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they say that in the end, the value of music is subjective
Akito’s throat is burning. He snag his heart out at Crawl Green, the culmination of nonstop practice and training.
And they’d been bored. People were so unimpressed with him they went outside to check their phones or to use the bathroom.
Would it have been better if he’d lost his voice on stage? Or just passed out, or given a bad performance?
But no it wasn’t bad, it was simply unexceptional, at least compared to the normal crowd at Crawl Green.
What has he done? Tears are starting to prick the corner of his face.
“There you are!”
Akito wipes his face. In front of him is a severe-looking older man it takes him a beat too long to recognize.
“Do you know who I am?”
Akito nods. This is Shigeru Midori. The owner of Crawl Green.
“Then you should be apologizing, boy!” Midori snaps. “Who do you think you are? You really think you can stroll in there and stink up my venue?”
Akito flinches back like he’d been hit. “S-some guys invited me to perform and–”
“And you thought you were God’s gift to the city, huh? You had the ego to think you could just stroll in and–”
“No!” Akito says. “I didn’t want to run away! I want to surpass RAD WEEKEND, and that means–”
“Of course you did,” Midori crosses his arms. “Hungry dogs like you yapping and yapping for a carcass.”
“I’m serious!” Akito says, and he knows he’s in the wrong here, that he shouldn’t argue at the man rightfully chewing him out for disgracing a place like Crawl Green, but it’s not in his nature to take something like this lying down, is it? “I’m serious about RAD WEEKEND, so when those guys asked if I was going to run away, I decided I wouldn’t. I know… I know I overstepped today, and I’m sorry, but I was there, I know how important RAD WEEKEND is, and I know the kind of sacrifices I’ll have to make to surpass it one day so that’s why I didn’t want to step down, and I tried. I tried so hard to practice so I could do justice to your–.”
“Boy,” Midori says. “Listen to me. You are never surpassing RAD WEEKEND.” “I–”
“LISTEN!”
Akito’s mouth slams shut and Midori continues on.
“Those people back there? The ones I chose, who I had perform, they don’t practice like you do, because they have talent. Real talent, the kind you can’t find just singing in the back alleys. Oh sure, if some of them were cocky, lazy, and didn’t try, then maybe you could out perform them with brute force, but no one who I allow to perform at my venue is like that. You’re miles behind the starting line, and they’re sprinting ahead of you. You’ll never close that gap.”
Midori spits at him. “Go home before you hurt yourself.” Then he stomps off.
Akito can’t breathe. The world is spinning and the lights are starting to blur. He doesn’t know when his feet start moving or when he gets home, until he opens the door and his dad is in the living room.
“Akito?” Shinei asks. “Is something wrong?”
Everything.
Everything is wrong.
But he can’t explain it to his dad, can he? He doesn’t know anything about music, he’d simply be confused.
Or worse, his dad would understand intimately. Because at the end of the day, what was it he’d told Ena?
“You’re not capable of becoming the artist you want to be… though you might’ve been if you had enough talent beforehand.”
Ha, just like Midori said to him.
Are they right? About Ena? About him?
Akito can’t take it. He runs into his room and locks the door.