The few days before I was going to attend school at Sasaki High went by in a blur. For the most part, I just strolled around Inaba, Visiting various location like the Huge fishing dock and port, Inaba's beach, Sasaki High; The school my mother attended, and various other places that caught my interest. I also visited Shizue's stall a couple of times for lunch and an enjoyable chat. Talking to her seems to give me some peace of mind. A new face in Inaba is very rare so a lot of people greeted me and gave me various welcoming gifts. The people here are all very friendly and kind, which is a huge relief. I had fears of them saying things like "We don't want no city boys here," or something. 

There was one occurrence of a person saying things in that line. I was greeting my neighbors in my apartment and gifting them cheap souvenirs from Tokyo. All of them gladly accepted them and were kind and nice people. But there was one person who didn't like me at all, and refused to even open the door. But it seems that she was under the influence of alcohol, seeing as she was slurring her words and shouting incoherently. I guess I'll have to greet her again at a better timing, then.

Today is the last day before school starts. I was just planning on relaxing in my apartment, so I don't exhaust myself and wake up late for school. But it seems I still have a few things to do. First off, I need to find a part-time job. My money's slowly dwindling away and I"m afraid I might not even be able to purchase food at this point. That stingy bastard sure got me good, huh? I also need to find a place to practice piano. I haven't practiced in a couple of days so I need to find a place where I can play piano. There was a few musical instrument related shop when I was strolling through town, so I'll look into that. My hands are fucking itching to play the piano right now. 

With a plan in mind, I headed out of my apartment and locked the door. Even if this is a town with extremely low crime rate, playing it safe is always good. Before I left the apartment complex, I glanced at the door of the drunk girl's apartment. She sounded really wrecked yesterday. I wonder if she's doing fine. I'll go check up on her another time, then. Now is the time to find a job. Hopefully someone will take pity on this poor soul, heh.

"Pfft. So you tried finding a job, huh?" Shizue's laughter resonated through the stall, gathering the attention of the other customers. "I thought that brat Okita was supposed to be some big shot pianist,"

"Well, he may be rich but he's stingy as fuck with money,"

"Watch your damn language, brat,"

"I'll say what I want, Old lady,"

"Who're you calling old!?"

"Hahaha," A laughter roared next to me. It came from a middle-aged man who's about the age of my father with short black hair. "You must be Okita-kun's son, huh? I'm Akihito Akira. I was a classmate of your father. He and Rumi-Chan were always causing trouble back then, haha,"

"It's nice to meet you, Akihito-san. My name's Miyazaki Adachi. It's always a pleasure to meet a friend of my parents"

"Haha, it’s nice to meet you too, Miyazaki-kun. Kids from the cities are so polite, huh?"

"Quit complimenting him, Akira. It'll go over his head,"

"Haha, is that so? I’ll be having the usual, Shizue," Akihito laughed it off.

"Coming right up!" Shizue went to the kitchen.

"Anyways, Miyazaki-kun. You're trying to find a job, huh?" Akihito asked.

"Yeah. I just moved here and I already have to get a job,"

“Why so?”

"I barely have enough money to pay rent. My father's really stingy about money, you see,"

"Haha, that sounds like him, all right. I run this fishing store near the dock. It's too bad that I really can't employ anyone at the moment. I would love getting you as my employee."

"Yeah...Too bad indeed," I said gloomily.

"Don't look so gloomy, kiddo! Kids like you should spend their youth full of good energy!" He said

Somehow his words overlap with a certain glutton from back home. My mood seems to have gotten better from that single sentence and I let out a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Your words remind me of someone from back home, haha,"

"I'm glad I made you laugh,"

"Well, I'll be taking my leave, then. Tell Shizue-oba-san that her cooking was as good as always," 

"Sure thing," 

And with that I left the premise and decided to wander around town. Who knows? Maybe I'll find a job that way. It's already around 5PM, so I don't have much time left. Well, today was pretty much a failure, but who in their right minds would a hire a kid that popped out of nowhere? Sigh. Well, I did manage to play a bit of piano today. The shop owner of an instrumental music shop let me play as much as I wanted. He said that since my playing is so good that it's fine. It'll attract customer, anyways. What a nice person. I feel bad for taking advantage of his shop. But I got no other choice. I got to practice if I don't want to be left behind by those musical prodigy monsters. Hmm, maybe there will be a classical music club. There's bound to be a piano at school, right?

