Koe

Chapter 2 - Firsts

"Sorry but we booked the studio at this timeslot?" I called out to the guy sitting in our studio. "Do you mind moving out now?"

"Ahh sorry, I thought no one was using it. I'll just leave now." He said, looking up from his notes. Our eyes locked for a moment before he hastily pulled his gaze away. He quickly unplugged his guitar and picked up the notes on the stand.

"Thanks a lot!" Haruna sarcastically said as he was leaving. His face flushed red as he muttered another apology and bowed before leaving.

"Haruna! That was really rude and uncalled for!" I scolded.

"Well he was using the studio during our timeslot; he deserved it."

"Like he said, no one was using it. Plus, he already apologised, and he left immediately. It's not like he made us wait."

"Whatever. He just wasted like 30 seconds of our studio time."

"Urghh. You're so stubborn and annoying! I'm not arguing with you anymore." I swung my hand toward the back of her head, but she somehow saw that coming and ducked. What I didn't expect is that she slapped me back on the back of my head.

"OW!"

"You tried hitting me first."

===============

"Oh. He's still here." Haruna said as we were leaving the room after practice.

"Who?"

"Him." Haruna said, indicating the neighbouring room.

"Well then, you have an opportunity to apologise for your rudeness." I glared at her.

"Fine. I just don't want to incur your wrath."

We walked up to the door and knocked on it. He didn't seem to notice, so we opened the door. His soft voice could be heard over his guitar. But that short sample of his voice was all I got to hear before he noticed us standing in the doorway.

"You guys booked this room too?" He looked at us incredulously.

"Oh no. Haruna was just going to apologise for being rude just now. Right, Haru?" I said, nudging Haruna.

"Sorry for being so sarcastic just now. It was rude of me and I hope you can forgive me."

"It's alright. I shouldn't have stayed past my allocated time."

"Alright! Now that we got that all cleared up, I'm Mami. And this is Haruna. The other two girls waiting for us outside are Tomomi and Rina." I gestured.

"I'm Ryota. Are you guys a band?"

"We sure as hell hope so. We just started playing our instruments a while back and we're all just beginners. You really do have a nice voice though! Are you a singer?"

"Just a songwriter."

Sensing his shyness, I quickly said, "Oh it's getting really late and I should be heading home already. I'll see you around! Bye-bye!"

"Bye."

===============

"He did seem really shy." I said to the rest of the band as we walked to the train station together.

"And you're fretting over that because you've taken an interest in him?" Haruna mischieviously smiled at me.

"No way. I know I like my guys submissive but shyness does not equate to submissiveness" 

"Exactly right? You don't know whether he's submissive enough for you so you're worried."

"I didn't mean that. I just meant that you might have scared him with your bluntness."

"Ahh that's nothing. He won't be hurt by those little words."

"Just like you won't be hurt when people call you short?"

"Ne, that's different-"

"No it isn't."

"And why not?"

"Because words do hurt people no matter how innocent they seem."

"Alright, alright. You win this time. And to think most people think I'm the bossy one on this band."

===============

Waving goodbye to Tomomi and Rina at the train station, Haruna and I entered the platform for the train toward Nagoya. We steadily walked toward the platform where the train was about to leave.

"Oh we're so lucky. We just made it for the train." I said.

"And lucky enough to meet him again too." Haruna rolled her eyes.

"No way." True enough, Ryota was on the train at the platform .

"Let's just take the next train."

"Forget it. I'm not waiting another train when one is right here. Let's just hope that he doesn't see us."

"I hate you."

We boarded the train and sure enough, he noticed us.

"Wow. You guys going this way too?"

"Yeah. Going back home to Nagoya. Where're you headed to?"

"Same, actually. Nagoya."

"Whoa man. You stalking us or something?" Haruna suddenly blurted out.

"No. I was just about to ask you guys the same thing."

"Hahaha maybe it's just a coincidence. Your paranoia knows no bounds, Haru."

"Please, Mami-tan, you're the one who's scared of stalkers."

"I'm not a baby. Stop calling me Mami-tan.

"Meh."

It was then I noticed Ryota's awkwardness again. He was shyly and politely trying to pretend that he wasn't listen to us argue.

"It's alright, dude. We're just bantering. There's no need to be so awkward; you can laugh at me if you like. I'm fine with people laughing about me unlike Haru here. But yeah. We should probably be quiet, people are staring at us already."

"Sorry."

"Why're you so awkward? There was no need to be sorry when it was our fault!" I laughed. "Come on, man, loosen up! We're super friendly."

"I'm just not quite used to interacting with girls."

"You can just take me as a guy; I even refer to myself as Oira. As for Haru, her manners are much like an old man's, you can just take her as that." I whispered the second part and winked at him.

"I heard that." Haruna glared at me.

"Anyways, are you going to the studio tomorrow?" I turned my attention back to Ryota.

"Um yeah."

"Same time slot?"

"Yeah."

"Alright! See you again tomorrow then! We'll be there same time too. Why not you sit in on our session? Maybe you could write a song for us?" I nudged him.

"I'm not sure what you guys sound like, but I think I could manage that." He smiled.