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Check out this playlist on @8tracks: Hidden Block/Forbidden Cube Tracklist by bluecathat.
Remember months ago, I made this for Battle of the Bands, where Hidden Block is a Boy band? I finally got around to making a playlist for the songs they could sing 0w0
forgive me I literally have no experience making playlists
I think I’m getting to the part of the school year where I have to drop art for not failing my classes, so nothing will be updated, save for small things, which sucks. I want to do small things for the projects I have (BOTB and Waria) like small comics and pics til then. I’ll still be drawing, just not at the volume I’ve been lately =w=‘’.
Asagao Academy: Battle of the Bands
Summary: Hana is finally an official member of the Normal Boots Club! With the guys and Mai as her friends, she’s ready for a great rest of the year. When a new student barges into their life and Paul decides to enter Asagao Academy into the regional Battle of the Bands for the first time in three years, Hana realizes that the ride may never stop, but she’s not too sure if she wants to get off.
First Chapter Prev. Chapter
Prologue Part 6: New People, Old Regrets
It was at lunch when Hana broke the news to Mai, as the first two people at the Normal Boots table. Mai stared at Hana, mouth ajar. Luckily for Hana, Mai had swallowed her food, so she didn’t need to be graced with the sight of chewed up food. “No way.”
Hana giggled. “Uuh, yes?”
“No, WAY!” Mai squealed and tackled Hana into a big hug.
“Oh, but Paul said-”
“Yeah yeah, no fangirling, I got it,I got it. I’ll be super mature during the meeting.” Pulling away from Hana, she crossed her heart, “Scouts honor!” She turned her attention back to her grilled cheese, though slower with the fantasies of meeting Intoxiblox.
Hana suddenly heard a loud commotion at the entrance of the cafeteria. She turned and saw a gaggle of girls giggling gregariously grouped around a certain hair flipping boot.
“Isn’t that Jared over there?” Hana asked Mai.
Mai choked on a particularly big chunk of grilled cheese. After she pounded on her chest to let the food pass, she look at the group. “Yeah, I think so? I wonder what’s gotten them so riled up?”
With a rising level of fear for Hana, the group of girls started migrating towards the Normal Boots table. Soon Hana was able to hear what they were saying.
“Jared, Jared! Are you going to be doing Battle of the Band?”
“OMG what if you dress up like a boy band, I’m like literally swooning!”
“I’m totally going to audition with my friends, will you cheer us on?”
“Oh my gosh same, look for us we’re the ones with cat ears!”
“Wow, they are really riled up about this,” Mai commented.
At least Jared looked pretty calm in the maelstrom of maids. Carrying his lunch, he was just laughing and replying with the same ease he always had.
“I, unfortunately, will not be planning to be in a band for it,” he paused to let the sad cries die down before continuing. “I’ll be helping my friends for their entry, so please support them when you can, ladies,” he winked and you could hear the implosion of happiness happening in every girl in that group.
As he finally sat at the table, the girls slowly dispersed until it was just the three of them. It took a minute, but Jared finally relaxed from his pretty boy look.
“Wow, a lot of people were excited about the battle, aren’t they?” Hana asked.
“Well, this is one of the first events that’s ever happened here like this, as far as I can remember,” Jared shrugged, “It’s pretty game changing.”
“Why aren’t you going to go in it yourself, anyways?” Hana asked, “I’m sure you can get a group together and audition.”
“No no,” Jared waved his hand at her. “I’m a model. I don’t sing.” He posed dramatically. “I DANCE.”
“Can you sing?” Mai asked. Hana could already see plans of hiding recorders dancing in Mai’s eyes.
“Ahah, now there’s a secret that I’ll take to my grave,” Jared smiled, “but you can assume it’s as perfect as you can imagine.”
Hana was pretty sure Mai just died on the inside at the mental image (sound?).
The boys started to trickle in and soon everyone was chattering amongst themselves, Mai arguing with PBG about proper athletic bandaging usage, Shane and Jared starting to discuss proper model etiquette for art class and so on.
“Hey guys!” Nate plopped down next to Hana, lunch in one hand, confused boy in the other. Wait...
“Nate, why did you drag me here? I was in the middle of a battle with Kellz!” The boy protested.
“Sorry, Al, but remember when I brought up the battle of the bands with you earlier today?” The boy nodded. “Well, I wanted to introduce you to the everyone now before you lose your nerve about it.”
“Yeah, ok, that makes things one hundred percent better,” the boy huffed but sat down regardless.
“Uuh, Nate...?” Hana asked, meekly. All of the people at the table was now staring at Nate and the boy.
“Oh yeah, guys, this is Alex! He’s a great singer and he said he’d be game with helping the band out!” Nate said, cheerfully.
“Ooh, Alex, hey!” Jirard said, cheerfully.
Alex relaxed. “Hey, Jirard!”
Nate gaped at the two of them. “You two know each other?”
They both stroked their beards at the same time. “Yeah, we’re totally beard bros!” Jirard beamed. “You remember when I told you about the club right?”
“Yeah, I remember.” He pointed at Jon."The actor.” “The model.” Jared shrugged as if to say, true true. “The bookish one.” Satch raised an eyebrow before smiling and waving. “The british one.” Shane sputtered in his drink before regaining his composure. “The clique.” While Paul was carefully watching Alex, Josh and Nick just burst out laughing. “The jock.” PBG looked down at the soccer ball he was carrying and shrugged. “And the hot one,” Alex broke out a grin and high-fived Jirard.
Nate looked stunned for a second, but shook out of it. “Yeah, so Alex can sing really well! You want to show them?”
Alex turned incredulously to Nate. “Here? In the cafeteria?”
Paul got up and leaned over the table towards Alex. “Please, do so! We really need singers!”
Nate patted him on the back. “Come on, I’ll duet with you if you want!”
Alex stared at him before sighing. “Fine, but can we at least do this outside?”
“I’ll come with!” Jirard volunteered.
Nate, Paul, Alex and Jirard got up and left the cafeteria. Hana was burning with curiosity, but she wouldn’t intrude on something that one of them were uncomfor-
“Hana, let's go listen!” Mai tugged at Hana’s sleeve.
Dang it.
Hana let Mai drag her to the entrance of the cafeteria, despite her misgivings about it, just because she was so curious. They could hear Paul talking to Alex from just the other side of the doors.
“OK, just go whenever you’re ready.”
Alex let out a deep breath. “OK, ok, I got this.”
“Do you think he’s good?” Josh whispered in her ear.
Hana yelped before realizing that the literal entire club had followed her and Mai to the entrance. Satch was standing a little far behind shaking his head in disappointment. She didn’t know what else to do but raise a finger to her lips and shh him. He was taken aback and put his hand on his chest in mock-upsetness, but quieted down.
It was quiet on the other side, but then some music started to play and Alex started to sing. Nate joined in and they harmonized as they sang. Looking around, Hana could see that everyone else was enjoying it just as much as she was. She was surprised to see that Satch had joined the crowd. He was muttering under his breath, but Hana had a sneaking suspicion that he was actually singing along, though quietly.
The singing was interrupted by furious clapping. they could hear Paul loudly yelling about how good Alex was. Everyone on the other side exchanged glances and suddenly raced back to the seats, colliding and spilling from left and right.
