The Next Day...
As a break from class began, I sat at my desk with my phone out, reading about composing music. After the time I got to spend with Maki yesterday, I ended up with a desire to write a song myself. Just something to say I could compose a song if I wanted, plus maybe I could help write Maki again in the future, and this would make it so any help I gave would be better than what I was able to give last time.
After the events of yesterday, I ended up spending a while that night checking out as many Muse performances that I could find online and so I ended up staying late. And so due to my lack of sleep, after a while, my mind stopped being able to focus on what I was reading, and my mind was having trouble processing the words in front of me. In the end I gave up and with a sigh, I leaned back in my seat. I'll try to get a better grasp of this stuff later, but for now I'll just relax until class starts up again.
I ended up just staring ahead of me at nothing. When I heard Hoshizora speak to me.
"Hey Y/n, me and Kayochin were coming to the music room to see how Maki was doing when we saw you were with Maki and Kayochin suggested we just leave you too be." Rin said. She then turned to me "You were helping Maki, right?"
"Uh yeah, I did. I was already in there and once I found out what Maki was there for, I wanted to help." I said
"I'm sure you were a lot of help to her." Hanayo said
I shrugged. "I don't feel like I was really that much help, I wish I could've done more. And after checking out Muse's previous performance last night, I have a bigger idea of the gap between me and her." Maybe someday I'll tell Maki of how that dear song so long ago had influenced me, but before I do that, I want to have come even remotely close to her skill.
"So you've watched our performances?" Hanayo asked
"Yeah, I watched the recordings of them last night." I confirmed "You girls are really great."
"Thanks Y/n." Rin said "Hey, how about you watch us practice after school today?"
"Eh? Are you sure that'd be okay?" I asked
"I'm sure the others wouldn't mind if you came to watch us practice." Hanayo said
"Okay then." I said. I don't think that it would hurt to skip practice for one day.
"Then meet us up on the roof after school then." Rin said
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Third Person Perspective
After classes came to an end for the day, Maki, Rin, and Hanayo started to head their way to the clubroom to meet up with everyone before they headed to the roof to practice.
"Hey Maki, we asked Y/n earlier if he would like to watch us practice today and he agreed." Rin said
"Eh? Why did you invite him to watch us?" Maki asked
"We had been talking to him between classes and he mentioned that he had spent a while last night watching recordings of our previous recordings and he was a fan. And you two seem like your friends now too." Hanayo said
"I'm not sure if we're exactly friends yet..." Maki said
"Why not? You helped him his first day because your mom asked you to but now you and him were working on our next song together." Rin said
"You saw that?" Maki said, surprised
"We were gonna cheer for you while you were writing it, but then we saw you two writing it together and so Hanayo suggested that we leave helping you to him this time." Rin said
"I don't know what you were thinking, but it wouldn't have been any harder if you two had come in like usual." Maki said
The girls continued their way to the clubroom, where Hanayo and Rin ended up telling the others in Muse of Maki and Y/n's songwriting together the day before.
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Y/n's Perspective
After class ended, I ended up relaxing in my seat for a moment and checking my notifications, as well as texting one of my senpai in my club why I wouldn't be with the rest of the guitar club today. After a few moments however I decided I should get up and find my way to the roof access since I was told by Rin to meet up with them on the roof. I headed up to the third floor and after going along the hall, it wasn't too hard to find my way to the stairway up. I headed up and reached my destination.
Since the roof at my old school was off limits to students, I always imagined up on the rooftop it would be windy, but the fact I was wrong was a pleasant surprise. I stood next to part of the fence that went along the perimeter of the rooftop and looked down at the school below. The view was great and I could see the students in the sports teams practicing without too much difficulty. I continued to look out at the schoolyard down below until I heard the door back into the building open up behind me. I turned and saw Maki, Rin, and Hanayo coming up to the roof with six other girls.
"Hey." I said. I have no clue what to say in this situation, so I really just said the first thing that came to mind.
"Hey Y/n." Maki said in response to me.
"So you were the one that helped Maki yesterday." a girl with black hair asked
"It makes sense that another person who plays music would be helpful with writing it." a blonde girl said
"I actually don't know much about composing so I'm not sure about how much help I was." I said
"I bet that you were still a big help to her." the brunette said
"Sure, you weren't able to help with the composing itself too much, but being able to bounce ideas off another musician was helpful." Maki said
"Right," I responded. I do wish I could have done more, but at least I now know I was some help and wasn't just in the way.
"In any case, we need to get started with practice." a girl with dark blue hair said
"Um... before that, could you tell me your names?" I asked
A skip because I'm too lazy to write every individual member's introduction. Sue me
I sat back against the building as they began their practice. While they were doing warm ups and regular exercises, it was led by Sonoda-senpai but once they changed to their actual choreography, Ayase-senpai took over. As they practiced, I noticed that they were keeping their rhythm by Ayase-senpai clapping in a 4-4 rhythm. Then I had an idea.
I stood up and said "I'll be right back." before I went and left the roof, heading through the halls.
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When I returned to the roof, I held my guitar case by the handle on it's side. "I'm back." I said "I had a thought while I was watching you. As a way to pay you girls back for letting me watch you, if the song you're practicing is one of the ones I heard last night, I might be able to play it on my guitar so you can focus on the rhythm that way."
"Are you sure you can remember it well enough to play it?" Maki asked.
"I think so, I spent a while last night watching you girls perform on repeat so as long as I can remember which one that is well enough, I can give it a try." I said "So which one is it?"
"Do you remember which one Wonder Zone is?" Minami-senpai asked
I pulled out my guitar and my pick and said "It's this one right?" I then tried to play a bit of the song I think I remember being titled Wonder Zone.
"That's it." Maki said "I'm surprised you were able to play it after listening to it only a bit last night."
"I was trying to pay attention to the composition as I listened to it and I listened to it a couple of times, so hopefully I have an idea what I'm doing." I responded. I'm gonna try to avoid mentioning that I paid so much attention to the composition of the instrumentals in hopes of trying to understand them a bit better. I don't think it worked too much anyway.
"Well then, if you are willing to and you can play it, then I don't see why we don't at least try it." Tojo-senpai said
"Got it." I responded "Well then, tell me when you're ready and I'll start."
Since my only experience with this song is listening to it on repeat for a while last night, I was a bit slower than I like due to trying to arrange it on guitar on the fly, but I was able to do it with what I thought were very few mistakes.
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Eventually, I was told I could stop and after I pocketed my pick and let the guitar hang from my neck by the stap, I stretched.
"You're really good Y/n!" Kousaka-senpai said, complimenting me.
"Thanks, but I'm really just mediocre," I said. Give anybody the amount of time I have, and they would be able to do the same as long as they made sure to practice often. I don't think I've been making as much progress in improving as of late, and as much as I hate it, I don't know why. If I want to be good enough to play beside Maki while I still have a chance, I have a little under a year and a half.
"There you go downplaying your abilities again. You're better than you say, so have some more confidence in yourself.
"Right. Sorry." I said
I spoke to Maki and the rest of Muse for a moment longer before they headed back to change into their uniforms and I packed my guitar back up and headed back home. I said I would try and help out around Six String this evening anyway.
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A/n: Usually, I try to only have three or four characters in each scene due to having trouble writing conversation with too many people, but I know if I'm ever gonna actually improve on that front, I need to write that kind of situation more often, but I'm still sorry that it's not the greatest. I've figured out my plans for later in the story and I'm excited to work with what I've come up with. Please look forward to what's ahead.