were exchanging information they had among themselves. Stop meddling in other people's affairs already!

"I thought she liked drawing since she chose fine arts as her elective, so I tried inviting her to the arts club… but she ran away after saying some strange stuff to me. What's with that!"

"Speaking of which, that girl does nothing at all during the lessons, right? All she did was open up her sketchbook and leave it there! Is there something wrong with her brain?"

"She should just choose music instead. She's causing a lot of problems for the teachers as well, right?"

Everyone's appraisal of Lucy was sliding down further as they continued talking, though that was to be expected.

"Oi Hentai-san, do you know anything about her?" Gray suddenly involved me in the conversation.

"Dammit, Gray! Can you please not address me like that. You're really pissing me off now!"

"Then how about 'Lucy Heartfilia's Exclusive Critic'?"

"That's even worse!"

"Then how about I combine both to make it 'Hentai Critic'?"

"Don't go about combining things randomly!" Due to Lucy's baseless slanders, I was facing a crisis in my life.

"Listen Gray, we just met once during the spring vacation, so I knew nothing about her!" What's with those stares of disbelief!

The bell began to ring, but Lucy was still not in the classroom, and Yang still hadn't arrived either, as usual. It seemed like she was practicing the drums somewhere every morning. The advantage of being a drummer is that you can practice just about anywhere, so long as you have a pair of drumsticks, a metronome and a stack of old magazines. The moment the bell finished ringing and Yuuhi-sensei started closing the attendance book, the door at the back of the class suddenly opened.

"I'm safe! I'm safe, right?" Yang shouted while dashing into the classroom, and for some reason, she was pulling Lucy along as well.

The silent Lucy showed a grumpy expression, and flung Yang's hand away. Our teacher's nice though, and said to them, "I won't consider you two as late, so take your seats immediately." If Yang was alone, Yuuhi-sensei probably would have marked her as late without hesitation.

"Sorry, but lend me your notes for a while. I'll copy it quickly." Yang snatched my notebook after sitting down. I looked at her as she copied my notes furiously, and asked softly.

"What were you two doing just now?"

"I was practicing in the corridors on the third floor, and I saw Lucy. It seemed like she was lost."

"I was not lost… " Lucy mumbled. I secretly cast a glance at her, she seemed slightly angry, and her face was quite flushed too. This means… that this girl actually has a really poor sense of direction? The school is quite big, but it is quite ridiculous to get lost trying to get to your classroom, right?

"I made a detour to the music room, and on my way back…"

"Alright, I am about to start the lesson, so you three stop your chit-chatting," Yuuhi-sensei snapped, and our classmates gave a stifled laughter.

The music room? Why there? My doubts lasted for a brief moment though, as Yuuhi-sensei suddenly called me out to answer the questions in our assignments. With that, the only thing I could do was to focus on snatching my notebook back from Yang.

As usual, I escaped from Yang's attempts to rope me into the club after school. I made a trip down to the library to return the books I had shown Juvia that day, before walking towards the direction of the abandoned classroom behind the main building of the school. Just as I turned past the corner of the building and saw the chimney of the incinerator, the faint sounds of an electric guitar drifted into my ears. It came from the classroom which I've been using. And I suddenly thought, did I leave the room with a CD still playing? Shit! But as I approached the door and listened, I realized that wasn't the case. From within the classroom, came a tune that I hadn't heard of before, but I was very familiar with the melody all the same.

Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. This is an extremely difficult piano solo. During the endearing friska, the tune will be accompanied by notes that are played repeatedly at blazing speeds; moreover, what I was listening to is the guitar version. What's this? I don't have such an amazing CD… no, wait, this is live so there's someone playing it right now, with the electric guitar plugged into the amplifier that I had modified. I couldn't help it, but I was having goosebumps. It's impossible for a tune like this to be played by a person alone, even if he possessed four hands. However, the melody that was flowing into my ears definitely came from a single guitar. So who could that person be…?

I grabbed the door handle. Just then, that grand piano which was buried in the dumping grounds appeared in my mind. I pushed the handle down diagonally, and turned it at the same time. "Kacha"—a muffled metallic sound was heard, and I could feel the sensation of the lock coming loose through my palms. Just as I opened the door, the music came to a screeching halt. Lucy was sitting on the long desk and looking at me with a stunned expression. Her varnished guitar nearly slipped off her legs. I guess my expression then was probably the same as hers. Why… is Lucy here? In my classroom, which I'm using without permission, and holding onto a guitar? What the hell is going on here? When and how did this dream start? Could it be, that everything that dates back to my encounter with her during the spring vacation was just a dream…

"…y-you." Lucy regained her senses a tad bit quicker and spoke first. I took a small leap backwards in shock as well.

"Eh? Oh shit! Wait wait wait, stop, you will kill me if you hit me with that guitar of yours!"

Lucy's face was flushed red, and she swung that slightly heavy Stratocaster of hers at me while she was chasing me. I slammed the door shut so as to escape from her.

"Why are you here? Hentai! Stalker!" Lucy's shrieks came through the gaps of the door. Wait, I should be the one asking that question!

"I've been using this classroom all along, so why did you go in by yourself?" Though I was also using it without permission.

"I… I obtained permission from Ulti before entering."

"Eh?"

Shirayuki Ulti, who's also my friend Gray's older sister, is our Japanese-American Music teacher. She came all the way from America to Japan to teach Music in our school. She is a young beautiful teacher who everyone finds approachable and yet scary at the same time.

I see, so that was the reason for her going to the music room in the morning? No, wait, why was she given permission to use the classroom? So that means if I had asked the teacher for permission, I would also be permitted to use the classroom?

"Just scram already!"

She was saying that, but I had already moved in a huge stack of my CDs, refitted a component amplifier, and had even prepared some cushions, I'd wasted so much effort to make this classroom as comfortable as possible! Even if you want me to disappear, you can't possibly expect me to say, "Alright, so be it" and obediently leave as I was told!

"…eh, what's happening here? Why would the teacher…"

She didn't reply, instead the sound of a huge claw scraping against the walls could be heard, it was the electric guitar's feedback. Stop that, or else the amplifier will break down! All I could do was sigh and move away from the classroom door.

Back in the school building, a surge of anger swelled up from within me as I was walking through the corridor. That was obviously my territory, she came later, but there she was, sitting in there comfortably. Who can possibly accept that? If that's the case, I'll complain to Ulti-sensei. However, the anger died down in me as I approached the doors of the music preparation room. A huge poster of the American Rockstar Slash was pasted on the sliding door.

Could Ulti-sensei be a fan of the rock band Gun N' Roses? Also, is it fine for her to be pasting such a thing openly onto the entrance of the staff room? I had a staring contest with Slash as I tried to calm myself down. I could faintly hear the relaxing melody of a concert band practicing next door. It's the music of the famous The Wizard of Oz's Over the Rainbow. Regardless of what you say, you've also used the classroom without permission, should I complain to her, then I'll get in trouble as well. Mmm, even so, if you want me to just back out like that, then…

"Yes? Looking for me, Uzumaki?"

4

"So you're saying, you bumped into Blake?" Yang stared at my face and asked me that question while we were in the classroom.

"Yeah," I replied in an annoyed tone, "Though I think it was more of her waiting for me, than me bumping into her."

"Then… are you joining the club?"

"Why would I?!"

"Because, Blake is the sort of person… who will definitely get her hands on whatever she wants."

Blake said the exact same frightening thing to me yesterday at the courtyard in front of the practice classroom, with her index finger pointing towards me. "If it is something that I want, I'll do anything in order to get it, by fair means or foul. It does not matter if it is Lucy Heartfilia, this room, or you."

After she said that to me, Chopin's funeral march sonata came from the practice classroom, and it so happened to be at the part of the final movement where the whirlwinds were raging through the cemetery for a brief moment, I felt like dying.

Stop reminding me of those horrible things! Despite that, Yang caused those scary memories to resurface in my mind.

