Chapter Text
The sound of cicadas drown out the noise of every other aspect of nature. The sound of water rushing from the nearby stream and wind rushing through the clattering tree branches of the nearby woods have a three way contest for second place and when the young girl yawns, she realizes she’s placing fifth.
It’s rare that the summer in the countryside isn’t too humid to simply just melt, but today it’s quite tolerable. The girl gets up from her place napping on the ground, realizing it must be quite far into the afternoon based on where the sun currently is in the sky. She wonders why it isn’t hotter out right now.
‘School is starting soon,’ she thinks absentmindedly as she lets herself slowly wake up. ‘I better enjoy these summer naptimes while I can!’
She braces herself on her elbows and rocks her body up into a sitting position. She thinks her mother may be mad that she used one of the normal towels and not a beach towel to sleep outside on, but she thinks she will be okay. It wasn’t one of the white towels, at least.
The countryside stretches out before her. Rolling green hills lap over each other into infinity under an ocean of clear blue; the only buildings she sees are from their town in the far distance. The home of her favorite shops, her friends, her basketball team, and-
‘School. UGH.’ She flopped back onto the ground. She had half a mind to pitch a fit. She really didn’t mind school; she was popular and had many friends! But with school came less time to do the things she REALLY wanted to do. More time with obligations and expectations. Less time to do the things she wanted to do with the people she wanted to do it with. Speaking of-
She didn’t go to nap alone. Her friends should be here. She snapped back up and excitedly whipped her head around from side to side, red hair smacking either side of her face as she scanned around for where her friends went. But no matter where she looked she saw countryside and no other life. Her smile dropped.
Everywhere she looked she saw rolling green hills under an endless ocean of blue.
She heard the stream but couldn’t see it.
She heard the trees but there were none around.
She hears the wind but feels none on her face.
The cicadas are deafening.
Something is wrong. She stands up in a panic, crying out her friends names. Where did they go? Where is she? She doesn’t know this place. This isn’t her town. This isn’t her. This is somebody else. The hands aren’t the right shape, and she wouldn’t wear these shoes!
She shouldn’t be this small. She shouldn’t feel this small.
She runs.
She runs through hill after hill, shouting for her friends. Her body is wrong and this place is wrong but she knows she came with them. She knows they would know her. She knows they would help her.
But why did they leave her? What did they leave her behind? What did she do wrong?
Was she too bold? Too needy? Too demanding? Too greedy?
Did she fail at the task they gave her?
The eyes were on her but she still wanted more.
The beast inside that takes but never returns.
‘I just wanted to be more helpful!’ she cries.
But even in those moments she knows it’s a lie.
Her legs give out and she clatters to the ground.
The doll that cracks when their eyes aren’t around.
‘I’m sorry,’ she sobs into dirt and earth
‘I’m sorry I’m greedy, I’m needy, I’m the worst.’
‘I just wanted to be more like you,’ she laments.
But at the end.
The very end.
She hears the buzz of bugs cease their cries and sees her friends.
She looks up in the hopes they’ll help her again.
Instead they stare through her and into her flaws.
‘How could a broken doll ever be with us?’
She sobs as they turn their back on her
Cracks form as she lets out curse after curse
And the green of the hills turn to mud underfoot
And the blue of the sky turns to storms overhead
The sound of the trees turns to mud drowning the earth
The sound of the wind turns to storms in the sky
The sound of the stream turns to torrents of rain
‘I love you…’ a broken doll says, but nobody listens
Her voice falls to fifth again, as cicadas roar.
Ikuyo Kita woke up with a gasp in a cold sweat to the sound of her phone ringing. The sound of cicadas still roared in her ears as she gulped down deep breaths like water was just purged from her lungs.
D-dream? Bad dream. It was just a dream. Thank god.
She took deep breaths and attempted to steady her pounding heartbeat. As the sound of cicadas and blood rushing past her ears faded she finally was able to properly hear her phone ringing.
The song was one of theirs ('Free advertisement!’ she’d told the band) and despite her sleepy state she scrambled to get to the phone before she was subjected to the early morning horror of hearing her own voice singing at her about constellations.
She mercifully managed to grab the phone and silence the ringtone before experiencing ego death. She squinted as she attempted to read the name on the tiny screen before the connection between her eyes and her brain had fully come online. When the smudge on her screen failed to give her any clear information, she determined that it at the very least WAS a name, which meant it was likely NOT a spam call. She picked up the phone and put on her trademark Kita sunshine charm.
