A Admirable Effort
Her eyes fluttered open naturally, but her vision was blocked. Suyun brushed the hair away from her face. The messy strands from the night before cleared, revealing a plain, pale beige ceiling and the light fixture hanging from it. The soft sunlight filtering into the room gave her a rough idea of what time it was.
Did I oversleep? Perhaps it was because she had been woken up in the middle of the night by the others, who had stayed up drinking instead of sleeping. Even though she had turned off her alarm since it was the weekend, quite a bit of time had already slipped away. Following her usual morning routine, Suyun stretched before getting out of bed. She rolled over, arched her back, pushed into a cat stretch, and loosened up her joints before finally standing up.
"Where did everyone go?" The usual sounds—the ones that should have been there—were completely absent. There was no rustling of Iseor wandering around, no Seoha humming a tune, and no Hyun-ah chuckling creepily to herself. Sensing something strange, Suyun muttered to herself.
Wondering if they were still asleep, she looked up at the bunk beds, but they were already neatly made. When she opened the door and stepped into the living room, the mess left behind by last night's drunkards had been completely cleaned up. This was also a rare occurrence. Suyun decided to have some coffee first. While the Illy coffee machine dripped, she sat at the table and opened the newspaper she had brought in from outside. The pages were covered in kanji, katakana, and hiragana. While using an app would have been much easier, Suyun preferred this method. It was a habit she had kept from a very long time ago.
"LDP administration... ga. i. Today. Announced... content. Is this 'content'? According to... ni yoruto, ni yoruto... according to. Hmm. Political Funds Control Act. It seems to be the Political Funds Control Act, with the Komeito..." The kanji was easy enough to read, but her Japanese was still not fast enough to skim. Suyun traced the characters one by one with her finger, slowly learning the language.
"Japan's having a rough time too." After haltingly reading the front page, Suyun set the newspaper aside and took a sip of her coffee. Dozens of minutes passed. Seeing that no one had returned, it didn't seem like they had just stepped out for a moment.
Did they go out to clear their heads? The wind blew outside, rustling the trees with a soft *shuaaa*. Suyun looked out the window and thought. Well, even if they had a drink last night... their hurt feelings wouldn't heal so easily after hearing such harsh words. That was probably why the three of them went out together. When they get back tonight, maybe I should find a nice oden place. They said they were fine, but there was no way they actually were. So, shouldn't they sit down over a few drinks and have a proper talk? Thinking this, Suyun packed her guitar into its foam case.
"Miss Ha, going to practice?"
"Ah, yes. Did you get anything good today?"
"Oh, the aji is really fresh today. The aji set meal would be delicious. Want me to reserve one for you?"
"Should I? But the other members aren't here right now. I'll have to ask them."
"Really? Uh... when I was prepping earlier, I think I saw the three of them going somewhere."
"Our members?"
The restaurant owner nodded. Suyun thanked him and walked toward the nearby practice studio, feeling more certain that they had gone out to have fun. But when she entered the studio, a chaotic clash of instruments echoed through the hallway. It was loud enough to be heard clearly from the corridor. There shouldn't be any other bands booked at this hour...? And strangely, the guitar sound was missing. It was coming from the very room they always used. Feeling suspicious, Suyun peeked through the cracked door. And she was shocked.
"No! I told you to match me!"
"Hey. I'm the drums, so you should match me."
"I'm not talking about the tempo right now."
"Even if it's not the tempo, the drums are the absolute priority in the rhythm section. The bass follows my lead, and you match my rhythm..."
"So I'm just supposed to play root notes?"
"P-Please don't fight..."
The last people she expected to see here at this hour. The three members of Suyun's band were huddled in the practice room.
"What are you guys doing here?"
Feeling a mix of absurdity and bewilderment, Suyun opened the door and stepped inside. When the girls saw her, their expressions mirrored her own—utterly flustered.
"...So, we decided to practice."
"Yeah."
