Starting from Their Seventeen Years Old

Just as Tsushima Kagami and Sayuri were still hashing out the story's setting and plot direction with Machida Sonoko—

Kosaka Akane, who had been sketching character designs off to the side, suddenly looked up at the three of them.

"There's one problem, though."

"What?" Machida Sonoko asked.

Kosaka Akane swept her gaze across the group.

"We're here writing a story about a girls' band—but has any of us actually been in a band?"

Silence.

Sayuri raised her hand.

"Does it count if I played the triangle in a kindergarten class competition?"

"It does not."

Machida Sonoko thought for a moment.

"I've dabbled a little in guitar, bass, and drums, but I've never actually formed a band with anyone."

Kosaka Akane let out a sigh.

"I studied piano and violin, but that was solo performance—not a band, and definitely not a pop band."

All three of them turned to look at Tsushima Kagami.

Tsushima Kagami threw up both hands.

"Don't look at me. I only got dragged into this just now—I don't count."

"So..." Kosaka Akane drew out the word, looking around at everyone.

"If we're going to draw a manga about a band, shouldn't we actually experience what it feels like to be in one first?"

Sayuri pursed her lips.

"I said we should try forming a band ages ago. Didn't you shoot that down, Akane-senpai?"

"Did I? Was that a thing?"

Kosaka Akane smiled sweetly, eyes narrowed in that gentle, warm way of hers, gazing at Sayuri.

Sayuri quickly backpedaled.

"Ah, I must have remembered it wrong."

Kosaka Akane nodded.

"When I was watching Seika and her two underclassmen from the Light Music Club play together just now, I thought—that kind of chemistry between them, that unspoken understanding... you can't really capture it on the page without experiencing it yourself."

"Don't we already have great chemistry, though?"

"Working on the manga together, sure."

Sayuri added,

"True, but I feel like the chemistry of playing in a band together is a whole different thing."

"What do you think, our reigning producer?" Machida Sonoko said with a grin, turning to Tsushima Kagami.

"If I'm everyone's producer, what choice do I have?"

"Let's just do it."

"Either way, writing songs for the Light Music Club or writing them for the Manga Research Club—it's still writing."

Kosaka Akane, Machida Sonoko, and Sayuri all broke into happy smiles.

"Oh, wait—what about instruments?"

"Neither Akane-senpai nor I can play anything, can we?" Sayuri chimed in.

Machida Sonoko thought it over, then looked around at the group.

"How about Kagami takes guitar."

"I'll handle drums."

"Akane can do rhythm guitar."

"And Sayuri, you take bass."

Tsushima Kagami gave a nod. Given the situation, the lineup made sense.

"Is bass hard?" Sayuri asked, a little anxiously.

"Don't worry. If push comes to shove, you can just stand on stage and strike a pose."

"Most of the audience can't tell which sound is the guitar, which is the drums, and which is the bass anyway."

"So I'd just be a decoration?" Sayuri looked over at Tsushima Kagami, who'd just cracked a bass joke, and her face fell.

"Then you'd better work hard, Sayuri~" Machida Sonoko laughed, patting Sayuri on the shoulder, then added,

"Oh, right—let's have Kagami teach Sayuri later."

"I'll teach Akane."

"What about the instruments themselves?"

Tsushima Kagami raised the question—there was no way they could borrow from Ijichi Seika and the others; those girls needed to practice too.

"I'll have them sorted at home."

After hearing Kosaka Akane say that, everyone nodded. They'd all gotten close enough by now, and none of them were short on money for instruments, so there was no point in refusing. They left it to Kosaka Akane to handle the purchase.

"Oh, right."

"Who here can actually sing?"

"We still need a lead vocalist."

It was only now that Tsushima Kagami realized they still hadn't figured out who could handle the vocals.

The other three paused, then all looked over at Tsushima Kagami.

"...?"

"Isn't it you, Kagami?"

"Why would it be me?"

Tsushima Kagami was caught off guard—the three of them seemed to have already assumed from the start that he'd be the vocalist.

"Didn't you sing really well in the Light Music Club?" Machida Sonoko said with a smile.

"Yeah! I think Kagami sings better than a lot of male singers!" Sayuri said, and Kosaka Akane nodded in agreement.

