“——The next song is our final one.”
“““Ehh~!”””
...The standard reaction returns.
“And so——”
But what comes next is anything but standard.
“We won't be doing an encore today. This is truly, genuinely, our last song.”
A stir of commotion ripples through the crowd.
It's not that bands that don't do encores don't exist. However, the members of the Rock Club know that amane isn't one of them, and the headlining band at Rockon always does an encore.
That’s exactly why they had been teasing with those comfortable “Ehh~” reactions, as if it were a joke...
“Today is our last song... and the last song for us as amane.”
Ichikawa suddenly looks upward.
Then, with a trembling voice and a smile.
“Ah— I see...”
I thought she was going to say how lonely she felt, but instead, her mouth formed the words:
“Singing with amane is so much fun...”
Those words felt far more heart-wrenching than simply saying she was lonely.
“But, we’ve already decided. For the sake of each other’s dreams.”
She lets out a long breath.
My heart was calmer than I expected.
It wasn't resignation.
We had been allowed to play every song we had, and I felt proud that we hadn't just played without mistakes, but had performed with more emotion than ever before.
If there ever comes a day when I think we can do a better live than this...
It might be in 2025, like Ichikawa said.
Let’s gather again and make music together.
As long as we're alive, we can gather as many times as we want.
“If you can have a high school life so fun that you think 'I want to go back' or 'I want to do high school one more time,' isn't that a huge success?”
I had said something like that to Azuma once. For me, it was actually quite a good point. I still believe that.
I’m truly grateful to have been able to feel that way.
Just as I let out a small laugh——
——I found myself within the audience.
It was me, back in the second year of middle school.
That version of me, listening to amane’s music with deep interest, isn't as cynical as the one who eventually became a high schooler.
Instead, his eyes are lit with a spark of hope as he looks up at us.
He looks like he’s about to pull out a laptop and an audio interface to start recording right now, and the current me can’t help but give a wry smile.
Hey.
That place is the entrance to a long, long tunnel.
At first, you’ll start walking triumphantly, pushed by the light shining from behind, but before you know it, everything will be pitch black.
No one will be in sight, and you’ll be all alone again.
Even so, if you keep walking, believing you should just keep going the way you were, you’ll hit a wall.
Where did you go wrong? Which way is forward?
You’ll lose your way and end up standing still.
I haven’t made it out of there yet either.
I still don’t know which way is forward.
Those flat, mundane, unpeaceful worries will make you suffer to no end.
But there is one thing I can tell you.
No, maybe this is a request.
As soon as you get home today, I don’t care if the melody is distorted, just make something.
I don’t care if the lyrics are clumsy, just write them.
That song will accidentally ring out in that classroom and take you to a place of no return.
To that multipurpose room, to that lecture room, and finally, to this stage.
Every live performance isn't straightforward.
It’s full of painful things, things that don’t reach others, and moments where you want to throw it all away.
But that’s fine.
It’s because it’s important that it hurts this much.
My conclusion is just one thing.
Truly.
——I’m glad I formed amane.
“Lastly, can I say just one selfish thing?”
At a timing that felt like she had waited for my conversation between past and present to end, Ichikawa addresses the audience.
“This is my final message. For this song only, please listen to every single word without missing a thing.”
Applause follows her request.
——Alright. This is it.
Well then, let’s go meet the future.
Using the Japanese count specified by Azuma.
“One, two, three, four, one!”
Our final song begins!
＊ ＊ ＊
『Last!』
The character for ‘Correct’
It felt like I was grasping at the sky
I wrote it without knowing why
That symbol is just like a simple ‘Five’
When I press it
The fire that the lighter lit
Trying to thaw it out
I learned I didn’t even have the right
No matter how much I apologized
The future was a blank slate
I won’t listen to the demo anymore
I won’t listen unless it’s a band
Because I read the ‘Spell’
I’ve gained such strong feelings
I was dreaming all along
I never woke up until today
I wonder if we can make music together someday
That’s exactly why
Last!
Because I’ve already decided
Let’s go meet the ‘us’ that lies ahead
Even if it’s a path so painful it feels like dying
It’s not like there’s any other meaning to living anyway
Last!
Surely even further than tomorrow
Let’s rewrite ‘Me and You’ in the distance
Even if that means denying the present
The voice you gave me means nothing if it doesn’t come out
Even if none of the dreams we saw together come true
Let’s look for the next dream
It’s nothing at all
Because that sound we made for the first time
Continues to linger in these ears
The ‘Truth’ is hard to see
The ‘Truth’ always hurts
You don’t have to be kind
Let’s release it all
Every single bit, everything
Last!
