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Sayo woke up to her alarm and almost shook Tae awake before realizing that they were almost strangers. The other girl certainly could wake herself up. She grabbed her travel kit, instead, and walked down the hall to the bathroom.
In front of the mirror, she watched as one of the other girls applied false lashes, and another girl spent time contouring her nose. Sayo generally only wore makeup for live performances, and even then, it was with Lisa’s assistance.
Quietly, she washed her face, brushed her teeth, and styled her hair more neatly. Spurred on by the girls applying makeup in the bathroom, Sayo decided to wear one of her dresses, rather than slacks, at least for the first day, though she wore a pair of leggings underneath, in case she needed to do anything a little more adventurous. She added a necklace and a small hair clip, using the small mirror she brought, propped up on the desk, and by that point, the Tae lump on the bed had still not moved. With a sigh, she stood up and walked to the other bed, shaking the pile of blankets. “Wake up, Tae-san,” she said, trying to sound only mildly annoyed. “You’re going to be late to breakfast.”
Only on the word ‘breakfast’ did Tae show signs of life, pushing back the bulky comforter to reveal a mass of brown hair. “Oddie gets upset if he doesn’t get a slice of banana in the morning,” she said.
Great, she wanted to steal some more dishware. With great effort, Tae crawled to the edge of the bed and dug through her suitcase until she pulled out the most ancient flip phone Sayo had seen in some time. From one corner dangled a hamburg steak charm. She seemed to only want the phone to check the time, as she promptly threw it aside again. Finally, she looked back at Sayo. “You can go ahead,” she said. “I’m sure you don’t want to wait for us,” she said, likely referring to herself and the rabbit.
“Sure,” said Sayo, unable to bring herself to say that she would have waited for Tae if she wanted. “I’ll see you at the first session.” She grabbed her guitar case and cell phone, as well as the lanyard with her access badge, and left the dorm room, double checking that she had her key.
Sayo swiped her badge at the dining hall and got breakfast. No one was as talkative in the morning, so she sat alone, sipping tea and eating a traditional breakfast. Afterwards, she still had time before the first session, so she took a walk around the campus, familiarizing herself with where she would be for the next week. Here and there, she saw another young woman playing guitar, enjoying the bright summer morning as she was. Soon enough, it was time to gather, and she used the map to find the large meeting room where all participants would gather for an orientation of sorts.
Sayo entered the room to find it about half full. She took off her shoes in the entryway, and noticed that everyone was leaving their guitar cases propped up against the wall on the perimeter of the room, so she did the same. On closer observation, though, it appeared that everyone had taken their guitars out, and each participant was sitting on the floor on a cushion, spaced a few feet from each other, holding their guitar or tuning it. Sayo grabbed her guitar, tuner, and pick, and did the same.
Playing guitar while sitting on the floor had to be one of her least favorite positions. In addition, while Sayo had brought her electric guitar, which was very quiet without amplification, many attendees brought acoustic guitars which were rather loud and interfered with her tuning. Honestly, it would be impossible to tune until she was connected to an amp, so she decided to wait, instead allowing her fingers to warm up by running through her scales and familiar patterns of some of her favorite solos.
Close to the starting time, Tae arrived. Sayo noticed her when she moved to the side of the room to place her guitar case aside. She was wearing light skinny jeans, torn a bit at the knees, and an oversized shirt with a mascot for a local Shinjuku family restaurant. Like Sayo, she did not bother with makeup. But that outfit... Truly, Sayo didn’t think she would ever understand this girl. Tae took her blue Snapper from its case and came to sit in the row ahead of Sayo. Most of the empty seats now were in the front, as the empty seats always were in situations like this.
Finally, two women entered the room, and all the sounds of tuning and warming up quieted. They introduced themselves as Ueda Junko and Murata Hiiro, the directors of instruction in the camp. “To start,” said Murata-sensei, “We’re going to split into two main groups. We asked you to bring the guitar you wish to train on the most, whether that is electric or acoustic. I would request everyone who brought an acoustic or classical guitar come with me into the next room, and those who brought an electric guitar remain here with Ueda-sensei.”
