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< Walk on and on | Story
Chapter 1: Facing the Event
イベントに向けて (? (edit))
イベントに向けて (? (edit))
Character appearances:
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Main Street
Toya
♪————!
Toya
(...That person is listening again. They came all the way to the event before, as well.)
Toya
(...Today, I feel like I keep getting distracted by the faces of the people passing by. I can't seem to manage my focus...)
Toya
(I don't feel like I'm at my best today. Perhaps it's because I stayed up too late last night...)
Flashback
Aoyagi Household Living Room
Toya's Mother
Ah, Toya-san. Welcome home.
Toya
I'm home, Mom.
Toya
...Hm? Is that a CD—
Toya's Mother
Oh, a sample from the record company got delivered today. Your father composed a song for that orchestra, after all.
Toya
Dad did...?
Toya
(Now that I think about it, Father was holed up in his room for most of last month...)
Toya
(...Composing, huh.)
Toya
...Mom, that CD— I'm going to borrow it for a while.
Toya's Room
Toya
(As usual, Dad's songs are amazing.
Toya
(I work in a different genre now, but— My father's supervision of every aspect of the orchestration resulted in a perfectly harmonious timbre. This will serve as good reference.)
Toya
(And it's not as if that meticulousness is the only thing deserving of praise. There's a loneliness in the melody that makes my heart ache in my chest.)
Toya
(Our songs—Vivid BAD SQUAD's, are currently written by Akito and Shiraishi.)
Toya
(But I, too—would like to someday write songs that we can sing together, as Vivid BAD SQUAD.)
Toya
(—When we first partnered up as BAD DOGS, Akito told me that my music was very neatly arranged, but...that's not the direction our music should be going.)
Toya
(Something powerful, that can heat up the whole venue—it has to be the kind of music that can make your heart tremble.)
Toya
(Akito and Shiraishi's songs have the power to excite our audience. The type of power that our audience's eyes and ears can't be pulled away from.)
Toya
But, my music is—
Mouse clicking
Toya
The way the music is arranged isn't bad, but it feels like there's something missing. The power, or the sense of groove that Akito's music has, is still—
End flashback
Toya
(I stayed up late after that to work at it, but in the end, I couldn't make a song that I was satisfied with...)
Toya
When I get home today, I'll continue from where I left off yesterday—
???
—Huh? Toya-kun?
Toya
Eh...?
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Hospital
Arata
Souma, how're you doing?
Souma
Hey, Arata. You're back again. Sorry for the trouble.
Souma
Wait...
Toya
Excuse me, Souma-san.
Souma
E-ehhh! Aoyagi-kun!? You're here!?
Arata
Ahaha, you're welcome. I saw him practising, so I captured him and brought him here.
Souma
Hah!? What are you doing, you jerk!? Aoyagi-kun, he wasn't a bother, was he?
Toya
No, it wasn't a bother at all. In truth, he was practising with me, up until just now—I learned a lot more than I would have practising alone.
Toya
And after that, Touno-san mentioned he was about to visit you, and invited me along.
Souma
Really? If that's the case, I'm glad to hear it...
Souma
Oh, speaking of which! The event from the other day got some crazy reception. It made me happy to hear!
Arata
Why are you the one happy about it?
Souma
Hah? Of course I'm happy! It surprised me when you said you were teaming up with someone, but it put me at ease to hear it went well!
Souma
—Thanks to all of you guys, Arata was able to get a little closer to RAD WEEKEND. I'm really grateful!
Toya
Ah...
Toya
No, Touno-san was a great help to us, too.
Souma
Haha, you heard him! Lucky you, Arata.
Souma
I'll be totally looking forward to your next event too! If you decide on anything, let me know.
Toya
(To surpass RAD WEEKEND, and to be able to meet Souma-san's expectations—)
Toya
(I must continue to do my best in preparation for our next event...)
Shibuya Park
An
♪————!!
Kohane
An-chan, she's amazing...!
Toya
Yeah, her energy feels completely different from usual.
Arata
I don't know what happened, but she's really putting her all into it.
An
♪————! ♪————!
An
(I've always loves Nagi-san, and I've always looked up to her too. But—)
An
(I can't surpass her if I keep looking up at her.)
