[Log] Shinji and Akaya p 1/2

[pulltabshinji]

Who: Kirihara Akaya & Ibu Shinji
What: Writing on their song again, trying to record it and maybe breaking stuff.
When: before Kamio showed up, but after Shinji said he wanted to show Akaya a song.
Where: Shinji's room for a start, then at a studio upstairs
Rated: G
Note: Too long for one post, it seems. *grins*

Akaya stepped onto the floor, looking around nervously. He just had to make it to Shinji’s apartment, grab the guy, and make it upstairs to the studio/practice rooms. He could do it. It’s not like Sanada was living on this same floor or anything. Besides, Sanada didn’t hold grudges, especially not when it came to implying the guy was romantically involved with either Atobe or Yukimura. He was totally and completely 100% safe.

Which is why Akaya kept a eye on the door that bore Sanada Genichirou’s name. The fact that Niou was right next door didn’t make him feel much better but at least one of the guys on the floor was blasting loud hiphop that should help to cover up any noises Akaya made. Half-sprinting down the hallway, Akaya leaned against the wall outside Shinji’s door. Keeping a nervous eye trained on Sanada’s door, he knocked on Shinji’s.

“Hurry up, open the door,” Akaya muttered to himself, hoping that Sanada was either out or that the loud music was covering up all noises.

Shinji was at a loss for what to do. Or he wasn't really, he just didn't know what to do with that song of his. Which had to be done and sent by midnight the same day. So he had started unpacking, because really, when he couldn't focus, it was better to do something productive, instead of just sitting around doing nothing.

In the midst of muttering to himself about where the hell is Kamio, anyway and he was supposed to show up over a month ago now and was it really that difficult to pick up the phone or reply to an email when he heard something.
He looked up, a small frown showing on his face.
He dropped the pillowcase he had had trouble with getting onto that stupid pillow with one hell of a weird shape, and trudged over to the door, avoiding the boxes that stood in the way.

Shinji pushed one of the boxes aside. Why he had put it in front of the door, he didn't remember, but what was done was done, he supposed.
He opened the door and raised an eyebrow as he saw Akaya stand by the door. ”Are you fidgeting? Why are you doing that? Never mind, I suppose it happens. Did you want something?”

Akaya glanced nervously down the hall. “You, me, song. Now.” Akaya really hoped that music was enough to cover up the sound of his voice. “Let me in or lets go.”

Shinji glanced into the room and frowned. “Ah, sure. I don’t mind. You can some in, I suppose. I need to get my guitar, and it’s behind some boxes. Just a moment and I’ll get it.” He continued muttering in a low voice as he left the door open for Akaya to let himself in through. He went around a few boxes and sighed as he saw that he had to more more boxes than he had thought.
He shoved one to the side and lifted another on top of it. Maybe he could reach it now. But now, he didn’t want to risk it getting damaged.

Akaya quickly entered, breathing a loud sigh of relief. Safety! He quickly closed the door, wincing when it seemed to practically slam shut. “Still unpacking?”

Shinji looked up at Akaya for a brief moment, then glanced around the room. “Yeah, I suppose. Though I suppose I shouldn’t say ‘suppose’ since I still ain’t done. Well, I’m not done. I’ve been trying to work on a song but I just can’t. I can’t come up with anything. What do people do when they have block, anyway?”
There! Now he could safely take the guitar and he grabbed after it. He hoisted it up on his shoulder and returned to Akaya. “So? Should we go? Unless you changed your mind already. People can do that. I should know, Kamio does all the time. And Ishida, and Sakurai, and Uchimura, but I suppose Mori don’t, and Tachibana-san don’t do very often either. Ann-chan does a lot though, but she’s a girl. I don’t understand girls at all, do you?”

“Eh?” Crap, looked like Shinji was in a chatty mood today. “Let’s go but, uh, can we be as quiet as possible?” Akaya cracked the door, peeking out down the hallway. Nothing from Sanada’s room. Good. “Nah, I mean, I got an older sister but I don’t even bother trying to understand her.”