"I heard… that she had always wanted a guitar which cost a million yen. As a result, she went to work for the music store where the guitar was at, and she even managed to grab hold of the store owner's weakness, and ended up getting the guitar for free."

"What the hell are the police for!"

"Since she can get that guitar into her hands, Haruto should be an instant kill for her."

"So you mean I'm not even worth a million yen? Dammit. To be in the same club as that sort of person I really don't get what's going on in your head."

"But Blake is really cool!"

"Yeah… she may look cool if I am looking at her from a distance of two kilometers away."

"It isn't that bad to marry Blake, even if she's girl?"

"Alright, go ahead! But since Japan does not recognize same-sex marriage, go to Canada to get married instead! You know, Canada!"

"But both Blake and I don't know how to cook. Why don't you come along as well?"

"The hell does it have to do with me!"

As I said that to Yang, the backdoor of the classroom opened, and Lucy stepped into the classroom. The preparatory bell just so happened to ring at the same time, as though it was reminding everyone that the place they were in is a classroom. She stared at me from the sides of her eyes, then proceeded to take her seat silently. At that instance, I stood up irritably and walked out of the classroom. A series of footsteps could be heard from behind me.

"What's with you?" Yang chased up to me.

"I'm going to the toilet! Don't follow me."

"I heard from Blake… that you were defeated by Lucy?"

I stopped in my tracks. The bell which signaled the start of the class rang, and the students that had gathered in the corridors were swallowed by their classrooms. In the end, the only people left there were Yang and I.

"You can't quite consider that a defeat."

"Didn't she say… that those who don't play musical instruments are not allowed to get close to the room… and then you ran away?"

"If you think you can provoke me by saying those sorts of things, then you are dead wrong!"

"You know how to play the guitar, right?"

"You can't count that as me knowing how to play."

And the most important thing is… I had thrown away the guitar I used back then, so I currently do not possess any guitar.

"It's fine if you practice it all over again! Blake is very good at that, so you can ask her to teach you."

"If so, why don't you ask her to directly invite Lucy into the band? She found out that Lucy is really good with the guitar, and wants to acquire that practice room along the way to use it as the clubroom, right? I don't think all those things have anything to do with me at all! I just hope that you can just leave me alone."

Yang became quiet all of the sudden… shit, that look of hers suggested that she was on the brink of crying and smacking me at the same time. But why? Did I say something to make her angry?

"Do you not know why Blake is inviting you? Do you really think you are just a supplementary item of Lucy?" Yang's words sounded as though she was squeezing them out by force.

"…I don't…know." I couldn't help but cower, and I took a few steps back as well. My back slammed against the wall of the corridor.

"Haruto, you huge idiot! On your funeral, I'll say 'This man's life was really boring'!" With that said, Yang dashed back into the classroom.

What's with that! It would be great if I knew how to play the guitar, but… if only I could squeeze out some motivation in me after hearing Lucy playing the guitar.

Halfway into lunch break, I walked towards the old music building. Just as I stepped into the courtyard, I could hear the sounds of the guitar, and it felt like those sounds were blending up my brain directly. So that girl plays the guitar during lunch breaks too? Hah, I thought to myself that I should just come another time. Just as I was about to head back, my sight was attracted by something that was placed next to the door of the room. That was… a rubbish bag to contain trash that cannot be burned. What exactly is it?

I got close to the rubbish bag, and as I peeked inside, a burst of anger lit up from within my heart. Inside the bag were a huge amount of CDs—The Beatles; The Doors; Jimi Hendrix; The Clash; Oasis—all of them are from my important collection! How dare that girl do this! I cranked open the door forcibly, and slammed the door open. The sound of the guitar began assaulting me, but then it disappeared just as quickly.

"Didn't I say already, that you're not to enter as you please!" Lucy was sitting on the cushion on the desk and hugging her guitar. Her eyebrows were standing as she said that, but I was not about to retreat just yet.

I lifted the rubbish bag and protested angrily, "What are you doing?!"

"The cabinet's too small, so I just took them out of the room."

"Who do you think these CDs belong to?!"

"If they weren't yours, I wouldn't have tossed them out."

I was so furious to the point where I could not come up with a reply. What's with all that!

"Oi, since you are playing the guitar, you should respect the great pioneers of the rock genre!" And you should respect my private property too!

"I do not listen to rock or whatever, nor do I know anything about them. These things are an eyesore and a waste of space, so take them back quickly!"

Lucy pushed the dumbfounded me out of the room and closed the door. What flowed into my ears next was Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major. Yet another funeral march?! That must be deliberate, right?! Just then, a fast talking melody suddenly appeared in my mind—I ignored the funeral march for the moment, and concentrated my thoughts… Chuck Berry! Roll over Beethoven.

She dare say they are a waste of space? But she has never listened to them before! I have sacrificed half of my boring life listening to rock, and yet she's belittling them? I originally wanted to hammer the door of the classroom in frustration, but I thought otherwise in the end. There were better things I should be doing with my hands. I hugged the rubbish bag as I headed back to my classroom. As I stacked the CDs on my desk one by one, I started to think of ways I could beat Lucy up… though of course, I was not really planning to punch her.

The guys of the class came over: "You setting up a booth with all these CDs?" "All of them are western music." I was not paying much attention to them, despite them saying a lot of things.

What should I do…? How should I teach her a lesson? It's decided, I shall let her have a look at the greatness of rock. However, I can't just toss the CDs to her forcefully, so I finally managed to locate Chuck Berry's album from the huge stacks of CDs. After slotting the CD into my discman, I stuffed the earphones into my ears. The afternoon lessons of that day were spent listening to his songs.

I dashed back home after school, after I removed my shoes and walked into the corridor to find my mother.

"Mom, I've something to discuss with you." I opened the doors of the living room. Mom was sitting on the sofa with the laptop resting on her knees, and she was typing out her article at great speed, she was banging hard on the keyboard, the laptop should be a goner soon.

"Do you have anything to discuss with me?"

"Yup. I am calling for a family meeting."

"What's wrong? There's something you want, right?"

"Umm… yeah." I sat on the sofa after calming myself down. Mom naturally in charge of the finances of our household, I'll have to do a family meeting if I want to buy something expensive. "I… want a guitar."

"Isn't there a guitar in the house?"

"You broke it when you used it to hit a cockroach! Don't you remember?!"

"…doing it for a girl?" Mom asked that suddenly.

"Eh? W-What?"

"There can only be one reason for a guy to want a guitar all of a sudden. It is so that he can be popular with the girls."

"What's with that bullshit? Apologize to all the guitarists in the world right now!"

"I'll be casting a rejecting vote if you do not admit to it honestly."

I could say nothing. Why is she such a pain in the ass?!

"How much do you think a guitar costs? It will cost at least fifty to sixty thousand yen for you to get a decent one, right? You only have about twenty thousand yen which you are free to use, isn't that right?"

"Mom, why are you so damn clear about things like these?" I gave a pout, and sank myself into the sofa.

"Why don't you earn some cash for yourself like your sister does! If you want a job, you can write a few articles for me." Mom pushed the laptop on the table towards my direction.

"No… I don't wanna do those things again." I pushed the laptop back.

In the past I had helped Mom with some of her articles back when the deadlines were approaching. I originally thought it was impossible for the stories written by a middle school student to be published in an official music magazine, but little did I expect the editor to actually use them. It's probably due to Mom editing them a little or something? Speaking of which, is that magazine really alright? Since then, my articles were published in magazines or on CD covers frequently, and Mom would pass on the royalties of the particular articles. Even so, the cash earned from the articles written doesn't translate into my pocket money fully. Mom said that thirty percent would be mine, while seventy percent will be incorporated into the family expenses.

I tried protesting once by saying, "Why can't I use the full amount of cash that I earned?", and she would always reply with, "Because that's the same for me!" I can't argue against that. As a result, I have to hold a family meeting if I want to buy things that are out of my budget. In other words, there will be no need for me to hold family meetings like this if I write more articles under Mom's name. Then again, what should I do about the music magazine that has not once realized they are publishing stories written by a middle school student…? Also, I want to purchase the guitar right now so that I can practice with it, but it will be at least two months before I can receive the royalties for my articles.

