Chapter Two

               I sat in the back corner of the Mac lab, working on animating my character for class. For some reason the character was moving strangely, so I fiddled with it a bit more. As soon as she was moving the way I wanted, I shouted “Yay!” very loudly. Some of the students paused what they were doing to glare at me. I shrank back into my seat, blushing. When I was finished with my animation, I packed up all my stuff and started my walk to Harajuku Station. My boots clattered down the stairs and out the door. Standing by one of the trees at the front of the school, was a group of a few guys, all of them seemed to be 4^th years like me. I walked past them as they were talking loudly to themselves.

               “Hey! Adrianna!” one yelled.

               I turned around to see Nakahara Hachirou running to catch up with me. “Hey Nakahara, what’s up?” I asked once he reached me.

               “I was wondering if you wanted to go out for a late lunch?” he asked with a bright smile.

               “Yeah, sure. Where do you wanna go?” I replied.

               “I know this amazing café…” he trailed on excitedly.

               We set out towards the café he mentioned. We walked beside each other, and I took a side glance at him. He had medium length black hair, which was parted to the side, he was a few inches taller than me, and he was wearing a tight, black v-neck and black skinny jeans. He was slouched slightly with his hands in his pockets.

               “You know you can call me Hachirou,” he said while glancing away. He looked back at me, “We’re friends right?”

               I smiled and nodded, “Sounds like a deal, Hachirou.”

               Once in the café, we slid into a booth and talked about random things, like school, bands, and art. We ate our meals and continued onto the park after. I sat down in a swing set and so did Hachirou. He tilted in his seat, so he was facing me. “I really like your outfit today, it’s cute,” a slight blush appeared.

               I looked down at my black and white polka dotted dress and smiled, “Thanks.”

               He walked me home in the late afternoon, when we arrived at my apartment we paused outside of the door. “See ya,” I said to him as I got out my keys and proceeded to unlock the door.

               “Bye…” he said a bit quieter and he slowly walked away.

               Was it just me, or did something I said make him sad? I inwardly shrugged and turned around to be slammed in the face by the door. I groaned loudly in pain.

               “Ahh sorry Adri-chan! I was just about to head out looking for you! You weren’t answering your phone and the live’s today!!! You need to get ready!” Yumi exclaimed impatiently.

               “Huh?.. What live?” I asked dumbstruck.

               “You already forgot?! The Mejibray, Diaura and Born live!!” she shouted.

               “Ahh, I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, sorry… What time does it start?”

               “7! So get your into high gear!” she shouted again, making hand motions at me.

               “7? But we still have 3 hours…” I scratched absently at my head.

               “I know, but we have to get up-town and eat supper, so brush your hair and let’s get a move on!” she shoved me gently into the apartment.

               Once I was ready, we caught a train out to the live place. We walked along the road looking for a cheap place to eat. We finally settled on a sushi place. We dug into our food as we waited for the final hour to go by. Yumi kept anxiously checking her phone for the time. When it was an acceptable time to go wait in the line, Yumi jumped out of her seat and ran out of the restaurant. I sighed and tracked down our waiter. I handed him the money and ran out after her. I found her a bit later, waiting in line with a ton of other fans. I joined her near the front of the line and we waited for the concert to start. When everyone started to file in, Yumi shoved her way to the front and we ended up in the direct front of the live hall. I waited patiently as all the girls screamed their favourite band member’s name.

 The lights dimmed and music started coming out of the speaker. The first band stepped out onto the stage and looked out over the audience. I recognized them as Diaura. Yumi was jumping around and screaming the lyrics, but she wasn’t as excited as she was going to be for Mejibray’s set. Yo-ka walked off after one last wink to the audience, his band members followed him.

The next band was Born. Their set was very loud and energetic, and I let the music fill me. I screamed out the lyrics with the other fans, and overall had a fun time with that set. Towards the end I was starting to get tired, although Yumi seemed to have endless amounts of energy.

After Born walked off, the lights dimmed and we couldn’t see anything. Although I could hear a bit of movement on stage. When the lights turned up slightly, I could make out the singer, Tsuzuku, posed in an awkwardly position on the stage, he was wearing a giant mask, that seemed to have ram’s horns and feathers on it. Hakuraku started blasting through the speakers and he started moving his body in strange positions to the beat. He bent over the stage, towards the audience and started whispering the lyrics into the microphone. Towards the end of the song, he leaned off the riser again and looked down, all while removing his mask. Once it was off his face, he seemed to stare down for a second with a brief flash of surprise crossed his face. Our eyes locked and for half a second he stopped singing. He grinned at me and continued on. I was frozen in my spot, the long forgotten business card burning a hole in my coat pocket.

The set continued on, during one of the songs, Mia jumped on the riser right above us and all we could see were his thighs. Yumi squealed and was blushing a bit. I enjoyed it, but the whole while I was preoccupied with my thoughts.

Once the live was over, Tsuzuku gave a finally wave, glanced in my direction and ran off. Meto was left on the stage and he threw out his drum sticks. He opened his mouth, as if to talk, but then he closed it again and collapsed. The curtains closed and the lights flashed on. Everyone started to file out but Yumi lingered. “He looked at you,” she stated firmly.

“No, he didn’t, he was probably looking at you because he was astounded by your beauty!” I smiled.

She started laughing and I joined in a second later. She grabbed my arm and started merging into the crowd by the exit. A roadie slipped between the curtains and slid off the stage and into the crowd, he seemed to be in a big hurry and was frantically searching around. Yumi grabbed my hand and started shoving through the crowd, dragging me after her. “C’mon Adri-chan! I don’t want to miss the last train!”

I sighed and let her drag me home. But my mind was on one thing and that was Tsuzuku.