1 A New Beginning
Thursday, January 15, 2025
The sun is just setting over a gloomy day. Tristan just landed in Japan at the Kansai International Airport. As he disembarks the airplane, he puts on his headphones and pressed shuffle. He chuckles to himself as he reads the title and the name of the band that plays first, "Numb" by Linkin Park. He takes a deep breath when he hears the first lyrics, "I'm tired of being what you want to be/ Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface." He believed the lyrics couldn't be more fitting for that moment. He walks into the terminal, looking out the big windows as other planes take off. "Can't you see that you're smothering me? Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control." He thinks to himself, "I wish I could just go back, this wasn't what I wanted to do." His father calls for him to join him and his mother at the baggage claim but he wasn't paying them any attention. Still looking out the window, "And I know I may end up failing too / But I know you were just like me with someone disappointed in you." His father grasps his shoulder, and he nods his head in the direction to the baggage claim. Tristan looks out the window again, and leaves the terminal with his parents. He tells himself, "It's not like I hate them for this, but it's not like I wanted to come either…" They reach the baggage claim; they find their luggage and head outside. Tristian mumbles under his breath, "Man it's cold."
His father says to his mother, "They should be here by now. The flight was relatively on time." His mother responds, "Oh look, there they are." Tristan looking up at his mother and sees her pointing to their right. He sees some people walking their way. It was a couple that seemed to be similar in age as his parents, and a girl about his age too. The parents greeted one another as if they were old friends. Tristan looks away, he glances back only to make a brief eye contact with the girl. She walks up, "Hello, I'm Rowan." Turning back around to her, "Oh…Hi, I'm Tristan." She asks with a bit of excitement, "Do you play the guitar?!" He looks over his shoulder and realizes he didn't put his bass down with their other luggage. "Yeah, but this is my bass, which I prefer the play." Her eyes widen, "That's great…the church youth band needs a bass player!" He thinks to himself, "Great. Another goody two shoe church girl." He retorts with a minor condescending voice, "What makes you think I want to join your little band? I'm not really into playing the "church-going music"." She chuckles, "Will you at least come by and see us play? Is that okay?" "Sure, why not." Tristan found it hard not to comply, thinking to himself, "She's pretty cute for a goody two shoe. Though, I bet she and her friends actually just sing along with a track." They make their way to the parking lot. Both sets of parents load all of Tristan's family luggage into a large van. Tristan climbs in heading to back seat, assuring to be careful with his bass guitar. Rowan climbs in after Tristan, only to sit right next to him. Tristan looks at Rowan, "Really? A little close?" "Well…," blushing in the darkness of the van, "there's not much more room to sit anywhere else." Tristan breaths out a rather loud sigh and rolls his eyes as he looks away and mumbles, "Okay, whatever."
That following Sunday, Tristan and his family are walking out of service at the church his dad got a job at as the assistant pastor. As his parents were meeting church members, he stands and puts on that preacher's kid smile he has done for as long as he could remember. After a few moments, Tristan spots Rowan walking towards him. She whispers to him, "I'm here to save you." Tristan makes an awkward smile. "Hey mom, is it okay if I go off with Rowan?" "I want to show him the youth hall," Rowan butts in. His mother replies, "That's fine sweetheart. Just meet us in the office wing when you're done. (Tristan and Rowan have already started to leave.) And don't be too long, okay?"