Paul, Jirard, Alex, and Nate walked back through the entrance.
“-like dude, you never told me how good you...were...” The four of them stopped. In front of them was a pathway of slight destruction. There were people groaning in pain, people lamenting fallen food, and it all lead to the Normal Boots table, where everyone was trying so hard to look natural.
“Well.” Nate said. The four of them reunited with the rest of the table.
“Gentlemen and ladies, may I introduce the third member of the band, Alex...” Paul looked at Alex.
“...Faciane.”
“Faciane!” Everyone clapped for Alex.
“There you are, Alex!” A girl appeared behind Alex. “What the hey, we had a battle!” She turned her attention to Nate. “And you, we’ll talk about how you just kidnapped him for something later!”
“Oh, Kellz! Sorry, I’ll come with you now,” Alex laughed. She huffed, but was smiling. She and Alex walked away together. Hana could catch the girl saying “for all the nerve, after a whole year, too!” A year?
Paul started to talk with the others regarding the battle, but Satch caught her eye. He looked almost sad. His book was in his hand, but his mind was somewhere else.
She was about to talk to Satch before Paul asked her a question that pulled her into the conversation.
--
The day went on as normal, but as soon as class was over, Hana ran up to the fourth floor. Her eyes scanned over all of the people in the hallway until she spotted a familiar bespectacled student. “Satch!” Pushing past the people, she waved at him to catch his attention.
He turned to her. “Oh, Hana! What’s up?”
She stopped in front of him. “I wanted to talk to you about something. Could we talk in the classroom?”
“Sure thing, Hana,” he smiled warmly.
Once inside, she decided to go straight to the point. “Satch, back at the dorms a couple nights ago, with Nate...”
Satch’s eyes widened and his face darken to a rosy red. He let his head fall onto his chest and he covered it with his hands. “Oh no, don’t remind me...”
“Sorry!” Hana quickly said, “It’s just...you were really good before...in the bit I heard at least, and I wanted to know if you were interested in joining the group for the battle of the bands?” The sentence ended in a quiet uptilt.
He sighed and looked away, his face darkening from a rosy red to a burgundy. “I-I don’t think I’m that good. It’s...not something I like to show.”
“But Satch, you’re really good!”
“I’m not, really. Anyways, it’ll feel weird with that other guy...”
Right, Nate. That’d be awkward. “I talked to Nate, and he’s really regretting what happened. If he talks to you about what happened that time, would you be ok with trying the battle of the bands with the others?”
Satch sighed. “Sorry, Hana. I could forgive him about what happened, but performing really makes me freeze up. I wouldn’t want to mess the other guys’ chance because I got a bad case of stage fright.”
Hana looked down at her feet. Of course, she never thought that a guy like Satch would be scared like that. He just seemed so sure of himself, especially after the tournament, but maybe that was different. He wasn’t the focus, it was his invention that people focused on. “I understand, but I’ll ask Nate to talk to you and you two can talk it out?”
He looked at her and smiled. “Sure, I’d like to have it cleared up between the two of us too.”
There was a knock on the door. Paul peeked in. “Yo, Hana, thought I saw you come in here. Meeting’s happening in like five minutes at the cafeteria.”
Hana looked at the clock. “Oh no, I forgot about that! I’ll go there now! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Satch!” She started to leave, but noticed that Paul wasn’t following. “Paul?”
Paul waved his hand. “I’ll meet you there, I have to talk to Satch about something real quick.”
Hana raised her eyebrow, but quickly turned and ran out. If Paul wasn’t going to be there first, she better be there to meet everyone.
--
By the time she arrived she was breathing heavily and her bow was askew. The cafeteria was mostly deserted, a teacher probably cleared it out for them. She scanned the cafeteria until her eyes landed on two people sitting at a farther table and no normal boots jackets in sight. She rushed over there and bowed for them. “I’m sorry for being so late! Thank you for taking time out of your schedule for this meeting!”
One of them raised a hand up. He had a yellow streak in his hair and was wearing an orange sweater, not unlike the jacket she was wearing complete with its own patch.“Whoa, no need to worry, we were just chatting and catching up on stuff.”
“Yeah, no problems, we were already told that you were going to be a little late, but now that you’re here, we can start. Paul, right?” The other raised his hand, waiting for a handshake. Unlike the other, he was wearing a somewhat old fashioned school uniform. She noticed that he had really vibrant red hair and she vaguely wondered if the color was real. Why she’s paying so much attention to their hair she has no idea.
Hana could only stare at the hand. “Oh,n-no, I’m not Paul, I’m just helping him out. He wanted to quickly talk to someone before coming, so that’s why I’m here,” she quickly said.
The one with his hand out kept his hand out. “Well, what’s your name so that we know what to call you?”
She tentatively held his hand and shook it. “My name is Hana Mizuno.”
“Call me Mark. That charming bastard over there is Arin.”
The other waved his hand. “Yo.”
They seemed like affable folks. “So are you two the managers of the two bands? You seem pretty young.”
The two of them suddenly had a dumbfounded looking face on them. They looked at each other in confusion and Hana realized that she may have gotten it wrong.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, you two must be assistants like me!”
Their dumbfounded faces only got dumber.
“...friends?” She squeaked out at last.
Mark put on a charming grin. He slung his arm around Arin’s shoulder. “Arin, can you believe it. She doesn’t recognize me. ME.” He started to flex. “I.” Flex. “Cannot.” Flex. “Believe.” Flex. “This.” Flex.
Hana had no idea how to feel about this, but she knows that she feels mildly threatened by this. She was almost tempted to flex back.
“We’re from the bands, the ones that everyone else voted to be leader so that they wouldn’t have to deal with this kind of stuff,” Arin finally explained.
Hana flushed red. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize!”
Mark finally stopped his flexing. “No problemo, how could you ever expect two hunks like us to be in something so small as a boy band.” He managed to fit in one last flex before Arin bopped him on the head.
Hana felt her phone vibrate and she took it out.
Done with thing, heading back now.
“Paul says that he’s done and coming this way now.”
Arin stretched. “Cool. Any questions you wanted to ask us before he gets here?”
“Off the record of course,” Mark waggled his eyebrows.
Hana thought for a second, then turned to Mark. “Is your voice real?”
--
By the time Paul had arrived, Hana was sitting comfortably at a table with Arin and Mark, chatting.
“And then I just yelled MARK ZUCKERBURG and - oh hey dude.”
“Hey,” Paul waved and joined the three. “I see the three of you are enjoying your time together.”
“Oh yeah,” Mark said enthusiastically, “Hana’s been such a good sport in listening to the two of us babbling on.”
Hana turned to Paul, a slight dead look on her face. Her face said cool, but her eyes said save me.
Paul snickered a bit, but hid it behind his hand. “Well, anyways, let's get to talking, then?”
He joined the three of them and they started to talk about the Battle of the Bands. Both Hana and Paul bombarded Arin and Mark with questions concerning the event and Mark and Arin in turn answered with ease.
“Yeah, it’s a long process, going for like a month, but it was such a life-enriching one,” Mark assured them, “When I was in mine, sure we all went slightly stir crazy but, in the end, we wouldn’t have traded it for anything else.”