The girls who had to move did not grumble over the fact that they needed to pack up their guitars. No instructors had issued that direction, after all, it was just something that one person began and others followed along with. Just over one-third of the participants left, leaving about two dozen in the room with Sayo and Tae.
“Now,” said Ueda-sensei, “Let’s begin.”
Ueda-sensei had a bob haircut, and she was about 40 years old, if Sayo had to guess. She looked stern but fair, and although she had a bit of a housewife look to her, Sayo could tell at one point, she had rocked on a stage. “I’m going to sub-divide you into smaller groups, but to do that I need to see your skill level and genre,” she explained. “That way I can match you with a mentor and the correct lessons. This is also a good way for us all to get to know each other. So, until lunch time, we’re going to come up to the front and put on a short ad-libbed performance, no more than five minutes. Please also give a short self-introduction.”
Seeing the discomfort on a few girls’ faces, she added. “Please do not feel nervous. This is an assessment, but you are not being graded or judged other than to ensure you get the most out of this program. And performance is a critical part of learning an instrument, so it’s best to do it often,” she quipped.
I don’t know if it’s your judgement they most fear, or their peers, Sayo thought.
Each name was put into a randomizer and selected. The first girl was called, and she plugged in and quickly tuned. She wasn’t one of the girls in the bathroom that morning, but she was dressed nicely, in an outfit Udagawa Tomoe might wear, with her hair curled and her makeup applied neatly. “Hi! My name is Masuda Eriko, and I attend university in Tokyo. In my spare time, I play with a co-ed band called Spaces and we generally play progressive rock. I’ve been playing guitar for about six years. In my spare time, I really like going to restaurants with my friends, shopping, and traveling, when I have time. Alright, let’s do this!” She struck a cute pose, and then focused on her instrument. In a way, she reminded Sayo of Lisa.
Eriko began to play, and though she didn’t play anything particularly fast or complicated, her timing was incredibly precise, and her finger movements were all perfectly accurate. Sayo couldn’t notice a single mistake in her progressions. Her picking, once again, while not particularly tricky, was entrancing, and if Sayo had been at a Spaces show, she probably would become a fan. If Sayo had to name a fault, it was that Masuda was a ‘safe’ guitarist, but seemed to go with a ‘if it’s not broken, why fix it’ sort of policy. But perhaps that’s why she was here, to try something a little more adventurous.
Another girl played, and then another, both of them university age. Sayo had assumed this program would be mostly middle school and high school students, but the entry was ‘under 22 years’, so she supposed these girls all qualified. All of the girls who played were very skilled, though in different ways. The second girl who played was less technically precise than Eriko, but her speed as she moved up and down the fretboard was incredible. The third girl was sharp with music theory. At a few points, she seemed to be not sure where to go next with her ad lib, and then she selected a few chords that technically fit in the composition she was making, but Sayo would have never thought to incorporate.
Sayo was called fourth, which was much earlier than she would have preferred, but she knew it was random, so she grit her teeth and walked to the front, straightening her dress. She put on her guitar strap and plugged in her guitar, tuning quickly so the others wouldn’t have to wait long. “Hello, I’m Hikawa Sayo. I’m a high school student in Tokyo, and I play in a band called Roselia.” In the back, she could see a girl taking notes. She wondered if she was taking notes on all the attendees. “I’ve been playing guitar for about four years. Most of the songs our band performs are in the gothic rock genre.” She did not introduce any hobbies. Did she have any hobbies? Sayo supposed she still logged into Neo-Fantasy Online fairly often, but that was nothing the people in this room needed to know. “I’ll begin now,” she announced.
It felt good to play after not playing for a few days - first as she was rushing to finish summer homework early, and then yesterday during the travel day. The first minute was just simple progressions as Sayo got her hands used to moving across the frets again, and then she worked into some of her more complicated solos on Roselia’s songs. She knew they were a little less impressive without the rest of the band and Yukina’s vocals augmenting her guitar, but she was sure the rest of these girls who played in bands felt the same about their showcase as well. She continued, glancing up just for a moment to see with pride that she had the attention of most of the room. Sayo didn’t dare play some of the new pieces, the ones she still didn’t have quite right, but she did get ambitious and try some of the solos and intros that she hadn’t pulled out in a while, ones that might be a little rusty. She was pleased when she only caught herself on the wrong note once in the whole sequence, and the mistake was close enough musically that it was noticeable to a trained ear, but still acceptable.