Rowan leads Tristan to another section of the building. Rowan looks at Tristan, "Here we are. The youth room." As they walk in, Tristan notices another boy and girl in the room sitting on a small stage. Rowan introduces them, "Okay Tristan, I want you to meet a couple of friends of mine. (Pointing to the girl) This is my best friend, Korey. And that guy there is her older brother Seth." They exchange pleasantries. Tristan looks to Rowan, "So what's this about anyways?" Rowan replies, "Well, let's show him guys." "Show me?" Ignoring his question the three climb on stage. Rowan goes and sits behind a set of drums and the other two grab a guitar each. As they set up, Tristan takes a seat in a chair a few feet behind him. Expecting one of the two guitar players to stand behind a mic to sing, surprisingly Rowan puts on a headset mic. He says to himself sarcastically, "Oh, this ought to be good." To his amazement, the boy Seth starts the song with a wicked guitar intro; caught off guard, Rowan joins in with heavy hitting on the drums. "Not bad," he thinks. And then he hears it, Rowans starts to sing, "Where are the people that accuse me? The ones who beat me down and bruise me." Tristan leans on his knees, he did not expect this from her. Speaking to himself, "Where is this coming from?" "God, I want to dream again / Take me where I've never been / I want to go there / This time I'm not scared / Now I am unbreakable, it's unmistakable." Tristan throws up his hands, the three suddenly stop, looking at each other a little confused. Rowan stands up and looks directly at Tristan and asks, "Is something wrong?" Tristan leaning back into the seat, "Well, yeah… that was Fireflight… uh… 'Unbreakable' right?" Rowan looks at Korey with full excitement and then back at Tristan, "OMG Tristan, you listen Fireflight?!" With a crooked smile, Tristan replies, "I have, like once or twice passing your room at your house. You guys aren't half bad either. But there's something missing." A little irritated, Seth asks, "And what's that?" Tristan thinks to himself, "It seems that Rowan has failed to discuss why they were playing for me. I know I'm the new PK, and maybe they think she's trying to impress me or something." Tristan replies to Seth, "Yeah, you're missing a bass." Rowan shouts out, "So you'll do it?!" Korey and Seth ask at the same time, "He'll do what?" Tristan ignores the two guitarists, "I'll give it a go." Seth still confused, "You'll do what?" Rowan looks at Seth, "Duh, be our bass player." Seth retorts, "I want to see what he can do first." Tristan interrupts, "Sure thing bro, but not today. How about later this week?"
Tristan walks out of the youth room, sees his mother waiting for him in the hall, she smiles at him, "That didn't take long." Korey asks Rowan, "Who exactly is that guy Row?" Rowan took off her headset, "He just moved here from the States. Our parents have known each other for like a really long time. Well, my dad told his dad about the opened assistant pastor position a few months ago, and now they're here." Korey not satisfied with Rowan's answer, "Row, that's not what I meant. (Rowan starts to turn away to avoid eye contact.) I mean, the guy is cute, but in a standoffish kind of way." Seth pays the girl talk no mind while he puts up his guitar. Rowan trying to avoid the conversation, "Well, he seems like a pretty nice guy, and he can play the bass and the guitar… I'm, I mean, he doesn't know anyone." Korey whispers into Seth's ear, "We're in for it now."
For the past few weeks, Tristan has been practicing making music with Rowan, Korey, and Seth. Like any other day, Tristan walks into the youth hall, "Hey guys." They all reply in kind. "So I have an idea. As you know, I'll start going to Kyoto Prep School next month." Seth interrupts, "I still have no clue how you got into that school." Ignoring Seth, Tristan continues, "And they're having auditions for student bands to play at the opening ceremony for the new students." Seth stands up to meet Tristan's gaze, "And you want us to audition?" Tristan smiles at him, "Yup." Korey puts her hand up as if for asking for permission to speak, "What song do you want to audition with?" Rowan blurts out, "I know, Tristan…Why don't we show them that stuff you have been working on for the past few weeks?" "Rowan, that was supposed to be between you and me! No one other than you and our folks know about that!" Tristan turns around and storms out of the room. "You did it this time Row." "Oh shut up Seth… Tristan, wait up."
(Flashback) Rowan and Tristan have spent a lot of time together without Korey and Seth. Since Tristan's family hasn't found a place of their own, they have been staying with Rowan's family. One afternoon, a lot of Tristan's things started showing up from the States, which started putting Tristan in a noticeably good mood. Rowan noticed that Tristan was spending his entire afternoon in his room. As Rowan was trying to eavesdrop in on Tristan through his door, Mrs. Williams walks up behind her, "Hey there Rowan." Startled, Rowan blurts out, "Ahhh (カヤア)… Mrs. W!" "I'm sorry for startling you." "Anyway, what's gotten into him today?" Mrs. Williams politely smiles, "Oh, his equipment showed up today." Puzzled, Rowan asks herself under her breathe, "Equipment?" "Yes, his music-making or producing equipment, oh and some of his instruments." Rowan gently knocks on Tristan's door. The knock startled Tristan and he drops what was in his hands, turns towards the door and falls over a stack of boxes, "Be right there." He creaks open the door, "Oh it's you. What do you want?" Rowan was trying to see around him, "Your mom said 'your equipment' came in today." Tristan trying his best to block her, "Yeah, so?" Rowan sneaks in under his arm and into the room. As soon as she got around him, she stops dead in her tracks, "You have been holding out on me." Acting annoyed, "I had no reason to tell you." Picking up a random notebook, Rowan asked, "Mind if I hang out in here for a bit?" Tristan too excited about his equipment showing up, he didn't want to nitpick with Rowan, "Yeah, sure."
