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"Mumumu..."
The classroom at sunset. Class 1-6.
I took off the headphones connected to my laptop, draped them around my neck, crossed my arms, and groaned.
On the screen, the performances of everyone in amane were lined up one by one as waveform data.
I am currently in the middle of a fierce battle with the mixing.
『Listening to this sound source now, I thought that maybe, for the first time, I might be able to be of use.』
『It doesn't matter how narrow the eye of the needle is. I want something I can say "I can do this" with confidence.』
Since I spoke so boldly despite being an underclassman, at that time, I really felt like I could do it. However, the ideas that seemed to be floating around then appeared to have vanished into the mist before I knew it.
...In the end, I had just panned the instruments to the left and right and adjusted the volume somewhat, and now I was stuck.
"Nnn..."
I crossed my arms and leaned back to look up at the ceiling.
"Hanya!?"
There, before I realized it, a classmate with headphones around her neck just like mine was looking down at me.
"...What are you worrying so much about?"
Her blonde hair, trimmed sharply around the middle of her cheeks, looked very artistic. Combined with those cat-like upturned eyes, she gave off a prickly, unapproachable atmosphere.
She is Hirosue Airi-san. She is a September student.
A September student. In short, she's a returnee who transferred here in September.
Since Musashino International High School has "International" in its name, every year about ten students in each grade transfer in during September, which is when the school year changes overseas.
My childhood friend, Tokugawa Soushi-kun, went to study abroad and came back a year later, so it's a bit of a different case, but the idea is basically the same.
I don't know where Airi-san returned from.
In fact, I don't know anything about her other than her name.
That's because she is...
"I don't know what you're trying to do, but I can tell just from those cheap monitor headphones that you're not serious."
"Y-Yes...!?"
For some reason, an aggressive and somewhat rude remark interrupted my tangled thoughts. What is with her!? ...Wait!
"You know about monitor headphones!?"
"Of course I know. Who do you think I am?"
"You're a September student... right?"
When I tilted my head, she gave a light click of her tongue, seemingly displeased with my words.
If she's in such a bad mood, I wish she wouldn't talk to me...
"...Why are you doing mixing at school?"
She continued her questions while still looking grumpy.
"Um, well... I thought about doing it at home, but I wanted to do it while feeling the atmosphere of the school classroom."
"Hah...? The atmosphere of the classroom...?"
She looked down at me with a condescending gaze, exuding an overwhelming sense of pressure. No, no, I'm not good with this...
"Um, um... these people are a band called amane."
"Amane...?"
"Yes, they're a band of second-years in the Rock Club. And, the concept of the band is a group that plays 'youth'."
"...Youth? Rock Club?"
She frowned in disgust.
It was the kind of face someone who hates natto would make if you stirred it and made them smell it. And yet, she still didn't try to leave.
"Um..."
"............"
Airi-san remained silent.
"Um, um, do you do home recording?"
"...Well, yeah."
When I couldn't stand the silence and asked a question, I finally got an affirmative answer.
"Um... then, would you like to listen to this?"
I took the headphones off my neck and offered them to her.
"Hey, let me borrow those for a bit."
She might have been waiting for those words.
She snatched the headphones—the ones she had just called cheap—from my hand and put them on her ears. Since she already had headphones around her neck, it made her look like a girl who really loves headphones, which was a bit funny.
"...Don't smile with that annoying face and just press play."
"Yes..."
Why do I have to be told all this by someone I've barely met...
When the playback finished, she muttered, "I see..." and took off the headphones, looking at me.
"...You said the people playing this are students at our school, right? What year and class?"
"Um, um... which instrument?"
"Drums and bass. I guess the drums are the urgent matter? Oh, I don't care about the guitar."
"Urgent matter...? Anyway, if it's the drummer, Konuma-senpai..."
Just as I was about to say that,
"Ugeh..."
The vibration of Airi-san's smartphone echoed in the quiet classroom.
"Ah, geez...!!"
Airi-san looked at the screen, bit her lower lip in frustration and impatience, and then said,
"Come to school at 8 AM tomorrow morning."
She made such a one-sided demand sharply.
"Y-Yes...?"
"Just do it! P... prom..."
"Prom...?"
Is she going to take me to a prom...?
"P-Promise!"
"...Did you just stutter?"
"S-Shut up!"
Airi-san, her face turning red, ran out of the classroom.
Where is she heading in such a hurry? ...Can I take that last word as a "promise"?
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