No one knew how Nicholas died, his corpse was found dangling on stage while his body was shattered into pieces with a blunt object, his name is Nicholas Williams, the original Pariah, the police called out as suicide as no evidence that led to his demise, he was buried on Grace Wood Cemetery, his parents were devastated for the loss of their son while his younger sister, Mary, She never knew that her brother would take the easy way but she knows that her brother can't give up on his life for a few tries.
The Pariahs stood up from their seats and played a song for their deceased friend. They sang The Show Must Go On by Queen and Gone Too Soon by Michael Jackson. It was indeed painful to see your best friend six feet deep on the ground, his death called out suicide but it's murder, someone spiked his food with crushed up sleeping pills and later beaten to death while being hanged like a Piñata while the White Ibanez Prestige was the Piñata Bat and the victim was the Piñata
There were intentions to drive the British-American to commit suicide but his efforts were futile for the sake of his friends, not only he took one but seven attempts of suicide but his friends pushed their efforts to stop him from doing so
It's been three weeks after Nicholas' death, the students of Harvey Woods didn't seem to mind his passing, the remaining Pariahs prepared a meeting to cover up the hole where Nicholas left
"So, what are we gonna do now? We can't just hang the reins" the Latina girl said
"Perhaps so, the band will be on hiatus for a semester, I talked to the principal about it and he's obliged with our decision, to give us time to recover" the redhead replied
"Shit man, we could find another member to complete the roster even though we're on hiatus" the black drummer added
"However, if he or she could play like Nicholas, they're in. But... Who would fill his place anyway?" The American guitarist said
"Can't tell, maybe we should wait for the right time before we head to college, and we could start the band after we graduate, right?"
"That would be awesome, what if we don't? Some people think it was a waste of time like arts, and I called it bullshit" the redhead said back
"Damn right, hey Jo, what about we opened up a talent search for a new member of the Pariahs?"
"Hmm, why not? We need a new member right now because, in less than three months, the school's music festival would start!" Jolene said
"Good thing the Star-Spangled Banner practice paid off, my fingers hurt so bad that I need superglue to cover the tips and a nail file."
"The original or Hendrix style?"
"Hendrix style, the principal went to Woodstock when he was the same age as we are"
"What if Dolly sang it? The last time she sang Star-Spangled Banner, the speaker system broke, Literally." Kenneth said jokingly
Cecilia let her fingers fly on the keyboard while the mouse pinpoints all over the mousepad as the flyers for the potential band search began. Unbeknownst to them, there's a potential replacement to fill up the former bassist.
Harvey Woods High School was known for its dedication to education, however, it has some students who dropped out of school nor transferred from another due to bullying. The previous administration tried their best to control it but their efforts were a failure, the current administration ruled the school with better rules and shelving the zero-tolerance policy due to its ineffectiveness.
The new policy called the Nicholas Policy if ever caught bullying, both physical, mental, and psychological are most likely to be sent to detention or face suspension nor expulsion. It was named after their late student and it's the only way to control the school's bullying problem and hopefully, other schools would follow the suit.
meanwhile in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. the brunet decimated the sandbag with Krav Maga while sweat began to draw out during the training sequence while blasting music (preferably a looped shuffle playlist) while shadow fighting and annihilating the speed bag.
a bottle of Pocari Sweat while eating a Katsudon Sandwich from a nearby Sandwich Shop and unwind with La Japonaise by the late Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Cabellé, Masahiro checked the big box and it's filled with fresh vegetables and cuts of meat and fish while stored in a durable ice cooler, his mother wasn't home until dinner as the Japanese started to cooked Curry with Rice and thank the stars for how kind his relatives were after his father died on an accident.
he's the one who introduced him to rock music while he was young, bands like Deep Purple, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Guns and Roses, and also Queen. his first guitar was the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard and it's the exact guitar that Slash from Guns and Roses used, along with a Boss SD-1 Guitar Pedal and a Vox AC-30BM Amplifier, the dreams lived on until one day, Masahiro was performing a guitar cover of Welcome To The Jungle in front of bystanders on Yoyogi Park, a random man in his forties bust in and pushed Masahiro out while his guitar was landed on the grass.
he picked it up and relentlessly destroyed the guitar on a cemented pathway while the crowd stood back for flying chunks of wood, Masahiro scoot back to see his precious guitar destroyed by a madman, his reasons were intentional
"young man! you're playing with the devil's music! I'm here to cleanse your soul from that evil monster!" the madman said while holding a Bible
"Are you insane!? you ruined the show!" the male bystander exclaimed
"yeah! he's doing the solo until you ruined it!" another one exclaimed
"Thanks for killing the fun, jackass!"
