Chapter Text
“Again, Mantaro. Repeat.”
Another day, same nuisance. He was tired of this. Tired of everyone, tired of this stupid piano.
“I don’t want to.”
“Do you want to be a successful pianist, like you told me, Mantaro? Or do you want to stay a measly Manta Ray who will never get cephalopods to know your culture?!” He was met with harsh words from his teacher. These extra-scholastic lessons were harrowing, to say the least.
“I’m tired of repeating the same stupid songs, teach.” Mantaro glared at his professor from behind the piano.
“Are you confirming what I said, then?”
oh, it’s on, teach.
“I’M NOT!”
“Don’t you raise your voice at me, boy.”
This fucker. This SACK OF SHIT!
“I’M DONE PLAYING THE SONGS FROM YOUR CULTURE. LET ME PLAY MY. CULTURE!” Mantaro yelled, silence dropped in the room.
“…Your parents will hear about this one.”
”MY MOM IS AN INKLING! SHE WON’T UNDERSTAND! SHE NEVER UNDERSTANDS!”
”I don’t care. I don’t teach music to entitled kids like you. This lesson ends here, Mantaro. Learn some education, while you’re at it.” The professor snarled, leaving Mantaro alone and slamming the door shut.
………
“UGH!!!” Mantaro started smashing his fists in the piano, a series of distorted sounds coming out of it. “I’M DONE, WITH, THIS, FUCKING, PIANO!” He slammed the lid shut, putting his elbows on the closed piano, and he broke down into tears. He never yelled at a teacher in his whole life. And now he was surely gonna get a bad grade. He just wants to learn on his own, but he had to get enrolled in these stupid lessons. Harshly getting up made the stool fall backwards, and he ran out while crying, he made a B-line for the school’s exit and then his house.
Cool…
The words of those two cephalopods kept booming in Mantaro’s head. Did they really never, ever see a Stingray, or a Manta Ray? That was…odd. Or, maybe he was the odd one. Now that he calmed down from that idiot at school, he was sitting in his bedroom, fiddling with a guitar pick. He remembered wanting to give a go to the Electric Guitar his adoptive parents got him for his birthday. Or maybe he could show…Shiver and Frydah, the guitar. They said they were going to stay at the school’s rooftop to sing, didn’t they? He didn’t remember.
Checking his phone, his questions got an answer, thanks to Frydah’s energetic message.
‘HEY MANTA RONDO WNAN MEET AT THE SCHOL’s rOOFTOP????? ME N SHIVER ARE GINNA SING :DDDDD OK SERYA THERE!!!!!?! >w<‘
“Manta Rondo?” He blinked, taken aback by the sheer errors- no, horrors of orthography in that single message. It was clear she tried to spell Mantaro but hit space and it autocorrected to Manta Rondo. Oh, how silly. Mantaro was left amused by the message, and he held his finger on the notification to send a quick reply.
‘aight ill see ya there then :3’
He liked to reply with ‘:3’ because it reminded him of how he looked like in his ray form. Another chuckle and he put the phone in standby, grabbing the guitar’s case, its amp box and the guitar pick, and he went downstairs.
“Mama!! I’m goin’ out to see friends!!” He called.
A feminine voice replied to him, the sound of running water and plates clinking serving as the background noise.
“Didya do your homework, ‘Taro?”
“Yeeeess mom!! Okay I’m gonna go now bye!!!” He rushed to the door, twisting the doorknob open, but then his mom stopped him.
“Wait, Mantaro.”
Oh no, what did she need? Mantaro thought of the worst. Did he do the laundry wrong? Did he fold the bedsheets a certain way his mom wasn’t okay with? Is he simply existing???
His thoughts were cut off when his Inkling mother planted a kiss on his cheek, pinching it afterwards. “Have fun, baby.”
Oh. He didn’t expect that.
“Thanks mom…” He replied, leaving the house with all he needed to play with Frydah and Shiver.
“Is he gonna come or not?” Shiver peeked over Frydah’s phone to look at Mantaro’s answer.
“Yeah, he said he’s coming, so…Hope he doesn’t chicken out at the end.” Frydah replied.
“Why do you think he would?”
“I dunno, shy guys like him often do that.” The Inkling shrugged. “He looks like a nice guy though…Why do people bully him so much? ‘Cause he’s different? Who cares if he’s different…”
“You barely know him, Frydah…” Shiver objected.
“So what?? He was nice to us! Yet we made fun of him…you made fun of him.”
“And you laughed.” The Octoling bit back. “We’re both at fault in this.”
“And so, we’ll give him a genuine apology this time.” Frydah crossed her arms, squinting her eyes at Shiver.
“What? Wasn’t my apology enough?” They tried to defend themselves, and Frydah’s only reply was a shake of her head.
“Ugh, fine…” Looking away, Shiver made a disgruntled sigh.
“G-Guys!!” Mantaro finally reached the rooftop, his torso drooping down with heavy pants. “Finally…the stairs…are over!”
“Hi Mantaro!!” Frydah got up, running over to him to give him a hug.
Physical touch from someone who wasn’t his mother…he loved that. Immediately, he hugged back.
“O-Ow…Mantaro…Too tight…!”
“Huh? I’m…not even squeezing…” He let go of Frydah, a concerned look on his face. “Sorry…”
“That’s okay…don’t worry, heh…” Frydah rubbed her arm. “I didn’t know Manta Rays were so strong…”
Oh…he almost forgot…that he was a Stingray, for once.
“Either way, are we gonna sing or not?” Shiver paced towards the two, crossing their arms. Mantaro was almost afraid of them, that sharp, maskless eye, and those claws…
He stopped.
He just realized he was making the same error everyone else was making on his end. Shaking his head, he smiled. “Yes, we are. At least well, you will.”
“Don’t you wanna give a try to singing?” Frydah suggested. “Bet playing the piano all the time is so boring…”
“Oh, tell me about it…” The Stingray looked away, eyes burning with tears.
“Why don’t you drop that class? That teacher of yours looks just so mean even by looking at him.” Shiver commented, leaning their side against the wall.
“…I don’t know…I don’t want my mom to feel disappointed in me…” Mantaro’s voice turned to barely a mumble, rubbing his side with an embarrassment that didn’t go unnoticed by the two cephalopods.
“She won’t be. If she made a kid this polite, I assume she’s as kind as you too…” Frydah reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “C’mon Big Guy…give it a try! After we’re done here, mm?”
“…I’ll try…”
He knew he wasn’t gonna try. It was just his way to make them change the subject.
“Sweet! C’mon now, let’s go play!” Shiver clasped their hands excitedly.
“Wait…have you decided on a bandname yet?” Mantaro pondered, tilting his head.
“We wanted to go with something like…Surimi Gang…or uh…Sushi Legion…?” Frydah started brainstorming, but was stopped by Mantaro.
“Wait. Let’s try something else. For Splatsville, what would you want to do?”
“…Good question…Well, we wanna leave a deep, deep mark of our own cultures and musical skills to all the cephalopods who live here, and maybe even beyond!”
“Well then…the name could be…” Mantaro also racked his brains for a second, and then smiled.
“Deep Cut.”
“Woah, YES!! Immediately yes!” Shiver nodded in agreement as an addiction to her excitement, and Frydah squealed with joy.
“Deep Cut! Yes! What a name for a band!!!”
“So, it’s decided.” Mantaro put his hands behind his back, his smile grew wide.
“From now on, we’ll be known as Deep Cut.”