Chapter 1. The Release Party

It was raining lightly. A continuation from the night before, only now it was gray morning, and yesterday had been a vibrant night, lit up by neon signs and street lights, shining in warm contrast to the blackness around. They had been a little tipsy, laughing and talking, each carrying a can cocktail in one hand. They were both tired after a long day of entertaining people and keeping up facades, and now they couldn't wait to get to Dais apartment and throw themselves in each others arms.


Today, however, the magic was gone. Kanako had slipped on her school uniform that she'd kept in her bag for the concert yesterday, and kissed her still sleeping boyfriend on the forehead before grabbing an umbrella and heading out into the gray morning, hoping she would be able to sneak into her own families house without anyone noticing.
Dai still got to sleep a few more hours, before it was time for a meeting with his bands record label manager.


Yesterday had been the release party for his band, Baby Fangs' first EP. It had exceeded their own expectations with almost a completely full house at their local visual kei(*1) club, Red Velvet Club, where they had played their first concert when they'd started the band, about one and a half year ago.
At that time there had only been three people who'd even bothered to leave the comfort of the bar and come up to the fence in front of the stage. Yesterday there had been a pretty consistent crowd from those fences, stretching all the way to the bar counter in the back of the hall.


"You're late," remarked guitarist and band leader Masao, sitting back in one of the worn down leather couches in the record label office, one skinny ankle wiggling impatiently up and down on top of a skinny knee.
"Sorry," Dai muttered, pulling a hand through his freshly washed, but not styled mane of silver hair. "It got really late yesterday".
"You took Kanako home again, didn't you?" Masao said, half accusingly.
"No..." Dai swung his leather boston off his shoulder and lazily dropped it on the floor before dropping down onto the sofa by the opposite wall. "Well... Yes".
"You know what I think about that," the leader continued, but all Dai could do was laugh a little. "Yeah, you're jealous as fuck!"
To his relief Masao cracked a grin too, and then the heavy steel doors swung open again for the notoriously late vocalist, Sakito. "Hey! Oh, you guys didn't start yet?" his eyes lit up.
"Don't look so happy," remarked drummer Teruki from in front of the computer desks, "You're still late. It just so happens Dai was late too".
"Oh," Sakito said, not fazed by his slip up anymore. "You fucking that high schooler again last night?"
"You guys stop rewarding him for that". Suzuki, their label manager was standing in the doorway leading out to the hall and the practice studios and toilets. No comments about him being late, that's just how it always was. Besides, he was the boss.
"If you guys really end up making a name for yourselves, and I'm hoping you will, a thing like that could be really hurtful to your careers if it got out".
"Sorry, boss," Dai muttered. He didn't want to hear anything more about it. It was hard enough sneaking around behind the backs of Kanakos parents, who would no doubt have him arrested and fined, as well as the fans who would just be furious that he even had a girlfriend. Sometimes he felt like the whole thing was more trouble than it was worth, but he did like her a lot and he didn't want to break up with her if he could avoid it.


Luckily they all got something different to think about, as they headed out to a cheap local izakaya(*2) for a meeting over some food and drinks.
Suzuki congratulated them on the release event. "Do you have the numbers from last night?"
"Yeah," Dai pulled up his cell phone. "We sold almost 30 CD's and almost 40 wristbands. I'll send you the numbers right now".
"Not bad," Suzuki smiled. "And how many tickets?"
"I guess there were like... More than 50 people?" Masao looked at Dai, who was supposed to handle everything that had to do with booking.
"Ahh, yes," Dai also pulled out his phone to look at the notes he'd taken yesterday, before he started celebrating and forgot all about numbers. "64 actually," he grinned.
"That is really impressive!" Suzuki lifted his big jug of coke highball for another toast, then, after taking a huge swig and putting the glass back on the table, he pulled out a thin stack of papers from his bag.
"This is a list of places that I want you to add to your tour," he handed the papers to Masao, who passed a copy to everyone.
Suzuki continued: "These places have all contacted me and asked for you. They say that there's enough demand for you guys that they're willing to let you play with a 100% profit, I think you can really benefit from this," he leaned forward with his elbows on the table, staring at each and every one of them with that wide encouraging grin on his face.
"Yeah," Masao nodded. "Ok. 100% profit, that's... really flattering". Teruki noticed how he had started chewing his pinkie nail nervously.
"Isn't it?" Suzuki burst out before taking a long swig from his drink again. "And don't worry, these are all places with no more than 40 000 yen deposits".


"Don't worry?!" Sakito burst out, trying to control his voice. The boss had gone to the bathroom, so they all had a limited window to air their true opinions. They were basically the same ones. "Aomori? It's going to cost us twice that just to get there! Does he think we're millionaires!?"
"No, he thinks we're rockstars!" Masao half whispered back.
"Well... Since when do rockstars have money?" Sakito threw his hands up. "Do you know any rockstars who have money? I mean anyone who do what we do?"
"Well, you gotta spend some to win some, don't you?" Masao mumbled back in an irritated tone, but the way he didn't take his eyes off the list to look the singer in the eyes betrayed that he didn't really have much confidence in his own words.
"So? What do you guys think?" Suzuki was back, and he sat down in the empty seat beside Masao.
"Yeah..." said the leader, with as much conviction as he could muster up. "I guess we'll all have a look at our schedules and see what we can do," clearing his throat he emptied the glass in front of him and filled the following silence by smacking it back down on the table and saying "right, boys?".


The one who would have the biggest problem with the tour was Teruki, the drummer. Not only was he the one with the least time for part time jobs, as a direct result of being the only one of them actually enrolled in university, but he was also bound by his family, who lodged him and also paid for said university. His parents were not all together thrilled that Teruki was "wasting his time dressing up in perverted costumes and practicing for anything that wasn't going to turn into a steady job".
"Hey, Teru".
Teruki blinked away the film of worries that had started scrolling in front of his eyes, seeing Masao beside him on the train. They lived fairly close to each other, and were taking the same train back home.
"Don't worry, ok? It speaks for itself that you pay less than the others," Masao blinked.
"For what?" he asked, not following. His head was a little clouded from the alcohol.
"For the tour! I mean you'll also be giving up some classes, so I think it's only fair. If you want I won't tell the others though. In fact that might be best anyway," Masao shifted his gaze from the drummers eyes and turned them towards the window in front of them, where all he could see was dark reflections of themselves and all the other people on the train. All though it was distorted, he could tell that the reflection of Terukis face was panicking a little bit with the realization that he was actually planning to have them go through with this. In fact, Masao had just decided this for himself, and Terukis expression was a pretty accurate image of the feeling of slight angst building in his own chest. But they could do this, somehow. They had to.
This could be their big chance!




Footnotes:
(*1) Visual Kei= a Japanese music genre defined heavily by looks and image. Traditionally rock and heavier music, but with exceptions. The wast majority of artists are men. Google or Youtube it^^

(*2) Izakaya= A type of restaurant where smaller dishes and alcohol go hand in hand (unlike f.ex. A bar where alcohol is main) and the guests are usually seated at their own table, often in private room (unlike a bar or pub it is usually not a place to go to meet or talk to new people, but rather socialize with the people you come with).