“Guh?” Nailed it.
“Wow you sound awake and ready for our day out huh?”
“R-Ryo-senpai!” Kita bolted upright. “Oh no, is it Saturday? What time is it?”
“Well,” Ryo sniffed, “You do have a small computer pressed to your ear that has the ability to tell time, but if I’m going to be your wake up service I might as well go all the way. It’s currently… 11:17 a.m.”
Kita groaned as she flopped back onto the bed. Of course this is the ONE time Ryo-senpai isn’t unfashionably late to something. Of course when Ryo-senpai does it it’s always fashionable…
She clapped her palms to her cheeks. ‘No more sleepy thoughts!’ she commanded. She cleared her throat.
“I’m so sorry Ryo-senpaiiii!” Much more like it, now we’re hitting the sunshine quota. “I didn’t mean to oversleep! I take it Ijichi-senpai and Hitori-chan are already with you at Starry?”
“Actually,” uh-oh, Ryo-senpai actually sounds kind of happy, “they cancelled. Bocchi had something come up for her sister and Nijika had a last second assignment due for school. So I figured when you didn’t pick up the phone I’d save you the trouble by coming to you.”
“Coming to me? But I… if I didn't pick up why would you think to come here? What if it was an emergency? What if I was busy?”
“Cause I know if there was an emergency you’d tell us. And you wouldn’t have scheduled another thing on the day you already have plans ‘cause you’re too organized for that. AND you were up late last night working on homework ‘cause you sent a 15 year old normie cat meme with a tabby covered in papers that says TOP TEXT ‘Even cute kitties need to work hard?’ BOTTOM TEXT ‘Purr-haps!’. So I figured you were just asleep and started making my way over to your parent’s place.”
Kita hoped death would relieve her of this moment. Not only has she apparently become so boring and predictable that Ryo-senpai of all people has her fully comprehended (the term ‘the mortifying ordeal of being known’ finally made sense to her) but ALSO she thought that meme was funny! And relatable! And NOT for normies! She could cry. It was too early for this.
Actually it’s less than an hour from lunchtime.
“Okay Ryo-senpai, I’ll admit you got me!” She put on a smile so bright she was certain it could be heard through the phone. Show no weakness. Not to Ryo-senpai. “When do you think you’ll be here? I’ll make sure I’m ready in time!”
“Actually, that may be difficult,” oh THAT’S what a smile you can hear through a phone sounds like, “‘cause I’m here now.”
“W-WHAT?” Kita screeched. “NOW?”
“Technically I’ve been here for like 10 minutes, but who’s counting?”
Kita ripped her phone away from her ear and checked the notifications. 8 missed calls.
Feeling a chill run down her spine, Ryo quickly yanked her phone away from her ear as well. She adjusted her sunglasses to allow her to look up at the window that she knew was to her singer’s bedroom. This was likely going to be loud enough that she’ll be able to hear it outside without the phone.
“I’M SORRYYYYYYYYYYY!”
*
“I said it’s fine.”
“I know you said it’s fine, but I still feel so badddddd.”
“Please don’t. Besides, at least you showed up. Nijika and Bocchi both big timed us for their 'responsibilities'." Ryo fake sniffled. “With how little time they’ve had lately, I’m starting to think they don’t like hanging out with me…”
Kita laughed. “If Ijichi-senpai was here she’d say something like ‘More like our wallet doesn’t like paying for all your meals!’”
Silence.
“It’s not very nice to make fun of people when they aren’t around, Ikuyo.”
“Can you please not call me that!”
*
Despite the rocky start and missing half the band, today so far has gone off without a hitch. Ryo was only momentarily worried at first that spending a day with just her and Kita would be awkward, but after two years of being in the band together pretty much any individual combination of members has figured out how to comfortably exist around one another.
Is this what they call ‘friendship’? Ryo thinks. Dear God, I hope it's not catching. Seika might be at risk of actually having a good time hanging around us.
After a noisy rush to get dressed, a train ride full of apologies, and a pretty nice (and fully paid for!) lunch, Ryo brought them to one of her favorite record shops in the area.
