Apart from the chords Yuki drilled into him that day, Konrad learned three new things.
Each came as a surprise, the first hitting him immediately.
This new, black guitar resonated with him somehow. The thinner neck—and much thinner metal strings—were easier to play. Plugged into the amp, they sounded amazing, too.
And when Yuki dialed the volume up, his entire body buzzed on the same frequencies.
As if he had transcended somehow.
Which, yeah, sure, it sounded corny.
But now that Kaede told him how much emotions mattered with this method, he didn't mind.
Whatever strange bond he felt with this masterful instrument, he was ready to embrace it.
The emo girl remained ruthless, though.
"Power chords are easy, but they won't ever make you a musician. Keep switching back and forth between E and A. Then add a D major, C, F—then I'll show you the barre chords."
The difficulty of those tasks soon spiraled out of control.
As much as the ES-335 molded into his palm, he lacked the dexterity to place his fingers where he needed them. By the time he finally strummed a clean chord, he should've switched. Twice.
The E minor and A major were simple.
The rest, they each got trickier, until—
"So the barre is like an E, but you use your ring and pinky finger," Yuki explained. "And your index finger will hold down every single string behind them. Yeah, it ain't good if it's buzzing."
Easy for her to say.
Pushing down one string—especially thin ones like these—was fine.
Holding down all six with a single finger?!
Konrad's confidence in his hand evaporated immediately.
"Once you get that right, you have a universal chord." The emo girl grabbed the same guitar as last time, a left-handed gold top LP. "Like those cheat powerchords. Slide your hand wherever."
Again, easier said than done.
His calloused fingertips made playing easier. But when he pushed with the full length—
He was cutting, cramping, and pinching nerves all at once.
A little pain wouldn't stop him at this point, of course. He had mana to spare and knew how to reinforce his body. But to concentrate on everything at once?
"Wait, you practiced this, too?" Yuki asked, her one visible eye wide in surprise.
"No, but—guess I have a good teacher," Konrad gritted out, forcing a smirk on his face.
"Hah, right," the girl laughed, grabbing another jack cord. "Then it's time to show you why this is fun in the first place. Smoke On The Water? Three barre chords. Simple. Follow me."
She plugged her guitar into the same amp, slamming her feet on a pedal switch.
The overdrive came to life, the familiar sounds almost biting into the air of the empty store.
Konrad knew this song well. He never tried it, but at least the first few notes seemed simple enough. And now with the girl playing along, his mana recharge went off the charts.
"It's fine to mess up," she talked over her strumming.
Another thing that Konrad never thought of.
But talking on a casual tone while strumming a rhythm was much harder than it looked.
"You'd feel like stopping to go back, doing it again," Yuki explained, her fingers moving on their own. "And it's fine when you practice alone. But when you're with someone—"
The rhythm was everything. A flow he couldn't break.
And once he caught onto it, the second big surprise hit.
Did the recharge feel like it was off the charge earlier?
Hah. Think again.
The moment they actually played the same notes and the same rhythm, the flow almost doubled. They were in perfect sync, not only the sounds they made, but their emotions, too.
He could only compare it to the connection he had with his harem via telepathy.
Except, where that was chaotic and intrusive—
The song harmonised them. With a stranger he had only met three times, but it felt like they had already been friends forever. As long as they played—even if it wasn't even the full song.
"Okay, most of it will be these three chords," Yuki said. "Only the rhythm changes."
Konrad already knew that. And when an extra note came in, he slid his hand that much higher.
That was it. Smoke On The Water. Easy.
"And now keep doing that," the girl yelled, her hand sliding up on her guitar's neck.
Eyes closed, she no longer copied the same chords.
Her individual notes harmonized with Konrad's rhythm, fingers quick. She played the solo with practice and emotion—and the buzzing from Konrad's hand spread all over his body.
An actual song, with someone who knew her stuff, worked better than anything he tried.
The flow of the essence was already rivaling his older methods in Kasserlane—
And he didn't even touch the sake yet.
But things didn't end there.
He wouldn't notice it at first, but four people entered the store.
If they were customers, they would have been half the shop's daily traffic at once. But they were something else. When Konrad glanced up, lost in the song, he saw four men in black.
No, not agents. They were too young for that. Plus, their hairstyles reminded him of Yuki's.
A wave of embarrassment—and more stage fright—washed over him.
Still, when they were in sync, the girl playing a solo depending on his rhythm, Konrad couldn't stop. Those guys didn't interrupt them, either. Walking closer with hands in their pockets—
Konrad had his third big surprise of the day.
The flow, already significant, got a little bit stronger.
Their heads bobbed with the rhythm, eyes glued to the emo girl's hands, but he could still feel it. Their emotions resonated with them—with him—converting into even more mana.
The realisation hit him so hard, he missed a chord. But he didn't stop.
The song wasn't over yet, and he had to keep the flow.
Imagine if he were much better at this.
If he were the one doing the solo.
The star of the show.
And it wasn't four random guys listening to them, but a crowd. A hundred people in a concert.
A thousand. All listening, all cheering for him—everyone on the same wavelength.
They didn't even sing. This song was incomplete. No drums, no bass, it was his first mediocre attempt. And yet, it promised him a limitless potential.
Bard magic, huh?
When his senpai finally looked up and noticed her listeners, she yelled. The song fizzled out.
"When d'you come in, Baka?! Should've said something," she laughed, jumping up to clap her hands with each of them. Her guitar buzzed, feedback screaming through the speakers.
Konrad switched it off before it got too bad, sweating hard.
He used some mana to reinforce his finger for the barre chords, but still—
By the time they stopped, he had recovered another hundred mana.
One tenth of all the essence he could hold, with one single song.
They might have played it for ten minutes, sure, but now? Even without a crowd to listen to him, he could've recharged everything in two hours.
In a real concert, it might've taken him minutes.
It was odd to think about it. But his fastest way back to Kasserlane was to become a rock star.