Chapter Text
Maki Harukawa, despite her usual aloofness, was visibly intrigued. It wasn’t very often that someone would post something actually noteworthy on the dorm noticeboard. If it weren’t for the flyer’s neon green and purple colour scheme, Maki would’ve ignored it like she did with the countless advertisements for clubs and social gatherings.
We’re goin’ to fuckin’ space, babyyyy, the flyer shouted. Come to Theatre DR-3 at 8pm this Friday if you wanna join us.
That was it. No details, not even a name or club associated with it. All that accompanied the bizarre text was a neon drawing of a rocketship with what looked like a purple-haired smiley face inside.
Maki scoffed. This was obviously some kind of obscure meme, or something someone made when they were high. Even so, there was something appealing about its shamelessness. Maki checked her watch. It was 7:52 in the evening, Friday. Whatever this was, it was starting soon.
And so, despite her better judgement, Maki found herself walking to a random lecture theatre to…go to space, apparently.
~~
“Yoooo!! We got someone!”
Maki startled. As soon as she had opened the theatre door, some guy shouted in her face. Blinking, she glared at him.
The first thing she noticed was his impossibly wide grin – so wide that it must be fake. Nobody smiles like that and means it, Maki thought, immediately on her guard. Her first impression of him wasn’t helped by the fact that this dude, while leaning towards her (personal space!! Maki panicked), had such spiky purple hair that it could potentially poke out her eye. His eyes were also purple, though a lighter shade. He towered over her, hands thrust in his pant pockets (which were also purple??), and one arm slipped out of his (again, purple) jacket.
Within 5 seconds of meeting this guy, Maki decided that he was thoroughly and irredeemably weird.
“Uh, wrong room.” She turned around, ready to get the hell away from the human disaster in front of her. Before she could take a step, though, the guy said, “Oh? So you didn’t want to come to space with us?”
She turned to face him. Incredulously, she stared at his face.
I-…Is he seriously giving me puppy-dog eyes right now??
He was. And he was holding his hands up in prayer, pleading. “We need more crew members if we’re ever gonna get to space, you know!” Oh good god, he even put on a high-pitched baby voice. Did he have any shame??
Maki scoffed and crossed her arms. “Dude. I literally look after children for a living. That sad puppy-dog look isn’t gonna work on me.” Thoughts of the kids she took care of in her childhood flooded her brain. She could easily think of dozens of times those kids made the exact expression this idiot thought would convince her.
The guy’s grin widened, his eyes sparkling with surprise. “Oh? You work with kids? That’s awesome!” He thrust his arms onto his hips and beamed. “We’re gonna need someone like you when we go to space! You seem like the authoritative type – like, you know how to order people around and stuff.” He winked. Maki’s mouth dropped slightly.
Is this guy for real!? She could swear that her eye was twitching. “What makes you think I’d agree to…whatever it is you’re asking me to do? How stupid do you think I am!?”
“Woah, woah, take it easy! I didn’t mean to make ya angry!” A pause. Maki glared while Purple Guy rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish. “How about we start again?” He chuckled. “Sorry, I think I might’ve come on a bit strong before.”
Before Maki could make a snarky remark, she was suddenly faced with the man’s thrust-out hand in front of her.
“Name’s Kaito Momota! I’m the guy who’s gonna take us all to space! Nice to meet ya!” With a toothy grin, he kept his hand out for a handshake. Maki raised an eyebrow. She didn’t move. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Purple Guy – ‘Kaito’ – retrieved his hand and placed it on his hip, not skipping a beat.
“So, you got a name?”
Maki considered keeping silent and going back to her original plan: escaping this astronomically odd situation and never thinking of it again. After all, what was the worst that could happen? If he dared to run after her, a few well-placed elbow thrusts and punches would be easier to do than breathing. She could take care of herself, no problem. And Kaito wouldn’t be the first guy who tried to cross her boundaries.
But…the feeling of intrigue that Maki felt when looking at the flyer still hadn’t left. Who was this guy, and what did he mean by “going to space”? Was he for real, or was this some well-performed act? Seriously, what the fuck was going on here??
Maki sighed. Whatever it was, it was sure to be more interesting than what she normally experienced at this university. If she had to go to that damn childcare centre for her unpaid internship one more time she was going to fucking scream.
Maybe she should take a chance for once. Maybe going to space was exactly what she needed.
Kaito started speaking to fill the silence when he heard a small, monotone voice.
“Harukawa.” The red-eyed girl murmured. “My name is Maki Harukawa.”
