As Yurie Kokubu's "Just Go Up" floated out of the stereo, I was on the floor looking over printed out lyrics. Old songs, traditional things. Sana and I were coming up with a plan as Sawai-san jammed out in her chair, enjoying the music we were listening to. A pile of tapes and CD's was next to the stereo, a small sampling of her collection that she'd brought today.

I rolled over, holding a piece of paper over my face, staring at it as the edges of ceiling peered over the paper. Sana was laid similar on the couch, on his belly, a pencil between his fingers as he looked over staves on paper. He ticked down things every now and again, the pencil in his mouth in between these times. One of Nobu's earbuds was in his good ear, causing him to listen to two songs at once.

We'd gone over ideas with Nobu earlier in the day. He'd been eager, smiling across the screen as we video chatted. "Things are going back to normal, aren't they?" He asked, full of hope. "We're going to get it. We'll be a writing team in no time again, just you wait." He and Sana talked about song ideas, things that could meld together in a set. Things that would go together effortlessly, no jarring transitions. Nobu liked the idea of mixing traditional music with the relative modernity of city pop. They both knew that through use of instrumentation and lyrics, they could get something that flowed together. "I think instrumentation is the key," Sana had told him. He'd nodded slowly on the camera, agreeing deeply. "Let's incorporate traditional instruments with brass. These songs can share that instrumentation, and then it won't jar the ear. It's a theory, of bringing both types of music on the same modern level with instruments."

Nobu had excitedly asked him how he'd bring brass to traditional music. I already knew the answer. I'd heard such things before. It wasn't a new concept, but one we could play with. It made me wonder if Sana had heard such things before, too. What else didn't I know about him?

I held in my hands the lyrics to a song I knew well. "Lullaby of Takeda." We'd chosen this song right away. It was a song dear to my heart. As I looked over the lyrics, thinking about how I might sing them on stage, Sana was looking over the music. He had brass in mind. However, I knew in my heart that simplicity with this song was best. No need to complicate it with a grand orchestra. The message might be lost if so. But, he was experimenting, so I didn't want to disturb that. I'd transferred my MP3 of it to Nobu's MP3 player this morning, and Sana was listening to it now, over and over.

Maybe this song wasn't as old as others I had in my repertoire. Maybe it wasn't as "traditional" as other songs we could do. But it was a good middle place. Something that people from the west might not have heard. More so, as I held the piece of paper above my face, I was thinking about how I could dance to it. The character in the song. It's about longing to go home. A deep, lonely sadness. How could I embody that sadness? She was a strong female character, though quite young. A robbed innocence there. I would have to treat her respect with gentleness. But, I thought her loneliness could be universal. We might not have the same story, but loneliness is something everyone feels at some point in their lives.

Besides this, we'd also decided on a medley of songs about dragonflies. There were many folk songs about this subject. "Akatonbo" is my favorite, meaning red dragonfly. Lots of meanings in those songs about the end of summer, and going home. I was seeing a pattern. Going home. That lonely feeling of wanting to go home.

Brass didn't make sense to me in these songs, either. Dare I tell him that? The more I thought about these songs, and my dancing to them... The less I thought a grand orchestration would work. Their simplicity was best. As I listened to Yurie Kokubu, I thought about this.

"Ahhh!" Sana cried out. I jumped, and my paper fluttered out of my hands. I rolled over and got up on my elbows, my head snapping towards him.

"What is it?!" Sawai-san asked, half getting up from her chair. "Do you need pain medication?!"

"No," Sana laughed. Relief spread out through my body.

"What is it?" I asked, smiling at him now that I knew there wasn't any danger.

He plucked the earbud out of his ear and let it fall onto his paper. "This isn't working. The brass. I think I'm wrong."

My smile spread into a grin. "You read my mind. I wanted to talk to you about that."

He nodded. "Tell me about it. I'm all ears. I was listening to this, and thinking about putting brass in it, but it drowns out the singing. There's too much focus on the background, and not enough focus on the words. We're supposed to be spreading the message of Japan, right? How are we going to do that if we drown out the words?"

I pointed at him, my mouth open. "You said it exactly! I couldn't figure out what I was going to say to you!"

He laughed, making me laugh, too. "Great minds think alike," he sighed, smiling with me. He laid down a bit, rustling his paper. "Maybe we should go the other way, and make the instrumentation barer on other things. Maybe we make the traditional less like city pop, and make the city pop more like traditional."

This was already making my ears tingle. Make city pop more traditional? "What, with traditional instruments? Shamisen, koto, biwa, kotsuzumi?" I asked. As I said it, he nodded vigorously.