Hana was grateful for the chance to ask questions, but one question stuck in her mind. “Sorry, but the two of you were winners from past battles, right?” Arin nodded as well as Mark. “Which one of you is from Ajisai?”
Mark raised his hand. “Guilty as charged,” he grinned.
Hana drew in a shaky breath. “Last weekend, I had a...less than pleasant encounter with a girl from that school who claimed that we were going to just use money to have Asagao win and I heard that other students agreed with that. So I was just wondering...do you...?”
Mark frowned and leaned back. “Hmm...”
Oh no, did she just offend him? He was so nice, if somewhat odd, in the short time she knew him, oh no oh no-
“Sorry, but that was a mostly new development. Intoxiblox won the first one after Asagao wasn’t included and then we took a break from school for a year to perform. All of that was new for me too.” Mark shrugged and looked at Arin.
“Uh, yeah, sorry, can’t give you much insight here either,” Arin quickly added. Paul raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond.
“Well, anyways, I gotta go back to the boys,” Mark said, getting up.
“Same, got some tables to flip, you know what I’m saying,” Arin grinned, getting up as well, “Oh, Paul, I have some papers that potential managers need to sign, can I drop them off at your clubroom?”
“Sure thing,” Paul said, then paused, “Oh wait, shoot, what time is it?”
Hana looked at the clock. “Half past four?”
Paul slapped himself in the face. “Oh geeze I needed to meet Nick and Josh at the station in like 5 minutes!”
“You go on, then. I can take Arin to the clubroom,” Hana volunteered. Paul thanked her like a million times before running off.
The two of them headed off towards the clubroom.
“Uh, Arin?”
“Yeah, Hana?” Arin looked at her.
“I was just curious... that jacket....” Hana gestured at the jacket he wore. Looking at it closer, it looked more like a cardigan, made of a sort of soft orange wool fabric. It had a blue patch on the right side of the front. All together it looked very similar to the Normal Boots and Hidden Block jacket.
“Oh, it’s my club jacket. The majority of clubs back at Ayame use jackets like these to show their affiliation. I think Ajisai do the same, but it’s like badges for specialties for them?” Arin held the patch in his hand. “This means I’m the Game Grumps club!”
“Oh, that’s pretty neat,” Hana said, “We have something like that, but only two clubs have jackets like this as far as I know, Normal Boots which is what I’m in,” she showed her own patch, “And Hidden Block, who I’m sure you’ll see sometime.”
A little far behind, a girl in a dark blue and grey jacket with a green patch sneezed and looked around confusedly, before shrugging and going on plotting a flashmob with purple striped jumpsuits and saxophones.
“Interesting. It’s like a branch off from a family tree, huh?” Arin said, sagely.
Hana stared at him, a giant question mark on her face.
“You know? Similar descendants? Missing link? Ah never mind.”
They finally reached the club room. Hana entered in first, intending to quickly at least shove any easily fixed messes to the side before Arin came in and judged the club, but was surprised to see Jon inside, reading what appears to be a script. “Oh, Jon!”
“Hana?” Jon raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here? There’s no meeting today?”
“Oh, someone needed to drop off some papers at the office, so I showed him here!” Hana said as she quickly pushed some Itty Bitty Kitties to the side.
“Hana, it’s ok, I’m sure our club room back in Ayame is way worse,” Arin popped his way in. He was about to shoulder his bag off when he made eye contact with Jon, who definitely had enough real estate in his eyes to warrant eye contact.
Hana suddenly thought, you know what, Paul could have been late by a couple minutes why did he agree to do this she did not deserve this suffering.
“Oh...Jon, hey,” Arin rubbed the back of his neck.
“Hi, Arin...” Jon said, carefully.
A long uneasy silence settled between the two.
“So... Normal Boots, huh?”
“Yeah...” Jon averted his gaze and stared at his book.
“Well... That’s good.”
More long uneasy silences.
“So... How’s Jacque?”
Jon’s head popped up and Hana could almost swear that she could feel the aura of anger or upset radiating from his eyes. Arin froze a bit and made no more comment.
Another long uneasy silence. Hana was this close to just yelling for them to finish when Arin quickly pulled out the papers from his bag and placed them on the table.
“Sorry for bothering you all, I better get going,” Arin mumbled and walked right out.
Hana and Jon stared at the papers. “Well... I guess, I’ll just clean this up-”
Jon’s hand slammed onto the papers. Hana squeaked in fear and jumped back. He pulled the papers to him. “These are forms for signing up as managers for a specific band.” He stated plainly.
Hana recalled that Arin was talking about that in the meeting. People who wanted to manage a band had to attend a separate mandatory audition. It wasn’t required for bands to have that, but bands with managers usually had a better chance of going through the rounds of the battle of the bands.
“Yes? They are?”
Jon dug around under the table and came out with a pen. He signed it and shoved it to Hana. “Ok Hana, I’m trusting you, don’t let me take that back ok. I’ve left the band name blank so you guys can write it in whenever, but do not let me get out of this, I need this ok?”
Jon got up with his book and left the room, leaving an extremely confused Hana in the clubroom. She looked down at the paper. Jon Jafari was written in the top slot. She carefully folded it up and slipped it in her pocket.
--
“HANAAAA~” Mai was suspended from the top bunk and all Hana could see was her suffering face, arms, and curtain of hair from her bunk.
Hana winced. “I’m so sorry, Mai, I really did want you to come, but I forgot about the meeting and all just became a blur...”
Mai huffed and started swaying side to side. “Next time, Hana, you have to promise me!”
“I promise, Mai.”
Mai lifted up a pinkie finger. “Pinkie promise?”
Hana laughed and hooked pinkies. “Pinkie promise.”
--
AO3 Link
Asagao Academy: Battle of The Bands
Summary: Hana is finally an official member of the Normal Boots Club! With the guys and Mai as her friends, she’s ready for a great rest of the year. When a new student barges into their life and Paul decides to enter Asagao Academy into the regional Battle of the Bands for the first time in three years, Hana realizes that the ride may never stop, but she’s not too sure if she wants to get off.
First Chapter Prev. Chapter Next Chapter
Prologue Part 5: The Start of Stressin New
Leaning onto the desk, Hana took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She and Paul were back in the classroom sorting out forms and flyers, though it was more Hana sorting out the papers into the proper piles while Paul was taking a break. The moon shone through the window, which would have worried Hana if Paul didn’t get permission from the headmistress to use the classroom for student council business. Nevertheless the silence would have scared her if it wasn’t for the beeping sound that rang out now and then from Paul’s phone. “Paul…”
“Hmmmyes Hana?”
“What is all of this?” Hana gestured to all of the small print on the poster she was holding.
“Oh, that. I just copy pasted all of the audition information that we were sent by email,” Paul said, nonchalantly, sitting back on his chair still playing some kind of runner game on his phone.
“Paul, did you actually read this?” Hana started reading off the poster. “To be eligible you must create at least four songs completely from scratch and be prepared to perform any of them at any round of the BOTB, etc. The more professional a performance is the more points it will receive for that round.” She stopped and looked at Paul. “What do they mean by professional?”.
“Oh yeah, they just want it to be like a concert,” Paul waved a hand while continuing his game one-handed.
“Concert?”
“You know, flashy lights, choreography, the works. A concert.”