Kaito was stunned. Then, after a second, his grin began to glow.
~~
“Okay, Maki Harukawa, here’s where the action is!”
He had stopped their walk to the stage near the front row of seats. Gleefully shameless, Kaito sprung onto a chair and waved an arm towards the front. His voice was loud and booming, like the narrator of a dramatic action film.
“Behold! The ship that will take us to space!”
Maki’s brow furrowed as she surveyed the stage, looking for some kind of spaceship. Instead, all she could see were beaten-up instruments laying pathetically on the floor. A sparkly electric guitar, a black bass guitar, a scuffed keyboard, and a faded set of drums. Maki’s eyes wandered around the theatre, looking for some explanation. She then turned to Kaito, who was still smiling, clearly expecting praise and admiration.
“…What the fuck is this?”
Usually, that tone of voice – which Maki’s childhood friend Karin lovingly used to call her “Stone Cold Bitch Voice” – would strike fear into anyone who heard it. It had gotten her out of lots of sticky situations, like the time a guy got too handsy with her at the Stellar bar, or when someone interrupted her while she was reading.
If it had the same effect on Kaito, though, he didn’t show it. He was as joyfully idiotic as before.
“Ah, did you think we were literally going to space?” He ‘tsked’ at her. “Thought you would’ve had more sense than that. We’d need millions of dollars and the top thinkers at NASA to achieve that!”
Maki had to stop herself from sputtering. The nerve of this guy! She had enough ‘sense’ to know how to break his nose without him even seeing her move. Kaito must’ve read her thoughts because he finally showed a crack in his joy and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to insult ya or anything. Don’t get me wrong; I’d love to go to space right now if we could!” His voice took on a more sombre tone as he spoke. “I’m actually training to be an astronaut. I mean, technically I’m already one, but there aren’t any jobs open, so…” He gave a thumbs-up, any previous sombreness completely evaporating. “While I wait, I’m gonna do the next best thing: go to space by playin’ kick-ass music!”
Maki couldn’t help herself from asking, even though her brain was yelling at her not to pay any attention to this weirdo’s words. “How are we supposed to go to space by playing music?”
“Well, it’s a metaphor! You know how when you listen to a real good song, you get goosebumps and you feel like you’re in a completely different world? THAT’S what I wanna do!”
“So you want to play music.”
“Yup.”
“So we can go to ‘space’.”
“Uhuh.”
“But you mean that metaphorically.”
“Bingo!” Kaito winked. “And you’re the first person to show up! Congrats on being my very first band member. Oh, wait, actually,” he mused, “My friend Shuichi also agreed to join, but I think he’s gonna be late today because of his forensic science classes. You’ll get to meet him later!”
Kaito looked at Maki. Although the rest of his appearance seemed blissfully confident, Maki noticed a spark of nervousness in his eyes. That was when she realized that she had never officially agreed to ‘go to space’ with him.
“So, whaddya say, Maki Harukawa?” Kaito leaned forward expectantly. “Wanna join me in the journey of a lifetime?”
Looking into his lilac eyes, Maki felt the first hint of a flutter in her heart. Something about his tone of voice, his earnestness, had a surprisingly strong effect on her. The thought that he could have any effect on her at all was enough to make her nervous. She looked at the floor, her hands playing with one of her long dark ponytails.
“…I’ll join you.” Her gaze met his once more, clear and sharp. “But if you ever make a wrong move or if this…project goes nowhere, I’ll leave immediately. So don’t push your luck.”
Maki could’ve sworn that she had used her Stone Cold Bitch voice, and yet Kaito looked like a kid who was just given the pony he’d always wanted. If the sparkles in his eyes before were like stars, they now looked like galaxies. Maki fought back a smile as he grinned, clearly overjoyed.
“Maki Harukawa, you won’t regret this. Thank you so much!!” Out of nowhere, he gave a loud hoot, causing Maki to cover her ears. “Alright!! We have so much to do!! So, Maki Harukawa, how do you feel about the drums? Also, do you have any nicknames? Because calling you ‘Maki Harukawa’ is too long and boring so I was thinking of something to call you that’s as nice as you are. Uh…oh! Maybe ‘Maki Roll’? Since we’re gonna play Rock and Roll as a band, probably! Or maybe we’ll play more alternative stuff? I don’t know, I didn’t think this far ahead, maybe Shuichi will help—”
Maki had stopped listening halfway through. All she could do was look in awe at the idiot that had somehow convinced her to join a band, of all things. She sighed, ignoring the faint feeling of joy within her.
What have I done?