Home Visit - 2

Chapter 6

Home Visit - 2

***

The tension in the room shifted, before, Naru had been hesitant, defensive, unwilling to let herself fully engage, but now, after hearing Hirato's track and seeing his determination, something inside her had reignited, the feeling of excitement that she had forgotten

She unzipped her guitar case, pulling out her well-worn electric guitar, a sleek black and red model with slight scratches from years of use, and as she adjusted the strap over her shoulder, her fingers naturally moved along the fretboard, pressing down on the strings like they had a mind of their own

Hirato leaned forward, eyes locked onto her hands, he was curious on how good was she really

"Alright, let's do this"

Naru inhaled deeply, adjusting the tuning pegs slightly

"Play it again, from the top."

Hirato smirked

"In a sec"

Ayaka snickered from the side, watching the two with amusement

Hirato tapped a few keys on his laptop, restarting the track, the familiar DJ scratch intro of Jam filled the room once more, followed by the tightly produced rhythm section

Naru closed her eyes for a second, letting the groove sink into her before jumping in, her hands moved instinctively, her fingers dancing over the fretboard as she locked into the rhythm. Her picking was precise and her strumming was aggressive yet controlled, riding the energy of the song

Hirato's brows lifted slightly as he briefly glanced at Ayaka

{Harune-san is actually as good as she said}

She wasn't just playing the notes, she was feeling the song, sinking into the music in a way that only someone who truly understood rhythm guitar could, the funky, percussive style of MJ's music wasn't easy to pull off, but Naru was nailing it

However as the track continued, Hirato noticed something else

Hirato noticed that when the guitar part got the spotlight, Naru's play suddenly slowed down

{ Is she hesitating? Why though?}

It clearly wasn't a lack of skill, her technique was still clean, her fingers still precise; but there was a visible hesitation to let it rip, like something was holding her back

His smirk faded as he watched her closely, for some reason she wasn't fully committing

The track continued, and when it reached the next section where the guitar was meant to drive the energy forward, her playing faltered again, it was subtle, maybe Ayaka wouldn't notice, but Hirato who had listened to the original track's guitar part over and over could easily tell it

His fingers hovered over his laptop's keyboard before he paused the track

Naru blinked, caught off guard

"What are you doing?"

"You tell me"

Hirato replied, leaning back against the chair

"Why did you slow down ?"

Naru stiffened

"N..No, I'm didn't!!"

Ayaka, watching from the side, frowned slightly

"It did feel like you lost some of the energy there"

Naru's grip on the neck of her guitar tightened

"I was just getting used to it, play it again Yamashita kun"

Hirato didn't move, arms crossed

"No I'm pretty sure you weren't just getting used to it Harune-san"

A beat of silence passed between them, Naru avoided his gaze, looking instead at her guitar

Hirato sighed, then leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees

" Look Harune-san, you clearly know what you're doing; your rhythm, your feel, it's solid, but the moment your guitar is supposed to take the lead, you pull back"

Naru's jaw tightened before she exhaled sharply through her nose, gripping her pick tightly, she could feel Ayaka's gaze on her as well and that only made it worse

Hirato didn't look away

"What happened?"

The room was quiet except for the faint hum of the laptop's cooling fan

For a long moment, Naru didn't say anything, then, almost too softly, she muttered

"I don't do solos"

Hirato raised an eyebrow and frowned, crossing his arms

"You don't do solos??"

Naru tensed but didn't respond

Ayaka shot Hirato a look before turning back to Naru

" You used to love playing lead though "

Hirato leaned forward

"What happened? I mean, someone as good as you just deciding not to solo? That doesn't just come out of nowhere"

Naru clenched her jaw

"It doesn't matter"

Hirato scoffed

"Yeah, it kinda does, you've got the skill, but the moment the spotlight's on you, you hesitate, that's clearly not just a 'choice', something's messing with your play "

Naru's grip on her guitar tightened, she stared down at her guitar's fretboard, her shoulders stiff

Ayaka softened her voice

"Naru… just tell us"

Naru inhaled sharply through her nose

"Why do you even care?"

"Because it's frustrating to see someone talented holding back,"

Hirato said bluntly

"I mean, are you seriously telling me you're okay with this? Just sticking to rhythm forever and never playing lead?"

