“You’ve been sleeping for quite a while, haven’t you? I’ve been waiting forever, honestly.”
As I gently opened my eyes, I found myself in the corner of a classroom bathed in the colors of the sunset.
Ichikawa Amane was peering into my face, speaking in a playful yet somewhat worried tone.
Rubbing my eyes, I sluggishly pulled myself up.
“Sorry... Uh, how long was I out?”
“About two hours, I think.”
“Two hours!? You should’ve woken me up!”
“I’m not Konuma-kun’s mother, you know~”
Ichikawa shrugged her shoulders.
Yesterday, I had entered the ‘zone’ for the first time in a while and stayed up all night composing a song, but I had collapsed before I could send the demo track.
Since the Cherry Boys had reserved the studio for after school today, the members of amane were supposed to meet in the Class 2-6 classroom. I had entrusted my smartphone with the audio file to them, told them, “Let me know when everyone’s finished listening,” and then faceplanted onto the desk to take a nap. For a very long time, it seemed.
“Where are Azuma and Sako...?”
“Ah, talking about other girls the moment you wake up.”
“No, even if you say that...”
Ichikawa puffing out one cheek was a sight for sore eyes, but we couldn’t afford to be like this within the band every single time.
“Just kidding, it was a joke. Well, not entirely a joke.”
“Which one is it...?”
“Now, I wonder? Anyway, those two went to the school store since they reached a breaking point.”
“I see...”
I was glad the store was still open.
“Konuma-kun, were you dreaming? You were talking in your sleep.”
“Eh, what was I saying?”
“Hmm, I couldn’t catch most of it, but it’s certain you were saying other girls’ names. Though you didn’t mention Tsubame-chan or any names of seniors or juniors.”
Counting people I didn’t even call out is actually kind of scary... I mean.
“I’m unconscious when I’m sleeping, so it can’t be helped...”
“It’s a problem precisely because it’s unconscious, you know?”
Ichikawa pouted her lips for a moment, then gave a soft smile.
“...Well, since the last name you said was mine, I’ll let it slide.”
“Is that so...”
Ah, so that’s why she’s in a relatively good mood despite the constant nipping...
“Was it a good dream? Or a bad one?”
“Hmm, I feel like it was both.”
I was still dragging along that sensation unique to dreams where memories are blurred. That feeling where things that actually happened and things that didn’t visit you with a strange balance and a strange sense of conviction.
I didn’t remember it well, but I felt like it was a very long dream, and a very dramatic one at that.
“Ichikawa, have you ever caught a cold before?”
“Hmm, not since I met Konuma-kun, I think.”
“I thought so...”
“Did you have a dream like that?”
“Hmm, I wonder... I feel like I did.”
“Ahaha, how vague. Well, that’s how dreams are.”
Just then.
“Ah, Konuma is awake!” “Takuto, is your body okay?”
Azuma and Sako returned.
Sako’s phrase didn’t have a rising intonation at the end, but it was likely a question. There was about 0.something millimeters of worry visible on her face.
“Honestly, you were sleeping like your internal thread had been cut... Here, a canned Calpis. Canned.”
“Oh, thanks... No, I told you guys to wake me up.”
I opened the tab of the Calpis handed to me by the Youth Club President, who emphasized the container. Perhaps because I had been sweating in my sleep, I felt it soaking into my body. (I wonder if this was a treat...?)
“I tried to wake you, okay? But these two Konuma Diehards here were in favor of pampering you, saying things like ‘Let’s leave him be, Yuri. Konuma-kun looks like he’s sleeping so comfortably,’ or ‘I’m his childhood friend so I know, but Takuto gets cranky if you force him awake when he’s like this.’ So I had no choice but to follow the band’s direction. I can handle a difference in musical direction, but I can’t stand a breakup over a difference in Konuma direction.”
“What even is a ‘Konuma direction’...”
Also, it’s a bit hard to point out, but ‘Konuma Diehards’ is a mysterious term, and I’m not actually that bad when I wake up, okay?
“Eh, but Sakohasu, Konuma is bad at waking up, right?”
“Where did that ‘but’ come from? Well, he’s bad at both falling asleep and waking up. Though I’m the same with falling asleep.”
“...Sako-san, the way you say that makes it sound like you’ve slept together before?”
“Yeah, because we’re childhood friends.”
“Whoa...”
Between the two who were practically throwing sparks at each other, Azuma let out a strange sound and shrugged. No, you’re the one who provided the fuse, didn’t you?
“Well, putting that aside! I finished writing the lyrics!”
“Already!?”
I jerked my body forward. See, I’m not bad at waking up.
“It’s not so fast that you need to say ‘already.’ I’m telling you, you slept for a huge amount of time.”
“True. I finished the bassline too.”
“I memorized everything as well! But that’s because Konuma-kun’s song is catchy and good. Ehehe.”
Hmm, while I was grateful that Ichikawa-san was a literal angel, it seemed I really had been dead to the world.
“By the way, Erina sent me a LINE message saying the Cherry Boys finished their practice, so the studio is free.”
“Really? Then should we try playing it together?”
While Sako and Azuma were making that suggestion.
“...Sorry.”
I looked at the lyrics handed to me and softly muttered an apology.
“No, it’s totally fine that you were sleeping, okay? It’s because you worked so hard yesterday!”
“Yeah, I would’ve woken you if it was really bad.”
“True. I said all that earlier, but I needed time to write the lyrics anyway. ...Wait, huh?”
Azuma tilted her head as if sensing something.
“...It’s not that.”
I confessed something that might potentially ruin the past few hours and the sense of accomplishment the three of them had.
“...This song, it seems like it’s still unfinished. We can’t play it yet.”
The reason I used the words ‘seems like,’ as if it were someone else’s problem, was because I had only just realized it was unfinished myself.
Apparently, while I was dead asleep, all sorts of things had piled up in my heart.
Emotions I haven’t turned into sound yet, feelings I haven’t turned into a song yet.
The sadness, the regret, the betrayal, and the despair I encountered in the world of dreams—the pitch-black world behind my eyelids.
And the hope that I should finally be able to see once I open my eyes.
“...It’s not over yet, not at all.”
I bowed my head deeply.
I was utterly exasperated with myself for saying such a thing after sleeping the whole time.
“Well then, I guess we have no choice but to surpass every song we’ve made so far, right?”
A bold voice drifted down from above me.
Startled, I looked up.
“Come on, Konuma.”
“Come on, Takuto.”
“Come on, Konuma-kun.”
The three of them had expectant smiles on their faces as they took my hands and pulled me to my feet.
“Let’s go make a masterpiece.”