"I'm doing this for the purity of his soul, I'm getting rid of the devil out of his body, for God and Almighty! " the madman said another
"purity my ass! my dad gave me that guitar before he died, you didn't know how much that guitar you destroyed?!" Masahiro shouted back
"your guitar? that piece of filth is sinful! your father's soul was tarnished by Prince Beelzebub himself! I'm not going to let you be his disciple any longer!" the madman said while enticing bible verses and dousing him with Holy Water
Masahiro was fueled with rage after the madman destroyed his guitar just for a publicity stunt to slam Rock music for God's plan while being a buzzkill at the same time, and the hypocrite learned it on the hard way as Masahiro decided to beat him up until the police separated the two to avoid adding insult to injury.
his mother and his relatives came in after a call from the Police Constable, the madman was Identified as Hiroyuki Fujiwara, 54 years old and a former preacher at a local church of which Masahiro's family attended, didn't pay for the damage of 244,269.67 Yen (around 2,667.55 US Dollars and 278,150.77 Yen in today's money), Hiroyuki has the guts to called Masahiro a Heathen while his mother was called out a whore, then he called out his father a worthless piece of shit that he deserved in hell which Mrs. Kishinuma slapped the shit out of him for the audacity for saying stuff like that, they agreed to press charges against the preacher for Defamation with Damage to Property, Alarming and Scandal, and Aggravated Assault.
Masahiro's belief in God didn't deter him from his talent, four days later, came out the news about his ordeal which his classmates felt bad that his guitar was destroyed like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, but one of the bullies still make fun of his unfortunate performance at the park but he got another guitar was the Gibson Les Paul Junior White, the same guitar that Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day used to record American Idiot, and he's been saving up to buy this piece from public guitar performances to working part-time, then the owner of the guitar store also decided to give away a 1983 Fender Precision Bass and it's the same color scheme that John Deacon used during Live Aid, the Japanese musician never felt this good after his father died.
the wooden box was the amplifier for the Bass and it's exactly like John Deacon used before he retired, but it has doubled in size of a box of medium 30 pack of Coors Lite Beer, one of his classmates' uncle used to fix and set up band equipment since The Beatles came to Japan, then Cheap Trick rolled in and Queen was his big break ever, then Red Hot Chili Peppers, which the roadie decided to retire and opened up a restaurant called Mr. Crowley's Ramen Shop, which featured Ozzy Osborne took a bite of a piping hot Gyoza while saying "Delicious!" in Kanji rather than a bat's head from 1982 Veterans Memorial Auditorium with Black Sabbath at the time, right before getting sacked by Tony Iommi and Company.
onlookers said it was intimidating ever since Ozzy was added on the sign, which Black Sabbath was the shit to his friend's uncle at the time, the interior was filled with band paraphernalia along with framed pictures of the bands that he signed up for a gig as a Tour Technician during his younger years, even Ozzy himself was pretty impressed with the sign of him bitting the dumpling.
Masahiro's a regular to the place including his family, he was performing there for one or two nights by either Solo or with a local cover band, he was paid well after a performance and a hot bowl of Ramen with a plate of Chahan, it was his final night of performing live, right now he's taking a break from music and decided to sign up for Krav Maga classes and Football, training for Krav Maga wasn't as difficult for Masahiro and combining the Monday to Thursday football practice could be a pain in the ass for him while Krav Maga training was due in weekends.