Hana was starting to feel a headache grow. “Isn’t that a little extreme for a high school band? Where would we even get the resources for this?”
Paul, not even stopping his game, leaned over and grabbed a paper off a pile from the middle and handed it to Hana.
Release Form for Equipment Rental
“Oh ok, but what about choreography? Is a dance teacher considered equipment?” Hana imagined Jirard and Satch dancing, first trying to breakdance (key word trying) then ballet. Not that she’d ever deny the possibility that they couldn’t do it, the mental image regardless made her internally giggle.
“Past band’s going to help us, either Intoxiblox or Starbomb, not only with dancing but with technical assistance and managing too. Either way, not something people should be worried about until after they pass the audition.” Paul didn’t even look up, but continued to play.
Hana felt her headache gain a headache. She reached over and grabbed Paul’s phone.
His hands for a split second froze, as though he still had the phone in his hand. Then his head snapped up, confused. “Why did you do that?”
“You’re not focused! You were the one who wanted to do this, the least you can do is work with me here!” Hana turned his phone off and tossed it back to him. “Now, how about we really focus here?”
Almost fumbling the catch, Paul managed to catch it. He stared at her, then sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair and ruffled his hair. “Sorry Hana, I’ll be more focused now.”
Looking closely, Hana noticed that Paul’s eyes had bags under them and that his eyes looked duller than normal. His hair, already messy from his ruffling, didn’t look like they had the usual thought and care Paul gave it in the past. “Are you ok, Paul?” Hana asked.
“Y-yeah, I’m just tired, just stayed up late last night going over plans for BOTB.” Paul pulled at his cheek as far as his cheeks would let him and then squished them back in. “I think I can focus better now.” He hunched over the table and started to sort the papers out. “These papers need to go to class 406 and these still need to be stapled onto the bulletin boards and this needs to go to the newspaper club for approving for week’s issue and-“
“Paul, slow down!” Hana, having found a piece of paper and pencil to write it all down, was scrambling to write it all down but was barely able to keep up.
“Oh, oops, sorry.” Paul waited for Hana to finish before he continued, at a slower pace for her. As they were finishing the last pile, Hana heard the classroom door slam open from behind her. She jolted and squeaked at the sound.
“What are you two doing in here?” Shane was staring at them, a pair of garden shears in his hands.
“Shane?” Hana rested her hand on her heart, trying to calm it down from it’s rapid beats.
“Oh, hey Shane. Just doing some BOTB stuff, what about you?” Paul said casually, still looking at the papers.
“I-uh, was picking up some stuff I forgot in my locker.”
“What do you need garden shears for?” Hana stared at him and raised an eyebrow.
Shane stared at the shears for a second like he forgot he was holding them. “Right, the shears, they were, uh, I needed them for, uh, the plants upstairs needed trimming so I thought I’d pick them up now and save myself a trip to the janitor closet.”
Hana debated for a second whether to pursue the subject, but then Paul popped up right next to her, making her jump in surprise.
“Shane, you came at the perfect time, can you help Hana tape the flyers up on the lockers?” Paul strolled up to Shane and held up a strung up pack of papers for Shane to take. “I need to figure out some logistics for the preliminaries and unfortunately neither of you will be much use to me.”
“Uh, sure Paul,” Shane said and took the package. Paul then handed Hana a similar package and a roll of masking tape.
“Paul, maybe you should finish for the night? It’s getting pretty late and we can lock up for you?” Hana asked him, noting that the bags under his eyes looked heavier now.
Paul only waved his hand at them. “Naw naw, you go on and I’ll finish up here.”
Exchanging glances, Hana and Shane exited the room, leaving Paul to his work.
Outside, the hallway lights were still on. Walking up to the 4rth floor, they quickly got to work taping the fliers up. Now and then, Hana would catch a glimpse of Shane looking around before taping up another flyer. He almost seemed…nervous?
“Hey Shane?” Hana finally said.
Shane jolted and almost dropped his flyers. After a minute of him trying to make sure the flyers didn’t fall, he shot a glare at Hana. “Don’t scare me like that!”
She raised both hands in defense. “S-sorry! I just thought that you seemed a little jumpy.”
“Well I am!” Shane huffed and went back to taping up flyers.
“Does it have something to do with the garden shears?”
Shane spun around and looked at Hana. “Just forget about the shears ok, it has nothing to do wi-“
The lights started to flicker. Hana looked up. “Weird, are the lights going out?”
In one quick movement, Shane pulled Hana behind him and picked up the garden shears he left on the ground while taping. “Do you hear that?”
Now that he mentioned it she heard a low droning sound coming from the opposite side of the hallway. “Yeah, what is that?”
She could see Shane’s shoulders almost relax. “Ok, so I’m not going crazy, that’s good.”
“What?”
The droning noise suddenly raises to a high pitched wailing. It felt like her head was splitting from the sound. She clasped her hands over her ears. Shane did the same, dropping the shears in a panic.
The hallway lights started to turn off one by one, at first one at a time, then it sped up, going towards Hana and Shane.
Shane grabbed Hana’s hand and, pulling her behind him, started to run away from the lights shutting off. The lights followed, turning off faster and faster.
“Shane? What’s going on?” Hana yelled, stumbling to keep up.
The wailing, still in the background, made it hard to hear, but she managed to hear Shane above it. “Don’t know, worry about it later!”
They flew down the stairs until they reached the first floor, where Paul was working.
“Wait, we have to get Paul!”
Shane halted in front of the room that Paul was in and pulled open the door. Hana jumped in and Shane slammed the door shut. Suddenly the wailing disappeared and the lights turned completely off outside before turning back on.
Hana and Shane held their breath for a minute. When nothing happened they both exhaled. Hana stumbled to a chair and flopped on it while Shane just straight sat on the table.
“Wha-what was that?” Hana stammered.
Shane said nothing, but only stared outside the window. He finally looked at Hana. “Dunno… Probably a prankster.”
Hana wasn’t believing that, but after what had happened, she had no will to actually pursue the issue considering how hesitant about talking before.
A snore interrupted Hana’s thinking and she turned around. She found Paul face down, snoring softly.
Shane walked over to Paul and started to shake him awake. Finally Paul roused awake. “Hmm? Mornin guys.”
Shane let out a chuckle. “Lets get you back to the dorms.”
“Wha ‘bout the flyers?” Paul murmured while Paul started to haul him up.
“I’ll come back tomorrow before class and finish them,” Hana said, wincing internally thinking about how early that was going to be.
Paul mumbled out a thanks as Shane helped him out. “Don’t worry, I’ll come by too,” Shane said, looking back at Hana before leaving the room.
--
That next morning the flyers were up. Hana and Shane had been able to get all of them up before the first students started to trickle in. She tried to bring up the events that had occurred the night before, but Shane only deflected or ignored the attempts at talking about it. It ended with them just posting the flyers in silence.
There was a confused atmosphere in the air as students found the posters.
“Battle Of The Bands?”
“Compete with Ajisai Institute and Ayame High to win Band of the year?”
“Auditions next week?”
“Wow, look at all of these requirements!”
“Should we do it?”
“Oh my god we get to work with Intoxiblox!”
“Well sign me up, slap me silly and call me Suzanne!”