Sawai-san made a small grumbling noise, but we heard it over the music. We turned to her. Yurie Kokubu's "Take a Little Bit of My Love" started up, soothing me. What a lovely song. "But, is it still city pop if you change the instruments? You have to think about what the audience wants. I've seen this before, don't forget. Don't change it too much, or you'll lose them. Don't get too much into a musician's space. Get too experimental, and you alienate yourself. You've done it before," she explained.

Sana nodded, considering this. He just smiled. "This is so nostalgic. Reminds me of old times. I love it." He laid his cheek into his hand. "Maybe we should call up Nobu and ask what he thinks."

I was already thinking about the next step. I had an even better plan. "Wait." My hand went into my pocket, fishing around. I brought out my cellphone. "Let me text one of my friends. You met her at the party celebrating our marriage. She plays the shamisen, and her husband plays the koto? I value their opinion. They'll have good ideas about this."

"Ohh, I remember them." Sana's smile was so pretty, his eyes lit up from within in his curiosity about music. It was so beautiful to me. I momentarily lost myself, seeing him so passionate.

I looked back at my phone, tearing myself away involuntarily. "I might not get her immediately. She's pretty busy. But, I'll tell her about it and maybe she can call back... Huh?" My eyebrow rose. I'd found her number in my texts, but there was an unread one. As I stared at it, it slowly dawned on me what had happened. This thing I'd forgotten. I gasped.

"Huh?" Sana asked, concern there.

I gazed up at him, smiling. I looked back at my phone, gesturing with it. "I forgot! I texted her a while ago. She must have responded back... Oh, I feel so bad. Why didn't I see this?" I opened it, and saw something magical inside. My eyes must have gotten bigger and bigger as I read it.

"That expression on your face," Sana laughed. "What is it? What did she say?"

I slowly got up, and walked over to him. My expression was one of disbelief. This response to my desperate text from what seemed like ages ago now. I remembered the situation. I knelt down next to the couch, letting him see.

"A while ago, I was worried that Lyra wouldn't want to perform together anymore, because of the situation with Yami and Nobu. Everyone seemed to be on Nobu's side, so I got nervous. Keitaro asked me to join Fleeting World, and I didn't know if we'd have any musicians. So, I asked my friend." I adjusted my phone, so he could see better. He pressed his glasses to his nose bridge, and his eyebrows raised as he read the message. I smiled, seeing his pleased face. "See? She wants to join us. With her and her world, we'll have all the traditional musicians we could want. Maybe they can't come with us to America due to scheduling, but they can certainly record their parts. We can take that on the road."

"This is the most amazing thing," Sana sighed. My thumb went to his cheek, rubbing it, not able to resist his smile. I had to touch it. He was so relaxed as this wonderful information. "I can let myself go wild with this. I can add anything I want."

"I'm glad to hear it. Also..." I straightened up, staring at the ceiling in thought. My hand went over my mouth briefly as I thought about it. "Keitaro will probably be happy at this news, too. My friend and her husband are more big names. People in the west might not know them, but people in my mom's generation do. They were pretty big performers in their day, and they still enjoy good careers. They're masters at their craft."

"That gives me more confidence. Do you have some of their music? I'd love to hear them." Sana was staring at me with such interest, that sparkle in his eyes was mesmerizing. He was getting even more passionate. It made me want to scoop him up, so happy.

"Oh, you've heard them a lot. They were always playing in Mermaid Orchestra. Any shamisen and koto, that was them. But yes, I have some of their CD's. They're not on any streaming platforms, but I can get their CD's from my apartment the next time we go to Tokyo."

"No need," Sawai-san said. I turned to her. Her hand was up, and she was smiling, too, obviously pleased. "I can grab the CD's at your apartment if you give me your key. You're on a time crunch, right? Why wait? I'll bring them tomorrow."

"That sounds great. Thank you." Such relief. "I'll go grab my keys, before I forget." I made to go, but was jerked backwards. I looked down, and Sana's finger in my belt loop. I turned around to him, leaning down quickly, because his eyes were closed and his darling lips were puckered up at me.

Our lips met, and it was like a fantasy. His lip gloss tasted like sweet plum, sticky. So soft. We parted, and his short breaths were gorgeous. "Don't be away for too long," he warned, smirking. That smirk was so cute.

I poked his cheek. "I'll come back as quick as I can." His tongue came out at my poke, and I laughed.

As I went to our bedroom, I tapped away at my cellphone, finally responding to my friend's message. Telling her that yes, we wanted her to be involved in our new project. That Lyra was involved after all, but we needed more people, and she and her husband were invaluable to it. Asking her if anyone she knew could be interested also, inquiring about something that could turn into magic.