I grabbed my bass and escaped from the classroom immediately after school, and headed towards the roof. Once I got there, I saw a girl in her uniform sitting on the wired fence looking towards the sky. Her long black-red hair was caressed by the winds, and she seemed to be in a pretty good mood. It was Ruby Hyuuga.
"Isn't that a little too slow, Uzumaki? The after-school bell had already finished."
"No, it's you who's too early…"
We were still having our lessons, so how could she get here before the bell was done ringing?
"The melody of the time signal of the factory opposite of us will overlap with the chimes of our school at this time, which results in a coincidental and intriguing polyphony. I really hope you could listen to it, Uzumaki."
Speaking of which, it's a little too dangerous for you to be sitting on such a high place, right? Ruby jumped down from the fence and landed right in front of me.
"Have you decided to join our club?"
"Well…" I removed the bass that was slinging on my shoulders and leaned it against the fence. I was slightly hesitant with my words. "I'll need your help in bass, but as for joining the band…"
"Why?" Ruby arched her beautifully shaped brows.
"No, it's just because I wish to get back to that classroom so I can listen to my CDs. I'm not playing the bass for your sake."
"But you came here quickly according to my instructions."
"It's simply because I'll be needing your help if I want to teach Weiss a proper lesson."
"So by wanting me to teach you, you are referring to me teaching you how to play the bass first. You are using me, just like how I am using you. Right?"
The way she put it was rather blunt, but I still nodded my head honestly. In order to win against Weiss, I couldn't care less about my image.
A smile appeared on Ruby's face. "Mmm, I see. You no longer have the expression of a loser."
Her smile was not as theatrical as usual, instead, it was an extremely natural smile. I was shocked.
"Isn't this fine? I had already predicted that you would be joining us anyway. So let us begin!" Ruby squatted down and took out a bunch of stuff from the backpack on the floor, a mini-amplifier with batteries in it, the cables for the amplifier, as well as replacement strings for the bass.
"But, why do we need to practice on the roof?"
"What do you think is the first step in training for the basics of bass?" She directed the question at me as she took out the strings from a bag and unwound them.
"Hmm, isn't it practicing the finger crab walk?" It's a sort of repetitive practice on the basics. The player sets a fixed tempo, and begins pressing on the fret in order by using the index finger to the little finger, then playing out each scale in order. As the left hand will move horizontally inwards little by little, some people call it the finger crab walk. Sounds noobish, but it is the basics of guitar playing. However, Ruby shook her head.
"There's another thing that needs to be done before that. It's the reason why I called you up to the roof." Ruby pulled the string tightly by its ends. "I've made a tightrope from here to the roof of the opposite dormitory with a string. You shall walk on it to the other side of the building."
I was stunned. I nearly dropped the bass that I was taking out from its casing.
"Are you trying to kill me?!"
"You can't be a bassist if you can't entrust your life to the strings. I'll be here praying for your safety. You'll probably die if you fall off, so you better prepare yourself mentally first."
"No, no no no, what the hell are you talking about?"
"My my," Ruby shrugged. "It is necessary for to undergo special training that puts your life at risk for you to become a bassist. You mean you don't know? Even the most famous bassists of Japan had all undergone all sorts of training with their lives on the line. Take for example, they'd knock their head repeatedly with a tin can, or expose themselves to the blazing fire of a gas explosion… and so on."
"So the famous bassists of Japan whom you are referring to are?"
"The deceased Chosuke Ikariya."
"The Drifters is a comedy group, ain't it?!" I slammed the bass casing against the ground.
"The Drifters is a band as well! They were the opening act for the Beatles's concert. That's really rude of you, Uzumaki."
"I know that, so stop trying to change the subject!"
"The thing about the tightrope is obviously a joke. The first thing you should do is change the strings of the bass. Since the instrument had been in the store for quite a while, the elasticity of the strings will gradually slacken."
T-this girl is just… I didn't think there was any point in saying anything, so I just changed the four strings in silence.