She bowed and sat down, not completely satisfied - she never was - but pleased enough that she would be placed in a group appropriate for her skill level. She watched a few more university students, then finally another high school student. This girl was definitely not at the same level as the others, but she had a solid grasp of the fundamentals. With training, Sayo could see her going far. A few girls later, Tae was called.
Tae took her time tuning her guitar - not taking overly long, but distinctly longer than the previous girls. She turned to face them finally, looking more shy than Sayo had ever seen her. “I’m Hanazono Tae. My friends call me O-Tae. I play in a band called Poppin’ Party. I attend high school in Tokyo. Our music is…”
Sayo clenched. ‘Don’t say “kira kira doki doki”… don’t say “kira kira doki doki”...’ she willed her, but it was no use.
Tae began again after a pause. “Popipa’s music is kira kira doki doki.” She smiled warmly. “I’ll begin.”
Sayo didn’t dare look from side to side, because she knew she would see the confused faces of university students trying to grasp what Tae was trying to express to them. ’At least she didn’t try to explain the Star Beat,’ she thought, a little irritated that she even knew of the Star Beat herself.
Tae took a deep breath, looked at her guitar as if asking it if it was ready, and then began. Instantly, Sayo forgot what she was irritated about. Certainly, she had heard Tae play as part of Poppin’ Party, or mess around with her guitar just last night on her bed, but this was different. Tae’s hands moved deftly up and down the frets, her touch light but her fingers impressively accurate. Her pick moved swiftly, full strums, half-strums, single notes and back again, up, down, it didn’t matter. She moved so effortlessly, all Sayo could think was how many times have you done this? How many thousands of hours have you spent playing guitar?
And it wasn’t just the way she looked. The sound was incredible. Poppin’ Party’s genki music typically didn’t fit Sayo’s taste, but today, Tae’s guitar made her chest hurt. But Tae took no notice of Sayo or anyone else in the room. She continued on, hands moving swiftly, perfect notes emerging from the amp, until her time was up.
‘How?’ thought Sayo. ‘How does someone as airheaded and irritating as Tae make music that beautiful? How is she that far ahead of Sayo?’ Sayo’s hands were shaking so she steadied them on her guitar.
When Tae finished, she bowed at Ueda-sensei and returned to her seat. Sayo didn’t remember the rest of the girls who followed, and emerged dazed at lunchtime. They returned to the dining hall, leaving their guitars to the care of a technician to look over, and Sayo debated between sitting with Tae or staying away. The feelings her performance evoked were raw and complicated, and Sayo wasn’t sure she wanted to peel back the layers there just yet. But still, nearly everyone in the program was out of high school, either in university or trying to make it as a musician and working part time on the side. It wasn’t likely Sayo was going to befriend many of the other participants.
She spotted the three other high school girls sitting together in the dining hall, but they made no immediate motion to invite her to their table, so she picked up her lunch and went to sit with Tae. Surprisingly, it was Tae who looked ready to burst with something to say.
“Sayo-san! Your guitar was incredible!” she said. “I always watch you when I watch Roselia shows, but to see you performing solo was so different. Can you teach me that song, the one that goes duh duh doo duh lalalala? I get shivers every time I hear you play it.”
“Thank you,” said Sayo, looking down and taking a bite of her meal for a bit of distraction. She hated the clenching feeling that gripped her gut, the insecure voices in her head. ’She’s only asking about that song so she can take that from you. So she can play it better than you can.’ But the rational side of Sayo knew that Tae was like Hina, in some ways: that her enthusiasm in this moment had no dark intentions, she purely enjoyed the song that Sayo played. “I was most impressed with your performance as well, Tae-san.”
Tae smiled, halfway through chasing after the egg floating in her ramen. “Ah, really? I’m glad. Kasumi, Rimi, and I trained for moments like that by busking outside the station. I guess it paid off.”
Sayo tried to imagine herself playing guitar outside the station. She’d seen buskers there before, and could imagine the concept, but putting herself in their shoes made her blush. What if she saw people she knew? What if people took videos? What if they laughed at her? No, busking was firmly in the realm of Kasumi and Tae, who could steel themselves for such activities.