My thoughts were suddenly cut off as I hear music from a distance. Eh? Someone’s singing? And I also hear guitar being played? A musical performance, eh? Now that's interesting. Even at this distance, I could tell the singer was female. A soft, silky voice, singing a cheerful pop song, and accompanied by a pair of electric guitars. My ears led me to the source of this wonderful music.

the source of the music came from a small corner of an alley. I could see a crowd of ten to fifteen people watching and singing along intently. I can see why; the singer's voice is really clean and delightful, the guitar players play at a high enough level where it blends with the singing seamlessly, and the drum player is loud but not overwhelming. I can tell they put a lot of effort into their practice to create such good synergy. Mm. I feel an odd sense of familiarity with the voice of the singer. It's like I've heard it before but I couldn't tell where I’ve heard it. Maybe they have an online presence and I've heard their performance online.

Most of the crowd member are in their late teens to early 20s. I move along into the crowd to get a better view of the performers. The main singer is surprisingly a girl about my age. What stood out with her appearance was her long, curly blonde hair. I guess she must've dyed it. The other two guitarist are both male in their early 20s with black hair and the drummer is a female around the same age as the lead singer, with an intimidatingly sharp face and with also short, black hair. I guess the lead singer has to stand out, huh?

The performance went on for a while longer and then the lead singer said something.

"This is the last song, everyone. I chose one of our more chill songs for the last," She said and the audience cheered loudly.

Our song, huh? It seems that their songs are original compositions. It's really damn good if you ask me honestly. The last song was as promised. A chill, slow song, with no presence of the drum at all. The song went and gone as the performance is finished.

"Well, that's it for today’s performance, folks!" She said with a bright smile and the audience once again cheered loudly.

"I'm glad that a lot of you guys showed up. There's even a couple of new faces" She eyed the audience. "See you at our next performance! Bye!" She continued and the audience cheered for the last time. The performers are starting to pack up their stuff, some of the audience are starting to leave and some are chatting with the performers. Since there's no use in sticking around for longer, I decided to leave. I glanced at the lead singer and our eyes met for a brief moment. She flashed me a smile and I returned it, and with that, I left the premise of the makeshift, small concert.

Before I went back to my apartment, I stopped by a convenience store and bought a bunch of instant ramen and a pack of cigarettes. Well, this is all I'll be living off of till I find a job or something. I'm way too prideful to ask that bastard for more money. I was in such a rush that I didn't bother bringing my savings. Sigh...A pack of ciggs for a whole month? Just what sort of cruelty is this?

As I was climbing the stairs of the apartment complex to get to my room, I found someone standing outside the apartments. A girl with long, curly blond hair stood in front of the apartment, leaning on a wall and smoking a cigarette. Wait isn't that the girl from earlier? Our eyes met and I decided to say something.

"Aren't you the girl from this evening’s performance?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah...wait...How did you knew I live here!? Did you stalk me or something!? I may look frail but I know fucking self-defense!" She shouted all kinds of accusations.

"Pfft" I can't help but chuckle.

"Don't try anything weird I tell you!" 

"I live here, idiot" I dangled the keys to the apartment in front of her.

"Ah...Is that so?" she seems to be in a daze as her face was turning a shade of red in embarrassment. "I'm sorry I misunderstood the situation." she muttered.

"Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. There is one thing I'll accept as an apology, though" I said.

"What? Don’t ask for anything weird," she put up her guards once again.

"Sheesh, what do you take me for? I just wanna ask for one of your cigarettes. I'm running low, you see,"

"Aren't you a bit too young for smoking?" She asked

"The same applies for you," I replied

"Fine. Here you go." She grumbled and handed me a single cigarette. "You need a lighter?"

"I have one with me," I set aside my bags of instant noodles and grabbed my lighter. I lit the cigarette in my mouth and gaze upon the stars.

"Ah...nothings better to end off the day as smoking ciggs,"

"I agree!" she replied.

"Come to think of it, you're the girl who was really wasted the other day, huh?"

"Hehe, sorry for shouting. Me and my buddies were celebrating something and had way too much to drink."

"How old are you, anyways?"

"Sixteen..."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. It's my life anyways, you don't got a say in it, buddy,"

"That I agree with. Just what were you celebrating to get you so drunk that you were shouting at strangers?"

"That's a se~cret," She said while doing a hush motion with her fingers.

"Anyways, what’s your name? It's the first time I've seen you around in town. Were you a hikkikomori who hid in his house for a majority of your life?" She asked jokingly

"How rude. Shouldn't you introduce yourself first? And to answer your question, the name's Miyazaki Adachi and I just moved to this town a few days ago,"

"Haha, is that so? I'm Ichika Aiko, by the way. You can call me Ai-Chan, most people do. What made you move here, anyways? I mean, it's in the middle of nowhere,"

"It's a se~cret" I copied her.

"Humph. How boring~"

"Well, then Ichika-san, see you around, then. I'm about to head to sleep."

"See ya, Adachi-Chan! And hey! Call me Ai-Chan!" 

And that was my first interaction with the strange girl by the name of Ichika Aiko.