Shinji shrugged and opened the door. “Sure. If you say so. Not that it matters. Who is that playing music so loud anyway?” he scowled. “It’s sort of rude, showing no consideration towards the rest of us.”

He eyed the door to the room from which the music came and shook his head.

Once Akaya had gotten out of his room, he closed the door and locked. “The elevator was that way, I think. I might be wrong, I suppose. This place is huge and way too big, but I suppose it’ll be easier to find the way around once we’ve lived here for a while.”

“Yeah, down that way,” Akaya nodded, remembering the direction he’d come from. “I don’t really care about the music but I’m not the one who lives on this floor.” He looked over at Sanada’s door, really hoping the guy wasn’t it, wasn’t paying attention, and that Shinji wouldn’t tell whoever was playing the music to turn it down. Besides, they were going upstairs so what did it matter?

Shinji glanced at the door once more and them followed Akaya to the elevator. It took a couple of moments for it to show up, but once it did and they had entered, Shinji cast a glance at the nervous-looking Akaya and pressed the button for the floor they were going to.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, feeling somewhat concerned for his friend. “You look a bit pale, you know. Are you getting sick or something?”

“Just really hoping that Sanada doesn’t come out into the hall,” Akaya answered from where he was leaning against the elevator wall. “I like living after all.”

Shinji frowned. “You done something bad? Well, except trying to run during the fanmeet?” He looked up as the elevator signaled their arrival to the floor above the one he had his apartment on.

“Yeah, he was pissed at me back then and I’m sure that even though I’ve been avoiding him like he’s got the plague, he’s still pissed.” Akaya stepped out onto the floor, relieved to be that much farther away from Sanada. He turned to Shinji, a serious look on his face. “Never ever imply Sanada even has so much as a crush on either Atobe or ‘Mura-buchou.”

Shinji stared back at him. “I didn’t really have in mind doing that, I assure you.” he stated. He opened the door to an unused studio and walked inside it. “You coming?” he called over his shoulder to Akaya.

“Yeah,” Akaya answered following Shinji into the studio. “Yeah, you really don’t want to. Trust me on that.”

Shinji shrugged. “Alright. I’ll put that in mind. But I don’t have a death-wish. If I one day get one, though, I guess that’s one way of trying.”

Akaya nodded. “You work any more on the song or too busy doing other things?” He himself was guilty of the latter.

“A little.” Shinji said. “I’ve been trying to work on my next song but it’s no good, I guess it just don’t want to. Maybe I should start over and try to write something else instead.” He pulled out a notebook from bis guitar-case and flipped it through. It was filled with text on almost every page, some lines underlines and some had lines right across.

He pointed at one of the underlined rows. ‘I can see when you stay low nothing happens Does it feel right?’ it said. “I thought that maybe it could start out with that part, and it works quite well with the music, too.” He pointed at another line. “‘but I won't run, there's no turning back from here’ could be after that part that said ‘Though this might just be the ending of the life I held so dear’ and this part...” he flipped through a couple of pages until he found what he was looking for. “‘Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside’ might fit someplace.”

Akaya nodded. “I like.” He didn’t know what else to say simply because he did like it and it wasn’t like he had anything better to offer.

“Do you have any ideas on where to put that one?” Shinji asked, meaning that last line. “It might not fit among the ones we have, though..”

“Umm,” Akaya thought about it for a moment, running through the lines and the music in his head. “Maybe here,” he suggested, pointing to another spot on the page of lyrics.

Shinji hummed at the lyrics a little and nodded. It might do.

“Yeah, like that,” Akaya replied excitedly. “Just like that.”

Shinji smiled inwardly at the reaction and he flipped through the pages again. “I wonder if I have anything else that can be used. I don’t know, since I just wrote down stuff as they came but there might be something...” He then let out a ‘hn’ as he read through the messy notes. He handed the notebook to Akaya. “Say if you find something usable.”