An
(In order to surpass RAD WEEKEND...I've gotta surpass Nagi-san, too!)
An
♪————! ♪————!!
Akito
The way she's singing...
Toya
Yes. There's a strength to it that's similar to Nagi-san, in the footage of RAD WEEKEND. ...I'm sure she's thinking of that.
Akito
...She does seem like a pretty huge inspiration to her. ...But we can't be losin' to her, either.
Akito & Toya
♪————! ♪————!!
Kohane
(Everyone's so amazing. But, I can also...!)
Kohane
(—I can also be just like them...no. I wanna do my best, enough that I don't lose to everyone...!)
Kohane
♪———— ~ ~!!
Kotaro
...So intense. These guys, they've gotten better again.
Arat
—We'd better keep up too.
— Some time later —
An
*pant, *pant*...! That felt great~!
Toya
...Whew, with Shiraishi singing with us, we were able to perform beyond our usual limits.
Tatsuya
—Jeez, you guys are total monsters.
Kohane
Th-Thank you very much. I hope we can keep this up until our next event.
Kotaro
Yeah! Let's keep charging ahead until the real thing!
Kotaro
...But, before that, can we take a break? I feel like I went a little too hard on that last one...
Akito
Guess there's no helpin' it. Alright, let's cool down a bit.
— Some time later —
Drinking
Toya
Ah... This water is delicious.
Arata
Ah, Toya-kun, you came to buy us a drink too?
Toya
Ah, Touno-san. Good work today.
Arata
Yeah. Good work to you, too. At this rate, our next event looks like it'll turn out pretty well.
Toya
It looks like everyone's in high spirits, so I'd like to continue without losing any of this momentum.
Drink vending, drink opening
Arata
Oh, right. Toya-kun, thanks for coming along with me the other day.
Toya
No, if anything, I'm sorry for having to head home in the middle of it.
Arata
No, no, I was happy you came with me, even though you had plans for later.
Arata
That guy, even after you left, kept saying stuff about you. "It makes me happier to see Aoyagi-kun than it does to see you", he said.
Toya
I had fun as well. He was kind enough to tell me about the teams from before I came to the area—
Toya
Like how when RED was opening, they invited the group RUST to perform, and there were so many people that they couldn't open the venue. I has no idea that place had so much history.
Arata
Ahaha, that guy's always been a music lover. He's made me listen to more stories like that than I can count.
Arata
I know. Toya-kun, you seem like a good conversationalist, so if you can make it, would you mind visiting him again sometime?
Toya
Of course, if you'll have me. I would love to visit him again.
— Some time later —
An
Ah, those two are here. Welcome back—
Arata
Sorry it took so long. That being said...what are you all gathered up for?
Kohane
During our break, we started talking about our next event a bit—
Kohane
We were discussing how we'd like to take on new challenges, so we can get a little closer to RAD WEEKEND.
Toya
New challenges?
Akito
Yeah. Our last event had a lot of difficulties, and a sense of accomplishment when we managed it. But we didn't even come close to the intensity that RAD WEEKEND had.
Akito
We've gotta think about what we can do to close that gap.
Toya
...I see. We've discussed this before as well.
Toya
(And then we ended up asking Shiraishi to tell us about Nagi-san.)
Kotaro
Hmmm. I know we're lacking something, but when it comes to what we can do to get closer...huh, that's kinda hard.
Arata
...It is. I was actually thinking the same thing, after our last event.
Arata
And that got me thinking about something—
Arata
For our next event, how about we all try writing a new song under a set theme?
Kotaro
Hah!? A new song, even though we've only got one month before our next event?
An
Just curious, why a new song?
Arata
At our last event, we were able to create synergy between ourselves—we saw that in our practice just now.
Arata
But if we compare it to RAD WEEKEND, I think we were completely lacking in the sense of it being a "unified event".
Arata
That's why I thought, if we all wrote a song with the same theme, we'd be able to create a sense of unity.
Tatsuya
I get it... Seems like a good way to test if we can get that sense of unity, don't you think?
Akito
Yeah. Practice will get harder as the event gets closer, and writing a song under those conditions might be difficult...but it's definitely worth a shot.
