Welcome to the music club!
Ethan stood in front of a heavily decorated board as he stared at the sign in front of him. There were many instruments carved on it. He could see a black electric guitar, a golden trumpet, a pair of drums and even a silver flute.
"A music club? Sounds interesting." Star walked up to the board. Tap! Tap! He knocked on the trumpet, trying to see whether there was something behind it. "Wanna check it out?" He glanced at Ethan and Luna. "Sure!" Luna smiled. "I'd love to see what kind of stuff they've got in there!"
A music club? That seemed fun. Ethan had never ever held an instrument. Even though he wouldn't join the music club, he wanted to see how awakeners played music. Especially those from KGS. "Let's go inside then." He followed them as they disappeared behind a curtain, heading into a large tent. He walked inside.....and was almost blasted off his feet as a wave of sound slammed into him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It was loud. Incredibly loud. So loud, that Ethan felt like his eardrums would have imploded if he wasn't an awakener. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Luna covered her ears in pain as the loud noise continued.
"What the hell is going on?" Ethan shouted as he shielded his ears from the constant barrage. His vision started to blur as his ears started to hurt like hell. "What?" Luna shouted back. "I said, what the hell is going on?" BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! "I can't hear you. It's too loud!" Ethan couldn't understand what Luna said. "What?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" WHOOSH! A pulse of air shot out, nullifying the sound instantly. Riiiiiiing! "Ow!" Ethan could see Star shouting at him. But he couldn't hear him at all. The sudden change in the loudness of the sound left his ears ringing. He could see Luna rolling on the ground in pain as her hands clasped her head firmly.
Riiiiiing! She slowly got up to her feet as her ears started to clear. "....Star, would you mind telling me what that just was?" Luna smiled dangerously. "What do you mean?" He frowned at her. Suddenly, he stiffened, as if he had just realised that Ethan and Luna were lying on the ground in pain. "Why did you guys walk inside without even shielding your ears?"
Ethan glared at him angrily. How was he unaffected? "How were we supposed to know that they were going to destroy our eardrums as soon as we entered?" Star waved his arms emphatically. "It's a music club! A Music Club! Of course they'd do that!"
"Cough...cough...ugh" Ethan go to his feet unsteadily. "I think the two of us have very different ideas of what a music club is." He dusted his pants as his ears slowly returned to normal. "Let's go. I've had enough of this place" He turned around, walking towards the exit.
"Luna! You want to see the music club, right?" Star looked at Luna desperately. "Uh...maybe later. Hehe" She smiled awkwardly. "Alright, fine." He hunched his shoulders, following the two outside the tent.
Ethan took a deep breath as he stepped outside. He was glad to be out of that place. Either those people didn't want them to join their club, or that was some kind of a test for any prospective members. Whichever one it was, he didn't care.
"I thought that music clubs were supposed to be places where people played instruments together and stuff." Luna looked at the signboard warily. "Where did you get that idea?" Star stared at her dumbly. "Music clubs are places where people learn how to use music while fighting. Its mostly full of Mage type awakeners that have weaker control over wind."
"And you wanted to join this club?" Ethan eyed him suspiciously. He didn't want Star to whip out a flute and destroy his eardrums while they were playing in the Tower. "No, no. I just said its for awakeners with weaker control over wind. These instruments would probably explode if I tried to use them." Fair enough. Ethan had seen Star using wind based attacks in the Tower, and he had to admit, he was pretty good. He could even form wind blades that decapitated monsters below G-5 rank easily.
"Why weren't you affected by that terrible noise?" Luna ran a hand through her hair. "Who knows? Maybe you guys are too weak." He grinned at them. Ethan didn't laugh. "Hehe...maybe." Luna didn't find him funny either.
"Cough...cough...anyways, it was probably because of my faction." Factions. Of course Star was in a faction. He was in Pebble House, after all. Every person in Class 6 and above was in a faction. They had to be. Any people who acted 'out of the norm' would be suppressed heavily. So aligning yourself with a faction was pretty much necessary in KGS.