As Hana arrived to class, Mai came to her desk and pulled out the flyer for the Battle of the Bands. “I feel only a little insulted that you didn’t tell me that Intoxiblox was involved!”
Hana could only shrug. “Sorry, I promised not to say anything.”
“Well, in that case if those guys really pass auditions I totally need you to help me meet them!”
“Sure thing Mai,” Hana laughed and Mai returned to her seat, chipper.
Shane and Jon was already in their seat, but Hana noticed that PBG had yet to be in class. Hana look.ed out the window in hopes of seeing him running towards the building with toast in his mouth or something like that, but no luck in that.
Ms. Shizuka walked in and Hana turned her attention back to class. While Ms. Shizuka reviewed the difference between rpgs and roguelikes, Hana kept stealing glances out the window, but there was no such luck.
When the bell rang for lunch, Hana, quickly telling Mai that she’d meet her at the cafeteria, quickly walked up to Jon, who was almost all packed up to leave. “Jon? Could I speak to you for a moment alone?”
He looked up at her quizzically. “Uuh, sure?”
They waited for the room to clear out, which didn’t take too long. Honestly, Hana hoped it would take longer. Jon was just sitting there, absentmindedly fingering his right shoulder.
Once the room was completely empty, Hana faced Jon, eyebrows furrowed. “I’m sorry!” She bowed so low that she could see the wall from between her legs.
Jon started to sputter and wave his arms. “Wait, wha- no, you didn’t do anything? Oh geeze uuhh…”
Hana kept her head down. “That night, after the meeting, I asked PBG if he could see if you were ok and then Jirard heard you two fighting so…”
He stared at her, then sighed and scratched his head. “Aw, geeze, that wasn’t… uuh… well it…It really didn’t…uh…” He turned away from Hana and started to mutter to himself.
She got up, puzzled.
Finally, he turned around and rested his hand on her shoulder. “I’m fine. PBG and I were just… He was just getting too close for comfort for me. We’re fine now though. I appreciate that you were worried though.” He flashed a thumbs up at her. “Members should look out for each other like this.” With that he left the class with a wave.
Suddenly she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out and saw a text message from Paul.
Meeting with Intoxiblox and Starbomb after school in clubroom. You should come!
She sighed and started to type in her reply. Can I bring Mai?
Ding. Sure, but this is a pretty important meeting, so if she’s going to be acting around them like she is with Jared, I’d recommend benching her.
I’ll let her know.
__
AO3 Link
Band scouting
If you’ve been reading my story Asagao Academy: Battle of the Bands, then you know that there are bands. While the story will involve OCs, the fact is I don’t really like using OCs unless I really need to
However, I’d like to open up to the fandom. If you have self-inserts who would be interested in making a band with other self-inserts please let me know! I’d really like to have self-inserts in the story, even if it’s just a cameo. You can either work with other people to make a band or let me know if you just want a self-insert in a band and I’ll make a band out of them. As thanks for allowing me to use, I will draw the bands, whether they cameo in story or in art.
Along with that, I would like to also open spots for side characters. In the story, there are three schools competing for best band - Asagao, Ajisai, and Ayame. While I have a band set for Asagao and Ajisai, I only have concepts for Ayame. I’d like to have self-inserts or OCs be part of the Ayame band. The drawbacks are that they may do antagonistic things on the level of maybe Jeff in Paul’s route and Ian in general and that they won’t actually be asagao students.
The concept is rpg for the ayame band, There are 6 spots and the instrument they use is considered their weapon, though they are more of a coed girl group/ boy band (why are there no coed version of this term??) than a musical band
this list will be updated as people come on
Rogue - Triangle
Monk - Castanets
Swordsperson - Maracas - Casscadee
Mage - Bongos - Hea - Fairfacadecindrome
Archer -Cymbals
Dark Mage Electric guitar - Diana Maxwell - Lady Lucina28
Those in the Ayame group will be a minor part of the story.
Now that some Ajisai characters have been introduced in Asagao academy Battle of The Bands I can finally post some info about the other schools. I’ve decided to put a bunch of youtubers in all three schools. Mainly, I’ve avoided putting some youtubers in Asagao unless they have a more direct connection like collaboration to either Normal Boots or Hidden Block, like Jordan Underneath or Pushinguproses. The grumps are an exception as will be explained in fic 0w0.
If for any reason you want to see a specific youtuber in this verse or you want to see these characters in asagao uniforms let me know, though there’s lots of art for Asagao Grumps so I highly recomend checkign those out instead 070
Here’s the fanfic for those of you who haven’t read it and want to
@markiplier @therealjacksepticeye @gamegrumps
More info about these people and the schools under the readmore
Ajisai Institute is a school that is more of a middle college/trade school. When you enter the school you have one year to decide what you want to focus on and from there you can learn from experts of the area. The school focuses on giving the best of the best to their students. Students of Ajisai is given many opportunities to rise and become a luminary in their field. Some even become known across the nation for what they do. Despite their cutting edge style, their uniforms are rather old fashion with gakurans for boys and dresses for girls. Usually once a student has decided their path in school, they are given a badge to reflect their path.
Mark entered the school with the intent of being a biomedical engineer, however when the battle of the bands came up his freshman year he grabbed his friends and they all entered as Intoxiblox. When they won, they didn’t realize that the band life would take over and Mark had to drop his path for now in order to fully focus on the band. Bob was entering in hopes of being a future lawyer. Despite the band, he was fully dedicated to it and since the original battle of the band performance he’s been juggling the two. Wade had entered the school as a comedian and due to the band he had actually managed to expand his horizons as he’s given opportunities to be in talk shows. Finally, Jack entered as a musician, as a drummer specifically, so this is very convenient for him. Rosanna is a baker who is close friends with Mark and would bake with the band (also she is ultra adorable??).
Ayame High School is a public school who does not have as much funds as Ajisai or Asagao but makes up for it with an ernest love for its students. Much of the funds goes to the student government for student recreational purposes. This includes clubs in the same format as Normal Boots and Hidden Block, but rather than varsity jackets they get cardigans. As a result, much of their classes are left to be desired if it wasn’t for alumni coming back to support their old school. Unfortunately, it leaves them with a negative connotation as a school who does not have high grades. Despite this, their school spirit is stronger than any bleak future that could occur due to low grades.
Starbomb was also started by Arin and Danny and Brian in Arin and Danny’s freshman year. Suzy helps them with costuming and makeup and Barry helps mix the music. At Ayame they formed the Game Grumps club with Holly who is also in charge of the school pets and Ross, who likes trains. A lot of the money they make they give back to Ayame.
As Nate was preparing for his shower, he was not expecting to hear the voice of an angel. Turning off the water in order to better hear, he peeked out and was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the mysterious singer.
Not really a scene from Chapter 4 of Asagao Academy: Battle of The Bands but a scene that has been something that I’ve thought of ever since the beginning. So long ago in fact that this was drawn at least over a month ago 0x0
This scene was inspired by the shower scene from Pitch perfect. Believe me, it didn’t go as well for Nate as it did in the movie though lol
Asagao Academy: Battle of The Bands
Summary: Hana is finally an official member of the Normal Boots Club! With the guys and Mai as her friends, she’s ready for a great rest of the year. When a new student barges into their life and Paul decides to enter Asagao Academy into the regional Battle of the Bands for the first time in three years, Hana realizes that the ride may never stop, but she’s not too sure if she wants to get off.
