After only practicing as a band for four days. Aqua decided that she's ready for her debut as an idol. Fortunately for her, neither Megumin nor Yunyun has any interest in becoming an idol. Thus, she's the sole star of this show.
It took me a day of practicing to unlock 'Instrument Mastery I'. Then I used fifteen of my skill points to upgrade the skill all the way to 'Instrument Mastery IV'. After that, I taught Megumin and Yunyun how to play instrument the old fashioned way.
Apparently, they're both has already learned about music back in the Crimson Demon School. So it didn't take them too long to gain 'Instrument Mastery III' through numerous hours of practice. All in all, the band is more or less ready.
The live performance itself will be held in the Guild's Training Ground. Luna was more than happy to lend us the spot and now we're making the stage and decorations.
So there I was, staring at a large wooden stage with a plain background behind it.
A stool stood on top of the stage, a certain goddess is currently painting the background. Judging by beautiful and intricate design on the upper left of the background, I shouldn't worry at all about how it would look. Maybe…
"So we're performing at night?" Megumin asked. "Don't you need the giant lamp thing to perform at night?"
"Don't worry, one of the genetic mutations of my plant is making them glow," I told her. "Those are what we'll use for the lighting. Trust me, I think it'll look great."
"You think?"
We looked back at the stage and simply watched as the savant goddess paints the background like how a child would paints the sky. Beautiful colors and patterns were thrown into the scene, forming beautiful shapes and letters.
It took me a while to figure out that Aqua is trying to write out party's name on a great sword shining in bright light. Behind the great sword at a huge distance away, is a large mushroom cloud. The entire painting itself were framed by a bunch of vines and flowers. The symbolism isn't all that subtle really.
The great sword is obviously Darkness. The light from the great sword is Yunyun. The explosion is of course Megumin. The vines and flowers is probably me. And Aqua…
Oh, now she's painting the stage floor with blue. Wait, hold on, are those holograms? How the fuck? Is that a 3D painting of a lake, holy shit! That's awesome! That water looks so real!
After half an hour of painting, Aqua finished the entire stage. She jumped off the stage with a proud smile on her face. She then turned towards me and gave me a thumb up. I returned the gesture with a thumb up before taking out a bunch of seeds from my pocket.
Speaking of seeds, I am running short of these. Without Darkness around, I can't make more, she's the only girl in the city that's insane and depraved enough to want to do it. So I have to make the most of it.
"Nature's Beauty!!!" I exclaimed for theatrics.
A bunch of vines sprouted out of the ground surrounding the stage. It frames every inch of the stage, covering up all the plain old support, replacing them with vines. Then, a bunch of colorful flowers sprouted out of the vines, glowing like a bunch of colorful lights.
After that, seven huge flowers sprouted from on top of the cage. Those will be the spotlight, though, I'd have to ask someone to cover it with mirror to focus the lighting.
With that, our stage is ready. I turned around and saw my girlfriend staring at the stage with stars in her eyes.
"Whoa! It looks just like in the dream!" she turned towards me. "You know! The one where you make me put on a frilly dress and…"
"Let's not talk about that!" I exclaimed, covering her mouth. I turned towards Aqua who just looked at me with a blank look on her face. "Don't look at me like that!"
After that, we decided to check on our respective bard skills. I took out my adventurer card and looked at my skills and levels.
"Okay… Instrument Mastery IV…" I muttered to myself. "What do you got Megumin?"
"Instrument Mastery III," Megumin replied. "It should be enough right? I've trained for like, three days now,"
Yunyun rushed towards us, out of breath. "Sorry, I'm late," she stopped right in front of me and took short breaths. "I've, I've found it," she took out a magical microphone I made for Aqua. "It's in Aqua's wine cache."
I turned to Aqua who just held up her hands sheepishly. "W-well, you see, it was late at night and I just returned from my practicing room. I forgot I had it with me and thought it was a bottle of wine, so I just throw it in with the rest."
Okay, let's see… There's our stupid singer, the drummer with a screw loose, and the pianist with a social anxiety. Yep, I am loving my chances. This is totally ain't gonna go crash and burn like the Destroyer the other day.
"Okay everyone, I'm gonna go teleport the instruments and then we can try practicing."
---
Numerous townsfolk and adventurers stood in front of us. Watching us and the stage in awe and excitement. It didn't take long for the words to spread about our performance. Aqua was the loudest when it comes to advertising her debut.
