Music for the Silence

Hello, Happy World!

Awaiting Pastel*Palettes' response to performing at CiRCLE's event, Shizuka made her way to the station to return to the live house. As she walked to the station, the mute noticed her hand shaking so, not from excitement, though.

'Calm down... Calm down, myself,' Shizuka thought to herself, holding her shaking hand and taking some nice, easy breaths.

She then noticed a crowd standing right by the station. Curiosity took over her, and Shizuka approached the group of people.

As she walked closer, she heard what sounded like a performance going on in the crowd, a musical one at that.

The mute managed to squeeze her way through the crowd and saw what seemed like a band performing. Like the other bands she had met, this one consisted of a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist, and a vocalist. Rather than a keyboardist, however, this band had a DJ... done by a pink bear! Not only that, the vocalist was dancing and doing a bunch of stunts as she sang.

Watching these girls perform, seeing how much fun they were having, how much the audience enjoyed the performance, Shizuka felt something in her go alive, quite like PoPiPa and the other bands' performance. Once it was over, everyone in the crowd applauded for the band.

"Yay~! Everyone~! Thanks for coming~!" the vocalist waved. "Then with the finale... Happy~!"

"Lucky~!" the bassist followed.

"Smile~" the guitarist followed after.

"YAY~!" the crowd then shouted. The shout was quite loud, Shizuka could've sworn she almost went deaf for a moment.

"Well then, we are Hello, Happy World! See you all again~!" The mute felt her world stopped when she heard the band name. She quickly pulled out the band list and saw the name matched the last band she was supposed to scout out.

When the crowd dispersed, Shizuka hastily made her way to the band.

"Mmm~! That was a really fun live~!" the vocalist exclaimed.

"Did you see the smiles on everyone's faces? They absolutely loved it!" the bassist said.

"To see such wonderful smiles on those kittens' faces... Ah, how fleeting~" the guitarist sighed.

Shizuka tried to get the band's attention. However, mute as she was, she was having a hard time getting them to notice her. She could just walk up to them and/or interrupt their conversation, but she knew from experience that it either would not work or would backfire on her in some way.

"This street performance is not enough! I want to do another live~!" the bassist exclaimed.

"Good idea, Hagumi! Let's spread more smiles~!" the vocalist agreed.

"K-Kokoro! To do a proper live, Misaki would have to book a gig for us, and it's not possible to find one on such a short notice," the bear mascot told her.

Upon those words, Shizuka tried harder to get Hello, Happy World's attention. Thankfully, someone in the band noticed her.

"Hm? Kokoro-chan, someone's here to see us," the drummer informed.

This brought all eyes onto the mute, who bowed to them in greeting before taking out her pen and pad. Before she got the chance to write, though...

"Hm? Oh! Are you asking for an autograph?!" the bassist, Hagumi, asked.

"My. For a precious little kitten to come to me for an autograph... How adorable you are," the guitarist stated.

"How wonderful! Did we really make you that happy?" the vocalist, Kokoro, asked.