Chapter Text
Nanaki stood on stage, holding his green electric guitar in his hands. The weight of it feels too much as he sees the crowd staring back at him, feeling uneasy about performing so soon. He hasn’t really ever played for a big audience before, let alone at a festival. But here he was, standing on stage as a member of the band called “Day2”. As he looks to his right, he sees Ushio sitting on the stool of a drum set, holding his sticks in his hands as he waits for the cue to start. Further away from him, he sees Muneuji standing as his fingers hover over a keyboard. In the center, there’s Akuta and Kiroku holding microphones as they warm up the crowd. He’s not too sure if everyone else is as nervous as him, but it doesn’t matter as he hears Akuta begin to get ready.
“This is our first performance, so I hope you guys like it!” He announces before taking a deep breath.
“1, 2, 3 ,4!” The members all shout in unison, the back track starting up with them.
He feels muscle memory kick in as he plays, the guitar pick in his hands running over the strings as Ushio hits the drums. While his hands do all the work, his mind reminisces on how they even got here in the first place.
It was after becoming ward mayors, on a day where the Community Improvement Club had to meet. As everyone trickled in, talking about their other clubs and activities, Nanaki was more pissed off than usual. Earlier on, he had tried talking to the other members of the light club to see if they’d want to perform something together, and they had all made up excuses. It definitely wasn’t the first time that this had happened, but after the trip to Shodoshima he thought it could be for another reason. Words melted into each other, and before he knew it they had gotten into an argument and he stormed off, realizing they would never perform together.
Ushio had poked fun at him being so upset, saying that it looked like he got rejected again. Nanaki then had to explain the situation, and his frustration for not being able to perform as a band. Akuta then chimed in their conversation, asking why they didn’t just form a band. He thought it was a joke at first, the idea of all 5 of them being in a band together, but then he thought about it and it could work. He asked about Muneuji knowing to play any instruments, and he mentioned he knows how to play the piano a little because of his mother. Akuta said he can be the vocalist, and Kiroku joined him as well. Nanaki, of course, can play the guitar, and so they turned towards Ushio to see what he could do.
“I mean … I can learn to play the drums.” He muttered, seeming too interested in whatever was on his phone.
“I can teach you, you know.” Nanaki offered.
“Like I’d need your help. I’ll be fine on my own. If you want to help, you can just show me the basics and I'll take it from there.”
Nanaki’s lips curved into a smile, “Then we have a band.”
After asking Sakujiro and Momiji about it, who then spoke to Kafka, they ended up becoming a band. And so, that’s how they ended up performing on a stage, instruments in Nanaki, Ushio and Muneuji’s hands and Akuta and Kiroku holding microphones. Nanaki caught his breath as their first song ended, hearing the cheers from the crowd. He looked over to see Ushio’s reaction, which was filled with pure joy as he also looked around to see how happy everyone looked. His heart flipped as he knew his ears turned pink, but he didn’t care how he looked right now. All Nanaki wanted to do was soak up this moment and preserve it into a song. Maybe that’ll be the next song he’ll have made for the band, a love song written with Ushio in mind. He could write about his eyes, or face, or how he always wants to conceal the way he feels with a thinly veiled lie or insult and how Nanaki can see right through it. That wouldn’t be so bad.
The back track starts up, and he has to go back on focusing on playing. It’s been pretty fun playing in a band so far, even better now that he’s with Ushio. And the rest of Day2, of course. But there’s something special seeing him focus so hard on playing that he’s afraid his hands will bleed, like that movie Akuta showed them about the drummer. He looks over once more, like he hasn’t been poorly sneaking glances at him this entire time, and sees how his eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated on hitting the bass and the low tom. There’s only one thought circling through his head: “Cute” That’s the only words he can find to describe him, after all.