Melody of our Love (Rewriting)

Chapter 08 - How Do You Love Somebody

Chapter song - How Do You Love Somebody by Why Don't We. 

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Ryuji walked to the back of the audience with his friends following him closely. He nodded in acknowledgment at the girls whispering as he passed, eagerly trying to catch his eye. Edna shrugged one of her shoulders with her sly smile, "You're good."

Ryuji grinned, "Oh, we can be better."

"No, not like me."

Ryuji smiled, shaking his head. He loved that about her. The snide, wayward compliment followed by the inevitable challenge. The girl got bite, he had to give her that. Edna's eyes travelled back to the stage when the group walked in. Shin whistled, "Already feeling the second hand embarrassment," He mocked.

Ryuji didn't speak as the familiar harmony of the popular pop band Why Don't we started reverberating through the hall. The crowd was bored, he noticed. They possibly didn't want a follow up. Music is like tasting a delicious meal. Most of the time you don't want the taste to leave your mouth. Ryuji crossed his arms, it was going to take a lot for them to be a follow up act for their band. If they didn't ace the song, his team was going to win by a landslide.

Valt raised his mic with his usual sunshine grin missing from his lips replaced with an intensity tinted with faint sorrow. He was setting up the mood. Ryuji had to give him that, the boy had the charisma, the potential to be a star.

"Every day, every night, I can only think of us.
On the coast, in July when you thought you said too much."

"He has a nice voice," Tatsu murmured. Despite the enmity, Tatsu is the type of an artist who admired talent where he saw it. Ryuji didn't agree neither did he disagree, yes he did have a nice voice, but he needed training, discipline to be exact. But he would've been a fool if he didn't see the promise of his future, the oozing courage Valt carried himself owned up to all the minor key mistakes in his voice.

"Guess it don't always go like the stories we've been told,

'Cause you're gone and you're fine, I'm laying here fucked up."

Edna snorted, "That's a first hearing Valt curse."

"Only on stage," Shin grinned, "It was slightly awkward though."

Ryuji kept his attention fixed to the building momentum of the song as Honcho took over.

"Oh, I wonder,

Did emotions fade with the summer?

Like an ocean wave, took me under,

And you left without a sound."

"Shit," Ryuji ran a hand through his hand, surprised. Strong would be an understatement, his voice was powerful. He was not in class A possibly because of some other academic mishaps. There was no way that voice ended up somewhere else. "What's his class again?"

Shin shrugged, "Beats me."

To no one's surprise Wakiya was the one singing the chorus. There was a silent agreement as he glided through the lyrics with the grace of a skater, performing on ice.

"Baby, baby, tell me how,

How do you love somebody?

How do you love somebody else?

'Cause when you left I lost myself."

Edna shifted from one leg to the other beside him. Ryuji looked at the pin pricked silence in the audience, a gaping audience staring at the five performers. He could feel the shift, the effect Wakiya's voice was leaving behind. If he had to name a rival in the school, it would be Wakiya. He was infamous about his wealth, but no one could point fingers at the blonde, he had raw talent. Anyone could hear it the moment he starts singing.