Chapter 93: I Will Rock You
"Let's give a blazing hot welcome to the band... 'soul'!"
As the audience heard these words, they raised their hands in unison, ready to cheer, but—
"Where are they? Where is the band?"
"Don't tell me they're delayed again? They're already twenty minutes late!"
Some of the confused audience members began to shout, the crowd growing restless. "Refund! Refund!"
The DJ was also at a loss. "Uh, it seems we have a slight technical issue backstage. Just a moment, I'll check on it..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of a massive freezer door opening echoed through the park. The large cargo truck that had been sitting like a backdrop suddenly opened, its rectangular steel sides unfolding outward to form a massive screen. Below the screen, inside what was the truck's cargo bay, a stage was already set and waiting.
Mist rolled across the stage, and several rows of lights cast strange beams upward as a thrilling intro blasted from the speakers on either side, silencing the restless crowd.
"Ahem! Clearly, 'soul' was just playing a little joke on us! They were here all along!"
The performance began.
In a spot the stage lights didn't reach, the bassist, Kansou Eruto, kicked things off, plucking an earth-shaking introductory riff. In the center of the stage, the drummer, Dave, followed him perfectly, his crisp drumbeats hitting every perfect spot, serving as the ultimate annotation to the bassline.
The guitarist, Jodo Chenjie, and the lead singer, Makoto Hibikiya, danced their way out from the sides, moving to the front of the stage.
However, Makoto didn't start singing. He stopped in front of the microphone stand, stomping his foot and clapping his hands to the rhythm.
Stomp-stomp-CLAP! Stomp-stomp-CLAP!
Under the confused gazes of Momo and the others, nearly half the audience began to clap along to the same beat. Perhaps infected by the atmosphere, Uraraka also started to copy Jiro, clapping her hands.
"Buddy, you are a boy, make a big noise,"
"Playin' in the street, gonna be a big man someday!"
"You got mud on yo' face!"
"You big disgrace!"
"(Kicking your can all over the place!)"
"Singin'!"
Makoto grabbed the mic, thrust his fist high in the air, and roared:
"WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!"
Just as Kira had said, this was the only way to sing this song—by putting your entire body into it. Makoto could truly feel the blood-boiling energy this style of performance gave him.
The audience below felt it too. By the second chorus, more than half the crowd was pumping their fists and singing along. "WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!"
Backstage, watching them, Kira quietly let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. Judging by Makoto's excited state, it seemed that after a full day of coaching, he hadn't rejected this more mobile performance style.
Makoto's Quirk was "Echo." It allowed him to influence the emotions of others through his voice and music. As long as he was excited, the audience would be infected by his Quirk and become excited too. Of course, there were plenty of people who were getting excited all on their own.
That last song was one of Queen's most famous works, "We Will Rock You." Even if many in the audience had never heard the original, they had heard their elders hum it. Aside from the "dirty song" the DJ had played earlier, this was easily the most well-known song of the night.
The next song was "Radio Ga Ga," the one Kira had sung in the basement. This time, Makoto copied him perfectly, moving around the stage just as Kira had, and even though each of the four of them had their own microphone, he still stood next to each member, writhing his body and singing the chorus with them.
When Makoto got to Jodo, Jodo sang along while playing his guitar, suddenly remembering how Kira had taught Makoto to dance. An overwhelming urge to laugh rose up in him.
(We won't go into the details, but in short, after Makoto had learned the moves, Camie, who had watched the whole thing, had given Kira a strange look and a wicked smile. "My, my, Kira... you're so extra.")
The other members of 'soul' also desperately wanted to laugh, seeing their usually serious-as-death leader wiggling his butt at the massive crowd, but seeing the audience's passionate screams, they held it together and continued the performance with smiles on their faces.
At the end of the song, Makoto held his mic stand as if it were a guitar, facing off with Jodo as they both leaned in and belted out the final note.
The song had painted a picture for the audience of an American teenager in the 1980s, dreaming of the world through his radio. Aside from those who didn't speak English, everyone felt a sense of nostalgia, imagining what life was like a hundred years ago.
The next song was "I Want to Break Free." To talk about this song, one had to mention its history. When they were filming the music video, the drummer's girlfriend had suggested they all dress in drag. And so, the rough-and-tumble members of Queen had done just that. Although the video had caused a massive controversy at the time of its release, there was no denying its enormous impact.
During their rehearsals, Kira had suggested they do the same. Makoto and Kansou hadn't said anything, but Jodo and Dave had vehemently objected, stating they had absolutely no desire to try on women's clothing.
The song's original meaning was about a housewife breaking free from her bonds, but in Makoto's performance, it had transformed into the anthem of a soul trapped by love. It made some of the female audience members, especially the middle-aged women, feel an urge to go home and divorce their husbands.
In their eyes, Makoto was getting more and more handsome. Even his every leap was dashing and stylish. The middle-aged biker gang was especially into it—with the exception of their boss, Mitsuki Bakugo, of course.
However, they didn't know that these sudden emotions were just Makoto's Quirk at work. After the concert ended, the feeling would slowly fade. If any of the more impulsive ones had already grabbed their phones to call their husbands... well, let's just hope they didn't flood the family court demanding 'soul' be held responsible.
The next song was "Somebody to Love."
Makoto took off his jacket, revealing a white tank top underneath. After announcing the song to the audience, he sat down at the piano on the bottom left of the stage. Hitomi Mishima, acting as his assistant, quickly took the mic stand, giving him plenty of time to prepare.
In Queen's many performances, the person who handed the mic stand to the legendary Freddie could be called the "fifth member" of the band. His presence allowed Queen to sing whatever they wanted without worrying about any of the stage equipment getting in their way. In the 'soul' band, Hitomi Mishima was playing that role, and she was playing it brilliantly.
This was a lyrical ballad. The audience began to sing along softly, the sound of their voices carrying far into the night, making casual passersby stop and look.
But at this moment, Yoshikage Kira was not on the stage.
Right now, he was standing in front of a mirror backstage, looking at his reflection dressed in a pale green suit. He adjusted his dark green tie, touched the skull watch on his wrist, and thought back on the absurd events of the past two days with a sense of wonder.
He ignored Camie Utsushimi, who was leaning on his shoulder and teasing him, listening closely to the singing from outside.
Soon, he thought to himself, it'll be my turn.
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