Chapter Text
from what utahime had heard and told suguru, unlimited void is a three-piece industrial rock band comprised of students from their university, the julia scarburg school of music. the group formed their freshman year and now, two years later, they've gained enough traction to book local venues and fill them out fairly well. apparently they're all incredibly talented, but that opinion was about as valuable as a grain of salt to suguru.
after all, he didn't consider rock to be real music, it was nothing more than child's play to him: loud, void of any artistic value, and just dull overall.
so when he was assigned to attend an alternative concert for his 'exploring new genres' assignment, suguru wasn't exactly thrilled to attend a concert for the locally famous band, unlimited void, but instead he saw them as an easy-out.
the opening band was nothing spectacular— hell, they weren't even memorable in comparison to the main act, but that was hardly a compliment.
despite sitting at one of the tables that were farther away from the stage, the venue was small enough that he was still able to make out the general appearance of each person on the stage.
the lead singer wore a floor length black dress and carried a matching black bass guitar that was shaped like an axe. her long light blue hair covered half her face and then fell straight down her back, unlike her other two bandmates who both had hair that ended above their shoulders. she was pretty, and she carried herself in such a way that told you she already knew that.
the drummer had short dark brown hair with bangs that swooped across her face. she was dressed in a cropped white tank top and black skinny jeans that were frayed at the ends. her countenance was surprisingly calm from behind her red drum set, which contradicted the sweat that had been running down on her face since the first five minutes of their set.
and then there was the guitarist.
he had the messiest hair suguru had ever seen.
it was like a flurry everytime he moved, bright white locks flopping around his face as he thrashed about on stage— suguru found it absolutely infuriating how everytime he moved his eyes were drawn back to him.
he was the epitome of a classless monkey.
suguru grabbed his pen and took the time to write out some notes about the music, lyrics, and appearance of the ensemble and stage overall.
eventually, without realizing, his eyes had returned to watching the guitarist, who looked like he was having the most fun out of the three of them as he was all smiles as he winked to random girls in the crowd. suguru deemed that being so excited about something as disappointing as rock music wasn't a good thing, to put it lightly.
his openly judgmental gaze lowered and he saw that the man was clad in an oversized black muscle tee and a pair of ripped black jeans, with two silver earrings dangling from the piercings in his right ear. his white hair was shaved underneath to create an undercut and his periwinkle guitar was shaped so that it looked like it belonged to a touring 1980's rockstar instead of a 20-year-old at a prestigious music school.
"you like the guitarist? i've heard a lot about him—"
"i don't like any of them, he's just the most chaotic; it's like watching a train wreck."
"you might as well loosen up and have fun while you're here," she suggested.
"what's fun about this loud cacophony?"
"such a snob— you know they're students just like us, right?"
suguru chose to ignore her comment.
"well," utahime stood and pointed to the stage, "that lead singer is hot, so i'm gonna get closer, you're welcome to join me, i'll be on the sides to avoid the massive mosh pit."
he ended up not joining her that night in fear of losing his braincells if he got any closer to the mayhem on stage.
-
he left the venue exhausted. his draining day was finally over and suguru wanted nothing more than to get back to his dorm and sleep as soon as possible.
unfortunately, he couldn't even make it five steps out of the venue before he was stopped.
"hey! you're the grumpy guy who was sitting in the back all alone! how'd you like the show? i'm sure you had a fuckin' blast," he laughed and gray clouds tumbled out of his nose.
suguru eyed the guitarist, noting his icey blue eyes that had been hidden behind tiny black sunglasses on stage.
"do you need something?"
the man blinked, perhaps in shock, and then snorted, "you seem like a ball of fun. i just wanted to know if you liked the show, no need to get testy, big guy."
"did i like it?" he repeated, closing some of the space between them, "i absolutely hated it. that wasn't music, it was just...repulsive sound."
"that's bold," this time he blew the smoke out in a steady stream right into suguru's face.
they both stared at each other for a long moment, challenging the other to continue their rocky conversation instead of sheepishly changing the topic like a coward.
something about the arctic blue of his eyes was incredibly mesmerizing to him, whether he liked it or not, and some distant instinct told suguru that the troublesome man knew that. as if to confirm his gut feeling, the hint of a smile ghosted over the guitarist's face when he spoke again.
"so, what do you play? surely you play something classical—"
"violin, cello, double bass, and piano."
his glacial eyes practically rolled themselves before he heavily sighed and stamped out the remains of his cigarette on the ground, "yeah, i figured. you're one of those snobs, this school is just full of 'em."
"you're welcome to leave and go thrash around at some other college, you know."
"you're probably all about that musical righteousness bullshit, ugh, i hate that stuff."
"and i hate lazy simpletons like you, that pierce their body a few times, pick up a guitar, and are suddenly too good for real music. you're an irritant, so if you'll excuse me—"
the door opened again and the drummer of the band came out, "satoru, we wanna get drinks tonight at ollie's, hurry up."
"hey! then why the fuck did you come out tonight, huh?!"
suguru grinned and held up his notebook as he walked away, back turned to the other man, "so i could write a paper."
"that's it?"
the words were skeptical and had the undertones of a challenge.
"that's it."
satoru watched him cross the street before rolling his eyes again and reaching for the door.
the drummer followed him with a frown, "what was that about? you seem... annoyed, i'm pretty sure a smoke break is supposed to do the opposite."
"don't worry about it, shoko," he smiled, but it was clearly fake, "let's just go."
she shrugged, "'...okay, mei just finished fixing up her makeup, so we better leave before she wants to change it again."
satoru thought back to a very specific pair of sharp, judgmental gold eyes and how they made his stomach churn.
he blinked and then mentally cursed at himself.
"you sure you're okay?"
"peachy," satoru grinned.