ON THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY, after school, I got a call from my producer again.

“Koji! Have you seen the charts?”

“Not yet,” I swiftly replied, growing ever so impatient to hear this week's results.

“You won’t believe this!” He cheerfully yelled out. “Angel no More is number eight on this week's charts!”

My first time breaking into the top 10. Part of me was beyond gleeful, I could hardly believe that I even managed to get such a feat so early in my career. Though the other half of me was hoping that this wasn’t the end. That by a miracle Luminous got the top spot.

“Hold tight, Koji! That’s not all! Luminous is third!”

Only seconds after getting my highest place to date, I learned that I've got even higher. My first ever song to hit top three.

“And here is where it gets crazy, Koji!”

I tightly clenched my phone in my hand, bracing myself for what he could possibly say next.

“Celestial Roamer is first place! I guess your little stunt at the talk show really boosted your reach, huh?”

“…First?”

Everything I had been hoping for. The very first step towards the bigger goal of getting a concert at the Tokyo Dome.

“Yeah! First, Koji!”

My duet with LuNA, a song with a push and pull dynamic between two voices lost in space. One trying to escape their other half, while the other one feels lonely casted away.

I had a hard time saying anything. This is what I had been dreaming of, but now that it’s reality, I’m too stunned to speak.

“You’re awfully quiet Koji, must be quite the shocker, right? Anyway, two more weeks of this and we’ve got ourselves your first ever stadium performance!”

* * *

Four of us in a room. All thinking out loud, despite the silence. We came in early this Saturday to work on our new song. Only Katou was yet to arrive.

I sat next to Kashimoto at a round table, with a chair in between me and LuNA. Only Morita was not seated at the table, he was seated on top of another round table right behind me.

“Really? ‘Dreams abound’ is all we’ve got now?” LuNA asked after a good while of silence.

“Yup.” Morita said from afar. “We’re all waiting for that flicker of a flare kinda spark in our mind. Though we’re not getting anywhere, nothing’s getting aligned. Even with all our heads combined, it feels like we just rewind and go back to the same place. Drawing blanks, black void, empty space—” He kept tapping the side of his forehead with both index fingers. “—Nothing. Is. Working up here. All of us cower in fear. That’s what I’m feeling from this atmosphere. Afraid to mess up when everything’s at stake. Overtime of overthinking is making my head ache.”

LuNA nodded her head. “Yeah, pretty much that. Afraid of messing up when everything’s at stake.”

Right then, there was a knocking on the door. Katou walked in the room, nervously glancing back and forth between me and LuNA. I remember her saying that she’s a huge fan, she went to her signing event a long while ago as well. I ran into LuNA quite a bit, but perhaps she didn’t, hence why she’s still tense around one of her idols.

“Good morning everyone,” she quietly said.

“Good morning,” I gestured towards the empty seat in between LuNA and me, “feel free to sit here.”

“Ah… thanks…”

The moment she sat down, LuNA picked up the conversation again, “We’re currently stuck with the writing process. There hasn’t been anything put on the table other than the central idea, being ‘Dreams abound’.”

Katou was intensely staring at LuNA, though I doubt many words said entered her ears as she kept nodding her head even when she had already stopped talking.

“So… do you have any ideas?”

She suddenly snapped out of her trance. “Huh, me…?” She pointed at herself. “I—uh… I don’t have any.”

“Alright, I’ve got an idea,” I said. “We’re all treating this song as a whole rather than picking it apart and looking at it as smaller parts.”

“I get what you’re getting at, what you’re trying to say. I bet you mean we all do small things our own way. Bringing it together in a grand play,” Morita quite correctly interpreted.

“Exactly! We’ll be needing someone to do the intro, someone else for the first verse, the chorus, and so on.”

“Interesting,” Kashimoto said. “But if we’re only getting the lyrics done today, aren’t I a little useless then?”