“That song isn’t as tricky as it sounds, I can show it to you when we have some free time,” Sayo said.
Tae beamed, nearly losing the egg which she had finally managed to secure. “I’d offer to teach you a Popipa song, but somehow I can’t imagine it,” she said with an amused look. “It doesn’t fit your concept.”
Sayo had to agree. It was strange enough playing a Roselia song with Hina’s guitar in her hands. Somehow, Tae could break free of that genre-limiting hole. When she played with Raise a Suilen, she seemed just as natural as when she played with Poppin’ Party. How?
“I’m sure there’s something I’ll want you to teach me in exchange,” said Sayo. “You’re very talented.”
Tae looked at her with a serious expression, as if she could not believe what she was hearing. Had no one ever told this girl she was good? Then, Tae’s gaze softened, and she smiled. “Sure, at your service,” she said with a small salute. As she put her hand down, she accidentally knocked the spoon that was on the side of her tray, splashing a fair bit of broth onto her t-shirt.
’Oh, no, your terribly dorky t-shirt’, thought Sayo sarcastically, hoping Tae’s mysterious elements didn’t include mind-reading.
Instead, she laughed. She half-heartedly blotted the brown broth from the mustard-yellow T-shirt, but mostly she laughed, leaving Sayo more confused than if she was upset over the pig-shaped mascot having new splotches. “I had Kasumi over the night before leaving,” she said, still catching her breath, “And she offered to help pack, so I told her to put a few outfits in the suitcase.
“She’s with me every day, so I figured she knew what clothes I tend to wear, but when I opened the suitcase this morning, it was like she dug up the least-worn clothes in my closet. I was really mad, but now, I guess it’s a good thing. I didn’t ruin a shirt I actually care about,” she said.
Sayo debated the pros and cons between saving a shirt she liked from ruin versus potentially ruining her reputation with seven days of dorky outfits courtesy of an airheaded friend, but she chose not to comment on this. It was clear she and Tae had different priorities.
“Poor Tonton-chan. He lived a good life.” Tae finished blotting at the shirt, and it was clear the pig was done-for. That is, after the afternoon’s lessons were over. Soon enough, it was time to reconvene in the same classroom.
Ueda-san returned to the front to explain the next procedures, accompanied by some other instructors. “Based on your written experience, your audition videos, and your introductions just now, we have assigned you a skill level of 1, 2, or 3 in various areas, including fretwork, timing, scales and arpeggios, music theory, and so on. During the course of this week, we will have basic, intermediate, and advanced courses on each of these topics and others that correspond to your skill levels. In addition, we will also be holding a beginner and advanced composition course - you may select your own skill level for that. Now please come to the front when your name is called and receive your schedule. If you think you have been placed in a course that is above or below your skill level, please speak with me or one of the other instructors, we can explain what each of the courses will review in detail to find the right fit. The first course begins this afternoon in about twenty minutes. This will give some time to get everyone sorted and find the classrooms.”
Sayo received her schedule and had no disagreements with her assessment. Her first session was “intermediate fretwork”. She was ‘intermediate’ in many areas, which suited her fine. She had surpassed the ‘beginner’ level, and wasn’t quite to ‘advanced’, with a couple exceptions. It appeared she had made the advanced class for ‘timing and phrasing’, which was curious, as she didn’t think her phrasing was particularly strong, but she trusted the assessment. And she was put in the beginner session for scales and arpeggios, which triggered an involuntary ‘urck’ noise, which she hoped no one heard.
It wasn’t as if Sayo disagreed with the placement, exactly. She didn’t often use full arpeggios for Roselia’s songs, so it wasn’t something she practiced, and to be honest, she rarely ran through more than her basic pentatonic scale on the top three frets, and that was half for tuning…. She glanced over at Tae, who was reading her own schedule. ‘Surely she didn’t get placed in all advanced classes, did she?’ wondered Sayo with a pang of nervousness and something akin to jealousy.
Tae seemed to notice her gaze and walked over, still half-reading the sheet of paper she was given. ’Why did you stare at her? Sayo chided herself. Now she’s going to want to compare levels.
