Two Strings, One Song: Memory Fragments and Parallel Songs

Memory Fragment: Kenjiro Hayasaka (Part 1)

"Oh... Haha, hey mom."

"If your father was home before you, he wouldn't have been too happy."

"Yeah, I get that."

"Anyway, dinner's ready. Let's head to the kitchen."

I follow my mom out of my room, into the long hallway and then to the kitchen.

"You know, I had a pretty interesting day." I tell my mom, helping her set up the table.

"Oh really?" My mom asks.

Then, our conversation was paused when my dad came through the front door.

"Sorry I'm late. Honestly to God, traffic was chaotic." My dad hangs his long coat and walks into the kitchen.

"Oh. Traffic, that's bad. You know, Kenjiro was gonna tell me how good his day was."

"Was he now?" My dad asks, looking at me along with my mom.

I smile and clear my throat.

"Guess who's finally getting his band started?" I ask.

My dad gives me an unreadable expression.

"Are you sure?" My dad never really was fond of me wanting to form a band since he saw it as 'a not good job'.

"Pretty sure. Made some friends today. At school."

My mom looks at my dad for a second, and I hear a thumping sound come from underneath the table.

Um.

"Oh, that's great, son. Just great. I look forward to meeting them one day."

"Mhm! This is really exciting!" My mom adds.

"Can't wait to see your first performance."

"Yeah, thanks mom, thanks dad."

-Timeskip-

For the entire week until the school festival, Saki, Daisuke and I practiced every day after school. When the time came, we had plenty of fun before we were called to the gym where we would begin our performances.

We brought all the band equipment from Daisuke's and set it up behind the stage. Saki was focusing on the mic, I was checking the amplifiers and Daisuke was remembering the beats of the songs, hitting the air with his drum sticks.

Once all the preparation was complete, we held our instruments and looked in front of us.

"Next up, we have the high school band, HyperFever!"

The curtains open up like doors, and we see the crowd of people cheering.

"Waaah! It's really Sakiiii!" I hear Saki's friends scream.

"Haha! Heya!" Saki puts up a peace sign and winks.

I looked around to see where my parents were, but I only saw my mom. This morning she told me that dad had to go to work because his workplace was short on employees. But then I remembered the truth that hit me... My dad would never approve of me being in a band.

... Dad lied.

I shake the thought away and Saki and I move close to the only microphone we had.

"Hey everyone! We're HyperFever, and just last week, we formed this band!"

"That's right! Since we just started this thing, we haven't really made our own songs just yet. So for the time that we have, we're gonna play some covers from some popular J-Rock bands!"