"The responses of the articles you had written were all rather good. You have indeed inherited my skills—how amazing! It just so happens I have only managed to write two lines since this morning, so help me out a little!"

"I said I don't want it!"

"If you don't wish to help, you'll have to admit that you are buying the guitar so that you can be popular with the girls! If not, I won't agree to you buying it."

"Why do you have to be so insistent on that!"

"Because you had once started learning the guitar, but you gave up on it immediately."

I hugged the cushions, and fell silent. Mom always hits the nail on the head once in a while amid all her jokes—I think that must be a very bad habit of hers.

"It's true, but… "

"That's why, if a guy is doing it so that he can be popular with the girls, then there will be no problem at all! Just admit it. And this time, you must have the resolve such that if you give up halfway, you will not be able to get a girlfriend for the rest of your life!"

Those words of hers sounded quite stupid, but they were somehow extremely convincing as well. I took a brief moment to think about what she said in silence. For girls, huh… all of this was indeed started by Lucy, but it's more of a case where I want to teach her a lesson…?

"…fine. I want to play the guitar so that I can be popular with the girls. Just cast your vote of agreement already!"

"Whoa, to be hearing such a stupid line from the mouth of lil' Haruto—Mommy feels really sad."

"Mom, you are in no position to be saying that!"

"Just joking! Remember to write my name down when you make the payments, or else they can't wire the bill to me."

I went back to my room, and sorted out my thoughts while lying in bed. I have never been to a proper musical instrument store before. They do put up some guitars on display at music CD stores, but I have no intention of getting a half-assed one from there. However, it feels strangely uneasy if you want me to deliberately look for a musical instrument store on the streets. Also, if possible, I want to get a guitar that is cheaper.

5

After thinking on it for a long while, my phone rang, it's Yang's phone number. Should I start the conversation by talking about me wanting to buy a guitar, she will definitely make me join the Folk-whatever club, so I'll just skip that for now.

"Haruto? It's a little too early for you to be home, you coward."

"How's that cowardly? Right, there's… something I'd like your help with."

"A request? What's wrong? I can listen, but the price of me helping you will be joining our club."

"No way. Look, do you know any decent musical instrument stores?"

"Musical instrument store? Why?"

"To buy an instrument, obviously. I want to buy a guitar." I regretted it a little, but I still told her the reason.

As expected, she insisted on getting to the bottom of the matter, "Why, why? Did you dream of someone? Eric Clapton?"

"I'm not you! And also, Clapton's not dead yet!"

"Could it be… the things Lucy said to you?"

I was speechless for a moment.

"Ah! Silence. I'm right~."

"… It's not that… "

"Ehh, Haruto and Lucy… "

The both of us swallowed back the words halfway through our sentences at about the same time. A moment of silence followed. I could hear the announcement of the arrival of the train from her side of the phone, she probably made the call at the train station while on her way back or something?

Yang finally said, "Right, since I'm about to head home now, let's go together?"

"You don't have to. Just tell me the place, and I'll go there by myself."

"Ah, it's fine. I am a regular there, so it will be cheaper if we go together."

"Thanks, but… "

"Oh! Here comes the train. See you there at the station."

She hung the phone before I could say what was on my mind. For some reason, her voice sounded strangely hoarse. I felt slightly uneasy, but I still took out fifty thousand yen from the envelope that contained the money for the family expenses and put them in my wallet, before stepping out of the house. Prior to me mounting my bicycle, I placed my hand at the area of my heart, and confirmed it once again… it's still hot. That was not just a moment of impulse.

To get to the musical instrument store which Yang showed me, one will have to exit through the northern entrance of the train station, then head downwards via the bridge till you hit the flight of stairs at the very end. After walking down the stairs, the store is located right at the intersection point of the shopping street and the slightly deserted residential area. It's sandwiched right in the middle of two large buildings that look a little like the spine of a thin book. A signboard with the words 'Thousand Birds Musical Instrument Store' was hangs above its entrance. The shop is rather narrow, and there are guitars that hung by the two walls at the sides from the floors right up to the ceiling that made the shop look quite intimidating. The music played in the store was heavy metal of Northern Europe, which further adds on to the sense of intimidation.

Yang said to me before entering the store, "I am a regular here, so if you try your best to haggle, you'll definitely get a cheap and satisfactory price." I do not have much experience in haggling though, so I was not feeling too confident about it.

"But, why did you decide to play the guitar again? You were still very unmotivated this morning." So she still asked in the end.

"I just feel like playing all of a sudden."

"Do you think I met you only yesterday? You're not the sort of person who does things on a whim, but… whatever. Hello~."

Yang grabbed my hand and walked into the store. Even the floors are filled with guitars supported by display stands. I strolled past those guitars and walked inwards. Finally, we found the counter amid the heaps of CDs and scores for some strange reason, a sense of nostalgia hit me.

"Is Kakashi-san around?" As Yang said that, a man walked out from the door located behind the counter. He was a guy with spiky silver hair and he looked quite tall. He should be around thirty, but that tired look of his eye was quite a pitiful sight — it's as though he was a potato that was left on the side for three weeks after it was picked from the fields. And what the hell is the book he read?! Isn't that the newest Icha Icha series? Is it alright reading an ero book in front of customers?

"Oh, it's Yang-chan. Sorry, but I am quite busy here… "

"Well I'm sorry, but please stop reading your porn Kakashi-san! You have a customer here. My friend here wants to get a guitar."

"Yang, is he a friend of yours?"

"Haruto, you don't know him? He's a famous musician!"

"No… I'm sorry. I'm not too familiar with local musicians."

"You don't really have to apologize to me in such a strange manner." Kakashi laughed loudly and continued. "It's fine for you not to know me, since I'm from an underground band."

I was finally able to make heads and tails of things after piecing together the words of the rather emotional Yang. Beside running this music store, Kakashi's also the lead singer in a band named Melancholy Ninja. He's also released albums via an indie record label. Also, it seems like he's involved in the behind-the-scenes stuff like song recordings. All in all, it means that he is a professional musician. Then another person appeared at the door behind the counter.

"Kaka nii! The strings in stock do not match up at all, hmm?"

"Eh? Blake's working today?"

The me in between Yang and the counter was suddenly stunned. Blake was wearing the black apron of the store with its logo printed on it, and her hand was holding onto the logbook. How? Why is she here?

"Ah, Yang. We are conducting a check on our inventory today, but there was a sudden lack of manpower. Speaking of which, we met yet again, Uzumaki. How nice. Make up your mind quickly and join the club, yeah?"

"Umm… ah, no… ugh, why?"

Which reminded me, Yang did indeed mention that girl had worked at a musical instrument store to get her guitar. So she's actually talking about this place? I should have thought of that. Dammit, I've been had! This is a conspiracy!

"Take your time! This is my store, so you don't have to hold back."

"It's my store actually… " Kakashi made a feeble protest.

"As your little sister, Kaka nii store is also my store, right? Speaking of which, the numbers for Martin's Extra strings in the inventory do not match up at all. Did you place them somewhere else?"

"Ah, no, about that… "

"Kaka nii, you're totally useless…"

Kakashi looked like he was on the brink of tears.

"There's nothing I can do then. Uzumaki, I have some time to spare, so I'll assist you with your shopping. Need anything?"

"Eh? Well, I am not here to buy anything." I wove a lie on the spot.

"He wants to buy a guitar. What do you recommend, Blake?" Yang interrupted. There was no point in me trying to lie my way through.

"Hmm. What's your budget, Uzumaki?"

"Well…"

"Oh, that's quite a huge sum! About fifty thousand yen."

"Don't take my wallet without my permission! And don't look at the contents either!" I snatched my wallet back from Yang's hands.

"Fifty grand, huh… you can only buy the cheap stuff here with the amount of cash you've got, but that would be a total waste of money."