“Sayo-san, where do you go now?” asked Tae, which was a perfectly reasonable question, but for some reason made Sayo defensive.
“I have the intermediate fretwork class now,” Sayo said, unsure why she was using the tone of voice she took as the disciplinary committee chair.
“Same,” said Tae, unphased by the change in Sayo’s tone. “Is it in this classroom?” she asked, pointing to her schedule.
Sayo leaned down to compare their schedules, and noted that they were indeed going to the same classroom. In her brief glance at the schedule, she could see other intermediate sessions, and at least one advanced session, and was relieved that Tae was not on a completely different level than her as she had first thought. “It’s the same room. Shall we go there?” she asked.
They made their way to the next floor up in the university’s music building and found the correct room, bringing the total waiting for their session to start to six. The only other person Sayo recognized in the group was Masuda Eriko, the first girl to play in the morning session, and if she didn’t make it into ‘advanced’, Sayo wasn’t sure what the bar to entry was. After a couple of minutes, a woman came by to join them, introducing herself as Tachibana-sensei, and explained that the maximum number of participants in each session was six. She checked their badges and marked their attendance on a sheet, and had them follow her into the music suite they would be using. Inside was a common room, with chairs set up around a central stool, with music stands at each chair and a mini-amp and cord at each station.
Around the common room were doors to smaller practice rooms, so they could practice independently as well (“though you came here for instruction, so there’s a time and a place for that!”). Tachibana-sensei explained that there were only five practice rooms, so if one person stayed in the common room, the maximum number who could be in one session was six, if they were to have time to themselves.
“It’s one o’clock now,” she said. “Our session lasts until five, with one twenty-minute break in the middle. You’re welcome to use the restrooms or get water whenever you wish as long as you let me know. In a few minutes, we’ll be joined by two graduate students of mine, Kimura-san and Fujita-san. Please rely on them to assist you as well. Now, let’s each take a seat and start out together.”
They each sat in one of the chairs, with Tachibana-sensei in the middle. It was clear that she was used to instructing students, and she led them through tuning, warm ups, and the activities for the day. Tachibana’s method of improving fretting mainly involved eliminating inefficiencies. She would watch them play a piece, and then stop them, showing them why a certain finger position is better here or there. “See at this C#m, you want to use this position, because then you can move right into… yes, yes!” or “No, Hikawa-san, you don’t need to use your third and fourth fingers here since we’re not playing any notes on strings five or six.”
It was a lot of un-doing previous habits, and it was exhausting. Once the two assistants came, there were two more people to keep watch. Tachibana-sensei had purposely selected a piece that was full of variants of the same chords played in different positions, or where only pieces of it needed to be played, and Sayo’s copy was quickly being marked up with notes. But at the same time, her efficiency moving up and down the frets was increasing, in under two hours. A strange sort of elation filled her, the kind that only comes with tangible progress.
“Hanazono-san… show me that again…”
The other girls went quiet as Tachibana-sensei watched Tae play the section they were reviewing. So far, Tae had been chastised and praised just as much as the rest of them had, so Sayo thought she was doing well to keep up.
Looking a little flustered, Tae, restarted the phrase, and Sayo watched her fingering, not all clustered on the same three frets as they had been practicing, but utilizing the second string and moving up and down quickly.
“Hmm,” said Tachibana-sensei. “I had not thought to recommend that method, because it takes a fair bit of speed, but it is a little easier on the hands than reaching across three strings. Girls, feel free to use either method. As you can see, if you use all the notes on the second string, it’s just as smooth as long as your timing is correct.”
She turned to them all. “And that goes for any of what we are talking about today. If you see a ‘better way’ to do anything, please go ahead and try it. I’m not trying to make you do things ‘my way’ for the fun of it, I’m trying to break bad habits that will slow you down, and get rid of inefficiencies. But if you have another method that’s just as efficient… well that’s another matter.”
