The Book of Firsts

Forty-Four

Lania and I had volunteered for the baking component of my Home Room’s festival contribution, and so spent Thursday morning making banana bread in the home economics block. After that we were free to wander the school looking at all the other stalls, and appreciating the relatively mild weather.

"We’re starting into the better part of winter," Lania explained. "Technically colder, but not usually wet. The nights might be frigid, but the days can be quite nice. I’ve yet to see bad weather for the festival."

"You don’t have to babysit that photo competition?" I asked, after we’d bought hotdogs for an early lunch.

"I’m on the last shift for it, when we mark all the entries and announce a winner. And then, thankfully, will never have to think about it again. Even finals will be a cakewalk in comparison."

"People wrangling. The worst part of any undertaking."

"Will you need to do much of that in engineering?"

"Depends on the project. I’d hope to be working on large enough projects to never need to be primarily responsible for human resource issues, but it’s certainly a leadership role."

"I don’t ever want to supervise anyone," Lania said, firmly. "I want to be the rock star employee that gets cossetted and indulged while I work on my genius inventions."

"Is that how robotics is as a career?"

"Only in anime. Mostly it seems to be a desperate scrabble for funds, with periods of working out of your parents' garage."

"At least your garage is pretty big," I said equably.

We strolled through all the snack stalls, not restraining ourselves, then headed toward the school’s outdoor amphitheatre for some recovery from stuffing.

Because we’d circled outside the main concourse, we approached the amphitheatre from the performers' entrance, listening to what sounded like an enthusiastic choral performance. Before we reached a way in, we discovered several clumps of people all focused on a pair of girls, one of whom was talking urgently on her phone. The expressions of this audience ranged from sympathetic to gloating.

"Looks like things aren’t running smoothly," I said.

Lania had already left me behind. "I’m from the Student Council," she said, walking directly up to the pair. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

The smaller of the two girls, a diminutive freshman, glanced at her, then said in a soft, calm voice: "Can you play bass?"

Her friend ended her call, saying: "Carla said that even if she were free, she doesn’t have the instruments at school. They did it deliberately, Saskia. This is so unfair." She blinked rapidly, obviously holding back tears, then focused on Lania: "You said you’re from the Student Council? Do you know anyone who could sub in for two missing musicians in about five minutes? Lead guitar and bass?"

"I…let me make a call."

While Lania called Sean and ran through a list of musicians they both knew, I smiled at the taller of the girls. "Who did what deliberately?"

"Charlotte and Min-Jun," the girl replied. "Our so-called bandmates. We’ve been rehearsing together for months, but Charlotte’s been getting more and more jealous of Saskia. She knows how important today is—the people who are attending could make a real difference for us—and so she waited until just before we’re due to go on to call and say she and Min-Jun went out to dinner last night and got food poisoning."

"Simple but effective," I commented. "There’ll be other school festivals, though, so even if you don’t perform today, you’re only delayed by a year."

"I know," Saskia said, in an even tone. "Though a lot can happen in a year."

"It’s more the idea of Charlotte winning that I hate," the older girl said.

"That’s the way the world works, Camila." Saskia shrugged, but I was fairly sure her calm was merely a front to shield herself from further disappointment.

On cue, Lania gave up on her call. "No luck, sorry."

"Thanks for trying," Saskia said.

"I know of one person at this school who plays guitar that you probably haven’t called," I murmured to Lania. "Why don’t you see if your Student Council connections can produce an Executive mercy dash?"

Lania looked blank, then realised who I meant and gave me a frankly startled look. "He doesn’t perform."

I shrugged. "Can’t hurt to ask. Or see if he or his friends know anyone else who might be available."

After a moment’s hesitation, Lania nodded. "I’ll try. Tell the amphitheatre coordinator to push back the performance."

"He won’t," Saskia said. "We already asked."

Lania paused in poking at her phone, assumed an unexpectedly stern expression, and walked over to a boy holding a tablet, part of the interested crowd.

"I’m sure it would be far less work to change the performance order than it would be to explain to the Student Council why you can’t," she said, coolly. "Or are you planning to leave a gap where no-one performs? Shuffle up the next act, and if they’re somehow claiming they’re not ready, then the one after."

This was a whole new side of Lania, which I appreciated thoroughly, and equally enjoyed her change of expression as she moved to one side and made a very tentative-looking phone call. Then, wearing a surprised look that told me everything, she moved back to the two girls and said: "What’s the set list?"

"Sweet Child O' Mine, Believer, and an original composition," Camilla said. "Even if we find someone, we’ll have to drop that."

This had apparently been audible over the open line, because a faint murmur came from the phone, and Lania said: "Do you have the sheet music for the original?"

"Just-just on tablet." Camilla exchanged a disbelieving look with Saskia. "Did you actually find two people? With instruments?"

Lania paused, listening, then nodded. "They’ll take maybe fifteen minutes to get here, but if we push you back a couple of slots in the performance schedule, it should work out fine. Hunt out the music so they can study it."

