[Alice Nine] Remembering Christmas [Song 1]

Chapter o1: Band

[Alice Nine : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1unAOdbJ7-Y : NUMBER SIX]

“Really,” Nao started, “I’m serious, you guys!” The others exchanged glances before bursting into laughter. Nao played with his dark brown hair and adjusted his glasses. His brown eyes showed that he wasn’t playing around.

Shou was the first to recover. He ran his hand through his soft red-brown hair and grinned. He apologized, “Sorry, Nao. We didn’t think you were serious. You don’t look like the type to be in a punk band…act like the type…” His amber contacts sparked with amusement.

Nao pouted. “I can too!” he protested. “I just pay attention to the teachers more than you guys do,” he added, “and I try to stay out of trouble. My parents wouldn’t like it if something happened.”

Hiroto grinned. The short blonde (with black chunks) haired boy bounced up and down on his heels. “So when do we first practice? Where? What’s our band name?”

Tora held the younger still. “Calm down, Pon,” he demanded. “Shou, Saga, and I haven’t agreed to this yet,” he added. Hiroto stared at him, pleading him to join. The black haired musician cleared his throat. Even a guy couldn’t ignore Hiroto’s pout. “B-but…” Tora sighed, “I’m going to – as your rhythm guitarist.”

Shou and Saga shared a silent conversation. The two nodded. Two girls passed them. Saga smirked. “Excuse me for a bit, gentlemen,” he said. He turned around and tried using the window as a mirror to fix his blonde hair. He strolled to the two girls. “Hello, ladies, how are you today?” They pushed past him. Saga scoffed, “Talk about a boring personality.”

His friends laughed at him. Saga glared at them. The bell rang. “Whoops,” Nao mumbled, “we’re late…” It was a pretty big deal to Nao, he’s rarely late (without a good excuse) unlike his new band mates. The others shrugged.

“Better head to Yamato-sensei’s class then,” Shou advised. “You don’t want to get scolded by him… He’s such a pain in the ass,” he commented. They shivered. Nao sprinted down the hallways while his friends lagged behind.

---x---

“Murai-kun, you’re late,” Yamato-sensei commented. “Since you’re such a good student, I’ll let it slide this time. You must have an excellent university in mind, after all.” Nao grinned sheepishly and nodded his thanks.

Ten minutes later, his four friends entered the classroom. Yamato-sensei frowned. “Tardy. All four of you,” Yamato-sensei declared, “why can’t you be like Murai-kun?” Nao’s face flushed. He opened his text book and covered his face with it. He didn’t want to see his friends’ “what the crap” faces.

Fifteen more minutes into the class, Nao was listening attentively to one of Yamato-sensei’s lectures; even though he wanted to sleep like Saga, but he couldn’t do it. Shou was staring out the window, Hiroto was sneaking food into his mouth, and Tora was reading comics.

Yamato-sensei trailed to the back of the class, where Nao and his friends were. He smacked the back of Shou’s head, causing Shou to drop his arm that supported his head and nearly falling out of his chair. He whacked the top of Hiroto’s head, almost causing him to choke, but he dropped his food. He snatched Tora’s comic, rolled it up, and slapped his head with it. Then he hit Saga’s head, causing the bassist to wake up with a start.

“In the hall, all four of you,” he demanded, “stay quiet and still until I say you can come back in.” The four stood up and mentally cheered. They wandered into the corridor and stood there for a while. Then Hiroto began playing his imaginary guitar. The others joined in. They laughed. Yamato-sensei came out. They scurried to the wall. The teacher eyed them for a while before retreating to the classroom.

A black haired girl giggled at the scene. She played with her strands of blue, green, and light brown hair before heading back to her own class.

---x---

“I’m so sorry!” they both cried, picking up their books that they dropped.

She picked up a pair of drumsticks and smiled. “You’re a drummer?” she questioned. He nodded. “That’s cool, I’m a musician myself,” she said, trying to start a conversation. “I’m Akiyama Kazumi,” she introduced herself.

“Murai Naoyuki, but my friends call me Nao,” Nao replied. He handed her a black with blue, green, and white polka-dotted composition notebook. “So what do you play?”