"Then you should've woken me up to do it together. Why did only you guys come?"
"Well, you were sleeping really deeply, and..."
"And?"
"How should I put it... we wanted to improve our skills a bit behind your back and surprise you."
"Do you really think that's possible?"
At Suyun's words, Iseor scratched her head sheepishly. Indeed, there was no way that would work. Not that improving their skills was impossible... but rather, sneaking off to the practice room without Suyun noticing was impossible.
"Anyway, that's why we left you to sleep and came to practice by ourselves."
Iseor scratched her head again, looking embarrassed. Suyun watched her for a moment, then unstrapped her guitar. She was about to plug it into the amp, but... decided to place it on the stand next to her instead. The three of them watched her, finding it a bit odd.
"What song were you playing?"
"We weren't really playing a specific song... Seoha-onni thought."
"Thought what?"
"I thought that if we showed off a jam session, we might get some recognition for our skills. I was thinking of something like a guitar solo, bass solo, keyboard solo, drum solo. One by one, like that."
"It's not... completely improvised... we structured it a bit, like that."
Suyun twirled her hair slightly at those words. Showing off skills through a jam session. Well, it could work, or it might not. It depended on the situation, but it was definitely a good way to showcase their abilities in front of people.
"Then give it a try."
"Right now?"
"Yeah. Let me see if you're doing it right or not. If it seems like a good direction, we can go with it."
At Suyun's words, the trio nodded and returned to their positions. Then, the performance began. Suyun closed her eyes and listened quietly. The keyboard laid down a gentle background. And on top of that, the drums and bass layered in... Hmm. Layered in. Layered in... An interesting performance, an interesting interpretation. Interesting... No, this didn't seem interesting anymore. Rather than interesting, it was just...
Sigh...
The performance, which had been gradually collapsing, soon turned from music into noise, ending in a chaotic clash. A moment later, the three of them stopped. But only the instruments fell silent. It was at that moment that voices began to echo through the practice room.
"No, why do you keep coming in like that?"
"Why? When I go *ta-da-dak* like this, you're supposed to come in with me."
"No, that's not what I mean. Before that. If you just randomly beat *da-da-dak* like that, how am I supposed to transition to the next part?"
"Hey, that's..."
Suyun looked away from the scene in the practice room, resting her chin in her hand and staring out the window. It was admirable that they hadn't succumbed to the malicious criticism and had stood up to overcome it. It was admirable that they had come up with a plan on their own. It was also admirable that they had come to the practice room to execute it.
But since they're being admirable, couldn't they be admirable all the way to the end?
Beyond whether the tempo matched or not, the two of them were arguing that the other should follow their lead. "Your rhythm is totally garbage." "No, yours is garbage." "Follow me." "I'm right." "No, I'm right..." The two of them kept up an endless, circular argument that seemed like it would never end.
"Hey, stop it, stop. How long are you going to keep this up? There's no answer to this kind of problem."
"No, but honestly speaking..."
"What 'honestly speaking'? This is just the basic principle of a band."
"No, if that's the basic principle of a band, then does Suyun have to follow whatever you do too? When you say, 'Now, Suyun, go ahead and play,' does she have to say, 'Oh, thank you, Your Majesty, I shall do so,' and play her guitar?"
"That's a different story."
"How is it different?!"
Watching the situation turn into a complete circus, Suyun twirled her hair slightly. The two of them showed absolutely no intention of backing down.
Is this that Gen Z mindset or whatever?
Suyun clicked her tongue and picked up her guitar. Kids these days. They should respect each other musically, seek opinions, and bend their own wills to make music harmoniously, but they didn't know how to do that. Of course, Suyun didn't think for a second that she herself was the furthest thing from that ideal.
On the day of the second meeting for Tokyo Wheels, inside the designated conference room. Suyun pushed up her lensless glasses and looked at the bands gathered along one wall, whispering among themselves. The band that had spoken harshly to Group Sound during the first meeting, and the other bands that had clearly agreed with them.