the Trainer was the former US Army stationed in Camp Kinser on Okinawa, formerly from Fort Benning, Georgia as a Martial Arts Trainer for recruits, he then retired and set up a Martial Arts School for potential MMA Fighters or Self-Defense from crackheads on the streets, since he took up the Military version of the said Martial Art, Masahiro even took the time to perform the moves at Kaiyako Junior High School, he's also the center midfielder for the Kaiyako Tornadoes and he's compared to Dennis Bergkamp and Lionel Messi due to his footwork in the field. remember the money he saved up to buy a new guitar? he's currently saving it to buy a Brian May Guitars Red Special Super. the bully he used to endure from gave up bullying Masahiro, (let's call him Endou) and the possibilities of getting smacked in the face
back to reality, Masahiro finally finished cooking Japanese Curry and Fluffy Rice with a hearty salad, the curry was indeed delicious according to his mother's cooking yet Masahiro yearn for Naan Bread or Poppadoms with an array of Chutney while a bowl of yogurt to cool down their palate. the sound of the door opening startled the brunet as he's going to eat dinner until his mother came home after a long day
"I'm home!" she said
"Mom! good timing! I cooked curry tonight with a salad" Masahiro replied
"very good! God I hate Mondays so much, how's your day been?" she said while swallowing
"same old, same old. the principal informed me about some important manner tomorrow, but he can't tell me why though" Masahiro
"like what? did you caused trouble?" she asked with a raised eyebrow
"never, but I and my friend stopped a bathroom smoker with a firecracker the other week, I hate the smell of cigarette smoke before going to the bathroom" he replied
"What happened to the smoker after that?"
"he didn't dare to smoke after that and someone snitched on us, me and Shinji were sent to the principal and he let us off because he's the Phantom Smoker, he vowed to never smoke within school grounds even if nobody's watching"
the mother laughed about the smoker part and so does Masahiro, after eating dinner, he's washing the dishes while Ms. Kishinuma took a rest after a hard day of work, they watch some shows on tv and called it a night.
Masahiro is still awake and kept twisting and turning until the point that he can't sleep, he pulled out his iPhone 6 Plus to chat up with friends who's still up, he even has online friends that came from another country like Ryan MacNally from Scotland, Hansel Hidelbrandt from Germany and Kateryna Melnyk from Ukraine living in Canada, they wished that they will meet up in person other than online chats and video calls, Ryan was currently offline along with Hansel while Kateryna was still awake, they chat about their day went and the chat went on until she logged off.
he helped himself with a glass of warm milk by heating the mug on the microwave while watching Guitar and Bass covers on YouTube. Masahiro's mother came out of her room to take a leak until she saw her son with another mug of warm milk, which she took to bed while he followed the suit. the next day, Masahiro came to school while his mother was later excused during the job to check what the principal had in mind to him.
"Mrs. Kishinuma! I'm glad you came, I apologize if I interrupted your job at the moment" Principal Takakura said while bowing down
"no problem at all Principal Takakura, what does to be the problem regardless of my son?" she asked
"you see, somebody knew the story of Masahiro's guitar getting smashed by some crazy hypocrite, and they are offering you a scholarship to Harvey Woods Highschool, it's a private school from Detroit, Michigan. and legal guardians are willing to let you stay while studying abroad, you can also book yourself a ticket home if you want to, but he also answered the college fund for him at The University of Michigan" Principal Takakura said to them
they were shocked about the offer, luckily Masahiro was fluent in English due to watching Seinfeld and Coronation Street by VHS Tapes with his father, which he spoke perfect English, with a Devon Accent, then he went to class with an announcement for his departure, which it was set to two weeks due to duration of the application of the student visa, to travel to the United States of America while his passport was around five days
which was difficult but luckily Mr. Brooke, his Martial Arts Trainer from earlier, had a friend who worked at the US Embassy in Tokyo, part of the Minato City of Akasaka. which he was greeted by Mr. Leeds, the person who's going to interview the Japanese, and his reason to travel to America by acquiring the Student Visa while his mother was waiting at the Embassy lounge
"Konnichiwa Mr. Kishinuma, I'm Johnathan Leeds or call me Mr. Leeds, I should bring in the interpreter in case you don't understand English" Mr. Leeds greeted
"no need, I already figured it out by watching VHS" Masahiro replied
"I see, your English sound pretty good, let's start shall we?"
