pukanavis

Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Epilogue

That night, I had an encounter with fate.

♛

It was spring, during his first year of university.

Satozuka Kenta laid his hands on a door with a messily painted “LIVE” plastered across it. It was a small livehouse, located on the outskirts of Susukino. In the gap between two buildings, the door was hidden at the bottom of a staircase as if it were a secret passageway. If you didn’t know there was a livehouse there, you’d be sure to pass right by it. The ticket was given to him as a gift, and truthfully, he had low expectations for the day’s lineup of bands.

Butー

The moment he opened the door, Kenta was taken aback by someone’s singing.

“What is this voice…!?”

With such a powerful voice, it was hard to believe they were only the opening act. The voice was powerful, aggressive and enough to not only grab hold of your chest, but your very soul too...and yet, there was a delicateness to it too.

The vocalist’s singing was that of a young boy. His eyes that peered through his wildish bangs harboured the same burning fire as his voice. The mesmerised audience were swept away in a frenzy as the boy shouted into his mic and fiercely belted out the lyrics. Kenta too felt as if he was being pulled into a trance and joined the audience in their enthusiasm.

“I’ve found it.”

He didn’t spare a glance for the other members of the band. It was only the vocalist and Kenta. The boy’s voice had a draw intense enough to delude him into feeling like they were the only two people on Earth. His chest was set ablaze and burned in a way he never could have imagined. He never knew such a fire slept within him.

This was his muse.

As ridiculous as that felt, it was the truth.

In high school, Kenta took up music in hopes of becoming a professional musician. For sometime, he went without a permanent band until he crossed paths with two juniors, Goryo Yuto and Misono Reon, and together they formed a group. Like Kenta, the two of them shared the goal of going pro, so band activities proved to be quite entertaining and their music careers were off to a steady start.

But that was when he realised his mistake. What was the music he had been playing until now?

He wavered where he stood, overcome with a burning urge deep within him as he listened to the rhythm of the boy’s voice. Recently, he had been losing the desire to play instruments, butー

This was it. This was the sound. It was the music he had been searching for.

It was as if he’d been lost in a deep sleep until now. He and his companions were musically talented, he thought his band took things seriously—but he was wrong. He could see that now. Witnessing such sharpened music coming from the boy before him brought him to his senses. He’d awakened from his slumber.

It was awful, there was no way to turn back. He could never return to a time when he didn’t know that voice. His singing encompassed everything with a strong, thundering echo.

He could feel the voice’s aspirations to break out of the confines of the tiny live house. His sound was wasted on a place like this, Kenta could see. That voice deserved to spread its wings and soar above a boundless world.

During the second half of the performance, a look of irritation made its way onto the boy’s face and Kenta immediately understood why. The other instruments were nowhere near on the same level as the boy.

They held him down, stopping the young vocalist from spreading his wings and soaring up, above the sky and towards the stars like he so yearned to. He was stitched to the ground and yet still, like Icarus, his voice took to the skies and headed towards the sun. To Kenta, his singing was divine.

“I want to see how far his voice can go.”

With the finest of performances to complement his singing, he could aim for endless heights. This boy would reach a place that Kenta never thought he would see: the top of the world.

He hoped he could see that sight. Or rather, that they’d see it together.

He clenched his fists and made a vow to himself. Without a doubt, this was the reason why he had come there that day. Even a simple melody is enough to change a person’s life—that boy’s voice was strong enough to bring Kenta to that resolution.

As the song came to a close, the boy released his grip on the microphone and coldly introduced himself.

“Vocalist, Asahi Nayuta.”

Kenta engraved that name into his mind. Without fail, he would absolutely get ahold of him and he had no intention of letting anyone else have him. He would be the one to make that unmatched genius vocalist soar towards the stars.

“Asahi Nayuta. I’ll take you to the top.”

As Nayuta exited off the side of the stage, Kenta called out to him in his heart.

Asahi Nayuta and Satozuka Kenta. This is where the incredible journey of Gyroaxia began.

♛

“That’s enough.”

Nayuta stopped the opening after just a single line and put down the mic with a scowl. In a small practice studio, tucked away in one of Susukino’s multi-business buildings, the atmosphere grew tense immediatelyーan occurrence that this band was quite familiar with.

After having his heart captured by Nayuta’s voice during that live show, Kenta had called out to him without a moment's hesitation. Already harbouring a disapproval towards the people he had been performing with, Nayuta was easily won over by Kenta. He introduced him to Reon and Yuto and aside from the various drummers they switched in and out, the band had finally amassed a complete line up.

On rhythm guitar was Misono Reon. While still a bit of a rookie, he had the guts and competitive spirit to snap back at Nayuta. His shining quality was his sharp intuition for music and ability to ad lib in ways that would leave anyone stunned. More often than not, Nayuta would loudly express his annoyance at him for adding unnecessary sounds.

Their drummer was Aida Shinya. He had a weak heart yet in spite of that, his drumming was powerful and precise. He wasn’t the type of person that you’d care to know more about, but his sincere personality shone through during his performances. On this particular day, he said he would be running late and thus had yet to arrive at the studio.

On lead guitar was Goryo Yuto. His skills were unpolished, even more so than Reon’s, but his love for the guitar was clear whenever he played.

