🎼 Prelude: Before the Leaf
🎬 [Bonus Flashback: The First Practice – The Day the Music Chose Them]
Setting: College music hall — a little dusty, a little too quiet.
Posters hung loosely on the bulletin board. A faded sign read:
🎶 “ENSEMBLE NEEDED: Accepting new applicants. For recitals, side gigs, and competitions. Pays well.” 🎶
Shine stared at the poster, clutching her sheet music.
“I could use the extra income…” she murmured.
Behind her, Sebastian appeared, checking the board too. He gave a small nod when their eyes met.
“Are you joining?” “I think so,” Shine said quietly. “Me too,” he replied. “We might need a few more, though.”
Austin burst into the room like a walking karaoke machine.
“Did I hear *‘ensemble’?!””
He saw Rebecca and immediately tripped over nothing.
“Cool. Harp. Love that. Elegant. Yep. Joining.”
Noime walked in last, headphones around her neck, chewing on strawberry candy.
“Y’all look broke. I’m in.”
They stared at each other.
This was it?
Shine. Sebastian. Austin. Rebecca. Noime.
One piano. One violin. One guitar. One harp. One beatbox girl.
They were all… so different.
But somehow, the moment they started playing—
Shine’s fingers danced gently across the keys.
Sebastian followed her lead with graceful strings.
Noime’s beat slipped in perfectly—steady, grounding, alive.
Rebecca’s harp shimmered between every note.
Austin? He strummed like it was his heart speaking through the guitar.
They didn’t even speak after the first run-through.
Just looked at each other.
And knew.
“This is it,” Sebastian murmured. “We’re gonna be great.”
What they didn’t know was…
👀 A tiny creature in the rafters had been watching.
Rhummi tilted its head.
“...Interesting.”
Then scribbled something down on a glowing leaf-shaped notepad.
“Subject 5: Shows potential. Watch closely.”
🎼✨❣️🌿