"It seems like the 2A has already decided on their choice piece."
The news came to us the next day after school. It seemed like the class 2A was very enthusiastic about the contest as well. Not only were they putting up defenses against our spy Issei, they even rallied together to berate him when he went to the music room to gather intelligence. Regardless of all that… he still managed to bring us precious information.
"I could hear them clapping to the beats. They were clapping and singing at the same time, so it should not be the set piece, right?"
"What type of song was it?" Ino strangled Issei's neck in an attempt to squeeze out all information from him.
"I-I have nothing else. All I heard was just that."
"If they have decided on their choice piece, then they should have submitted it to the students council already. We should know if we check there?"
Ino's eyes gave a spark right after she heard the suggestion of a certain guy.
"Alright! Go Issei-kun!"
Ino's really scary! Issei flew out of the classroom right after her instructions, and he was back within five minutes.
"It's crazy! The students council room has turned into a battlefield! The killing auras of the students are getting stronger as it gets closer to the contest."
"That is of no importance. Did you manage to get your hands on any intel?"
Ino's voice was incredibly harsh. It felt like she was pressing for his answers by stepping on his head with her shoes.
"Yes Boss! There was a stack of papers piled on their table, which looked like the registration forms. I did my best and snapped a picture of them with my cell phone."
They were already working so hard (in the wrong manner) for the chorus contest, so what sort of crazy stunts will our class pull when it's time for our sports day? I shuddered at the thought of that, but I still took a look at the screen of my classmate's cell phone.
The first thing I saw was the messy table with papers and stationery scattered on top of it. A familiar piece of paper was clipped beneath the cover of the contest brochures… it's the paper used to write down the selected choice pieces. I could make out the "2-A" characters written in the blank for the class, but…
"We can't see the name of the song as it is all covered up! You are really useless!"
Kiba could only tremble from the cold and harsh words of Ino—the cover of the brochure had overlapped the area which was used to fill the names of the choice pieces.
"Wait. We can still see the edge." Said Weiss, who was looking at the screen together with me. Our foreheads almost came into contact.
"What's written on it? The image quality is bad."
"It's probably written in shorthand."
Weiss turned the screen horizontally and squinted at the screen. She then said in a soft voice, "What's written on it is… Queen."
"Queen?"
A strange voice escaped from my throat. Sparks of fire bursted all over the place. The various thoughts in my mind linked themselves together into a line in an instant.
"Do you know what it is?"
I nodded my head in response to Weiss's question.
The band, Queen. They are a legendary rock band from England, famous for their beautiful and catchy melodies as well as their rich chorus—if we are choosing rock for our choice piece, songs from Queen will definitely be the best choice.
I recalled Rossweisse-sensei's words once more… the principal will like gospels. As for the students's representative, they will usually award high marks to rock or pop songs. Ruby should have obtained information similar to mine. She also got some information from her conversation with Utatane-sensei, and Ruby did say earlier they will be going down the path of rock this year. Combining all of the points above… and assuming they had chosen a song from Queen.
"I could hear them clapping to the beats."
"I got it."
"Eh?"
"I know the piece Ruby chose."
Yang stared at me as well.
A song from Queen, clapping to the beats, and has a gospel feel to it… there is only one song which fulfills the above mentioned criteria and is usable for the chorus contest.
Even Yang realized what the song was as well. We said the name of the song together at the very same time.
""Somebody to Love.""
"Is it okay to choose the same song as they did?"
Weiss popped the question as we sat on the bench on the platform while waiting for the train home.
Right after that, the class 2B immediately submitted the name of our choice piece to the student's council room, and it was none other than Somebody to Love. After much consideration, I decided that the only way we could win was to choose the same song as Ruby's class for our choice piece.
"They will compare us to Ruby's class if we are singing the same song as them."
Yang was obviously feeling uneasy about it as well. I deliberately ignored their expressions and replied.
"Ruby's class is indeed stronger than ours when it comes to singing. We will not be able to compete against them in that. However…"
I was not that confident as well, so I could not look straight at their faces. I could only stare at my opened palms.
"If that's the case, it will be the same regardless of the song we choose. Therefore, we must use the weapons that only we possess."
"Weapons?"
In Somebody to Love, the main vocals are sung by a six-part chorus. Despite sounding like a gospel, it is still of the classical rock songs.
"We have a bassist, a guitarist and a drummer in our class."
Yang stared at me with her eyes opened wide.
"… Us?"
I nodded. Since Ruby said she has a one against three disadvantage, we shall make full use of our advantage without hesitation. Me, Yang and Weiss are all we need to form a rock band. That is the unique weapon of ours which Ruby's class does not have.
"But… putting the guitars aside, the organizers will definitely not allow us to place the drum set on the stage! What should we do about that?"
"I have two sets of mini electronic drums at my house, so let's use that. The volume should be just right as long as we have a set of speakers. It's the same as how you will normally drum, so it should be easy."
The train arrived before we knew it. The noise produced as it approached the station sounded as though it was attempting to crush the surging emotions within me. I shoved the oppressive feeling aside and stood up between the two girls. I stood by the safety line and turned my head backwards to look at the surprised Yang as well as Weiss, who was giving off a vexed expression through her eyes.
"Let's rock!"