Chapter Text
“If he doesn’t show up in the next five minutes he’s out.”
Hakuji tosses a tennis ball against the wall and catches it. “You won’t do that.” He leans back into the bean bag he’s sitting on while continuing to toss the ball. Kaigaku stands across the garage, staring down at his guitar while mindlessly plucking at the strings. He sighs,“Yeah, I won’t.”
“Didn’t he say he was picking up his little sister from school and dropping her off at their place?”
“Well, yeah.” Kaigaku hummed for a moment, then sighed again “Damn. Now I feel like an ass. But I just don’t want my little brother bugging us. He’s got sensitive hearing so whenever we practice he always comes down to bitch and moan.”
Hakuji laughed a bit. Kaigaku had this same rant every time they talked before rehearsal. Really, Zenitsu didn’t bother them that much. Kaigaku just has a habit of being dramatic. In Hakuji’s opinion, Zenitsu looked up to Kaigaku. But they’re both so angsty that Kaigaku would never recognize that and Zenitsu would never admit it. So they’re stuck in endless fighting. He wonders how their Gramps feels. Hakuji’s just glad that he lets them practice in his garage. Otherwise, they’d have nowhere to rehearse.
Gyutaro’s beat up 2001 Nissan pulls up, parking on the road right by the mailbox. He gets out, stretching a bit, and then grabbing his guitar case out of the backseat. His car is littered with fast food trash and some other random shit. But once Ume’s old enough to drive and they start sharing the car, he’ll clean it out. Or so he says. The car’s close to death anyway, they might as well just get a new one. He wonders what the car looked like when it was brand new.
Gyutaro walks up to them, guitar case in one hand and his car keys swirling around his pointer finger in the other. “What’s up?” He smells like weed. Kaigaku rolls his eyes “Dude, come on! You can’t show up late and reek.”
“What’re you gonna do? Kick me out?”
“Well… no.” Kaigaku sighed “But Gramps will kill me if he thinks I smoke! And the last thing I need right now is Zenitsu to rub it in my face that I got in trouble.”
Hakuji snorts. That’s not the kind of kid Zenitsu is. But whatever. Despite the vibe Kaigaku wants to give off, at the end of the day he’s still a bit of a goody-two-shoes. He cares quite a lot, so whenever Gyutaro has the opposite attitude it pisses him off. An unmoveable object vs unstoppable force type of situation ensues. Hakuji just sits back and watches because he knows it’s never that serious.
Gyutaro sets his case down and opens it, continuing the argument “You aren’t even fully set up anyway. Plus I didn’t even smoke that much. I just finished something off so it wouldn’t sit in my car.”
“So you hotbox your car instead?”
“I don’t smoke in my fucking car!”
Hakuji’s tired of their arguing for today, so he just starts practicing by hitting the drums as hard as he could until they get the message and shut up.
The three of them met during orientation. But they didn’t start talking until they were at a party. It was some big house party hosted by an upperclassman, the usual. The three of them were in a smoke circle of sorts, but Kaigaku kept himself out of it while Gyutaro and Hakuji indulged. Hakuji’s a social smoker. Anyway, they were smoking and chatting and Kaigaku brought up starting a band.
Hakuji wasn’t so sure at first. He just thought it was some impulsive idea Kaigaku came up with to seem cool. Hakuji said he had experience playing drums, which he did. He was in a drumline. Gyutaro also commented about playing bass before. Kaigaku lit up, asking them both to exchange their info and he was gonna make a group chat. By the time Hakuji made it back to his dorm, he completely forgot about it. And he had assumed Kaigaku would forget about it too. But he didn’t. He texted them the next day asking for their schedules.
And the rest is history. They don’t even have a name, yet. At this point they just practice in hopes they’re decent enough to play at a venue. At least they aren’t a cover band. Hakuji writes most of the songs, but he’d never want to admit it. They’re pretty personal, but if anyone were to try and pry he’d just say he made it up.
Hakuji’s a little aware of other bands in the scene, but not enough to really care. He really should socialize more, but he just can’t get himself to. Any other musicians he’s aware of are already big names, like the bassist Michikatsu who Kaigaku brings up constantly. He apparently was in a band with his twin brother but eventually went solo. He still does solo stuff according to Kaigaku, but he’s also the bassist for this huge band “Eternal Paradise”. Hakuji doesn’t listen to their stuff, he just can’t get past the name or how offputting the lead singer Douma is. Kaigaku only listens to it for Michikatsu and also the other instrumentalists Nakime and Kyogai. Gyutaro doesn’t give a shit, but says that Ume likes the band and has a poster in her room.