“No worries, I’m sure your view on the lyrics will be of good use. Anyway, let’s start dividing the parts. Who wants to do the intro?”

The room fell silent again. I wondered why no one seemed to be wanting to do the intro. Though I have to admit, I don’t want to do it either.

“…Morita? Wanna do the intro? I asked him.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t rap the intro, that won’t be any good man. My segment is followed by the chorus, at least that’s my plan.”

In all fairness, he was right. That left Katou, LuNA and myself as well.

“Katou, LuNA, want to do the intro?”

Both of them still didn’t say a word.

I held my head in my hands and heavily sighed, “LuNA, do the intro.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m doing the first verse.”

I looked at Katou, hoping that she’d do it.

“…Are you sure you want me to start off the song? I mean… LuNA is right here…”

“Wait… is that what you’re worried about? If you do the intro, I know you’ll rock it, too!”

“Well, if you say so…”

I took a pen and opened my notepad and started jotting down as I spoke. “That means, we’ve got you on the intro, LuNA does the first verse right after. Then followed by the chorus…” I looked up, questioningly. “Should I do the chorus?”

“Who else?” LuNA asked.

“Okay… the chorus is for me, then the second verse done by Morita. The chorus again. I feel like we should have a third verse, no?”

“Katou, keep the intro short and do the third verse,” LuNA told her.

“Oh, I’d love to go twice! But… A-are you sure…?”

“Yeah. Let’s finish with the chorus again, all of us singing together.”

I wrote everything down, “Sounds like a great idea.”

* * *

On Tuesday, I was at the hospital again after school. The producer hadn’t called me before, when he finally did, I had him on speaker so mom and dad could also listen.

“Koji! How are you doing little man?”

“I’m doing great! We’ve got some work done on the song last weekend. Next week, it’ll be all about merging it together.”

“Great to hear, keep up the good work! Anyway, you know why I’m calling, right?”

Of course I knew, this had been the reason he has been calling me these past few Tuesdays. The anticipation of his calls is actually what keeps me from looking it up myself, it’s more exciting to hear the results from the line.

“The charts!”

“Yup! Let’s go over it quickly here. Angel no More dropped to ninth place, not bad, not bad. Luminous is still in third…”

His pause was taking a little too long.

“…What about Celestial Roamer?” I asked.

“Celestial Roamer… is first again!”

I looked over to dad and saw one of those slightest of smiles again. Then mom hugged me from the side. “Way to go, Koji!”

“Nice! Let’s hope it stays there next week as well.”

“Well… that doesn’t matter anymore really.”

His bizarre wording threw me off guard. “What do you mean?”

“You see, I had a little chat with the boss earlier. Which is also why I called a little later than usual today. Anyway, your recent success has accelerated the talks about your ridiculous Tokyo Dome request… and it’s actually already being planned as we speak.”

My eyes were as wide opened as my dad’s. I’ve been left speechless so many times by his calls, it’s like I could wake up at any second from this dream I’m in.

“…Are you serious?”

“Nothing has been confirmed just yet, but we’re aiming for a concert in about a month from now, so somewhere in March.”

That means we’ve got to put the pedal to the metal on finishing our song…

* * *

“Anyway, we need to finish the lyrics today, so we can work on the instrumental parts as soon as possible. Everyone ready to go full steam ahead?”

Another Saturday early in the morning where we were all gathered in a room to get this song done as quickly as possible.

“Let’s do this!” Kashimoto cheered, right before crossing his arms, hanging his head and closing his eyes, going back to sleep. Last time, too, he said “Wake me up when you need me” and slept through most of our meeting.

We got started by letting each other hear what we’ve got already.

“Hold your horses, gang. I’m gonna start this off with a bang! See, I’ve chosen to spin a twist on the theme. Making it fit well with my rhyming scheme. I’m talking about an on and off flame in my heart as pursuit of my dream!”