"Don't say that… " Kakashi curled himself up as he said that, I was beginning to pity him already.

"Uzumaki, how about this then? We'll play a game of rock-scissors-paper. If you win, I'll sell you a guitar which is still slumbering in the warehouse and worth a hundred grand, at only half its price. If I win, I'll pick a guitar for you that is within your budget. How's that?"

"Hold on a second, Blake-chan. How can you be so rash?" Kakashi was flustered. "You said half-price, huh… but is that fine?"

"No worries. It's clearly stated in the first chapter of Das Kapital people sell their laboring-power to a buyer, not to satisfy the personal needs of the buyer, but to augment the buyer's capital."

"I don't quite get that… "

"To put it in simple terms, it means that most of the instruments here are sold at an exorbitant price, so they'll still be earning a profit even if I sell it to you at half its price."

"Blake-chan… " Kakashi was close to tears.

"My brother is too irritating, so let's have our game outside. Uzumaki, are you gonna accept my challenge or not?"

Blake grabbed my hand and pulled me outside of the store. Though it was really pitiful for Kakashi, what Blake said made sense too. Or rather, it's a little too good to be true, since I stand to lose nothing.

"If the price of selling me the guitar cheaply is me joining the club, then I am heading back."

"There is no need for me to impose any conditions, yeah? Moreover, I don't think I'll ever lose to you."

"Alright, I get it. You'll be selling me a decent guitar regardless of the outcome, right? You won't be giving me defective goods or something?"

"Of course! I swear upon the name and reputation of the store!"

"Well… alright."

"Ready? I'll give you a handicap."

Blake flashed a smile of satisfaction, and showed something that was pinched in between her index and middle finger. That's… a guitar pick. Eh? Index and middle finger? That means she won't be throwing scissors? No wait… is that a trap? She's misleading me so as to lure me into a trap?

"Rock-Scissors-Paper!" Along with the voice of her, I threw out rock immediately.

Blake's fingers expanded outwards to show paper, the pick slipped off her hand and fell onto the ground.

"Uzumaki, you're quite the honest man." She gently patted my head.

That's too sly! Actually, rather than saying that Blake was sly, should I be blaming myself for easily falling into that trap of hers? As Blake put a smile of victory on her face, I could see Kakashi behind Blake heaving a sigh of relief.

"Well then… I'll be heading to the warehouse to find the best choice that can fit your budget."

I calmed myself down a little, and squatted down on the spot. Yang came to my side and said, "Haruto is really unfortunate huh."

"Shut up… "

"You lost the moment you agreed to the challenge."

I lifted my head, and after seeing Blake taking a metallic red guitar out from the warehouse, I finally understood what Yang meant.

"This Aria Pro II costs fifty — four thousand and six hundred yen, including tax. Well, it's exactly fifty grand if I round it down for you."

"But… there's only four strings?"

"Hmm? Don't you know? This is a bass. It has two less strings compared to a normal guitar, and its pitch is an octave lower."

"No, I know that much. But why are you selling me a bass? I'm here to buy a guitar!"

"Bass is part of the guitar family, right?"

"Yeah, well, but… "

Yang placed her hand on my shoulder and said, "Because the Folk Music Research Club lacks a bassist that's how it is. You understand now?"

It took me two seconds to process that, before I realized in shock I had fallen into her trap. That girl's motive all along was to be able to choose the guitar that I will be buying, and thus she gave the promise that I'll be able to get a guitar regardless of the outcome. The idiot who did not see through her ploy was me.

"W-wait… "

"I am not interested in the words of the loser. Need a receipt?" Blake flashed a smile as she said that. So she actually has a cute side to her as well.

"I never thought of playing the bass…"

"Well, you don't know how to play the guitar in general, right?" My weak protest was quickly rejected by Blake. "Also, you want to issue a challenge at Lucy Heartfilia with a guitar, right?" I was speechless for a brief moment. "That girl can play Chopin and Liszt with just a single guitar. Uzumaki, based on your current skills, there is absolutely no chance of you beating her with a guitar!"

"It's not really a challenge or anything, just…"

"However, you can win if you use a bass." Blake shoved the heavy bass into my arms. "I'll make victory yours."

6

Compared to the electric guitar, the obvious advantage that the electric bass has is that you can barely hear anything coming from it if you don't plug it into an electrical source.

I bought the bass under Blake's persuasion, and brought it to class the very next day. I was instantly surrounded by my classmates. "Just play something, anything." Despite everyone urging me to play, I still gave the excuse, "But this is a bass, so it can't play any sounds!" and escaped.

That wouldn't have worked if it was a guitar, so it's great that I had gotten myself a bass with that thought in mind I could also console myself slightly for being played by the hands of Blake.

"But why did you want a bass?" Gray asked me something that I hadn't given any thought to.

"Ah, I've been thinking about it for a while. There's no real need for it, right?"

"Hey hentai critic, you better explain it in simple terms."

"Don't call me a hentai critic!"

I took the bass back from the hands of Gray, and placed it back into its cover. Actually, there's no way of explaining it all to them properly through words alone, but for the sake of the reputation of all the bassists in the world, I would have to come up with something.

"The few of you, sit over there."

"Yes, Prof Haruto."

"Please do not use musical terminologies during your explanation."

Ugh, they had actually thought of everything prior to my speech. The few guys sat in seiza around my seat, so I couldn't say anything wrong at a time like this. What to do? I licked my lips and thought of how I should start my explanation.

"Well then, let's start by recalling Lee's face."

"Why?"

"Don't ask. Just do as I say."

A few of the guys closed their eyes, while the others stared into the ceiling. As Lee looks like a copy of the famous Japanese action movie star Maito Gai plus with his iconic thick eyebrows, it is really easy to recall our friend's face.

"Well next, try removing the bushy brow off his face. Done?"

"Right, done."

"Right right. Next, imagine Lee without hair."

"Prof Haruto, is there any meaning to this? Is this some sort of psychological test or something?"

"You'll know soon enough. How is it? Can you guys imagine it?"

"I can, but isn't Lee's hair quite robust?"

"Compared to the brow, it is still easier to remove his hair."

"And here's the last step. Remove the contours of his face, and imagine how he looks like." Everyone's face was showing an expression like—

"Eh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't understand!"

"What does contours mean? The ears and stuff?"

"No, not that. It's removing the shape of his face. Imagine his eyes, nose and mouth popping out of a blank surface. Yeah, imagine that."

My classmates moaned sounds of "Hmm, hmm… " one after another. Some of them were pressing their fingers against their temples, while others were pulling their hair out.

"Troublesome. No matter how hard I try, those round eyes with that bushy brow of his will always appear in my mind."

"Yeah… Shika is right, it's impossible. It's pointless if you remove the contours of his face! I give up!"

"What, you given up already Kiba? You are always declaring proudly about how 'In my mind, I am able to remove the swimsuits worn by those beautiful gravure idols, regardless of who they are!', right?"

Idiot, you guys don't have to try that hard, you know? They struggled for about two minutes before giving up. With that, I made my conclusion, "So, if you apply the analogy of trying to erase the contours to a musical sense, the bass is like the contours of a face to me. Understand now?" My audience was still looking very confused. "It's just like how you guys can imagine the songs being played even without the guitars and the other instruments playing, but you can't imagine the song without the bass. As such, I can't quite explain very well why the bass is that important to me."

"I see… "

"Strange. It feels like I understand what he is trying to say, but it feels like I don't as well."

So do you guys get it or not? Then again, it will be disturbing if you guys do, because I was just spouting nonsense.

"But Prof Haruto's really impressive. You have the potential to succeed in the arts of music."

And with that, the preparatory bell rang. At the same time, the backdoor of the class, which is the door close to the right back of my desk, opened. Lucy stood by the door. Her line of sight first landed on my desk which was occupied by several of the guys, and then it shifted to the guitar cover in my arms. Her face cringed suddenly.

"Move," a soft and cold word from Lucy was enough to cause the guys who were listening to my nonsense to move away from her path. Oi oi, don't come to my desk, just go back to your seats already!

