“This is it, Shino,” Tane whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You ready?”
To tell the truth, both of them were nervous as hell. While the guitarist was pretending to be confident and totally prepared, his stomach was secretly in knots. Tonight was crucial for their band, Mysterious Snail, because it was the final round of the biggest band competition around. They’d made the finals easily, but their opponents were incredible, and they couldn’t help but be anxious about the outcome of their performances. What if they weren’t good enough?
“I think so,” the singer nodded, gripping her microphone a little too tightly. The sound of audience chants outside only made the atmosphere backstage more tense; the livelier the crowd, the more pressure that was on them to be great. “Do you really think we can win this?” Shino hadn’t meant to display her nerves so openly with a question like that, but it was too late to take her words back.
He hesitated, fingers curling around the neck of his guitar gently, before giving her one of his annoyingly reassuring smirks. “I know you can do it, but I’m not sure if I can keep up with your talent. You might steal the entire show and blow my guitar playing out of the water.”
She smiled softly, playfully hitting him in the arm. “Shut up, you’ll do fine.”
The announcer on stage officially began introducing their band, riling up the crowd immediately. Their nervousness was still present, but they both felt slightly more relaxed as they walked out onto the stage.