Chapter 1
Kazuha was a little confused. Okay, granted, he was very confused. He was lead out of the court and the bubblegum-pink haired lady flashed him a smile and two thumbs up. The famous Ninguang lost to the mentioned pink lady. How? Well he wasn’t sure but now he was a free man. He was directed to a chair and he sat down and waited patiently. The lady did not take long.
“Hello Kazuha.”
“Hi, thank you.” He rose from his seat and bowed.
“It’s my job, but thank you.”
Kazuha frowned and watched as the woman pulled out her phone.
“Can I have your number?” she asked nonchalantly.
“Um, sure. It’s XXXXXXXX.”
“Nice. Thank you. Expect a call from me soon.”
“Ah… what’s your name?”
“Yanfei.”
Kazuha can’t help but think that the name fits her well. He barely notices when she drops her head down to stare at her phone before perking up and looking at him, an idea forming in her mind very quickly.
“Hey… can I ask a favor?”
“Sure.” he answered, his voice tinted with surprise.
“Can you tell me what you think of this?” she held out her phone, her slender fingers poised on the play button. When he nods she takes no time to press on the button.
Music filled the small waiting room and the recognizable voice of Yanfei joined in, the music fluctuated in between a pop song and a rock song with the addition of a second voice. The feeling it brought him was not far from euphoric when Yanfei sang and not far from sinful when the second voice joined. The melody accentuated their voices and ended just how it started.
“It’s a good demo, whose voice was that?”
“Xinyan.”
“Oh? That new artist?”
“Yup. You just heard a demo of her new song.”
“Ah…”
At that moment, the door chose to open and let in Ninguang and a second lady dressed in a pirate fashion.
“Hello, Kazuha correct?” the second lady asked, her voice loud and boisterous.
“…yes?”
“Yanfei, can you leave us?”
“Sure. See you later, Kazuha. I’ll call you later.” she handed him a piece of gum as she left.
His eyes followed her exit, baffled by how fast it was. Once the litter patter of her heels was deemed far enough, noise erupted in the small room.
“Ninguang, you were so brutal!” the pirate lady announced, flopping on a chair.
“I was not. It was in court. I had to prove that our son was guilty. Besides, I knew I was going to lose. Not putting up a fight in front of Yanfei would make her suspicious and call me out for protecting an alleged criminal.” she argued.
Her wife sniffed.
“Oh shut up and come give me a hug, Beidou.” Ninguang grudgingly opened up her arms. Her wife fell right into it and fake-sobbed. They stayed like like that for a while and Kazuha started getting suspicions that she had planned this. Then Ninguang pushed her off.
“Let’s go home Kazuha.”
“Yes Mom.”
…
Kazuha laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He had nothing to do but wait patiently for Yanfei’s call. Again, he didn’t need to wait for very long. It was only in the middle of the afternoon when he received a call. He was in the middle of putting his guitar back in his case when he heard it ring. He answered it hurriedly and Yanfei immediately started bubbling away,
“Hi Kazuha! How’re you? How’s the house? How’re Ninguang and Beidou?”
“Um, they’re fine. And you?” he asked politely.
“Oh just great, so many people came to me this afternoon, I was off like a busy bee, luckily I still had time to call you.”
“Ah, that’s very kind of you…”
“Hah! Don’t worry.” she answered joyfully.
“The demo was good…” he continued after a small pause.
“You think so?”
“Yes.”
“That’s sweet, do you have a computer?” She asked abruptly.
“Yes?”
“Can you search up 3ind?”
“What exactly?”
“3ind.”
“Sure.”
He opened his computer, the phone in his hand and the computer whirred to life. He typed up the words and arrived to the page of an artist.
“Are you there?” Yanfei asked him.
“Yup. What do you want me to do?”
“Just listen to their songs.”
“Sure.”
“Tell me if you’re interested in them…”
“Sure.” he repeated.
“Alright, bye, my secretary just told me I have a call in five minutes, got to get ready ready!” she laughed.
He bid her goodbye before ending the call. He went back in his room after fetching a cup of tea and clicked play. Immediately, a light and lilting voice filled the room. The person’s voice was quickly joined by a soft piano. The voice sounded like the sort you would hear in a wedding or before the gates of heaven. Then it descended, similar to Yanfei’s demo, the voice suddenly changed and the strumming turned to violent percussions, but there was still a hint of lightness in the singer’s voice. It sounded great but a little unoriginal and there was the prelevant absence of a guitar. He listened to another one and continued until he had listened to all their songs. Right when the last song was playing, he received a text from Yanfei. He finished the song first and then picked up his phone.
yanfei - legal advisor
yanfei:
hi! how did you find the demos?
kazuha:
it has a good vibe but it’s a little
unoriginal and it feels a little half-assed.
yanfei:
wow! first time I’ve met someone as honest as you!
kazuha:
is that bad?
yanfei:
no not at all, it’s really refreshing!
kazuha:
haha thank you
yanfei:
np
kazuha:
do you know them personally?
yanfei:
yes. do you wanna meet them?
kazuha:
sure.
yanfei:
alright, I’ll ask them. stay right there!
Kazuha turned off his phone and went to take a shower. It’ll take some time for her answer to come so he was in no hurry. He was wrong. When he stepped out of the shower to check his phone, he saw that she had told him over half an hour ago that the band was willing to meet him on Friday on one of their meet-ups. He answered that he was fine with the planning and wished her good night.