Chapter Text
Sounds of chattering guests and clinking glasses issued into the night as Angel’s Lounge became alive with blaring music and beaming neon lights, and amidst the liveliness Itto’s rowdy laugh could be heard from where Yoimiya stood. The corner of her lips lifted into a smile as she observed the crowd took disdain glances at the platinum haired guy who seemed too oblivious at the reactions.
“I didn’t know they were here already,” said Kazuha beside her as he looked over to where Itto was, seemingly sharing a joke with Ayato. His eyes had that fond look as it landed on the younger Kamisato sibling.
Without escaping Yoimiya’s notice, she wiggled her brows at him and snickered as she watched his face turn a light shade of red. “They just came,” she said, adjusting the mic stand to her height and shrugged, “I think.”
“Well, they’re just in time for our performance then.” Kazuha picked up his guitar and did a last check of its tunings before walking back to Gorou, their band’s drummer. There were still a few minutes to go and Yoimiya ran the lyrics of their cover through her mind again.
Across the stage, Itto and Ayato took their drinks and Ayaka was sitting on a stool by the counter but didn’t have a drink in hand and instead was looking at the empty platform, probably waiting for a performance. That left the fourth member of their group, Thoma, looking cluelessly at the red haired bartender as he thought of something to order. Diluc—as printed on his nametag—was giving him an expectant look in return, a glass ready in his hand but Thoma couldn’t think of any drink to say. He pretended to scan through the laminated menu and tried not to look confused at the numerous unfamiliar beverages listed.
“Oh uh, just Pepsi,” Thoma said and cringed inwardly. He must be so lame not to order an alcoholic drink in a bar. Why did he even think of joining them anyway? Half an hour ago Itto, Ayato, and Thoma were just walking out of the court from their late basketball practice when they saw Ayaka waiting outside. Apparently, they—sans Thoma—already had a plan on going to this place and just pulled Thoma along at the last minute. He didn’t want to go in the first place and was supposed to go straight to his dorm after and do nothing, but it also happened that he didn’t have a shift at the diner he’s working at, and Itto remarked how he should enjoy and live more an experienced life now that they were in senior year and how it should not be spent moping around his room, thus his protests melting away and tagged along. He conceded that they invited him oftentimes but never went, believing that he'd be out of place, until now. It was a Saturday night anyway and he deserved a much needed break. With a Pepsi. It wouldn't hurt to try checking out the famous place. Maybe later if he was not feeling it anymore, he might go early and leave the revelries to his friends.
Thoma was waiting for Diluc’s suggestions of any drink that he was sure to refuse but the bartender just nodded at him surprisingly, returning the glass. He watched the redheaded man walked to the small fridge to fetch his order.
“Excellent choice,” Diluc said with a nod. He seemed rather pleased as he handed out the soda.
Itto faced Thoma with an incredulous look, Ayato snickering beside him. “Ew, bro. Just Pepsi?”
“Hey, I told you I don't drink alcohol!” Thoma exclaimed, embarrassed.
“I thought you were joking.”
“And you never take anything seriously.” Thoma shook his head and opened his drink to take a sip. “Besides, they’re disgusting.”
With wide eyes, the face of someone offended, Itto said, “No, it’s not! How dare you.”
“Yes, it is. It tastes like shit!”
“Have you ever tasted shit though?”
“Alright! Let’s get us seated.” He was then dragged off by Ayato to a table situated somewhere in the middle right in front where Ayaka sat.
“What, no dancing?” Thoma asked and roamed his eyes around them and noticed that most were seated, chattering among themselves. The place was pretty crowded as expected on a Saturday night—bustling and excited, and he thought he saw some people he recognized from their university. He then heard both Itto and Ayato laugh, which made him scowl in response.
“The dancing happens at ten pm. It’s still eight, so eager to meet a girl?” Itto had that stupid smirk on his face that made Thoma feel even more humiliated at the notion of him flirting with someone. “Our guy wants to get laid so bad.”
“Shut up. You’re the one who’s horny here.”
“Excuse me—”
“Anyways,” Ayato cut off before Itto could say whatever retort he was going to lay on the poor blond head, as much as he loved to hear it. ”We’re here to watch Ayaka’s boyfriend,” he blurted, which earned him a whack on his head by Ayaka with a fancy folding fan she always seemed to carry with her.
“We’re not together yet.” Ayaka huffed, glaring at his brother before returning her gaze back to the front glittering with excitement.