One of the assistants pointed to her watch, and Tachibana-sensei dismissed them for their midpoint break. Sayo got up, suddenly thirsty, and made her way down the hallway towards a vending machine. She realized all at once watching Tae why she was in beginners arpeggios, and she was panicking. She hoped she wasn’t the only one with this problem, but perhaps she was. Perhaps there was a giant hole in her guitar training that she just had managed to work around before now, but surely her secret would be revealed soon enough during the course of this week and certainly it would be a huge embarrassment. She realized her hand was shaking as she inserted a coin and punched the button for a drink - she didn’t even check which.
“Ooh, you drink coffee?” someone asked from behind her. “Mature for a high schooler.”
Sayo turned around to see Masuda Eriko waiting to use the vending machine, her hair perfectly curled and her makeup and outfit just as flawless as it was that morning. The only thing that seemed a little ‘off’ about her appearance, at least to an outsider, was her nails were cut short, with just a simple pink polish on them. Better for moving across a fretboard and holding a pick.
“Excuse me, Masuda-san,” Sayo said, moving out of the way.
“Ah, you remember my name!” Eriko said, buying a sports drink Sayo had seen advertised recently.
Sayo wanted to say that it was because everyone did self-introductions, but the truth is she didn’t remember most people’s names from that. Perhaps it was because Eriko was first, or perhaps she just left a strong impression.
“I remember yours too, Hikawa-san!” she continued. “But I think I remembered all the high school girls,” she giggled. “It must be hard when everyone has graduated.”
Sayo shrugged. It hadn’t much mattered so far, it wasn’t as if she was here to make friends.
“You looked a bit nervous a minute ago, are you alright?” Eriko asked.
Sayo nodded. She debated asking for advice - it was much easier for her to ask a stranger for advice than someone she knew, but at the same time, confessing the truth to someone who knew how to play guitar well was too shameful. “I just had a moment of feeling like I was in over my head,” she said.
“You’re doing just fine,” Eriko said with a light laugh. “If you want, you can sit with my friends and I at dinner. We thought your demonstration was cool.”
Sayo couldn’t believe the emotions she was going through in the course of five minutes. First confusion, then panic, then more confusion, then hope (?). Well, she wasn’t certain what she was feeling at the moment, but she thought that Eriko was a good guitarist, and she was successful playing in a band in Tokyo, so she wouldn’t mind eating dinner with her. “Sure, I’ll look for you at the dining hall,” she said.
“Great,” said Eriko, “Be back in a bit.”
Sayo sat in the nearby windowsill, sipping on a coffee that she didn’t particularly like but didn’t particularly hate. A few moments later, she saw Eriko emerge in the courtyard outside, lighting up a cigarette. Sayo watched her, looking effortlessly beautiful as the wind passed through the campus, until her coffee can was empty. With five minutes left, Sayo quickly used the restroom, and then the water fountain, to clear any coffee taste from her mouth. When she returned, Tae was already back in her seat (had she left?) continuing to work at the assigned piece. She looked challenged, taking notes on the page every few phrases, and then repeating them, but her expression showed that she was having fun as well.
Tachibana-sensei soon brought the class back to order. “Now, for the second half of this session, you are welcome to continue the assigned piece, or you can work on a piece of your choosing, preferably something you or a bandmate have composed. If you’re not in a band and don’t compose, I’d prefer you speak with me about what pieces to work on if you’re sick of this selection. The girls and I will be around to work with each of you, but it’s best if we separate now so we don’t disturb each other.”
Sayo stood and moved to one of the practice rooms, Tae and Eriko and two of the others moving behind her. She had one of Roselia’s new pieces in her bag, and she knew now was the time to pull it out, but struggling with it would only expose her. Well, there was no other way to get better, she supposed.
She played the song to the best of her ability, struggling at the usual sections, and at the third repeat, Kimura-san, Tachibana-sensei’s graduate student knocked on the door. She was a shy girl, with short hair and glasses, and she came in and sat on the piano bench across from Sayo’s chair in the small practice room. “Hello, Hikawa-san, right? What are we working on today?”
“Hello, Kimura-san. This is a new song for my band, Roselia. The song doesn’t have a title yet. Here’s the notation with tab below, but I think, based on what we just practiced, that the tabs will have to be re-written.”
