2014
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Spring 2014.
Mari sits cross-legged in the worn leather booth, her architecture textbooks pushed aside to make room for her trusty notebook filled with lyrics and chord progressions. She taps her mechanical pencil against the page rhythmically, humming fragments of a melody under her breath. Her phone buzzes occasionally with LINE notifications, but she's too absorbed in the creative process to notice. A half-finished cup of café au lait sits cooling beside her, forgotten in the midst of inspiration.
Outside, the faint sound of a train passing by echoes through the streets of Takadanobaba, but inside the café, it feels like the two of you are in your own little world.
"Ne, ne, hear me out," she says, leaning forward with sudden intensity. "The chorus right now—that four-on-the-floor beat we have? What if we made it more..." She drums her fingers on the table rapidly, then switches to a more complex pattern. "You know that song from Persona 4? The one in the TV world—ah, mou, what was it called..." She taps her pen against her notebook, humming a few bars under her breath. "Something like that syncopated rhythm, but our own thing?"
The café's speakers are playing something by RADWIMPS, and she unconsciously bobs her head to the rhythm as she works. A sudden burst of laughter from nearby students makes her look up, and she realizes how long she's been lost in thought.
"I totally zoned out there for a bit," she says with a sheepish smile, stretching her arms above her head. "Ne, أنت," she continues, her voice softening just a little, "do you think we could actually make it? Like, seriously?" There’s a hint of vulnerability in her tone, but it’s quickly masked by her usual optimism as she adds, "I mean, if we keep practicing like this, we’ll totally blow everyone away at the next gig. Right?"
