Chapter 163: Facing (Part 2)

 On the other side, that afternoon, Fan #1 and Fan #2 were in their dorm room, making their final checks before heading out.

“Fan, towel, power bank, small snacks. Oh, #2, are you still wearing wedge heels?”

“Ah, I forgot.”

Fan #2 said, then hurriedly ran back to the dorm room and changed into flat shoes.

Because Kessoku Band’s performance time was quite late, and there were especially many people today, they had to go in early to avoid not having a standing spot, and they also had to be prepared to stand for over two hours.

So, all their equipment had to be fully prepared.

For the two who absolutely wanted to see their favorite Band perform at such a large venue, this was a tough battle.

In just a few moments, Fan #2 ran out.

She lifted her foot, stepped on the floor, confirmed the comfort, and smiled.

“Done~”

“Then, let’s go!”

Fan #1 grabbed her bag, turned, and stepped out.

Fan #2 quickly followed beside her.

But just as the two were setting off for Shinjuku FOLT with great determination, Fan #2 suddenly saw a somewhat troubled-looking back sitting at a table through the gap in the door of the adjacent dorm room.

“Wait!” Fan #2 suddenly called out to Fan #1.

“Eh?” Fan #1 uttered in surprise.

But Fan #2 didn’t explain further and walked straight to the dorm room door.

She went up and knocked on the door.

“May I come in?”

“Please come in.”

Having received permission, she smiled and walked in.

And a moment later, she came out smiling, bringing another woman with her, and said very happily.

“I fulfilled my duty as the fan club president!”

“Hey, hey…” Fan#1 looked at the reckless Fan#2 with a wry smile, then glanced at the person following behind her and asked her.

“Is it okay? This kid has been overly excited lately.”

“No, it’s fine once in a while.”

Fan#3 scratched her head, looking a bit gloomy, and asked the seemingly much more mature Fan #1.

“We’re just going to listen to a performance, right?”

Fan#1 nodded.

At their school, dorms are assigned by major, and this area is mostly occupied by students from the photography department.

With less than two weeks until school resumed, she knew the other party was probably struggling with assignments.

“Then it’s fine. I just happen to be looking for some inspiration recently.”

Fan#3’s voice was a bit low and listless, and she looked quite gloomy.

“Okay! Then let's go together.”

Fan#1 smiled and invited her too.

Fan#1 knew this person. She simply disliked interacting with people and usually had this expression, always hiding alone in a corner.

However, perhaps Kessoku Band’s songs might attract her.

Fan#1 believed they possessed an unparalleled ability to appear cool on the stage.

Upon arriving at Shinjuku FOLT, the three just caught the dinner rush, timing it perfectly to get into the restaurant without much of a wait.

As soon as they stepped inside, a faint yet intense music and singing reached their ears.

Fan#1 and Fan#2 showed some excitement, while Fan#3 looked uncomfortable.

She looked towards the door next to the ticket booth.

The sounds that forced her heart to race were merely fragments seeping through the sealed main door.

But the moment the tickets were checked and the main door opened, the surging, enthusiastic atmosphere and the feeling of blind madness in the venue filled her with regret.

However, under the encouraging gazes of Fan#1 and Fan#2 in front, she still walked in.

She had already silently decided in her heart that she would absolutely not come again next time.

This time would just be a social experience.

Once inside, contrary to her expectations, Fan#1 and Fan#2 didn't immediately join the crowd in wild excitement after entering. Instead, they calmly found a corner and happily sat down.

Seeing this, Fan#3’s expression relaxed considerably.

If the two had really left her alone to go wild, she would have definitely turned around and left.

Inside the venue, lights flickered, music vibrated the heartstrings, and a dense crowd of people waved and swayed in front.

Beside her, Fan#2 leaned close to her, speaking gently and earnestly.

“The band I recommend is the second to last performance.”

“Second to last… what time is that?”

Hearing Fan#2’s words, a bad feeling suddenly welled up in Fan#3’s heart.

“It’s at 8:30 PM.”

Fan#1 added with a smile.

Fan#3 picked up his phone and checked the time.

She began to regret it.

She was going to endure two hours in such a noisy place!?

But amidst her regret, she couldn't help but feel curious.