“Stop,” Akaya said, placing a hand on a page. He quickly skimmed it and saw what had caught his eye. “What about this line? Think it can be worked in somewhere?”

Shinji read it and nodded. “Might. It does fit to the theme of the song quite good.”

Akaya looked over the lyrics, singing them to himself, putting the line in where it seemed appropriate. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s good.” Shinji stated. “It still feels as if parts are missing, but it’s better this way than the way it was before.” He underlined the bit of words Akaya had found in the notebook.

“Want to play it, you know, test how it sounds? Maybe that’ll help figure out what it needs to fill in the holes,” Akaya suggested.

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” Shinji agreed and pulled his guitar-case closer. He pulled out the guitar and placed it comfortably in his lap.

Akaya grabbed his bass, plugging it into the amp. After a few minutes of warming up and tuning, he started playing the bass line he’d come up with in their last session.

Shinji joined in and hummed the lyrics, trying to figure out a fitting melody for the words.

Akaya kept playing. He wasn’t as concerned with lyrics. Besides, it’d been too long since he’d gotten a chance to play, what with everything that had been going on lately.

As Shinji continued playing and listening to how Akaya played, he found some new words that he added, and reused a couple of phrases. It felt a lot more complete like that, but he wasn’t sure, it still felt like something was missing.

Yes, entirely too much had been going on lately. Too much drama and too much thinking. Better to just play and not think. Akaya didn’t even seem to notice that Shinji was still in the room.

Shinji glanced up at Akaya, then turned back to his guitar. Akaya had seemed stressed at times, now that he thought about it. He put to memory that he should drag Akaya up to play if he noticed that he was again.

And then his hand slipped and the instrument made a terrible sound. Nothing broken. It just sounded bad.

“Sorry,” Akaya apologized, being jolted out of his own little world.

Shinji blinked as he looked up. He had been pulled into the music as well. “Ah, no, it’s fine.” he said and shook his head to indicate that it was alright.

Akaya placed his hand over the strings, stilling them. After a moment, he started playing again. “Guess my mind kind of slipped.”

“Something else besides Sanada maybe wanting to kill you?” Shinji asked.

“People being weird is all,” Akaya answered. “Somehow I got pulled into that drama with Kikumaru...”

Shinji frowned. “The one with Oishi-san?”

“Yeah. Kikumaru and I played a match and he kind of broke down,” Akaya admitted. “It was strange.” He shook his head. “Lots of strange things going on I guess.”

“Oh...” Shinji nodded, then patted Akaya on the shoulder. “I suppose it’s because everything is sort of new, too, that it gets confusing. I mean, it’s.. Yeah. It’ll get better, hopefully. Probably. Maybe.”

He knew he wasn’t any good at comforting people, but he still wanted to help Akaya.

Shinji ruffled Akaya’s hair. “It’s sorted out between them, though, so there probably won’t be too much messes around those two now.”

“Let’s hope. I don’t want to deal with crying Kikumaru again.” Akaya shrugged and plucked at the strings on his bass. “Want to start over?”

“Yeah. I don’t see why not.” It was relaxing to play like this, anyway. Shinji adjusted the position on his guitar.

Akaya nodded and started his bass line over, clearing his mind this time and focusing on the song and only the song.

Shinji let his fingers move over the strings, and soon fell into a complete focus on the music.

Akaya continued, waiting for Shinji to start singing. He was more than willing to let the other guy sing.

After a moment, Shinji found the words for the beginning of the song and started to sing. “I can see when you stay low nothing happens Does it feel right? Late at night things I thought I'd put behind me haunt my mind”

Keeping playing, Akaya closed his eyes, it helping with his concentration. He was starting to feel his mind slip again and he was determined to not screw up and ruin things this time around.

Shinji kept singing, and after playing the whole song, he had found more words that he had added throughout it. “That feels sort of good. The lyrics and stuff.” he said after they finished. He continued to pluck a little at random strings while he looked up at Akaya.