"So Haruto… " One of my male classmates, Nara Shikamaru, brought his face right next to mine, and whispered, "Is that it? Is the reason you picked up the bass because of Lucy?"

"Eh? W-what?" My voice became rather strange.

"You've been going to the courtyard frequently these days, right?"

"I see, so he'll be able to get close to her with that bass of his? That's quite smart of you, dude!" Kiba, another of my friends, stole peeks at Lucy's face. Don't gossip when you guys are that close to her!

Due to her hostile attitude, ever since the second day of her transfer here, all the girls in the class except Erza and Yang have become her enemies. However, none of the guys seems to mind, and they continue to worry about her. The ones to show her the way when we were moving to another classroom, or to lend her their textbooks when she forgot to bring them were all done by the guys. The guys who are always gathering around my desk are probably all doing it for the same reason? Guys are really stupid.

"Oh right, Heartfilia-san… " Kiba turned around and spoke to Lucy.

Lucy shifted her gaze from her textbook to his face, and slowly said, "Please do not call me by my surname."

"Then Lucy-san… "

"Don't call me by my name either. You're disgusting."

"A cute girl just called me disgusting… my sole reason for living has been extinguished."

"Don't worry Kiba, your face is not as disgusting as you think."

"Right, my face. Wait, what are you implying Shikamaru?!"

Move somewhere else if you wanna do manzai. Speaking of which, she did mention it before on her very first day here, but does she really hate her name that much? I had always thought she was just lying due to the circumstances back then. But why? Did someone bully her in the past and give her nickname or something?

"So you play in a band too? Will your piano teacher be mad at you for playing the guitar?" Just as Yang was talking to her, the side profile of Lucy froze. "Then again, you are really good at managing your time, since you can practice two different instruments at once."

"She should be practicing at the same time, I guess? Since the pieces are the same."

"How is that possible!"

Lucy shifted her sight back to the textbook. However, I noticed that her gaze was slightly blanked out.

"How did… you people know?" As she was speaking with her head hanging low, the guys gradually quieted down at the same time.

"Umm… well… "

"You've been practicing in the courtyard after school, right? We can hear you all the time."

"Ah, it's really famous! Everyone knows about it."

Lucy suddenly stood up. Her lips were trembling, and her face was turning green.

"I could be heard… this entire time?"

Oh, shit. She didn't know? As I turned sullen in brace of what may happen, I softly interrupted, "Well… I didn't tell you this, but the sound-proofing of that classroom isn't perfect. The sounds will escape from the gaps of the door."

Lucy's face became ghostly white in an instant, and then it turned red. Her lips were trembling non-stop.

I hugged my head and lied on my desk in anticipation of her lashing, but all I got was the sounds of footsteps running away from me, followed by the sound of the door closing. An uncomfortable silence shrouded the whole Class I-B.

I lifted my head. Everyone pretended they didn't know anything, but their gazes were saying that I was responsible for all of that.

"Haruto, what are you waiting for? Chase her!" Yang was saying that to me coldly.

"Why me?"

"Because you are in charge of her!" Gray said that for some reason, and the guys around him nodded their heads in unison with a "Mhmm!" Wait, I'm in charge? What's with that?

"Get moving, or else the lessons will start! Hurry!"

I had no idea what they were planning, but there's something in this world known as the atmosphere of the situation, which is something that is hard to resist. I was driven by it as well, and stood up from my seat.

When I exited the classroom, I nearly bumped into Erza. "What are you doing Haruto? I saw Lucy not too long ago…"

"Where did she go?"

"Eh? Ah, hmm, she was just walking down the stairs, Haruto? Wait! Haruto, where are you going?"

The preparatory bell rang at about the same time I pushed Erza aside to run away from the classroom.

Lucy had locked herself in the special classroom in the courtyard. Though the door was shut tight and there were no sounds coming from inside, I knew it the moment I entered the courtyard the padlock hanging on the door was opened. I stood before the old music building, and began to sort out my thoughts for a while.

What am I doing? I went along with what my classmates wanted and came out to find Lucy, but what should I do? Should I apologize to her? What exactly did I do wrong?

I should just head back to the classroom like that, and tell my classmates, "I don't know where she went?" and let things be as it is. However, my legs couldn't move. Soon, the second preparatory bell rang, I'm surely late for classes now. Forget it, I might as well skip the first period! It shouldn't be a big deal to miss a lesson or two occasionally. Moreover, there were things that I'd like to say to Lucy as well. I grabbed onto the handle, and pressed it diagonally downwards with force.

Lucy had stacked three cushions on the table, and she was sitting on it with her hands hugging her knees. Even when I walked into the classroom, all she did was lift her face up from her knees.

"It's a waste for you to be using the cushions like that. I brought three of those cushions here so that you can sleep on them if you lay them out on the desk side by side. I'm not joking, so don't stack them up together like that."

Lucy did not change her posture much she lifted herself slightly to pick out two cushions with her left hand, before throwing them at my face. I threw one of the cushions back, and placed the other on the floor so that I could sit on it.

"What are you here for?" Lucy asked with a hoarse voice.

"I came here because I want to skip the lessons, but I never expect someone else to be here. Whoa, what a coincidence though, I am slightly troubled by this."

"Liar."

How do you know I'm lying? Show me proof! You know, proof! But you're right, I'm lying.

"Why… didn't you tell me?" Lucy stared at the floor and asked in a whisper.

I turned my head backwards to take a glance at the gaps of the door, which resulted in the improper sound-proofing of the room. "Well, it's because you never asked." I was hit by an incoming cushion yet again. Why are you angry at things like that? "There's nothing bad about the sound going out anyway. It's not like you are doing something to be ashamed of."

"You're wrong." Lucy hugged her knees next to her chest tightly, and curled herself up in a corner of the desk. I can't communicate with her. What should I do?

"You had released CDs of you playing the piano, but you're not willing to let others listen to you playing the guitar? Isn't that really strange?"

"What do you know?" Lucy threw a question that fell softly between us. All of a sudden a surge of anger swelled up from within me.

"How would I know!" I moved my sight away from Lucy. If I don't do that, I don't know what Lucy would do should she finish her supply of cushions which she used to throw at me. "It's because you won't say anything, isn't it? Just honestly say whatever is troubling you, because I don't know how to read minds!"

It was the same back when we first met, and it happened again during the first day of her transfer. Lucy said nothing, leaving me to wonder if I should be a busybody and worry about her. However, all that I got was her contemptuous looks, or her complaining about me.

"… If I tell you, will you help me?"

I lifted my head in fright, and stared at Lucy. Those teary eyes of hers looked like the water from rivers that flowed into the sea; their colors were dull and gloomy.

"If I tell you everything that is troubling me, will you do something for me? If I want you to swim to America, will you swim there for me? If I want you to chop off your right hand and give it to me, will you really chop it off for me? If I want you to die, will you die for me?"

I was speechless. All I felt was a cold chill around me. The feeling was like I was trying to peek into an abyss during a dark night when the moon was not around, and seeing something that should not be seen from the surface of the waters.

"If you can't do that, then don't speak as you please."

"… Do you really want me to do those things for you?"

Lucy shook her head. Seemed like she had secretly cried a little. "No."

"If… you don't try saying it out loud, then how will anyone know? It's just telling someone about it. There's nothing to lose."

"Then make me go back in time, back to when I first started playing the piano."

"I'm not god, so how could I possibly do that?"

Which means there must be something that is troubling her. Why does she hate the piano that much? And also.…

"How about this then, please stop following me. You are an eyesore."

"I am not following you!" This is the only thing that I must make her understand. "I've said it many times already, I've been using this place since the beginning. The person who barged into this place would be you, right? So I'm not following you."

I glanced at the far corner of the room. Her golden Stratocaster was placed on the stand over there. I stood up, opened the locker, and took out a towel that had been used for quite a long time already.

