Chapter Text
Two years later Hinawa was already part of the most prestige music university, and considering what he knew about Obi, especially after that day at the festival, he wasn’t really surprised to meet him once again on campus. Obi, on his side, seemed both greatly surprised and like he was completely expecting to one day randomly meet him there. After greeting him with a smile, he asked if Hinawa was free once his classes were over and told him he wanted to show him a place.
That afternoon Obi took him to a record store that seemed to have been there for as long as the town exited. It had one main door with a ‘closed’ little sign hanging from it and two other doors, one at each side, that looked too similar and too close to the main glass door not to be part of the same building. Above all that there was a bigger, possibly newer, sign that read “Company 8”. He knew enough about the music world to know there were seven big music companies around this part of the country so he imagined this was some kind of joke he didn’t understand.
“Welcome to the base of all jams and music operations.”
“Looks… Like it probably has seen better days during a more analogue era… and its name seems to be a joke to the industry.”
“Ah yes… Let’s say it’s a mix between an old joke and some wishful thinking… But it’s not just a record store, it sells instruments and it’s also a recording studio down from that door on the right. It may not look like much but it’s close enough to university and pretty well known for its many years here so it works well enough…” Obi took a key from his pocket and opened the main glass door “I worked here for their last couple of years and when my old boss decided to move with his daughter’s family he agreed to sell it to me if I promised to keep the music coming and going through these doors. Which of course, it was what I intended from the very beginning so…”
“Ah.” Hinawa entered the store, it looked cleaned and organized and way better than what it seemed from the outside “Do you run this place alone then?”
“Well it used to be the old man, one of his grandsons before he went to college and me. But for now yeah, right now I’m by myself…”
“So that is all then.” Hinawa put his hands on his hips glancing around “You have instruments and you have a place and you have a business and a studio but you can’t do it all yourself. You need employees that had at least some basic idea of what they are doing or are willing to learn, plus the time to teach them while assisting to your classes and managing a business. You also used to talk about having a band which would need members. I’m assuming I am invited to participate since you still invited me to play with you but we can’t be a whole band all by ourselves, we certainly cannot manage all by ourselves. Or we could, but it might turn unnecessarily difficult.”
“Ah well…” Obi chuckled after the long speech, half embarrassed half amused “I mean is not that easy to find people I can trust for the business just yet… Or that I can trust to be part of a band, especially just for the love of music and willing to try different genres and all…”
“Right.”
“Oh come on, let’s first have a drink and you can tell me how are you doing after all this time, right? I see you’re letting your hair grow too, is this the final look or are you aiming for like a shoulder length?”
“If you are up for taking suggestions Obi-senpai, I do have someone in mind that might fit your altruistic, although passionate and true, standards. She was a junior at our high school but I’m not sure you got to meet her, although you might have heard about her. She works harder than anyone else and is an avid learner. She plays the violin but her heart is not in it, opposite to that, she enjoys playing the bass to her very core and you can tell it by just looking at her, and I’m sure she’ll enjoy trying any genre you’d like to throw ate her. She’s also trustworthy and probably the nicest person I know at this point. I do think you’ll like her, and I believe she can fit right in with whatever music we’d like to make together.”
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“Well that sounds like our Maki-san” Shinra’s voice is the first to sound through the speakers.
“I… am so flattered…” Maki is blushed and looks like she is ready to cry “I always thought you just needed a bass player that you knew didn’t need to teach everything from scratch, but you actually always trusted my abilities.”
“We have been telling you we like how you play from the very beginning Maki-san, we would never had invited you if we didn’t.” Hinawa adds like it is the most obvious thing in the world.
“It’s true.” Agrees Obi “Thanks for sharing the story Hinawa… That’s what Company 8 has always been about, sharing the music we love with those we trust, and, when possible, creating something new together and enjoying every minute of it. We value everyone’s music and music taste and anything they want to share in here.”
“Ah! I know, I know, that’s always the way it has been. Sorry if I ever doubted your trust in me senpais, I do like making music with you as well” Maki adds a little embarrassed, but always inspired by his band leader’s words.
“It’s okay, I mean it only took us getting trapped in the studio twice for you to believe us…” Obi jokes and pats her head while Maki chuckles “It does feel a bit like it was a long time ago but it’s actually just a few years… I mean we were kind of a duet until Maki became part of the team, then Iris came along as well… And we did have our fun and play as a band of four for a bit, but this would be the first time we are all here getting ready for and actual, legit competition… It’s kind of weird to think it all started with a battle school festival with only two of us and now we are this whole crew practicing to enter a contest…”
“You mean, if we ever get out of here…” it’s now Maki’s turn to tease him.
“And if we ever get to decide a name for the band in time…” Hinawa adds, although he knows the name is not necessary for the contest it is important if they end up winning or just want to be recognized as a band other that “Company’s 8” which he doesn’t mind actually, but it does meant they were using the Studio’s name which wasn’t exactly how business should be done.
“If you keep getting stuck every time you prepare a performance with new members maybe we should accept our destiny and call ourselves Trapped” Arthur commented absentmindedly while playing with the now useless knob.
“That’s… Actually not half bad…” Shinra stares at him from the other side of the glass with bewilderment in his eyes “… For an idiot.”
“You know, maybe it’s kind of weird but…” Iris sweet voice fills the silence “if we have to keep getting trapped here I’m kind of glad that at least we’re always trapped together…”
“Oh.” Shinra and Tamaki react at the same time, like something just clicked for them.
“That’s actually pretty good” comments Maki thoughtful “It has kind of a nice ring to it for a band name…”
“And it does kind of represent our little band of misfits…” Obi approves amused
“Besides the funny story behind the name that the public could enjoy…” Hinawa follows “Guess we found our band name after all.”
“And it just took us getting trapped together twice to realize…” Maki jokes again looking back at the oldest man, his laugh sounds so full of joy everyone follows like a chorus.
“You know what?” Obi’s excitement is already contagious, the lingering pause he leaves on the air to grab back his guitar prepares everyone for what’s coming next “Now that we got a name I’m kind of really pumped… And we are actually trapped in here until someone comes to fix the door so…”
Everyone smiled and went back to their positions.
The door got fixed five minutes later. They didn’t leave the studio for another hour.
Being all together really did make everything better.