Compared to the electric guitar, the obvious advantage that the electric bass has is that you can barely hear anything coming from it if you don't plug it into an electrical source.
I bought the bass under Ruby's persuasion, and brought it to class the very next day. I was instantly surrounded by my classmates. "Just play something, anything." Despite everyone urging me to play, I still gave the excuse, "But this is a bass, so it can't play any sounds!" and escaped.
That wouldn't have worked if it was a guitar, so it's great that I had gotten myself a bass with that thought in mind I could also console myself slightly for being played by the hands of Ruby.
"But why did you want a bass?" Sun asked me something that I hadn't given any thought to.
"Ah, I've been thinking about it for a while. There's no real need for it, right?"
"Hey hentai critic, you better explain it in simple terms."
"Don't call me a hentai critic!"
I took the bass back from the hands of Sun, and placed it back into its cover. Actually, there's no way of explaining it all to them properly through words alone, but for the sake of the reputation of all the bassists in the world, I would have to come up with something.
"The few of you, sit over there."
"Yes, Prof Haruto."
"Please do not use musical terminologies during your explanation."
Ugh, they had actually thought of everything prior to my speech. The few guys sat in seiza around my seat, so I couldn't say anything wrong at a time like this. What to do? I licked my lips and thought of how I should start my explanation.
"Well then, let's start by recalling Lee's face."
"Why?"
"Don't ask. Just do as I say."
A few of the guys closed their eyes, while the others stared into the ceiling. As Lee looks like a copy of the famous Japanese action movie star Maito Gai plus with his iconic thick eyebrows, it is really easy to recall our friend's face.
"Well next, try removing the bushy brow off his face. Done?"
"Right, done."
"Right right. Next, imagine Lee without hair."
"Prof Haruto, is there any meaning to this? Is this some sort of psychological test or something?"
"You'll know soon enough. How is it? Can you guys imagine it?"
"I can, but isn't Lee's hair quite robust?"
"Compared to the brow, it is still easier to remove his hair."
"And here's the last step. Remove the contours of his face, and imagine how he looks like." Everyone's face was showing an expression like-
"Eh?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't understand!"
"What does contours mean? The ears and stuff?"
"No, not that. It's removing the shape of his face. Imagine his eyes, nose and mouth popping out of a blank surface. Yeah, imagine that."
My classmates moaned sounds of "Hmm, hmm… " one after another. Some of them were pressing their fingers against their temples, while others were pulling their hair out.
"Troublesome. No matter how hard I try, those round eyes with that bushy brow of his will always appear in my mind."
"Yeah… Shika is right, it's impossible. It's pointless if you remove the contours of his face! I give up!"
"What, you given up already Kiba? You are always declaring proudly about how 'In my mind, I am able to remove the swimsuits worn by those beautiful gravure idols, regardless of who they are!', right?"
Idiot, you guys don't have to try that hard, you know? They struggled for about two minutes before giving up. With that, I made my conclusion, "So, if you apply the analogy of trying to erase the contours to a musical sense, the bass is like the contours of a face to me. Understand now?" My audience was still looking very confused. "It's just like how you guys can imagine the songs being played even without the guitars and the other instruments playing, but you can't imagine the song without the bass. As such, I can't quite explain very well why the bass is that important to me."
"I see… "
"Strange. It feels like I understand what he is trying to say, but it feels like I don't as well."
So do you guys get it or not? Then again, it will be disturbing if you guys do, because I was just spouting nonsense.
"But Prof Haruto's really impressive. You have the potential to succeed in the arts of music."
And with that, the preparatory bell rang. At the same time, the backdoor of the class, which is the door close to the right back of my desk, opened. Weiss stood by the door. Her line of sight first landed on my desk which was occupied by several of the guys, and then it shifted to the guitar cover in my arms. Her face cringed suddenly.
"Move," a soft and cold word from Weiss was enough to cause the guys who were listening to my nonsense to move away from her path. Oi oi, don't come to my desk, just go back to your seats already!
"So Haruto… " One of my male classmates, Nara Shikamaru, brought his face right next to mine, and whispered, "Is that it? Is the reason you picked up the bass because of Weiss?"
"Eh? W-what?" My voice became rather strange.
