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“Hey, Ni, why’d you stop playing?”
Niut’s bass guitar hung limp around her neck, one hand forming a chord on its neck, and the other hovering just over the strings. Where there had been music was now filling with the din of silence, as the others realised their bass player had stopped and turned to look at her.
“Somethin’ up sis?” Demeter, the band's drummer, asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Nothing.” Niut said reflexively, suddenly feeling the urge to scratch the back of her neck, “Except, well, what's the name of our band?”
The others looked at her in stunned silence.
“I know that we announce ourselves as the Music Appreciation Club, we are it's only members after all, but I'm pretty sure bands need to have names.” Niut added quickly.
“Hmm.” Raeni, the band's keyboard player and the club president, said deliberately, as she walked from her instrument to the desks on the other side of the room and sat on one of them, “You bring up a good point, Niut.”
“Did you really just say ‘hmm’, Rae?” Guan-yin, the band's lead guitarist and de facto singer, asked accusingly.
“Right!” Raeni said loudly, clapping her hands together as she pointedly ignores Guan-yin, “We've gotten a lot of practice done today, so tonight we'll all come up with some names for our band, then tomorrow we'll go over them together, okay?”
The others agreed, and with the matter settled, they all started packing away their instruments, Guan-yin and Niut hoisting their guitar cases onto their backs.
The next day
The bell for the beginning of lunch rang clearly throughout the school grounds, and the students rushed and ambled in equal parts to their usual hang-out spots. Niut was no exception, tucking a letter another student had given her into her desk, before racing, home-made lunch firmly grasped in her hand, up to the music room on the top floor of the school.
She arrived, slightly out of breath, just in time to see Demeter poke her head out the door.
“Oh!” Demeter said, turning to speak to whoever was in the music room, “Hey, girls! Ni’s here now!”
“You don’t need to shout Dem! We can hear you fine over here.” Raeni said, her tone mired in playful scorn.
“You sure? I could shout a little louder if you need me to!” Demeter continued, taking large steps toward Raeni, a cheeky grin splitting her face.
“Enough flirting you two, seriously.” Guan-yin interrupted, causing Raeni and Demeter to flush bright red, “Let’s just get this started already.”
Niut found herself smiling and shaking her head at her friends antics, taking a seat beside Guan-yin as Raeni and Demeter both tried to compose themselves.
Raeni was the first to speak up again, clearing her throat, “Be that as it may,” she began, “Who would like to start?”
“Oh, oh, I’ve got a good one!” Demeter exclaimed, waving her hand in the air.
“Let’s hear it then.” Niut said.
“‘Stage Connection’.” Demeter said proudly, leaning back in her seat.
“No.” Guan-yin said firmly, “Just, no.”
“Huh?” Demeter said, standing suddenly and planting her hands on the table, glaring across at Guan-yin, “What’s wrong with it?”
“Everything.” Guan-yin said succinctly.
“Got anything better, Shihong?” Demeter challenged, narrowing her eyes.
“You bet Ni’s cute ass I do, Onyx.” Guan-yin retorted.
“I’m sorry?” Niut squeaked, her cheeks turning a bright red and her hands clutching her chair tight.
“‘Tools of Armageddon’.” Guan-yin continued, smirking at Demeter.
“That would be a good name, Guan.” Raeni cut in, “Assuming we were a metal band. Which we aren’t. The closest we get to metal is aluminium, or a soggy rock.”
“Let’s hear what you’ve got then, Rae.” Guan said, turning towards the club president, “If you’re so sure my idea is a bust.”
“Well, for one, I actually have a bunch of ideas, but seeing as we seem to be just going around the table, I’ll start with only one of mine,” Raeni smiled, pulling her phone out of her pocket and tapping at it, “How about ‘Carefree Sirens’?”
“Boo,” Demeter said, following it up with a fart noise, “Lame. What’ve you got, Ni?”
“Um, well,” Niut stammered, surprised to be called so quickly after Raeni, “Maybe, uh, ‘Girls of Brilliance’?”
“What are we, an idol group? Pass.” Guan-yin said bluntly.
“Okay, okay, how about ‘Pajama Lessons’?” Demeter suggested.
“Are you even taking this seriously, Dem?” Raeni asked, quirking an eyebrow up.
“Of course I am, Rae,” Demeter said, mock offended as she held a hand to her chest, “Just who do you take me for?”
All three girls looked at Demeter blankly, their stony visages speaking volumes of how done they all were.