"The real reason for me calling you up to the roof, is that!" Ruby pressed against the fence and pointed downwards. I could understand what Ruby was referring to from the sounds of the guitar that were entering my ears, without the need to look at what she was pointing to. The classroom that Weiss practices her guitar in was right beneath us. Then again, I had taught her how to soundproof the room with the towel, so why could I still hear the sounds of her guitar? The carefree melody was Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess. Is it due to the shock of our classmates addressing her as "Princess"?
"That was seven days ago." Ruby leaned her back on the fence, and looked into the sky. "I was skipping classes from the very first period, and stayed here till school was over, while listening to the sounds of the streets."
What's this girl in school for?
"Then, the sun gradually began to set, and just when it felt like it was about to rain, came the sound of that guitar. It was Book II of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier. However, she skipped the fugues and played only the preludes. I was so pissed, I didn't notice that it was already raining, I sat down and continued listening."
"You'll catch a cold like that…"
"All she played were the preludes, right up to No. 24 in B minor, it was sweet torture. Then I heard the door opening, and so I sneaked a peek towards the room, and saw a beautiful girl walking out of it. Her snow-white hair was in contrast to the dark gloomy sky outside–and her ice-like blue eyes, they're so captivating, I can't help being drawn by it. That was enough for me to fall for her."
The bass slipped off my knees and fell on the ground.
"Umm… Hyuuga?"
"Hmm?"
"But Weiss' a girl?"
"So what? I like beautiful things. In my eyes, gender does not matter."
"Well… if you say so." I began to tune my bass as I said that.
"However, she, Weiss Namikaze, didn't listen to a single word I said. Also, upon my detailed observations, for some reason, you're the only person in this school who can converse with her." I jumped in shock and lifted my head. What appeared before me was that destructively cute smile of Ruby's, which she had only used once that week. "Therefore, Uzumaki, I need your strength."
I had no idea why, but I could not look straight into Ruby's silver eyes, all I could do was shift my gaze back to the bass in my hands. That was the first time someone said that to me in my entire life. No, wait a second, calm down and think about it properly. Ruby said herself that I am just a pawn to be used by her.
"So your actual plan is to get Weiss' attention, right? It's not really about me joining the band." I voiced out the doubt within me, but all Ruby did was tilt her head and look at me with her silver eyes blinking repeatedly. All these conversations I had with her weren't just hallucinations of mine, right? That thought suddenly flashed past my mind.
"Uzumaki, do you know the reason why humans are born into this world?"
"What's with the sudden question? How would I possibly know."
"The answer's simple. Humans are born into this world for love and revolution."
Suddenly, the wind breezed past us, lifting up Ruby's long black-red hair. I nearly fell over despite only feeling a faint gust of wind on my shoulders. Why is she saying all that? Do I have some misunderstanding on what life is all about? Those questions appeared in my mind for a very brief moment.
"Leon Trotsky… you probably don't know about him, do you? He's the second to last revolutionist! He fled to Mexico after losing to his political comrade, Joseph Stalin, in a political battle. He died before witnessing the start of the revolution of the world. However, his misfortune was not because Stalin was not by his side…" Ruby took my bass away from my hands blankly, and plugged it into the amplifier. "His misfortune was that Paul McCartney was not by his side. The last revolutionist, John Lennon, he's lucky to have had Paul McCartney next to him."
Ruby suppressed her overwhelming emotions, and began to pick the strings with her nails. A series of intense and out-of-tune sounds blared out from the amplifiers loudly, which stimulated my ears. I couldn't understand at all how can those thick strings of the bass produce such a high-pitched sound? She was playing the prelude of the Beatles's Revolution. It's the song of revolution written by John Lennon, and it's a song that is widely misunderstood.
"Therefore, love, revolution and music are inseparable from my life. The strength to push for the never-ending revolution, the strength to find the Paul who belongs only to me, and the strength to convert these thoughts into songs that I sing—there is no difference between the three. Are you satisfied with the answer I gave you?"
