I blew out a breath and looked at my reflection one more time. There wasn’t a need to keep Riku hanging around.
“You’re good. Thank you for coming with me today.”
Riku grunted before I heard his feet moving across the carpet of the shop.
Instead of continuing to dwell on things, I pulled my shirt over my head and pulled my long black hair from the collar and adjusted it to sit nicely on my shoulders.
As carefully as possible, I placed the dress back on the hanger. Riku was right that I already had one like it, but I loved these dresses and I was always worried that something would happen to them. It was nice that I could afford to buy them thanks to the band doing well.
After thinking about it for another moment, I draped the garment over my arm and carried it out of the fitting room and over to the counter to pay for it. The girl standing there gave me a smile as she took the dress from me and rang it up. The amount was hefty at 85000yen, but worth it. If anything, it wouldn’t fall apart on me, and I knew it could hold up to our performances. The brand knew me and often cut me deals since I was a walking advertising campaign.
And this girl knew who I was. She could barely contain her tremors as she took my payment card from me and charged me for the dress. Her eyes watered as she wrapped the dress and placed it in a bag before handing it over to me.
“Itsuki-sama, please have a great rest of your day.”
The smile felt forced. At one point, I’d craved this. Hell, I’d wanted the attention only a little while ago while my bandmate was still present. This was different. I didn’t like the way the girl’s eyes trailed my body as I took the bag from her and mademy way to the exit. It made my skin crawl as if something was living beneath the surface.
As soon as the afternoon sun hit my face, I took a deep, cleansing breath. I didn’t feel so suffocated outside, even though the Harajuku streets were jam-packed with people. It was always a risk to go out during the day, but I was fairly blessed to look different without my stage make-up on. Most times I could walk the streets without someone spotting me. The girl in the shop had been an exception because of how often I was in there. Plus, she’d seen me trying on the dress..
People bumped into me as I made my way toward the train station. All I wanted to do was get home and call Yasu to make sure he was okay. Tomorrow was going to be a rough day. We’d just lost Mamarou, and the label was already replacing him. We had the final say with the new guy, but we were all still nervous. It was hard to fix what wasn’t broken.
Mamarou had left a gaping hole that would be impossible to fill.
The second I landed in a seat on the train back to Shibuya, my eyes closed. The day caught up with me, all I wanted to do was take a nap. There wasn’t enough time since the ride was barely fifteen minutes.
Tokyo was nice. Most of us had grown up in the southern part of Japan in Kokura, so living in the city made a lot of things easier. There were times that I missed my family, but thanks to the bullet train, it was only a four-and-a-half-hour ride. Though if I were feeling like that was too much, I could fly from Tokyo to Fukuoka and take a train ten minutes to their home.
Before I knew it, the overhead system called out the stop for Shibuya Station. I stood with the rest of the passengers ready to disembark. That was the other nice thing; my apartment wasn’t far from the station. Most things in Tokyo were easy to get to via train, subway, or taxi. There were times I wished I’d learned howto drive to get myself around, but it seemed pointless with the narrow roads and how congested everything always was.
By the time I made it home, my feet were beyond sore. I kicked off my shoes at the entrance, giving a half-hearted “tadaima,” to the empty space. Maybe one day someone would say something back, but today was not that day.
Chapter 4
Yasu
This was so stupid. In the few years we’d been doing this, I’d never been nervous walking into a practice. But this one was different.
My heart slammed against my ribcage as I opened the door to the room. My panic was unnecessary because, per usual, I was the first person there. Maybe there was a small chance that this new guy would beat me there. It was dumb because Toshi had already told me he would introduce him to everyone. There would be no throwing him to the proverbial wolves.
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to try to calm myself. Getting ahead of myself wasn’t doing anyone any favors, but all I could think about was this guy coming in and acting like he ran the show. That he’d try to change everything about what we'd already established to make the band his. Yes, we’d have to wiggle a little to accommodate him, but the fear that he’d take over entirely?
Shit, I needed to shift my focus. Always easier said than done.
When I opened my eyes again, I looked around the room, trying to find something to distract myself until someone else arrived. Thankfully, it didn’t take long because Itsuki was walking in the door not even a minute later. His entire face lit up the moment he saw me, and he bounced across the room to wrap me in a hug.
“Yasu-san,” he cooed as he placed a quick kiss on my cheek.
It made me laugh. Out of everyone in the band, Itsuki was always more affectionate. He loved to shower everyone with touches and kisses, even when it made some uncomfortable.
“Itsuki-chan. It’s good to see you.”
His smile grew before he released me from his hold, and he slid across the room to grab his guitar from the rack. It was amazing how quickly he could flip the switch from playful to business. But that was something Itsuki had always taken seriously. The music was important to all of us, and we never messed around when it came to it.
I listened as Itsuki idly plucked at his guitar strings to tune them. It had been what I needed to calm my racing thoughts about the new bassist.
Before long, Riku and Tatsuki joined us. We all warmed up with one of our earlier songs, but it wasn’t the same since we were missing the entire bass line. It still allowed me to warm up my voice, but the longer we sat there and played, the more anxious I grew.
Where the hell was Toshi?
