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“I got in.”
“What did you say??”
Before Sayo had a moment to steal away to her room with her acceptance letter, Hina was over her shoulder, trying to peep at the writing with the light from the entryway.
“Got into what, onee-chan?”
“Nothing,” said Sayo, trying to brush her off. Soon enough, Hina would be off on the Pastel Palettes’ Summer Tour, and Sayo wouldn’t have to worry about dodging her at every turn. Sayo ignored Hina’s hurt expression as she walked up to her room with the letter. She and Hina got along much better now, but she would much rather share the news once she was sure of what it entailed, when she had fully read the letter, perhaps at family dinner.
Once safely in her room with the door closed, Sayo looked at the letter.
Miss Hikawa,
On behalf of the Young Musician’s Society of Japan, we would like to formally invite you to attend the Young Female Guitarists Summer Training Camp at the Osaka School of Music. Admission is granted for one week during the national summer holidays at the dates listed below, and a stipend will be provided for travel fees. Your housing will be provided in one of the university’s double-occupancy dormitories, and meals will be provided. Below are some details about our program, including planned activities and outcomes and a packing list. We hope to see you in a few weeks.
Sincerely,
The Board for Young Musicians
Sayo sighed and leaned back in her chair. Then, with a jolt, she sat up, immediately texting Roselia the dates that she would be unavailable for. Yukina wished her good luck in her training efforts to improve the band, Lisa congratulated her, and Rinko and Ako started chatting about sights and souvenirs in Osaka. Sayo doubted she’d have much time to explore, however, with the way the schedule looked to be tightly packed.
That night at dinner, she informed her parents, and incidentally Hina, of her acceptance into the program.
“With Hina on her PasuPare tour, and you at the training camp, it will be very lonely here this summer break,” her mother said.
“That’s what happens during the final year of high school,” her father added. “They start becoming very serious with their efforts.”
Sayo wanted to make a comment about how Hina was never serious about anything, but she knew that wasn’t true. Despite Hina’s ditzy demeanor, Sayo knew she was incredibly hardworking, and they got along much better than they used to, so she kept her mouth shut.
“I’ll do my summer homework early, and finish anything left once I’m there, of course,” added Sayo, without prompting.
“Get me a souvenir, onee-chan,” said Hina.
“Fine, fine,” Sayo acquiesced.
The final weeks of school before break seemed to pass slowly, as Sayo anticipated her trip to Osaka. She was working on a couple new songs for Roselia, and hitting a few tough spots, and so she looked forward to the idea of working with mentors on the spots she struggled with, especially when it came to composing, and some of her trouble areas, like fills and syncopation. She knew she was fairly skilled, due to hours upon hours of practice, but she hadn’t been playing guitar for that long, and she’d never been to a program of this sort, so she was sure she could use the help.
When she auditioned, she said as much on her written portion, and then submitted a video of herself playing some of her favorite solos from Roselia’s songs. A resume including her participation in Roselia and their biggest shows and contest wins accompanied this. Apparently this had been enough, and she was granted entry, but she was curious about the caliber of other participants. Would she be one of the best or one of the worst? She supposed she’d find out soon enough.
Sayo finished nearly all of her summer homework ahead of time, though a couple of her classes didn’t give out the assignments until the day before break began. She packed one suitcase with what she hoped would be appropriate clothes for the training camp, along with her study materials and toiletries. She dressed in a neat blue dress with a white cardigan for the train ride. On second thought, it was very hot out, so she tucked the cardigan into a shoulder bag until she got on the air conditioned train. She also added her phone, earbuds, wallet, and other essentials into the smaller bag, and finally packed her guitar, tuner, cords, spare picks, and recent tabs into her guitar case.
“Onee-chan! Want me to walk to the station with you?” asked Hina.
“I’m fine,” said Sayo firmly, trying to look as though she was managing just fine with her two large bags and her shoulder bag.
“Please? I’ll carry your suitcase!” said Hina, somehow knowing Sayo would not want to give up the guitar case, even though the suitcase rolled and was arguably easier to carry. “When you get back, I’ll still be on the tour, so I won’t see you for ages!”
Sayo considered her options. Listening to Hina’s energetic babble on the way to the train station for five minutes seemed worth it for the luggage service, all things considered. “Sure, let’s go,” she said.
