Tokyo Revengers One Shots

Chapter 17

akkun Sendo~2018
I glanced up from the paper, not sure if what I was reading was even remotely close to what I was reading, I finally shook my head, finally having enough of all of the noise they were causing "No, guys that is all wrong."
Everyone looked up at me, "How would you know?" Makoto asked.
"Yeah, I didn't even see you doing anything," Yamagishi said, crossing his arms.
I shrugged, "that might be true, but I do have an ear for music. Just ask Takuya." Everyone rolled their eyes at me.

So, long story short, my friends and I decided to start a band, even though Takuya and I were the only ones who had music experience. We didn't really know what to expect of it, we were all just some random dudes without University degrees, or proper jobs, trying to make a living off of something I thought everyone would enjoy. The thing is, I just don't think Yamagishi and Makoto have their hearts in this. They come to the studio (which is just the basement of my mother's house) unprepared everyday, and they don't remember simple things like key signatures and octaves.
I don't know if I can even call us a band, I mean we have instruments, and we have songs, but we don't have people who can actually play the things. I am the lead singer, the recorder, studio owner, record labeler, and social media manager. Yamagishi is supposed to be the bass guitar, but he never plugs in his instrument, and he won't tune it before he plays, so randomly there will be a sharp note in a rest bar. Makoto is the drummer, or well he is supposed to be. Instead, he just hits the hi-hat a bunch of times, which is very distracting, not to mention that doesn't even give us a rhythm. Then, Takuya is our bass guitar, to cover for Yamagishi, as well, he is our event planner, first aid member, the director, sound machine, and department for finances.

I'm not sure if we could ever make a living off this, because we have only performed 3 times, and first time we did was at a cafe, and the manager told us we sucked and we had to leave, and someone threw a coffee at Yamagishi and we needed to buy a new guitar and patch cables because of the damage. The second time we played was for Yamagishi's parents, and they said they liked it, but then I later found out they were both deaf and they didn't have their hearings aids in the whole time. Nobody really will come out and directly give us feedback, most of the time we ask people we know, and they probably just feel bad and say we don't need improvement. I wish that Takemichi was around, because he has always been known to tell the truth to us. He would probably also be smarter than us, so if he joined we wouldn't need to practice 3 times a day so we wouldn't forget, because he was always so determined, and he said he actually used to play guitar and trumpet back in elementary school.

I looked at Yamagishi's guitar, "It's not even plugged in, and where did half of the strings go?" I asked, looking at the $6,000 guitar we just recently bought.
He looked down at the guitar, which was definitely missing 2 of the 4 strings. "Um," he began, "I don't know, I swear I didn't touch it."
I rolled my eyes and looked over at Makto, not expecting anything more from him, "And, for the last time, stop hitting the hi-hat, do you not know how to play anything else?" He shrugged, looking the other way. I looked over at Takuya, "Hey Takuya, you're going to have to become our drummer from now on, I can't deal with this."
He looked at me with a confused look on his face, "Drums? I thought you wanted me to play the bass guitar."
I shrugged, "I guess I will have to cover that, for now. You know the drums better than I do, plus I don't know if I could sing and play the drums at the same time, that might be hard for me to do. Besides, I feel like I can count on you."
He nodded, "Okay, if you say so."
I smiled. Makoto and Yamagishi got in my face, they looked mad. "What's wrong guys?" I asked, backing away from them a little bit.
"You just gave our roles away, that is so not cool." Yamagishi said.
I shrugged, not knowing what to say. Why were they mad anyway? They can't even play their instruments properly, so why should they get to play it? We need proper sound, not just someone who will be hitting random stuff. Plus, it wasn't my fault for actually wanting to sound good, because like, they could go right ahead and just play random stuff, but I want something that will sound nice, and that people will like to listen to. If we want to get anywhere in our career, we need to work harder and aim towards the top, because the music industry is hard to be successful in, especially when your band is inexperienced and can't play a song even if their lives depend on it.

"Well, what do we get to do then?" Yamagishi asked, crossing his arms like a literal child.
I looked around my basement, and walked over to a bucket of random things. I finally found something, and I gave them each something. "What are these?" Yamagishi asked, shaking the thing. Makoto started to do the same thing.
I slapped them both, and yelled "hey! Don't do that, these are expensive instruments. That is a tambourine, and that is a cow bell."
Yamagishi laughed, "Hah, you got a cowbell Makoto!"
I felt like I could depend on them at this moment, maybe they would stand up to the occasion and actually be able to properly play these, they were just precision pieces, which could have a really nice touch to our performance. "These are the easiest instruments to play, only idiots wouldn't know how to play them." I looked over at them, and I couldn't even believe myself. I glared at them, Makoto was shaking the cow bell, and hitting it off the wall, and Yamagishi was punching the tambourine with a hammer. I screamed "NO! Don't do that!" They both looked over at me, with blank expressions on their faces. "These are pieces of art, they need to be taken care of, you need to appreciate music, because without it our world would be so empty and expressionless." I started to explain, until Yamagishi suddenly inputted my train of thought.
"Wow Akkun, I never knew you were so poetic." He said.
"Yeah, you're a poet and you didn't even know it." Makoto commented.
They both snickered. "I think that rhymes," Yamagishi said. He nodded.
I groaned, "Guys, get to work, we have a performance this weekend, we don't have time to be idiots, this is serious, so act like it."
"This weekend?" they both said in unison.
I nodded, "Yes, this weekend."
"Wait, like Saturday or sunday?" Yamagishi asked.
I shrugged, "Does it matter?"
Makoto nodded, "I mean, I prefer saturday, but whatever works I guess."
I signed, "let's just practice, I don't want to put up with this."
"We are totally doomed." Yamagishi said. Makoto nodded, "I agree, Akkun will probably get scared and duck out of it, and will be alone in our performance."
I clenched my fist, "Excuse me? You two never show up for our practices, actually, you two never come, and then when you do you just sit there and eat."
They looked at each other. I looked around, "Hey, where did Takuya go?" I hadn't even noticed he wasn't there, he was sitting there a few moments ago, but I did spend who knows how long yelling at Yamagishi and Makoto about their ability to play, so I never noticed anything. I shook my head, "You know what, let's just practice, he will be back soon, probably."
Yamagashi laughs, "So, we're missing our drums, this is going to be interesting." I rolled my eyes, ignoring his comment, and I grabbed the guitar and examined the missing stings. I signed and tried to do with what I had.