HOTD: A New Dawn

"Hit a girl? Oi, oi." Tysone laughed, waving his hand. "What kind of bastard do you think I am? Of course I would. But it doesn't seem like you're as hard-headed as those fools you've been hanging around with, so you have nothing to fear. But hey, feel free to change my mind." He challenged, tilting his head and giving her a smile that made her freeze. "Now, what's your name?"

She hesitated before answering. Her voice was soft and demure. "... Miku Yuuki."

Miku Yuuki? 

Tysone stroked his chin, taking a hard look at the girl in front of him. Lately, he had scoured for every name he remembered from Highschool of the Dead, so it didn't take long to dawn on him who this young woman was.

And the realization made him frown. 'She's that character who whored herself out…' The bus scene was still somewhat fresh in his mind. It wasn't even as if he couldn't understand, but the apocalypse had yet to descend. So why was she so willingly going to a love hotel with a bunch of idiots?

Just like that, the interest in Tysone's eyes died completely. Miku could see the way his perception of her turned into one of mild disgust. "Nevermind, then." He said, turning around, and walking off. 

"Huh?" Miku blinked, her expression uncertain. "Wait a moment…"

"..." Tysone ignored her.

"Hey!" Miku chased after him. "I said wait a moment!"

Tysone finally stopped, sighing. He turned to regard her, displeased. "You better have a goddamn reason for wasting my time further, or you'll see whether I'll hit a girl or not." 

For some reason, Miku's cheeks flared up in embarrassment. 

'Weird.' Tysone thought, a frown creasing his brows. "Spit it out already. What is it?"

"I-I just…" Miku trailed off. Her face reddened. Then her expression hardened, like steel. "Thank you. For helping me out."

"No need to thank me. Those boys were annoying enough as is."

"Heh. You don't look like a knight in shining armor, but you beat them like it was nothing! That was amazing! Really amazing! I haven't seen something like that before."

"Oh, yes." Tysone rolled his eyes. "You seem like the kind of chick who loves street fights."

She chuckled softly. "More than you know. They're hot."

"Eh..." Tysone had zero intention to make small talk. However, the silence stretched on. An awkward tension lingered between them. 'Damn, what do I say? Am I supposed to be like... sorry for your bad taste in men?' Then he thought. 'Wait, I have no reason to entertain her, do I? I should get the fuck out of here. I've got work to do.'

However, Miku wasn't done talking yet.

"And..."

Tysone quirked a brow. "And...?" He questioned, impatiently.

She played with a lock of hair, twirling it around a finger. "You haven't told me your name. And you don't look like a high school student. Are you in uni?"

"Sure, what of it?"

"What are you studying? Where do you study?"

"What are you, a stalker?" Tysone shook his head, growing increasingly annoyed with her incessant questioning.

"I was curious." She shrugged. "You're not Japanese. And you look so different. And you're strong."

Tysone shook his head. "Whatever."

"Hey!" She followed after him.

"Stop. Following. Me. I don't want to talk to you. Leave me alone. And stop wasting my time." He was seriously growing irritated. 

"But whyyy?" Miku asked, her eyes widening dramatically. "We just met and you're being so mean."

Tysone sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He stopped and looked at her.

"I don't need your company. Don't want it, in fact. So stop following me. Got it?" He told her bluntly.

She nodded slowly.

"Alright. Now scram. Go back to your idiot boyfriends or whatever."

"They aren't my boyfriends." She said, resolutely. 

Tysone gave her a deadpan stare. "They tried to drag you to a love hotel, and you didn't say anything." Miku blushed. "So, what were you doing, then? Looking to have fun?"

Miku glared, her cheeks turning bright crimson. "I-I wasn't trying to have sex or anything, alright?!" She exclaimed. "I'm not a whore."

"Well, you definitely give that impression."

"You're rude."

"You're annoying, and I couldn't give a fuck either way. I don't want to deal with a woman-child right now." Tysone shrugged. "Bye." He said and walked away, leaving Miku standing there.

...

Mai sat on Tysone's bed, a thoughtful look on her face. "Can you hum it again? I want to record it." 

