Music for the Silence

Band Audition

"I'm fine with it. What about you, Senpai?" Guren asked.

"Hold it!" Hitomi called. "You're not serious about letting her try out, are you?!"

"Is there a problem?"

"She doesn't know how to play a band instrument! She said it herself! Plus, this isn't a song any inexperienced bassist can play!"

"And is that reason enough to stop her from at least trying out? If that is, then I wouldn't have let you have a chance. A chance you look like you want to take. And yet, I am allowing just that."

Hitomi stopped herself when she said that. Not of the reason for preventing Miu from trying out, but for allowing Hitomi to try. Rather... for 'letting' her try out. From the way she said it, it was almost as though Guren was insinuating Hitomi wanted to try. But... there was no way that could be it. ... Could it?

Eventually, after spending a bit of time renting out a bass, and Shizuka teaching Miu how to play the instrument, as well as Hitomi testing out the drum set to know where each parts were, the four girls got into place.

"Okay. You girls ready?" Guren asked.

"Yes," Miu answered, with Shizuka nodding in agreement.

"I... guess so..." Hitomi said, still quite unsure about this.

"There's no guessing in music. We don't have a vocalist, but I'll play the vocals," Guren said. Without another word, she began playing a small melody.

(A/N: I could not find the full piano version of the song, so pretend the vocals are being played by piano/keyboard.)

As they played the song, as Hitomi had thought, she messed up on some beats, struck the wrong parts of the drums for the song, and even missed some swings. Though she had expected she would mess up on the beats, it still made Hitomi sad, now that it has been confirmed she could not play drums the way she used to ever again.

'I  knew this was never going to work...' she thought. 'I knew it... and yet they still persist in making me play... What was the point of ever having a blind girl try out?'

Those were her thoughts, her true feelings. It was clear she was no longer fit to play in a band. And yet... Despite that, she was still moving her arms, still hitting the drums and cymbals, still attempting to play along to the song.

'Why?' she then wondered. 'Why are my arms still moving, when it's so painfully obvious? I should stop now before making a bigger fool out of myself, but...'

As she wondered that, the blind started to pay some attention to the other musicians in the room with her. Guren and Shizuka out of the way, she was surprised with Miu's bassist skill. She knew for certain she never played any sort of band instrument before, and while Miu's skill was not that of a professional, for a beginner, she was still doing quite well in keeping the rhythm. Then again, she should not be surprised, for Miu does play koto at home, especially the 17-string, which is basically a koto version of a bass.

The more she listens, the slower her movement had gotten, as she started to carefully listen to Guren and Shizuka's playing as well. Upon listening to them play, Hitomi felt something resonate in her, a feeling familiar to her, and yet at the same time foreign. Next she knew, something happened that could only be described as a miracle to her. Even though she was blind, even though she had a blindfold on, covering her eyes, she could see them... A red aura on Guren's side, a blue aura on Shizuka's side, and a pink aura on Miu's.