Part of her job in the band, in her eyes (other than writing music and playing the bass), was to help culture the other band members. They were chicks in a rock band, and they should all have chicks-in-a-rock-band-type-hobbies. Less shopping at department stores and more shopping at vintage clothing stores. Less boba tea and more coffee shops. Less expensive guitar stores and more Hard Off. After having enough fun, they decided to make the outings a regular occurrence, and Ryo found herself as an unofficial guide for normies trying to be rock bitches. Kita even brought a few of her normie friends on one occasion and Ryo found herself with the unique opportunity to quite literally ‘scare the hoes’.
A tear forms in her eye at the memory. Truly one of my greatest achievements. Kita’s friends stayed far away from any activity involving the band that wasn’t a show after that. Kita did seem a bit miffed at Ryo for a few weeks, but Ryo could tell it was a massive weight off Bocchi’s shoulders. So she considered it an overall win.
She came back to attention to the task at hand. Her and Kita sat in a comfortable silence, flipping through boxes of records on either side of a large row. She was up to her eyes in jam bands right now, flipping back and forth through covers with so much tie-dye splattered on them it looked like a toddler threw up a box of nearly eaten crayons on the entire section. Most everything she saw here was either boring, unoriginal, or stoner-core slop. That was until-
Ah here we go. Finally something worth grabbing.
‘Europe ‘72’ by the Grateful Dead. Not everything’s gotta be original to be good. She cringes internally at the thought of some of the things she’s written that skirt a little too close to other songs and melodies she had forgotten about until well after using them for her own. But sometimes it helps to be both.
She looks up at Kita, preparing to take off her sunglasses to give some of the greatest puppy dog eyes of her career in order to convince her junior to buy her the record. But when Ryo looked over at her, it gave her pause.
Kita was zoning out again. She had been occasionally zoning out all day, staring off into space the moment conversation came to a lull for more than a few moments, which, when hanging out with Ryo, was quite often. This isn’t usually a problem, but SOMETHING was clearly bothering her bandmate.
Ugh, I’m not prepared today for pulling something out of her. Depending on what it is I may make it worse. Plus, Ikuyo’s an open book, if she wanted to talk about it she’d tell me. I’d better not pry.
Worry gnawed at Ryo, despite herself. She tried her best to focus on the records, but failed. Thank God she was wearing sunglasses, and Kita seemed far too distracted to notice her squirming.
Shit, I gotta do something. But if we can’t talk about the problem…
Ryo peered down at the record in her hands.
I think a distraction may do her quite nicely. I’ve been meaning to talk to her about this for a while anyway.
“Y’know, Ikuyo, I think you may have a gift for improvisation.”
“Eh?” Kita snapped out of her stupor and visibly bristled at the use of her first name. Again. Its usage was one of the one things Ryo could do to get a rise out of her, so she delighted in doing it at every opportunity she could. Kita craned her neck around the aisle of records that stood between them in order to look Ryo in the eyes, but found herself impeded by her tinted sunglasses. Instead Kita finds herself looking into her own reflection, finding her own green eyes when she meant to glare at Ryo’s. She frowns.
Kita wondered how she could even READ the records in the dimly lit store with those on, and pushed the thought of Ryo’s small brain perhaps requiring her body to develop some incredible extra abilities to compensate. Incredible eyesight. The ability to digest unprocessed plant matter. Unexplained extreme musical skill despite seemingly little effort. She shook her head. Memory Re-deleted. Ryo did not meet her gaze or respond to her glare (and if she did she hid it well), instead continuing to stare at the records she was actively rifling through.
Kita sighed when she realized she wasn’t going to get a reaction. Even after getting to know each other better and better as the band has gone on the past two years Ryo remains near impossible to effectively jab back at. She tried her damndest to seem put out at being ignored. “What are you talking about, Ryo-senpai?”
“You’ve been getting better and better at covering our technical issues whenever they happen live. Even as far back as the culture fest last year when you covered for Bocchi. And I keep hearing you noodling around; sure, it’s mostly riffing with octaves, but that’s something that’s hard to teach.” Ryo looked up from the row of records. “And I certainly didn’t teach that to you.”
“I…” Kita began. “I guess I never thought about it. It just…happened. Hitori-chan was having technical issues and I just acted. Besides, I knew Hitori-chan would figure something out! She always does!” She gave a bright smile. Ryo would have needed to cover her eyes from the radiant glow if she didn’t already have sunglasses on.
“She always does, indeed.” Ryo nodded in agreement. “But still, you may have a gift. It might be worth asking Bocchi about at your next lesson.”
