The last rays of the setting sun slanted in through the corridor windows of the school building, and Tsushima Kagami and the others finally wrapped up their observation visit to the Light Music Club and made their way back to the Manga Research Club.
Tsushima Kagami slumped into his chair, feeling as though that forced "fan service" performance back in the Light Music Club had completely drained every last drop of his social energy for the day.
The mont Sayuri stepped through the door, she threw herself into her seat and called out, "It was so fun listening to Kagami sing today!"
Kosaka Akane picked up the now-empty coffee cup from the table and gave Sayuri a aningful look.
Sayuri pretended not to notice.
Machida Sonoko was the last one in. She walked straight to the corner table, sat down, spread her notebook open on the surface, and buried herself in writing sothing.
"Sonoko-senpai, what are you writing?" Sayuri asked, chin resting on the table, head tilted in her direction — but got no response.
"Sonoko-senpai?"
Still nothing.
Kosaka Akane raised an eyebrow, stood up, walked around behind Machida Sonoko, and leaned over to peek at the notebook.
Sayuri's curiosity got the better of her too, and she crowded in for a look.
Tsushima Kagami watched them from across the room with equal curiosity.
At that mont, Machida Sonoko finally set down her pen, let out a long, slow breath, and lifted the notebook in front of her face with a look of pure satisfaction — eyes narrowed as if admiring a masterpiece.
"Done!" she announced.
"Done with what?" Sayuri craned her neck.
Machida Sonoko looked up at the three of them at last, wearing that expression unique to creators — the mingled satisfaction and exhilaration of having made sothing.
"When Kagami sang 'Love Space' just now, a story suddenly popped into my head."
She handed the notebook to Kosaka Akane.
Akane took it, and Sayuri imdiately pressed in beside her to read along.
Tsushima Kagami got up and crowded in behind them as well.
The pages were covered in dense handwriting — but it wasn't the orderly outline of a conventional script. It read more like a stream of consciousness: scattered dialogue fragnts, abrupt scene cuts, and cryptic annotations scattered throughout.
Kosaka Akane read through several pages, then looked up at Machida Sonoko.
"This is..."
"Too dark?"
"I know it's not the 'healing and uplifting' thing Kagami talked about, but this story just ca out on its own — I couldn't help myself!"
Tsushima Kagami took the notebook and skimd through it quickly.
He caught fragnts here and there — a girl standing alone on a stage, the lights going out, the seats below completely empty. Then a cut: the girl running through the rain, sobbing.
And a line of dialogue: "Why did you want to start a band?" "Because this is all I have left!"
When he finished reading, Kagami couldn't shake the overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
"So this isn't the classic 'happens to see a band perform, falls in love with it, searches the school for mbers and forms a band' coming-of-age setup."
"You're throwing us right into the band already on the verge of falling apart — and the friendships right along with it?"
"I an... that's... actually kind of sick..."
Machida Sonoko looked at Tsushima Kagami expectantly.
"Does Kagami think the angle works?"
"What I'm thinking is — instead of slowly building up how the band ford, why not just drop straight into the conflict? These people are already together. So why are they falling apart? And once they do, can they ever find their way back to each other?"
"Yes! That's it!" Kosaka Akane nodded in agreent.
"The whole 'gathering the team' arc is so formulaic — readers can see it coming a mile away. But if you open with the band already in crisis, readers are going to want to know: what happened to them? Is there any chance of coming back from it?"
"It grabs you right from the start!"
"Sonoko, this is so much better than the stuff you were writing last night!"
Sayuri scratched her head. "It sounds really complicated, but... it does seem more interesting than your typical girls-in-a-band story?"
"But have you figured out each mber's backstory before the breakup — and what actually caused it?"
Tsushima Kagami had noticed the notebook didn't seem to have anything written on those parts, and asked almost on instinct.
The smile on Machida Sonoko's face faltered.
"Ah, well... still working on that part."
"Does Kagami have any good ideas?"
Tsushima Kagami rubbed his chin, eyes moving back and forth between the notebook — with its setup that felt uncannily like the opening of MYGO — and Machida Sonoko's expectant face, before finally speaking, slowly.
"Like... one of them is a childhood friend from a band they started in middle school."
"One is a junior who idolizes soone, completely one-sided."
"One is soone who was hurt before and doesn't dare to trust people anymore."
"They each carry their own past when they et."
"And then... they collide."
Machida Sonoko went quiet, and after a mont of deep thought, spoke slowly.
"The confusion of youth..."
"The fracturing of relationships..."
"The weight of emotion..."
"Is that the true essence of a girls' band story?"
"I think I'm starting to get it!"
She snatched up her pen and began writing furiously in the notebook.
"Right — what about the specific setting? The ti period?" Tsushima Kagami brought up the question of historical backdrop.
Machida Sonoko set down her pen and tapped the cap of her ballpoint pen lightly against her lips.
"Let think."
After everyone sat there zoning out alongside her for who knows how long —
Machida Sonoko's eyes suddenly lit up. Without a word to the others, she flipped to a fresh page in her notebook and started writing at a furious pace.
The rest of them crowded in again, curious, watching as Machida Sonoko appeared to be rewriting the entire story's synopsis from scratch.
It wasn't long. Machida Sonoko quickly set down her pen, turned to face the group, and grinned with proud satisfaction.
"Well? What do you think?"
[On the neon-drenched streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, 1991, a girls' band is setting off a storm.
Their music bears no resemblance to the sweetness and energy of traditional idol groups. Instead, it is wrapped in the confusion of youth, the tearing apart of human bonds, and the sheer weight of feeling.
Like a mirror — reflecting the inner landscape that the young people of this era have no words for.
This girls' band is called: Lost Children!]
"You already ca up with the na too?" Sayuri stared at the words "Lost Children" at the end.
"Lost Children..."
"That really does fit the synopsis perfectly~" Kosaka Akane added her praise.
"I think I'm already starting to picture the characters!"
And with that, Kosaka Akane rushed back to her own seat, grabbed a pencil and so drawing paper, and began sketching out character designs.
Tsushima Kagami continued staring at the story synopsis in the notebook, his expression complicated.
How did it co to this? he wondered.
His whole intention had been to help Akane-senpai and Sonoko-senpai create sothing light and fun — a girls' story in the vein of K-On!, the kind of wholeso content that might stand out as a breath of fresh air in the current era and maybe even run in JUMP.
And yet sohow, completely against his expectations, he'd helped Machida Sonoko birth a bubble-era MYGO?
And it seed like he himself was partly to bla.
Do I need to go write them a "Everything Was Just a Dream" ballad on top of this?
No — what this needs is a City Pop version of "Kage-iro Mai"!
____
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