The roar of the screams pierced through the walls of the municipal gymnasium, pounding in Rin's ears as she moved forward.
Instead of the multiple entrances that should have been open, only one illuminated turnstile remained. Rin tightened her grip on the ticket with its special texture and headed toward it.
"Ding."
The staff member scanned the QR code, and the faint confirmation sound was almost lost amid the thunder inside.
Upon reading the information on the screen, the employee's attitude changed immediately, and he bowed slightly with respect.
"Welcome, Miss Tōsaka. Please, go ahead."
Rin's eyebrows lifted imperceptibly. Just as she had suspected, the ticket was special.
She was about to step forward when a woman approached with confident strides. She wore a perfectly tailored dark suit and held a folder against her chest.
"Miss Tōsaka, a pleasure to meet you. I am Shinozuka Yayoi, Nero's manager. He specifically asked me to wait for you here."
"Good work," Rin replied calmly.
On her way there, she had quickly reviewed some information: this "Nero" shining on stage was none other than her cousin's enigmatic boyfriend, Damian.
His identity as Japan's hottest superstar at the moment was merely another of his many faces.
"Please, follow me," said Yayoi, stepping aside to lead the way.
She guided her through the VIP corridor to the exclusive front-row area. The staff bowed respectfully to the manager, though their gazes lingered briefly on Rin before looking away.
"Miss Marin has been waiting eagerly for your arrival," Yayoi commented as they walked, maintaining a professional smile. "She even requested 'Ivory Tower' to be the opening song; it's a piece she took part in."
Rin stopped for just an instant.
"Sorry… family matters delayed me," she murmured with slight unease.
"Your presence alone is enough," Yayoi replied calmly, pointing to the central seat in the front row. "Please wait here a moment. I'll go inform Miss Marin."
Rin had barely settled into the soft seat when, suddenly, all the lights in the stadium went out.
Darkness engulfed everything; only the glowing sticks and bright signs of the fans flickered, like stars in a black sky.
!
An electronic pulse shattered the silence of the shadows, followed by a deep bass thumping like a heart pumping blood.
Synthesizers filled the air, and suddenly, an electric guitar burst in, speeding up the rhythm.
And then, all sound stopped.
Only the guitar and bass remained, dark and heavy.
"Immortal temptation takes over my mind…"
A male voice emerged from the darkness, vibrating down to Rin's bones. The cadence rose, more and more intense, until—
"I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING!"
Blue and red lights tore through the darkness.
!
Damian stood at the center of the stage with a blue guitar hanging from his body.
He held the microphone in one hand, his silver hair slicked with sweat glistening under the spotlights, the earring on his ear flashing. On his face was a wild smile, completely opposite to the calm man Rin knew.
The giant screen on stage lit up with the title of the song: "Bury the Light."
Damian's fingers ran over the strings, unleashing an electric roar, and he sang with fury:
"Provoking black clouds in isolation…"
In the middle of the song, with a quick motion, he pushed his damp hair back, which stood up under the lights like a defiant mane.
"..."
Rin's heart pounded in time with the drums, and a strange heat coursed through her body as the magic crest on her skin burned faintly.
"No… impossible," she whispered, trembling as adrenaline made her hands shake.
She could feel how each note pulled at her pulse, needing no mana—just pure music that seemed to squeeze her heart.
On stage, Damian turned and threw the guitar to his back. He gripped the microphone stand tightly and screamed the final line:
"DRIFTING IN THE OCEAN ALL ALONE!"
The stadium exploded.
The first rows surged forward in madness as the security barrier trembled. Rin caught sight, to her right, of a girl crying uncontrollably and, farther back, a man tearing off his tie while screaming at the top of his lungs.
The last drumbeat struck.
Damian lifted his head sharply, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. A moment later, he lowered his gaze, and his sharp eyes pierced through the crowd.
"AAAAAHHH—!"
The roar of the audience erupted like a brutal wave. The entire stadium shook.
Damian smiled savagely, dragged the microphone stand, and began to walk along the edge of the stage.
Each step landed perfectly in sync with the drum's pulse.
Wherever he passed, the screams rose a level higher. In the front row, desperate hands reached out, wanting to touch even the air he left behind. Rin felt that if he spoke, those people would throw themselves into hell without hesitation.
He was an ABSOLUTE KING.
He walked all along the edge and stopped in the very center front. The microphone stand struck the floor with a dry "dong."
Total silence.
Damian didn't speak. He just moved.
Dong Dong Clap
Step, step, clap. A simple, dry rhythm—impossible to ignore.
He repeated it twice.
Suddenly—
DONG DONG CLAP DONG DONG CLAP
The entire stadium responded in unison. Tens of thousands stomping and clapping at the same time, a wave of sound that made the ground tremble.
The dome lights shook, and dust fell from the ceiling.
With a simple gesture, Damian had the crowd under absolute control.
Rin, in the VIP section, felt the rhythm rising from her feet to her chest, as if her heart synchronized with that collective drum, and before she realized it, her cheeks flushed and her fingers trembled on her thighs. The tips of her feet began to mark the beat, weak but precise.
Thirty seconds and everything vibrated.
Then, Damian's smile widened.
He gripped the microphone and roared:
"Buddy you're a boy, make a big noise!"
"Playing in the streets, gonna be a big man someday!"
"You got mud on your face!"
"You big disgrace!"
"Kicking your can all over the place!"
His powerful voice swept over the thunder of feet and claps, electrifying the air like lightning.