“Okay, Ryo-Senpai! If you think it's a good idea, I’ll give it a try! But…”
Ryo absentmindedly chomped some chips from her bag. “But what?”
“Wouldn’t me learning to improvise potentially steal some of Hitori-chan’s thunder?” Ryo notices her gaze drop slightly. “Or cross into her role in the band? I don’t- I don’t want to overstep.”
Ryo considered the question for a moment. She could make out the faint details of Kita’s face through her horribly darkened vision. The cheery girl looked genuinely worried. And then that zoned out look again. Ah.
I guess she HAS only ever played music in this band, Ryo thought. I doubt she’s ever thought much about her personal growth as a musician outside of it. And she raises a fair point about the current dynamic of the band; that, combined with Bocchi’s habit of putting herself down, could really cause some problems. BUT she has some serious potential. AND as much as she tries not to show it I can tell she wants to learn more. To see that go to waste would be a crime, band or no band.
Ryo mulled it over in her head for a moment. Fuck it.
Ryo shrugged. “You have to keep growing somehow. No point in worrying about what hasn’t happened yet.”
Kita puffed out her cheeks, a little miffed at the seemingly thoughtless response she received after how long she had waited to receive it. “Why do I get the feeling you only ever tell me a quarter of what you’re thinking?”
“Because only half of it is worth saying,” Ryo deadpans, “and you’re only capable of handing half of that half.” Ryo cracks a grin. “Ikuyo.”
“GAH!” Kita groans. “You’re so mean, Ryo-senpai!”
“And you’re too sensitive. It's not very rock.”
“Yeah, well, neither is buying a record you can’t see. Give me those.”
“H-hey!” Ryo’s normally aloof energy takes a serious hit when Kita’s quick athletic hands snatch her sunglasses from her face before she can react. ‘She’s fast!’
“You’ll get these back when you start being nicer to me. Also, when we leave, so you don’t give yourself a headache.”
“I started this conversation by giving you a compliment!”
*
After her talk with Ryo, Kita’s week proceeded as normal. With it being fairly early in the school year, her days were stuffed full of basketball practices, student council meetings (just this year she was elected by popular vote despite not even being on the ballot!), schoolwork, and lots of catching up with friends.
She was queen of being good at being overwhelmed; Kita had historically reveled in this kind of a workload. She was never very good at having free time, and while this was still very much the case, she found that all of the activities she used to love more than life itself and the friends she used to spend every free waking moment with now all came in second to where her mind really was.
The BAND. Every free moment she thought about the band. She thought about what posts to make on their social media, what songs should go on their next setlist, what would be the best way to sing Hitori-chan’s latest lyrics, what she was gonna learn today after-school from Hitori-chan during prac-
WHAM! Kita tanked a passed basketball directly to the face. It bounced harmlessly away, bounding from her reddened cheeks and slowly coming to a rolling stop in the corner of the gym. The entire team stared at her in horror.
Aaaand that’s why basketball practice is not the best place to daydream. I’m sure I can play this off without too many problems though!
“Kita-chan are you… okay? That ball hit you really hard.”
“Ah-haha sorry sorry! I was thinking about some homework I have due!” I was thinking of trading in my jersey for an extra year’s experience at guitar. “I’m all good now!” I would like to leap away into the future far away from this place with my stupid band full of stupid clowns.
The team still stared at her like she had grown two heads. Dear God, I didn’t say any of that out loud, did I?
“Kita-chan, I know you say you’re okay, but you’re bleeding an awful lot…”
“Wha?” Kita started as she reached up to touch the new warmth under her nose. Oh wow uh-
Hoo-boy, that’s a lot of blood. Doesn’t matter, I can play this off.
“Hahaha oh this? This is nothing! C’mon you’ve all seen me get worse! Now let’s get back, ah, to prac--tice…” Hey, is the world spinner than normal?
THUD. Oh wow, the floor.
“KITA-CHAN!”
*
A brief trip to the infirmary and a VERY worried team and Hitori, Kita was cleared to finish the school day, and afterward, finally get to guitar practice with Hitori-chan.
The beginning of practice was the same as normal, with Kita ready and willing to ask Hitori to help her mount the improvisational hill. But the more she thought about it, the more she worried. And the more she worried, the less she wanted to say it. And the less she wanted to say it and the more she worried, the less she said. And the less she said, the more Hitori began to notice her usually very exuberant and talkative friend was uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal.
