Ritsu Route act 2-8

R: Hisao!
H: You don’t need to shout, I’m standing half a meter away from you.
R: Show him what you play.
H: You don’t need to be an interpreter either; he isn’t talking another language or anything.
K: I wish I did, we should sing in English
R: WHAT!?
R: English?! Don’t you have any sense of pride?
K: I do, but it’s not connected to area where I was born.
H: Can’t we just play? I take it we’re not gonna write our own songs anytime soon, and the song we’re playing is some mix, so you should both be happy.
K: That’s the absolute worst, and we should start to write songs right away.
R: I agree with that, but why English lyrics? I want to understand what we’re singing about.
K: Because if we sing in Japanese people will expect us to sing about love and fluff and honey forever.
Ritsu just stares at him for a few seconds, demonstratively blinking her eyes a few times, as to underline her statement.
R: And what’s the problem?
If looks could kill, Ritsu would probably be deep fried by the look Ken shoots at her, me and Hanako too, probably, by association.
Double fried in Hanako’s sake.
I’m a horrible person.

Ken seems to calm down enough to give a civilized answer, I was almost afraid he’d start yelling or something.
That’d be unfortunate, losing a new member that quick, even if he seems like a bit of an asshole.
Especially with Shizune and Misha’s deadline hanging over us.
K: Ok, see, anyone can write anything, and then we play it if it’s good, so you can write your fluffy goo if you want.
R: You can’t just go around and decide things like that, I’m the president in this club!
K: Do you disagree?
R: No I don’t, but…
K: Then why the fuck are you whining?
Before Ritsu gets the chance to push this any further, I decide to butt in and get us back on track.
H: Guys, relax, can’t we just play?
R: No, this is important!
K: What, we’re not even disagreeing on anything, we should just play your gay song.
Ha: I-It’s not…
K: Hisao, show me the chords.
R: It’s not about that, I’m actually the president here, you can’t just decide things!
K: Jesus Christ woman, there is no disagreement. Either way you would have gotten it your way.
R: it’s just the principle of things you know.
K: No I don’t fucking know.
Ritsu just stares dumbly at him, her mouth slowly dropping into a stupid half open state.
He stares back, slightly lifting his left eyebrow in disapproval.
This continues for a good ten seconds, before the tension is broken by Ritsu suddenly letting out a small giggle, which quickly escalates into a slightly louder laugh. A small smile is also forming on Ken’s lips.
Before long, they’re also joined by Hanako, her laughter is a lot softer than the others, like a small mountain stream or something.
I’m left dumbfounded, why are they laughing? Was it a test of some sort? Were they just pretending?  Is the laughter just an attempt to lift the somewhat bad mood that previously filled the room?
Still, I find myself joining them. Ritsu’s laughter is dangerously contagious. It probably makes me a sheep, but that’s better than being an outsider, I guess.

The laughter dies down and Ritsu reaches out her hand to Ken for the second time today. I don’t expect him to grab it this time either, but surprisingly, he pulls his hand out of his pocket and returns the gesture.
That’s when I notice his hand.
His right hand has a second pinky finger sticking out below the regular one, it looks disturbingly alien.
Still, isn’t that more of a super power than a disability? Especially if you’re a guitarist.
Maybe he has some other reason for coming here, or maybe it’s just to avoid the social stigma that comes both if you’re missing a limb or having one too many.

R: Welcome to the band, now let’s play!
Ritsu is quickly behind the drum kit, and Hanako is also standing ready behind her microphone.
I spend a short while showing Ken how we play the song, and he quickly cathes up on it, not really surprising, considering how much we have dumbed it down.
When Ken picks up his guitar, I notice he holds it reversed, with his neck pointing right. There’s probably a reason for it, but I don’t know enough about guitars to make anything out of it.
Seems like it would be horribly inconvenient though, picking the strings with your weak ha…

Fuck
In addition to my heart problem, there is apparently something wrong with my brain as well
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at my own stupidity, I opt for neither as there are other people in the room that hasn’t read my thoughts.
R: One, two, three, four!
I think spending everyday playing with Ritsu might be bearable, if only to hear her adorable counting.
The song goes really well, Hanako remembers to come in where she should, I play pretty close to what I’m supposed to, Ritsu is reliably good, as always, and Ken really can play guitar, and keeps a steady backing of chords to Hanako’s singing.

R: Awesome.
K: It was allright, very plain though, like you went crazy with a hedge trimmer on it.
R: Cut us some slack, Hisao has played for like a week, we had to simplify it.
Ha: I-I l-like this version better…
Hanako’s voice is barely audible, especially considering how loud both Ritsu and Ken tend to be.
I wish Ritsu would stop bringing up my inexperience all the time; I’m doing as well as I can here.
Then again, it’s a nice crutch for as long as I’m only able to play simple things like this.
We play the song two more times before calling it a day.