New Sound

Final

Nashry Miyeru's PoV

After taking a bunch of group photo, Damond dragged Emi, Eirin, and Mark somewhere. He said they have to go talk about something, then he gave me a wink again, before leaving. Hindi ko inaakalang magiging ganito s'ya pagkatapos ng rejection ko sakanya kanina. Akalain mong s'ya pa ang unang-una sa pagsuporta. Sabi ko lang naman crush eh.

Magkatabi kaming nakaupo sa bench habang nasa magkabilang gilid namin ang mga gitara namin. Yuki suddenly stood up. "Come on, let's get some coffee." 

I look up to him. "Sure." then I stand up too.

Sabi ni Damond nasa may bench lang din si tito Luke malapit rito sa backstage. Naglakad kami ni Yuki at sa may side banda malapit sa stage at natanaw namin ang isang bench kung nasaan si tito Luke. May cupholder s'ya sa tabi n'ya na meron pang dalawang cup of coffee na nakalagay. Sa tabi n'ya ay si tita Leo na nags-sketch. May clipboard s'ya sa lap n'ya at kumukumpas kumpas ang lapis na hawak n'ya.

"Oh, 'eto na pala 'yung dalawa." tito Luke remarked. "Your coffees," tito Luke get the coffee cups from the holder then he gave it to us. We uttered our 'thanks' then we immediately took a sip out of it. "Gawa ko 'yan. Dalhan ko raw kayo sabi ni sir Fernandez."

Si tita Leo ay busy pa rin sa pags-sketch na para bang hindi n'ya kami napapansin.

"Hayaan n'yo na 'yan si Leo, ganyan lang 'yan kapag nagdo-drawing."

As if a cue, napahinto si tita Leo sa ginagawa n'ya at inilapag sa gilid n'ya ang clipboard. Napatingin s'ya saamin. "Ah, hello you two. Sorry 'di ko agad kayo napansin." She stood up, patted Yuki's head.

After that, she leaned forward to give me a hug. "Busy lang. May biglaang pagawa ang daddy mo." 

Ito na siguro 'yung pabor na sinasabi ni daddy kanina. Ano naman kaya 'yon at bakit kailangan mag-drawing ni tita Leo sa oras na 'to?

"Nabanggit po sa'kin ni daddy na may pabor daw po s'yang hinihingi sainyo, pwede ko po bang malaman kung ano 'yun?"

Tita Leo glanced over to tito Luke. Tito Luke just nodded, then she get the clipboard on the bench holding it to her front for me to see.

There are two squares drawn on the paper. Ang isang square ay may naka-drawing na dalawang puzzle piece na magkadugtong, tapos sa gilid no'n ay may 8 na mas maliliit na puzzle pieces na para bang nalalaglag out of nowhere. Ang isang square naman ay may naka-drawing na isang puno na exposed ang roots, tapos meron itong string na nakatali sa body mismo ng puno at ang magkabilang dulo ng string ay nags-stretch hanggang sa dulo magkabilang side ng square. Ang ganda ng pagkaka-drawing kahit na rough sketch lang s'ya at hindi gano'n kadetalyado.

"Wow, para saan po gagamitin 'yan?"

"Album art concept."

I looked to tita Leo confused. "Para kanino po?"

"Para sa'min ni Iro," Si tito Luke ang sumagod. "Tsaka ng RH."

Si tito Luke, si daddy at ng RH? At album art. Wait, are they they going to have— "A collab album?" Yuki said, continuing my line of thoughts.

"Hmm, hmm." tito Luke nodded. "Iro believed that if we showed an act of collaboration, the media will shift their attention to the present instead of the events in the past,"

We remained quiet as we wait for tito Luke to continue. "Kaya sabi ko, sige, so they would stop asking about the plane crash, the arson. It's all just an event in the past now. We've had enough of bad memories to remember."

So this is how daddy wanted to turn the noise to their advantage. It's to answer with music. Not only tito Luke and daddy would live up to be a musician again, but also allowing RH to have their voice back— a thing that they lose when tito Zaka left.

Tita Leo nodded then he turned to Yuki. "Kuya Ran has been fixing the things between him and your mom, have he told you?"

Yuki nodded. "Kanina."

"Ah, wow improving si kuya Ran," tita Leo commented. Tito Luke laughed to it.

"Oh, and Shin's going back to flying soon— as a responsible pilot ever since that accident," Tita Leo started to count with her fingers. "Kuya Luke here would be recording his songs again," she continued. "And kuya Iro can go back to his original dream," she paused for a while, then a soft smile formed in her lips. "And... I'd like to think kuya Zaka can have an early parole."

Tito Luke smiled softly too as he looked us. "See, a lot of good things are set to come in the future. Don't you think it needs more attention than our past?"

Yuki and I nodded.

After that, we helped tita Leo draft the concept arts by suggesting some ideas.

Habang iniinom ko ang kape ko ay napapatingin nalang ako sa mga tao na nagsisibalikan na sa mga seats nila. Ang saya ng mga ngiti nila. It makes me wonder who do they want to win?

Come to think of it, we weren't really thinking about winning when we decided to join the battle of the bands. We only wanted to perform. Everyone until now are spending time with their loved ones, taking photos, capturing each memorable moments tonight. Baka nga ang ilan hindi na nila iniisip na may kailangan pang manalo sa event ngayon. They are just here to enjoy the music.

Then an announcement was made that the event will resume in a few minutes, and that the winners will be announced soon.

Shift their attention to present...

Our present still has the noise here and there, but it definitely is getting better as time goes by. There are loses, but time is doing its work to heal us from them. The lies of the arson case breaks us, yet allows us to learn more truth than the lies.

Our present is this... we are a source of a pleasing sound amidst the noise—  musicians on the stage of life.

›››