He started rapping his part. Some lines needed some work, but like he had announced, he started it off with a bang. His take on dreams abound was more about hesitation. Waiting for a tomorrow that might never come.

“That was great, Morita! What do you have LuNA?”

“I’ve also got a little twist of my own. The contrast between me and little me. It was the younger version of me after all who had all these dreams that I’m trying to realise.”

When she sung her part, I was blown away once more.

She laughed like a villain after singing, “Heard that Koji? I rap about as good as your buddy.”

I didn’t expect her increase in tempo at the end, but with her magical voice and tone you could hardly call it rapping. Rather, singing quickly.

“That was also brilliant! Now it’s your turn, Katou.”

She clenched her fists, “Alright!”

After a deep breath, she sung with a beautiful high pitched voice, “My calling... Is calling out to me~. Are you...Where you once dreamed to be~?”

“…That’s perfect for the intro!”

Before I could praise her more, she said, “I’ve also got the verse done!” She sung it in her classic Katou-way. A mixture between a calm voice and a storm-like one. Very, very good.

Now it was my turn… but I found my part a little underwhelming compared to the others.

“I’ve got an idea,” I said. “I’m scrapping what I’ve got already and make a chorus that aligns more with what you guys got. A chorus where the second half changes to match the verse that I’m following up. How does that sound?”

“Koji, don’t be a coward and start singing, LuNA sneered.

“Yeah, yeah, I will.”

I quickly started crossing lines through the text I had written and thought of new stuff.

“Hurry up, we wanna hear it,” she teasingly said.

“…Alright, here I go—”

After we had brought the lyrics together, we woke Kashimoto up to start on the instrumental part. Which went easier than the lyrics. Though at the end of the day, we still felt like there was something missing.

* * *

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I panted.

I had been having a hard time finding this specific café in a street that’s full of them. On top of that, I could barely move through the sea of couples flooding the streets.

“Don’t worry. I just arrived as well,” she politely said as she handed me the menu. “What will you be ordering?”

I opened it and quickly browsed through all of the options. The chocolate milkshake instantly jumped into my eyes. “I’ll be having a cho—” I stopped speaking, thinking that my choice would make me look like a little kid. “I guess I’ll go with a regular coffee.” I regretted the choice instantly. It’s not like I can’t drink it, it’s just that I put a massive load of sugar in it to make up for the otherwise bitter taste.

She raised her hand, calling a waitress over.

“Good morning, are you ready to order?” The waitress was very attentively staring. Her eyes moving back and forth between the two of us. Definitely getting the wrong idea.

“One regular coffee and a chocolate milkshake please.”

You’re kidding me.

“One regular coffee and a chocolate milkshake…” she repeated as she wrote the order down. “Coming right up!”

The both of us were silent for a while. I let my eyes wander around the café, growing ever so uncomfortable seeing so many couples around. After a while, I decided to say something to break the silence, “So, why did you call me out here, Fuyuko?”

She stopped twirling around with the sugar packet on the table and slowly raised her eyes.

“…I saw you on a television show a little while ago.”

I knew exactly which show she was talking about. We also talked about her on that show no less…

“D-did you…? So, uh, what about it?”

She continued fidgeting around with the sugar packet. Placing her finger at one end and make it spin in circles.

“…I wanted to make up.” She turned her head away. “It’s not like I’ve forgotten about the things I said in the park. Nor can I fully forgive you for leaving me alone…” She faced me again, “But I think we want the same thing… things to return to the way they were, right?”

I nodded, a little hesitant, thinking it was unfair for things to return to the way they were when I was the one to blame for things to have so drastically changed in the first place.

She stretched out her arm. “Then let’s be friends once again, Koji.”

I stretched mine out, too, and shook her hand, “Yeah, let’s be friends again.”

Right then, the waitress returned. “Here you go, one coffee?” She said it with a little questioning tone at the end, here’s where the person who ordered the coffee makes clear that it’s for them. Right when I was about to say that it’s for me, Fuyuko said, “That’s for me, thank you.”