"But I'm a guy!" Tsushima Kagami spread his hands.

"And? So what?" everyone said, puzzled.

"This is a girls' band!"

"Having a guy in it would be kind of weird, right?"

"And making me the lead vocalist on top of that—that's not remotely 'girls' band' anymore!"

The group had a sudden moment of collective realization.

"Oh right, we're a girls' band!"

"Then... then how about Sonoko-senpai be the vocalist?"

"She's got the lead vocalist vibe, I think." Sayuri said quickly.

Machida Sonoko blinked, then immediately waved her hands.

"No no no, no way, absolutely not!"

"I can't do it—Akane should be the vocalist."

"Akane's whole yamato nadeshiko image is dangerously misleading—she's perfect for the idol lead vocalist type!"

Machida Sonoko hastily proposed.

"What do you mean my image is 'dangerously misleading'?!"

Kosaka Akane shot Machida Sonoko a puffed-up glare, then deflated and turned to Sayuri.

"Actually, Sayuri's absolutely the best fit for lead vocalist!"

"That energetic, bubbly image is perfect for it!"

"Don't you think so, Sayuri~?"

Sayuri immediately refused.

"I think Sonoko-senpai had the right idea!"

Watching them pass the hot potato around, Tsushima Kagami made a suggestion.

"Stop being shy. Everyone sing one song."

"Whoever sounds best becomes the vocalist."

...

A chorus of wailing and howling rang out from the Manga Research Club room.

The three girls sat slumped in their chairs, looking utterly burnt-out.

After listening to each of them take a turn, Tsushima Kagami had witnessed what could only be described as a landscape painting of pure hell.

Sayuri was outright tone-deaf. Machida Sonoko was only marginally better.

Kosaka Akane was technically the best of the three—but the moment she opened her mouth, out came enka.

She said her grandfather had raised her on enka since she was little, and that it was the only thing she knew how to sing...

After all three performances, Tsushima Kagami's hearing was completely exhausted.

The Manga Research Club pivoting to a girls' band? Best to pull the plug on that idea sooner rather than later.

"What if... we became an instrumental band? No singing." Sayuri asked weakly.

"Then what would be the point of existing?" Machida Sonoko said helplessly.

Kosaka Akane nodded, then looked to Tsushima Kagami for help.

"Kagami, do you have any ideas?"

"What ideas could I possibly have."

"Either we disband right now, or we bring in outside help—someone who can actually sing." Tsushima Kagami said, slumped in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"But we don't know any girls who can sing well."

Sayuri lay face-down on the table, wracking her brain without coming up with a single name.

"Ugh, my head hurts." Kosaka Akane kneaded her temples.

Machida Sonoko, meanwhile, suddenly said,

"Let's put the vocalist question on hold for now."

"We've been talking this whole time—does our band even have a name yet?"

Sayuri and Kosaka Akane looked up at Tsushima Kagami.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Sonoko-senpai, isn't the band in your story called 'Lost Children'?"

"Just use that."

"No, that's the name in the story—we need to keep it separate from reality." Machida Sonoko said flatly.

"What does it matter? We're just using it until the cultural festival ends, then we disband anyway."

"Would you stop saying 'disband'!"

Sayuri stood her ground.

"You came up with [K-ON] for the Light Music Club—you have to come up with this one too."

"No favoritism allowed!"

Machida Sonoko and Kosaka Akane nodded in agreement and looked toward Tsushima Kagami.

"Fine then. How about [SOS-dan]!"

"SOS?" Kosaka Akane and Machida Sonoko exchanged a glance and said in unison,

"As in a distress signal?"

Sayuri immediately pressed her palms together and bowed three times to the air.

"Oh heavens above, please save us!"

"Please grant us a lead vocalist!"

Tsushima Kagami couldn't be bothered to explain what the SOS-dan actually was, so he just went along with Sayuri's interpretation.

"That's it exactly!"

"It's that kind of SOS—a cry for help."

Machida Sonoko paused, then laughed.

"I love it!"

"SOS! We're all sending out a signal, hoping someone will hear us!"

Sayuri didn't fully understand it, but somehow the name felt inexplicably cool.

Kosaka Akane nodded.

"Then it's SOS."

"It's [SOS-dan]!" Tsushima Kagami corrected once more.

____

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