It was hot even under the shade. I found myself wishing there was a cool place to put my feet, some kind of water. Nobu was talking animatedly, but I wasn't paying attention. Acting sick, when I wasn't sick, so I wouldn't have to talk. It was kind of a betrayal, but a necessary one.

My head was on Tetsu's shoulder. We were sitting on new lawn furniture, compliments of Keitaro. Blond wicker, floral imagery on cream cushions. It was plush and comfortable. Two couches and four identical arm chairs surrounded a glass topped white iron table with curlicues. I was grateful, but I wasn't in the mood to show it. I'd show it later.

Nobu took a sip of his tea and laid back into his arm chair again. "Things are moving along. We want your ideas, too. The rest of Lyra has expressed what they want for the tour, from arrangements on the bus, to types of hotel rooms, to the kind of gear support they think they'll need. We need those things from you, too. Of course, we also want to discuss the actual music. That's the most important part. In my opinion, Keitaro's been kind of antsy. He said he wants a meeting, and told you that, too? We can arrange it. I know we have a lot of potential for the types of music we can play, but Keitaro has some pretty good ideas."

"Hmm." Tetsu's arm tightened on me as he thought for a bit.

Yami interrupted those thoughts. "I hate to gang up on you, but antsy isn't the half of it. We don't have a lot of time. We need to rehearse. We don't even know what we want to do yet."

I made a small noise with my nose. "You were always the nervous one, Yami. We can do this."

They stopped talking, Nobu and Yami staring at me with wide eyes. Yami made a noise like a sneeze, a wide grin on his face. "Where did that come from? That's an old spark that I haven't seen in a while. Are you feeling better?"

Tetsu started to rub my arm. I stuck out my tongue a little. "I'm fine. It's hot."

"Is it too hot? We can go somewhere else," Tetsu asked, rubbing my arm more urgently, and I snuggled into him more. Being snuggled into him was too hot also, but it was worth it. We were sweating together where our bodies touched.

"No. I like it under the trees. There's good shade here."

Nearby, a loud yell erupted and our heads turned in unison. One of Yami's friends was leaned over, grabbing a bunch of line that had apparently fallen down. The other one scratched his head and went back to his own work.

Yami's hands surrounded his mouth. "Hey, the house owners are right here! Less construction work talk, alright?" He called to them. They immediately stopped and turned to us. They bowed together, and went right back to their work. Satisfied with this, Yami cleared his throat. "So, Sana, have you been thinking about what kinds of songs you want to do? I know you had some ideas the last time Lyra was gathered at Tetsu's parents' house. We have an opportunity to do those now. I thought they were pretty solid."

Nobu jumped in. "I liked your ideas about 'Rhapsody in Blue'. I've been thinking about that one a lot. Maybe it's not appropriate right now, but I definitely want to do it in the future. I feel like that one would be its own thirty minute set entirely. However, this set we're going to do during the tour? I feel like that's more of a showcase of what we can all do. We're introducing the world to us."

I shook my head a little on Tetsu's shoulder. "I don't know how involved I'll be. I don't want to be on stage much." It felt good to finally tell them that. Tetsu squeezed me at this.

"Oh." Yami seemed troubled by it, but didn't say anything further. His eyes were far off, a sadness there. Nobu grabbed his backpack next to his chair, wasting no time. It reminded me of old times, where he was over eager. He brought out a black notebook and freshly sharpened pencil. The pencil went into his mouth, further reminding me of old things. Flashes of memory of us in my apartment in Osaka, where his pencil would be in his mouth as he played a little bit on his guitar, then removing it and ticking something down in his notebook, then going right back to it.

He brought out his MP3 player and some headphones. Setting these on the table, he took out the pencil and opened his notebook. "That's fine. You do what you need to do. I still have ideas. You and I can come up with arrangements and changes for Lyra to do on stage. We'll choose songs, and you and I can get to work. That way, we'll have what we need to get started."

"You really came prepared." I found a smile in the heat, surprising myself. The heat was making me grumpy, and I had to acknowledge this.

"Of course I did. You know me." He turned on the MP3 player and started going through songs, trying to find the right one. "Keitaro had some good ideas. It's true what he told us, that this genre called city pop is pretty popular in the west right now. I looked into it. A lot of the songs we already like to do are a part of it. It's honestly our vibe. It's surprising. Lots of jazz and funk fusion. A chill, mellow vibe. I think we'd fit right into it. If it's what fans want to hear anyway, I think it'll be great. Here, listen to this. I made a playlist."

"Oh yeah, he did mention that to me," Tetsu said. He accepted the wired earbuds from him. "He suggested that we might fit into that. He said artists such as Mariya Takeuchi and Junko Ohashi were in there. I'm not sure I understand it. Isn't that just kayokyoku?"

"Hmm. I've been studying it." Nobu's hand went on his chin and he leaned over, his elbow going onto his crossed knee. He tapped his pencil on his leg absentmindedly. "It is and it isn't. It's a grouping of things. New genres pop up all the time. I think that's just what a genre is: a grouping of things."

"That makes sense. Well, I think we're at an advantage then. I already know so many of them by heart." Tetsu offered one of the earbuds to me, and I put it in my good ear. He put the other one in one of his ears, and I laid my head back on his shoulder. "Knowing them already would help, too, because then I don't need to necessarily memorize anything new. It expedites things."