Akaya nodded in agreement, letting his bass go silent. “I like it and it’s really coming along. I guess no one can accuse us of being unproductive while Pulltab’s on indefinite hiatus.”

“It would be weird if they did, but not really, this company is weird.” Shinji replied.

“That’s for sure. Who decides to randomly give a bunch of teenagers their own apartments away from any adult supervision?” Akaya shook his head. “I feel like they’re just asking for trouble.”

“There probably will be.” Shinji sighed and picked up his notepad, writing down the lines that had shown up while they played. “With so many of us living in one house and considering so many of us have different personalities. I guess it’s good everyone plays tennis, though.”

“It’s a handy common interest, that and music,” Akaya nodded. “Gives people a reason to hang out with people they might not have.” Kind of like him and Shinji. In a different world, they’d probably never have hung out like they did now.

“Yeah, it is. It’s still weird to not live at home but I think I’m getting used to this place now. At least partly. And there’s no one here that complain if I feel like playing in the middle of the night, either.”

“Freedom is nice.” Akaya plucked randomly at the strings of his bass. “No parents to tell you what to do, to always expect you to live up to things you just don’t care about. None of that.”

“I want to play music and tennis.” Shinji stated. “My parents want me to study a lot. I do study and get decent grades, but it’s not too entertaining.” He shrugged. “This far, we haven’t heard Seven Lines mention anything about homework. Or I haven’t at least.”

“I’m sure I’ll still have plenty of that,” Akaya groaned. “Especially with the three demons around.” He made a face at the mention of the three. “So I guess I’m not really free after all.”

“At least you have people from your team here.” Shinji muttered. “I’m the only one from Fudomine here, so it can get a bit lonely when I go to school, because even if I get a ride by some of the company’s cars I’d rather walk because the chauffeurs are so stiff.”

“Yeah, spend a car ride with Sanada,” Akaya rolled his eyes. “It’s so much fun.” That was why he tended to sit with Marui. Much more fun and less dangerous to his health. “If it bugs you so much to be the only at a school, why not transfer?”

“I like going to Fudomine. Except that we don’t have many nice senpai, it’s a good school. And I like my teammates.” He shrugged. “When I graduate, I’ll have to switch schools, though. There isn’t any high school division at Fudomine.”

“I’ve got to many senpai. You should take some of them,” Akaya offered. “I mean, they’re okay guys for the most part but there’s definitely no slacking around ‘Mura-buchou or Sanada.”

Strumming his bass, Akaya went on. “Any idea where you’ll go for high school?” There was still time, a full year really, before they’d be third years and graduating.

Shinji shook his head. “I haven’t really thinking about it. I suppose I will decide that when the time comes. I’ll just have to take it the way it comes and see what happens during this year.”

“True,” Akaya admitted. He didn’t really have that problem. He was staying at Rikkai. It was where he belonged.

“Un. So are we playing through this more? It might be good. I think that it feels more complete now, at least.” He flipped through the pages in his notebook to make sure he had every sentence written down at least some place.

“This is getting good,” Akaya agreed. He started strumming his bass, playing from the beginning. “One more time?”

Shinji nodded and ran his fingers across the strings once, then placed his fingers in position for the first chord and started playing, soon also getting to singing as well.

It went smoothly and sounded pretty good. What had started as just two guys screwing around came out as a good song. When they finished the song, Akaya looked over at his Pulltab bandmate and grinned. “We’re awesome.”

Shinji gave a low chuckle. “I guess.” he agreed. “But do you think we should record? We could send it in to the next month or something. Otherwise we can just it lay waiting to be used as a secret weapon or something in case neither of us come up with anything. Or something. I guess there are several alternatives and we just have to decide which to use. But we don’t have to decide now, anyway.”