“Really?! Boppin!☆”
Sayo wished her parents goodbye and left with Hina, listening to Hina talk about this and that on the short walk to the station.
“Oh, look, Sayo, is that Hanazono-san?” asked Hina. Then, louder, “O-Tae!☆”
The only other person standing on the platform this early on a Sunday morning was indeed Hanazono Tae. Why Hina, who didn’t even go to Hanajo, was on a nickname basis with Hanazono was beyond her, but so much of Hina’s life was.
“Yo, Hina-chan,” said Hanazono, with a completely straight face. Was this girl for real?
“O-Tae, you have your guitar and a suitcase too! Does that mean you’re also going to Osaka?”
“Woah, Hina-chan, are you going on vacation?” asked Hanazono. Sayo blinked. She was losing track of this conversation fast.
“No, I’m going on tour with PasuPare. Sayo’s going to Osaka, though!”
Now Hanazono turned to Sayo. “What are you visiting for? Tenjin Matsuri?”
A festival? Hanazono thought she was going to Osaka for a summer festival? Sayo exhaled, calming herself down. “I’m going for the young guitarists’ training camp,” Sayo said.
“Ah,” Hanazono said, in an unreadable way. Then, after a pause. “Me too.”
Sayo wanted to scream ’of course you are!, but honestly after that runaround, she wouldn’t be surprised if Hanazono wanted to go busk at Tenjin Matsuri.
Thankfully, the train came, and Sayo spent a moment bidding Hina farewell, allowing Hanazono to board before her.
Sayo sat alone on the train ride from Shinjuku to Shinagawa Station, her head pressed against the window as she watched sleepy Tokyo whiz by. So, Hanazono was coming too. She supposed it was unlikely that no one else from the girls’ bands she knew would come - she happened to know several good female guitarists, but Hanazono… was a bit trying on her patience- not to say that Hina or Aoba-san or Seta-san were less so.
Sayo had rarely interacted with Hanazono, outside of when she saw Poppin’ Party as a whole. Hanazono was a year below Sayo in school, so they never shared classes, or even the same corridors. Sayo did share a slight sense of kinship with Hanazono, however. As a member of the student council, she was familiar with the student body, at least on an observational level, and she noticed the change in Hanazono once she joined Poppin’ Party. A sort of light and motivation that seemed to invigorate her now that she had the friendship of her bandmates and their common goals. Sayo knew it: a similar kind of change happened with herself once she joined Roselia. Perhaps she had been too hard on the younger girl.
At the transfer station, they had to walk from one end to the other to get to the shinkansen. Sayo spotted Hanazono in the movement of people, wearing a long white skirt and black sleeveless top, a black ribbon tied around her neck. Strange, she hadn’t paid any attention to what she looked like before. Hanazono struggled with her guitar case, a rolling suitcase to which she added a smaller bag to the handle, and a large bulkier bag in her hand.
“Let’s go, we only have a short time to make the transfer,” quipped Sayo, falling into step beside Hanazono.
This didn’t seem to phase her at all, and if anything, she may have moved slightly slower as she balanced all of her bags. Sayo wanted to just stride on ahead, but she had just steeled herself to give Hanazono another chance, so she willed herself to have a little more patience.
“We’ll all get there,” Hanazono said finally, as they descended toward the shinkansen, which was already pulled up to the platform. Quickly, Sayo put her suitcase in the correct area, and urged Hanazono to do the same, practically dragging her onto the train. Once inside, she relaxed. Even if it began to move, at least they made it.
The high-speed train was relatively empty, and they took two seats in a four-seat compartment, sitting across from each other, with no other passengers taking up the last two seats by the time the train began to move. Hanazono sat down her big bag on one of the seats, and slid her guitar under the seats, careful that it was in a position where it would not get stepped on. Sayo put her guitar on the empty seat beside her, along with her much smaller bag.
If Hanazono was curious why Sayo was sitting with her now, but not previously, she didn’t say anything. She gazed out the window as the scenery blurred by, and Sayo began to wonder if she planned to do that for the two and a half hours this train ride would take.
“Hanazono-san,” she said, testing conversation.
“You can call me Tae, senpai,” she said, not turning away from the window.