“Here you go,” she said as she placed it down on the table. “And the chocolate milkshake for you, sir.”

“…Thank you.”

When the waitress left again, I looked at Fuyuko, who was blowing on her coffee, with a very puzzled expression. “Didn’t you order the chocolate milkshake?”

After taking a sip from her coffee she said, “You don’t appear to be the type to like bitter things. Besides, you were about to say ‘chocolate milkshake’ when you said ‘cho’ earlier, right?”

“…Well, yeah,” I admitted.

“Then enjoy!” She beamed, as she took another sip from her coffee. “So, what have you been up to? Now that we’re friends again, I’d like to catch up, you know?”

I was once again a little hesitant to speak. This version of Fuyuko, half serious and half peppy, was throwing me off. To be friends again is what I’d been secretly hoping for. Though this sudden change of heart feels odd.

“I’ve been preparing for a concert in Tokyo Dome.”

She nearly choked on her coffee. “T-Tokyo dome?!”

“I made a silly deal with my boss, that if I manage to get one of my songs in the first spot of the Oricon chars for three consecutive weeks, then I’d be getting a concert at the Tokyo Dome. And well, this week was the third.”

“Woah… didn’t see that coming. So when is this concert?”

“March, around the end of winter. The announcement will be today.”

“I’ll be coming to see you then. Will the ticket sale also start today?”

This… doesn’t feel right…

“You won’t have to worry, I’ll make sure you’ll get in for free.”

“…Are you sure?”

I nodded, then turned my head towards the couple-filled café again. The cosy, lovey-dovey vibe that explodes throughout the entire scene only worsens my uneasy feeling.

“By the way, which song will you be opening with?”

“…Fuyuko,” I mumbled.

“Hm?”

“Let’s cut this out.”

“W-what do you mean?”

I rested my forehead on my hand, avoiding her eyes. “Why are you suddenly so kind to me. Your resentment towards me lasted for years, and you want me to believe it magically disappeared now? Tell me, why are you feeling sorry for me?”

When I looked her in the eyes again, it was her who averted hers. Slowly lifting her cup of coffee to her lips, not taking a sip, then slowly placing it down again.

“Koji. It was my fault wasn’t it? Hibino told me.”

“…What?”

“Your father came to pick you up when I was the reason you were out so late… and that’s why… the accident…”

Now everything became crystal clear. She didn’t want to do any of this, she was simply feeling guilty.

“You know that that’s not your fault at all. If guilt is the reason you want to be my friend, then I’d rather have you hate me than pity me.”

She looked me in the eyes again, then lowered them to the table once more. After a little sigh she said, “I don’t hate you, Koji.”

“But—”

“I don’t. And more than anything, I wish for our friendship to return to the way it once was. So please,” she shoved the milkshake closer to me, “…enjoy,” she smiled.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“There’s nothing you have to do for me.”

I drank a bit of the milkshake, it was pleasantly sweet. Then I suddenly had an idea. “What would you think about—”

* * *

Later that morning, I was once again headed to the same room were the others were waiting. Today we were going to heavily focus on getting the instrumentals just right and matching it with the lyrics. While we were doing that, the promotional team would be getting started with the concert announcement.

When I arrived, LuNA instantly had a smug smile on her face, summoning a sinister air in the room right from the get-go.

“Hey lover boy, how many girls halted you for marriage proposals today?”

I sat down, adjusted my seat and turned my head. “No more than usual,” I said matter-of-factly. That’s something that doesn’t really happen to begin with.

Though that got Katou flustered for some reason. “L-let’s get started, alright?”

I gave hanging-head Kashimoto a punch to the shoulder, instantly waking him up. “I’m here,” he said as if I was a teacher doing roll call.

“Instrumentals today. Let’s get to work.”

A switch in passive and active roles between Morita and Kashimoto happened. Now that he had his violin to worry about, the role of being a sleeper got handed to Morita.