Naru didn't answer

Ayaka nudged her shoulder gently

" Come on, Naru, I'm your best friend and he's also your new friends, and I can assure you he has nobody to tell, whatever it is, you can tell us"

Cornered by Ayaka, it looked like Naru was going to shut her down completely and leave for a moment, but then, she let out a slow breath

{How can I refuse Ayaka when she's looks rhis worried and serious? Besides, telling others might help }

"…It ...it was middle school."

Hirato and Ayaka stayed quiet, waiting

Naru's fingers absentmindedly strummed a muted chord as she spoke

"I had a band back then, just a bunch of us who loved playing together, we weren't great or anything, but we had fun; we wrote songs, played at school events, and even dreamed about getting seriouswhen we get to Highschool"

She exhaled shakily

"Then there was this one incident , at the school festival; we signed up as a band, worked our asses off practicing, and when the day finally came…"

She hesitated, staring at the floor, Hirato narrowed his eyes at that

"Something happened?"

Naru nodded slowly

"Yeah, something happened"

Her grip on the guitar's neck tightened

"It was supposed to be our big moment, our best song, I had a solo near the end, one I'd practiced for weeks, we were killing it up until that part; the energy, the crowd… everything felt perfect"

She swallowed

"And that was when I messed it all up with my solo"

Silence

" And to make it worse, I further embarrassed myself by failing to recover, I could hear the backing instruments waiting for me, the audience staring, my bandmates looking at me like—"

She stopped, shaking her head

"Anyway , I completely frozen after that, I ruined the song, and even ran away from the stage unable to bear the scrutiny of the audience any longer "

Ayaka's face fell

"Naru…"

Naru forced a hollow laugh

"That wasn't even the worst part, after that, things just… fell apart, the band started drifting apart, I knew it was because of me ,they didn't say it outright, but deep down I knew that they blamed me for it "

She exhaled and said gripping her guitar's fretboard tightly

"So yeah, I don't do solos anymore "

Hirato studied her for a long moment, then sighed, running a hand through his hair

{ Past trauma huh }

Ayaka placed a hand on Naru's shoulder

"I can't say much since we went to different schools back then, but Naru , everyone makes mistakes, don't blame yourself like that "

Naru shrugged off the comfort

"Doesn't matter, it happened and I don't want to go through that again"

Hirato clicked his tongue

"Really though?"

Naru lifet her head up

"What do you mean?"

"Are you really never gonna perform a solo anymore "

Hirato asked ,genuinely curious

" Think about it Harune-san, if every musician quit after messing up, the industry wouldn't even exist."

Naru glared

"You don't get it."

Hirato met her stare head-on

"Yes I don't, but I do get that but if you keep running from this, you're never gonna move forward, you like the guitar don't you?"

Ayaka nodded

"Hirato's right, you're still that same guitarist, Naru, being chained by past trauma won't do you any good"

Naru looked between the two of them, frustration flickering in her eyes, but underneath it, there was something else

Doubt, conflict

Hirato held Naru's gaze for a moment before leaning back against the couch with a smirk

"Well,I guess we'll just have to help you fix it"

Naru frowned

"Fix what?"

"Your trauma, the whole 'I don't do solos anymore' problem"

He said matter-of-factly

"We'll help you get over it"

Naru narrowed her eyes

"Yamashita kun....but how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

Hirato crossed his arms, tilting his head slightly, as if considering his next words carefully, then, with a straight face, he said

"Google's got the answer"

Silence

Then, the tension in the room shattered as Ayaka burst out laughing, clutching her stomach

"Oh my god, Hirato,"

She wheezed

"That's your big plan? Google?"

Naru, despite herself, let out a surprised snort before shaking her head

Hirato smirked

"Hey, I'm serious, look up 'how to get over performance anxiety,' and I bet you'll get a hundred different techniques"

Ayaka wiped a tear from her eye

"I was expecting some deep, inspirational speech, but that was truly unexpected Hirato"

"Hey, don't underestimate the power of the internet"

Hirato said, raising a finger

"There's probably a whole YouTube tutorial on this"

Naru let out another amused exhale, shaking her head, the heaviness in her chest still lingered, but somehow, it didn't feel as suffocating anymore

Ayaka nudged her playfully

"See? If this guy's willing to Google your problems away Naru, the least you can do is try right? "

Hirato leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees

"I meant what I said ,we'll help you, if you want to take this seriously, we'll figure it out together"

Naru looked between them, their motivated smiles, their unwavering confidence in her, seeing all that, for the first time in a long while, she felt something shift inside her telling her

{ It's seems I don't want to quit after all }

" I...I guess I can try "