School Festival (3)

Two students sat onstage with only two chairs placed there. The setup consisted of just a few microphones, a bass, and two guitars—sparse equipment for something called a band sound.

And with that sparse equipment, the two of them began playing without any explanation.

The drums were replaced by foot-stomping, with a fingerstyle-like electric guitar part layered over a simple bass line. The students gathered in the auditorium tilted their heads at music they had never heard before.

But that puzzled reaction lasted only a moment.

The stage had been hazily obscured by music no one recognized. Then, cutting through that fog, a jangly guitar sound got the students who loved music talking.

“Isn’t this ‘Gwao’?”

“‘Gwao’? I think I’ve heard it before.”

Like ripples spreading after a drop of water fell onto a still surface, the talk gradually spread. Since it was a song that had spent even a short time on the twenty-four-hour chart, many students had heard it without knowing its title… and quite a few actually knew the song.

Then, when the ear-catching main melody began, he, like most of the audience, realized what song was being played. He did not know the title, but it was one of those fairly exciting rock-band songs that sometimes drifted out when you put on Melon.

Even if one day you choose...