Tokyo
April...
On a bustling street filled with a constant stream of people, a young man was wiping down his guitar.
He took a deep breath, a hint of anticipation and tension in his gaze. The surrounding crowd flowed past in an endless stream, yet no one paid much attention to what was about to happen in this corner.
The young man slipped the guitar strap over his shoulder and gently plucked the strings to test the tuning.
At that moment, a few curious onlookers stopped in their tracks to watch...
Many people noticed that a Casio keyboard was also placed right at the young man's feet, though it wasn't mounted on an X-stand—he had no intention of using it at all.
As more and more pedestrians gathered around.
The young man pulled out a guitar pick and began his street performance.
Strum~ Clang-strum~
A powerful and forceful guitar sound rang through the street!
The young man at the center of the crowd had soft, silver-white short hair, and his dashing posture was upright and resolute.
As Bai Xian played, he looked tenderly down at the guitar in his hands.
That was his most treasured forty-two-inch Hongmian guitar, a product of China.
Bai Xian played wantonly at the center of the crowd, his singing blending seamlessly with the guitar, leaving everyone intoxicated.
Before long, a passing pedestrian suddenly cried out in surprise, "Isn't that Bai Xian?"
"Who? Bai Xian?"
"Could it be that Bai Xian?"
"That Casio keyboard at his feet is the model exclusive to Bai Xian..."
The surrounding pedestrians murmured among themselves, and quite a few even recorded videos and uploaded them online, causing a sensation.
Yes, Bai Xian, who was currently performing on the street, was actually the keyboardist of a world-class rock Band, with a reputation echoing across the globe. He had a massive fan base not only in China and the Bald Eagle, but quite a few fans in Japan as well.
Of course, all of this had to be preceded by the word "former".
It had been three months since Bai Xian quit the legendary Band "PentaKill", and no one knew why he had left.
Some guessed it was due to internal romantic entanglements within the Band, to which Bai Xian merely smiled.
...
Another song concluded, and the surrounding onlookers breathed heavily, not daring to disturb the young man who was pausing to catch his breath.
Evening was approaching, and Bai Xian had been playing here for a long time; it was about time to go home.
"Thank you all for your support."
"Today's performance ends here. Please make a path and kindly let me through~"
The crowd was still lost in the moment and instinctively cleared a path, only snapping back to reality as the young man quietly walked away.
"Eh! Bai Xian left?"
"Really, that Bai Xian..."
"Ah! What a pity, I didn't even get his autograph yet!" A girl with infatuated eyes stamped her foot in regret.
...
By now, the crowd had dispersed.
However, a few scattered pedestrians were still trying to catch a glimpse of Bai Xian.
Bai Xian had anticipated this long ago, packed up his equipment, leaped onto his beloved little scooter,
and sped away in a cloud of dust...
The fans who couldn't find Bai Xian finally gave up the search and left in disappointment.
...
Meanwhile
Bai Xian was speeding through the streets and alleys of Ikebukuro, Tokyo.
The wind began to pick up, but Bai Xian still managed to catch a hurried, resonant guitar sound amidst the roaring wind.
"Humming... clanging... clang!"
...Oh?
...Whose sound is this?
Intrigued, Bai Xian slammed on the brakes.
Finding a place to park, he parked his beloved little scooter and looked up toward the source of the sound.
It was a LiveHouse called "RiNG".
Walking into the shop, he realized the guitar sound was coming from the second-floor cafe.
Following the sound upstairs, Bai Xian felt a slight sense of surprise.
That strong, resonant guitar sound actually came from a white-short-haired girl. She had heterochromatic pupils, and her soft, cute cheeks made people want to reach out and pinch them.
"She's practically a stray cat."
The girl was wearing a white spaghetti strap top and a gray outer shirt, her lively heterochromatic eyes quietly locking gazes with Bai Xian.
"That is..."
Bai Xian noticed the guitar in the little cat's hands, and a stir of emotion touched his heart.
Oh?
Pondering carefully, Bai Xian found the original owner of this guitar in his memory.
...This must be that senior's guitar, which makes sense.
...No doubt this girl is the granddaughter of Tsuzuki Shifune that people always talk about outside, right?
As the keyboardist of a former world-class Band, Bai Xian could be said to have no peer when it came to his status on the keyboard.