After one too many awkward silences for even HITORI’S taste, she decided to speak up.
“Kita-chan, are you… feeling okay? Y-you did take a pretty hard hit to the head earlier.”
Kita was unceremoniously flung from her inner turmoil back into the present by the sound of Hitori’s voice. “Ahaha, yeah, I’m okay! Just…thinking about some things is all.”
“Anything you want to talk about? I’ve been told I’m a (heh) a good listener.”
Ah, the rare Bocchi joke. More common nowadays than they used to be. Always welcome. Maybe a bit too self deprecating, but Kita will take what she can get. She snorts despite herself.
“I’m pretty sure I’m the one who told you that.”
“You or Nijika-chan.”
“We probably both said it. It IS the truth.”
Hitori melted a little at the praise, face growing a dopey grin. “W-well, might as well tell me then.”
Kita contemplated her options. She knew she could trust Hitori, she KNEW she could. But she didn’t want to ask too much. Get too greedy. Take too much for herself.
She looked at Hitori’s big honest blue eyes.
Goddammit.
She told Hitori everything. She conveniently left out the part about her being absolutely terrified that her greed was nearing biblical proportions and that she was worried that she was going to stomp all over their wonderful and well functioning established dynamic as a band. In fact, she pretty much only told Hitori about the stuff Ryo said about her having potential as an improviser. There was no reason to put any more on Hitori here.
Kita swears she can hear cicadas outside the window. It’s awfully late in the year for them.
“So, anyway, that’s what she said, Hitori-chan.”
“O-oh. I see…”
Silence.
Kita furrowed her brow. Hitori seemed a little… spacey? Maybe a little shocked? Her expression was hard to read, which was rare for the usually nearly TOO honest Hitori. After a few quiet moments Hitori finally clocked the concerned look Kita was giving her and returned to reality.
“S-sorry, sorry!” she quickly stammered out. “I was just thinking about… Well, usually when you learn how to improvise or do any sort of lead work, you learn solos from guitarists you like or learn the scales they use; b-but I’ve never heard you listen to anything with stuff like that in it, Kita-chan. S-So as much as I want to help I’m just a bit- er- confused on where to start.”
Kita’s eyes widened. That makes… a lot of sense, actually, she thought. I can’t really just get better at improvising without any foundations. But-
She racked her brain. She searched her soul. Stretched her mind through her memory. She rifled through all the music she’d listened to over the past six months. She thought back to her childhood. Basketball games. Birthday parties. And in the end she found-
NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAVE GUITAR SOLOS!
Heck, some of them don’t even HAVE guitar, Kita cringed internally. There’s nothing wrong with music without guitar, but she was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in a ROCK BAND. She suddenly felt very small. Here she was, asking her guitar teacher, THE guitarhero from the internet, to help her learn to improvise and encroach upon her space and she didn’t even do a modicum of research. This was the six string bass incident all over again.
Despite it being fall, she can hear the cicadas roar in her ears again.
I should apologize, she decided. I’m not going to ask any more of Hitori-chan than what she’s already done for me. I can’t expect her to teach me all these guitar parts AND write all the lyrics AND turn me into a lead guitarist, complete with influences and music theory. I already owe her so much! I’ll-
“Kita-chan.”
Kita opened her eyes. She’d been quiet far too long, her eyes screwed shut. She can FEEL how hot her face is.
“Hitori, I-”
Hitori interrupted her. “I think you’re the only other person I’ve met who spirals like I do. I-It’s okay! There’s nothing to be embarrassed about!”
“But I don’t want to step on your toes or encroach upon your role or anything like that!”
“Kita-chan-”
“You’ve taught me the guitar, you’ve written the words I sing, you’ve already done so much for me!”
“W-well, that’s true, but…” Hitori pauses, clearly considering the best way to proceed. “But it’s not like you didn’t give anything back. You’re my third friend, Kita-chan.”
“Well, in the band, maybe, but-”
“Ever.” Hitori took sudden interest in her shoes.
Kita bit her tongue. Right. With how far she’d come it was easy to occasionally forget just how insular Hitori was with anyone outside of the four of them. That was not a wound she intended to rub salt into. “I’m sorry, Hitori-chan.”
“No! Don’t be! Stop it! I didn’t say that to make you feel bad.”
Kita snapped her mouth shut. She stared at Hitori, who was suddenly sitting up shockingly straight.
