After hearing the rehearsal, she finally understood why he had been clamoring so much about starting a band. The girl with the violet hair watched their ensemble with eyes that sparkled.
Unlike when she stood on stage, they looked incredibly happy. In contrast to her own performances, which were woven with [lies], their playing was filled with nothing but the [sincerity] of enjoyment and happiness.
Even though they were virtually strangers, they shared their [sincerity] with one another. Because of that, their performance radiated a brilliance that her own stage could never hope to match.
However, to a coward and a liar like her, it was something incomprehensible.
At the same time, she began to [crave] it even more.
Watching the man playing the guitar, and seeing the honest, unadorned [sincerity] he exuded while performing, she felt her admiration for him deepen.
'Is this what they call [longing]?'
Yet, it felt like a sentiment far stickier and heavier than mere [longing]. The girl named Ai could not take her eyes off the boy named Hide.
She wanted to be with him just a little bit longer.
"What's up? Ai, you're frozen. Are you okay? You're not going to collapse and start sobbing again, are you?"
"I might have cried a little... but Ai has never 'sobbed' like that!! (＃｀д´)ﾉ"
Thinking about it, she realized she was always happy when she was with him. Perhaps it would be okay to keep him by her side? That thought suddenly flickered through her mind.
On that hot midsummer day, a girl realized she might have truly, [sincerely] fallen for someone.
What is the very first thing you should do after gathering band members?
Some might say you should share a drink to build brotherhood, or talk about music all night to burn with passion, but in my opinion, the first order of business is discussing how to handle expenses and profits.
No matter how strong the bond in a band, if there's trouble with the distribution of income, it will crumble like a sandcastle and disband. I saw countless bands fall apart that way in my past life.
"I'll take full responsibility for the costs of the rehearsal space. As college students, you'll probably only be working part-time, so your income won't be that high anyway."
Of course, the money hurt, but for musicians of their caliber, it was an investment worth making. To begin with, if I were the same 'me' from my previous life, I never could have recruited such talented individuals.
Common sense dictates: why would a talented rough diamond trust a guitarist who has achieved nothing but aging, and join his band? They absolutely wouldn't.
"Oh, by the way, don't you two still not know each other's names?"
"Leader, what's this big guy's name? I'm a little scared he's gonna crack my skull open."
"Hey, man, don't call me 'big guy,' call me Yokishi."
As the muscular Yokishi held his drumsticks and glared at the bald bassist, the bassist's shoulders slumped. Perfectionists often have strong spirits, but this bald bassist was quite the coward when it didn't involve music.
He definitely wasn't shrinking because of those massive, bulging muscles.
"What's the matter, man? It's not like I'm going to eat you."
"Hyung-nim... I think anyone would feel that way looking at those arms..."
"Well, I guess that's fair. So what's your name? I can't keep calling you 'Baldy' forever."
"Tanaka Shuji. That's my name."
Now that the introductions were mostly out of the way, it was time to get back to business. I pulled out the contract I had drafted beforehand.
The profit sharing was simple: earnings from individual activities belong entirely to the individual, while group activity profits are split equally among us.
However, I added a clause stating that copyright royalties for a song are fully delegated to the creator. If the lyricist and composer are different, they split that income 50/50. I included this to give the members a condition that would make them eager to participate in the creative process.
After a moment of silence while examining the contract, the bald bassist raised his hand.
"Leader, the profit part seems fine, but how about adding a clause that says before releasing an album, everyone presents what they've composed and we decide which tracks to include together?"
"Oh... Baldy, that's a surprisingly good idea."
Yokishi, the muscular drummer, seemed to have decided to just keep calling the bassist 'Baldy.' To be honest, it was a fact that 'Baldy' rolled off the tongue much easier than Shuji.
"I agree. We're a band. Forming a band means we've become one body."
Since they didn't know the concept of a band well yet, they might not empathize with those words, but they would understand eventually through our activities. More than just making music together, band members are entities that share the joys and sorrows of success.
"Besides, if you get buried in just one style, you stagnate."
Once a musician stops challenging themselves, they end up just repeating their own patterns. Countless bands have fallen that way. Even if they don't collapse completely, they lose their passion and desire, slowly sinking while reminiscing about their past peak.
"Then that settles the contract?"
The two nodded with satisfied smiles.
But Yokishi, why are you nodding while rubbing the bassist's head?
"So, what's the next plan, Leader?"
I pulled a poster from my coat.
It was a poster for an audition program created by TV Tokyo called [ASAYAN].
"The next plan is to show those fakes what real music looks like."
—
As a side note, on our way back that day, I was absolutely horrified by Ai, who managed to devour five pints of Häagen-Dazs on the spot.
She even bought ten more to take home.
She gave me a thumbs-up with a look of pure bliss on her face.
And naturally, not a single 10-yen coin remained in my wallet that day.
'Goodbye, my money...'