Chapter 550
With these thoughts in mind, Ogura Asahi took off his guitar and placed it on the guitar stand next to him.
Then--
He walked over to the older woman in black beside him, asked her a few questions, and she nodded before jogging off the stage.
A moment later, she returned to the stage with a brownish-red object, much smaller than a guitar.
Amidst everyone's puzzled and astonished gazes, he took the instrument from the other person's hand—a violin.
Then, Ogura Asahi pressed the strings with his fingertips, and with his head, shoulders, and arms working together, he stabilized the instrument and played a few trembling notes to test the sound.
The air froze for a few seconds, then—
"Roar roar roar!!!"
"Waaaaaah!!!"
"Ogura-kun is the best!!!!"
"I love you~! Lord Asahi!!!!"
"..."
Chapter 495 focuses on the Band Showdown.
"Aren't you going to play the guitar?"
Hana-dono Tae tugged at his clothes, a hint of disappointment welling up in her eyes.
"... I'm not going to play this one."
Ogura Asahi, who was playing the violin, was stunned and speechless, never expecting that she would care about this issue.
"But there will be plenty of opportunities in the future, let's play guitar together again then, Otae-senpai!"
"Okay, it's settled!"
Hi~ Hi~
Following her, Yamabuki Saya and the others also started talking to their band.
"What adorable clothes! When did you prepare them?"
"After being betrayed by you seniors, who discovered that we were the only ones without matching team uniforms."
"Haha! Sorry, sorry! Actually, we didn't discuss it beforehand. It's just that Kasumi said it's better to wear our performance outfits since it's a live show."
"Hmm~ But why a maid outfit?"
Ichigaya Arisa looked on with a puzzled expression, her gaze towards the group carrying a complex meaning.
If she were to wear this on stage, she'd probably be so embarrassed—though in the end, Kasumi would probably drag her up there anyway.
"Time is tight, style is consistent, and size is just right—this is the only clothing I could find."
He innocently spread out his violin. "Arisa- senpai, would you like to try one on? I can find you a suitable one too, I guarantee it'll be cute!"
"No way!!"
Ichigaya Arisa strongly refused.
"Arisa is wearing Maid Outfit ~ I want to see it!"
"Saaya, you too..."
"Huh? What are you saying?"
Toyama Kasumi came in, and the warmth of the sunlight seemed to dispel all gloom.
"No, it's nothing... Let's get started on the performance!"
Ichigaya Arisa's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly changed the subject.
If she had overheard their conversation, she had no doubt that Toyama Kasumi would suggest that the next team uniform be in the style of Maid Outfit.
"We were talking about Asahi and the others' clothes."
"It's so cute! I want to wear it too!!"
"Saaya!!!"
"..."
With Ichigaya Arisa grabbing Toyama Kasumi's collar and declaring she'd rather die than wear Maid Outfit, he walked to his own team on the right side of the stage, comforting the inexperienced newbies.
"The match against Band Showdown is coming up soon, any thoughts?"
"... I want to beat you to death."
Shiina Rikki's answer was concise yet dangerous.
Chihaya Aine swallowed hard, cold sweat pouring down her face. "Eh~ Not only is my debut such a grand affair, but I also have to Band Showdown my seniors? I'm doomed~ I'm going to embarrass myself!"
Their hearts, which had just been filled with excitement because of their success, were now filled with anxiety and unease again.
"Don't worry, our debut live was such a big event, don't you think it's cool?"
"He's handsome... very handsome, but the difference in skill..."
"It's okay! Just treat this as a performance at the school's cultural festival! Even if something goes wrong, no one will blame you!"
I'll try my best...
"Don't worry! The so-called 'Band Showdown' isn't as difficult or serious as you think. The atmosphere is actually quite relaxed! With more instruments, many problems can be masked by the volume! Even if you stop moving for a moment, it's fine!"
"Real?"
Nagasaki Sōse frowned slightly, indicating her doubt.
"Really, really!"
He nodded firmly.
As you can see, when Roselia and Afterglow performed together against the Band Showdown, aside from the two lead singers who were trying to kill each other with their singing, the others were incredibly relaxed.
There are drummer sisters (the Udagawa Sisters) performing a touching sisterly act, a flower arrangement artist and vocalist (Mizutake Ran) who has given up playing instruments, two Bass (Lisa and Hiyori Mari) exchanging glances with the Keyboard, one of whom even winks at the camera (Hiyori Mari), and guitarists Bass wandering around...
Even worse! One of the guitarists took advantage of a lull in the other team's guitarists' performance to secretly stop playing and slack off, pulling his lead singer hand in hand for a walk on stage (Aoba Mocha)!
That's absolutely outrageous!
[Note: This refers to the Red x Violet collaboration. I highly recommend watching it on Bilibili. The vocals Band Showdown are much better than when the band performs alone. It's really enjoyable to listen to! And it's cooler and more energetic!]
I really need to take Little Tomori to see that scene later, so she can know what it means for "the lead singer to sing too hard"!
If people didn't know it was a live performance, they would have thought the two of them were about to start fighting. Not only did they almost give each other the middle finger, but they even used headbutts against each other in their competitive spirit, resulting in a physical "collision".
That's real rock and roll!
There are also power-saving and power-consuming groups, which are undoubtedly excellent in their Band Showdown.
