bond-colored ensemble

Rokka doesn’t talk with her bandmates often.

Well, that’s a lie. She does talk to them, it’d be impossible for RAS to function if she didn’t, but she doesn’t talk talk to them much.

It’s always the boring small talk stuff, the kind of conversations that leave you wanting more, the ones that make you feel so drained despite not talking about anything of note. Sometimes she wishes she was better at holding engaging conversations, instead of either just being really boring or going into a passionate, one-sided rant about one of her interests, but she has no idea how to go about picking up on that skill.

But, whatever. Her bandmates aren’t her only friends, and at the very least she’s starting to get closer with Masuki. She just wishes she felt more comfortable around the others sometimes. They need her as a guitarist, sure, but Rokka hopes they need her as a friend as well.

Rokka snaps out of her thoughts as she enters the practice studio, glancing around the room.

Chu2 and Pareo are here, but Masuki and Layer are nowhere to be found. Is she too early?

“Uhm, may I start practicing?” She asks, ignoring the surge of anxiety building up in her chest.

Chu2 nods without even looking up from her laptop. Rokka begins to walk over to set her guitar down.

“Wait, Lock-san!”

Rokka stops, letting out a startled little noise in response to the voice. Unmistakably, it’s Pareo, bounding up behind her with a clear sense of unbridled excitement. Rokka takes a moment to calm herself before speaking.

“What is it?” She replies, gripping onto the straps of her guitar case tightly.

“Did you hear the news?” Pareo asks, leaning forward on her heels.
“Umm, about what…?” Rokka responds, growing increasingly more flustered as the seconds' pass. Gosh, why did she have to get so nervous about every little thing? Not every conversation had to be a treacherous journey to get through.

“The Pasupare-Popipa collab song!” Pareo exclaims, “I think another band’s apart of it as well, but that’s beside the point. Isn’t it exciting?”

Rokka feels a surge of heat in her face. Every time someone brings up Poppin’Party in a casual conversation, Rokka’s brain completely shuts down.

Or lights up, depending on how you look at it.

“Popipa-san!” She exclaims, and she jumps a little. “And the-when the-I um, hiiii…”

Pareo chuckles at this. Rokka gives a little awkward laugh in return.
“Do you know who the other band is?” Rokka asks, once her brain stops melting for a moment.

Pareo hums, putting a finger to her chin.

“Oh! Right, I think it’s Morfonica?” Pareo finally says, “I don’t know too much about them, but I’ve heard Chu2-sama bring them up a few times.”

Rokka’s heart skips a beat when Pareo mentions Morfonica. She’s only listened to their songs a handful of times, and she doesn’t know too much about them, but she and the vocalist were… friends?

At the very least, they had a pseudo-rivalry thing going on.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of them,” Rokka says, and she begins to run her fingers through her hair.

“Cool! I think I’m going to listen to a few of their songs later.” Pareo replies, and she giggles. “I have to make sure they’re up to par to be performing alongside the Pastel*Palettes.”

Rokka chuckles. “Um yeah, I’ve listened to a few of their songs, they’re super good.” There’s a beat of awkward silence after that, and Rokka grows nervous once again. “I-I mean, not as good as RAS, but y’know, they’re pretty good. Definitely good enough to perform with Popipa-san.”

Gosh, is there any way she could’ve said that more awkwardly?
“Yeah! Nobody can top RAS.” Pareo smiles. Rokka lets out an internal sigh of relief. At least she didn’t ruin the entire conversation with her inability to form coherent sentences. “What are they like music-wise? I love the aesthetic they have going on with their outfits and promotional material, but it’s sort of difficult to judge their sound off that.”

Rokka shakes her hands at her sides. She takes a moment to find her words before speaking once again, clearing her throat.

“They’ve got a really cool sound, it’s like… sort of mystical? In a way? But they’re super-duper strong as well… The instrumentals are really powerful, and Mashiro-chan’s voice is so sparkly…” She squeals, waving her arms around.

“That sounds so fun! I’m sure they’ll sound great alongside Pasupare and Popipa.” Pareo says with a smile. “If they don’t… we may have some issues.”

“I’m sure they will!” Rokka reassures. “Man, I’m soo jealous that they get to make a song with Popipa-san and Pastel*Palettes… I mean, we got to perform with Popipa-san once, but they get to write a whole song with them!”

“Writing a song with Pasupare… I couldn’t imagine it.” Pareo says, and she excitedly shakes her arms. “I mean, I would imagine their agency writes most, if not all of their songs, but I bet Aya-chan would write the most amazing songs ever!”

“Hehe, yeah,” Rokka says. “Popipa-san writes all of their songs themselves, but it’s always so sparkly-sounding!” She bounces a little, struggling to contain the excitement building up inside of her.

“I wonder what Morfonica’s songwriting process is like… “
“Whatever it is, I hope it’s nothing like Chu2-sama’s.” Pareo chuckles, heightening the volume of her voice so the tiny producer could hear her. She turns towards Chu2. “It’s not healthy to lock yourself in your room for hours to write, you know!”

“Shut up!” Chu2 yells in return, and both Pareo and Rokka irrupt into laughter.

Suddenly, Rokka hears the familiar sound of the studio door unlatching.

“Oh! I think everyone’s here now.” Rokka says. “Well, so much for getting some solo practice in.”

“Hehe, sorry about that.” Pareo chuckles. “It was fun talking to you, though!”

“Yeah, yeah, it was,” Rokka replies. Her chest is swelling with a strong, positive emotion that she can’t quite describe with words. Talking about bands just makes Rokka feel so warm inside, as if her heart has melted into goo.

Alongside that, she feels sort of fuzzy, likely due to the awkwardness of the encounter. She’s finding a billion ways she could’ve handled things better, but she attempts to push these thoughts away for her mental benefit.

Rokka grips onto the straps of her guitar case and marches into the recording studio, taking time to observe her bandmates for a moment.

Her bandmates are her friends. They like her, despite her awkward self, and she likes them in return. She remembers how empty and alone she felt before she joined RAS, and the more she lingers on it, the more she realizes how happy she is to have a place, a band to call her own.

She’s finally home.