“I want- no. I NEED you to know this wasn’t transactional. I don’t teach you because you’re in my band or because you’re my lead singer or because you’re the prettiest most popular girl and I want you in my debt or anything. I teach you because you’re my friend and you WANT to learn and I WANT to teach you. I don’t care about anything else.”
Kita stared into the sky of Hitori’s eyes. Clear and clean blue, lighter than a stormy day but darker than the bright blue that frames the sun. In there she sees a storm brewing, the blinding light of distant lightning in the form of stage lights shining off of gold hardware and the booming sound of distant thunder in the form of the loud buzz from too many pedals turned on without a noise gate in the signal chain.
Kita’s eyes widened. What cicadas could survive being whipped around in a storm?
They looked like the oncoming promise of a hurricane, prepared to blow away Kita’s insecurities like trash left on the beach by the unprepared. Kita felt her chest grow tight. She knew this was what Hitori really looked like. Her guitar playing was LOUD because in His cruelty God gave His most powerful storm the softest voice. But Hitori wasn’t spineless, and while she would give herself endless hell she’d taken extra steps recently to ensure absolutely nobody in the band was allowed to speak ill of themselves. At first, Kita worried it was out of a desire to repay something that need not be repaid, but after being on the receiving end of it many times at this point, she knew that this is just how Hitori felt about her bandmates. How she truly saw her friends. A storm of love and might in equal measure.
Kita had to suppress the urge to look up to meet Hitori’s gaze. While seated they were already eye level, but in this moment Hitori felt absolutely MONOLITHIC to her. A massive, unyielding, steadying presence. A rock.
‘Bocchi-chan’s really become our rock in more ways than one recently, hasn’t she?’
Kita nearly cracked a smile at the memory of Ijichi-senpai’s shocked expression after receiving a particularly big earful from Hitori-chan after practice one day after she put herself down one too many times during their run through of their set list. Kita can still remember the glowing redness of her cheeks after Hitori’s words started to turn on Ijichi’s tears. The moment Hitori saw wetness in their drummer’s eyes she exploded into pieces of broken glass. After that the rest of practice was trying to get Hitori back into a singular shape; Ryo-senpai even cut her hand on a Hitori piece and caused an even bigger fracture. But Ijichi-senpai did seem happier after her shockingly determined pep-talk. Current Kita let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Her voice came out small, a bit raspy and nearly too quiet to hear.
“Hitori-chan, I-”
“D-Do you u-u-understand?” Hitori was beginning to melt into her chair, her confidence maximum for the day fully reached. Kita can tell her interruption this time was entirely accidental; with all the blood rushing through her ears she likely couldn’t hear if somebody was shouting at her right now. She pushed herself so hard to help her. She always did.
She smiled at the pink blob now sloshing onto the floor in front of her. “Thank you, Hitori-chan. I do understand. I’m going to continue to try my best!”
Hitori slowly morphed back into a nearly human shape. Pink globs stacked and stacked until the faint outline of a torso and head could be discerned. Thankfully, she reassembles just in time to prevent her guitar from clattering to the ground. “G-Good! I’m glad to hear it.”
After a pleasant bit of silence, Kita had an idea.
“Well if you’re offering, Hitori-chan, I’d love to have your help in determining what kind of sound would suit me best. I know you’re already familiar with my music tastes, so any sort of direction so I have an idea of what to aim for would be incredibly helpful!”
“Hmm…” Hitori thought for a moment. “A lot of the music you listen to is very sunny and bright in its disposition. So, there are a lot of options there. We could pick a basic scale to learn that matches you and that sound.”
“Oh, that sounds good!” Kita leaned forward in her chair. A whole scale that matched her? That seemed like a good starting point! “And then I can learn other scales later based on what is needed?”
“Y-Yeah, pretty much! But you’d actually be shocked just how far one scale can get you. A lot of the most famous guitarists in the world have made entire careers off of improvising off of variations of just one scale.”
“Wait, really?” Kita was shocked. “That seems a bit…too easy.”
Hitori let out an uncharacteristic barking laugh. “Yeah, it really depends on the guitarist. Realistically, there’s no limit to how far you can stretch a single musical idea as long as you have the determination to try. It’s pretty easy to tell who really is doing it because they love it or who is doing it because they learned just enough to play in a band and get into women’s pants.”