A hush fell over the place as a girl with pink hair whom Thoma knew as Kokomi—who happened to share an elective class with him—stepped up onto the platform carrying a sleek electric bass, the overhead lights reflecting from its surface. She was then followed by Gorou, then Kazuha, and finally a blonde girl that Thoma didn’t know the name of yet. He suddenly perked up at the sight of her.
“Good evening, everyone,” the fair-haired girl greeted the crowd followed by the soft sound of applause, the band settling onto the stage with their respective instruments. “I hope everyone’s having a good time! We’re a band from Teyvat University called New Arrivals, and we’re going to perform a couple of song covers for tonight.” Her voice was bright as she continued speaking, a smile plastered on her face that Thoma found attractive and had himself even smiling in return.
He didn’t know her personally, sure, but Thoma had seen her several times on campus mostly in passing moments during breaks or while walking his way over to a class, and never had any chance to be in the same space as her to initiate a conversation; he hadn’t even heard her voice yet until now. He supposed it was a fleeting crush—something he’d forget about without effort—yet every time he saw the strawberry blonde girl, his eyes always seemed to trail after her as though to get a longer glimpse of her face which was never devoid of a smile that first caught his notice. And now was the opportunity for him to see her further, standing in front of him, accessories in her hair flashing like colorful stars under the glare of the spotlight. She’s in a band.
The sonorous tone of the bass guitar accompanied with the sound of the beating drum and hi-hat spilled across the room, drawing Thoma away from his thoughts and realizing they were starting. The main singer’s mouth then started moving to the words of the song, gracing the dimly lit bar with her voice. If he thought her speaking voice was cute, her singing voice was lovely. Her vocals were soft against the mic, eyes closing as she reached the chorus. With his unfinished soda placed on the table, he leaned forward with his chin resting atop his hand, mesmerized.
Caught a vibe, baby are you coming for the ride?
I just wanna look into your eyes
At that instant, the vocalist’s eyes opened and Thoma could’ve sworn her gaze landed on him. He must have imagined it but time seemed to suspend as they locked eyes with each other—his heart fluttering at the transient exchange—before flicking away her gaze back to the audience and breaking the momentary spell. He took quick sideway glances at his friends to see if they had noticed it but found they were engrossed with the performance as well.
Kazuha then joined her in singing—continuing the second verse of the song which prompted another set of claps (and an embarrassing holler from Itto) from the patrons. It was Thoma’s first time to hear him sing yet his attention didn’t waver from the main singer, who was now bopping and dipping her head at every beat of the song. She sang a couple more lines as backing vocals to Kazuha’s verse before taking the part of the chorus once again. The way she swayed on stage, holding the mic, made Thoma feel even more fascinated—how she looked so confident and relaxed voicing out the lyrics like the song was written solely for her to devour and make it better.
Thoma loved how the two singers exchanged verses as though in harmony, how their contrast voices carried out through the speakers with the blonde girl being light and alluring while Kazuha’s coming out gentle and soulful, yet it blended so well together having an obvious pleasing effect to the listeners.
Under the glow of the dimmed lights, Thoma’s whole attention was only fixed at the mesmerizing fair vocalist. He was so preoccupied with her enthralling voice he didn’t even spare a glance at the server who came around their table or even at the tempting smell of chicken tenders and fries being placed before him (he actually had no idea they had other orders).
This went on for the rest of the show. Guests continued to chatter among themselves, with Thoma completely spellbound, admiring and watching only the fair-haired girl’s every movement. Then he thought at some point she resembled a fairy with the way she was glowing—the colorful clips on her hair glinting like pixie dust, and his smile grew when she started doing her little dances as the band covered a more upbeat song. It was until then that their music faded from his hearing, shifting to the sounds of cheers and claps did he register their show was ending. The band finished with a last round of Gorou’s rapid drum succession ending it with a final cymbal hit.
Itto excused himself to use the restroom. Thoma’s gaze landed back on the band who was making their way down the stage when he heard Ayato saying something, his words going past his ears.
“Huh?” he said distractedly and slid his eyes at Ayato.
“This is your first time seeing the band, right?”
“Oh yeah, they’re really great.” Thoma took a bite of the fries from the almost empty plate and tasted that it was already cold. He soon realized that he was actually starving and hadn't consumed anything other than his soda throughout the performance. He looked for a passing waiter to ask for more fries and a burger. “Do they always perform here?”