"Shouldn't you have done that right from the start?" Tysone wore a look of disbelief. 

She shrugged, bobbing a pantyhose-clad foot up and down. "It's not my fault if you're humming skills are lacking. Besides, you said you were humming the song, not singing it. So, you should do it again. I can record it on my phone, then I can send the audio to someone else, and they can probably help me figure out how to make it into a proper melody." Mai finished, waving her phone in the air as if to emphasize the brilliance of her idea.

Tysone sighed, leaning back against his desk chair. "You realize this is just humming, right? Don't expect some kind of Mozart moment from me."

"Relax." Mai said with a small smirk. "I'm not asking for the Sistine Chapel of melodies, just the skeleton of something usable. Now stop stalling and hum."

Grumbling under his breath, Tysone closed his eyes to focus, running through the lyrics in his head. He started to hum, his voice surprisingly steady and rich. Mai tilted her head, impressed despite herself. It wasn't perfect, but there was a natural cadence to it. 

She hit record on her phone and let him finish, watching as his expression softened while he got into the flow. 

When Tysone finally stopped, he opened his eyes to find Mai staring at him.

"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're better at this than you let on." Mai admitted, stopping the recording. "There's something there. It's rough, but it has potential."

"Great." Tysone said, deadpan. "I'm a humming prodigy. Just what I wanted in life."

Mai ignored his sarcasm and played back the audio. "You hear that? It's got this wistful vibe to it. It's perfect for the song."

Tysone rubbed the back of his neck. "So, what now?"

"I'll send this to someone who knows how to arrange music. With some tweaks, it'll sound amazing."

"Who's 'someone'? Do you have a composer on speed dial or something?"

Mai gave him a knowing look. "Not exactly, but I have connections. Leave it to me."

Tysone leaned back, crossing his arms. "Fine. Just make sure you credit my humming brilliance when this becomes a hit."

Mai smirked. "Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure everyone knows. You'll be that guy—the genius hummer."

Tysone groaned. "I'm already regretting this."

"Too late~"

He sighed.

She leaned back on his bed. "You've got any other stuff you'd like to sell?"

"You make me sound like some kind of black-market lyric dealer."

"Aren't you one?" Mai tilted her head.

"Stupid bunny woman taking advantage of poor lil ol' me."

"Oh shut up." 

She rolled her eyes. He smirked. 

"Well, you're in luck though. I do have some stuff I want to get rid of." Tysone patted a drawer next to him. 

Mai raised her eyebrows, curiosity flickering across her face. She watched as Tysone reached into a drawer, his movements slow and deliberate. He retrieved a few small notebooks and placed them on the table. 

He gestured to them with a flourish. "Behold. The fruits of my mind."

She picked up a notebook, flipping through the pages.

Tysone's eyes never left hers as he watched her expression. "I wrote a few of those when I had nothing to do. They're not perfect, but they're pretty decent, I think. I can write a few more for you if you're willing to pay." He grinned. "And hey, I promise not to charge too much."

Mai glanced up at Tysone, her eyes reflecting a mixture of amusement and annoyance. She closed the book. "You really have no shame."

His smile grew wider. "Not when it comes to money."

"Uh-huh." She looked back at the notebooks, leafing through them again. "So, you just scribble whatever comes to your mind?"

Tysone shrugged. He picked up one of the books. "Pretty much. Whatever pops into my head. Some are just random ideas, others are half-written lyrics. It's a mess, really."

She read them meticulously. "They're… good." She breathed out, genuinely impressed. 

"Most of them are not what I'd envision you bringing to your audience." He laughed. After all, it would be incredibly amusing to see Mai singing some of those stuff to Japanese people. Then again, maybe one day he'd be able to convince her. "But I'm sure there is some stuff in there that you could use."

Mai's mouth twitched in a small smile. "Maybe." She glanced at Tysone. "I'll look them over more closely. I think I can find a use for some of these. If I like something, I can get it polished up and make a full song out of it." She sounded thrilled. "And if they turn out to be good, we could even make an album!"

Author Note: More chapters on [email protected]/LordCampione.