Hakuji always wonders what it'd be like to be famous like that. He’d probably hate the attention, but the money would be nice. But he’s not sure how popular three young adults in a rock band would be these days. It didn’t really matter to him, he played in a band because it gave him something to do and a skill to work on. Hakuji likes a full schedule and he already has a to-do list forming in his head for after practice.
“Whatever, let’s not argue.” Kaigaku switches an amp on with his foot, readjusting his hold on his guitar “Let’s just focus on getting the melody down.”
So they work, getting the bare bones of one song and quickly rehearsing the other two that are mostly finished. Kaigaku seems distracted and antsy the whole rehearsal, which nobody dares to point out. Maybe he’s worried Zenitsu will interrupt. But he never did.
As Hakuji is packing up his drumkit for the day, Kaigaku gets a phone call and runs off without saying anything. Hakuji shrugs it off, but Gyutaro doesn’t mind bringing it up the second he’s out of earshot.
“Who do you think that is?”
“Dunno.” Hakuji sticks his drumsticks in his backpack “Maybe a friend.”
“Maybe a girlfriend.” Gyutaro zips his guitar case up “Or boyfriend.” he chuckles to himself after making the addition. Hakuji just rolls his eyes, not wanting to get involved in Kaigaku’s business.
Gyutaro and Hakuji are both in the science department. Although their majors are different, they tend to be in the same classes since both of their degrees require hefty amounts of math and science courses. Hakuji likes to consider himself a good student, he has a solid GPA and does his work. Gyutaro’s not a bad student, but he doesn’t care to do more than the bare minimum. They currently are in a lab together where they’re being carried by their classmate Shinobu Kochou, who is terrifyingly smart. She’s pretty cool. Hakuji’s a bit jealous about how intelligent she is. Seriously, how can you be so involved in the science department while also maintaining one of the best GPA’s? She can’t be human.
Anyway, Hakuji doesn’t want to be too critical of Gyutaro. Sure, he could apply himself more. But it can’t be easy having to do assignments, work, take care of a younger sibling, attend classes, and also have time for the band. Somehow he’s able to scrape by, so again Hakuji can’t bring himself to justify being critical of him not doing mundane shit like classwork.
Kaigaku comes back into the garage, slipping his phone into his pocket. He looks as though he is trying to hide a smile, but fails to. “Guys, I got some good news.”
Hakuji and Gyutaro share a look before they both turn to face Kaigaku. Gyutaro sits back and raises an eyebrow, asking “What?”
“So a couple days ago I saw a link to sign up to be considered for participating in a battle of the bands. The owner of the bar that’s hosting it wants us to play!”
Hakuji’s eyes widened. A battle of the bands?
“Why didn’t you ask us before signing us up?” Gyutaro leans back, putting all his weight onto his hands. The question had Hakuji wondering the same thing. But Kaigaku furrows his brows, confused as to why it mattered. He just shrugs, dismissing the other two, “I didn’t want to wait on your response and let the opportunity pass by.”
Hakuji is thankful that Gyutaro chooses to be the one to continue to argue, “But you can’t just make a decision for everyone. We don’t have a name for the band.”
“Dude, come on! We’ll think of one! But if we don’t perform somewhere soon then there’s no point in rehearsing. This is a way for us to actually go somewhere with this!” Kaigaku clasps his hands together in a desperate plea “I swear this will be the only time I’ll do something like this. But I promise this will be good for us.”
“Unless our music is actually trash and we get kicked out of the scene” Hakuji quips, walking over to the mini fridge to grab a water bottle. Kaigaku scoffed, placing his hands on his hips, “Trust me, there are some bands who sound like straight ass and yet they let them play at venues. Multiple times may I add.”
“What do we even get if we win?” Gyutaro begins to mindlessly pick at his cuticles “It better be something tangible and not some bullshit dollar store trophy or a pat on the back.”
“We get $50 each and we also move on to another round. Bigger venue, more people, bigger names. Of course, the runner-up still gets stuff.” Kaigaku says as he sits down on the bean bag. Hakuji nods, actually considering it. $50 isn’t a lot, but it’d still be nice to have. Money is money. Plus, he wouldn’t mind moving forwards if it meant they could win bigger prizes.
Hakuji makes a satisfied hum, “Well alright. When is it?”
“...a week from tomorrow.” Kaigaku almost whispers
Gyutaro sighed loudly, shaking his head. But he doesn’t protest beyond that.
So it’s a date.