“Why not? We can record it now, though we’ll probably want to get someone in to drum for it sometime,” Akaya pointed out. “And then we’ve got a secret weapon. Just, like, one of these days come out with it and shock everyone, especially since it seems like Pulltab’s never going to be doing anything together.” They still had a couple band members missing afterall.

“Recording, then.” Shinji nodded. “Do you know how all this recording-equipment work, anyway? I’m used to simple stuff, and the thing that’re having here. Otherwise, we need to find something else to record with and I don’t know if my taperecorder works.”

“I have no clue,” Akaya replied, shaking his head. “Wanna press some buttons?” After all, it couldn’t be that hard.

“I’m not sure we should risk it, though. If we happen to press the wrong button and it self-destructs we might have to pay for it. I’m quite sure they have a way of finding out who did it, even if they don’t have cameras in here.” Shinji stated blankly. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to pay for pressing the wrong button.”

Akaya thought about it for a moment. “Yeah,” he said, scratching the back of his head, “that may not be the best thing.”

Shinji placed his guitar by its case, and picked up his notebook. “Maybe we should get someone to help us with figuring out the equipment first.” he pondered. “Though I think it’d be nice to record it now.”

Akaya set his bass down and wandered over to the fancy looking equipment on the side of the room. He looked down at all the buttons and dials and different things that could be pressed. Nothing was clearly marked. This sucked. Whenever he’d worked on his personal things, there had been someone else around to help with making sure it sounded right and was recorded.

Shinji joined Akaya and looked at the all buttons as well. “Then I guess that we have to ask for help. Though it’d be more fun to surprise everyone when they hear it. Do you have any recorder? As I said, I don’t know if mine work, and I haven’t even unearthed it since I’m not done unpacking.”

“Nah, don’t have one,” Akaya said, shaking his head. He had a good memory for music and didn’t need to record something to be able to replay it. “This might be it?” He asked, pointing to a button that had Record/Replay labelled underneath it.

Shinji blinked. “Ah, probably. What is it recorded on? Tape? Or maybe not, it’s too modern.”

“Yeah, it’s probably digital,” Akaya nodded. He shrugged and pressed it. After all, the worst that could happen was that the building could explode but then he’d be dead and it wasn’t like he could get in trouble after death.

Shinji looked as a red lamp lit up and he poked at it lightly. “I guess it’s recording now. Unless it was the switch to the bomb.” It would be weird if it started blinking now, he pondered.

Akaya went back over to where he’d set his bass down and started playing.

Shinji followed and once again placed the guitar in his lap, playing and then singing. He glanced over at Akaya as he did. It would be alright if he sung too, Shinji wouldn’t mind.

Deciding to just go with the flow, Akaya joined in at the chorus, leaving Shinji to take the verses by himself. It sounded kind of cool, he thought.

Shinji smiled slightly to himself. Finally Akaya wasn’t completely quiet while they played. For some reason, that felt good.

This song rocked and they were definitely going to be the best. No doubts about it, when Akaya and Shinji released this song, they were going to blow everyone away. Akaya smirked. No one would accuse them of being slackers.

Shinji had to suppress a chuckle that threatened to escape as he sung. They were recording right now, and he was singing. This was no time to be laughing. He bit his lip a brief moment and got back on track just as he was to start sing again.

But that face Akaya made was just too amusing, for some reason.

Akaya looked at Shinji, confused as to why the guy looked so amused. He shot a questioning look, deciding to answer once they’d finished recording the song.

Shinji shook his head, the small smile still playing on his face, and then frowned as his hair got in the way. Not that he didn’t know the chords in and out, but it was still sort of annoying. Maybe he should start putting up his hair in a tail while he played.

Akaya almost laughed as Shinji’s hair fell in the guy’s face. Only the fact that they were recording this take stopped him.

Shinji blew at his hair in a pause between lines, but it fell right back. He scowled. Then he glanced over at Akaya. Was he laughing?

The annoyed look on Shinji’s face was great. Akaya wished he had a camera.

