Sound After Noise

"WHOOO!!! " "KYAAAAA!!! " "YEAHHHH! " the screams around me continued without a second of break. The stadium that can fill
tens of thousands was alive with people all across the country. This full house was all thanks to the performing singers and
dancers on stage. Singers sang beautifully without hitting a wrong note, dancers danced gracefully without missing a beat. It was
truly a spectacular event.

"..." Despite the wild crowd shouting as if they wanted to be noticed by the performers, a lone girl was quietly sitting in her seat.
Her figure was small and short, depicting a girl in her junior high, silently satisfied about her average marks. With her white
headphone, she blocked the world with the music that was stored in her mp3 player. She heard nothing except for the sounds
from her headphone. Slowly, her mind was elsewhere as the concert and shouts from the sea of fans went on.

"Hey. Are you alive? " A guy in his early twenties nudged the girl until she finally awakened. The girl rub her eyes and noticed the
quiet stadium. No wonder she felt so peaceful, all the excited and loud fans had all gone home. Leaving this little one all alone in
the now deserted place. She didn’t reacted much, as if she knew the stadium was already empty. The only ones left were those
who were taking the stage apart.

"Ah, I’ll go home now. " The girl said without much care. The playlist in her mp3 player was already done. No song was currently
playing, yet she still had her headphone on. The guy seemed a little flustered. He wanted to get the girl’s attention again. Thus, he
unconsciously grabbed her arm. The girl turned, her hair flipped back, her eyes finally met the guy’s. They both looked at each
other’s faces.

"So.. umm... Did you like the show today? " The guy asked as he released his grip. His eyes continued locked with hers. Despite
seeing that her headphone was still on, he bravely asked his question out of curiosity. The girl turned to look at the stage, it was
almost half torn apart. The high towers of steels were still standing but the floor had already disappeared into the cargo, tens of
spotlights were left with 3, still functioning to assist the workers.

"No, I didn’t listen to it. " The girl calmly answered back. She took her headphones off and let them hung around her neck.
Questions began to pop out of the guy’s head. He was confused as to why would a young girl come to the concert despite not
being a fan and adding to that, she didn’t listen to even one of the songs being played. His confused face was entirely exposed.
He wanted to ask another question.

"I like sounds." The girl said, beating the boy to it. A ’what?’ escaped the guy’s lips. The quiet surrounding was accompanied with
the sound of metals being taken apart. One of the tower was now lying on the ground instead of standing high. The digital clock in
the stadium was showing the time, 10.13 in bright red colored LED. More than 40 minutes passed by and the stage lost it’s shape.
More than 60 minutes since all the fans had evacuated from the stadium.

"I like sounds after the noise. " The short explanation didn’t make sense to the guy. Yet, a slight understanding was there in him
since he himself likes quietness compared to the busy and bustling sound of the city streets. The girl decided to sit down again
after confirming that the guy was not the bad kind. Her quiet attitude was almost like something new to him. She didn’t recognize
him, was what he concluded.

"So you came here just to feel the peace and quiet right now?" A simple nod was responded with his question. A gust of wind
passed by, the opened stadium presented them a scenery consisted of stars but due to the brightness of the stadium lights, they
could barely see the stars clearly. The guy sat a seat away.

"Then would you mind listening to my sound?" The guy leaned back in his seat. She looked at him, a little surprised. Who would
had thought someone would suddenly proposed to hear them play something despite of the relationship of being complete
strangers. The girl thought, she didn’t have anything else to do, nor did she had a curfew, her house was only a 10 minutes walk
away.

"Sure, why not. " She replied. Her sudden smile made the guy think of how cute this girl actually was. The rattle sounds of the
metals and shouts of directions stopped five minutes ago. I seemed that the workers were taking a break for a little while. The
timing was superb, the guy thought. He cleared his throat. Without a second waste of this opportunity, he started.

--- Song: Hoshi no uta --

"Waa ~" The girl sounded as if she was impressed. No, rather, she was amazed. She never met someone that could sing so well.
She was delighted with his singing voice that even the guy was taken aback. Her smile was quite charming compared to her
distant stare from a few minutes ago. The time slowly stroke 11 as they spoke with each other. Though the girl’s smile had
disappeared, the calmness in her voice was rather refreshing for the guy.