Lastly, on bass was Kenta. The five of them had performed a few lives together already and were currently rehearsing for another show. However, Nayuta had brought them to a stop immediately.

The band would often find themselves restarting from the beginning, all due to their musical tyrant, Asahi Nayuta. If he was displeased with their performance in the slightest, he’d bring them to an immediate stop and they would repeat it until he was satisfied, often leading them to go over the allocated time limit for the studio they rented. When someone said they had other plans to get to or that they were tired, Nayuta would snap at them and say, “There’s nothing more important than music.” If they couldn’t keep up then one by one, he would make them quit. By now, the remaining members they had left were already accustomed to Nayuta’s anger.

With a fed up look Reon shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright, what’s pissed you off this time? Is it me again?”

“No,” Nayuta spat out, voice dripping with anger.

Yuto sighed hopelessly. “Then, it’s me, right? I don’t think I messed up though?”

Nayuta craned his neck to glower at Yuto, who was puzzled as to what his mistake was.

“...You can’t tell?”

“If you don't tell me then I won’t know. I can’t read minds, y’know?” Yuto replied with a huff and Nayuta knitted his brows even further.

“Really?”

Nayuta’s voice made his blood run cold. He felt himself freeze as the tyrant looked at him and uttered one short command.

“Quit.”

“...Quit?”

Yuto made a troubled face. Nayuta’s current anger was different from the one he was familiar with.

“You’re not suitable for me. Get out,” Nayuta said, cold-hearted and arrogant. Yuto’s cheeks flushed red with anger. Of all the things Nayuta had said to Yuto in the past, nothing had ever been as blunt as, “Quit the band.”

“I’ve been trying as hard as I can. We’re doing all we can to give you what you want!” Yuto snapped back.

“...Is that so? That’s disappointing.”

“What?”

“If you want your efforts to be praised then you’re better off in a band playing with some friends in your free time,” Nayuta said over his shoulder and promptly began to pack away his music sheets. Yuto grabbed Nayuta by the shoulder to stop him but was brusquely shaken off.

“Hey!”

“I’m leaving. I don’t belong here,” Nayuta said, throwing his bag over his shoulder and leaving the studio. Dumbfounded, Yuto laughed dryly.

“...He left.”

Kenta, who had been silently watching the exchange between the two, began packing his bag.

“Kenta-san?”

“I have no intention of letting him go,” Kenta declared as he left the room, paying no mind to the confused Yuto.

“Wait!” Reon called out to Kenta as he was leaving the studio. Kenta, unlistening, left the studio with Reon hurrying after him.

“...”

Left to his lonesome, all Yuto could do was hang his head and clench his fists. Eventually Shinya arrived at the studio and stared in wonder upon seeing no one there but Yuto.

“What happened?”

Yuto didn’t have the composure to answer his question, all he could do was continue to clench his fists until his nails began to bite into his skin.

♛

“Wait!” Kenta called out as he opened the door of the studio and stumbled into an alleyway lined with bars. Nayuta, who had been walking towards Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade, halted upon hearing Kenta’s voice.

“Don’t bother trying to stop me from leaving. It’s useless,” Nayuta said in a displeased voice, stopping to look over his shoulder.

“You—” Reon began to form the start of a complaint but Kenta held him back and smiled confidently.

“That’s not what this is.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I’m following you.”

Nayuta raised an eyebrow. Kenta locked eyes with Nayuta, whose gaze glinted like a ferocious carnivore.

“Your sound means everything to me,” Kenta unabashedly declared. Nayuta’s expression grew even sharper.

“What about the band with your friends?”

“It doesn’t matter. Your sound is the only thing I need.”

Nayuta was the only thing reflected in Kenta’s eyes. He didn’t care what happened to Yuto. If Shinya or Reon didn’t want to come then he would leave them behind too.

“I’m going to take you to the top. We can make a new band. One that can make your music a reality.”

Nayuta narrowed his eyes and turned to Reon.

“What about you? What's your plan?”

Kenta was surprised to hear Nayuta address Reon. Reon, just as shocked, averted his gaze awkwardly.

“Don’t you care about Yuto?”

“That doesn’t matter. I’m asking you," Nayuta repeated.

“When the day comes when you’ve gone pro and stand at the top, I’m not going to be someone who got left behind, regretting everything," lifting his head, Reon responded in his usual manner. Nayuta snorted at Reon’s declaration and turned on his heel.

“Do what you want. If you can’t keep up then you’re getting left behind too,” Nayuta said as he walked off. Kenta gazed at his back with dazzling eyes.

Reon chased after Nayuta, yelling out, “Hey, where are you going?”

“To another studio. I haven’t sung enough yet.”

“Do you even know where another one is?”

Nayuta glanced at Kenta, who gave a reassuring nod.

“I know one. I’ll take you there.”

“Geez, even now you’re still relying on Kenta-san!”

Nayuta ignored Reon’s complaints and briskly walked away, with Reon following quickly after. Smiling faintly, Kenta followed behind as if he was Nayuta’s shadow.

He had faith that wherever Nayuta was, the music he was searching for would be tooー

Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Epilogue