Music for the Silence

Music Introduction

The next day, Marina had contacted the five bands to meet in CiRCLE's music hall. Pastel*Palettes hadn't given back a response about the event, but Marina still left a message in case they were allowed to attend and could make it.

Now, the manager and her lone staff member stood in the meeting place, with three of the five bands present.

"Wow... I feel kind of nervous, having so many high school girls in one small space like this," Marina whispered to Shizuka.

"There're still two bands we're waiting for," the mute pointed out on her notepad.

"Shizu-chan~!" Kasumi called, jumping on top of the girl in a hug. "Sorry. I couldn't come to help yesterday."

Unable to write, due to the girl hugging her so tight, Shizuka could only tap her on the arm to get her to let go.

"Kasumi. You're scaring the poor girl," Saya told her, prying the PoPiPa's vocalist/guitarist off the mute.

"There, there. There's nothing to be afraid of," Tae said, petting Shizuka on the head.

"O-Tae. You know she's not scared right now, right?" Arisa asked her.

"True. But you're here."

It didn't take long for the keyboardist to know she was referring to their first meeting with the part-timer. "You're still holding that against me?!"

"So, how was it yesterday?" Rimi asked.

Shizuka wrote her response. "I got Hello, Happy World! to join. Coincidentally enough, they actually wanted to do another live show anyway. As for Pastel*Palettes, I still don't know about them. I hope they do come, though."

"Wow! You got two bands to join without help?! That's amazing, Shizu-chan!" Kasumi complimented.

As she said that, a thought came to Shizuka's mind. "By the way, what's with the 'Shizu-chan'? "

"Hm? It's short for Shizuka-chan, of course."

The mute sweat dropped at the simple answer, as that was not what she meant. Thankfully, someone knew that she didn't mean that.

"Kasumi. I'm pretty sure she's asking why you're calling her that," Saya told her.

"Oh, that. Well, your name means 'silent', and you are mute. Plus it sounds cute~!"

Arisa gave a weak laugh at this. "Ahaha... I hope you don't take any offense to what she said just now. This idiot generally doesn't think before she acts. I assure you; she has good intentions, though."

Shizuka could only nod at those words... when she was suddenly tackled down by someone.

"Shizuka! Here you are!" Kokoro squealed.

"Kokoro! You can't just jump on people like that!" Misaki called, as she and the rest of Hello, Happy World! joined the group. The DJ and drummer of the band then managed to separate their energetic vocalist from the staff.

"Fueee... Sorry about that, Shizuka-chan," Kanon apologized, in which Shizuka responded with an 'it's okay' gesture.

"Hey, hey! We heard something interesting just now! Your name means 'silent', Shizuka-chan?" Hagumi asked.

"You really just now noticed that...?" Arisa questioned in a low tone.

It seems her words were left unheard, as Kokoro said, "Wait, it does?! What a miraculous coincidence! To have a name that perfectly suits the person themselves! Shizuka, you're really special~!"

The keyboardist of PoPiPa then sighed at the reaction. "And we have another pure-hearted, blunt idiot to boot..." Saya, the only one who heard that muttering, could only let out a weak laugh, unable to disagree with those words.