"Ah, is your house far? Would you like a ride? " As expected by the guy, she refused his invitation. He didn’t hope much since it
was their first meeting. Yet, he felt a little disappointed to be rejected. The girl explained that her house was near and she didn’t
need any type of transportation. He changed his mind after hearing her excuse.

"Then, can I walk you home? It’s rude to leave a girl walking so late at night, and alone at that." The girl thought for a few seconds
before replying with an alright. Unknowingly, the face of the guy had an excited smile, making the girl giggled with her hand in
front of her mouth. A somewhat cute atmosphere was surrounding them. Some of the workers who saw the scene turned their
head and lightly glared.

"So you came to the concert without knowing who sang in it? How many times did you do that? " He asked while walking along
the silent street. The girl strode beside him. A distance of a meter between them could be seen. Therefore, no one passing by
would had mistaken them as lovers. But there were no one walking in that street besides them. They weren’t at all awkward with
each other. ’Strange’, both of them felt and shook it off.

"This is the ninth time... probably. " She was unsure of her own answer. One might think that she was just wasting her money by
going to concerts without even physically and mentally joining the event. She thought differently, her wish of hearing sounds in
and after a noisy surrounding was far more important. She had excellent grades, money, and freedom. Yet, she knew better to
waste her money with such small wish instead of wasting herself with unhealthy goods.

"Heh? You’re in high school, right?" The guy bent his body as if he’s doing a bow and turned his head to the right. The girl
unconsciously thought that he was cute as he did that. She willingly replied with a yes, confirming her age. She didn’t cared about
her age, nor that she cared about her appearance. People said she looked 2 or even 4 years younger than her true age because
of her short height.

"I see. High school nowadays have cute girls like you. " The guy clearly knew his way of speaking was like an old man’s but his
joking voice covered it up. The girl seemed to have failed to notice the joke but the calm atmosphere continued on. At last, her
house was in view. They finally arrived in front of the ’somewhat a little bigger than average’ house.

"Thank you very much for accompanying me home. Will you be alright heading back alone?" The guy told the girl that he had told
his friend to wait at a nearby bus stop. He was rather amazed with the modern like structure of the house. The houses in the area
were all big, but hers was the most beautiful. This fact could even get votes from the people in the town.

"Here. It was for practice purposes but since the concert had finished, I was thinking of throwing it away. Instead, I’ll give it to you.
" A memory card was handed into the girl’s hand. The guy had taken it out from his own mp3 player. Both of them knew that the
chances of coincidentally meeting each other on the streets was less than 10%, but nothing could be done. Even though they
were becoming friend in just a mere hour, they were still strangers.

"Thanks? Ah, then I’ll give you this. Now we match." She accepted the card, looking at it with confusion. She thought of a return
gift and decided. Grabbing the guy’s hand, she secured a thin silver bracelet around it. Satisfied, she grinned and showed her
own that was still around her wrist. The guy asked if it was an important item for her, she claimed that it was a cheap piece of
accessory and said that it was thanks for his gift.

"Then I’ll gladly take it. You should go in now before you catch a cold. " Though it’s sad, they would eventually had to say goodbye
to each other. The night breeze was getting colder too. The two of them part ways as they said their goodbyes. A sentence made
the girl to tilt her head. The guy said that he’ll be waiting for her text. Didn’t they not exchanged numbers or emails? Just how
were they going to contact each other?

"I’m back." Her greeting was welcomed with silence, not because everyone had already fallen asleep in this late hour, but
because there was no one in the house other than her. she strode her way into her bedroom and switched on her lights. In under
5 minutes, she had changed into her plain T-shirt and shorts. The memory card took her interest again.

"I’m so tired. It’s a good thing that I told you guys that I changed my number during practice yesterday." The guy said to his friend
who was driving the car. The back seat was noisy as two others were watching back their performance in a tablet. They
complimented each other and carefully watched the video. The guy leaned back in his seat and and stared out the window,
touching his new bracelet with a noticeable smile.

"Heh." The girl scoffed while hearing the mp3 inside the cheap card. It was unmistakably a recording of his singing. She laughed
when the recording continued with his break time. The scoff however was towards the conversation he had with his friend. In
there, his phone number was said to had changed due to continuous prank calls by unknown people. His new number was clearly
voiced out.

--Incoming message ringtone. -
    ƒ  ƒ  ƒ  ƒ Cunning.   ƒ  ƒ  ƒ  ƒ

"Cunning indeed." The guy grinned into a goofy like smile while looking at his new message, yet still looking so cute if one were to
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