Winning or losing isn't important; what matters is that all ten people on stage are so engrossed in their own fun that they're oblivious to the world around them. Who cares whether the other player's performance is right or wrong?
[Note: The "power-saving group" refers to Roselia, because their entrance style is predominantly dark; the "power-consuming group" refers to RAS, whose entrance effect is a chaotic display of ambient lighting. I also highly recommend watching their "Double R Band Showdown" performance, especially the Hayato version; the combined power of these two strong teams is even more enjoyable.]
In other words, as long as the veterans on the other side hold their own, they can just coast along and have fun!
They're still newcomers, it's their first time performing since forming a band, and they haven't even practiced their Band Showdown songs much... Surely no one really wants them to outshine the three bands opposite them, right?
"Do you know what is most important to the Band Showdown?"
Seeing that it was almost time, Ogura Asahi asked one last, wry question.
"What?"
"Have no idea."
He cracked his knuckles, making a snapping sound, and said confidently, "It's all about the performance! You can be bad at singing or playing instruments, but you can't be without something to do!"
"Make the audience feel they got an amazing deal, are emotionally charged, and are practically oxygen-deprived... that's victory! Remember that, just wait and see what I do!"
Shiina Rikki reached out in astonishment, trying to stop him. "Hey! What are you planning to do again...!"
Hearing him say that, she felt a chill run down her spine... but Toyama Kasumi's microphone announcement interrupted her, forcing her to quickly prepare.
"Next, please listen to the song: "ときめきエクスペリエンス! (Heart-moving experience!)"!"
Since they only have one original song, which hasn't been released before, Band Showdown certainly can't sing theirs.
Because they were singing each other's old songs, they had practiced them before during their regular practice sessions—a time when he was usually not around.
However, when he assigned daily tasks to Chihaya Aine, he prioritized songs from several bands, so even she could keep up.
Of course, the songs Band Showdown chose this time were indeed based on his own preferences... Sure enough, when talking about PPP, this classic song is indispensable!
"Pray for the sky to draw a shooting star in the night sky"
"ハピネスとミラクルをのせて(Carrying happiness and miracles)"
"はじまり"をげている(announces the beginning of everything)"
"..."
[Note: This is the Op from the first season, and the lyrics also represent the origin of Toyama Kasumi's actions.]
The vocals burst forth along with the sounds of various instruments; unlike other songs, this one begins with vocals in the very first second.
However, unlike the usual guitar, Bass, drum, and Keyboard accompaniment, this time, there was an additional, unusually piercing and prominent string sound. The volume wasn't loud, but it was even more noticeable than the guitar and Keyboard, due to its sharp characteristic.
Ogura Asahi didn't say anything, because tilting her head to maintain the violin's posture made singing very inconvenient...
Toyama Kasumi stood confidently in the center, strumming her guitar and swaying lightly with boundless energy, her youthful voice radiating dreams.
At the same time, she didn't forget the other person in the center next to her, and would wink at Takamatsu Akari from time to time, encouraging her to speak up bravely when she had some concerns.
"(Come)みんなで(True)めて(Gather together with everyone)"
"ステキ(はじまる)(Start this wonderful experience!)"
[Note: The parts in parentheses are the backup singers of the other members.]
Following the actions of Ogura Asahi, Toyama Kasumi also stopped playing the guitar and extended her hand, like a little sun, to Takamatsu Akari.
Then—she realized that the guitar part didn't seem to make much difference whether she was there or not.
Uh... that's awkward.
To her surprise, Takamatsu Akari timidly took her hand as well.
Hmm? She blinked slightly. Okay, now she doesn't need to play at all.
So what is Ogura Asahi doing now that she's no longer singing?
As mentioned before, he's just messing around.
However, contrary to Shiina Rikki's guess, what he did wasn't some bad thing. To everyone's surprise, he... was dancing.
The dance was a ritual Rite Dance Eula. After calculating the approximate space in the middle, he closed his eyes and, while tightly controlling the instrument in his hands to prevent it from slipping, moved his lower body with great flexibility according to the dance steps.
When he encountered a part of the original movement that required swinging a sword, he would use the bow of his zither to mimic the sword, swinging his arm and temporarily pausing the performance.
--No one would believe that someone who has mastered so many musical instruments has never learned to dance, right?
Just like musical instruments, which can be learned quickly by simply memorizing the pronunciation rules, dance moves, which can be learned by simply memorizing the movements, are even simpler for him.
Although his infrequent use of force might lead to some misunderstandings, he is essentially still a martial artist!
He's familiar with simple social dance moves like slow waltzes and slow quads—you can learn them after watching them twice. He also has some experience with Latin dance, waltz, tango, classical dance, and ethnic minority dances.
At this point, because the original dance was too short, only a little over a minute long, he added a solo Latin segment to it.
Wide, sweeping movements between the waist and legs, high-angle kicks and splits are basic exercises; the torso rotates in place, drawing a circle along with the silver hair...
"..."
The musicians who had been playing cheerfully in the back were momentarily stunned, almost stopping their muscle memory movements.
No? Sisters?!
Who taught you to dance at a rock band's live performance? Is this how all bands behave these days?!
The other four members of PPP exchanged wry smiles, a complex mix of emotions brewing within them, as if they were about to be abandoned by the times...
"Whoaaaaah!!"
X N.
"Lord Asahi!!!!"