We got about an hour worth of work in before Katou’s stomach started growling, indicating that it was lunchtime. Whilst we were eating, there seemed to be quite the tension hanging in the room. Some awkward glances were swapped, while LuNA couldn’t drop the smug smile.

Then, after about fifteen minutes, LuNA stood up. “Bathroom.”

“Me, too,” Kashimoto said as he left.”

Morita, who we hadn’t bothered waking up, suddenly lifted his head. With his eyes half-closed he peered at the clock hanging on the wall. Out of nowhere, he jumped up and also shouted out, “Bathroom!” and left.

I looked over at Katou. “Are you next, or is it my turn to jump into this gig?”

She stood up, making me think they were all pulling some prank or something. With slow steps, she walked all the way to her bag against the wall, returning equally slowly while holding something behind her back.

“Here, Koji.” From behind her back she made a brown box with red stripes and dots on it appear. “Happy valentines day!”

I opened it up, there was valentines chocolate inside.

“Woah, this looks delicious! Thanks!”

Right as she sat down again, her stomach growled.

“Want some?” My question quickly followed the growling.

“…They’re for you!” She shyly turned her head away.

I looked through them and took the most delicious looking one out of the box. “Here you go.” I held it out, perhaps a little close to her face. When I returned my gaze back on the chocolate from paradise, I felt her lips brushing over my fingers.

Turning around I saw that she directly ate it out of the grasp of my fingers.

“You’re like a hamster,” I chuckled, to which she bit my finger.

Right then, the door opened. The others returned from the bathroom to see me with my finger in Katou’s mouth.

“…There was chocolate… I fed it to her…” I looked at Katou and whispered, “Stop biting my finger…”

She retreated her mouth with a cheerful smile.

When did you get this playful?

After… whatever this was, we resumed eating lunch and got right back to work.

“We’re missing something,” Kashimoto remarked.

“Yeah, drums,” LuNA quickly replied. “We need some drums. Do any of you know of a drummer we could ask?”

I’ve worked with a couple of drummers before, though strangely, the first person who popped up in my mind… was Nomura. And for some reason, I didn’t dislike the idea.

“Say, how long would it take someone with little drum knowledge to get a single song down?”

“…Depends on the difficulty, really,” she said.

“How difficult would you like this song to be?”

She lazily leaned her head against her hand and sighed, “Got someone in mind?”

“I do. But I don’t know if she’ll be available.”

“Give her a call then.”

I did as she said and called her.

“KOJI!!” Her loud voice got my ears ringing.

“…yes?” My normal volume sounded like a whisper in comparison.

“I’m glad you called! I just successfully finished my training! They said I could start working after spring break!”

She was talking about the training at her favourite bakery.

“Congrats! Wait… does that mean you’ve got time again?”

“Uh-huh. But didn’t you say the lyrics were finished at school?”

“It’s not for the lyrics this time…” I looked at the others in the room. “We need you for the drums.”

“Err… huh?! I’m not a drummer!”

I glanced at the clock, our practice wouldn’t be over for another three hours.

“Say, do you got time to stop by now? I’ll send you the address.”

“Huuuhh?!!”

And that’s why I’m currently waiting outside the building. It didn’t take long before she arrived.

“Koji! What’s this all about? I’m not a drummer anymore, you know!”

“Follow me, we’ll turn you into one. Just for one song.”

She followed me through the entrance hall to the elevators. Once we were going up, her legs started shaking.

“Feeling nervous?” I asked her.

“Y-yeah… super nervous!”

Then I suddenly remembered how she used to be bad with heights, hence why she never climbed in a tree with Fuyuko and me.

“Still scared of heights?”

She very honestly nodded her head.

“No need to worry, Nomura. The cables of this elevator have only snapped like once or twice. Statistically speaking, we’re not going to die here today.”

