Awakening (Sound of Love 01)

"Guys that will be everything for today, Vivian work on your fills they got kinda rough near the end, Paul get some sleep, like seriously you kept going off rhythm and before you say anything 3 hours of sleep and a shit-tone of energy drinks isn't something normal people call rest. Anyway see you all on Thursday and remember despite my nagging things are going , if we continue at this pace we'll blow everyone's socks off at the anniversary." Rose said as the day's band practice came to a close.

It was Emmi's turn the her the room in order after today, so after some small chatting I made a beeline to stow my guitar in the storage. As I was doing so a familiar hand landed on my back with a audible THUMP

"Can't you do it any slower Viv, I really wanna go home already" Eli sounded audibly irritated.

"Well excuse me, but not everyone wants to carry their instrument on their back, heck Paul and Rose aren't even out yet why are you so grumpy today?" I retorted as I finished closing the locker.

"The part about Paul was unfair he'll stay cause Emily is" there was a short break before she continued "and sorry, I guess the weather's getting to me."

"Yeah cold with rain isn't among my favorites too." I said approaching my best friend waiting at the door.

Isabella Patel was a brunette of around average height (that is annoyingly always slightly higher than me, of which she was sure to regularly inform me back when I cared about it back in middle school), she wore her hair in a short bob cut with red highlights her on bangs. Currently she was wearing our school uniform along with the usual oversized pastel violet hoodie and of course her red bass guitar on her back.

"Bye Rose, bye you two," I said, and we started on our way towards our lockers.

As we were walking it became plainly obvious that the black clouds kept seeing through the windows weren't going to get better anytime soon.

"It's going to rain on the way home isn't it?" I said dejectedly.

"Stop, I was annoying point taken, but you don't need to keep kicking the dead horse"

"I'm being serious this time, I just got a new woolen coat and really don't want to get it too wet"

"Wait you didn't take an umbrella?"

"Yeah, it was supposed to start raining in an hour."

I said and started preparing for the inevitable

"Idiot, you jinxed it now. Really a shame though wet woll can be nasty." Eli started in her usual 'you messed up and I'm gonna have sooooo much fun now' smug voice

"Yeah"

"Truly such a terrible shame you know, it only you had a loyal, dependable, cute, responsible and charming friend that went out of her way today to remind you it's going to rain. Wait I forgot more musically and overall talented somewhere in there."

"...Yeah"

"And now that I think about someone was preaching just a week ago how she always makes sure to prepare for worst possible scenario, unlike us the lowly underachievers." a smile forming on her face as we reached our lockers.

God, she can be infuriating sometimes.

Eli got her white and red parka, together with a cute striped umbrella out of her locker the smug grin never leaving her face throughout. I did the same for my unfortunate coat.

I felt she was about to say something again and seriously started wondering why exactly were we still friends at this point.

"You want to borrow mine? I live closer you'll bring it back tomorrow."

"Thanks, but I'll manage maybe stop somewhere for a bit if it starts" I said before changing the topic away from the embarrassing part "and I didn't say that last one."

"The calling us underachievers part?" Eli responded the annoying grin finding it's way back to her face. "Come on Viv I know you what three and a half years now, you thought it.''

After that, we put our outerwear over our uniforms and headed towards the school gate with a quick stop to get my bike. When we reached it was time to head our separate ways, such a shame Eli doesn't live direction as me, sure would have made the not getting my coat wet part easier.

"See ya tomorrow," she said ripping me away from my wishful fantasy back to cruel coat-soaking reality.

"See ya." I said as I started on my way home.

...

'Eli sure could have chosen a better day to start her prophetic career.' Vivian thought as the nearby coffee shop came into view. 'I could have waited at the shopping centre, but noooooo it hasn't started raining yet I'll probably manage to get home before that, goddamn idiot'

After reaching her destination Vivian hanged her now distinctly wet woll smelling coat and made her way to the counter where she ordered a small macchiato before looking fore a place to sit. In the corner next to the window she saw, or rather heard a tall black haired girl humming an upbeat tune to herself, as she jotted down something in her notebook.

The mysterious girl had the back part of her hair ties up into a neat low ponytail, with the shorter front part being left loose. She wore thin semi-transparent round glasses together with the same uniform as Vivian was wearing, the only difference being the white ribbon that signified her as a second-year. She looked focused on whatever she was writing down, but Vivian had eighter failed to notice that or simply did not care.