First Chapter
Prev. Chapter
Next Chapter
Prologue Part 4: Complications
Dinner was rambunctious and loud. Despite being an outsider, Nate managed to blend into the group so well that Hana almost felt that he had been there longer than she had. While he talked on about horror games, Hana kept looking up and around, but Jon and Paul never joined them for dinner. But soon she was pulled in as Nate booted up a new game of Four Nights at Frida’s for Jirard to try, despite her claims that she couldn’t handle horror games.
By the time they wrapped it up on night two she was frazzled and jumpy, seeing animatronics in the darkness. PBG had offered to walk her back to her room after seeing her in the state and she accepted, not willing to walk in the dark. Before they left though they decided to pick up hot drinks to protect against the cold night. Now their drinks were keeping their hands warm while they walked back.
“…and man those jumpscares! If I was playing I don’t think I could have been as cool headed as Jirard was!”
“PBG, wasn’t Jirard screaming too?”
“Yeah! I was shrieking like a banshee! Man if only I was as calm…”
Hana giggled and they fell into a comfortable quiet, enjoying the chill air. As she took a sip of her drink, her thoughts wandered back to what had happened during the meeting with Jon and Paul. Since PBG was Jon’s roommate, maybe…? She turned her head and PBG was looking at her, but quickly swiveled her head away. “PBG?”
“Uh, YES, Hana?” he blurted out, causing Hana to raise an eyebrow in question at him.
“Uhh, about the meeting earlier, do you know why Jon reacted the way he did?”
PBG stopped. “Earlier, huh?” He was quiet, taking a long drink of his drink. Just when Hana was about to tell him to just forget what she asked PBG looked at her again. “Sorry Hana, but it's stuff that I’m not too sure of myself, and even then if it’s what I’m thinking of it’s really not my business to talk about. Real sensitive stuff, you know?”
Hana deflated a bit and looked down. Of course, a reaction like that would be too personal for PBG to talk to some just like that, wouldn’t it? How inconsiderate of her.
Seeing Hana disappointed, PBG rested his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s ok. It’s just that if it’s really what I’m thinking I wouldn’t want it out there and if not it may just make things worse for Jon. Gotta tiptoe for now until I know more about it. If Jon is really struggling though and it’s ok to say, you’ll be the first to know, ok?”
Hana nodded. “Would… would it be ok if before I go back we could maybe…check on Jon?”
“Check on…?” PBG stared before softening, “Of course, I’m sure you want to hear from him, huh?”
Hana nodded. With that they changed course to the Bluebell House.
Once inside, PBG took her to the front of his room. He knocked on the door. “Hey, Jon! You in there?”
A moment passed before hearing a slightly congested “Yes”.
PBG turned back to Hana. “I better talk to Jon myself before you talk to him. He may not want to talk to anyone but if that’s the case I can talk to him about talking to you k?” With that, he slipped inside the room.
Hana stood around, trying desperately to resist listening in to preserve Jon’s privacy. Minutes ticked by and she started to count the little pockmarks on the wall. One…two…three… She soon became aware of a melodic humming in the air. It must have been coming from the bathroom nearby, considering how echoey it was. It was very soothing and smooth. She abandoned her mission to count all of the pockmarks and started to listen to the humming. It soon graduated to singing what sounded like a deep mountain song that made her think of dwarves and lost treasure.
She was almost lulled into sleep when suddenly a shocked scream pierced the air, jolting her out of her trance. Only seconds later she sees Satch running out the bathroom, a shower caddy in hand, his face bright red. “That is completely unacceptable and you should know that!”
Nate followed soon after and, oh gosh, he was dripping wet and wearing only a towel. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t help it and I’m totally at fault and please just listen!”
Satch turned around, a frazzled look on his face that was just so uncharacteristic on his face. “Listen? Ok, why would you just open another guy’s shower when you know someone was in it and start yelling about, what was it?”
Nate looked away, a slight reddening on his cheeks showing. “A-about how you’re the butter.”
“Yeah, that. How does that even make sense?”
By this time people had started to peek their heads out of their doors to see what the commotion was about.
“Hey Hana,” Jirard came out of his room from next to her “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, please take me out of here.” Hana pleaded half dead.
Nate and Satch turned and saw Hana. “Hana!” they both yelled. She yelped as the sudden attention startled her.
“Hana, he’s what I was talking about in the meeting! The angel’s voice! The butter of the toast!” Nate started gesticulating, his towel sliding down slowly.
Hana quickly changed her glance to Satch. “I have no idea what this kid is talking about, but he’s starting to scare me a little. What is this meeting he’s talking about?”
“Uh well…” Hana nervously.
“I’ll explain.” Jirard quickly updated Satch on the Battle of the Bands and what had occurred during the meeting with Nate adding in bits and readjusting his towel now and then.
“So you want me to be in your band for this event?” Satch finally said. Nate furiously nodded at Satch. “W-well… I don’t think I’m a good fit for anything like that. My singing is not exactly anything to praise.”
“WHAT.” Nate blurted out. “Are you kidding me? Your voice is like syrup poured down on the pancake of music! How could you think like that?”
“First of all, that’s weird. Second of all, I just don’t think I’m a good fit, so I’m going to take my shower and finish my night in peace, thank you.” Hana was surprised by the annoyance in his voice. She never remembered hearing Satch this upset before. With that said, Satch turned and walked back to the bathroom.
She turned back to Jirard and Nate. Jirard was looking at Nate with a questioning look. “You think Satch would be a good addition as a singer?”
Nate nodded furiously. “You should have heard him. It was like the world stopped so that everything can listen to the literal meaning of harmony.”
“But you went into his shower stall…?” Hana asked.
Jirard raised an eyebrow. “You did?”
Nate deflated. “Yeah,” he said in a small voice, “I did. I shouldn’t have done that. I couldn’t stop myself, I had to find out who was singing.”
Jirard stared at Nate. “You should really apologize. That’s not cool.
Nate nodded.
“But, first, maybe you should be dressed?” Jirard pointed out and Hana remembered that Nate was only wearing a towel. She turn red and covered her eyes quickly. She heard Nate walking away with an apology.
“Ok Hana he’s gone.” She lowered her hands at Jirard’s words. “That was not something I was expecting to have happen,” He shook his head.
“Same. That was very surprising.”
“Hana, was Satch really that good?” Jirard asked. Hana thought back to the singing that she had heard only moments before the fiasco.
“It was… really soothing. Warm. It felt relaxing.” Hana could feel herself relaxing just from the memory from the singing.
“Wow, that good?” Jirard scratched his cheek. “I’ll talk to Satch about maybe joining, but after what happened Satch may not be up for it.”
“Oh, okay.” Hana would most definitely not mind hearing Satch sing again. She popped that thought as fast as it was thought with pink cheeks.
“So what brings you to Bluebell anyways?” Hana quickly told him about how she was waiting for PBG to let her talk to Jon. Jirard quickly frowned. “Oh, I guess you couldn’t hear with the commotion out here. It sounded like they were arguing from my room.”
“Arguing?”