She punched me with quite a bit of power. “If we die here, I’ll be sure to haunt your cursed grave for the rest of your life—” She realised that her sentence made little sense. “Anyway, stop making fun of me when I’m about to do you a favour!”

“Oh, your legs stopped shaking.”

“Shut up…” she pouted.

The elevator doors opened to which she let out a sigh of relief.

“Wanna look out the window from this floor?”

“No! I don’t!”

“Alright, alright.” That was enough teasing her for a minute. “It’s this way,” I said, showing her to the room where everyone was waiting.

I introduced her to Katou and LuNA—the other two obviously knew who she was—and we got started on trying to teach her the drums. Well, LuNA was.

“You go like this, and then this, this, this and then this. Got that?”

“No...”

“Let’s try again. This… this, then this…”

It wasn’t really working out as smoothly as we’d hoped. Perhaps partly because the drummer isn’t even a drummer. And the drum instructor isn’t a drummer either.

After fifteen minutes, we had something to work with.

“Alright, Kashimoto, you start off with the violin during Katou’s intro. Then your final note lingers until it’s completely silent. Then Nomura, you start on the drums, followed by the violin again. Then LuNA followed by me and Katou at the same time. Sounds good to everyone?”

After our practice that day, I went to see my producer, to ask him a very specific question.

“Is there any way I could make the concert ticket free for a certain person?”

“Sure,” he said. “Who is it?”

“Sakura Fuujii. She helped me out once in a store in Shizuoka. She’s a stranger, really, but she’s also the first ever person to ask for a signature out on in public. But I was in a hurry, you see? And yet, right after saying I couldn’t sign anything, I selfishly asked her if I could borrow some money for a bottle of water.”

“I see. So you want to repay her, huh. I’ll make sure it’ll be done. Sakura Fuujii was it right?”

“Yup. Thank you very much!”

* * *

During the weeks leading up to today, I felt restless from waiting. Seeing myself on flyers and billboards made me feel really strange at first, but only amplified my longing for today to come. The only negative besides my growing impatience was yet a new set of rumours being spread about Fuyuko and me. We were spotted when we went to that one café… on Valentine’s Day no less.

Anyway, today it’s time for something else.

Tokyo Dome. A baseball stadium sometimes used for concerts with a capacity of 55.000 people, that I officially became the youngest person ever to sell out—with the help of my friends of course.

Peeking through the curtain, I could see that the stadium was completely filled. I closed it again and looked at my friends backstage. “Everyone doing okay?”

Everyone seemed to be doing alright. Even though this was her biggest concert yet, LuNA seemed to be the one being the calmest. ‘Just another Saturday’ was the sort of feeling I was getting of looking at her.

“Hey, Koji. What’s the other set of curtains on the stage for?” she asked.

“Ah, don’t worry about that. When you’re leaving the stage, just come back here. Oh, and one more thing, at our last song, please stop playing your instruments after Katou’s verse.”

“…Why?”

“It’s time, Koji,” I was told to go to the stage.

“No time to explain, but please do.”

With a deep breath and closed eyes, I stood in front of the curtains. One step away from the big dream from half my life ago.

Simply walking onstage made the Tokyo Dome erupt and explode with cheers. I felt the energy spread by the audience getting absorbed into my body. I felt ready to go crazy.

I walked up to the central microphone stand, “Tokyo Dome… Are you ready!!!!”

Another eruption; another burst of energy flowing right to and through my veins.

“The first song of the night, Celestial Roamer. I won’t be singing that on my own of course. Here’s LuNA.”

All neighbouring pieces of land would’ve been burned down right now if the Tokyo Dome was an actual volcano. The way she got the crowd going wild from simply showing her face… it’s insane.

Celestial Roamer was my pick as the one to do first, because it’s the one that’ll get the people fired up from the get-go. A song with many interpretations about a roamer, lost in space.

I started singing.

