Forget--Not?
When Chihaya Anon heard the title, a strange look flickered through her eyes.
The new original song from Kessoku Band... why did the na sound like a ballad? But before she could react further, the electric guitar on stage had already begun its long, drawn-out intro. The soft, undulating lody made her raise an eyebrow.
"I didn’t expect the song Haru wrote for Kessoku Band to be this llow..."
"That’s not it at all~"
Anon’s musing was suddenly interrupted by a sweet and gentle voice.
A mature girl with waist-length brown hair stood beside her, wearing a faint, graceful smile. Her face was soft and kind, yet her fingers were tightly gripping her own wrist, the pressure leaving pale marks on her delicate skin.
"Soyo-rin? When did you get here..."
Even Anon, usually strong-willed, was caught off guard by Nagasaki Soyo’s warm expression. It had been ages since Soyo had smiled at her like this.
"Just now~ I figured Kessoku Band would be starting soon, and Taki-chan ssaged in the group chat, right? She should be with Raana and Tomori by now."
"Once Kessoku Band finishes performing, it’ll be about ti for us to go on stage too~"
Soyo answered without rushing, her voice gentle and smooth.
But despite her gentle words and smile, Anon felt deeply uneasy. It was as if sothing darker lurked behind Soyo’s calm expression, sothing she couldn’t quite na.
In short, Soyo was giving her serious goosebumps right now.
Weird. What’s going on?
Anon hadn’t felt this unsettled since the first ti she t Nagasaki Soyo.
After learning the truth behind Soyo’s cold, distant side, she couldn’t help but feel a chill when faced with this kind of fake smile again.
It was like watching soone smile with only their face, not their heart.
"Um..."
"Soyo-rin? What did you an when you said ’that’s not it at all’?"
Anon asked cautiously.
Soyo’s smile froze slightly. Her long fingers fidgeted with each other. After a pause, her soft voice dropped lower.
"I just thought... maybe this song would sound better with a keyboard."
"Eh? A keyboard?"
Anon blinked in confusion, not really grasping what she ant.
But Soyo didn’t seem to care how Anon responded. Her gentle, beautiful smile returned, her sky-blue eyes curving like crescent moons.
And just as Anon had feared, Soyo’s inner emotions were completely out of sync with her outer calm. Beneath the surface, a roiling sea of negative emotion stirred.
She was furious.
Not even when Sakiko interrupted her alone ti with Haru had she felt this much anger. But hearing Kita Ikuyo say "this is our original song" set her off like never before.
Because no one knew this song better than she did.
Because this was the song Haru had written... for her. It was supposed to belong only to her.
Nagasaki Soyo had never imagined she’d hear this familiar lody again, let alone during another band’s performance.
Her frustration and rage surged until she felt like storming the stage and demanding to know why Haru had given her song to soone else.
But she held back.
Because underneath the fury was sothing softer, an ache she couldn’t describe.
In the end, this was her own fault.
"If only I’d been earlier..."
Her muttered words made Anon frown.
"Soyo-rin? Did you say sothing?"
"It’s nothing~ Anyway, we should head backstage now. I think Taki-chan and Tomori should already be there, right?"
Soyo’s gentle smile remained unchanged.
But her tone had shifted, growing flatter beneath the sweetness.
"R-Right..."
Soyo’s behavior felt off to Anon, but she didn’t have ti to dwell on it.
On stage, Kita Ikuyo’s vocals were soaring. Her composure, her confidence, her flawless control of breath and rhythm. All of it intensified the pressure Anon felt.
Kessoku Band really were on another level. They’d already been strong enough to beat famous bands at Sumr Fest, and now they were even stronger?
Anon bit her pale pink lips, her nerves beginning to gnaw at her resolve.
But she couldn’t back down, not now. No matter how strong the enemy, she had to win. The stakes were too high for hesitation.
"I have to win. I will win..."
No matter what.
Wow... I didn’t expect Kita’s guitar playing to improve this much.