Shinji continued to sing and in the pauses between the lines he sung, he tried to get his hair our of his face. Why this annoying---

Then the song finally ended, and he almost glared at Akaya. “What’re you laughing at? It’s rude to laugh at other people, don’t you know that?”

“You looked so hilarious. Pissed off at your own hair,” Akaya replied, trying to keep from busting out laughing. It was hard. So hard. His ribs were starting to hurt from all the held in laughter.

Shinji frowned, then sighed. “Fine then. But you looked quite amusing when you looked so triumphant. Ah, that rhymes with elephant. I didn’t think about it before. Hm. Is there anything else that rhymes on it?” As he talked, he scribbled down the words triumphant and elephant in his notebook.

“I dunno,” Akaya shrugged, not sure why it mattered. He shook his head, deciding this just had to be one of Shinji’s oddities.

After a moments pondering, Shinji circled the words. “I’ll have to look it up later. Though I should focus on my song but then again I don’t have enough inspiration.”

“What’s stopping you?” Akaya had had the exact opposite when it’d come to his. He’d been finished for days, though by accident, of course.

Shinji shook his head and could this time brush away the hair that fell into his face. “I dunno. It’s just sort of, you know, blank.”

“Eww, well, stop that,” Akaya ordered.

Shinji blinked as he looked at Akaya. “Huh? Well, I can’t really help it.”

“Find something to inspire you,” Akaya replied. “Get a muse or something.”

“A muse?” What was Akaya talking about. Inspiration, he could understand, but a muse?

“You know, something that inspires you. Makes you be more creative and whatnot,” Akaya explained.

“I know what a muse is.” Shinji muttered. “I just don’t see the point. Or know where to find one.”

“You’re a musician.” Akaya gave him a deadpan look. “Aren’t all musicians supposed to have a magical muse?”

“Magical muse, huh...” Shinji pondered the thought for a while, then shrugged. “I guess I haven’t found mine yet, then.”

“Go on a search, go on a search,” Akaya prodded, laughing and genuinely amused.

Shinji pursed his lips in thought for a brief moment. “I guess I’ll have to. I don’t really know how, though, but I suppose it’ll just show or something.”

“Something will hit you,” Akaya answered, confident. “And wham, you’ll be inspired.”

“If you say so.” Shinji agreed and shifted the guitars position. “And you realize this conversation is being recorded, right? We still haven’t turned it off.”

Akaya shot a look over at the recording equipment. “Oops.” He set his bass down and walked over to the piece of machinery. “Now, how do we stop this thing?”

Shinji craned his neck. “Same button?” he suggested. Wait, that had only been a play/record-button, hadn’t it?

“Maybe it’ll pause it at least.” Akaya shrugged, not really knowing.

Shinji walked up to him and hesitated before pressing the button. Nothing happened.

“At least nothing exploded,” Akaya pointed out. He looked at the machine again. “Maybe...this one,” he said pressing a button. The red light turned off.

“Ah. It seems you found the right button, at least. Nothing has exploded yet at least.” Now it was to figure out how to get their recording out of the machine. Shinji scanned the few labels that were there.

“This one,” Akaya decided, pressing another button. All of sudden, their song start blaring through the speakers.

Shinji flinched slightly at the sudden sounds, but then listened to see how it sounded.

“Well..” he spoke as the song finished and their talking was heard. “At least now we know it got recorded and that it sounds good.”

“Yeah,” Akaya said quietly. Or maybe it was just his hearing that was off. His voice sounded odd and so did Ibu’s. “Next time, lets get someone to help us with this thing.”

“That we should.” Shinji agreed. “We still have to find out how to get the music out of this, though. It might not be too weird if we ask, since we haven’t used this sort of equipment before. Then again, we should find the stop-button first of all. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a bit weird to listen to my own voice like this.”

“Yeah. Think there’s someone around in one of the other rooms?” Akaya asked.

“No idea. We can always look.” Shinji said.