“Yeah, thin walls. I’m assuming it’s the same at Primrose?”
Hana nodded, grimacing at the things she’s heard from across the hall alone. “I’m sorry. They might have started to fight because I wanted to know why Jon reacted the way he did in the meeting.” She shifted her gaze away from Jirard.
“Nonono, it’s fine, if they’re fighting it’s in no way your fault Hana. Though…” Jirard paused, seemingly unsure on how to proceed before continuing, “It may be best to drop it for now. It could be too soon for Jon. At least wait til it’s a less charged time.”
Hana nodded, a pit forming in her stomach. Just because she was a member doesn’t mean she was that close yet to the members. She could have overstepped boundaries. “Thanks Jirard,” she murmured, “I’m going to go back now. Tell PBG thanks anyways.” Before Jirard had the chance to react Hana turned and walked away.
The chill was even harsher now that she was alone but she trudged on.
By the time she got to the room she was shivering and her jacket was buttoned up in an attempt to fight the cold.
“Hey, you’re ba- Hana!” Turning from her desk, Mai jumped when she saw the state that Hana was in. “Oh my gosh get in!” The minute Hana closed the door she found herself covered in blankets and warm hands leading her to her bed. The minute her legs touched the bed it felt like all of her strength left her and she collapsed with a sigh.
“Hana, you look totally drained, what happened? You just left right after class and you never even answered any of my messages!” Mai sat next to her, adding more blankets and pillows to the Hana pile until it felt like she couldn’t move.
Hana told Mai everything, from the karaoke to the meeting to what had happened at Bluebell. With every word Hana felt lighter and lighter until, finally, she had exhausted the events and she was just laying there like a deflated balloon.
“Wow. Like wow.” Mai was at a loss for words. “Wow.”
“Yeah. Wow.” Hana sighed.
“Looks like some skeletons are being dug up, huh?” Hana looked at her, questioningly. “You know. Skeletons in closets? Anyways, sounds like some really personal stuff is being dug up here.”
“I know,” Hana moaned, burrowing deeper into her blanket mountain. The pit in her stomach is only growing bigger. And she didn’t even tell Mai about what Josh had told her at the end of the meeting.
Mai was quiet for a couple minutes. “Hey, do you want to watch a movie? I think Rude Girls is finally on Netfilms.”
Hana nodded and they spent the rest of the evening laughing at the ridiculousness of high school hierarchy and cliques.
--
The next day after class Hana found herself on a train speeding its way into the city with Mai chattering animatedly on the seat opposite to her. Mai wanted to go to the city to get some pretzels and Hana agreed to go with her, just so that she could get out of the school.
All day during class she saw PBG constantly peeking back at her questioningly and she had to fight the urge every time to ask what had happened to avoid sounding nosy. And then there was Jon who was just outright avoiding her and PBG. He just stared straight ahead. When class had finished he just left without a word. PBG had shot her a look of sadness before leaving as well.
The sound of the train car door opening jolted her out of her thoughts. “Hey, sorry, the train is near packed, is it ok to sit here?”
“Huh? Oh sure,” Mai said, moving to the side to leave space.
“Thanks. Oh, Hana, hi!” Hana looked up and there was Nate, smiling and waving.
“Hi Nate,” Hana waved back hesitantly. Nate sat by Mai across from Hana. “Uh, Mai, this is-“
“Right, right I remember Nate here!” Mai turned to Nate and waved. “So I heard you terrified poor Satch out of his wits last night?”
Nate looked at Hana incredulously. “You told her?” He groaned and his head fell onto his hands. “Don’t remind me. That was the dumbest thing I could have ever done. I’m still cringing from the memory.”
“Sorry…” Hana said.
He sighed. “It’s fine, I guess it would make for a funny story down the road. But he was such a great singer I moved without thinking.”
“Is Satch really that great of a singer? I always thought he was more of a band kid,” Mai mused.
Nate’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, you have to hear.” He pulled out his phone and, after fiddling with it, handed it to Mai. “Here, have a listen.”
She pressed play and the phone started to play a recording of someone singing. It was no mistaken, it was Satch singing. Hana recognized it even with the echoing and the tininess of the recording.
“Holy crap that’s Satch? That’s so good,” Mai exclaimed with wide eyes.
“I know, right?” Nate took the phone back. “That’s why I want him in the band, Hana. He’s got the tones now he just needs the tunes!”
“Yeah, I can see that… But I don’t think Satch was all that willing to join after what happened.”
Nate’s face fell and he slides down his seat, groaning. “I knoooow, that’s what hurts me. I need to at least apologize for what I did and explain. Maybe he’ll be more willing to join then?”
Hana shrugged. “Satch is pretty reasonable. I’m sure that if you talk to him he’ll at least listen.”
“You think so?” Nate looked at Hana with hopeful eyes.
“Probably.” She couldn’t speak for Satch, but from her experience he was always understanding to her, so why not Nate?
The train ride continued in silence until Mai brought up teachers and the two of them struck up a conversation about the faculty at school. Hana just stared out the window at the fast moving trees.
“So what are you two doing in the city anyways?” Nate asked.
“We’re going to get pretzels!” Mai said enthusiastically.
“Oh really? Mind if I tag along? I was just going to be wandering around anyways just checking out the city.”
Mai glanced at Hana, who just shrugged. “Sure, you can come with us.” Nate smiled widely and the two went back to their original conversation.
By the time they got off Mai and Nate had started a debate on the origins of Dr. Creep’s mask and Hana was just amusedly watching with little anecdotes of her own added to the conversation.
As they walked towards to the pretzel shop they passed by a music store. Mai suddenly screeched to a halt. “Oh my gosh.” She ran inside, dragging Hana and Nate with her.
Inside the music store was full of shelves and boxes of CDs and records with people milling about, rifling through or listening to music samples through oversized headphones. Mai, however, made a beeline for a display table emblazoned with the name INTOXIBLOX in big bold logo lettering complete with a pink-mustached one-eyed cat alien. It was stacked with CDs, though the number was dwindling every minute before Hana’s eyes.
“Look! I didn’t even realize that their new album was out!” Mai immediately swiped one off the table and held it up for Nate and Hana to see.
“Oh cool!” Nate said, enthusiastically, though he made no move to grab a CD for himself.
Mai’s eyes wandered to the side and she squealed with joy. “Starbomb!” She dashed to a nearby shelf and grabbed another CD. “I don’t think they’ve come out with an album in months!”
“Starbomb?” Hana looked closer at the CD cover. She could see a more understated design of a star compared to the Intoxiblox’s album which featured a cheerleader pyramid with the members.
“They’re a smaller local band,” Mai turned the case around. Hana sees three guys posing, one in a leotard with crazy hair, one with chins that can challenge Jared for most aesthetically pleasing, and one covered from head to toe save for piercing blue eyes and indecent finger gestures. “They were part of like some nationwide music thing as underdogs and got on the news for like a whole week here. Their music is so funny and so good!” Hana laughed.
They separated from there, with Mai going off to pay while Nate and Hana milled around. Hana caught a glance of a familiar cover. “Oh, my father listened to this a lot.” She picked it up.
Nate peeked over her shoulder. “Oh hey, those guys are classic!”