"And you acted like you were bad at people management," I said, as the two girls stepped away to up-end a backpack.

"I have my moments." Lania gave me a conspiratorial grin. "This is going to be entertaining. Check out that group over by the coordinator."

"A little too obvious," I agreed, watching them muttering with their heads together. "I think they’re hoping that whoever subs in can’t handle the performance. Which is possible, I suppose, but unlikely from what I’ve seen."

"I’m still a little shocked. I thought maybe Rin would help, since I know he can play more than violin, but he said he and Bran will both bring their instruments down. This is going to cause a riot."

"Have you ever seen Bran perform?"

"Only that video of him singing Hallelujah. He’s never performed anything at Corascur."

"Perhaps because it’s his last year? I gather he’s not behaving as usual this year."

"He’s been a lot more active in the Student Council meetings lately. Sean and I have been having a lot of fun theorising over why. Which reminds me…" Lania fished her phone back out of her pocket and made another call. "No, it’s okay, we found replacements. That’s why I’m calling back." She smirked. "Do everything you can to get out of that booth and get your ass down to the performer entrance of the amphitheatre as soon as humanly possible. You’ll thank me for the rest of your life."

She ended the call, despite the confused sounds coming from her phone, and grinned.

"Finding out so much about you today, Lania."

"Sean’s fun to tease. And would probably self-combust if he missed this. Bran’s biggest fan by far."

Sean managed to arrive before our substitutes, trotting up just as the next act was going on. Panting, he looked around, then turned a reproachful stare on Lania.

"You have no idea what it took for me to get here."

"Good things come to those who are patient." Lania glanced down at her phone, then smiled over at the two girls. "They had to go pick up their instruments, but they’re back at the school, just finding somewhere to park."

This puzzled me enormously, since I knew where Rin, Bran and Kyou lived, and it was at least twenty minutes away in good traffic. But I put the mystery aside, and watched the two performers trying to hold onto their nerves. There were only ten minutes left before the revised performance slot, and it would be more difficult to change it again.

Sean grabbed Lania’s arm, an urgent, almost unconscious movement, and Lania and I turned to look in the direction he was staring.

Two boys, one with shoulders slightly hunched but bearing an aura that drew eyes no matter his attitude. The other, almost a head taller than him, slender and graceful, expression warm. Each carried guitar cases and an amplifier.

"No," Sean said, with absolute delight.

"Yes," said Lania.

"I will love you forever."

"I deserve it."

Others had noticed, and a murmur of shock went through the waiting performers. I checked the two girls, and enjoyed their stunned disbelief. Even the generally stoic younger girl was gaping, and then apparently had to work to control her breathing.

"It’s like they carry their own set of spotlights around with them," I told Lania. "How do you manage a weekly meeting?"

"Fortunately, frequent exposure has toughened me up," she replied. "First year I was here I came close to falling over whenever I was within ten feet of Rin."

Rin was just far enough out of earshot not to have heard this as he came up to Lania, giving her that gentle smile.

"No parking, so we abandoned Kyou with my car. Where’s our band?"

"Just here," Lania said, with enough pink to her cheek to suggest that toughened didn’t equal immune. "Saskia and, ah…"

"Camila," said the taller girl, stars in her eyes. "Are you really, can you—"

"We’d better get a look at that original song while we have time," Rin said easily. "And did you have any particular arrangement for the third guitar in Sweet Child O' Mine? "

"I’m on rhythm guitar," Saskia said, recovering enough of her composure to respond, though her voice was a nervous thread. "Both the covers are direct takes of the originals. I’ve got a recording of one of our rehearsals as well."

"We’d better go get seats," I said, as the four moved aside to talk. "Before the horde arrives."

"Good point," Sean said, busy with his phone. "We want the best filming position."

The amphitheatre was less than half-full, so we had our choice of seats, and hesitated between the central seats, and a good diagonal position nearer to the performers' entrance. Eventually we decided to stay closer to the entrance because Sean wanted to catch Bran and Rin coming in.

"The forums are blowing up," Lania said, laughing. "Are we saving seats for anyone?"

"For everyone, but whether they’ll get here in time is another question."

"I think the question might be whether those two girls can even perform with all this fuss," I said.

"Talk about pressure," Sean agreed. "What’s the story behind all this?"

Lania explained, and he nodded along while sending more messages on his phone.

"I’ve heard of this Saskia," he said eventually. "Music Club’s been fussing over her. Apparently, she’s got a Voice, but she’s short on social graces. You know the type: just wants to play music, oblivious to pecking orders."

"Sounds familiar," I said, amused. "Let’s see if she stares at her feet through the whole set."

The first wave of Three Kings fans arrived then, and we put bags on seats, managing to save spots for Sue and Anika, who wriggled in just before the current act finished. I would feel sorrier for this small band currently belting out not-bad renditions of Ariana Grande hits to the distracted flood, but they’d been part of the gloating faction in the waiting area, so my sympathy was muted as they finished up to polite applause and filed out.