I guess they think since they've already been caught, there's no point in being polite anymore.
After whispering among themselves, they glanced back at Group Sound. Then they whispered again. It wasn't like they were causing physical harm or direct damage, but it was incredibly annoying and irritating.
"You're Ha Suyun, right?"
"Ah, yes. That's correct."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Morikawa Kyosuke, the leader of the band Banna. I've heard a lot about you from Hashimoto of Ryukenbu."
"Ah... yes. Nice to meet you."
Suyun replied to the person who spoke to her, turning her head as she felt another sharp gaze. The leader of the other band turned away after staring at her.
"Does it bother you?"
"Ah, yes. Well, since they keep doing that..."
"It's just the price of fame, so don't let it get to you. More importantly, I was curious about the guitar riff you played in Under the Satellite..."
"Ah, that part... Well, I wrote the song with this kind of idea in mind..."
She answered Morikawa's questions. Meanwhile, she also answered another band that approached her. In the meantime, two distinct groups had somehow formed in the conference room. One group centered around Group Sound, and another group that seemed to exclude Group Sound.
"Hello. Everyone is here. Shall we begin the meeting?"
That atmosphere was interrupted once again by the arrival of the organizers, just like the first meeting. However, if there was one distinct difference from before, it was that the underlying tension had not cooled down at all. The magma, which had remained hot under a thin crust, began to boil the moment it found an opportunity.
"First, the timetable, as scheduled, is as follows..."
It started with the organizer's announcement regarding the timetable. The staff member explained the schedule for each live house and who would go where.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"Why are we there?"
"Uh... if you put it that way, I'm not sure what you mean."
The woman who had attacked Group Sound on the first day. The spot she pointed to was one of the schedules for a live house in Shimokitazawa. The very slot where the band name Strange Straight was written.
"I hate to say this, but we do have some industry experience. Are we supposed to perform before a band that just started their activities?"
Behind that slot, Group Sound's name was written. In the final slot, indicating they were the headliner of that live house.
"Uh... even if you say that, well. This decision was made by the organizers after considering various angles..."
"If you're considering various angles, shouldn't we be in that position instead? Or at least they should be moved much earlier."
"Miss Shimizu, about that... I can't give you an answer right now. After our headquarters reviews it..."
"Isn't that just saying you won't change it? Trying to brush it off like that."
Since she had crossed the line long ago, she had nothing to fear now. Shimizu continued to object. While the staff member tried to handle it with an embarrassed expression, a single sentence flew at her like a dagger.
"Are you scared, by any chance?"
"...What?"
A word that would never be heard under normal circumstances. While a reaction even bigger than the first meeting erupted, Suyun, the one who had spoken, crossed her arms and looked coldly at her opponent.
"I asked if you were scared because you're performing right before me."
"Are you crazy? How can you say..."
"Am I not allowed to? You said our band was terrible too. I don't see why I can't say it. Are you lacking confidence? Worried that we'll put on a much better show after you're done?"
"No, I was thinking about unqualified people taking good spots just because of their fame. Not some ridiculous idea like that."
Her pronunciation was slightly slurred, as if she were speaking through gritted teeth. Suyun snorted loudly enough for everyone to hear, then spoke again.
"Then, would you like to make a bet? Based on the audience's reaction."
"What?"
"The loser, for example... posts their defeat on social media. Or makes a formal apology in front of all the bands. Dogeza? Is that what you call it? Something like that."
The conference room buzzed at the incredibly provocative statement. While the organizing staff was left speechless, Shimizu of the band Strange Straight spat out her words.
"Where do you get that confidence?"
"I don't need confidence. Winning is a given. Are you going to do it? Or are you going to tuck your tail like a dog and run?"
Suyun replied with her chin slightly tilted up, as if the match had already been decided. At Suyun's attitude, Shimizu clenched her fists so hard that they nearly bled. Her fiercely trembling hands showed the sheer intensity of her rage...