Was that okay?
In the end, it seemed like the songs felt misaligned story-wise but the crowd as in lunch ladies swallowed it up and applauded.
Agawa's face twitched. "What's with this crowd? Ha..."
"You have a problem with our cuties?" I asked him.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Don't look down on them, they ride or die." Tanjiro chimed in.
Agawa rolled his eyes.
"I get it." He made a zipping gesture with his mouth.
I didn't expect Banshee to drop in the next day but they did. Even if we didn't host any games or perform, we'd take turns giving each other a listen.
"Kagami."
That day we weren't doing anything really, everyone was on their phones. Tanjiro entered the lunch room scanning the area until his eyes fell on me.
"What's up?"
He pursed his lips, his eyes darting in the direction of his buddies.
A cue he wished to speak in private.
Sluggish from my burger, I climbed onto the stage and sat there cross-legged. No one noticed, and Tanjiro followed suit.
"Whassup?" I asked again.
"..." Tanjiro's gaze was fixated on his guitar. "I... wanted to ask you for a favor."
"Huh?"
"You're free to say no, after all... it's kind of... like cheating..."
"Huh?"
"I've been meaning to think up a beat to these lyrics."
"Hmmm?"
So he's the type who thinks up lyrics first before a melody? For me, it's the opposite.
"Sure, what do you got so far?"
He showed me the lyrics and a soft melody began to play.
It was softly somber, yet still something heavy remaing true to Mange's sound.
But these lyrics they sounded hopeful in the end.
I mimicked what Tanjiro just played and imagined the sound building, climbing, reaching out of the pressure to raise up a fist.
My dream of Izanagi came back to mind. Raising a fist pump in silent tribute. I rarely remember dreams but it struck a chord in me.
Izanagi... My best friend, I'm kind of surprised I've managed to get so far living a life without him.
I stopped playing.
My mind blank.
"What was that?" Tanjiro's face looked confuzzled.
"Huh?"
"Are you taking this seriously?"
"Sorry... I have the itis, I was spacing out for a bit."
"The itis? What's that?"
Ack. It's a word I learned from Amara.
Shirai-san had suddenly teleported to leaning his chin at the edge of the stage watching us. "It means food coma." He blinked back at us.
Tanjiro sighed. "Are you trying to piss me off? That sounded good."
"I don't know... what was I playing?"
Tanjiro huffed. "It was like this."
He got up and began to play.
The softly somber melody from before was deeply depressing, but ebbing in and out every now and then was a hopeful sound glazing over its deep waters. Suddenly the sound spiked taking a turn for a positive note. The softly somber melody was now softly hopeful taking on a slightly anthemic sound.
I listened with a question sign above my head. "It sounds like I butchered it."
"No!" Tanjiro insisted. He glanced down on his guitar. "It's because I can't play it the same way."
"Lemme." Shirai reached out a hand for Tanjiro's guitar and Tanjiro willingly relinquished it.
His strums were rich, and had a refreshing feel to it.
So he can play the guitar too? He was good. But Mange wouldn't be the same if Tanjiro wasn't on guitar.
Just like before the sound suddenly spiked, taking a turn for positive note. It was much happier but this happy new wave was riding on some sadness. There ups and downs of negativity and positivity.
It tickled my senses.
"Whoa..."
Shirai suddenly stopped playing. "Nah, this wasn't it." It was the first time I've ever seen him frown.
"That sounded good though."
Tanjiro and Shirai looked annoyed at me.
"Dude, try to remember!"
"Huh? But... I wasn't paying attention..."
The smell of perfume wafted into my nostrils.
A red haired girl, I nearly mistook for Akemi, climbed on the stage and grabbed my guitar, playing the song in question.
She appeared out of nowhere so it took us a while to process what she was playing.
There similar to Tanjiro there was a sweetly rich melody riding on some positive and negative, then suddenly the sound would sharply sway with an ear grating sound, after this happened three times, the sound soared before splashing slowly falling back into the pits of depression.
I blinked. I was more distracted by her familiar face and also the sound so it didn't quite sink in.
"That was it!" Tanjiro and Shirai were saying, marvelling at the girl.
I squinted at her. Don't I know her from somewhere?