Kotaro
...You're right. Got it, I'm in too!
Toya
But, what should we do for our theme?
Arata
What to do... If possible, it'd be good if it was a broad theme that everyone could get a good image from.
Kohane
Something that we can all get an image from, huh...?
An
...Something to bring us closer to RAD WEEKEND...
Flashback
End flashback
An
—Got it. At RAD WEEKEND...
Arata
Eh?
An
At RAD WEEKEND, up until Nagi-san started singing, it was totally silent. But then, it heated up all at once, and it was super amazing...
An
So if we're trying to get closer to that, I think we should choose something like that moment, where everything heats up, and your chest feels so hot it feels like it'll burst!
An
That's why, let's see... Why don't we do "Stillness and Motion" as our theme?
Arata
—Sounds good. I remember that moment, too. That moment Nagi-san started singing, and the whole atmosphere of the venue changed.
Tatsuya
No problems here. In the time before and since that event, I've never seen anything like that.
Akito
Then I guess we're decided.
Akito
—I know. If we're gonna write our songs around the same theme, why don't we discuss as we write?
Arata
Yeah. It'd be a problem if we all wrote similar songs, so it's important to make adjustments.
An
And I'm sure there'll be times when someone thinks of something you'd never have thought of, and then you can make something better! I think that sounds good, right?
Tatsuya
Yeah, sounds good. So, who here can make tracks?
— Some time later —
An
—So...for EVER we have Tatsuya, and then Arata, and then Kotaro.
Tatsuya
So Shiraishi and Akito have been writing songs for Vivid BAD SQUAD, huh?
An
Yeah! Nagi-san and my dad have been teaching me ever since I was a kid, so.
Akito
I started after I saw RAD WEEKEND. I thought if I was gonna take music seriously, I'd better be able to make it myself.
Akito
Once the four of us teamed up, either An or I would bring in a demo we'd made, and if it sounded good, we'd use it. That's what we've been doing.
Arata
Huh. ...Honestly, that comes as a bit of a surprise.
Arata
Kohane-chan's inexperience with music aside, I would've thought that Toya-kun would be able to write high-quality music to use at events.
Toya
I—
Toya
...Technically, I'm capable of composing, but as of yet, I'm still unable to write a song that I personally am satisfied with.
Arata
You're not satisfied with them?
Toya
Yes. No matter what I write, I'm unable to picture Akito, Shiraishi, and Azusawa singing to it.
Toya
I think part of it may be that I still haven't gotten used to the culture of street music, but...
Akito
There's no complainin' about the tracks Toya makes. They're cohesive, and they sound great.
An
Yeah! He lets us listen to them sometimes, and Toya's songs are really stable.
An
...But, I kinda get what Toya's saying.
Toya
...
Toya
(Our theme, "Stillness and Motion"... Ultimately, it's all leading up to the moment of "motion". If there is no "motion", then the "stillness" leads nowhere.)
Toya
(Even if I can picture one half of it... I feel bad for Akito and the others, but I don't think I'm capable of making something like that yet...)
Toya
(When it comes to my singing, I thought I was able to break out of my shell somewhat...but it's still difficult.)
Akito
—Well, it's nothin' to get worked up over. If it were something that we could solve quickly, you wouldn't be struggling in the first place.
Akito
You should just keep writing until you're satisfied with something. You can take as long as you need. I'm looking forward to the day when I can sing your music, no matter how far away that is.
Toya
...Thank you, Akito.
Akito
That said, about this new song—
An
Ahhh...in my case, I can't write anything until I have, like, a spark of inspiration! So I don't know if I can say I can definitely write it by next month...
Akito
Well, it is a pretty unique set of circumstances, having to writet it in under a month.
Akito
In that case, it might be better if you give me ideas, and I write the main portion of it.
An
Roger! Leave the idea-having to me!
Arata
We don't have to get into the details, but we should probably decide the general direction of our tracks by the end of our discussion today.
Kotaro
Then, let's get talking!
Toya
(If it were possible, I'd also like to be involved in composing, but...)
Toya
(What can I do to make something like that moment— A song that makes your heart tremble...)