Final Riff

Chapter 11

"The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about."

Two weeks and three days...Mami thought as her hands glide on the neck of her guitar with a much complicated riffs she was practicing just two days ago.

A few more and I'll be able to pull it through, she thought and let herself be lost on the notes and rhythm that she was playing.

Four hours...that's how long it took her to finally perfected one of their oldest songs. It was frustrating and aggravatingly painful but once she was done, she felt fulfillment and happiness.

Four more songs...Follow ups on Dr. Hirayama...Therapies with Hiromi...Rehearsals everyday...It seemed endless work but it was better than nothing. Just the thought of it might be bewildering but to Mami it was a challenge she could take.

Her thoughts were too deep at counting the things she still need to do and the time left that she must accomplish them that she hadn't notice that she was no longer alone in the room.

"Hey..."

A voice called out. Mami looked up with her glassy eyes and once she finally able to clearly see who just called her, she smiled and put the guitar back to its rack.

"Hi Naoki. What's up?" She asked casually and saw that the woman was holding a plastic bag. She looked at it curiously until Naoki answered her unspoken question.

"It's 9:30pm already. Aren't you hungry?" She asked and finally deposited the inside of the plastic to a nearby table. Mami limped to where Naoki is and saw that she actually brought her dinner in the studio. She lost track of time and now that the food was right in front of her, she could actually feel the hunger seeping into her body. Mami smiled sheepishly to Naoki and sat down while Naoki neatly placed the food in front of her.

"Thanks for the food. I wouldn't notice that it was actually that late if you didn't come in," She said before taking a first bite to her dinner. It was warm and completely satisfying. She couldn't thank Naoki enough to take care of her even on late nights.

"I won't let you starve to death. Besides, you should be resting," Naoki told her and started cleaning up the room while Mami ate her dinner.

"There are still a few songs that I can't do. I want to perfect them or at least play them as decently as I can once we perform at the Tokyo Dome."

"I know that but still you must not push your body that much. You do a lot of things in a day so you should at least leave the nights to your rest. We don't want you to be too exhausted for the actual event, right?" Naoki argued. Mami saw the point on it and for a few seconds, she stayed quiet contemplating on what she should prioritize first. With a lot of thinking and arguments inside of her, Mami let out a defeated sigh and nodded her head to Naoki.

"You're right. After I'm finished eating, I'll go home," she said and that made the older woman smile.

"Good," she responded and waited until Mami finished her meal.

Once she was done, they both made their way to the parking lot. Naoki's car was still the same one she was using when she started working with Mami. It was nice and brought back a lot of memories from when Mami was still healthy but sometimes, sadness would creep on Mami. She would shrug it out and not let it be seen by Naoki. She hid those feelings in a tight smile or fidgeting on the radio asking the older woman if what genre should they listened to that time and it seemed to have worked. Naoki never noticed it and Mami could still enjoy the ride on Naoki's car.