EX-istential Crisis

Chapter 16: The Shenanigans Syndicate

The group chat was buzzing with notifications as Eremiya joined, greeted with a flood of memes and ridiculous gifs from the homies. Nelly, Shin, Dan, Ryan, Beru, Ein, and Neisan were all active in the chat, along with Eremiya now. Even Amadeus and Hiroto were there, though they were often too busy with student council duties to engage much. This time, though, Eremiya came in hot with a new idea.

Eremiya: "Yo, guys. I need help."

Shin immediately replied, "What's up, dude? Spill it."

Eremiya sent a poster to the group chat, its vibrant colors catching everyone's attention. The poster read: "Band Me Daddy! Battle of the Bands! First prize: a new set of equipment sponsored by Gibson and Yamaha!"

Dan: "Lmao, that name."

Ryan: "Band Me Daddy? Bruh. 😂"

Eremiya: "Don't get caught up in the name. It's a legit contest, okay? I want in, but I can't do it solo. I just wanna play guitar."

Nelly chimed in with a laugh, "So what, you want us to form a band?"

Eremiya: "Exactly. I'll take lead guitar, but I need the rest of y'all to fill in the roles. We don't have much time, and the contest is in a week."

Shin: "I'm in. Sounds like a fun challenge. Plus, I've always wanted to try composing music for real."

Dan: "Yeah, count me in. I can mess around on the bass. Might not be pro level, but we'll see."

Ryan: "Same, I've got a piano lying around. Time to dust it off and make some noise."

Beru: "Oh yes, I miss beating my drums"

Nelly shook his head, chuckling as he typed, "Nice. Another one of our shenanigans, huh?"

Beru: "Hell yeah, dude. This is gonna be epic"

Ein: "I'll be there for moral support and comic relief. I think I would be hanging out with Amadeus and Hiroto there. Might as well bring Mira and her friends"

With the enthusiasm brewing, they decided to figure out who would play which roles. Since Eremiya already called dibs on lead guitar, the others spun a virtual wheel in the group chat to randomly decide who would fill the remaining roles.

The wheel spun and landed on Nelly.

Shin: "Nelly! Looks like you're our vocalist and rhythm guitar, bro."

Nelly nearly spat out his drink, typing, "Wait, what?! I'm not even a vocalist."

Ryan: "You got this, man. You've got that emotional voice anyway. Plus, you play rhythm guitar already."

Shin smirked in the chat, "Also, you've got the 'heartbroken dude' energy. It's perfect for the theme."

Nelly: "What theme?"

Eremiya replied, "Pain."

Nelly stared at the word for a moment before typing, "That's way too broad. We need something more specific."

The chat went quiet for a second before all the guys responded with variations of, "Use your own pain as a reference, duh."

Nelly groaned internally. Of course, they'd say that. Ever since the whole thing with Miro, his friends had been teasing him about using his emotional baggage for creative outlets. But in this case, it wasn't the worst idea. He sighed and typed, "Fine. I guess we can work with it."

Shin: "Perfect. you better start writing something based on that."

Nelly: "Fine fine. Don't get cringed if that's the case d*ckheads."

Ryan: "Why not? That's literally your aesthetic, bro."

Nelly shook his head, but couldn't help grinning. His friends were chaotic, but they had a point. He did have a lot of pent-up feelings about Miro and his messy emotions. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to channel that into a song.