"You've been going to the courtyard frequently these days, right?"
"I see, so he'll be able to get close to her with that bass of his? That's quite smart of you, dude!" Kiba, another of my friends, stole peeks at Weiss's face. Don't gossip when you guys are that close to her!
Due to her hostile attitude, ever since the second day of her transfer here, all the girls in the class except Yasaka and Yang have become her enemies. However, none of the guys seems to mind, and they continue to worry about her. The ones to show her the way when we were moving to another classroom, or to lend her their textbooks when she forgot to bring them were all done by the guys. The guys who are always gathering around my desk are probably all doing it for the same reason? Guys are really stupid.
"Oh right, Schnee-san… " Kiba turned around and spoke to Weiss.
Weiss shifted her gaze from her textbook to his face, and slowly said, "Please do not call me by my surname."
"Then Weiss-san… "
"Don't call me by my name either. You're disgusting."
"A cute girl just called me disgusting… my sole reason for living has been extinguished."
"Don't worry Kiba, your face is not as disgusting as you think."
"Right, my face. Wait, what are you implying Shikamaru?!"
Move somewhere else if you wanna do manzai. Speaking of which, she did mention it before on her very first day here, but does she really hate her name that much? I had always thought she was just lying due to the circumstances back then. But why? Did someone bully her in the past and give her nickname or something?
"So you play in a band too? Will your piano teacher be mad at you for playing the guitar?" Just as Yang was talking to her, the side profile of Weiss froze. "Then again, you are really good at managing your time, since you can practice two different instruments at once."
"She should be practicing at the same time, I guess? Since the pieces are the same."
"How is that possible!"
Weiss shifted her sight back to the textbook. However, I noticed that her gaze was slightly blanked out.
"How did… you people know?" As she was speaking with her head hanging low, the guys gradually quieted down at the same time.
"Umm… well… "
"You've been practicing in the courtyard after school, right? We can hear you all the time."
"Ah, it's really famous! Everyone knows about it."
Weiss suddenly stood up. Her lips were trembling, and her face was turning green.
"I could be heard… this entire time?"
Oh, shit. She didn't know? As I turned sullen in brace of what may happen, I softly interrupted, "Well… I didn't tell you this, but the sound-proofing of that classroom isn't perfect. The sounds will escape from the gaps of the door."
Weiss's face became ghostly white in an instant, and then it turned red. Her lips were trembling non-stop.
I hugged my head and lied on my desk in anticipation of her lashing, but all I got was the sounds of footsteps running away from me, followed by the sound of the door closing. An uncomfortable silence shrouded the whole Class I-B.
I lifted my head. Everyone pretended they didn't know anything, but their gazes were saying that I was responsible for all of that.
"Haruto, what are you waiting for? Chase her!" Yang was saying that to me coldly.
"Why me?"
"Because you are in charge of her!" Sun said that for some reason, and the guys around him nodded their heads in unison with a "Mhmm!" Wait, I'm in charge? What's with that?
"Get moving, or else the lessons will start! Hurry!"
I had no idea what they were planning, but there's something in this world known as the atmosphere of the situation, which is something that is hard to resist. I was driven by it as well, and stood up from my seat.
When I exited the classroom, I nearly bumped into Yasaka. "What are you doing Haruto? I saw Weiss not too long ago…"
"Where did she go?"
"Eh? Ah, hmm, she was just walking down the stairs, Haruto? Wait! Haruto, where are you going?"
The preparatory bell rang at about the same time I pushed Yasaka aside to run away from the classroom.
Weiss had locked herself in the special classroom in the courtyard. Though the door was shut tight and there were no sounds coming from inside, I knew it the moment I entered the courtyard the padlock hanging on the door was opened. I stood before the old music building, and began to sort out my thoughts for a while.
What am I doing? I went along with what my classmates wanted and came out to find Weiss, but what should I do? Should I apologize to her? What exactly did I do wrong?
I should just head back to the classroom like that, and tell my classmates, "I don't know where she went?" and let things be as it is. However, my legs couldn't move. Soon, the second preparatory bell rang, I'm surely late for classes now. Forget it, I might as well skip the first period! It shouldn't be a big deal to miss a lesson or two occasionally. Moreover, there were things that I'd like to say to Weiss as well. I grabbed onto the handle, and pressed it diagonally downwards with force.