"Look here, there are gaps by the sides of the door, right? You'll have to stuff it up with this towel. It won't be perfect, but you can more or less achieve better sound-proofing this way. And also this… " I took a broom and dustpan from the locker and showed it to her. "Clean up this place properly. Can't you see how dirty it is along the walls and on the floor? It took me quite a bit of effort to clean this place up to its current state. Remember this, I'm here to get my classroom back. There's no way I'll allow a young guitarist like you, who hasn't even heard of rock before, to continue with that arrogant attitude of yours any longer!" I said all those haughty words in the spur of the moment, and I regretted it a little almost immediately.

Lucy stared at me in a dumbfounded state, with her eyes still filled with tears. Not long after, she took in a deep breath, and said, "So that's the reason you brought your bass to school?"

She was actually crying like a kid not too long ago, so what's with that annoying expression of hers? Can't I bring my bass here?

"Do you think you can win just by changing to a bass? Idiot!"

"Say as you please! I can't play that well in my current state, but I'll definitely catch up to you soon enough. Well then, let us settle it once and for all with this room as the prize!"

As I said that, I grabbed the broom and pointed its handle towards Lucy. I said it! Lucy seemed like she could no longer speak a word she was just standing there stiffly with her eyes open wide. I interpreted that as her flinching at my words, instead of her being dumbfounded by my actions. After placing the broom and the dustpan back into the locker, I took out a spraying can and placed it on the desk. Upon seeing the spraying can, Lucy tilted her head cluelessly.

"… Insecticide?"

"Yeah. You can find some centipedes in the room occasionally, though it is quite rare to see cockroaches these days."

Not long after I had left the classroom, I could hear the sound of the door opening in a fluster behind me. I turned my head around, and saw Lucy dashing out of the room with a pale white face.

"What now! I already left as you have requested, so just stay in there properly. You'll be considered late if you are to head back to the classroom right now anyway…"

"W-w-why didn't you tell me about this from the beginning?" That face of hers which was on the brink of tears really made her look like a kid.

"Why? Because you didn't ask!" My answer was the same as before. "You've been in there all this time, right? It should be fine."

"Idiot!"

My upper arm was repeatedly slapped by her many times. What a troublesome girl.

In the end, we returned to the classroom after the first period ended. As Lucy was grabbing onto my arms with an expression close to tears, I could only admit defeat. I spent roughly an hour in the practice room killing all the insects that I could find, as well as sealing up all possible gaps where the insects can get through with sealing tape. I didn't think there was much of a point though. Things like centipedes and stuff can easily squeeze through an opening that's only two millimeters wide, right?

"Ah, the Princess is back."

"So you two really came back together huh… "

I felt slightly intimidated when everyone looked at us as we stepped into the classroom. Wait… Princess?

Yamanaka Ino, the class queen, walked over, leaned herself against the desk, and said, "After a round of discussion, the class has decided that we will be calling you 'Princess' from today onward."

Lucy's face turned ghostly white initially, but it soon became red. I had always felt that despite her not willing to speak much, one can easily know what she was thinking from the change in her expressions.

"… W-why?"

"You don't like it regardless of whether we address you by your name or your surname, right? It's very inconvenient for us to talk to you like that."

"S-so that's the reason… "

A girl next to Ino said deliberately, "If you kneel down and apologize, we won't call you by such an embarrassing name."

"No way!"

"Oh, I see. Well then, please take care of us from now on, Princess."

"It's your turn to do the duties tomorrow, Princess. Therefore, you must get here earlier, instead of the usual where you are always nearly late."

Ah, she's about to cry yet again. What's with all that they are bullying a newcomer? But Lucy had only herself to blame for her predicament, so I didn't find her pitiful at all. Then again, what's with the huge difference in the attitudes with the young Japanese these days?

"And, if there is anything that the Princess needs, you can just ask Haruto over there."

That sentence from that bastard Gray instantly sealed my fate without my prior approval. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that.

"Why me?!"

"Haruto, it's like this." Gray sitting diagonally in front of me explained, "We always call a prince or princess 'Your Highness', right? Do you know why?"

"I don't… and what's the link between these two things?"

"It means, 'we are the people who are below them and serving them' like that. As it is rude to speak directly to the royals, we can only speak to their servants instead."

"Ohhh… "

"I learned yet another thing today."

Those moronic guys around me became excited.

"Which means, the servant we are talking about is you, Haruto!"

"Me?! Why?!"

Despite my protesting by slamming my fists on the table repeatedly, no one was paying any attention to me as the decision was passed by the class in overwhelming numbers, and it was too powerful for me to reject it. I looked in the direction of my only possible saviors Yang and Erza. However, all they did was look at Lucy and me suspiciously then made a weird face before turning around to face the lecture stand.

7

I grabbed my bass and escaped from the classroom immediately after school, and headed towards the roof. Once I got there, I saw a girl in her uniform sitting on the wired fence looking towards the sky. Her long black hair was caressed by the winds, and she seemed to be in a pretty good mood. It was Shiroikiba Blake.

"Isn't that a little too slow, Uzumaki? The after-school bell had already finished."

"No, it's you who's too early…"

We were still having our lessons, so how could she get here before the bell was done ringing?

"The melody of the time signal of the factory opposite of us will overlap with the chimes of our school at this time, which results in a coincidental and intriguing polyphony. I really hope you could listen to it, Uzumaki."

Speaking of which, it's a little too dangerous for you to be sitting on such a high place, right? Blake jumped down from the fence and landed right in front of me.

"Have you decided to join our club?"

"Well…" I removed the bass that was slinging on my shoulders and leaned it against the fence. I was slightly hesitant with my words. "I'll need your help in bass, but as for joining the band…"

"Why?" Blake arched her beautifully shaped brows.

"No, it's just because I wish to get back to that classroom so I can listen to my CDs. I'm not playing the bass for your sake."

"But you came here quickly according to my instructions."

"It's simply because I'll be needing your help if I want to teach Lucy a proper lesson."

"So by wanting me to teach you, you are referring to me teaching you how to play the bass first. You are using me, just like how I am using you. Right?"

The way she put it was rather blunt, but I still nodded my head honestly. In order to win against Lucy, I couldn't care less about my image.

A smile appeared on Blake's face. "Mmm, I see. You no longer have the expression of a loser."

Her smile was not as theatrical as usual, instead, it was an extremely natural smile. I was shocked.

"Isn't this fine? I had already predicted that you would be joining us anyway. So let us begin!" Blake squatted down and took out a bunch of stuff from the backpack on the floor, a mini-amplifier with batteries in it, the cables for the amplifier, as well as replacement strings for the bass.

"But, why do we need to practice on the roof?"

"What do you think is the first step in training for the basics of bass?" She directed the question at me as she took out the strings from a bag and unwound them.

"Hmm, isn't it practicing the finger crab walk?" It's a sort of repetitive practice on the basics. The player sets a fixed tempo, and begins pressing on the fret in order by using the index finger to the little finger, then playing out each scale in order. As the left hand will move horizontally inwards little by little, some people call it the finger crab walk. Sounds noobish, but it is the basics of guitar playing. However, Blake shook her head.

"There's another thing that needs to be done before that. It's the reason why I called you up to the roof." Blake pulled the string tightly by its ends. "I've made a tightrope from here to the roof of the opposite dormitory with a string. You shall walk on it to the other side of the building."

I was stunned. I nearly dropped the bass that I was taking out from its casing.

"Are you trying to kill me?!"

"You can't be a bassist if you can't entrust your life to the strings. I'll be here praying for your safety. You'll probably die if you fall off, so you better prepare yourself mentally first."

"No, no no no, what the hell are you talking about?"

"My my," Blake shrugged. "It is necessary for to undergo special training that puts your life at risk for you to become a bassist. You mean you don't know? Even the most famous bassists of Japan had all undergone all sorts of training with their lives on the line. Take for example, they'd knock their head repeatedly with a tin can, or expose themselves to the blazing fire of a gas explosion… and so on."

"So the famous bassists of Japan whom you are referring to are?"

