Chapter 30
Itsuki
My limbs vibrated as I waited for the lights to lift.
The screams of the crowd did nothing to settle the onslaught of emotions that were brought on by the discussion backstage.
All I wanted was to pull both Yasu and Ryosuke aside, making them forget about the things that Toshi had said, but the damage had been done.
The tension in the air was palpable, no matter how much I’d tried to redirect things before we took the stage.
The moment Riku tapped his drumsticks together to count out the beat, the crowd exploded into chaos.
The lights lifted to show us on the stage, ready to put on the best show we could for them.
My guitar felt heavy on my shoulder for the first time in my life, but I did my best to keep my trademark smile plastered on my face.
We could do this.
I strummed my fingers across the first chord of the song, making the fans scream even louder.
Any doubt that had been there before seemed to vanish as we melted into our first song.
It was as if nothing had changed. Yasu hit every note perfectly, and the crowd sang and danced along with him perfectly.
Since Toshi had tried to mess with our mojo, I wanted to scream, pull my hair out, but we were just fine without him saying anything.
It was times like that when I wished Reiko had been with us for every show.
Though she was in our contract, the label still didn’t always allow her access.
We could have really used her today to stop Toshi from trying to fuck with us right before we went on stage.
We played the song perfectly. The crowd cheered as if nothing were amiss.
Yasu lifted his hand to silence them. A hush washed over the auditorium as he smiled into the microphone.
It was times like this that were my favorite.
It was when my best friend was in his element because he was truly born to be an entertainer.
“Konbanwa!”
The crowd erupted again. Yasu waved his hands to calm them. I strummed a random note on my guitar, making them get rowdy once more. Yasu shot a playful smirk in my direction. I winked at him because that was our game. We knew how to keep the crowd coming back for more.
“How is everyone doing tonight?”
I lived for this because Yasu knew how to make the audience happy.
He ran through his usual introduction, quickly turning to the band to introduce all of us.
It was customary at every show, and it was nice to have everyone know who we were.
We weren’t just the backup to his voice.
This band wouldn’t exist if we weren’t all there.
“You all know Riku,” he shouted, directing an arm back to the drum set where our drummer stood, placing a foot on his bass drum before waving wildly to the crowd with a giant smile on his face.
He moved onto Tatsuki, then me. I bowed to the crowd, pulling my skirt to the side in a sort of curtsey before giggling into my hand.
It was something I did at every performance.
It helped to portray my innocence. I’d worked hard to earn that public persona, and it was one that I wanted to keep. At least for the public, anyway.
The room quieted down for a moment. Everyone knew there was one person Yasu hadn’t introduced yet.
The longer he went on saying nothing, something lodged in my chest, making my heart pound just a little harder.
Surely he wouldn’t do Ryosuke dirty, refusing to acknowledge that he was part of the band.
“A few months ago, one of our original members came to us with news. Mamarou had been with us since the beginning, and it was impossible to think about replacing him. I’ll admit that a stubborn part of me wanted to refuse.
How can someone come in and take the place of the person who helped you reach your dreams?
When the label first presented me with this person, I’ll admit that I wasn’t happy. ..”
The crowd was so silent now that you could hear a pin drop. I held my breath because none of us had discussed this part. It was always something Yasu had done on a whim.
“I’ll admit that I’m stubborn. It gets in my way more often than it should, but I should have been a lot more open-minded when Ryosuke stepped foot into our practice room for the first time. He’s made Pink Cherry better. While he isn’t Mamarou, he was never intended as a replacement.”
There was now a low rumble of whispers filling the room.
“I’d like to introduce the newest bassist for Pink Cherry. Some of you might already know him, but I assure you, he’s been the perfect fit for this band. Please join me in welcoming Ryosuke!”
The crowd cheered. The room was so loud I could barely hear myself think. It was far more than I could have ever hoped for when it came to Yasu introducing Ryosuke. All he had to do was say who he was, but he’d also turned it into a form of apology for the way he’d acted in the beginning.
I couldn’t help myself.
Before I knew what was happening, my feet had carried me across the stage. I had an arm wrapped around Yasu’s shoulder as I pulled him into a tight hug. What I’d really wanted to do was kiss him, but even I knew that was taking things a little too far on a public stage.
And just like that, the energy was back.
We jumped right into our next song. Since I was already next to Yasu, I didn’t bother to leave his side. We leaned into each other as he sang. The smile that spread across my face made my cheeks hurt.
When I looked over at Ryosuke, he was noticeably calmer.
His shoulders, which had been almost up to his ears through the first song, were now relaxed.
He was sporting his own smile as he bobbed along to the music.
No, that wasn’t enough. We’d had a lot more fun the other day in the studio, and I wasn’t about to let him get away with doing the minimum.
I bounded across the stage to press my back to Ryosuke’s. He leaned into me as we used our combined weight to hold each other up. The audience went wild, cheering loudly because this was us. This was what Pink Cherry was always meant to be. We’d accepted Ryosuke into our fold.
He didn’t change our sound like Toshi had tried to make us think before coming on stage.
By the time the song wrapped and we rolled right into the next one, I was already out of breath, but I didn’t care.
This was the most fun I'd had during a performance in a long while. It wasn’t that the band didn’t know how to have fun.
We’d just gotten so used to each other that sometimes things grew stagnant.
It was something I hoped wouldn’t happen again now that we’d switched things up a little.
I filed backstage with the band after we finished our last song, wrapping an arm around both Ryosuke's and Yasu’s necks, pulling them into a tight hug.
Tatsuki and Riku didn’t even seem to notice.
It was fine. This was our little moment to celebrate.
Maybe I could convince them to come home with me later to celebrate in another way.
“Encore. Encore. Encore.” chanted from the crowd behind the curtain. I smiled because it was always my favorite part of a live performance. The way the audience would come together, the moment the curtain lifted again, we’d see their arms waving as the chant continued.
“Fuck, yeah! Let’s give them what they want.” Tatsuki was vibrating with excitement as he strapped his guitar back on.
The curtain lifted, and the crowd cheered even though the stage was empty. It didn’t matter because they knew they were going to get what they wanted the moment Tatsuki strolled out to the middle, quickly followed by the rest of us.
We played through two more songs before officially leaving the stage for the night. I’d never felt so exhausted in such a good way before. Maybe after the first live we’d ever done, but it had been so long I’d forgotten the feeling.
“You guys rocked it!”
My eyes widened to see Reiko backstage waiting for us, since she hadn’t been allowed back before the show. Yasu was happy to see her as well, rushing to give her a hug, then pulling her aside. He had to be telling her about what had transpired right before we went on with Toshi.
I knew that’s what he had done because she looked at the rest of us, anger flashed in her eyes before she stomped off. The woman had no fear when it came to dealing with the label and its crap.