Although she didn't particularly like the band currently performing on stage, she could tell that the band on stage was playing quite well.

Yet, these two showed hardly any interest.

What kind of band could make them ignore other bands and wait patiently?

After that band finished its performance, two more bands played before Kessoku Band finally took the stage.

Although the stage was covered by a curtain, seeing Kessoku Band’s name projected onto the pure white curtain, the three of them still let out a long sigh of relief.

Finally, the main act was about to appear.

The sound of instruments testing behind the curtain further energized them.

But at this moment, Fan#1 and Fan#2 noticed someone at the drink sales window in the corner collecting the merchandise from the previous band and replacing it with merchandise from another band to start selling.

Their eyes lit up, and they unhesitatingly abandoned Fan#3, quickly running over.

Fan#3 stared blankly at the two.

They had accompanied her during the performances of the previous few bands, so why did they suddenly run off without a word now?

However, she saw that the two were heading towards the sales window, so after a brief hesitation, she also walked over.

“Wow, there’s so much more merchandise, this is great!”

“There are even band T-shirts, and this signed wristband.”

Fan#3 heard the two exclaiming in surprise and quickened her steps to catch up.

But she saw Fan#2 saying “wristband” while holding a large Kessoku Band tie.

she reconfirmed, and indeed, there was still a signature on it.

That was just a Kessoku Band tie! Not a wristband!

And why did she look so honored to be making money for the band!

She began to doubt if following the two out was a good idea.

Finally, the two bought a large stack of items, packing them into the canvas bags they had bought, and, with a bewildered Fan#3 in tow, happily squeezed through the crowded venue to find the best spot to watch the performance.

And they just happened to pass by Satou Aiko.

...

As a fairly well-known writer, Satou Aiko could ask the organizers for access to backstage to interview bands.

But she didn't today.

Having spent two days at this event, she had only interviewed a few decent bands.

On this last day, however, she didn't interview any band.

The reason was that she was hoping for a band to emerge from this event that could make waves across the entire Japanese music scene, but after searching and searching, she could only find bands that were relatively good among the younger generation.

She hadn't found any band she could call a treasure.

Therefore, she had somewhat given up, preparing to honestly summarize these past few days, create a ranking, and give an evaluation to conclude this event.

After all, except for the current Kessoku Band, the level of the remaining bands was basically an open secret.

She already knew what to expect.

She walked to the back row, with a slight anticipation, ready to listen carefully to this obscure band.

After browsing the forum for a while, Satou Aiko saw that it was time, so she exited the forum, opened her text document, and looked up at the stage.

Just then, the curtain on stage slowly rose to the top, and the lead singer standing in the middle greeted the audience with a smile.

“Hello everyone, we are Kessoku Band, a band formed less than half a year ago.”

Finally seeing the true faces of this band, Satou Aiko was slightly surprised.

They were all quite cute, which could generate some buzz, but she was only interested in their performance level.

She looked at her phone, listening indifferently to the opening remarks on stage.

Kita continued, as if explaining why there wasn’t much information about them online.

“Before, due to various circumstances, we always failed to perform perfectly, so there aren’t many performance videos of us online.”

“But today, here…”

At this moment, someone in the audience suddenly shouted in shock.

“Kunishige Sayori appeared at BAR.”

“Is that singer Kunishige Sayori?!”

The person who spoke first simply replied “Yes” and walked out.

Satou Aiko raised her gaze from her phone. She had witnessed what “various circumstances” meant; this Band was really unlucky.

She quickly opened the forum while the lead singer on stage hesitated.

Sure enough, the forum was full of news about Kunishige Sayori appearing at the BAR livehouse.

There are such people among the younger generation of bands too.

Satou Aiko knew that the music festival organizers also verified member identities during auditions.

That is to say, that singer was not the lead singer of a certain band, but merely came to watch the performance.

But this was causing too much of a stir.

Clearly, someone was fanning the flames behind the scenes, using off-stage tactics to attract attention.

As the curtain opened, Fan#3 curiously looked at the band that Fan#1 and Fan#2 were so interested in.

But she was surprised to find that the band members looked even younger than them, possibly just high school students.

