A Fateful Encounter

You're on your way home from work when you decide to swing by the local park.

It's a beautiful day, your shift ended early and you don't have anything else planned, so you figure now is a good time to enjoy the sights.

All around you are couples, children, and people with pets. It's surprisingly lively here today.

While you stroll down the path, something catches your ear.

A guitar playing.

You look around but can't see where the sound is coming from.

As you continue on your way you notice the music growing louder. It must be close by.

The tune is familiar and whoever is playing it is apparently very skilled, so you feel the need to stray from the main path to find out who it could be.

"Hmmhmmhmm hmm hmm hmm~ Hmmhmmhmm hmm hmm hmm~"

You can now hear someone humming along with the music.

You poke your head around a nearby tree and find your mystery musician: a girl with long, dirty-blonde hair sitting at the base of the tree. She's wearing a light blue dress shirt underneath a navy blue blazer and a white skirt. She's not a bad looker, if you do say so yourself.

The girl doesn't seem to have noticed you yet. She just keeps playing and humming the lyrics to herself.

The chorus is about to come up so you decide to make your presence known.

"Tell me, baby, what's your story~? Where you come from and where you wanna go this time, oh~?" you sing aloud.

Startled, the girl looks up at you with deep emerald eyes. However, she doesn't stop playing her music. Instead, she sings the next line of the chorus back to you.

"Tell me, lover, are you lonely~? The thing we need is never all that hard to find, oh~!"

Accepting her invitation, you keep singing along with her.

"Tell me, baby, what's your story~? Where do you come from and where you wanna go this time, oh~?"

"You're so lovely~ Are you lonely, giving up on the innocence you left behind~?"

Enjoying this moment, you start clapping your hands in a rhythmic beat while you and the girl continue singing the rest of the song together.

When you reach the end, the girl sets down her guitar and lets out a hearty laugh. "HAHAHA! I wasn't expecting this to be a duet! You're pretty good, guy!"

"Thanks," you respond. "You play really well yourself. I'm Anon, what's your name?"

"You can call me Karasu," she answers cheerfully. Karasu then pats the ground next to her and invites you to sit with her. "So, 'baby,' what's your story?"

"I was just passing through and heard you playing," you say, sitting down. "How about you? Are you part of a band?"

"Yeah, a bunch of my friends and I are in one together," Karasu answers. "Some day we're going to become the biggest hit in the world!"

"Here's hoping," you say. "You're really talented. You could make it happen if you put your mind to it."

"Aww, you're making me blush, Anon!" Karasu lightly jabs you in the arm.

You're already beginning to like this girl. She's got spunk, and she seems like quite the friendly one.

"Well, so long as you're here, got any requests?" she asks. "I can play both Japanese and western songs."

"I don't know if you've heard this one before," you say, digging your phone out of your pocket, "but it's a favorite of mine. Can you play it?"

Karasu sticks an earbud into her ear and gives the song a listen, closing her eyes and paying the utmost attention to it.

After repeating it a couple times she opens her eyes and smirks. "Yeah, it'll be a breeze! I can even do the chorus with you if you want!"

"Go for it!" you respond, clearing your throat.

With that, Karasu starts playing her guitar once again, warming up a few chords before signaling for you to begin.

"In darkness, we do what we can~" you sing.

"In daylight, we're oblivion~" Karasu sings back.

You then harmonize together. "Our hearts, so raw and clear, are turning away~ Turning away from here~"

After the refrain, you continue singing while Karasu hums the lyrics along with you until the chorus comes along again and you repeat your duet.

She makes the occasional mistake here and there, but Karasu has more or less memorized the song in so short a time, it's amazing. Even the somewhat tricky guitar solo in the middle.

You aren't usually much of a singer, but you realize partway through the song that you're genuinely having fun here with Karasu. Her peppy nature must be rubbing off on you.

At the end you give Karasu a full heartfelt applause.

"That was great! You really did the song justice!" you praise.

"'Me' nothing, WE rocked!"

Karasu takes your hand in hers and thrusts them above your heads in victory.

"Ah shoot," Karasu mutters, looking at the watch on her raised arm. "I gotta get going for practice! Sorry, Anon!"

"Don't be, this was a blast!" you say as you get to your feet and help Karasu up.

"I'll see if I can come back here some time! We've gotta do this again! Later, Anon!" Karasu shouts as she dashes off.

As she leaves, however, you notice an object fall out of her bag.

"Wait, you forgot your-" you call out, but it's too late. Karasu is already long gone. The girl can certainly run.

You pick up the item she left behind and examine it: a CD case.

On the cover is a photo of a group of five girls in rock & roll outfits with Karasu right in the middle, grinning at the camera and holding a pair of twins in a headlock.

Stamped across the top is a black and gold logo that reads 'A.R.C. Angels.'

"Karasu, huh?" you say to yourself as you begin your walk home.

Tomorrow's shift is going to let out early too. If the weather's good, another trip to the park wouldn't be out of the question.

This would definitely not be the last you saw of her.

 

The songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm_tSqFbW0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-awtGJ5OVJ0