Kimura-san had her turn around so she could watch the tab over Sayo’s shoulder, and then had Sayo play the song through. Then she began making suggestions, like “why don’t we use the ‘e’ on the B string, then we can shift up to…” or “there’s only a few good places to hit that A#, so we need to work around that…”
Whether it was her kind and patient nature, or the fact that she was a graduate student and not Tachibana-sensei herself, Sayo found herself able to speak up. “Um - Kimura-san!” she said, startling herself with her volume.
“Ah, yes, Hikawa-san, do you need a break?”
“Oh no, it’s just… this is embarrassing, really, I’m sorry, but I don’t know the notes for every fret and every string. I’m self-taught, and I can read music, but the reason my fretting is inefficient is probably because I don’t know where ‘every C on the fretboard’ is. I just choose the C that I can find.”
Kimura-san smiled. “Ah, no matter. I will advise you to learn them as quickly as possible, it will make your life much easier, but for today, I’ll switch to talking in frets and strings, and name the note that goes with it, is that ok?”
Sayo relaxed. Was that all it took? Certainly, she would continue to have this problem in every other class, but for this afternoon, she could relax a bit. Kimura-san worked with her for a while longer, tweaking this and that until Sayo began to understand the idea she was going for. “Ok, so we’re trying to keep it in this area, or sliding around these strings?” asked Sayo.
Kimura-san nodded. “Exactly. It won’t always work, like with that A#, and remember to keep your fourth finger off if you don’t need it. I need to work with someone else for a bit, but use this. It’s kinda childish, but it helps.” Kimura-san dug in her folder for a bit, and pulled out a printed copy of a guitar neck, with all the notes written in on each fret and string. Indeed, there were some childish illustrations around it, but Sayo didn’t mind, this was the key she needed to keep going.
“Thank you, Kimura-san, I can continue from here!”
Five o’clock came before she knew it, and Sayo packed her guitar up and cleared out. She thanked Kimura-san and Tachibana-sensei again, and looked around for Tae, but couldn’t find her. Well, she thought, It would be awkward explaining why I’m going to sit with Masuda-san anyways.
As she planned, Sayo got her dinner and sat with Eriko and two friends. What she did not plan was how nervous she felt approaching their table. To her knowledge, this was the first time she was sharing a meal with three university-age girls, and accomplished guitarists at that. Suddenly she wished she had put just a little makeup on.
“Ah, Eriko, is this the girl you invited?” asked one of the girls.
“Ah, Hikawa-san, come sit,” said Eriko. “This is Arai Noa, in the acoustic guitar half of the program, and Miura Eri, in our half, but in different sections. Girls, this is Hikawa…”
“Sayo,” she said, sitting down. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The girls made polite conversation while they ate, asking about Sayo’s year level, what area of Tokyo she was from, and what music she liked to listen to. Luckily, they did not ask about anything related to Hina or Tae, subjects which she did not feel like breaching.
“Noa is a singer-songwriter,” Eriko explained. “She streams a lot and brings in a good amount of money, or she’ll play at cafes.”
“People only want to hear anisong covers,” she said, banging her head on the table. She was cute, with a brown bob and large round glasses.
“Let’s get these trays out of the way if we’re gonna slam heads down,” said Eri, “Are you done, Hikawa-san?”
“Oh, yes, thank you.”
As Eri moved away, Eriko went on. “Eri’s band just broke up so she’s a free agent. She keeps trying out for bands to get into like… TV performance, and she’s really cute so I think she can do it, but she hasn’t gotten an acceptance yet.”
“I hear that’s really hard,” Sayo said.
“What’s really hard?” asked Eri, returning to the table with four puddings, which she passed around. Sayo tried to look disinterested, but felt her heart rate spike in excitement seeing the dessert.
“I heard it’s hard to wear a children’s T-shirt past age ten in public with that much confidence,” Eriko said, glancing at Tae, who had just entered the dining hall. She was still wearing the stained Tonton-chan shirt, of course. But even if Eriko was just using Tae as a distraction to keep Eri from thinking about her woes, Sayo couldn’t help but feel bad. It was unkind to make fun of others, and her deep-seated sense of justice was being nagged. So why couldn’t she say anything?
She watched Tae get a dinner tray, noting the extra bowl of lettuce she put on the tray. Perhaps she was late because she had to go back to the dorm to retrieve Oddie’s last bowl and return it.