“Alright, alright, I get it, just quit staring.” Demeter said, sitting back in her seat.
“Thank you.” Raeni said, “Now, do you have any serious suggestions?”
“Uh, just the one, hehe,” Demeter laughed, scratching the back of her neck before clearing her throat, “Um, what about ‘Trilogy of Us’?”
Niut shook her head, “There’s four of us, Dem.”
“Alright,” Guan-yin said suddenly, “What about ‘Delirious Sunset’?”
“That’s too far the other way,” Raeni said, “Like you said, we aren’t an idol group.”
“I’m not sure idol groups and metal bands are opposites, but either way, what about ‘Empathy’?”
“Blech,” Demeter said, poking her tongue out, “Too generic. Rae, your go.”
“Hmm, how about ‘Party Destiny’?”
“Are you kidding me, that’s worse than ‘Empathy’, no way, Rae.” Demeter said, shaking her head vigorously, “We can’t go wrong with ‘Euphony’.”
“Except none of us play the euphonium.” Raeni said.
“Bah, technicality.” Demeter said, waving away at Raeni.
“‘Four of Diamonds’?” Guan-yin suggested hesitantly.
“That’s awesome, we sound like that one Motörhead song!” Demeter squealed, dancing in her chair.
“Never mind.” Guan-yin said tonelessly.
“Party pooper.” Demeter griped, blowing a raspberry at Guan-yin.
“How about ‘Glamour’?” Raeni asked expectantly.
“Maybe, if Niut were the face, but that’s not happening any time soon.” Guan-yin said.
“Fair.” Raeni admitted, placing her phone screen down on the table, “Well, I’m out of ideas. Dem?”
“Hmm, ‘Knights of Victory’?” Demeter suggested halfheartedly.
“Yeah, not happening.” Raeni said firmly.
“Worth a shot.” Demeter shrugged.
“I’VE GOT IT!” Niut shouted, cutting off Guan-yin and standing quickly enough to knock her chair over, “Uh, I mean, I have another idea?” She continued, laughing nervously at herself
“Well this I’ve got to hear.” Demeter said, leaning across the table as Raeni and Guan-yin followed suit, humming their agreement.
“‘Princess Knights’.” Niut said proudly, beaming at her friends.
“Okay, I’m gonna need you to explain how you got ‘Princess Knights’.” Raeni said, followed by nods from Demeter and Guan-yin.
“Well,” Niut started, taking a deep breath, “It started with Guan’s ‘Tools of Armageddon’ idea earlier. It got stuck in my head, but like you said Rae, we aren’t metal enough for a name like that. So I thought ‘what if I soften the name a bit’. Then, when Dem suggested ‘Trilogy of Us’, the fact that we’re a four-girl ensemble stuck out pretty jarringly, and the two ideas sort of coalesced. So I thought about it, and the only doomsday that references four figures specifically is.” She paused.
“Is Rapture.” Guan-yin chimed in.
“Exactly!” Niut said excitedly.
“Wait, so how did you get from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to ‘Princess Knights’?” Demeter asked, her curiosity thoroughly piqued.
“Well, I kinda got side tracked a bit, assigned one of them to each of us. Dem, you’re Famine, Guan is War, Rae is Conquest, and I’m Death.” Niut continued.
“Heh, how appropriate,” Guan-yin chuckled, turning to Raeni, “Don’t you think, Miss ‘I’ve never lost a single game of anything in my entire life’?”
“I think we should let Ni finish,” Raeni said dismissively, turning her nose up at Guan as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
“Thanks. So, after that, I managed to get back on track, and thought we could be something like ‘Horsemen’ or ‘Horsewomen’ or ‘Huntresses’ or something, but those still felt too metal, so i tried to cut the inherently apocalyptic theme, which lead me to ‘Knights’.” Niut smiled.
“And the ‘Princess’ bit?” Demeter asked.
“We’re girls?” Niut said, cocking her head to the side, “I dunno, it felt like an obvious addition to me.”
Demeter opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, “Yeah, that’s fair.”
“Well then,” Raeni started, standing from her chair at the head of the table, “If nobody else has any suggestions,” she paused for a moment, continuing as each of the others shook their heads, “Then we are officially ‘Princess Knights’.”
With a resounding cheer, the girls of ‘Princess Knights’ packed up what was left of their lunches and got ready for their next classes.
“Oh, and I’ve got a little tune I wanted to show you guys when we practice after school.” Niut said as she parted ways with the others for class.