Gotoh Hitori held her guitar tightly as her pick fluttered up and down across the strings. Kita’s powerful vocals echoed steadily in her ears.
Even though they were still in the ballad-like intro, she wasn’t even pausing to breathe. Her timing and breath control were incredible.
Behind her, Nijika’s precise, powerful drumming kept the heartbeat of the performance. The whole band had internalized this song to the point where their muscles played on instinct.
Even if Nijika closed her eyes, she could still hit every beat perfectly, her drumming weaving tightly with the low, resonant bass.
"..."
It was almost ti for her solo.
Bocchi’s face was filled with concentration as her left hand shifted between chords.
As lead guitarist, it was her responsibility to carry the lody when there was no keyboard. The weight of the entire song now rested on her small, solitary shoulders.
"Haa..."
She exhaled slowly. The roar of her guitar echoed through her ears like a scream from the depths of her soul. The faint fuzz of distortion surrounded her like a dream.
Her downcast eyes slowly lifted toward the light.
Try to rember, did I play this in the dream?
Her trembling fingers tightened around the pick.
BWAAANG!!!
mories from the dream surged through her fingertips like a flood. In that instant, her wide, sky-blue eyes snapped open, pure and bright. Her right hand blazed across the strings as her left slid rapidly along the frets, reversing the gentle ballad into a roaring declaration.
Everyone was giving their all. She couldn’t let herself falter here.
Because she was his one and only Guitar Hero.
"Don’t leave alone!!!"
As Kita scread the line, Bocchi’s fierce solo erupted like a girl breaking free of her shackles—her fast, dazzling runs expressing a desperate step forward after hesitation.
Even Togawa Sakiko, watching from a corner of the auditorium, widened her eyes at the sudden change.
Mouth slightly open in awe, she whispered, "What an incredible lody..."
"It’s a good song, right?"
Kazami Haru, clearly proud, grinned beside her.
Sakiko blinked at him, then chuckled softly like he’d caught her off guard.
"They’re lucky... getting to perform sothing you wrote."
Haru just raised an eyebrow, a wry smile playing at his lips.
"Not just anyone can play this piece. Even professional bands would need ti and effort to handle ’Forget--Not.’ For a rookie group like them to pull it off... they must’ve trained like hell."
Sakiko nodded in agreent. "That lead guitarist really is impressive."
With no keyboard, the lead guitar had to carry the weight of the whole piece. To perform such a complex solo with that level of perfection didn’t just require practice, it demanded real talent.
Kessoku Band had raised the bar. MyGO would need to bring sothing explosive to beat them.
Haru clearly felt the sa. He turned to Sakiko and spoke quietly.
"I’m heading backstage."
"I understand. Go on."
After a small nod from Sakiko, Haru smiled apologetically and headed off.
In terms of composition, ’Forget--Not’ and MyGO’s ’Blue Snowflower’ were on par.
But ’Forget--Not’ was harder. It demanded more from the vocalist’s lungs and the guitarist’s fingers.
That’s why Haru had assigned it to Kessoku Band. If Tomori had tried to sing it, she might’ve collapsed halfway through.
"Hopefully Kita’s performance doesn’t rattle Tomori and the others too much..."
Sighing, Haru picked up his pace toward the practice room.
...
"Sorry! We’re a little late!"
Chihaya Anon, still wearing her cultural committee armband, hurriedly pushed open the door to the preparation room. Right behind her, Nagasaki Soyo entered with a smile as if nothing was wrong.
Inside, Shiina Taki, who had been standing with her arms crossed, raised a sharp eyebrow in irritation.
"You’re way too slow."
"Sorry, Taki-chan. Anon-chan was waiting for , so I held her up a little."
Soyo offered her apology with a soft voice.
And Taki, who was notoriously weak to gentle pressure, couldn’t stay angry. She clutched her drumsticks and glanced toward the stage with a restless expression. Even backstage, they could hear Kessoku Band performing.