Weiss had stacked three cushions on the table, and she was sitting on it with her hands hugging her knees. Even when I walked into the classroom, all she did was lift her face up from her knees.
"It's a waste for you to be using the cushions like that. I brought three of those cushions here so that you can sleep on them if you lay them out on the desk side by side. I'm not joking, so don't stack them up together like that."
Weiss did not change her posture much she lifted herself slightly to pick out two cushions with her left hand, before throwing them at my face. I threw one of the cushions back, and placed the other on the floor so that I could sit on it.
"What are you here for?" Weiss asked with a hoarse voice.
"I came here because I want to skip the lessons, but I never expect someone else to be here. Whoa, what a coincidence though, I am slightly troubled by this."
"Liar."
How do you know I'm lying? Show me proof! You know, proof! But you're right, I'm lying.
"Why… didn't you tell me?" Weiss stared at the floor and asked in a whisper.
I turned my head backwards to take a glance at the gaps of the door, which resulted in the improper sound-proofing of the room. "Well, it's because you never asked." I was hit by an incoming cushion yet again. Why are you angry at things like that? "There's nothing bad about the sound going out anyway. It's not like you are doing something to be ashamed of."
"You're wrong." Weiss hugged her knees next to her chest tightly, and curled herself up in a corner of the desk. I can't communicate with her. What should I do?
"You had released CDs of you playing the piano, but you're not willing to let others listen to you playing the guitar? Isn't that really strange?"
"What do you know?" Weiss threw a question that fell softly between us. All of a sudden a surge of anger swelled up from within me.
"How would I know!" I moved my sight away from Weiss. If I don't do that, I don't know what Weiss would do should she finish her supply of cushions which she used to throw at me. "It's because you won't say anything, isn't it? Just honestly say whatever is troubling you, because I don't know how to read minds!"
It was the same back when we first met, and it happened again during the first day of her transfer. Weiss said nothing, leaving me to wonder if I should be a busybody and worry about her. However, all that I got was her contemptuous looks, or her complaining about me.
"… If I tell you, will you help me?"
I lifted my head in fright, and stared at Weiss. Those teary eyes of hers looked like the water from rivers that flowed into the sea; their colors were dull and gloomy.
"If I tell you everything that is troubling me, will you do something for me? If I want you to swim to America, will you swim there for me? If I want you to chop off your right hand and give it to me, will you really chop it off for me? If I want you to die, will you die for me?"
I was speechless. All I felt was a cold chill around me. The feeling was like I was trying to peek into an abyss during a dark night when the moon was not around, and seeing something that should not be seen from the surface of the waters.
"If you can't do that, then don't speak as you please."
"… Do you really want me to do those things for you?"
Weiss shook her head. Seemed like she had secretly cried a little. "No."
"If… you don't try saying it out loud, then how will anyone know? It's just telling someone about it. There's nothing to lose."
"Then make me go back in time, back to when I first started playing the piano."
"I'm not god, so how could I possibly do that?"
Which means there must be something that is troubling her. Why does she hate the piano that much? And also.…
"How about this then, please stop following me. You are an eyesore."
"I am not following you!" This is the only thing that I must make her understand. "I've said it many times already, I've been using this place since the beginning. The person who barged into this place would be you, right? So I'm not following you."
I glanced at the far corner of the room. Her golden Stratocaster was placed on the stand over there. I stood up, opened the locker, and took out a towel that had been used for quite a long time already.
"Look here, there are gaps by the sides of the door, right? You'll have to stuff it up with this towel. It won't be perfect, but you can more or less achieve better sound-proofing this way. And also this… " I took a broom and dustpan from the locker and showed it to her. "Clean up this place properly. Can't you see how dirty it is along the walls and on the floor? It took me quite a bit of effort to clean this place up to its current state. Remember this, I'm here to get my classroom back. There's no way I'll allow a young guitarist like you, who hasn't even heard of rock before, to continue with that arrogant attitude of yours any longer!" I said all those haughty words in the spur of the moment, and I regretted it a little almost immediately.