“I remember hearing their music from middle school,” Hana said, as memories of long hours in her room listening to the ambient music coming from her father’s studio resurface. She wonders if her father still listened to them now.
Suddenly a large growl could be heard and Nate covered his stomach. “Oops, sorry, guess I was a little more hungry than I thought. Would it be ok if I just meet you guys here? You can text me what pretzel you want and I can pick them up for you two.”
Hana looked at Mai, who looked like she was still waiting in line to pay. “Sure thing, I’ll let Mai know.”
“Awesome!” With a grin, he handed Hana a slip with a string of numbers and left quickly.
Hana made her way to Mai. “Hey Mai, Nate went ahead to get pretzels so you should text him on what pretzel you want.”
“Oooh, can you hold these?” Mai gave Hana the albums and Hana gave her the number he gave her. While Mai tapped away furiously on her phone, Hana looked at the albums she was given. The name struck her as odd, as it was not very grammatically correct.
“This is an odd band name.”
“Hmm?” Mai looked up from her phone. “Oh, no, that’s a stage name. NateWantsToBattle is one of those musicians that don’t use their real name for performing. You know, for when you want a personal life away from that.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Hold up,” Mai said, “Have you not heard of him before?” Hana shook her head and Mai just hung her head. “Hana, have you been living under a musical rock? When we get back we’re listening to every single song on every single album here.”
After Mai finally paid for the albums, they made their way to the entrance when their path was suddenly blocked by a short girl. She was wearing a long dark green uniform that Hana didn’t recognize and she was carrying a bag full of what looked like shiny fabric.
“Uh, hi? Can we help you?” Hana asked, nervously. She was even more uncomfortable when she noticed the girl’s eyes were glued on Hana.
“That uniform… so you’re from Asagao, huh? Did your parents buy you that hair?” The girl finally said, raising her eyebrow.
Hana shrunk away, but couldn’t escape the girl’s stare.
“Excuse me? Do you have a problem with her hair?” Mai stepped in front of Hana and stared the girl down.”
The girl didn’t let down her stare. “Nah. I’m just saying. Pink hair isn’t a natural thing, is it? So I’m asking if you bought that hair.”
Hana raised her hand to her hair, brushing it away from her face and trying to hide it. “N-no, it’s been pink as long as I can remember…”
“Hey, how about you leave us alone, kid. Don’t you have, like, tutoring or something to go to?”
The girl crossed her arms, frowning. “Typical rich kids feeling entitled. I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to be in here. What, did your parents buy this store?”
“Excuse me??” Mai looked close to rolling up her sleeves when a taller girl in the same uniform approached the shorter girl.
“Elly, are you ready to go?”
The shorter girl, Elly, looked up. “Yeah, just talking to-“ she looked down at Hana and Mai “- some people from Asagao Academy.”
“Ooh, I see.” The girl paused and looked at Hana and Mai. “Ok, no big deal, come on the others are waiting, we have rehearsals to go to.”
The two turned around, but then Elly turned around. “Heard that Asagao Academy is finally joining up on the battle of the bands. Well, when you go back to your little education playground, tell them that Girls on Duty is going to wipe the floors with them and whatever band they manage to buy off the internet!”
“Elly!” The other girl said in shock. Finished with what she was saying, Elly tilted her head to the side and walked out of the store.
“Sorry about her. She can go off like that.” The girl apologized.
“I’d say it’s fine but it’s not, what the hell was up with that?” Mai asked, glaring at where Elly had left.
“No one back in Ajisai really likes Asagao Academy, unfortunately,” the girl replied, “and, with the announcement that you guys are come back to BOTB, the upset has really been growing since.”
Hearing this brought the memory of talking to Josh after the meeting back to Hana’s mind. “Did something happen between our schools?”
The girl shrugged. “I don’t really know, but I can only say that a lot of these feelings are mainly from past events because nothing recent comes to mind.”
“GLORY!” Elly popped her head back into the store. “I set up a dramatic exit, you can’t just stand around like that, let’s go!”
Glory bowed and left the store.
“Wow, I wonder what the heck is up with that school.” Mai scoffed. “Talk about baseless accusations. I mean, yeah a lot of us are rich, but most of us aren’t like money wasters, geez.”
Hana just looked in silence, in her thoughts. Could this be linked to what Josh was talking about? Ajisai was the school who didn’t want Asagao in the competition.
By the time they had reunited with Nate, Hana’s mind was filled with thoughts about the battle of the band and what Elly had said. Nate handed Mai and Hana pretzels. Hana looked at it blankly, not taking it.
“Nate? I didn’t need a pretzel?”
“Yeah, well, I thought I’d treat you two. Hope you like cinnamon sugar. No need for paybacks!”
“Sweet, thanks!” Mai pocketed her wallet and started to devour it.
Hana carefully took it from him. The pretzel was warm and smelled of sugar. “Thank you, Nate.”
Nate grinned. “No problem!”
As Hana started to eat, Mai finished her off. “Nate,” Mai said, “You’re going to be in the botb, right?”
“The battle of the bands? Uh, yeah.”
“Good, cause I expect you to utterly destroy the Ajisai bands,” Mai crushed the pretzel wrapping in her hands.
“Wait, what?” Nate asked.
“We met some girls from a different school who were going to be in it too and one of them didn’t like our school very much,” Hana recounted.
“Ooh, competition, huh?”
“Nate, as a pretty boy singer I expect you to destroy them.” Mai said.
“You think I’m pretty?” Nate asked.
Mai just looked at him. “Well no duh, look at you, you’ve got that swoop of hair and a smile that could outshine like five lightbulbs! In fact you can almost beat NateWantsToBattle in the looks department!”
He raised his eyebrow. “Really? I don’t think he looks all that great. Then again I don’t really look that great, but uuhh…”
Mai looked at Nate closely. “Hmmm…” Hana could almost see sweat beading on his forehead. “…yeah no NateWantsToBattle would beat you, he’s just got that brooding dark feel to him that makes him so much hotter.”
“B-brooding?” Nate stuttered, though he sounded almost more aghast then scared of Mai’s staredown.
Hana started to laugh and Mai joined in. It took Nate a moment before he started to laugh too.
Finishing off their pretzels, they all went back on the train. As Nate and Mai were engaged in another discussion about theories involving Ms. Shizuka’s dating history, Hana took out her phone and opened a chat with Paul.
Hana: need to talk to you about botb
Paul: What’s up, Hana?
Hana: met some ajisai girls in the city
Hana: did not like asagao for some reason
Hana: does this have to do with the wager Josh was talking about
Paul: …
Paul: …JOSH.
Hana: well?
Paul: I neither confirm nor deny
Hana: PAUL
Hana: …
Hana: either way, I’m in.
Paul: ?
Hana: I want to help with this band thing
Paul: HANA THANKS
Hana closed her phone and watched the environment go by outside her window. Something about the Ajisai girls’ reaction to them was really bothering her, especially with what Josh had told her about the wager. If Paul really got them into something more serious than what she was thinking, then she wants to help to keep the worst from happening.
Also deep inside she wanted to wipe that smirk off of Elly’s face. No pettiness, clearly.
AO3 link - http://archiveofourown.org/works/6872827/chapters/18914948
Messing around with a recording app on android and recorded myself lining a thing for potential S2 Asagao project.