Nobu nodded. "See, that's what I mean. That's why it's such a good idea. We already know a lot of these songs, and it's what fans over there want to hear. Lyra has already been performing some of these songs. We know them, and they've already been arranged for us. The more I research, the more I see that we've already done so much of it. We were just trying to play what we thought our audience would want to hear, putting in old favorites, but maybe we've stumbled into something bigger."

Tetsu pressed the play button, and my ear filled with a familiar song. I knew this song. My eyes brightened like a robot being turned on by a button. Whirring up. The familiar opening tones of Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love". I knew it by heart.

Nobu went on. "Keitaro was talking about he wanted to spread more of Japanese culture in the west. That Yellow Lizard being so popular internationally is a huge benefit to that mission. He wants us to come with them on this tour to spread as much as possible. He likes that we have so much versatility and can do whatever they ask. What better way to do that then to play city pop, at least for now? They're giving America Japanese popular music, and we can give them old favorites just like we gave our Japanese audience. It's like an explosion of Japanese music history in a way, a real journey. Not to mention, we've got your traditional side, too, Tetsu. Talk about a journey of Japanese music history."

He nodded slowly, thinking about this. Yami was silent, listening intently to the conversation. He smiled, his hands gripping his knees.

"I like a lot of the beats in those old songs, especially when they're more on the funk side. There's a lot of variety," he said.

Miki Matsubara's "Stay With Me" started up, and I couldn't help but smile. It was reminding me of old times in Sawai-san's kitchen, listening to songs like this. Her beloved Meiko Nakahara sounded like she might belong to this genre.

I was inspired. Quietly, my mouth started to move. I closed my eyes, feeling the music. Before I knew it, I was singing. Calm now, not a hint of grumpiness left. I forgot the heat, and really where I was. This old feeling, starting up in me. Like magic that I'd forgotten and left some place.

I didn't notice that their conversation had gone silent as lost myself in the waves of the music that I loved.

When we returned to Tetsu's parents' house in the late afternoon, Sawai-san was waiting for us. I couldn't wait to tell her about the genre we'd be doing in America. Soon after I'd started singing in our backyard, Tetsu had joined in. Our duet. It filled my heart with so much joy. This old feeling of mine. It made any sourness inside of me go away. It was a hope. Like gravity returning to my earth, putting my feet solidly on the ground. Nobu had shared ideas he had in his notebook with me. Songs that we'd already done and could do with a few tweaks, other songs that he thought would more suit Tetsu's voice. They were fantastic ideas, and I found myself getting more enthusiastic as the afternoon went on.

We'd borrowed his MP3 player so I could transfer the songs onto my own. I'd be buying the songs also on my laptop when we got it from my apartment, but for now this would have to do. I was ready to crack a notebook open and start looking at things. Generate ideas for Lyra. It was a wild confidence. Music making a mysterious magic in me. Making me want to move much faster than I had in the past nine months.

As Sawai-san prepared a snack for us, Tetsu and I sat at the table telling her all that had transpired at our house.

"City pop, huh? I've heard of this. I get online. I've seen talk of it for years. A lot of my favorite artists are a part of it. It's a natural thing." She cut up carrots into strips carefully. "It's true, a lot of young people are into it. Sometimes, I feel like the only old fogey listening to it among a bunch of young heads. Lots of young people born past the millennium."

"What? You're not an old fogey!" Tetsu laughed. "That's so interesting, though."

She nodded. "Mm-hmm. They've really claimed it as their own. It goes around again, you know? Young people discover it like it's new."

"Hmm." Tetsu looked up towards the ceiling, considering this. "That makes sense. But, maybe we can use that to our advantage. We were talking about how we already know so many of these songs. We grew up with them. We know them by heart. Even Sana, who didn't grow up in Japan, knows them." He poked me in the shoulder. The earbud that was still in my ear was now playing a song that I knew intimately. Noriko Miyamoto's "My Life", giving me ideas. I smiled at his poke.

"Ahh, that might be thanks to me. I used to play my collection of my favorites a lot." She chuckled, spooning hummus into a small bowl for us now. "In fact, what I'm doing now reminds me of that even more. I'd play my collection on my stereo or record player late at night and prepare their after school snack for the next day."

Tetsu gasped. "Sawai-san! Do you have your collection still?"

She chuckled again. "Of course I do! It's expanded a lot. I go looking for cassettes all the time. In fact, I found Yurie Kokubu's 'Steps' the other day. I was really proud of myself."

"Wah. Can you bring some over? My sisters have a stereo in their room. We can bring it down. It'd be amazing to hear the originals. MP3's are one thing, but nothing beats the original format."

"Goddamn right. I'll bring over a good selection. Do you know what kinds of artists you'd be most interested in?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure. Maybe a variety. We're not sure what we want to play yet. We're more getting ideas."

Sawai-san clapped her hands clean at the side of the table though they were clean. She pushed the bowl of hummus toward us and presented us the plate of veggies she'd cut up at the same time, indicating they were ready, with a big smile. "I'll look at what I have tonight. We're in for some fun tomorrow."

"I can't wait," I sighed happily, listening now to Cindy's dreamy "Touch the Sky."