"The deceased Ikariya Chosuke."

"The Drifters is a comedy group, ain't it?!" I slammed the bass casing against the ground.

"The Drifters is a band as well! They were the opening act for the Beatles's concert. That's really rude of you, Uzumaki."

"I know that, so stop trying to change the subject!"

"The thing about the tightrope is obviously a joke. The first thing you should do is change the strings of the bass. Since the instrument had been in the store for quite a while, the elasticity of the strings will gradually slacken."

T-this girl is just… I didn't think there was any point in saying anything, so I just changed the four strings in silence.

"The real reason for me calling you up to the roof, is that!" Blake pressed against the fence and pointed downwards. I could understand what Blake was referring to from the sounds of the guitar that were entering my ears, without the need to look at what she was pointing to. The classroom that Lucy practices her guitar in was right beneath us. Then again, I had taught her how to soundproof the room with the towel, so why could I still hear the sounds of her guitar? The carefree melody was Ravels's Pavane for a Dead Princess. Is it due to the shock of our classmates addressing her as 'Princess'?

"That was seven days ago." Blake leaned her back on the fence, and looked into the sky. "I was skipping classes from the very first period, and stayed here till school was over, while listening to the sounds of the streets."

What's this girl in school for?

"Then, the sun gradually began to set, and just when it felt like it was about to rain, came the sound of that guitar. It was Book II of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier. However, she skipped the fugues and played only the preludes. I was so pissed, I didn't notice that it was already raining, I sat down and continued listening."

"You'll catch a cold like that…"

"All she played were the preludes, right up to No. 24 in B minor, it was sweet torture. Then I heard the door opening, and so I sneaked a peek towards the room, and saw a beautiful girl walking out of it. Her perfect golden hair was in contrast to the dark gloomy sky outside — and her fire-like scarlet eyes, they're so captivating, I can't help being drawn by it. That was enough for me to fall for her."

The bass slipped off my knees and fell on the ground.

"Umm… Shiroikiba?"

"Hmm?"

"But Lucy's a girl?"

"So what? I like beautiful things. In my eyes, gender does not matter."

"Well… if you say so." I began to tune my bass as I said that.

"However, she, Lucy Heartfilia, didn't listen to a single word I said. Also, upon my detailed observations, for some reason, you're the only person in this school who can converse with her." I jumped in shock and lifted my head. What appeared before me was that destructively cute smile of Blake's, which she had only used once that week. "Therefore, Uzumaki, I need your strength."

I had no idea why, but I could not look straight into Blake's eyes, all I could do was shift my gaze back to the bass in my hands. That was the first time someone said that to me in my entire life. No, wait a second, calm down and think about it properly. Blake said herself that I am just a pawn to be used by her.

"So your actual plan is to get Lucy's attention, right? It's not really about me joining the band." I voiced out the doubt within me, but all Blake did was tilt her head and look at me with her amber eyes blinking repeatedly. All these conversations I had with her weren't just hallucinations of mine, right? That thought suddenly flashed past my mind.

"Uzumaki, do you know the reason why humans are born into this world?"

"What's with the sudden question? How would I possibly know."

"The answer's simple. Humans are born into this world for love and revolution."

Suddenly, the wind breezed past us, lifting up Blake's long black hair. I nearly fell over despite only feeling a faint gust of wind on my shoulders. Why is she saying all that? Do I have some misunderstanding on what life is all about? Those questions appeared in my mind for a very brief moment.

"Leon Trotsky… you probably don't know about him, do you? He's the second to last revolutionist! He fled to Mexico after losing to his political comrade, Joseph Stalin, in a political battle. He died before witnessing the start of the revolution of the world. However, his misfortune was not because Stalin was not by his side…" Blake took my bass away from my hands blankly, and plugged it into the amplifier. "His misfortune was that Paul McCartney was not by his side. The last revolutionist, John Lennon, he's lucky to have had Paul McCartney next to him."

Blake suppressed her overwhelming emotions, and began to pick the strings with her nails. A series of intense and out-of-tune sounds blared out from the amplifiers loudly, which stimulated my ears. I couldn't understand at all how can those thick strings of the bass produce such a high-pitched sound? She was playing the prelude of the Beatles's Revolution. It's the song of revolution written by John Lennon, and it's a song that is widely misunderstood.

"Therefore, love, revolution and music are inseparable from my life. The strength to push for the never-ending revolution, the strength to find the Paul who belongs only to me, and the strength to convert these thoughts into songs that I sing — there is no difference between the three. Are you satisfied with the answer I gave you?"

"Is your answer even directed towards my question…? I am totally clueless about what you're trying to say."

Just as I was about to voice out some of my thoughts, Blake knitted her brows and shook her head while mumbling, "My, my."

"Can't help it then. To put it in simple terms that you can understand, it's like this: aside from getting Lucy's talk to me, I am serious about forming a band as well. That includes recruiting you."

"Then just say that right from the start!" I banged the casing yet again.

"It's better for you to be a little more poetic."

"You keep treating others as idiots as well, don't you, Shiroikiba? And stop that proud look of yours, because I'm not praising you."

"Uzumaki, your reactions are quite interesting. Come here." Blake was smiling bashfully. Come here? Be slightly more polite, will you! "Well then, let us modify the bass. I am quite troubled by your knack of going off topic."

Me? Is it my fault? Just as I was about to speak, Blake suddenly returned the bass to me. "We'll have to create the sound before you practice. See, I've brought all sorts of pickups here. You have your tools ready, right?"

Blake took out a few guitar parts from her backpack. A pickup is something that captures the vibration of the strings. By changing these parts, there will be a significant change to the tone of the instrument. Other modifications include changing the internal wiring and etc, and the most extreme case is to punch holes onto the guitar itself.

"You mean, we're going to modify the bass right now?"

"That Aria Pro II of yours is a cheap bass, but I specially chose it in consideration to the timbre of Lucy Heartfilia's Stratocaster. However, that is not enough. This bass is unable to create the tones that offer a perfect response to her guitar."

Blake pointed beneath the fence. A series of glamorous fast strumming of the guitar played by Lucy came from that direction. I see, so that's the reason for summoning me to the roof? Blake and I repeatedly pondered on how to modify the bass, and it was something really interesting. Just so happens that I am good at it as well.

"The sounds of your bass are already comparable to the bass of Greg Lake's." After two long hours, Blake took the completed bass and said that with praise, amid the heaps of wood shavings, metal bits, and pieces of snipped strings. I was slightly embarrassed by that. "Why don't you work on my Les Paul as well? I want to make its tone slightly richer."

"No way, I don't have the guts to work on that sort of high-end guitar."

Blake cracked a laugh, and began to clear up the tools and rubbish. "Try to connect your bass to the amplifiers as much as possible when you are practicing. It's so that you can feel it with your body, and remember the sounds that will be the same as what you will be playing in the actual performance."

I nodded my head, and once again plugged my bass into the mini-amplifier. The clarity of the bass was totally different from how it was when I first bought it. This was to match up against those clean timbres of Lucy's, which are played with a mechanical precision. If you ask me, I am quite confident about my modifications as well. Since the moment Blake unreasonably forced me to buy this bass, I had never quite felt that the instrument was mine. However, as of now, it really felt like the bass was covered in my sweat from the past ten years of my usage, I could use it comfortably. It's my partner that I've created from scratch. I could finally begin practicing.

"Of course, I won't be making you practice on some basic things repeatedly either. That is something necessary, but you can just practice that on your own at home. It may be quite sudden, but I'd like you to play a song for me right now." Blake placed a hand-written score right before me. "Do you know this song?"

I nodded in reply. There was no title on the score, but I knew straight away after a glance.

"I won't deny that the melodies of a bass aren't that attention-grabbing. There are almost no songs that people can recognize purely by its bass alone. There's only one exception, which is this. Therefore, I think all bassists should start with this song, and end with this song as well."

The song is Ben E. King's Stand by Me. Bum, bum, badabum, bum… that's the bass rhythm, it's true, two verses is all it takes to revive the tune in your memory.