Sayo wasn’t sure if she wanted to. Tae - what a name, and somehow, it fit her perfectly. Odd, mysterious, if nothing else, those words suited Hanazono. Perhaps at least she could think of her as ‘Tae’, but she wasn’t sure if she could grant the request and say it out loud.
“Tae-san, then,” Sayo said, cringing a bit at the informality, even with someone younger than her. She knew Tae probably wanted to know what to call her, but she wasn’t sure what to say. Honestly, why had Tae said this so soon? They could have used surnames a while longer, at least. “You can call me Sayo-san or Sayo-senpai,” she said, feeling somehow like she was lecturing Tae as she said it.
Finally Tae looked up from the window, perhaps ‘seeing’ Sayo for the first time. “Sayo-san,” she said, nodding, as if the name had a good flavor. Perhaps it was difficult for her to call Sayo ‘senpai’ when she had a couple centimeters in height on Sayo.
“Have you been to one of these before, Tae-san?” asked Sayo.
“Shinkansen?” Tae replied.
“No, the guitar training camp,” said Sayo, already feeling her exhaustion growing. With anyone else she would think they were playing coy or purposely testing her patience, but she honestly believed that like Hina, Tae was just living on a different wavelength.
Tae shook her head. “I’ve practiced alone most of my life,” she said. “A long time ago, there was someone I sometimes practiced with, and now I have Popipa, but otherwise, just me.”
Sayo nodded. It was much easier to respond with a straight answer like that. “It’s similar for me. I only practice with Roselia, so I’m not sure what to expect.”
“Perhaps they’ll have a child prodigy. Or an overseas rock legend,” Tae mused. “Maybe we’ll learn how to head-bang.”
Sayo contemplated the importance of learning to headbang in the overall skills a guitarist should have, then questioned why she was even thinking about that. “It said very little about the instructors or how many others were invited,” she said.
“Yes, I was nervous I wouldn’t be accepted,” Tae said.
Sayo nodded. She felt the same way. Though, to be fair, despite Poppin’ Party’s music not being her preferred genre, Sayo always found Tae’s guitar playing more than adequate - not that she had paid much attention before now.
“I was hoping to make it to add it to my resume for university applications,” said Sayo.
“Oh! You want to go to university?” asked Tae.
Sayo nodded. “I’m hoping to study music at a university to further support Roselia’s efforts at becoming professional musicians.”
Tae looked impressed, as if this was the most interesting thing in the world. For some strange reason, Sayo noticed that her posture was excellent, despite her rather casual demeanor, and sat up a little straighter in her own seat. “What about you, Tae-san? What are your plans after high school?”
“Well, it’s only my second year, so I’m not exactly sure? Maybe I’ll become a farmer,” she said.
“It’s only your second year, but you should have some idea of what you’re aiming for,” said Sayo. “Entrance exams come up quickly,” she added.
Tae looked flustered for the first time since they began talking. “I should? I really don’t know,” she said, more quietly.
“Well what’s the plan with Poppin’ Party? Are you aiming to be professionals? Are you splitting up in different directions after graduation?” Sayo wasn’t sure why she was pressing Tae so hard, but she hated when people didn’t have a plan and hoped for the best. If Tae started planning now, then she could make sure everything is in place by the time graduation came around. Not that it was any of her business to meddle in the affairs of a girl she just began talking to…
“Again, I don’t know.” Tae had returned to looking out the window. She pulled her knees up onto the seat, her flowy white skirt clinging to her long legs. “Popipa will probably be somewhere in the middle, but I can’t speak for everyone else…”
Give it up, Sayo, leave her alone, said a voice in her head, the rational one that could see she was bothering Tae. And yet the horrible part of Sayo, the part that did the opposite of what was rational, continued: “Why did you say you wanted to be a farmer?” Go on, lash out more, a dark part of her seemed to taunt, this is why no one likes you,.
Tae didn’t answer right away. She seemed to move at her own pace. Sayo imagined her answer. ’Because on a farm I won’t have to deal with you.
Finally, she looked back at Sayo, her smile much more gentle and genuine than Sayo deserved in that moment. “I just thought it seemed like a fun job,” she said.
Finally, Sayo’s rational side won out, and she decided to leave Tae alone. She pulled out her earbuds, stuck them into her phone, and turned up the volume. She watched Tae look out the window, telling herself it was because she didn’t want to strain her neck and not because the girl had a nice profile, all wrapped up with the black satin ribbon tied around her neck. After a few minutes, she noticed Tae’s fingers tapping on her knee, and it seemed to match in time with the song she was listening to. Was she really matching the beat just from the tinny sound leaking out of Sayo’s ear buds?