So here I am holding my trusty guitar like my lifeline. Behind me, Yunyun is shivering like crazy in front of her keyboard. Megumin is confidently twirling her guitar sticks, a bit too confident for my taste. And Aqua is just raring to go.
"Good evening everyone!" Aqua exclaimed followed by a cheer from the audience. "I am Aqua, Archpriest of the Fantastic Dreamer! You might know me as the Mistress of Party Tricks, and tonight, I am going to show you, my greatest Party Trick!!!"
This girl treats live performance as Party Tricks…
Fucking perfect!
"Well then Kazuma! Megumin! Yunyun! Let's get this show started!"
On my will, the lights dimmed and the spotlight shone on Aqua alone. She gripped the microphone tightly with both hands and took a deep breath. "To Darkness if you can hear us…" she whispered before raising her voice.
In this wonderful world
With you! The bell of the beginning resounds
We're fantastic dreamers!
The spotlight swept across the audience and we all start playing. The audience cheered at us, waving their hands with the beats. By my observation, we are doing very well so far.
This unfair, future fated to us
By the innocent gods above
Are you ready to…
Fight and play through it all?
Don't look at,
the hands of the clock
Just believe in the rhythm of your heart And your greatest dream
The rhythm bounces and connects us to all life and to all dreams
It's okay, to believe, in what we have!
It's such a wonderful world!
Come on! Ring the melody of our beginning
Let's exhaust this moment with all, our might!
We keep! Growing up all the time
Together we surpass any boundaries.
Hold my hand and we fight together.
That's right, we are fantastic dreamers!
The moment Aqua stopped for a musical transition, the crowd took this time to cheer for her. Numerous praises were thrown at the goddess and I can feel her gasping at the amount of love and admiration they showered at her.
There's no limit to what we could do.
It's okay to be selfish.
I heard it can become,
the magic that saves everyone!
"That's just crazy" some people would say
But they're just afraid to step out of their comfort zone
Don't you think?
Search for that light that makes you smile, and don't be afraid
That is right, I'm with you, you're not alone!
Go on to change this world! Right now!
Sound the tone of blessing for this precious moment.
I have no interest in the cruel future, you know?!
Let's go! The potential lives in all of us!
It all resides in our eyes
Let's begin – shout it with your voice
Cause we are! We're fantastic dreamers!
We're halfway there, the crowds are singing along with us. Aqua, through out this performance was so energetic and dances as she sang her heart out. The permanent grin on her face tells me that this is one of the greatest joy of her life.
We are all have our own weakness
And we'll have so much fun figuring them out
Hey, anyone - See, even you
Just hold this hand and together we can go anywhere!
It makes you hopeful, doesn't it?
I was concentrating on this one hell of a guitar solo so much that I didn't even realize that the crowd just got bigger. A bunch of nobles seem to have caught interest in our live performance. Among one of them is a certain blonde haired noble girl, watching us in disbelief.
I winked at her and upped my guitar play.
Such a wonderful world...
It's such a wonderful world!
Witness! This beautiful dazzling fanfare of light
It's always there with us all this time waiting, for you!
No need!
There's no need to, hesitate anymore
Time and again, let's get selfish
And then we'll take it all for ourselves!
Cause we are! We're fantastic dreamers!
The crowds didn't stop cheering at Aqua long after the song ended. Praises, cheers, and shouts to repeat the performance was thrown at her. Some people even shouted encore so I'm guessing there are also those from japan who watched her performance.
"Aqua! Aqua! Aqua!"
The voice shouted as one, cheering her name.
I turned towards Aqua and saw her… glowing? Huh? Is this a special effect? No seriously, her smooth white skin literally glows like a spotlight. Her hagoromo suddenly appears around her neck and she gasped as she looked a her own body.
"Aqua?" I asked her.
The girl turned towards me with tears of joy trickling down her face. She then lunged at me and embraced me into a hug. I felt a tingling sensation when her skin made contact with mine. It almost felt like this goddess is cleansing me from all my sins.
"Thank you…" she whispered. "Thank you so much Kazuma…"
The cheering turned into cat calls and a collective 'aww'. But Aqua didn't seem to care, she just hugged me tighter, whispering her thanks over and over again.
After a few minutes she let go of me and waved at the crowds. "Thank you so much everyone!" she sobbed a little and wiped some tears off her face.
"WE ARE THE FANTASTIC DREAMER!!!"