Damian threw a punch into the air and shouted:
"Singing!!"
The roar turned into a unified chant that shook the entire stadium:
"WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!"
"WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!"
Thousands of voices merged wildly, forming a torrent of sound that burst through the venue and spilled into the sky.
Rin felt herself carried away by an unstoppable human force, like a fragile boat in a raging ocean.
An electric tingling ran through her fingers; even her heartbeat seemed trapped inside the chant that shook the whole stadium.
For a moment, she even forgot why she had come.
"WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!"
The fifth repetition thundered violently.
Damian grabbed the microphone stand as if wielding a baton. The choral rumble stopped instantly, and once again the rhythm of stomps and claps filled the air.
Thousands of eyes fixed on him, feverish and senseless.
Damian took a deep breath, and his voice exploded again:
"Buddy you're a young man, hard man!"
"Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday!"
"You got blood on your face!"
"You big disgrace!"
"Waving your banner all over the place!"
The drums boomed like war drums. Damian raised his arm, fingers open, pointing at the crowd, giving orders.
"We will, we will rock you! Singing it NOW!!!"
That "NOW" lit the fuse.
A wave of brutal sound erupted from tens of thousands of throats.
"WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!"
"WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!"
Rin's heart was crushed by that monstrous resonance. Voices screamed and burst around her like a tidal wave mercilessly battering her calm.
At first, her lips only moved without her realizing it.
"…we will…"
A muffled sigh among the uproar. Even she couldn't hear herself.
"…rock you…"
Stronger now, a rough tone that shattered the ice of her self-control as her cheeks burned, and the tingling spread down to her fingers.
"We will…!"
Now her voice rose without hesitation, alive, merging with the shouting around her. The energy consumed her completely.
When Damian shouted another "Singing it NOW!" and the euphoria reached its peak, Rin let everything go. Her chest rose and fell violently, adrenaline struck straight to her head, and without thinking, she screamed with all her being:
"ROCK YOU!!!"
Her sharp cry sliced through the collective roar for an instant, echoing clearly in the middle of the VIP section.
On stage, Damian was preparing for the final roar into the microphone when his eyes crossed the sea of lights and frantic people until they stopped on a single figure, right in the front row of the VIP section.
Rin's face, flushed red, her lips slightly parted as if still carrying the echo of a scream, and her eyes, once cold, now burning with fire… he caught every detail clearly.
His wild smile widened arrogantly.
"ROCK YOU!!!"
The final shout exploded like thunder, and suddenly, Damian silenced it with a single gesture.
The entire stadium fell quiet.
Thousands of throats stopped at once, leaving only the harsh sound of heavy breathing and the collective heartbeat pulsing in the air.
Damian's chest rose and fell, sweat running down his sharp jawline. The smile was still there, but now it was different: a blend of triumph and absolute satisfaction.
His eyes swept over the blazing crowd before gradually softening. They were no longer daggers; now they seemed to calmly watch the fire he himself had created.
The stage lighting shifted: the blinding white turned golden and warm, while shades of blue and purple descended from above, gradually dimming the fury and giving the audience a breath of quiet relief.
Damian ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it carelessly. The silver strands that had stood up before now fell messily across his forehead, as if he had just thrown off an invisible mantle.
He adjusted the guitar strap and positioned it, ready to play. He was no longer attacking, but standing like someone about to tell the story of his life.
When he lifted his head again, his gaze had changed. The hardness was gone, replaced by something serene.
His fingers brushed the strings, and a slow, clear arpeggio filled the air. There were no more explosions—only a smooth, melancholic flow, gently calming the hearts that were still overflowing.
Damian stepped up to the microphone and, this time, he didn't shout. His voice came out soft, magnetic, like a whisper spoken directly into the ear:
"I'm trying to keep my head high…"
"I can't see that light anymore…"
"It's nobody's fault but still…"
"No more losing everything…"
"Something's missing inside of me…"
"Even if I cry or laugh, it's never enough…"
"Been slowly losing my grip on my life…"
"But now I'm moving forward somehow…"
The song flowed like water, passing through every heart without violence.
The first part of the song carried introspection and calm. The audience's euphoria gradually faded on its own, and the lights that had once trembled like a stormy sea now swayed gently, creating a serene ocean.
In Rin's chest, the fire ignited by "We Will Rock You" slowly went out. Her breathing returned to its normal rhythm, the heat in her cheeks dissipated, and the burning of her magic crest disappeared.
For a moment, she felt strange, even a little embarrassed for having let herself be swept away by that frenzy earlier.
But then, the song changed. Damian's voice rose with a different kind of strength:
"You're making me stronger!"
"The freedom I sealed away…"
"Now it's breaking free!"
"This voice that keeps repeating, echoing who I am!"
"Who I am!"
This time, the chorus of tens of thousands wasn't a wild roar, but a warm river that filled the stadium with a single collective breath.
That gentle resonance broke through Rin's defenses without permission. Her shoulders relaxed, her eyes sought the figure on stage who was no longer a hurricane, but someone singing from a deep, honest place.
That man, shining under the lights, resembled the kind Damian she knew through Marin.
An unexpected feeling pierced her, something difficult to define.
"Maybe… that's his true self…"
The thought passed fleetingly, but another followed, sharp and unavoidable, before she could stop it: 'What did Marin-neesan do to have someone like that?'
The idea struck her with a bitter sting that caught her off guard. But she cut off her own train of thought abruptly, while her fingers tightened over her legs until they nearly tore the fabric of her stockings.
________
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