Ayato shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. “That, I don’t know. But I’ve seen them a couple of times because of Ayaka.”
Speaking of the younger Kamisato, Thoma saw Ayaka had already made her way over where the band was standing right beside the platform stage. Kazuha’s arm draped across her shoulders—smiling at whatever Ayaka was whispering to him, and laughing with them was the fair-haired girl.
Without breaking his stare, Thoma asked, “Who’s that?”
A heavy hand landed on Thoma’s shoulder, startling him. “Who?” Itto’s voice boomed over the loud music above him.
Ayato responded that Thoma didn’t catch and repeated in a louder tone, “Yoimiya?”
“Ahh, Inazuma's golden girl,” Itto said, pulling his chair to reclaim his seat. “Naganohara Yoimiya.”
“Is that her name?” Thoma tried to keep his tone even so as not to betray his eagerness but such things rarely went past unnoticed when it came to his friends’ shrewdness.
Like a kid with trouble in his mind, an evil smile grew on Itto’s face. “OOH THOMA’S GOT A CRUSH!” he exclaimed in that embarrassing loud singsong voice.
Thoma’s ears started burning in mortification. “Keep your voice down!”
“What? As if they’ll hear us over this music—“
“Besides, I was just asking her name. It’s not like I have a crush!”
“Oh ho? Then why are you blushing?”
“You’re embarrassing me.”
“So you do have a crush!”
“Stop yelling!”
“I am not yelling.”
“Never a dull moment with you two,” Ayato said, chiming into their bickering, his shoulders shaking from laughter. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were checking her out a while ago, so I’m gonna have to agree with Itto.”
Confirming their suspicion, Thoma’s face turned into another deep shade of red which earned him another round of laughter from the pair. Am I that obvious? he thought to himself, fiddling with the tab of his soda can.
“Dude’s not even denying it,” Itto retorted with that stupid grin still on his face.
“Well, I can’t blame you. She's attractive indeed,” Ayato said.
“And just know that she’s pretty popular on campus so there might be people already ahead of you,” added Itto.
Upon realizing they were not going to drop it, Thoma sighed and took another gulp of his drink. He might as well cave in now lest they tease him more until he conceded.
Their conversation died down to his relief when the speakers blared once again to life as another band replaced the stage just as his order arrived in time.
Thoma decided to stay for an hour more to wait for the ‘real night’ to start—as Itto and Ayato had put it, the one that involved dancing and more drinks, to which he was reluctant about joining in. Apart from that, the upside would be perhaps he could chance Yoimiya by the dance floor and engage her in conversing with him, but then Ayaka had mentioned when she walked back to them that the rest of the band had already left to which he tried hiding his disappointment by nodding; and that she and Kazuha were going to eat somewhere, no doubt in a more romantic setting than this one. That prompted him to take his leave as well.
The bar was more crowded than when they had arrived now that it was getting late. The two hardly noticed him leaving as they were busily playing co-op on their phones trying to pass the time.
He caught himself humming the first song he recalled the band performed on his way to the dormitories. Lights lined up the main street, sakura blossoms flew through the sway of the night breeze making the entire landscape picturesque and dreamy, and few students could still be seen loitering the courtyard. It was quiet saved for their distant voices and the occasional dribbling of his ball he carried with him from their practice earlier.
Thoma went home in a sort of trance, pushed past his door, took his shoes off, and barely acknowledged his roommate seated on their shared desk. He laid on his bed, stared at the pale ceiling of their room with a gaze of a smitten boy.
“Hey Heizou, you know a girl named Yoimiya?” he asked without taking his eyes off the ceiling. When there was no response, Thoma looked over and realized his roommate was wearing earphones, bopping his head to whatever music he was listening to. Heizou probably hadn’t even noticed he arrived with all that loud music coming from his plugged ears Thoma could almost hear it.
He took his phone out and quickly opened the music app, searching for that song and tapped play. The memory of the blonde girl singing popped through his mind once again, and her lovely voice replaying as the song went on.
The night had been interesting, he concluded, although it didn’t end the way he imagined it would be: Yoimiya and him lost in the beat of the music while spotlights flashed around them in myriad of colors, their bodies pressed closed together, scents mingling, meeting for the first time (though evidently not tonight, but someday). Sleep almost claimed him—if only Heizou didn’t throw a pillow at his face to scold him about the door being left open—with a single thought in his mind: Thoma had to know about her.