"Which faction are you in?" Ethan asked Star as he started walking away from the Music Club's tent. There were many factions, some of which were extremely hostile or neutral. No two factions were perfect allies or enemies. However, all factions shared one similar objective. To let their own members rise at the cost of others. So they all ensured that Dust House people wouldn't rise to Pebble House.
"Some small faction called the Light faction. It's, well, pretty light on the faction wars. So you might not have heard of it." Ethan nodded. He hadn't heard of any of the factions in KGS, so technically, Star was right. "Anyways, the thing is, since we're mostly neutral, most clubs let us into them."
"But we're not in any faction," said Luna. "Yes, but you're in Dust House. To these guys, that's worse than the factions hostile to them." "I see." Luna's voice dwindled. She really wanted to get into the Spear Club. But, since it was a pretty famous club, chances were that they were aligned with some sort of faction. She wouldn't be let in simply because she was in Dust House.
"Well, don't worry too much. We'll take a look around and see which club you can get into. There'll be some club for Dust House people, right?"
.
.
.
.
Two hours later.
"Star, you goddamn liar! Literally no club's accepting us." Ethan glared at Star angrily. "W....well, I didn't know nobody would take you guys in. It's not my fault!" Almost every single club was full of some weird defense mechanism that reacted strongly to Ethan and Luna's presence.
The Spear Club had flying spears chasing them. The Martial Arts Club had a bunch of invisible fists that rained down on the two. The Water Club trapped them underwater for 5 minutes before throwing them outside. And all this time, Star wasn't affected at all. Every single attack was seemed to miss him entirely, targeting Ethan and Luna constantly as they ran from one club to another.
And when they finally reached a club that was for Dust House people, they were kicked out because they were Class 10 outcasts. Not simple outcasts, but outcasts from Class 10. The worst kind of outcasts. Ethan sighed. He didn't want to join any of these places. The only reason he stuck around was because he wanted to see what kind of clubs there were in KGS.
But Luna couldn't find any club she wanted to find. "It's alright!" Luna smiled at Star. "I don't need to join a club anyway. I can get stronger on my own." Her smile didn't crack. Ethan stared at Luna. He felt a bit bad for her. She had fallen from one of the most popular people in Class 10 to the lest popular in just a few days. And now she was stuck with him.
Of course, she could have used Star's influence as a Pebble House member to prop herself back up. But she chose to bear with the isolation on her own rather than rely on somebody else. That was impressive. It was a lot like what Ethan was doing as well.
But the difference was that Ethan had hope. He knew that he'd eventually be able to get back at the others. Luna didn't have that. So how did she put up with it. Why was she trying to get close to him, another outcast. Did she think that the losers ought to band together?
He cracked a smile. No. Often, the people who were at the lowest rung of the ladder were the worst ones you could find. They were the people who would grasp at anything to go higher, even if it meant spitting on the same friends who'd stuck with them at their worst times. They, who were the most downtrodden, would do anything to reach higher.
Well, not like Ethan was like that. "I'm feeling a bit tired. I think I'm gonna head back." Luna broke the silence between them. "Yeah, me too," agreed Star. Ethan glared at him. Star wasn't the one who was almost drowned before getting thrown onto the ground. So why the hell was he tired?
"I think I'm gonna take a look around before I go back." "Sure. See you later, then." Star and Luna waved at him as they parted, heading in opposite directions. "Hahhh." Ethan breathed out as he watched the two leave. He felt bad for Luna, but there wasn't much he could do. And anyways, he still didn't trust her completely. He knew how cutthroat outcasts could be.
Crumple....crumple....crumple. He dug his hand into his pocket. Miraculously, the paper was still dry. The water hadn't affected it. He unraveled it, staring at the golden letters inscribed on it. 'Rotation'. This word had helped him a lot. It had set the foundation for the way Ethan wielded his kusarigama. And now, it was finally time to meet the people who helped him. Ethan was going to join a club.