A few days later, Tristan asked Rowan to his room, "Have you ever recorded any of your singing?" Pausing to make a more dramatic response to annoy Tristan, "Well, uh… Not that I can think of. Why do you ask?" Feeling a little bashful, "I wanted to try and learn how to record someone singing. I've never down it before." Pacing through his room, Rowan stops, points at the notebook she was looking at the day his stuff came in and asked, "Can I sing something from that?" "Well, sure. There is a song that I have been working on…I guess it wouldn't hurt. Here, let me get you the lyrics." Tristan goes over to his laptop and prints off the lyrics with the corresponding sheet music, "Not to insult you, but can you read sheet music?" "Just a little." They go over the sheet music, then listen to the actual music. Rowan feeling confident, "Okay, let's do this."
(Present) Rowan runs off after Tristan into the hall, grabs him by the shirt, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told them that without asking you first, but you do know that the music you made is awesome, right?" Speaking under his breath, embarrassed but curious of her opinion, "You think so?" Rowan trying her best to get Tristan to turn and look at her, "Did you compose the song for me to sing to?" Tristan spins around, "No! …Sorry, I shouldn't have raised my voice at you. What you sang was just the backup lyrics." Rowan steps back away from Tristan, a little confused, "Wait! What! Who's going to sing the song? (pointing to himself) You sing? You never told me that. I thought we were just messing around so you can learn to record the singing." Now back to their typical nitpicking at each other, "Well, you never asked." "Will you sing them then?" "I'm not really good at it…" "Come on… (frowning with puppy eyes), pretty please." "Ugh, how can I say no to that face." Now smiling, "Because you can't."
The two walk back into the youth room. Rowan shouts, "We got a surprise for you guys. And when I say 'we' I mean him." Tristan not very happy at the moment, "The surprise is that I'm a vocalist too. At least, I like to consider myself to be one." Korey a little setback, "But what about Row? She's our vocalist." Rowan walks over to Korey and hugs her neck from behind, "Let's just hear him sing." Tristan feeling the tension from Korey walks over to the sound booth with her in tow. Seth leans over to Rowan and whispers, "What's he doing?" Thinking nothing of it, Rowan just blurts out, "Oh yeah, Tristan produces music too." Tristan over hears Rowan, "Good, tell my whole life story too, why don't you." Seth still whispering to Rowan, "Who is this guy? I mean, for real?" Rowan turns to Seth, smiles, "I'm still trying to figure that one out for myself." Tristan steps on stage, grabs a mic, "Korey, can you hit play for me?" Korey looks down at the table, finds the button and places her index finger on it. Looking up at Tristan, he gives her a nod and she presses play. Korey finds herself tapping her foot, automatically drawn into the introduction music. With a raspy voice, Tristan starts to sing.
I'm a nation, I'm a million faces
Formed together, made for elevation
I'm a soldier, I won't surrender
Faith is like a fire that never burns to embers
(Who's gonna stand up, who's gonna fight?)
The voice of the unheard
(Who's gonna break these chains and lies?)
Love is the answer
I gotta speak it, believe it, that's how I feel inside
(I) I (I), can't, can't sit here quiet
Seth rushes over to the sound booth and stops the music, "Please tell me there's more to that song." Tristan smiles, "There is, but I can't sing it alone." Korey confused, "What do you mean?" Tristan glancing over at Rowan, "It's meant to have a backup; did you not hear Rowan's voice?" Rowan jumps up in front of her chair, "OMG! This is why you asked me to record my voice at home?" Tristan a little embarrassed, "Surprise." Seth walks back out from behind the sound booth and past Rowan, "Well, it looks like we've got a lot of work to do if this is the song we're going to play." Tristan no longer worried about being embarrassed, "You mean it? You guys want to audition and with my song?" Korey walks up to Tristan, grabs his shirt at the collar, "Yes, but is there anything else we need to know about you and your 'talents' mister?"
