45: Blazing Mirage.
35 0 2
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Friday school passed in an interminable blur. Risa and Shizuoka laughed about Hikaru's inability to concentrate and promised to share notes later. Then it was time to get ready for the competition. Mirage dressed in their black and silver, assembled, and showed up together in the Saito mini-van. Hatsuharu's wife dropped them off.

They wouldn't have their own drum set, so they only had the smaller instruments to carry. Hatsuharu still carried his own sticks though.

--

Kiri frowned as he saw the enormous line for the competition. He might not get in, he realized. But then someone waved and called out to him near the front of the line.

When he walked up, his boss, the owner of Inline Productions, said, "You didn't put this on your schedule."

Kiri replied, "I only intended to stay for the first act, but it looks like I won't get in."

Emri Enrico laughed and said, "You'll get in." He waved a business pass and added, "As long as you've got your company ID on you."

"Hey," protested the next person in line.

Kiri's boss gave the man a cool look and said, "If you didn't purchase your admission ahead of time like I did, it's not my problem." Then he asked Kiri, "What's so good about the first act? And why not stay for the rest?"

"It's my girlfriend's band, and they're doing another show right after, so I'm going along," Kiri answered uncomfortably.

"Are we expecting to sign your girlfriend?" his boss asked curiously.

"God, I hope not," said Kiri, then guiltily added, "not that they aren't good enough."

There was a brief silence while his boss looked at him consideringly. "I see, well we'll talk about that curious statement in a more private location later."

Kiri winced.

--

Mirage checked in with the various necessary people, starting with the verification of their ID at the entry.

A lot of the bands backstage knew Rin and one guy belligerently said, "Entering a competition like this with temporary bandmembers is cheating."

Hikaru stared at the man blankly but Ryuske looked at Rin, curious as to his answer.

Rin said coolly, "Guess you should drop out then. My band hasn't changed members in over two years."

Ryuske grinned.

Everyone who knew Rin turned and stared, except for one guy who just muttered, "Anyone who's heard of Mirage knows that, stupid." That guy turned to Rin and asked, "What number?"

Ryuske replied before Rin got a chance, "Number one, of course."

Hatsuharu, Hikaru, and Rin laughed.

"I mean in the line up!" was the annoyed reply.

Rin grinned and repeated the information, "We're first, so you better not lose to us, or you'll just look sad." He shook his head in mock despair.

Several people winced and said things like, "ouch," and, "rough draw."

Mirage headed for the stage.

--

Kiri sat down beside his boss and looked up at the stage when the lights dimmed and the song began.

On the dim, unlit stage, Ryuske set up his keyboard while singing the opening lines. The drums joined in as Hatsuharu took his place. Then the bass and guitar slid in as Rin and Hikaru took positions on either side of Ryuske.

When the lyrics hit the words 'somebody turn on the lights', the stage lights snapped on. Rin and Hikaru snapped into motion, perfectly in tandem. When the chorus rose, the keyboard carried it and they froze except for the motion of their instruments as they played and their mouths as they sang their parts.

The timing was perfect, and as the next verse began the harmony ended, they twirled away through their practiced moves, and exchanged sides in one slick motion. Ryuske's voice soared over the audience. He made a gesture with his hand as he beseeched the audience to dance with the lyrics and Kiri sat up straight in shock.

"Holy crap!" he exclaimed. His boss flicked his gaze to him for a moment. "Mirage's Ryuske is Kobayashi Ryuske from Edge!"

Kiri's boss studied the singer for a moment and said, "You're right, I didn't recognize him between the short hair and how much he's filled out." He frowned and sighed with disappointment.

Kiri looked at him inquiringly.

"They're good, they've already grabbed the audience," he said by way of explanation.

Kiri nodded and asked quietly, "Why does that make you look disappointed?"

"He'll never work with us again after that scandal when Edge lost their guitarist and broke up," he said sorrowfully.

Kiri briefly ignored Mirage's performance and asked with shock, "Edge was part of Inline?"

His boss nodded.

Kiri said, "Wow," and went back to watching Mirage.

--

Mirage played their two songs perfectly, and they knew it. Not only that, their plan of grabbing the audience with a cover of a familiar song and then revving things up with one of their own best songs seemed successful and the audience cheered as they stood at the edge of the stage and took their bow.

They grinned like mad as they swapped places with the next band and worked their way out of the backstage area and then the building.

Someone called out, "You're leaving?"

Rin grinned and said, "You know the openers never win, and we've got other plans, but have fun making a better impression!"

Mirage exited the building, all four members bubbling with excitement.

--

Kiri had left as soon as they finished and was waiting for them. He still had his company ID clipped to his jacket.

Ryuske took one look at him and asked sharply, "What do you want?"

Hikaru rushed forward to hug Kiri and said, "He's with me!"

Kiri hugged her and eyed Ryuske cautiously.

"Hikaru, get away from that man," Ryuske said.

She turned and stared at him, but didn't release Kiri.

"Hikaru!" Ryuske snapped.

"What's wrong with you?" Hikaru asked.

"How did he approach you?" Ryuske asked her and demanded of Kiri, "How dare you?"

Hikaru gasped and replied quickly, shocked by his reaction, "I approached him!"

Rin stepped between them and said calmly, "Hikaru, Ryuske is over reacting because your lover works for Inline."

Hikaru stared and asked, "So?"

But Kiri answered Ryuske's earlier question, "I didn't even know she was a musician before we started dating, and I've no intention of trying to work with you. Though I was a fan of Edge."

Hikaru turned to him and stared, several things seemed to click into place.

Ryuske said bitterly to Hikaru, "Inline is the company that produced Edge."

Kiri shrugged at her and said calmly, "I didn't know that either, until very recently. I was still in high school then."

Hikaru didn't say anything and he added a little desperately, "I haven't lied about my job, but after I found out you're a musician, I didn't want to say too much either."

Hikaru nodded slowly, but asked, "Why don't you want to work with us? Are we that bad?"

Kiri groaned, covered his face with his hands and leaned against the wall he stood beside. "No. You're great. I just, it never works, relationships between managers and artists. The few times it seems to work, the couple's are like business partners who find it convenient to sleep together." He dropped his hands and gazed at her desperately, "I don't want that! And I want it to work..."

"OK," she said and took his hand.

"It's not OK!" yelled Ryuske.

Hikaru looked at him and said calmly, "Yes it is, you don't want to work with Inline, Kiri doesn't want to mix work and our relationship, it's fine. And he's telling the truth about his job, he told me enough I could have guessed, it just never occurred to me."

Hatsuharu interrupted as Ryuske gazed at Hikaru with an agonized expression and Kiri clung to her, "We're going to be late to our own concert."

"Let's run," Rin suggested with a grin, and offered his hands to Ryuske and Hatsuharu.

Mirage ran hand in hand, Kiri still clinging to Hikaru, the four blocks to the large park nearby. They arrived a little out of breath, but ready to play again.

2