“Bass, piano, violin, acoustic guitar, drums,” she listed. Kazumi grinned, “I also play trash cans, desks, walls, and floors,” she added. Nao stared at her bewildered. She laughed and started drumming on the floor. “See? I play the floor!” They shared a short laugh.

“Are you new around here?” Nao asked. Kazumi nodded. She stood up and helped her new friend up as well. “Cool, where are you from?”

“I’m part French, came from Paris,” Kazumi answered. “I’m just getting to know the school this week; I officially start next week, since I have to get settled in,” she informed. Nao nodded. Then an important question entered Kazumi’s mind, “Are the teachers nice here?”

Nao grinned and answered, “If you’re a good student, they’re nice. Most of them are really strict though.” Kazumi nodded.

“I like your eyes, they’re really pretty,” Kazumi opinioned. Nao flushed in embarrassment. It’s not everyday a girl comes up to you and say that. Kazumi smiled, a light pink settled onto her cheeks, “I’ll see you around, Nao-kun!”

Kazumi walked away from Nao. He stared at her until she disappeared out of his range of vision. His friends paraded up to him. Hiroto chided him, “Nao-channn! We need a band name and leader~!”

“Nao’s the leader, because he thought of the band first,” Tora said. “People who say Nao is the leader raise their hand,” he requested. His hand rose, so did Shou’s and Saga’s, whereas both of Hiroto’s hands rose in the air. Nao grinned sheepishly.

“Now for the band name…” Shou started. “Any suggestions?”

“Alice Nine,” Nao answered.

Hiroto blinked and questioned, “Is that English?” Nao nodded. Hiroto grinned.

Saga yawned. “Okay, that’s settled. When and where is practice?”

Nao thought about it. He smiled. “Leave that to me,” Nao chided. They all shrugged. “Anyways, we should start composing,” he added. Hiroto shoved a sheet in front of Nao’s face. “Hiro-Pon…What is this?”

“It’s a song, Nao!” Hiroto remarked resentfully. “I don’t have any lyrics yet, but these are guitar notes!” He grinned proudly.

Tora arched an eyebrow and smirked. He teased Hiroto, “For either both guitars or just lead?” Hiroto’s grin faded into a pout.

“Lead guitar…” Hiroto answered. Swiftly, the sulk disintegrated. “But I can add rhythm guitar notes! Just watch me! I’ll even get bass and drums in!!!” Hiroto chirped. “I’m not sure about lyrics though, I’m sort of poetically challenged!”

Saga snorted. “I wonder why…!” he retorted sarcastically. Hiroto frowned.

“Saga’s bullying me, Tora-chan!” Hiroto whined, clinging onto Tora’s arm. Tora sighed and ruffled the younger’s hair. Tora and Hiroto were like brothers, but Hiroto and Saga were like…cat and dog. Tora also liked to debate on random things with Nao… But debating usually turned to big fat arguments. All of this made Shou the peacekeeper of the group.

“Guys…” Shou sighed, “Let’s go get something to eat! I’m starved!” Shou had strange tactics to maintain peace in the group – mostly involving food. “Anybody got any money on them?”

They searched their pockets and shrugged, holding out loose change. Nao took out his wallet and counted. “$36 dollars,” he stated. “Lunch is on me today anyways,” he mused sadly. “Where to?”

They exchanged glances and shrugged. Shou grinned sheepishly. “Let’s just skip school”—he paused when Nao glared at him—“lunch,” he continued, making Nao lose the glare, “and explore restaurants and cafés,” he finished.

His friends agreed. They walked for half a mile before just going into a random McDonald’s and ordering. Munching happily on his friends, Hiroto thought of another thing. “Shou-kun can help me with the lyrics!” he suggested. Shou managed to swallow his Coke instead of choking (like the author).

“What?!” Shou cried.

Hiroto grinned. “Well… Saga-kun and Nao-chan already agreed to help me with their parts since I have Tora-chan’s and mine finished so we need lyrics. Most bands have their lead singer write song lyrics, and Shou is definitely not poetically challenged!” he explained.

Shou sighed and nodded his approval. “Really, this band thing is getting to be a pain in ass,” Saga commented. “We don’t even know if we’re able to enter a contest, or get a gig, or—”

“Way to be optimistic, Saga-kun,” Hiroto griped. Saga rolled his eyes. “But with Nao-chan’s help, we can have a concert!”