“Hitori-chan!” Now it was Kita’s turn to admonish her bandmate. Maybe Hitori was getting TOO comfortable around them. All those years with just the internet as her only friend were really starting to show with her blunt speech. But she laughed with Hitori despite herself. She loved getting to see this side of her. She was a wealth of knowledge.
“Okay, well,” Kita managed through some giggles, “what scale do you think would suit me then?”
Without hesitation, Hitori sobered up immediately. “The major pentatonic scale. Also the major hexatonic. And the mixolydian mode.”
Kita’s jaw dropped. “W-WHAT? That was so fast! Have you thought about this before?”
Hitori shrunk a little. Kita grimaced. No! I didn’t mean to offend her; I was just shocked!
“I uh, I think of all of you as scales a little bit. Scales and keys. It- I dunno- kind of makes it easier to picture my feelings for you guys and put it into music. Puts them into terms I can understand a bit more easily.”
Kita’s expression softened. “I think I understand what you mean. I’m sorry for responding so strongly. I’m not used to being thought of in such a specific way I guess. But it’s not bad! It’s quite sweet!”
Hitori grew back a little. Oh, thank God. She pushed forward, “So what about the major pentatonic and the hexa(something) makes you think they will suit me?”
Hitori perked up even more, nearly sitting up straight. “W-well it’s a very flexible scale; very open and sunny sounding without being too hokey! It can really carry its own weight in a lot of genres, and once you master it you’d only be one note away from the major hexatonic scale and only a few from the Mixolydian mode, and then you’d be really ready for the minor pentatonic, and then…”
Kita listened with rapt attention while Hitori went on for a while. ‘She knows so much,’ she thought to herself, listening to Hitori show her the basic notes of the scale and apply it a little to show how it sounds. She wondered if this is what songwriting sessions for Kessoku Band were like: Ryo-senpai and Hitori-chan sitting in a room, poring over technical terms and tones and exchanging jargon while they determined what sound the new song should have.
To top it all off, the thing Hitori was currently playing was BREATHTAKING. Bright and positive but not without emotion or honesty. It was how she may have always pictured a guitar solo, not too bluesy or too traditional, a dash of sun in Hitori’s guitar playing’s usual storm. The eye of the storm, a moment of clear skies and peace in the middle of utter chaos. Kita felt the heat of the sun on her hair as the wind of the hurricane whipped around the rest of the room around them, with her and Hitori alone encased in a column of sunlight.
‘Is this really how she sees me?’ Kita felt a bit of heat rise to her face as the meaning behind Hitori’s words sank into her skin and veins, binding to every blood vessel and pumping into her heart, and with a single pump spreading warmth to every single part of her body. She almost feels the need to say something until the sight of Hitori playing removes the words from her mouth and sucks them into the storm around their circle of sunshine. Kita had seen her play a thousand times and every time it took her mind away.
Kita felt something awaken within her when she saw how much talking about and playing this lit up Hitori’s entire body. Her fingers effortlessly run up the notes and bend the G string a whole step up with a beautiful noise. Hitori’s mind was clearly running free, her speech free of stammers or hesitations as she shared this incredible gift of hers. Kita pictured herself in that room with Ryo and Hitori, finally understanding what they’re saying. Contributing. BELONGING.
Her green eyes shone. ‘I want that,’ she thought.
*
Kita walked home after her practice session. Her head was taken up with the sound of storms and buzzing amplifiers. She could see the sun start to fall below the horizon as she meandered home slowly. A chill fall breeze blows by her, and she shivered.
In the end she had a harder time learning the scale then she thought she would. Turns out, playing chords and individual notes seemed to use different parts of her brain. She wondered if Hitori-chan and Ryo-senpai struggled so much when they first started. She worried about Hitori calling her pretty and the most popular girl in school. She worried that she only sees her as a pretty face. She worried she’s not capable of more. A doll whose use will only last as long as she stays unblemished- uncracked.
The cicadas rushed past her ears. She felt herself breathing faster, her heart pounding in her ears. She stopped, hands braced against her knees, she-
She heard the buzz again, and the worries flew away, taken in the ripping wind of the storm. She sat safely in the storm's eye once more, and with its grace sucked in a large greedy breath, taking down as much oxygen as Hitori’s noise would allow.
‘Hitori-chan doesn’t use a noise gate,” she thought to herself. ‘She could easily afford one but her board doesn’t have one at all. I wonder why.’
She wondered, all the while the buzz surrounded her like a blanket. She isn’t cold anymore.
It feels like summer. She smiled.