“Arrival with no complication

At a mysterious space station, right

How myriad aeons of millions of millions of years have gone by

Since we first took flight

But in your absence, everything feels alright”

Here’s where both LuNA’s guitar and her vocals get introduced. With her stellar voice she took the pre-chorus away.

“I am lost in outer space

Left without a trace

Secretly hoping — I'll be found by you

My longing for your touch only grew

More and more, though I already knew

. . .

That you wouldn't be coming through”

Two contradictory voices singing about one another. Now the chorus, a back and forth between her and me.

“When will you realise you're on your own?”

“I'm getting cold roaming in the unknown”

“Two of the same yet we're so alone”

“I'm getting frustrated roaming in the unknown”

“Swirling around, space has become our home”

“I'm getting tired of roaming in the unknown”

My turn to sing again.

“A lunar getaway at a turtle's pace

Running away from myself as if I'm in a celestial race

I can't say for sure what I'm feeling is true

But I will never stop trying to evade you

There's no way I would ever undo~

The parting of us two”

 

“I am lost in outer space

Left without a trace

Secretly hoping I'll be found by you

My longing for your touch only grew

More and more, though I already knew

. . .

That you wouldn't be coming through”

“When will you realise you're on your own?”

“I'm getting cold roaming in the unknown”

“Two of the same yet we're so alone”

“I'm getting frustrated roaming in the unknown”

“Swirling around, space has become our home”

“I'm getting tired of roaming in the unknown”

 

Luna’s outro concluded this well-received song.

“Somewhere in outer space

I'm longing for your embrace

Somewhere in outer space

I'm longing to see your face

To see your face

To see our face

. . .

I'm a celestial roamer, the other self you fail to erase”

Riding the wave of the hype we created, I made sure the audience wouldn’t fall asleep with the next one; Athlete on the Beat. Introducing both Morita and Kashimoto to the stage.

The song is super silly, but it gets the people going. Jumping up and down, going from left to right. I couldn’t help thinking that this enthusiastic detonation is what life’s all about.

When all the bouncing was over, I took the energy levels down a bit to sing my first ever solo song; Maybe in Love. Not my best one at all, but my first song that’s solely mine holds a special place in my heart.

The people in the audience gently rocked their heads from side to side. The relaxed atmosphere was perfect to queue my other love song, which the audience seemed to like even more than the previous one.

The calm in the air made for the perfect moment to blow it all out of the stadium. And who else than Miss Silent Mayhem herself.

“The next song is called ‘Snowfall turned a Blizzard’! Please welcome Katou Emiko to the stage!”

Loud cheers and applause even before she appeared from behind the curtains. The cheers only growing louder the moment she made her way onstage.

In our song, I’m sort of the balance between Katou’s extremes. She sings gently and peacefully, while I sing just like I normal do, and Katou adds her chaotic thunder voice as well.

Each time that voice appeared, the stadium erupted once more.

When Katou left the stage again, it was time for Mr. Throwaway Child, and Angel no More.
              
Those songs were followed by Apathetic Fool and Luminous, slowly bringing the energy levels down in preparation for the grand finale. Before that, though, was the nationals winner Fifth Symphony; a solo guitar performance, getting the audience all excited again.

I felt the sky grow darker as the night went on. I had slowly gotten accustomed to getting the audience hyped up and slowing them down again.

“My final song is a brand new one, we will be playing it for the first time in front of an audience. When I say ‘we’ I mean not only me, but Katou—” I waited a little, getting the entire stadium to clap. “—Morita and Kashimoto!” The applause and cheers continued. “And also… LuNA!”

No one gets the crowd as loud as the LuNA does. The only superstar that I’ll allow to steal my thunder. All of them appeared on stage.

“Huh? Who is that behind the drums?”

A to the brim packed Tokyo Dome has probably never been as silent as this. Not a sound could be heard. “Hey! That’s my childhood friend, Nomura!” I playfully announced.

Even though the crowd has likely never heard of her, they were also going crazy for our drummer.