"Then pace yourself to the metronome and play the song! Keep playing till night has come and the stars are up, alright?"

After she was done with singing the lyrics, Blake gave a wave before opening the door and leaving. I heaved a sigh, sat down on the floor and picked up the guitar. Though Blake is always giving me plenty of surprises, I had never once thought she would make me play a song that quickly. Hey! Ain't you gonna Stand by Me?

After an hour into my practice, something suddenly felt out of place. Initially, I didn't know what that feeling was. It was till I lifted my fingers off the strings and stopped the metronome, that I had finally realized I could no longer hear the sound of Lucy's guitar. I lifted my head and shot a glance at the clock on the wall of the walkway, it's almost five. Lucy will usually play till it's about time for school to end, so she should not be home yet. Perhaps she went to the toilet or something?

I increased the tempo of the metronome slightly, and started playing from the beginning again. This time, I hummed the lyrics as I played. However, the rhythm of the lyrics is different from the rhythm of the bass, thus making it difficult for me to play. My fingers stopped playing yet again, due to that out-of-place feeling I had felt earlier.

The door of the roof should be closed, and yet it was slightly ajar. I leaned my bass against the fence, and walked to the door. Upon opening the door, I saw a frightened Lucy standing on the other side of it. She took a step back but missed the steps, and nearly fell backwards down the stairs. As her hands were waving wildly in the air, I quickly grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her back up.

"What are you doing here?"

After much difficulty in steadying herself, Lucy brushed my arms off her shoulders. She turned her head away quickly and answered, "It feels really noisy up here."

I glanced at the bass behind her in slight shock. She heard that? But I didn't make much sound to begin with.

"Why are you practicing at a place like this?" Lucy glared at me. She seemed to be rather unhappy.

"Didn't I teach you the method to soundproof the room using the towel?"

"If I did that, I wouldn't be able to escape from the room fast enough if something appeared in the room."

"If something appeared in the room?"

"It's… when something… appears in the room… or things like that." Lucy lowered her head while speaking vaguely.

"You mean things like centipedes or cockroaches?"

"Wa! Wa!" Lucy cupped both of her ears and stomped on my foot a few times.

"It hurts! What the hell are you doing!"

She turned the situation into something rather stupid, so all I could do was head back to my bass. For some reason, Lucy was following me.

"Umm… what?"

"It's out of tune." Lucy puffed her cheeks and pointed at my bass rather unhappily.

"Eh?"

"The third string is too flat. I was really uncomfortable when I heard it just now. You mean you didn't notice?"

I checked my tuner, and it was indeed slightly out of tune. She could hear it three floors beneath me? She's that good?

"I'll borrow it."

Just as I was trying to tune it, Lucy suddenly snatched my bass away from me. She quickly gave the tuning pegs a few turns to tune the instrument, then passed the bass back to me.

"Thanks for helping me tune it! I'll pay you ten yen each time you do that, so please help me out in the future."

"Idiot."

I suddenly remembered something, and began playing Stand By Me.

"What's this song? I heard it somewhere before."

Impressive, it's exactly like what Blake said. As a girl who has been carefully nurtured under the influence of classical music, this is probably the only song that Lucy can recognize just by the bass alone.

"It's a song called Stand By Me."

"What is the song about?"

"What's it about huh? Hmm… it's a story about how a person was walking along the railway, when he suddenly found a corpse next to it."

Lucy knitted her brows. "Are you talking nonsense again?"

"No, I'm not lying." Though that is the summary of the movie with the same name, and not the lyrics of the song.

Not long after, Lucy sat next to the door of the roof, and listened to my raw bass techniques. Then again, how long are you planning to stay around here? It's really tough for me to play when you're around, so please go back already? Perhaps it was because of Lucy staring at me, I had played the notes wrong quite a few times.

"Are you happy?" Lucy suddenly mumbled those words out. I stopped my hands from playing, and lifted my head. "Are you happy playing the bass?"

I had no idea how to answer that sudden question from her.

"Hmm, it's not too bad. It's rather nice to be able to gradually play the songs that I like."

"Really?" Lucy didn't seem the least interested. All she did was stare at the floor. I asked her the same question.

"You're not happy when you play the guitar?"

"Not the least bit."

"If you're not happy, why don't you stop playing then?"

"Why don't you just die?"

I gripped hard onto the neck of my bass, and took a deep breath. Alright, it's fine, don't get angry. I've used with cruel words like that while dealing at my sister's antics. There will be no end to things if I am to take every single word of hers seriously. I have to be more mature than that.

"Since you're not happy, then why do you still coup yourself up in the practice room everyday to play the guitar? Just go home and play your piano already!"

"It's none of your business."

There's plenty to do with me! You've snatched my place of rest away from me, no?

"Then… can you not lock the door with a padlock? You go straight home right after school on Fridays, right? Can you let me use the classroom on that day?"

"How did you know that I go straight home on Fridays? Hentai!"

"That has nothing to do with me being a hentai or not. I can easily see that with my own eyes."

"Shut up! Don't ever come close to me!"

Our conversation ended like that. I continued practicing quietly, but Lucy had no intention of leaving. She was walking to-and-from the door, hesitating on whether she should head back downstairs. What's she doing?

"… Princess?"

Lucy jumped in shock, and turned around.

"Are you calling me that as well?"

"Then how do you want me to address you? Heartfilia?" She shot a glance at me angrily. "Lucy?"

This time, she shifted her gaze diagonally downwards, and nodded her head while biting her lips slightly. So she can more or less accept it if I call her by her own name? But it's quite difficult for me to address her that way!

"Just tell me straight if there is something you want to say. I told you that yesterday, right?"

"Why are you acting all high and mighty?"

Do you have any right to be saying that to me? However, just as I was about to stare back at her, Lucy looked somewhere else. It's as though she was saying something awkward, she murmured softly, "There's something moving behind the cabinet with a buzzing sound."

Hmm? Ah… so that's the reason she came here?

"Don't you have the insecticide?"

"I sprayed it into the room, before running out of there in a hurry."

"Geez, that's not the way you use insecticide! These aren't those boron insecticides where you smoke them to death. It won't work if you don't spray it at the insect directly."

"You're asking me to do things like that?!" Lucy said that as she clenched her teeth with tears in the corners of her eyes, and her body was trembling slightly.

Is that the way to ask a favor from someone? Then again, if I leave her alone, then Lucy will never use that room again, which means that victory will be mine?

"If you don't like it either way, how about returning the room to me like a mature lady?"

"You scumbag!" Lucy said to me while holding back her tears, "Whatever, I get it. I'll do it myself." Lucy slammed the door, and from the footsteps it sounded like she was walking downwards. Go ahead and try your best!

I continued playing Stand by Me. Still, I was quite curious about how it ended, so I looked down through the fence. Lucy was standing outside of the practice room rigidly with her left hand clenched into a fist.

After staring at it for quite a while, she reached out for the handle of the door, but then she stopped almost immediately, as though all the strength in her body was drained out of her. She stood there motionlessly, and her back was trembling non-stop. As she looked really pitiful, I switched off the power of the amplifier, placed my bass down, and got myself up.

So that buzzing sound was not actually caused by an insect. After reaching the courtyard downstairs, I walked into the practice room. I tried shaking the cabinet, and something that was stuck to its back suddenly fell onto the floor with a pa. So it's actually the front cover of Iron Maiden's first album. The buzzing sounds were probably made by the rustling of the pages on the front cover, caused by the vibration of the cabinet due to the sounds of her guitar.

I originally thought I had lost the front cover of the album forever, and was thus really happy when I managed to get it back. I delightedly showed Lucy the cover which features the grotesque image of a zombie, and then—

"Kyaaaaaa!"

"Dammit! My eyeeeesssss!"

Needless to say, she sprayed the insecticide on my face while crying and yelling at the same time.

Haru Naru ♪♪♪ This World is a Comedy - Chapter 8 - Orange_Naru (2024)

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References