It is a week before the first day of school, Tristan is sitting in the middle seat second row of a large van. He leans forward, "Thanks for giving us a ride Mrs. Smith." Rowan from the back seat, "Yeah mom, thanks. We'll meet Korey and Seth out in front of the school. (Turing to Tristan) And when we get there, let me do all the talking." Tristan looking back at Rowan, "What's that supposed to mean?" Without hesitating, Rowan replies, "先生方,本日は演奏させていただき,ありがとうございます!(Good afternoon teachers. Thank you for allowing us to perform for you today.)" Tristan looking back to the front of the van away from Rowan, "Show off." Rowan smiles with a smirk. "Okay, you can do the talking." Rowan still smiling, "Why thank you." Rowan's mother stops in front of the school and drops off Rowan and Tristan, "Break a leg." As Rowan gets out of the van, she sees Korey and Seth waiting out front like they agreed, "Hey guys, you excited? It's our first audition." Korey, "Don't remind me. My hands won't stop sweating." Seth waves back to Rowan and holds out his fist to fist bump Tristan, "I think Tristan should be the one nervous here. It's his first time singing in public." Tristan, "Gee, thanks, Seth. Way to boost my confidence."
They walk inside and followed the signs to the gymnasium where the auditions are being held. As they walk into the gym, Tristan leans over and whispers to Rowan, "There are more people here than I thought there would be. Not to mention, I think we're the only ones that are singing in English." Rowan whispers back, "Well, why don't we use that to our advantage? No one here can sing in English as well as you and I. (speaking to the group) Okay. I'll go sign us in." After a brief announcement from one of the teachers, all the students got a number for their turn to audition. Rowan received 9 out of the 15 groups there, "And so the waiting continues." Just as Tristan guessed, all the other groups sang in Japanese. A teacher walks on stage, "9番のグループ,ステージへ!(Group 9 to the stage.)" Rowan looks over at Tristan and the others, "That's us guys." They take the stage and stand behind the drums to huddle up, Seth closes his eyes, "Praise the Lord who is my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers skilled for battle. Amen." The others, "Amen." Tristan thinks to himself, "We've practiced the song over and over every day for the last couple of weeks. We got this!" Tristan nods at Korey and then to Seth, and with a smile he nods at Rowan. Rowan screams out, "1. 2. 1, 2, 3!" Just as Tristan produced the music, Seth, Korey, and Rowan were playing it. With his pulse speeding up, Tristan begins to sing:
I'm a nation, I'm a million faces
Formed together, made for elevation
I'm a soldier, I won't surrender
Faith is like a fire that never burns to embers
Seth:(Who's gonna stand up, who's gonna fight?)
The voice of the unheard
Seth:(Who's gonna break these chains and lies?)
Love is the answer
Rowan: I gotta speak it, believe it, that's how I feel inside
Tristan and Rowan: (I) I (I), can't, can't sit here quiet
Rowan:
You can take my heart, you can take my breath
When you pry it from my cold, dead chest
Tristan:
This is how we rise up
Heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train
This is how we rise up
Heart is beating faster, feels like thunder
Magic, static, call me a fanatic
It's our world, they can never have it
This is how we rise up
It's our resistance, you can't resist us
As they finished their last note, the gym fell deathly silent. Rowan whispers loudly, "Hurry off stage." Sitting down back in their seats, Korey quietly whisper, "OMG!! Y'all's singing was awesome." Rowan, "You did really good Tristan, I'm so proud of you." Tristan, trying to catch his breath, "Thanks, that was fun." The group waited for the rest of the auditions to finish to hear who would perform for the opening ceremony. Another teacher took the stage, "みんな,熱のこもったパフォーマンス,ありがとう!今年は3つのグループにそれぞれオリジナルソングを演奏してもらうことにしました!2番,9番,そして12番のグループ!君たちにはメールで詳細を送ります!各自確認するように!本当に今日はみんなありがとう!(Everyone, thank you for the enthusiastic performance! This year I decided to have each of the three groups play their original songs! Groups 2, 9, and 12! I will send you details by e-mailing it to you! As you confirm each one! Thank you , everyone, for today!)" Rowan's eyes widen, she dropped her drum sticks. As if she were about to start hyperventilating, waving her hands in her face, all the while trying to stay somewhat quiet, she whispers to the rest, "We did it!"