“This brand new song is called ‘Dreams Abound’. Enjoy!”

The anticipation of the brand new song created a little quietude as well.

Kashimoto started the song off with his violin, right as Katou started singing with a voice stolen from paradise.

“My calling...
Is calling out to me—
Are you...
Where you once dreamed to be—?”

The audience, clapping at her first high notes, immediately got quiet the moment Kashimoto’s lingering violin note ended.

Here’s where our drummer starts playing. At the sound of her first hits, we on stage could all hear she missed a beat. I turned my hand sideways, holding my thumb up to show her everything’s fine. Kashimoto returning with his violin… also missed his first note.

The pitch perfect Kashimoto would never miss a note on accident, I’m sure this was his way to tell Nomura that she doesn’t need to worry about it.

LuNA, Katou and I all took the hint and missed our first notes on purpose as well. Silly things like these show just how close we are as a group.

All the instruments were playing, here’s where LuNA took it away.

“Another day's gone by
Once again wondering why
I can't shut an eye—

Little me, swirling around in my mind
Couldn't wait to grow up, now I wish to rewind
Wish to
Go back to the days
Where any store was a maze
Every look was a phase
Being kind earned me praise
Flower picking in Aprils and Mays
Dancing in hot-summer sun rays
Being a child in carefree ways
Now, out of the window into the starry sky I gaze
And see
That time has not been kind to me”

My turn to get a homerun in.

“In the solitude of the night
That's when dreams abound—
Dreams about
Times when our past and present interweave
Times when we were young and naïve
Had the world in our hands below our feet
Had so much left to achieve”

The second verse, the one right after the chorus, kept for no one other than our rapper, Morita.

“While the world is out like a light
I fail to get any sleep at night
Because my doubts are rising so high, it's like they're taking flight
Is my zealous passion finite?
Will my dreams ever earn me a dime
before they slip out of sight?
But I still got time
... right?

Tomorrow, surely
I'll wake up determined and steady
When you head to bed I'm up already
The inferno within I've lacked for as long as I can remember
Will it set my heart ablaze or merely be an ember?
Tomorrow, surely I'll thrive
But, maybe that tomorrow is found in the afterlife”

 

“In the solitude of the night
That's when dreams abound
Dreams about
Things we want to attain
Before we lose our grip again
Will we grab our chance or hesitate
If we wait for tomorrow, we might be too late”

Katou followed it up with the third verse.

“I've still got a long way to go
Still reminiscing on dreams from ages ago
In these hopeful eyes... I bear
Struggle... and despair

But one day... I swear
Despite life being... unfair
I will reach heights beyond compare”

Her verse ended and everyone stopped playing their instruments, just like I had requested.

After three piano notes, the curtains everyone had been wondering about suddenly fell down.

There she was, Fuyuko, who blew everyone away with her suprise appearance.

“Uncertainties — lies and deceit
Can't pick myself up, lying on the street
Sky growing darker as we speak
Will I ever find a way out of here?”

I held my hand up in the air, snapping my finger, letting everyone know it was time to play our instruments again.

“I get back up and try to stand
Can't eternally wait for a reaching hand
Still, legs trembling I'm frail and weak
My brave front breaks the glass in a mirror antique
All opting for a façade mystique
Ignoring that what's inside is beautiful and unique
But when at night, you fall asleep
And take a look at what we seek
You'll see that it's the same isn't it—?”

Per LuNA’s request, we’re all, even Nomura and Kashimoto, singing the chorus.

“In the solitude of the night”

Isn’t it funny?

“That's when dreams abound”

Everything is different now. Our lives were once one grand entity and now we fly on very different paths.


“Dreams about”

But when you look at us, Nomura on the drums, Fuyuko playing the piano and me on the guitar.

“Unwavering confidence in our eyes”

Everything is different now.

“The search for where our heart’s longing lies”

But nothing has changed.