“Oh, do you know that girl, Sayo?”
Damn Noa for being so observant. She wasn’t even in the electric guitar section.
“Oh do you?” asked Eriko. “We were in the same lesson all afternoon. I didn’t notice.”
“We go to the same school, she’s a year younger than me,” Sayo explained. “We never really spoke before this, but since we’re both in bands in the same area, we knew of each other.” She thought about explaining Tae’s packing situation to try to help them understand that this outfit and those to come weren’t really Tae’s fault (the outfit on the train, which Tae had picked herself, had been downright cute after all - wait, what was Sayo thinking?), but then she realized that trusting Kasumi to your packing and packing bad outfits directly implied equal levels of irresponsibility.
“Ah, so that’s how it is,” said Eriko, leaving Sayo wondering exactly how she thought it was.
The rest of dinner ended uneventfully, and Sayo said goodnight to the girls who were nice enough to invite her to eat with them, unsure if she wanted to eat with them again, but unsure if she knew how to turn them down if they decided to ask her again.
When Sayo opened the door to the dormitory, she did not expect Tae to already be inside with an entire tray of food (plus Oddie’s), taking a selfie on her ancient flip phone while holding the rabbit with her other hand. The door opening seemed to startle the rabbit, who ran off, and Tae was left holding her phone in midair, the hamburg steak charm dangling. American music was playing from the tinny speakers of an mp3 player.
“What is this?” asked Sayo, unsure what she meant by the question.
“Popi-Rabbit-Din’ Party.”
“What.”
Tae pointed to her phone. “I was talking to Kasumi, Rimi, Saaya, and Arisa - Popi. Oddie is here too - Rabbit. I’m eating - Dinner, but Din’ for the Poppin’ effect. So it’s a Party.”
“I see. Are… they all still on the phone?” asked Sayo.
“Sayo-san?! Is that you?? I heard you were there during the fall of Tonton-chan!” Undoubtedly, this was Kasumi.
“Hikawa-san, please forgive her. Thank you for watching over O-Tae,” came the semi-annoyed voice of Arisa.
“I’m going to take a bath,” Sayo said, deciding to deal with the Popi-Rabbit-Din’ Party later.
Sayo relaxed in the bath much as she had the night before, but much as she had the night before, her calm soon turned to anxiety. She really needed to hurry up and learn the notes on the fretboard. Plus, there was still that bit of summer homework she hadn’t touched. And Tae. While she had no obligation to be Tae’s friend, why did she feel guilty whenever she didn’t act like Tae’s friend? Why was she acting like Tae’s mother half the time? Because she acts like a child, an impatient voice inside of her said. Does she, or does she just act different from you? asked another musing voice.
Plus there was Sayo’s old feelings of insecurity rearing up again. She had thought she had gotten them under control, but somehow, being with this many people who share her talents - who outpace her, it was difficult to feel like she was measuring up. Feeling shivers and too warm all at once, Sayo got out of the bath, hoping that Poppin’ Party was off the phone and the rest of this incredibly long day could be peaceful.
Her hopes were granted, it seemed, as Tae’s dinner tray was washed and drying on the window sill. Her music had been turned off, and the cell phone was out of sight, probably tucked away in the suitcase once more. Tae herself was gathering things for the bath when Sayo returned. “Sayo-san, I’m sorry,” she said, bowing. “You probably did not want a party in here when you returned, I just missed my friends. Next time I’ll call them from the common room or outside.”
Sayo did not have the heart to tell Tae that yes, she would prefer no more “parties” in their room, because really, this was “their” room, and Tae really wasn’t breaking any rules, aside from the debatable rule about taking dishware from the dining hall. “It’s fine,” she said. “Just try to finish around this time.”
“Oh, yes, sure,” said Tae, seemingly surprised that Sayo agreed. “Today was fun, though, wasn’t it? I learned a lot.”
“I learned a lot, too,” said Sayo. “I have a lot to work on, but I know where to focus my energy now.”
“Same!” said Tae with a smile, gathering her things and heading for the baths.
Realizing finally how exhausted she was, Sayo set her alarm and got into bed. She was asleep before Tae returned.