Sayo casually changed the song, and sure enough, the tapping adjusted. This song was more well known, and Tae even reflexively moved her hand into chord shapes. For the next hour or so, Sayo watched Tae ‘play’ songs, forming chord shapes, picking out guitar solos, and tapping out beats where there wasn’t prominent guitar. But the amount of songs she knew was too many. It was enough to make Sayo wonder if she actually learned that many songs, or if she just understood music enough to be able to play a simple variation of a song upon hearing it. Either option was impressive.
Once again, when they got to the station, Sayo’s conscience had caught up to her. She had sat down to try to get to know Hanazono, and all she had done was berate her, and probably make the younger girl hate her. She felt like she needed to make up for her first attempt at a conversation, but also didn’t quite trust herself not to ruin it again. At a standstill, she disembarked at the Shin-Osaka station with Tae, who wandered over to a stand selling wagashi.
“What are you doing, we need to check in soon!” said Sayo, realizing as soon as she said it that she was back to ‘berating’ mode.
“This one is shaped like a rabbit,” said Tae simply. She purchased the snack, and they were again on their way, onto the last transfer to the Yotsubashi Line, which would take them to the Osaka School of Music. They would arrive around 2:30PM, which was well within the acceptable window, but Sayo just had a feeling that wandering around with Tae could quickly turn into a misadventure.
Finally, they made it, luggage and all, to the university, and followed the signs to a check-in table. “Good afternoon,” said Sayo. “I am checking in for the young guitarists’ program. My name is Hikawa Sayo.”
“Greetings,” said a kind woman in her thirties behind the table. “And you?” she asked, glancing at Tae.
“Hanazono Tae,” she said, bowing slightly as she bobbled all her bags.
“Hikawa-san and Hanazono-san, ah, I see! Welcome! You both came from the same school! I see… Since you already know each other, we thought it would be easiest if you doubled up in your dormitory. There will be lots of mingling during the day, so you would probably be most comfortable with a familiar face in the evenings,” she explained. “But if that’s a problem, we can do some shuffling.”
Sayo did not want to cause an inconvenience to the program on the first minutes she was here, but she also did not want to spend each evening with Tae, both for the sake of her patience, and due to the fact that she knew with her personality, she would only upset Tae without fail. In a way, spending time with Tae might be more difficult than spending time with Hina, who at least kept the conversation flowing easily and bounced back quickly from Sayo’s jabs.
“That’s fine,” Tae said pleasantly, accepting the key to the dormitory as well as the map of the campus.
In consideration of Tae’s feelings, and because she didn’t want to make a scene, Sayo agreed as well, accepting her key and map and listening to the directions of how to get to the dormitory, and what time dinner was, and any other important information the check-in woman, Suzuki-san, had to share.
After, she led the way to the dormitory, if only because Tae seemed to amble along regardless of how good of a handle she had on her luggage. Their room was on the fifth floor of a real university dormitory, currently empty because the school seemed to be on break, or perhaps this floor was always reserved for special camps and events like this one. Down the hall, Sayo could see another girl unlocking her door, and Tae tried to wave at her, but couldn’t quite manage with all of her bags.
They opened the door to find two beds, pressed against opposite walls, on the far side of the room, near the windows. At the foot of each bed was a small desk, and closest to the door were two wardrobes with some shelves, one on each side. It was perfectly adequate housing.
They had been told there was a common room on the floor with a refrigerator and microwave, as well as a television that they could use if they wished. Use of amplifiers, including mini-amps, for their guitars was prohibited between 10PM and 8AM. Down the hall was also a bathroom, and Sayo excused herself to visit that. It had been about a 4 hour-trip in total, after all.
She was pleased to see that the bathroom had a second room behind it with baths, nothing fancy, but they would do fine. There were also a couple shower stalls if she was in a rush. She felt much better after using the bathroom and splashing some water on her face. Perhaps she had some extra patience to deal with Tae, now. She returned to the dormitory room to see… Tae petting a rabbit?
“What is that?” she asked, realizing her prediction was definitely untrue.
