Music often brings people together in unexpected ways, as it speaks naught to the person, but to the core of their being.
Shirota Mahiru is coaxed into accompanying his friends to a free mall live show, globally hosted every year by STRIKE Organizat...
Mahiru heard a familiar voice ahead of him, and as he lifted his head to see Sakuya standing at the entrance of the school building, he waved enthusiastically. The adrenaline from that evening was still strong in his system, and if anything, he wanted badly, right at this moment, to just throw everything behind and go play with his newfound bandmates.
His joker of a friend threw an arm around his shoulders as soon as he was in range, dragging him along to the shoe lockers. "Damn, it's so early in the morning and you already have this much energy." Sakuya stared at Mahiru, as if the brunette had just grown two heads. "I'm actually hearing that from you? You, who prattles on about always being in high spirits?"
Mahiru unlatched his taller friend's arm from himself and chuckled as he opened his locker to change into his indoor shoes. "Mm-- yeah, you have a point. Don't even know." "You're suppressing your excitement aren't you?" "Wha--?"
"Oh? Did I actually hit correctly?" Sakuya started to change into his indoor shoes as well, greeting another classmate who entered the building at that moment. "What, you got a girlfriend or something? Damn... if the others hear about this, they are going to lose it, man. Hell, even I'm surprised!"
The brunette sighed, frowning at his friend for drawing baseless conclusions. His shoe locker was shut with a soft click, and he walked past Sakuya to get to the stairs. The latter followed soon after, trailing behind and squinting at the shorter male's back as suspiciously as a cop might eye a shady figure in the train station, and as they reached the second floor, Mahiru turned around slightly to look at him, his thumb hooked over his bag strap.
"It's nothing at all, really. My uncle kinda just brought some good news over the phone last night." Mahiru had no idea why he lied.
It just slipped.
What the hell was he doing?
Sakuya stared down at him for a few seconds, then, as if having bought the excuse, smiled in his trademark toothy grin that would reassure everyone for some reason, sometimes for reasons they didn't even know they were fretting over. He was that kind of friend; he was refreshing and honest, and although he could get annoying with his yelling and overreactions, his love for rumors was childishly entertaining. He aggressively ruffled Mahiru's hair, something he began to do as they got more familiar with each other. "If you're this happy about it, then it must've been good. Well, let's go. One of the few times I'm early to class. I would want everyone to know about it."
Mahiru watched his back disappear up the next set of stairs and pushed the uneasy feeling he knew stemmed from his utterance of mistruth, to the back of his mind, and followed.
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That afternoon, Mahiru disappeared before his friends could fetch him for their every-afternoon-hangout on the way home. He never usually went ahead, or somewhere else, without informing them first, but as Sakuya relayed Mahiru's "good news" story, Koyuki and Ryuusei's concerns seemed to shift away from their shoulders and up into the air where they dissipated.
