Chapter 117
Steve Vai. One of the guitarists loved by the Japanese, and commonly known as ‘the man who has sex with his guitar.’ Tender Surrender, a song representing his prime. Any Japanese person who likes music, especially rock, has probably heard it at least once.
Even if they had never heard it before, the Japanese soul’s love of technical, shred-heavy guitarists drove the audience to applaud Group Sound’s performance. It was less a cheer than an ovation, a sound filled with reverence.
“
Thank you.
”
The guitarist’s pronunciation, clearly announcing ‘I’m not Japanese,’ added strength to that ovation. They were obviously Korean. Koreans who were currently aiming for supremacy in the music market through K-pop had come all the way to Japan to busk with rock. Wasn’t that true respect?
“
Wow… amazing.
”
“
Excuse me, may we take a picture? Ah, do you not understand me… Picture, picture~
.”
“OK, OK. Feel free to snap a photo.”
“
Are they high school girls?
”
People were chatting excitedly about the nationality-unknown high-school-girl band from a fixed distance. Ignoring them, the girls whispered among themselves before beginning their setup.
Just when it seemed the setup was getting excessively long, a sound that drew the audience’s attention rang out… and a familiar-sounding anime-style song began to play.
“
Youth Complex?
”
Classic J-rock. The lyrics about a complex over youth, sung in Japanese, stirred the people’s reactions even further. An unknown Korean band had come to Japan and was busking with Japanese-style rock? And they were actually quite good?
How could anyone not react? If the situation had been reversed, the internet would have gone insane. ‘Japan has finally acknowledged Korean music,’ and so on. ‘The high-school-girl band’s visuals are insane,’ and so on.
The performance unfolded without a single mistake. The guitar from earlier had dominated the entire atmosphere, throwing off sparks as though all anyone had to do was follow where it led. But this time, the guitar blended appropriately into the band’s performance. As if saying, ‘I know how to do this too.’
And at the end, the band wrapped up the song briefly and clearly with a chorus. Another wave of cheers erupted.
The earlier applause had been filled with awe, but this applause was pure joy and delight. The band members bowed their heads amid the pouring applause. Their gesture drew an even greater response.
“
Um… um…
I-I…
”
The keyboardist among them timidly opened her mouth. Her slightly flashy appearance made her seem completely unlike this, but she was huddled up so tightly that she looked adorable.
“Cute~,” “She’s so cute!” and “This is dangerous!”
Words that seemed to indicate a slight drop in intelligence were thrown around liberally. Each time she heard them, the keyboardist flinched a little while giving a bashful little laugh.
“Unnie, admiring your pretty looks is nice, but let’s get to the story first.”
“Uh, uh… wha, I’m sorry…
We’re the band ‘Group Sound.’ We’re active in Korea, and it hasn’t even been a year since our debut…
”
Startled by what the bassist had said, the keyboardist began speaking again. Their history, as she described it, was enough to astonish the people in front of them. A band that had debuted less than a year ago. They had won an audition in Korea, entered the 24-hour chart, and…
“
Guitar, ‘Ha Suyeon.’ Bass, ‘Choi Iseo.’ Keyboard, I… ‘Jeong Hyuna.’ Drums, ‘Yoo Seoha.’ Let us introduce ourselves once again… We are the band, ‘Group Sound’…!
”
Their final introductions were met with enthusiastic applause. It carried many meanings: the arrival of a new rock band, excitement over them being Korean, or simply applause.
サイサイ… SILENT SIREN, the band beloved by the Japanese and shining with the shortest-ever time to a girls’ band concert at the Budokan. The next songs were their hits, ‘八月の夜’ and ‘チェリボム.’ People went wild for songs that were truly ‘girls’ band’ songs, singing of youth and love.
Even though there were plenty of people, this was only one corner of Shibuya. Even if there was a lot of foot traffic, there was no reason for everyone to gather in one place. And yet the people crowding that street went far beyond anything ordinary.
Passersby were drawn to the song one by one, stopping and clustering around the band. Other pedestrians, curious about the crowd that had already gathered, poked their heads out to see what was happening, only to become part of the crowd themselves.
And what they had prepared for those people was finally their own original song: [Days of Ash]. A song about that emotion called ‘youth,’ which Japanese people loved so much they practically went crazy for it.
“Homework I never did, there’s a turtle in my locker…“
The song was sung in Korean, proving their nationality. Its atmosphere was unmistakably their own, clearly influenced by J-rock, but even the more cynical listeners who had been hearing it could not confidently say, “
Japan really is the birthplace of rock. If they’ve copied it this much.
”
Because the song being performed now was good enough to make even people who held such thoughts surrender.
The end of youth. It was so wistful that it stirred even in Japanese people—unquestionably the spiritual home of this kind of sentiment—a nostalgia that had never existed. Some closed their eyes, some lowered their heads, and some gazed at the sky, soaking in the sentiment as it quietly seeped over them like a silky mist.
Until an outside noise woke them.
“
Hey, what are you doing? Break it up, break it up. Why are you students busking here? Do you have a permit?
”
The police had approached before anyone noticed, pushing through the crowd to confront Group Sound. Perhaps they had come by while on patrol; in a casual mood, they ordered the crowd and the busking to disperse.