Saga rested his head in his palm. “Hiro-Pon,” he remarked, “you’re too optimistic.”

Shou frowned. “In this kind of thing, we need an optimistic person, Saga,” Shou protested calmly. Saga smiled.

“Just kidding! Jeez, you guys can’t take a joke,” Saga commented. “Let’s just eat and work on the song,” he suggested. Saga’s first nicest advice of the day shocked everyone… Meaning, they just got to work.

“The name of this song is…?” Shou questioned. Hiroto shrugged. “Can I hear it?” Hiroto nodded. He took out his guitar and started strumming. Shou started jotting down words. “We have five members, right?” he questioned.

“Yup,” Nao answered. “Why?”

“We need a title of some sort,” Shou informed.

“What’s the song about?” Tora inquired.

“Friendship, maybe love…” Shou replied. “Nao, get us some more fries, please?” Nao sighed, but nodded. He stood up.

“And a cheeseburger!” Hiroto added.

“Make that two!” Saga continued.

At the counter, he saw her again. She smiled. Kazumi was the first to speak, “Are they your friends?”

Nao nodded, “Yup, and band mates.”

Kazumi grinned. “It must be fun, being in a band,” she said. Nao smiled as well.

“It is fun. Do you want to join? We could use a pianist,” Nao requested.

Politely, she declined. Her decision made him confused. “I’m interested in other things,” she clarified. “Like…” she halted, going into thought. “Photographing,” she finished, “I’m into photography.”

“You’re a photographer?”

“Yeah,” she smiled, “and a poet.”

“Miss, your order,” the employee announced. She grabbed the plastic bag and waved at him.

“Later, Nao-kun,” she said. Nao waved back before ordering and returning to the table.

“What took so long?” Tora asked.

“They ran out of fries,” he lied, popping one into his mouth. “Want some?” Tora took some.

Shou changed the subject with a proud smile, “The song is called Number Six. It’s not entirely done yet, but it’s pretty close.”

---x---

“Ah! We meet again,” Kazumi mused. They sat down in a coffee shop. Kazumi with a mug of hot chocolate, banana nut muffin, and a novel. On the other hand, Nao had iced mocha and a big chocolate chip cookie. Nao chuckled as Kazumi smiled. “So how’s school?”

“It’s fine, normal,” Nao replied, “and nothing out of the ordinary. The guys get late, in trouble, we head out for lunch, go back to school, and they get late, in trouble, they get detention, and I go home.”

Kazumi raised an eyebrow and asked him what he did when his friends were in trouble. “I took notes on the teacher’s lectures,” Nao replied, blushing out of embarrassment.

Kazumi chuckled. “I see, you’re a natural student,” she complimented, patting his head. That only made Nao flush even more. “But I can also tell that you’re talented and creative,” she added, staring into his eyes. “You can be loud and hyper… Yet, sometimes you give up too easily, causing you to go spiraling into misery,” she continued.

Nao stared at her, wide eyed. “H-how,” he stuttered, “did you know that?”

“You can tell a lot about a person by the way they act,” Kazumi replied with a grin. “Not just by their pretty eyes,” she praised him, again. Nao’s face reddened. She sipped her hot chocolate and began reading her novel. The next couple of minutes were spent in silence.

A peaceful, serene silence…Nao mused, not at all awkward. Everything was just natural. Kazumi put down her book, searching through her bag. Nao watched, puzzled.

“I found this,” she said, handing him a flyer. “I thought your band could use it!”

For amateur musicians and bands,

The Battle of the Bands, Music Clash: II!

Each day of the week, a couple of bands perform. Each week of the month, a band or bands gets voted off.

The winner wins a total of $100,000, a trophy, and bragging rights!

To begin, be here at Takuma’s Coffee Shack on November 4th at 16:30!

Nao glanced up at her. She grinned like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. “W-where…?”

“It was from that pile over there,” she pointed to a stack of flyers. “It’s nice of them to host something that could be a great opportunity for your band, right?” She frowned in disappointment, “But they should really hand them out. The more competition, the better, right?”