New Sound

Chapter 39: Talks About Touma

Raid's PoV

We're back at the studio today, Mabuti at natapos naman namin ni Hyde na alalahanin 'yung rhythm ng original song namin kahapon. Well, actually, hindi namin parehong sure kung nakuha namin ng buo 'yung una naming nagawa, pero pareho naman kaming na-satisfy sa naging kinalabasan no'n. Lalo na no'ng buong bandang areglo na ang tinugtog namin at si Jack na ang kumanta. We wrote the score, and recorded the whole song this time. Now, surely hindi na namin makakalimutan 'yun.

The rain is still not stopping today. Pangatlong araw ng walang tigil ang pag-ulan, at dahil do'n ay suspended parin ang klase namin. With our new song in place, we need more time like this to practice, and luckily, this non-stop rain gave us just the time we need.

"Raid." Napalingon ako sa direksyon ni Jack no'ng narinig kong tinawag n'ya ako. Sumenyas naman s'ya saakin na para bang nagsasabing lumapit ako. 'Di nalang ako nagtanong, at basta lumapit nalang. Pagkarating ko sa tapat ni Jack ay agad n'yang tinanggal ang nakasuot pa n'ya sa tengang headphones. "Remember the time when you helped Random for their performance? That time when you played the banjo?" Medyo nagtaka ako bakit n'ya binabanggit 'yun ngayon, kaya hindi ko kaagad s'ya nasagot. 

"Yeah, why?"

"Their pianist, Ms. Garcia, you help her to narrow down the piano auditionees for that band from Beethoven, uh, what was that band again?" I just nodded. I think I know what he's talking about.

"Yes. I also don't know what their band name, but yes, I did contributed in its selection." I answered with all honesty. I wonder why is he bringing this up. Jack isn't the type that is willing to waste time to gossip, so wherever this conversation lead, I am assuming that this is important. which later proven by his answer.

"That created an issue that involves you, you know."

Oh, so this is why.

"An issue? Like what? I didn't do anything bad." I said in complete honesty. Hindi ko naman kase talaga gusto na sanang gawin 'yon, kaya lang 'yung D-pitch girl kase na 'yon ang mapilit eh. Palibhasa, palagi s'yang tambak ng mga assignments, tapos tanggap parin ng tanggap ng gagawin, dahil daw kaibigan n'ya 'yung mga miyembro ng bandang 'yun.

I often see her at the rooftop cramming some school stuff at lunch, then the auditionee stuff  afterschool.

Almost everyone of my school mates don't even want to come or stay in the rooftop as soon as they see me there. I've met several people who does the same thing, and up until now, I still don't understand what's going on with the minds of those people. I don't get why they always keep distance with me. Is it because I'm a child of someone famous? Tsk. That doesn't make sense to me. But then, that girl is different. She just get there and don't mind my presence. Well, as everyone should.

"Yeah, I believe you, of course. But you know, some bands are competitive, right?" Jack emphasized 'some bands' as if hinting something. It took me a while to think of a band, but I have some in mind. Just before I say my guess, Jack already spoke. "Jeez, sounds like you don't really talk to your brother, huh." My brother?

Oh. "You mean, Neu's band?" Jack nodded. One person immediately come into mind after Jack confirmed that. When it comes to competitiveness, there's only one person in that band that fits that. Ashley Coide. "Surely Ashley has something to do with this issue, you're talking about. Ano nanamang sinabi n'ya?" 

"Well, she sounded threatened about a certain pianist. Now, I'm just wondering, who did you and Ms. Garcia end up picking?"

That makes me think back to those days I spent doing the evaluation with that D-pitch girl. There are a lot auditionees, indeed. With a former member of a well-know band in school joining their band, as well as tito Samael's post, it's no surprise, they get themselves quite popular almost immediately. That explains the spike in the number of the auditionees, compared to their drummer audition. I also took into consideration all the existing members in their band before finalizing the right pianist. Their band members comes with different influences, giving them an opportunity to explore different approach in arranging songs, which can be either their biggest strength or their biggest weakness, depending on how it will playout when they arrange songs together, so I remember picking up a pianist that has the ability to adapt to any style of music, to make sure one member would balance them out. "What was the name again?" I tried to recall the name. I remember seeing that pianist play soloist in the orchestra, quite a few times when going to the rooftop of the orchestral musician's building.