“
Ah, all right. We’ll pack up our equipment…
”
“
Yeah. You didn’t get a permit, right? Aren’t you the kids from that instrument store? You come here and take up a spot sometimes. If you keep doing this…
”
“
Hey, we have to make a living too…
”
The instrument-store clerk chatted familiarly with the police to calm the atmosphere, then told the band, “
Looks like we have to wrap up now.
”
But the ones who couldn’t stand that atmosphere were not the band, the clerk, or the police.
“
You bastard! Everyone’s listening to the song right now, you punk! At least let them finish one song! What the hell are you doing, eating taxpayers’ money!
”
It was the citizens who had suddenly been interrupted while their emotions were being stirred. When someone shouted in a rough, booming voice from within the crowd, others voiced their agreement.
“
Yeah! They’re putting on a great show!
”
“
You should at least let them finish one song!
”
“
There’s no reasoning with this. No reasoning…
”
“
Do you have no human feeling?
”
“
Hey, what the hell are you guys doing! Break it up, break it up!
”
The more the police spoke, the more the anger of the assembled crowd boiled over. “
I’ll beat you to death!
” “
Just let us hear one song!
” “
You fucking animal! Do you have ears?
” The police, who had never expected the situation to turn out this way, wore clear expressions of bewilderment.
“
These bastards… Fine! Sing just one more song!
”
The police finally surrendered. Amid the audience’s cheers, the band members smiled helplessly and prepared to play the song again.
* * *
After all that commotion.
“
It was Group Sound! Thank you! And thank you to the instrument store that supported this busking! We bought all our instruments here! They’re really great! You can find the store on Ochanomizu Street! Please show them lots of love!
”
When they recited the sentence they had translated in advance, the audience burst into lively laughter and applause. Even the clerk, who had never expected them to go that far, awkwardly stood up and repeatedly bowed ninety degrees.
But that had been yesterday. Today, they had to get through today’s schedule. It wasn’t painful or difficult at all… No, Myeongjeon thought it might actually be a little painful.
“Unnie, I told you this suits you.”
“I… don’t know…”
“I don’t think it suits her.”
After they had been arguing like that for more than ten minutes, who wouldn’t find it painful? He sat on the sofa and sighed. How many minutes had it been, anyway?
“Are you tired?”
“No, it’s not that I’m tired… I was just wondering when this would end. Can’t I just put on something roughly?”
That was how Myeongjeon answered Hyein, looking at the three of them with an exasperated expression. How long had they been at this?
After what had happened yesterday, they had moved to Yokohama. A city near Tokyo, charming for its harbor. The sort of place where one should enjoy the night scenery and sightseeing more than shopping. Nevertheless, the other four besides Myeongjeon… were shopping again today.
‘You’d never know they weren’t girls… Though, I suppose I’m a girl now too.’
Myeongjeon thought that as he looked at the three still arguing.
What on earth was going on? The story began like this. The five had been looking around Minato Mirai or whatever it was called when Iseo suddenly spotted a thrift store and exclaimed, “Let’s go in!” dragging them all inside.
After looking around at this and that, the group’s objective—forced on them by Iseo—had somehow become [Buy a complete five-person set of secondhand clothes!] Yet despite the obviously difficult level of the challenge, the objective had been proceeding surprisingly smoothly… until it reached Hyuna’s turn.
“I said it suits you.”
“No, earlier… I tried it on, but it was too flashy… so, um, I guess…”
“It can be flashy. Clothes are meant to draw attention.”
“No, I’m kind of…”
“They are meant to draw attention, but not clothes like these. I don’t think something like this suits you, Hyuna.”
The two of them were fighting tooth and nail over Hyuna, who herself seemed completely uninterested. Perhaps because it was a battle between two people who cared deeply about fashion, it was remarkably fierce.
“No, I think it doesn’t suit her. Hyuna has the kind of look that needs flashy patterns rather than something plain. You should add accessories too. She has that sort of face.”
“But I…”
“Ugh! I told you something like that really doesn’t suit her… You can’t put weird patterns on a face this refined.”
“Flowers only stand out when they have buds, too, so you need to go in that direction, you know?”
“No… listen to me…”
The atmosphere grew overheated. Hyein was grinning cheerfully, the two of them were ablaze, and Hyuna couldn’t get a word in while her opinion was being ignored.
And there was Myeongjeon watching the situation with a pathetic look that said, What is this supposed to be? There was also the shop manager, looking troubled as if asking, Why are you doing this in my store?
“Ah~ So you wear patterns that don’t suit you and all that? Huh? It’s dark, and with the patterns too, they don’t show well. It makes everything so gloomy.”
“…Hey, you keep wearing all those weird accessories, like some menhera, dangling all over you. That style’s gone out of fashion too. How long are you going to keep it up?”
Meanwhile, the conversation swept increasingly toward an eruption of sparks. Criticism of each other’s fashion sense—neither knew who had started it—and the heat continued to rise because of it.
“Hey, you two should go outside and fight.”
Even as he was pushed aside, Myeongjeon watched the two growl at each other in low, measured voices and thought how absurd it was that people who had never once fought over music were now fighting over fashion.
He had no idea that this incident might be the starting point for the countless ‘fashion battles’ that would take place within Group Sound in the future.