the interview started after the interpreter left the room because of Masahiro's fluency in English, the questions were quite a bore until the part about the citizens of America which Mr. Leeds understand what he said, the country has nice people but some aren't going to welcome you there because of race and nationality, it could be someone felt insecure of their visit while speaking a dialect that was too alien for them to understand while chatting with their fellow countrymen in public and told them to speak English or they will release their wrath, Mr. Leeds encounter an incident where a Mexican immigrant (he entered the country in legal terms with legal papers) was hollered by a white American in his mid fifties and told him to go back to Mexico for being an illegal immigrant by speaking in Spanish to his family while yelling at them to speak English for once and for all, he stood up and defend the Mexican family and told him that English wasn't their official language in this country and they have the right to say their mother tongue but the racist old man have balls to call him a Beaner Lover and a hard n-word cocksucker for marrying an African-American girl
which he knocked his lights out for insulting his wife and the Mexican family, which everyone praised him for defending him.
the interview lasted for thirty minutes and he left the room while telling them when they are set, which they did a week after getting his passport five days ago, the Kaiyako Junior High School held a farewell party, instead of being sad, they were delighted to play the Gibson White Junior in the school's auditorium.
"thank you for coming, everyone, I know some of you might miss me for leaving this early, I'm sorry for acting like a drama queen right now, but the Show Must Go On isn't it? I hope the Tornadoes would go on without me if they found a replacement. it's alright, as long as he can play better than me, I hope everyone had a good time here and some of you might be successful someday, I guarantee you will make it so far"
everyone clapped while tears are streaming down in their eyes while Masahiro's face turned into a waterfall from the tears he had built up but kept a straight face and wiped his face with his school uniform sleeve, the Jersey number 17 as a Center Midfielder was retired for potential replacements.
the next day, Masahiro reached Haneda International Airport, the luggage and a heavy-duty black box with silver edges that stored two Amps and wires with extra strings in case two guitar strings snapped, the box has wheels for mobility, the guitars are also packed in a heavy-duty guitar case to avoid damage during flight, it was also added with foam for double protection. the storage box and guitar cases were slapped with a sticker and sent to the up and go cargo while the airport personnel handles it by care, Masahiro wondered what is waiting for him when he landed in Detroit as soon as he reached there, right now he's waiting for his fight to turn up (Japan Airlines Flight No. 1615, Tokyo to Detroit), he shuffled his black satchel to get his phone to play music with the headphones he brought on the trip.
Masahiro was going to play a shuffle playlist until his flight was called in by the PA system unexpectedly, he managed to run to Gate D3 without breaking a sweat due to being in the football team, the ticket clerk checked the flight ticket on time and made his way to First Class, the Japanese made sure he wasn't sitting next to a passenger with a baby on board, which many passengers won't have that but luckily Masahiro dodged a bullet with it as he sat next to the window, another passenger wore a Kippah or a Yarmulke on his head, the passenger resembled a well-dressed Man in his late forties, had a long black beard with a hint of grey while the hair got the same code, blue framed glasses and a Caduceus pin on the right side of the suit, signs that he was a doctor working on another field of medicine, which Masahiro wanted to ask the Jewish doctor a question but it's better not to interrupt him until the plane reached the air.
"where are you off to, my friend?" he asked
"Detroit, Michigan, to study there. and where are you going to, doctor?" Masahiro replied meekly to the doctor
"the place you're going to, but I'm going to Chicago after attending a medical conference in Kobe, I'm glad you can understand English, my Japanese wasn't that good but luckily they prepared an interpreter for the conference." the Jewish Doctor said
"I hope you had a safe trip to your destination, the Lord's with you and the rest," Masahiro said
"same to you, may Yahweh protect you and everyone in this flight, I haven't got to introduce myself, I'm Dr. Abraham Barsky, I specialize in Psychiatric Medicine," Abraham said while smiling at him
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Abraham, I'm Masahiro Kishinuma, it's nice to meet you" he replied bowing down to him
the two never spoke again after the Jewish doctor gave a card to the Japanese, but they get to talk on numerous occasions, but most of the time where the doctor simply didn't bother Masahiro during the trip.