"Hey senior would you mind if I sit here, or is the seat taken?"

The girl looked up before saying "Sure suit yourself." as she put down her pencil.

"My name's Vivian by the way,"

"Sophia."

"Oh and what's the song you were humming a moment ago if you don't mind, it sounded good." Vivian asked as she was making herself comfortable on the chair

"... It doesn't really have a name yet I just recently started working on it." the other girl answered visibly flustered.

"Wait wait wait, you actually compose do you mind if I see the notation?"

"If you really want to." Sophia said her composure from before gone replaced by a nervous feeling as she kept her eyes stuck to the table.

Vivian was starting to feel kinda like she forcing the girl, but ultimately her curiosity won over and she reached her hand to get the notebook from the other side of the table.

"Yeah looks like some good stuff, I'm sure it'll be great when you finish it." she said after looking over the contents.

"You really think so?" Sophia asked meekly.

'She's getting red after such a minor compliment, that's cute.' Vivian thought before realising 'and useful, possibly incredibly useful.'

"Absolutely I wouldn't take such matters lightly." she said before passing the notebook over and using the moment to establish eye contact with the girl.

"If you want to you should join our band, we genuinely could use a writer and I absolutely love what I saw here."

'And your face appeal will be sure to bring some new students after the school anniversary concert, but this part will be better left unsaid hehehe.'

After a moment of deliberation Sophia said with her eyes glued to the table once again ''I don't know, I wouldn't want to bring you down, I'm kinda amateurish at this thing"

"Nonsense, it's a school band I'm pretty sure you can't get that much farther from professional or competent" Vivian saw that the taller girl started to look up from her favorite part of the table and felt that her bait was working "Anyway we're there to have fun, just come over see how you like it."

"Ok, I'll try it." Sophia said soon making her decision.

"That's great, we're meeting two times a week in the assembly hall starting on the 8th period, the closest meeting's in two days." After thinking a bit Vivian added, "But just so you know we're the less popular of our school's two bands I hope that's not a problem."

"No please don't worry about it" Sophia quickly said trying not to make the other party feel awkward.

The two of them continued talking for couple minutes with Vivian explaining the details, and Sophia seeming enthusiastic about the prospect, before the rain finally let up.

"I gotta go, give me you Immichart ID I'll add you." Vivian said and wrote down what the other girl was saying.

*Ding*

Sophia's phone sounded before a notification came to the main screen

[V: Hi hi] coupled with a profile picture of a cartoon cat

"I'll see you Thursday, remember assembly hall 8th period" she reminded before rushing out of the coffee store fully intending to make it home before dinner.

Unfortunately, as she left the coffee shop Vivian stated to feel a very dull light headache that she decided was nothing and continued on her way.

...

By the time Vivian neared her home the headache had grown quite considerably, what's worse the constant dull pain was joined by a faint pounding in the back of her head as if something had been pounding at a door very far away.

Pedictably the dinner was already cold by the time she got there.

"Take your plate and microwave it, I'll go put your coat for drying." Vivian's mother Elise said as her daughter entered through the front door, she was a light-haired woman of less than average height that her daughter inherited together with her brownish green eyes.

"I'll do it in a minute, mom would you mind passing me some painkillers my head has been killing me." Vivian said after taking off her coat.

"Sit down and don't strain yourself." visibly concerned Elise responded before taking out two pills and placing her palm on her daughter's forehead.

"Doesn't seem like you caught a cold, but still it's better to be safe, after you finish eating go back to your room and rest for a day, I'll go check up on you in a bit."

Soon a freshly microwaved dinner was placed before Vivian, her mother's famous camembert salmon pasta was as delicious as always, causing the girl to disregard the growing headache for a bit to berate herself for not being able to eat it fresh.

When Vivian got back to her room the dull pain was still there, while a lot more manageable than before. The infuriating part was the pounding, what started as a faraway knocking soon evolved into a cacophony of constant THUMP THUMP THUMP ringing through her body, and when the girl thought she could not take it anymore something it her head flew loose.

She was flooded with a stream of light and sensations, constantly changing and overwhelming her senses, causing her to lose consciousness.

But just before that she heard a robotic voice saying

–Congratulations on your successful descension Host–

–I hope the awakening process went smoothly–