Fikush-ON!

Ch. 16: Winter Festival

As the day of the Winter Festival draws near, most of the school is busy making preparations, which include constructing stalls, making decorations, and rehearsing performances. Almost everything is located indoors, save for a few stalls outside, which are there mostly to indicate that 'yes, there's a festival going on, come on in'.

It was lunch break. After enjoying a sandwich and a cup of coffee at the club room, I grabbed Patricia (which I'd brought to school a month ago) and headed to the second floor of the west wing, where I met up with my bandmates. For the past week, we've been rehearsing the song daily. This time wasn't any different.

The senior was the lead guitarist and the vocalist. The girl played keyboard, while the two other students played bass and drums, respectively. And I, of course, was the rhythm guitarist. Even though none of them were in any music related clubs, they were still good. I felt myself inferior amongst them.

As the sounds of the instruments died down, the senior guy, who was standing in the front of everyone else, turned to look at me and nodded.

"Very good, Sugimoto-san. You're a great student," he complimented me.

I couldn't help but chuckle sheepishly. "H-heh, really now?"

"You know," the girl said suddenly. "There's something that I noticed."

As we all directed our attention to her, she continued.

"Sugimoto-san, I saw you lip syncing along the vocals."

"Y-you did?" I said, flinching a bit.

The senior seemed surprised, and soon faced me.

"How's your singing voice?" he asked me out of nowhere.

Trying my best to keep my cool, I asked back: "Why? What's up?"

"Just thinking. It'd be good to have a backup singer in case I get sick or something," he said with a shrug.

Me singing, huh...? Not sure how that thought tastes in my mouth.

"Eh, I don't know..." I muttered, glancing down towards my guitar. "I'm not much of a singer, though I don't mind doing it."

The senior seemed to think something for a while, until he picked up the microphone stand in front of him and carried it over to me.

"Let's give it a try."

I blinked couple of times. "Wha—?"

"You remember the lyrics, right? Or do you need a cheat sheet?" he asked me.

"I, uh... N-no, yeah, I remember them," I stuttered. Now this is something I wasn't prepared for.

The senior nodded to himself. "Alright, then. Once more!"

He gestured to the drummer to start the song. I felt like objecting, maybe even fleeing, but my thinking was cut short when the drummer set the beat, and we started playing. Ah, fuck it, let's just get this over with. We reached the point where the vocals would start, and I began singing.

Hours passed by, and soon the classes were over. As usual, I packed my stuff, waited for my friends to do the same, and we stepped out of the classroom, heading towards the basement. However, I felt thirsty, so we decided to stop by the cafeteria to buy some juice.

"So, let me get this straight..." Ichiro muttered as I fed a coin into the vending machine. "They actually made you the lead singer?"

I nodded, keeping my attention on the machine. Hmm, I'm feeling like strawberry juice today...

"Did the previous singer suck that much?" Tadaaki quipped.

"No, not at all. It was actually his idea," I explained as I grabbed my juice box. "The dude must've been drunk or something."