Saskia and Camila, both looking a little pale, appeared next, causing a little stir of murmurs. After a couple of beats, Rin and Bran followed, and were greeted by wild applause and a few squeals, which made the two girls who were meant to be the focus of this performance hesitate, before heading rather grimly toward the small stage, where a drum kit and various chairs and microphones waited.

"I kind of feel like I sabotaged them," Lania said.

"If you want to be a performer, you need to be able to deal with anything," Anika said. "Including not being the most interesting person in the room."

While the girls adjusted microphones, Rin and Bran plugged in their amps, and arranged a couple of chairs by the side of the stage, on which they propped up tablets. Then they sat down—fortunately at an angle that worked for Sean’s video attempt—and tested a few chords on their guitars. Bran had both an electric guitar and an acoustic, and spent a little extra time setting up a foot pedal.

I took my own phone out, unable to resist a personal record of this, though I kept the main focus on the two girls. Camila was on drums, looking more assured once she’d adjusted the kit and microphone to her height. Saskia set up two microphones, one oddly low, set her own guitar aside for the first song, and then looked at Camila enquiringly. Camila nodded, so Saskia looked at Rin and Bran, received Rin’s nod, and turned to face the noisy crowd.

Just when I was wondering if she’d manage to make herself audible over the chatter, she clapped her hands once, right next to the lower microphone. The sharp cracking sound brought the audience down to a murmur, and then she lifted a hand to signal Bran, who somehow produced a strange reverb, along with delicate notes from the acoustic guitar.

Believer is a song that builds to a powerful drop, but Saskia owned the performance from the relatively quiet first words. She had a Joplin-Winehouse sort of voice, all rasp, very powerful, completely incongruous coming out of that diminutive frame.

"Made us believers," Anika commented, applauding with the crowd.

"I’m glad," Lania said. "I was feeling I’d done something wrong."

Rin and Bran poked at their tablets, and then Rin started on bass and Saskia followed him into the original song. This had a catchy beat, and a chorus that told someone "You’re tricky, you’re mean, you’re nothing," which was angry and very memorable. The closer, Sweet Child O' Mine, was an old rock song I must have heard somewhere before, since the riff was familiar. Bran didn’t play staring at his feet, but at the tablet or his guitar, and never looked up once. I couldn’t decide if he was nervous, or just completely indifferent to the crowd. He still oozed charisma, an effortless cool, and if Saskia had had any less of a voice, she would have been completely overwhelmed by him. Even Rin receded a little into the background beside Bran with a guitar.

The applause at the close of the short set was thunderous, and a portion of it was even for the main performers.

"Now I feel sorry for whoever’s supposed to come out next," I remarked.

"They’re probably in the audience drooling as well," Sean said happily. "So hot. So HOT! What a way to make the festival memorable! I just wish I knew why, after refusing for so many years, Bran was willing to get on stage—even if only to sit on the side of it."

"I suspect he’s showing off for his girlfriend," said a beautiful and very familiar voice.

We all turned, shocked, and found that Kyou was sitting directly behind us, not quite hiding his amusement at our expense.

"He really has a new girlfriend?" Sean asked, excitedly.

"Well, I’m not the one covering him in love bites," Kyou said. "Though I appreciate all the muscle definition you’ve given me in your, ah, illustrated theory on Bran’s night life."

"You saw that?" Sean wavered between horrified and delighted, and settled on delighted. "One of my best pieces."

Sue hid her face in embarrassment. "You read that thread? Oh, my god, I might die."

"I don’t have nearly as much time as I’d like to trawl the forums, but that had so many likes, how could I not look?" Kyou said, standing up. "So many excellently-done fantasies."

"Tell us more about Bran’s girlfriend, and I’ll happily add some truth," Sean said quickly. "She goes to this school?"

"Well, she said she’d visit the festival," Kyou said neutrally. "She’s a little older than Bran, so…" He shrugged and moved off, having spoken the exact truth in a most misleading way.

"Kyou’s been in an awfully good mood lately as well," Sue said, once he was out of earshot. "So much for this no girlfriends, we’re studying year."

"Which thread were you talking about?" I asked, and was pointed to a forum that I didn’t even know existed, where the racier gossip about Corascur lived, along with a great deal of RinxKyouxBran fanart. Even some CarrxKyou art, which I appreciated greatly.

The rest of the afternoon was less dramatic, as I toured exhibitions with Lania, and helped her out scoring the photo competition. Only once I was back at my apartment did I watch the video I’d recorded. Rin and Bran, very much central to this school, but seemingly apart from it. I couldn’t tell if Bran was uncomfortable, because he acted as if only he and Rin were present. That might be his way of coping with the crowd, or a sign that whatever problems he’d had with the stage in the past had been resolved.

I couldn’t be sure, but I was glad he had done it. Both as a kindness to two deserted performers, and because Rin and Bran were born with a presence that even managed to make me feel a little privileged to see them. A fun day.