“Not going to lie,” Akaya glanced over at Ibu as they searched, “I kind of feel like an idiot for not knowing how to use that equipment. I feel like that’s something I probably should know.”

“I suppose we’re supposed to know. But it’s not like we have used that sort of equipment before, so how are they expecting us to know?” Shinji asked, opening a door to a studio. “This one’s empty. I wonder if there is anyone around, anyway.”

“No clue. This place is looking like a ghost town--no one else is around.” Akaya ran a hand through his curls, trying to think of some sort of solution.

“Ghost town, huh.” Shinji thought about that for a moment, then said “Wouldn’t it be entertaining to do something like that? Some sort of ghost walk or something.”

“Ghost walk?” Akaya blinked, not quite sure what he’d heard. “What’s a ghost walk?”

“You know, like a test of courage sort of thing. Where some people scare other people and some people get scared. So, sort of a ghost walk. It’d be fun to scare people. Plus, it’d be possible to go as couples, too, and then those with those sort of muses can go with them, or something.”

“That is not a bad idea,” Akaya nodded. He cracked his knuckles. “I want to do the scaring.”

Shinji nodded. “Me too. It’s always fun to see people’s reactions to it. Kamio don’t agree though. I wonder why...”

“Guy needs to learn to have fun,” Akaya said, shaking his head. He snorted. “Maybe that’s what he’s off doing.”

“Maybe. Who knows. I don’t at least. And he’s supposed to be my best friend, and he’s still not picking up or replying to messages or anything. Damn, he’s annoying.” Shinji sulked.

“Don’t you know where he lives? Just go over there and drag his ass over here.” Kirihara Akaya. The master of subtlety.

“Yeah, I do. But he’s not home. Out on promotion-job or whatever, I don’t care, he should just get back already.”

“Nothing,” Akaya said, serious, “is that important or time-consuming.”

“Agreed.” Shinji said shortly. Why did Kamio not show up, anyway? Not contacting anyone or anything and it was just so annoying. “For being someone who proclaim to be fast, Kamio sure is slow with this.” he huffed.

Akaya smirked. “Guess he’s not the speed demon he claims he is. At this rate, we’ll be light years ahead of him by the time he shows up.”

Again, Shinji nodded, and he opened the door to the last studio on the floor. “No one here. Then I suppose that we have to figure it out on our own.”

When they’d reached their studio, Akaya headed over to the equipment. “Why isn’t this thing more clear?” He growled, frustrated.

“They really should at least put instructions by these things when they want us to use them. Besides, yes, clearer labels on the buttons’d be really good.” Shinji brushed his fingers lightly over the buttons as he looked for any indications of what they did.

The song started playing again from the beginning, though somehow quieter this time. “Are you kidding me?” Akaya asked, looking at the thing.

For a moment, Shinji was silent, as he stared at the equipment. “Well, at least we know where the volume is. Sort of. I don’t know which button it was, but it was somewhere around here...” The volume was increased, and Shinji frowned at the equipment. “Right. This one, I guess.” The volume increased more, then was lowered as he figured out which button was for up and which was for down.

“Good to know,” Akaya nodded. “Wonder what this one does...” he pressed a button and waited to see what would happen.

When the music suddenly stopped, Shinji looked at Akaya. “I think you might have killed it, Kirihara.” he stated.

“Quick, where was that button that made it play again?” Akaya asked, freaking out.

Shinji looked around at the buttons. “I lost it.” he stated and frowned. “This is impossible. Or supposedly not, but really. It would be so much easier to record it with the computer or a tape recorder like last time.”

“This sucks.” Next time, Akaya decided, they definitely would drag along someone who knew how to use this crap. “What not?”

“I don’t know.” Shinji shrugged. “You think the music’s all gone now? I hope the whole thing didn’t break.” He poked at the thing.

“Let’s hope not.” Akaya pressed another button. Nothing. “Let’s try this one,” he decided, jabbing a large black button.