She glanced at Fan#1 and Fan#2’s expectant expressions, then paid closer attention to the five individuals.

As the lead singer spoke, Fan#3’s gaze shifted left and right, finally settling on a pink-haired girl at the side of the stage.

She was looking down, her bangs covering her eyes, but Fan#3 could discern her expression from the lower half of her face.

She was nervous, uncomfortable.

Perhaps it was empathy, or perhaps it was the realization that the other person was also an outcast.

Fan#3’s heart lingered on the pink-haired girl.

As for the commotion in the audience later, she didn't pay attention to it, instead only focusing on how the band on stage would resolve it.

On stage, after the curtain opened, Kita was very surprised to see the venue even more crowded than expected.

But she suppressed her excitement and began the opening interaction.

However, she didn't expect her words to become like a flag, and things changed again.

Seeing this scene, she helplessly looked back at Ishikawa Hayato.

Ishikawa Hayato chuckled, then glanced at Nijika and Ryo, seeing their equally helpless expressions.

But just as he was about to act, Hitori moved first!

In Hitori’s eyes.

With every inch the curtain in front of her rose, the number of people in her vision doubled.

The dense crowd made her eyes widen slightly, and a hint of fear appeared in them.

But the more afraid she was, the more she felt the support from behind and from her friends beside her.

She quickly adjusted her emotions, listening to Kita’s voice, while mentally preparing to play.

But after the commotion in the venue, she saw more than a dozen people walking out, and the disastrous performance from last time immediately flashed in her mind.

Again… again, it’s this situation again.

Hitori wanted to do something to stop this situation.

Do something… to make them stop.

She lowered her head.

The only things she could rely on were her guitar and Ishikawa, but she had already decided not to rely on Ishikawa.

Thus, at this moment, without anyone calling out, without anyone directing.

Amidst the nascent misfortune.

Hitori suddenly raised her guitar neck, put down her pick, and strummed the guitar.

The audio signal shot out from the Guitar like lightning, passed through the backstage, transferred to the venue’s large loudspeakers, and then spread throughout the entire venue.

Extremely fast shredding and various techniques blended in, like showing off skills and also like revealing its fangs, the sound of the guitar echoed throughout the entire venue.

People who hadn't yet left the venue shivered involuntarily when they heard the sound of this guitar.

Below the stage, Fan#1 and Fan#2, the fans, showed expressions of expected but still pleasantly surprised excitement.

And after that guitar solo—which, though brief, made it feel as if time had stopped.

Hitori took a deep breath, looked up, and grabbed the microphone in front of her, which she had thought she would never use.

In the extremely quiet venue, she took over from Kita and softly began,"We are a band that often encounters troublesome situations..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, but under the sound engineer's control backstage, Hitori's voice was amplified to a volume everyone in the venue could hear.

The entire venue listened to her words in silence.

"I... each of us has also experienced many things we didn't want to face..."

"But it's precisely because of that, that we've come together, constantly striving for our future performances, and being happy as everyone grows closer... Kessoku Band is precisely this... meaning..."

"So... please listen to... our unity, the Kessoku Band's unity."

As her increasingly trembling voice faded, Ishikawa Hayato hastily signaled Nijika, who unhesitatingly struck the opening chords of their performance there.

A few seconds earlier.

Hearing that shockingly cool guitar solo, Fan#3 felt as if her brain had exploded.

Before her eyes was a transformed outcast, even more timid than she, and in her ears was music that stirred her soul.

The dual sensory experience—both visual and auditory—made her feel as if she were witnessing a miracle.

This was the guitar sound of that outcast she had just been paying attention to, this was the band sound that Fan#1 and Fan#2 yearned for.

She gazed at the girl on stage, who had originally not dared to meet anyone's gaze, but was now tremblingly looking towards them.

The girl's eyes were half-hidden by her long pink bangs, but her blue-green eyes beneath the bangs seemed to ignore them, staring straight ahead, her gaze holding a constantly shattering yet determinedly reassembling resolve.

At this moment, the stage lights seemed to shine only on her!

The pink-haired girl's voice ended, and the music's prelude followed without any pause.

Amidst the prelude of guitar, drums, and bass, Fan#3 decided.

From this moment on, she was a fan of this band!