A free show

Normally, she would never do something like this. It seemed too sketchy and was a bit too out of the way from her usual spots. But at the same time, free was hard to turn down.

So, when Mimi Tachikawa gained free tickets to a concert, she was hyped for it and invited her friends. Not the DigiDestined, they were too busy to come over, but some friends she had made while in America. Non Digimon related friends, just some girls she had gotten along well with during school and kept in touch with. Which was handy, as Mimi didn’t know the area the concert was taking place at. In fact if Mimi had tried for find it on her own, she probably would have walked past it several times. She knew the area was going to be a bit more run down/bad side of the racks but, had expected something a little more upscale. Not much but something above the fact they were playing underneath a railway in an empty lot. At the very least they could have been inside.

But again, free was free. Her ticket granted her free entrance and concessions so even if the first couple of acts were bad, she at least would get free food and show out of it. Throw in a couple pictures that would good on her socials, and it wouldn’t be too bad of a night.

Surprisingly, there was a decent number of people milling around in front of the stage. Along with a fair amount of concession stands and vendor stalls. The fact there was more fans and staff here was a good sign. Mimi had expected far less people but no one goes to bad show in theses numbers.

“Even if you were bored enough to go to a bad show, might as well go to karaoke.” Mimi thought, “Hmm would have been fun to get gang here, I should take them for a night out next time I see them.”

The DigiDestined had come back to New York from Japan for a needed a get away from all the books, figures, and paperwork that college was sure to weigh her down with. Izzy would have her head on a platter if he knew. Him and Joe both actually. Besides she wanted time to figure out what she would do with her life. Mimi thought about fashion or marketing as a focus but cooking was something she had started to enjoy. And a well known cooking school had invited her to attend.

No no, that line of thinking was for later. Let her have just a little more time to enjoy herself. Between that and handling Digimon related incidents, Mimi knew she’d be busy soon enough. A two week vacation wasn’t going to be the end of the world.

19-year-old stood with the group of girlfriends she invited. All standing out a bit more than the other guests. Most wore more punkish or metal rocker clothes. Some girls also wore some rather revealing outfits, from low crop tops to a lot of fishnets. Even her friends had gotten in on the act but the most they wore was an old band t-shirt or let her jacket. Mimi by contrast, had her medium blue denim blazer on with a white short sleeved shirt with front designs, pink pleated skirt and brown knee-high boots. And her pink cowboy hat. She loved to bring that thing as a good luck charm when going off to something new.

All and all, they stuck out like a sore thumb. Mimi especially felt awkward; how was it possible to feel both over and under dressed? But only a few of the other attendees gave them flack, most of them were nice and kind to her. A few talked to Mimi and her friends, making them more at ease and just chatting about the local music that would be playing. Most weren’t band Mimi knew, but the name of one stuck out in her head. Mimi fished out the ticket she found in the mail and showed it to the other hand goers, who were more than happy to explain things. Seemed even grungy rock fans and groupies h had some manners.

“Oh that’s from Rex.” One guy with done up in purple hair said, “Dude’s from a band named The Digi-Tones. Uses a mix of electronic and old fashion rockabilly sounds. Really out there.”

“Mmm pretty dreamy too.” A black haired woman added.

“And the ticket?” Mimi asked.

“Oh Rexy sends out free tickets randomly, and makes the scene give the holders free refreshments.” The woman explained, pointing at a set up stand serving food and drinks, “Rexy was the one who got this whole thing off the ground so we’re not playing in garages and back alleyways.”

“Yeh, he’s done right by us so free food to the few random people that get a Rex ticket is the least we can do.” A heavily buffer bouncer added, “Though just don’t fully eat us out of house and home k lass?”

“Hmm that depends on how good your food is.” Mimi teased with a laugh as she went to go get a bite. Her time in America had given her a taste for some of the faster finger food.

But there were other stalls set up. One was selling novelity T-shirts which looked rather interesting to Mimi as they ran the gauntlet from 'poor taste' to 'high quality that fell off a truck'. Bargain hunting wasn't the goal here but Mimi COULD use a few new shirts, at the very least something to wear to bed and those big baggy shirts looked like they could work.

There was also a few stalls set up to sell of course, CDs(still really?) or bring attention to the band's online music library. That side of the industry Mimi didn't have much knowledge about but the groups here seemed to sweeten the deal with free flash-drives to host the music and some PDF files stories and interviews with the band, along with some posed pictures. Maybe she could find something to send off to Sora or Kairi back in Japan...., if it was priced right.