Tae looked at her with a wrinkled brow. “Not what, who,” she said, returning her gaze to the rabbit. She reached into a pouch in her backpack, offering him a small carrot. The large wicker ‘hand bag’ lay open on one of the beds (a bed that Tae chose without offering a choice to Sayo, no less), and it all clicked. Tae had a rabbit with her the entire trip.
“You are breaking the rules on day one?” asked Sayo.
“Oddie, you’re a criminal?” Tae asked, scratching him gently behind the ears as he nibbled on the carrot. “And you left the city. A fugitive!”
“Not the rabbit, you!” This time, Sayo had a feeling Tae was playing coy, and it irritated her. She was potentially going to get them both in trouble, and acting like she didn’t know she was breaking a rule. Sayo was sure that any adult would see that they arrived together, from the same school, and think Sayo was ‘in on it’. And she hadn’t even had a single lesson! And to think just moments ago she was feeling bad for this troublemaker!
“Oh, is it against the rules to bring a rabbit?” asked Tae.
With a sigh, Sayo pulled out the letter of ‘what to bring/what not to bring’ and scanned it to point out ‘pets’. While she searched, Tae continued to play with the rabbit, letting him stretch his legs and run around the room. She seemed to convert the wicker bag/box into some sort of litter box as well, and while Sayo was in the bathroom, she set up a small bowl for water. To Sayo’s shock, after a few minutes, she could not find a single thing written about pets or animals. “It’s not on this list, but I’m sure it’s against this dormitory’s policies! It’s just common sense!”
Tae made a hum of acknowledgement, but didn’t seem to share any of the panic that Sayo did. Sayo supposed she did read the pamphlet, and there was no ‘no rabbits’ clause. “Well, how about this? Just to be safe, can we tuck the rabbit away during room checks?” asked Sayo.
“Oddie,” said Tae.
“Pardon?”
Tae scooped up the rabbit, holding him before Sayo’s face. Oddie,” she repeated, indicating that the rabbit was addressed thus. She put him down and considered for a moment. “For the checks… I suppose we can ‘tuck’.”
Sayo blushed a bit from her own word choice, but was pleased at Tae’s acquiescence.
They spent the next hour or so unpacking and setting up the room. Tae moved Oddie’s litter box, food, and water into the wardrobe, which was the most discreet rabbit quarters anyways, and the rabbit hopped here and there while they worked. Sayo unpacked a few dresses and several pairs of slacks and blouses, tucking them into her closet shelves and onto hangers. She added her own pillowcase to the bed, but otherwise used the provided bedding. She pulled out her toiletries for later and put them on the desk. She opened her guitar case and checked that there was no damage during the trip, but everything looked good.
Tae, on the other hand, had taken significant time setting up Oddie, and turned next to her guitar. She pulled it out and sat on the bed, getting it back in tune, and playing a few arpeggios with ease that made Sayo envious. Certainly, she had some formal training. After ensuring her guitar was good to go, she carefully leaned it against the soft comforter, ensuring the headstock was not touching anything, and threw her whole suitcase up on the desk so she could reach in and grab things out as she needed. Sayo chose not to comment on this rather disorganized method.
Finally, it was time for dinner, the first activity as a group. Tae instructed Oddie to “mind the house” while they were out, and they left, locking the door behind them. They walked out into the warm summer air across a courtyard, and passed a couple buildings to the one on the map marked as the dining hall. There were a few other girls their age moving in that direction as well, and when they entered, Sayo knew they were in the right place, based on the multitude of girls their age eating dinner and a large welcome sign for their program in the entryway.
They were once again asked to check-in, and this time a badge on a lanyard was given to them, which Sayo was told would both grant them access to the buildings where the activities would take place in the following days, and could be swiped for meals three times per day at the dining hall. Tae accepted her pass as well, and they moved into the hall.
Sayo selected her dinner - an udon and roasted fish set, and sat down at a long table a couple seats away from some other girls. Soon enough, other girls filled in the seats around her, denying Tae the chance to sit with Sayo, if she even had wanted to. ’No matter, thought Sayo, ’It’ll give me a little time to cool off and regroup from the rabbit surprise.’.