Beside her, Raana was munching on a matcha-flavored rice cracker, showing no signs of anxiety or nerves on her face.
In the corner sat Tomori, gripping her microphone timidly. When she saw Anon and Soyo arrive, she raised her hand slightly and greeted them with a tiny voice.
"Kessoku Band should be finishing soon. There’s still a bit of ti before we go up. Should we use this to run through it one more ti?"
"Run it now?"
Anon’s eyes lit up slightly at Taki’s suggestion.
They had already practiced this song countless tis, training seven days a week to burn it into muscle mory. But even so, faced with a performance this important, the nerves always ca back.
Kessoku Band was good.
Especially Kita Ikuyo. As a rival, her performance had been astonishing. Even soone like Anon, who was so good at pumping herself up, couldn’t help but waver a little.
And Bocchi, another pink-haired guitarist just like her, was on a completely different level.
Not to ntion the "bet" hanging between Anon and Kita had only made the psychological pressure worse.
"I don’t mind."
Nagasaki Soyo gave a small nod.
"I wanna play."
Raana raised her right hand in reply like she was answering a roll call.
Finally, everyone turned to look at Tomori.
The gray-haired girl clutched her microphone and looked around nervously. After a mont of hesitation, she gave a small nod as well.
"Alright, let’s begin."
Taki, ever the woman of action, grabbed her drumsticks and marched to her drum kit. The others quickly picked up their instrunts and began preparing.
The tap-tap of the drumsticks signaled the start, and the passionate sound of "Blooming Blue Snowflower" rang out.
Kazami Haru arrived at just the right mont. As he stepped backstage, he found MyGO in the middle of their rehearsal.
The girls noticed him, of course. But none of them broke focus. They finished the whole piece from beginning to end without pause.
As the last chord rang out and the final note settled, the lead guitarist, Stray Cat, pulled back her hand and flashed a playful smile. She set her guitar down and ran straight toward Haru.
He was ready.
With practiced ease, Haru pulled a candy from his pocket and popped it into her mouth, pacifying the wild kitten just enough to settle her down.
Shiina Taki shot Haru a questioning look. He shrugged and said directly, "Looks like you’ve all been practicing hard. That was a solid run."
His casual complint made the tension in the room ease, just a little. All except Soyo, whose eyes glinted oddly as she stared at Haru’s face.
"Of course. Don’t underestimate us, Kazami."
Taki crossed her arms and raised her chin, trying to appear calm and collected to show him she could be trusted.
But Haru, knowing her well, could see right through it.
She only ever acted like that when she was flustered.
"Yeah, yeah~ Just keep that montum on stage, and you’ll have the whole room in the palm of your hand."
Haru raised an eyebrow with a confident smile. His relaxed, assured voice had a strange way of making people believe in him without question.
At that mont, Soyo suddenly asked, her tone neutral but cutting, "Do you think we can win, Haru?"
Without a hint of hesitation, Haru smiled slightly and replied, "Of course. I believe in you."
Belief is your magic.jpg.
The mont he said it, sothing flickered in Soyo’s eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly as they toyed with the ends of her brown hair. Seeing that familiar look on his face, she murmured to herself:
"Beating ’Forget--Not’...?"
Even now, the bitterness in her chest refused to fade.
The fact that Kessoku Band had perford "Forget--Not" enraged her.
She couldn’t accept that another band had claid her song as their "original." But she had no outlet to vent those swirling emotions.
"Ugh... Haru, you idiot! Saying stuff like that just makes more nervous!"
Chihaya Anon puffed out her cheeks and gently bumped her forehead against Haru’s chest.
Maybe because he was here now, the anxiety in her heart had eased just a little.
But knowing she had to go head-to-head against such a powerful rival, while her "anchor" of a boyfriend couldn’t stand beside her on stage...
That unease still wouldn’t go away.
"As long as you all perform the way you’ve practiced, you won’t lose to Kessoku Band. Not even close."
"I’ll be right behind you the whole way. Just go out there and give it everything you’ve got."
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