Kaede was happy with what she achieved in only two weeks.
Learning drums from scratch—wasn't she amazing?
But now, they wanted her to sing as well. As if keeping the rhythm wasn't hard enough.
Insanity.
And all that after Konrad gave her a whole speech about the band resting on her shoulders.
This was way too much pressure.
Ugh. She was getting nervous, which was very un-dragon-like.
But, well, she wasn't the only one.
"Yuki-chan, you've stage fright?" an emo clown asked the other girl, dropping onto the worn couch beside her. "So diligent, rehearsing until the last minute like a real schoolgirl."
Whatever the punchline was, they laughed.
Yuki did not.
"She's diligent now," another clown grunted. "But skipped all our practice sessions."
He had to be the frontman, or at least tried his best to act like it.
It was difficult to tell when they all looked the same, though. It tripped her up, like, wasn't the whole point of this rebel style to stand out? And why weren't they nervous at all?
They poked fun at them, chilling, and never even touched their instruments.
Meanwhile, the always confident Midori-kun played an invisible piano.
Konrad scribbled something in the corner, and—yeah. Kaede's fingers also moved like drumsticks on every surface imaginable.
That is, until the manager poked his face in.
"Guys, you need soundchecks, too, then we'll start in like twenty. We'll let the audience in soon."
Konrad's head snapped up.
"Already?!"
The call wasn't even for him. They've done their setup when the clowns arrived, then a full round of practice in silence. Yuki-chan played random notes on her bass ever since.
But her reason was different.
She'd rather pretend not to be there than to speak with her old bandmates.
If only they got the message—but good thing they had to go.
"Hai, hai, soundcheck it is," the frontman agreed. "Then, uh, want to take a shot?"
He wasn't talking to her, but Kaede's eyes narrowed. The next guy did.
"Hey, Kawaii-chan. Wanna join, too?" the copy-pasted emo asked. "Or too young for, you know?"
She crossed her arms, giving him the most contemptuous look she could muster.
"If anything, I'm too old."
And they had no idea.
"Aww, you're no fun," the guy tried to play it cool, but he was trembling. "C'mon, live a little."
"I do. That's why I don't poison myself. And if I were, I'd do it with something stronger, anyway."
That was still not enough.
"We also have, like, hard stuff. You know? But that's for after we wiped the floor with y'all."
She raised an eyebrow, having no idea which clown that even was, but he was annoying.
They each were. She only recognized the pink-haired one stepping in.
"Don't mind him, Drummer-chan," he pleaded. "These guys are awkward around girls."
Yeah, no shit.
Wasn't he the former idol who joined them two weeks ago? Wait, how'd he know, then?
"Come on, last call for sound check—"
He seemed nice, despite looking like a tropical bird among all the birdbrains. How did they get him on board? No, the real question was—how did they even get Yuki-san in the first place?!
"Fine, fine, on my way, Hoshi-san. You're so straight-laced sometimes."
Clown number two laughed, giving Kaede one last glance.
It was the kind that should have given her goosebumps, but well—
The fact that she could eat the guy alive didn't help his case. She had enough mana to burn the whole club down if she so desired, but, uh, no. She'd never hear the end of it.
Konrad was always strict like that. He kept scolding her in Kasserlane, too.
But now he seemed hyper-focused on kicking these guys' asses.
And yeah, she could see why.
"I'll check their setup," Kaede said as the green room fell silent. "Goin' to steal their secrets."
What she actually wanted was to check on her new minions.
Seeing the city through her bird's eyes, the crowd was still growing strong.
Where the hell would all those people even fit?
She found nothing suspicious, but when they let the fans inside, there was quite a ruckus. As it turned out, not everyone had tickets, and half of them had to turn back from the entrance.
The rest swarmed in with an excited chatter, and—
Nothing happened.
The time to start the event came and went.
"Ryu-san, have you seen the band?" the manager asked, his face getting pale. "They should be up there already, but I haven't seen them in, uh, twenty minutes."
Make it thirty. And was he deaf, or polite enough to pretend not to hear that earlier?
"Toilet," Kaede said, nodding her head towards the staff restroom. "Getting in the mood, I guess."
Forget pale, the guy was almost translucent now.
He disappeared to find them without saying another word.
Kaede stayed, taking in the crowd. All high school girls. Well, most.
Pink stars, excited chirping. No complaints even after their idol went missing for a long time.
Did he join the drug party, too? Or tried to mop those clowns up?
"Think Hoshi-sama will be the center now?" The partial chatter disrupted her train of thought.
"If not, I'll riot. I didn't stand in line for three hours for nothing."
"Right? Who're these other guys anyway?"
"Can you believe we're on a Hoshi-kun concert again? Finally. After five long years."
"I can, it's on the brochure, Bijita-san. He must have finished his college or something by now."
"I heard he was abroad," a fan claimed. "He might even have a wife now."
"One? He deserves a harem. I'd volunteer. Wouldn't you, too, Konomashi-chan?"
"I would, I would. Can't wait for them to start."
Hmm, yeah, they were his fans all right. But only his.
Kaede hoped they wouldn't start booing at everyone else right away.
She wanted her mana back, after all. And better yet, if Konrad's plan worked—
"Sorry for the delay. We had technical difficulties," the manager walked on the stage with a transparent lie. "The battle you've all been waiting for is about to start. In the pink corner—"
"Battle? Who cares about that Oji-san? Where's Hoshi-sama?"
"Boo, bring him on already, we've been outside all day."
The clowns took to the stage, looking unsteady on their feet. They sure got in the mood. Kaede was already rubbing her palms. If they butchered their first song from having too much fun—
"HOSHI-SAMAAAAA!"
Delay or not, the crowd went wild when Pink-Hair-kun finally entered.
But his place was to the left of clown number one. That was enough for a shift in the mood, but when he grabbed his mic, everyone waited for him with bated breath.
"Minna, thank you for coming," he said, and all the girls screamed. "You mean the world to me."
Kaede rolled her eyes, but she seemed to be the outlier here.
"You know I'm not great with words, so instead, let's get this party started."
She didn't even notice when their first song began; the screaming was way too loud. When she was, it didn't even qualify as punk or emo or whatever.
An ordinary pop song. Something corny about love, but damn—the audience lapped it all up.
They didn't miss a single note despite all the screaming and drugs, either.
As much as Kaede hated to admit it, they were good.
Way too good. And before she knew it, their turn was next.