The evening sky slowly turned a soft shade of orange, reflecting off the classroom windows that had started to grow quiet.
Laughter faded away, replaced by footsteps and the distant chirping of birds.
I stood up and began packing my stuff.
My plan was simple — go home early, sleep, and pretend to be busy so that Inohana wouldn’t come looking for me.
(What a perfect plan!)
But of course, life never goes that smoothly.
“Oi, Hayashi~! Don’t go home yet!”
That voice again.
I sighed and facepalmed... Yeah, this was going to be a long day.
“Oh no... here comes trouble.”
Inohana stood at the end of the hallway, waving her hand with the excitement of a kid who’d just found treasure.
I don’t know why, but that kind of energy... looked kinda cute.
...Damn it. I regret thinking that.
“I wanna show you something! Come on, follow me!”
“You do realize that sentence always leads to disaster, right?”
“Trust me~ this time, you won’t regret it!”
“You said the same thing when you dragged me to the rooftop just to watch a crow.”
“Hehe~ but it was cute, wasn’t it?”
“Cute?! I almost fell off, you idiot!”
She just laughed—and somehow, I still followed.
Maybe I was too tired to argue.
We stopped in front of an old dusty door on the second floor.
There was a faded sign above it: Music Room.
“Tadaaa~ cool, right?”
“Are you sure we’re allowed in?”
“Relax~ no one’s using it anymore, I think.”
I stepped inside carefully.
The room smelled like wood and dust, bathed in the warm light of the setting sun.
Strangely enough, it felt... nostalgic.
Like the place was holding on to an old story that hadn’t ended yet.
In the corner, there was a piano, a guitar, even a drum set—long abandoned.
“You brought me here just for nostalgia?”
“Nostalgia? We’re not that old.”
“Not yet. But I swear, I’ll get gray hair because of you.”
She laughed softly, leaning against a desk.
Her eyes fell on the guitar in my hand—as if she’d just discovered a new side of me.
“Eh? You can play guitar?”
“A little. But don’t expect me to show off.”
“It’s fine~ I doubt you can play anyway.”
Her tone was gentle—but teasing.
...Why is she so good at insulting people politely?
A moment later, she suddenly lit up.
“I’ve got a genius idea!”
“My head hurts already…”
“Let’s make a band!”
The room went silent.
“…What?”
“A band! We’ll call it Sakura Noise! Sounds cool, right?”
“Sounds like a flower appreciation club that went deaf.”
“You—! Can’t you imagine something fun for once?!”
Before I could respond, another voice chimed in from the door.
“A band? Seriously? Count me in!”
Mika appeared out of nowhere, holding a pair of drumsticks.
“Where did you even get those—”
“I’m great at banging stuff!”
“...That sentence sounds very wrong if you stop halfway.”
“Kehee~ I meant drums!”
Then Rei walked in, arms crossed.
“I’m only joining to make sure you idiots don’t destroy this room.”
And right after, Hana followed with her usual calm smile.
“In that case, I’ll take the piano~”
Finally, Nao wandered in, stretching and half-asleep.
“Can I... just sleep in the corner instead?”
And so began our “practice”—a complete disaster.
Hana started playing something soft and pretty on the piano.
Then Mika came in with random drum hits that sounded like a battlefield.
Inohana grabbed the mic and started “singing”—if you could call it that.
“La~ la~ la~ SAKURAAAA—”
“STOP! My ears are bleeding!” Rei yelled.
“That was just warm-up!”
“Warm-up?! You were summoning a demon!”
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I sat down, picked up a guitar from the corner, and let my fingers move across the strings.
A gentle sound filled the room—calm, quiet, blending with the sunset.
Everyone froze.
Even the wind seemed to pause to listen.
Mika stopped drumming. Hana’s hands lingered on the keys. Nao woke up a little.
And Inohana... she looked at me with an expression I’d never seen before.
“...You’re actually kinda cool, huh?”
“Took you long enough to notice.”
“Hmph. Don’t get cocky. I said your music is nice, not you, idiot.”
“Yeah, yeah. You might wanna fix your voice, though—it sounds like an exorcism chant.”
“S-Shut up!”
She turned away, but her face was clearly red.
I couldn’t help but smile.
After a while, I offered her another guitar, pretending I was better at piano.
“C’mon, I’ll teach you. Let’s play together.”
“H-Huh?! But I don’t even know how—”
“You’ll learn.”
And we did.
We messed up, we laughed, we tried again.
No one made fun of anyone.
It was... nice.
And surprisingly, Inohana picked it up fast enough to play along.
By the time the sun completely disappeared, everyone was ready to go home.
Mika waved cheerfully.
“Let’s practice again tomorrow, Hayashi-kun~!”
“Yeah, yeah... whatever.”
I stayed behind a bit, my eyes landing on a violin in the corner.
A faint whisper echoed in my head.
I’m not touching that damn thing ever again.
I shook off the thought, forcing a small smile.
Then I remembered what Inohana said earlier.
Let’s make a band—Sakura Noise!
“Sakura Noise, huh…”
I smiled faintly.
“Sounds interesting. I wonder how far they’ll go.”
The sky outside had turned dark.
I finally stood up, ready to leave.
I didn’t know if this band would last long—or fall apart before it even began.
But for the first time in a long while...
I wanted to believe in something.