Common Ground

Ch. 3: First Contact

PROLOGUE

Asuka: "Hey, Takeru... Is there a specific reason you decided on joining the band?"

"Could it be, that Kousaka girl? Reina, her name was, right?"

Takeru: "She'd smile at me, and I couldn't help but smile back at her. It's like she was trying to reel me in, but I wasn't really sure what she saw in me."

Asuka: "I'm sure she'd be open to converse with you. There's no harm in trying."

Takeru: "There's another reason why I wanted to join band. ...I've always wanted to share my love for electronic music. Electronic as in: house, trance, hard dance, dubstep, that kind of thing."

Asuka: "I'll tell Taki-sensei about it next time we all meet at band practice, does that sound good?"

[skip to 2:58]

At the drop, I play the same straight beat like before, but adding in the ride cymbal along into the rhythm.

I look up towards Narai-san and the others, and they were jamming along.

He was bobbing his head to the beat, whereas Junna, Masako and Tsubame were either lightly clapping and/or wagging their fingers to the beat or dancing along, as were Oono-san and Kayama-san.

As I continued to play, I look around the music room, until my eyes caught a certain someone I wasn't expecting to see me play.

It was Reina.

She was watching me from afar by the doorway.

My eyes were locked onto hers, as I kept my rhythm on-time.

I wasn't missing a beat.

I kept drumming on as she gazed upon me with the utmost intent.

The outro comes, and I finish playing, closing off the song with a cool and chill rhythm on the ride cymbal.

I look towards Narai and the others as they clap for me, and then quickly look back at Reina.

She offers a slight yet polite smile to me, and then quickly taking her leave before the others noticed her presence.

Narai: "Nice work everybody! And Takeru, awesome performance today!"

Taki: "What do you all think ensemble practice is for?"

Shuuichi: "Isn't it so we can practice playing together the way we would for a real performance...?"

Taki: "I don't know what it is that you've misunderstood, but I don't come to school on my days off just to play around with you all. I come to teach."

Takeru: "Do you have any idea what's going on with the band? I sure for one don't have a goddamn clue."

Shuuichi: "Those second-years must've been pretty passionate. They were supposedly butting heads with the third-years at the time."

Haruka: "Practice is cancelled until the section leaders' meeting is over. I'm really sorry."

As I began to ride away on my bike, I suddenly stopped as I heard the sound of a trumpet blaring over my music.