Yet the instrument he used for roadshows nowadays was actually a guitar, an influence he owed entirely to this senior.
Back when he was still in his former Band, he would often take advantage of their tours in Japan to secretly slip away from his bandmates and go learn guitar from Tsuzuki Shifune, making him practically a disciple of this senior.
...
Kaname Rana's playing continued, the wild and melodious strings relentlessly stimulating Bai Xian's ears.
...What kind of genius is this!
Bai Xian couldn't help but marvel.
Even by Bai Xian's professional musical standards, this white-haired girl's technique had already reached a professional level in every aspect.
The girl's guitar solo was truly impressive, but how would it sound when played in an ensemble with a real Band?
Bai Xian looked forward to her future performances.
...
After a long while, the girl lowered her guitar and looked toward Bai Xian.
She pressed her lips together, wearing an excited and satisfied expression.
(Guitar! Awesome!)
The white-haired kitten seemed extremely happy.
So Bai Xian walked toward the girl and nodded in approval.
As soon as he drew close, the short white-haired girl spoke up:
"Kaname Rana... My name is Kaname Rana."
"Eh? Hello, I am—"
Before Bai Xian could finish, he was interrupted by the girl.
"Bai Xian, I know you..."
...Eh? So that senior had talked about me to her...
Bai Xian smiled, pulled a Chinese specialty—White Rabbit creamy candy—from his pocket, and waved it.
"Want some?"
"Mm!" Kaname Rana responded cheerfully.
Before Bai Xian could react, her little face had already leaned in, swiftly snatching away the candy.
Damn it, this is just too cute!
What's with this feeling of feeding a stray cat? It feels completely natural!
Bai Xian couldn't help but reach out his mischievous hand to pet the kitten's head, yet the kitten seemed entirely unconcerned, simply ignoring Bai Xian's teasing hand.
Though the two had only just met, they were as familiar as old friends.
If you ask why...
After all, music never lies!
In truth, Kaname Rana had suddenly felt an itch to play.
It was entirely because she had just seen the video of Bai Xian's street performance online.
(Don't ask if Kaname Rana knows how to use the internet; if you ask, it's author's divine intervention—she just happened to take out her phone, just happened to tap on the video app, and just happened to see the roadshow video :-D)
One had to admit, the video's popularity was astonishing; even though it had happened only a short while ago, it had rapidly taken the internet by storm.
Even someone like Kaname Rana, who rarely used the internet, had seen that street performance video.
This also reflected, from another angle, just how immense Bai Xian's popularity was in Japan.
And Kaname Rana firmly believed that someone who could play the guitar this well could not possibly be a bad person, not to mention her grandmother used to mention him often.
(Rant: In Japanese, both paternal and maternal grandmothers are called obaasan, making no distinction between the two.)
(However, formally speaking, to distinguish between them, the maternal grandmother can also be called gaisobo.)
She loved Bai Xian's music.
She loved such an interesting person!
Hmph hmph.
The kitten hummed as she enjoyed Bai Xian's petting.
After a long while, a woman with a tear mole under her right eye hurried over.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing!"
Shiina Raki slapped away Bai Xian's misbehaving hand and glared fiercely at him.
The corners of Bai Xian's mouth ticked upward. Knowing this shop assistant might have misunderstood something, he didn't mind.
With a half-smile, he waved at Kaname Rana, then turned around and prepared to leave the LiveHouse.
"Remember to say hello to your grandmother for me. Just tell her her student has returned."
"M-mm..."
"Hey!"
Shiina Raki stared at Bai Xian's receding back, the anger in her heart surging.
"Bai Xian... not a bad person..."
Kaname Rana said rather out of the blue to Raki, and without looking back, she walked away as well.
"But..."
Shiina Raki seemed as though she wanted to say something more, when suddenly her eyes widened as if struck by lightning—she finally remembered!
Bai Xian...
Wasn't he that Bai Xian from PentaKill! How could she have been so slow, only recognizing him after he had already left!
Shiina Raki lowered her head in vexation, a storm of complicated emotions churning in her heart.
She was also a fan of the Band "PENTAKILL"!
Yet, with the recent successive upheavals in crychic, her Bandmates leaving one by one, and so many heavy burdens pressing down on her so that she could barely breathe, she had failed to recognize Bai Xian's identity right away.
...