Weiss stared at me in a dumbfounded state, with her eyes still filled with tears. Not long after, she took in a deep breath, and said, "So that's the reason you brought your bass to school?"
She was actually crying like a kid not too long ago, so what's with that annoying expression of hers? Can't I bring my bass here?
"Do you think you can win just by changing to a bass? Idiot!"
"Say as you please! I can't play that well in my current state, but I'll definitely catch up to you soon enough. Well then, let us settle it once and for all with this room as the prize!"
As I said that, I grabbed the broom and pointed its handle towards Weiss. I said it! Weiss seemed like she could no longer speak a word she was just standing there stiffly with her eyes open wide. I interpreted that as her flinching at my words, instead of her being dumbfounded by my actions. After placing the broom and the dustpan back into the locker, I took out a spraying can and placed it on the desk. Upon seeing the spraying can, Weiss tilted her head cluelessly.
"… Insecticide?"
"Yeah. You can find some centipedes in the room occasionally, though it is quite rare to see cockroaches these days."
Not long after I had left the classroom, I could hear the sound of the door opening in a fluster behind me. I turned my head around, and saw Weiss dashing out of the room with a pale white face.
"What now! I already left as you have requested, so just stay in there properly. You'll be considered late if you are to head back to the classroom right now anyway…"
"W-w-why didn't you tell me about this from the beginning?" That face of hers which was on the brink of tears really made her look like a kid.
"Why? Because you didn't ask!" My answer was the same as before. "You've been in there all this time, right? It should be fine."
"Idiot!"
My upper arm was repeatedly slapped by her many times. What a troublesome girl.
In the end, we returned to the classroom after the first period ended. As Weiss was grabbing onto my arms with an expression close to tears, I could only admit defeat. I spent roughly an hour in the practice room killing all the insects that I could find, as well as sealing up all possible gaps where the insects can get through with sealing tape. I didn't think there was much of a point though. Things like centipedes and stuff can easily squeeze through an opening that's only two millimeters wide, right?
"Ah, the Princess is back."
"So you two really came back together huh… "
I felt slightly intimidated when everyone looked at us as we stepped into the classroom. Wait… Princess?
Yamanaka Ino, the class queen, walked over, leaned herself against the desk, and said, "After a round of discussion, the class has decided that we will be calling you 'Princess' from today onward."
Weiss's face turned ghostly white initially, but it soon became red. I had always felt that despite her not willing to speak much, one can easily know what she was thinking from the change in her expressions.
"… W-why?"
"You don't like it regardless of whether we address you by your name or your surname, right? It's very inconvenient for us to talk to you like that."
"S-so that's the reason… "
A girl next to Ino said deliberately, "If you kneel down and apologize, we won't call you by such an embarrassing name."
"No way!"
"Oh, I see. Well then, please take care of us from now on, Princess."
"It's your turn to do the duties tomorrow, Princess. Therefore, you must get here earlier, instead of the usual where you are always nearly late."
Ah, she's about to cry yet again. What's with all that they are bullying a newcomer? But Weiss had only herself to blame for her predicament, so I didn't find her pitiful at all. Then again, what's with the huge difference in the attitudes with the young Japanese these days?
"And, if there is anything that the Princess needs, you can just ask Haruto over there."
That sentence from that bastard Sun instantly sealed my fate without my prior approval. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that.
"Why me?!"
"Haruto, it's like this." Sun sitting diagonally in front of me explained, "We always call a prince or princess 'Your Highness', right? Do you know why?"
"I don't… and what's the link between these two things?"
"It means, 'we are the people who are below them and serving them' like that. As it is rude to speak directly to the royals, we can only speak to their servants instead."
"Ohhh… "
"I learned yet another thing today."
Those moronic guys around me became excited.
"Which means, the servant we are talking about is you, Haruto!"
"Me?! Why?!"
Despite my protesting by slamming my fists on the table repeatedly, no one was paying any attention to me as the decision was passed by the class in overwhelming numbers, and it was too powerful for me to reject it. I looked in the direction of my only possible saviors Yang and Yasaka. However, all they did was look at Weiss and me suspiciously then made a weird face before turning around to face the lecture stand.