"Is your answer even directed towards my question…? I am totally clueless about what you're trying to say."
Just as I was about to voice out some of my thoughts, Ruby knitted her brows and shook her head while mumbling, "My, my."
"Can't help it then. To put it in simple terms that you can understand, it's like this: aside from getting Weiss's talk to me, I am serious about forming a band as well. That includes recruiting you."
"Then just say that right from the start!" I banged the casing yet again.
"It's better for you to be a little more poetic."
"You keep treating others as idiots as well, don't you, Hyuuga? And stop that proud look of yours, because I'm not praising you."
"Uzumaki, your reactions are quite interesting. Come here." Ruby was smiling bashfully. Come here? Be slightly more polite, will you! "Well then, let us modify the bass. I am quite troubled by your knack of going off topic."
Me? Is it my fault? Just as I was about to speak, Ruby suddenly returned the bass to me. "We'll have to create the sound before you practice. See, I've brought all sorts of pickups here. You have your tools ready, right?"
Ruby took out a few guitar parts from her backpack. A pickup is something that captures the vibration of the strings. By changing these parts, there will be a significant change to the tone of the instrument. Other modifications include changing the internal wiring and etc, and the most extreme case is to punch holes onto the guitar itself.
"You mean, we're going to modify the bass right now?"
"That Aria Pro II of yours is a cheap bass, but I specially chose it in consideration to the timbre of Weiss Namikaze's Stratocaster. However, that is not enough. This bass is unable to create the tones that offer a perfect response to her guitar."
Ruby pointed beneath the fence. A series of glamorous fast strumming of the guitar played by Weiss came from that direction. I see, so that's the reason for summoning me to the roof? Ruby and I repeatedly pondered on how to modify the bass, and it was something really interesting. Just so happens that I am good at it as well.
"The sounds of your bass are already comparable to the bass of Greg Lake's." After two long hours, Ruby took the completed bass and said that with praise, amid the heaps of wood shavings, metal bits, and pieces of snipped strings. I was slightly embarrassed by that. "Why don't you work on my Les Paul as well? I want to make its tone slightly richer."
"No way, I don't have the guts to work on that sort of high-end guitar."
Ruby cracked a laugh, and began to clear up the tools and rubbish. "Try to connect your bass to the amplifiers as much as possible when you are practicing. It's so that you can feel it with your body, and remember the sounds that will be the same as what you will be playing in the actual performance."
I nodded my head, and once again plugged my bass into the mini-amplifier. The clarity of the bass was totally different from how it was when I first bought it. This was to match up against those clean timbres of Weiss', which are played with a mechanical precision. If you ask me, I am quite confident about my modifications as well. Since the moment Ruby unreasonably forced me to buy this bass, I had never quite felt that the instrument was mine. However, as of now, it really felt like the bass was covered in my sweat from the past ten years of my usage, I could use it comfortably. It's my partner that I've created from scratch. I could finally begin practicing.
"Of course, I won't be making you practice on some basic things repeatedly either. That is something necessary, but you can just practice that on your own at home. It may be quite sudden, but I'd like you to play a song for me right now." Ruby placed a hand-written score right before me. "Do you know this song?"
I nodded in reply. There was no title on the score, but I knew straight away after a glance.
"I won't deny that the melodies of a bass aren't that attention-grabbing. There are almost no songs that people can recognize purely by its bass alone. There's only one exception, which is this. Therefore, I think all bassists should start with this song, and end with this song as well."
The song is Ben E. King's Stand by Me. Bum, bum, badabum, bum… that's the bass rhythm, it's true, two verses is all it takes to revive the tune in your memory.
"Then pace yourself to the metronome and play the song! Keep playing till night has come and the stars are up, alright?"
After she was done with singing the lyrics, Ruby gave a wave before opening the door and leaving. I heaved a sigh, sat down on the floor and picked up the guitar. Though Ruby is always giving me plenty of surprises, I had never once thought she would make me play a song that quickly. Hey! Ain't you gonna Stand by Me?