Sayo introduced herself, once pressed by the girls sitting around her. Two of the four were from Tokyo, but one was from Osaka, and the other from Nagoya. They spent most of their meal discussing their bands, their experience levels, and their preferred genres. It was refreshing to have a conversation that flowed more naturally than any conversation with Tae, despite the fact that all conversations Sayo had with strangers were somewhat draining.
Once she finished her meal (and a pudding that a new acquaintance picked up for her), Sayo announced that she was heading back to the dorms for an early bath. She said goodnight to the girls she ate with, all of them promising to look out for her the next day on the first day of true camp activities. Sayo scanned the room, but didn’t see Tae anywhere, so she walked back alone, feeling exhausted despite the fact that it was several hours before her usual bedtime.
When she got back to the room, Tae was there, sitting on the bed and picking a difficult phrase on her guitar, then repeating it several times, despite the fact that Sayo could not hear her making any mistakes. After a moment, Sayo realized she had brought back a bowl of greens from the dining hall and placed them on the floor for Oddie.
“You shouldn’t take the dishware out of the dining hall,” Sayo chided, her disciplinary chair title well-worn into her despite not being at Hanajo.
Tae loosened her grip on the higher frets of the guitar, but did not put it down. “I think it’s fine. If I wash it in the common room and bring it back tomorrow, I don’t think they’ll mind.”
Sayo sighed. It really wasn’t her business, but it wasn’t right. She was sure that all the dishes were sanitized, so a rabbit eating from them wasn’t the problem, and by the end of the week the dishes would all be accounted for, but to have such a blatant disregard for proper rules and procedures… it was just wrong. Even Hina wasn’t like this!
“I’m taking a bath,” she said, trying her best to let it go.
By the time she finished her (surprisingly relaxing) bath, it appeared that Oddie had finished his salad, and the dish sat clean atop the window sill, drying on a small cloth and ready to return the next morning. Oddie was in his litter box/hideaway, now munching on some hay, and Tae had returned to her guitar, singing quietly as she played a song that sounded vaguely familiar to Sayo.
She stopped once Sayo was fully in the room, and Sayo was somewhat disappointed, but she was much too reserved to ask Tae to continue.
“I’ll go now,” Tae announced, placing her guitar back in the case now with great care, and pulling out a set of pajamas and her travel kit from her luggage. She slipped on a pair of bunny slippers and walked down the hall, leaving Sayo alone in their room.
Well, alone aside from the rabbit, who now decided to hop out of his corner and investigate her. Sayo crouched down, petting him tentatively. He did not immediately move away. He seemed to favor pets on his head more than his body, so she concentrated them there. The area at the base of his ears was warm, and she relaxed as she gave him a few minutes of pets.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. “Room check!” called a voice from the other side.
Sayo reached down and grabbed Oddie, who did not seem to enjoy this, thrashing to get away. She lifted him onto Tae’s bed, moving the pillow in front of where he could be viewed, and propping up the lid of Tae’s suitcase which sat on the desk as well, to further obscure the view. She thought she heard him thump his back leg against the mattress.
In her pajamas, Sayo opened the door, greeting one of the staff. “I am Hikawa Sayo,” she said. “My roommate, Hanazono Tae, is in the baths,” she said.
The staff member nodded, checking their names off the clipboard. She glanced inside, as if confirming that both of their belongings were inside the room, and then moved on. She made no indication if she was going to double back to check once Tae got back, or if they were clear for the night, so Sayo remained on edge.
“Sorry, Oddie, just hang out there a bit longer,” she asked, scratching him on the head once more. Sayo took some time to update her parents and check the Roselia group chat, but soon she was too tired to stay on her phone, and set an alarm for the next morning, climbing into bed.
When Tae got back, she tossed her dirty clothes in one of the drawers (’no!’, thought Sayo, ’that’s the opposite of how it works!’.) She did not bother with an alarm (Sayo had not seen her check her phone all day - did she own a phone?), and she turned off the lights and climbed into bed.
“Woah! Bunny bed!” she called, in excitement. Before Sayo had a chance to apologize for her forgetfulness for failing to remove Oddie, or explain how the situation came to be, Tae continued. “Oddie, I love you dearly, but bunnies must sleep on the floor. Ours is a tragic love.” With a flourish, she lifted him up (this time he did not thrash), kissed his head, and set him on the ground, where he hopped off to do his rabbit business.
Finally, after an exhausting day, Sayo fell asleep.