Because I’ve already decided
Let’s go meet the ‘us’ that lies ahead
Even if it’s a path so painful it feels like dying
It’s not like there’s any other meaning to living anyway
Last!
Surely even further than tomorrow
Let’s rewrite ‘Me and You’ in the distance
Even if that means denying the present
The voice you gave me means nothing if it doesn’t come out
Hey, can you hear it? The final words
Never look back
Don’t hesitate anymore about whether it’s okay to go
See, now the future has become a blank space
Fill that gaping hole
With that voice of yours
Even if we part or break, we head toward the dream
Let’s tie the story together properly for once, right now
It’s a cliché for that purpose
Ready, set,
『The End!』
＊ ＊ ＊
Jaan!! The sound rings out.
I can't stand it, I can't stop.
I’ll run until the very last second.
Ah, so this is how Azuma felt when she retired from the Instrumental Music Club.
“Singing with amane is so much fun...”
But that’s exactly why.
Because there is an end, this moment shines.
“LAST!!!”
I shout, and the three of us swing our arms down.
Jaan!!!
A massive sound echoes, and the final song ends.
I did it.
A perfect end credit sequence.
The music that used to be mine alone became everyone’s music, and I sprinted at full speed to the finish line tape.
“Thank you very much!”
But.
What reached us as we shouted that was...
“Encore!” “Encore!!” “Encore...!!”
It was an incredibly uncoordinated encore, with handclaps that weren't even in sync.
“No, I told you we aren't doing one——”
Is this just high schoolers messing around? I thought as I looked at the audience.
But there, I saw the serious expression on every single face.
No one was joking.
No one was making light of it.
As if clinging to us, as if pleading, they were shouting for an encore.
“Is it really over?” they seemed to be asking.
But unfortunately, we had already played every song we had.
We shouldn't let this drag on.
And yet.
...And yet.
“Still, that band... amane, was it? They were amazing. Truly feels like the new club president.”
The words of the people who listened to our music refrain in my mind.
“It’s a good song...!”
“Please let me release this song as a track created by amane.”
“Yes, the live was incredibly good...! I’m not just being polite, that song pushed me forward and helped me do my best.”
“...Please, Senpai. Take responsibility for changing someone’s life. You, amane... you are my idol.”
I think to myself as I hear those encore voices that there must be so many other feelings that just haven't reached my ears yet.
“Encore!” “Please don’t say you’re stopping...!” “Why, just when we finally found you...!” “ENCORE!!!!!”
The encore remains uncoordinated, as each person continues to chant their thoughts like a wish or a prayer.
“——Are you satisfied with changing just your own life, Konuma-senpai?”
“What is this——”
Back then.
I felt like the bands that passed through Seishun Rebellion, like IRIA, had fulfilled amane’s dream before us.
Life is a game of musical chairs. If someone else fulfills your dream, you can’t fulfill it anymore.
...That’s what I thought, but.
“——It had already come true...!”
Azuma says the wrong thing sometimes, too.
Turning the world upside down is the protagonist’s job?
That’s not true at all.
The ones who turn the world upside down are always the people who listen.
Because it’s true, isn’t it?
I finally realized it.
At this very last moment, I finally realized.
The reason I’m doing music wasn't to get on the Oricon rankings.
The reason I’m doing music wasn't to appear on Music Station or the Kohaku Uta Gassen.
The reason I’m doing music wasn't to stand at the Budokan or perform at summer festivals.
The reason I’m doing music wasn't even to play a show with the bands I admired so much.
The place where I want my music to ring out the most isn't there.
The place where I want our music to ring out the most is——
——Inside your eardrums, you who are listening.
When you’re suffering. When you feel like you can’t fight. When you’re about to break. When you’re about to give up. When it hurts.
When you’re truly beaten down and collapse to your knees.
If our sound rings out within those eardrums, near that heart.
If you can stand up once more because of that.
If that changes something about you.
And if you then change something else.
——Isn't that exactly what it means to turn the world upside down?
If that’s the case, we don’t have time to be disbanding.
To increase those moments even by one, we don’t have time to be resting.
“Let’s look for the next dream. It’s nothing at all”?
Are dreams really so simple that we can just accept things so politely?
That really isn't like Azuma at all.
It’s not like that...
There’s no such thing as “looking for the next dream.” It’s impossible.
——And then, at that moment.
I heard the sound of something snapping.
“It’s okay, Konuma. Being good at giving up is strictly for the A-side.”
...Ah.
So that’s what it was.
“ENCORE!!!!” “ENCORE!!!!!!” “ENCORE!!!!!”
The encore still won't stop. The volume is only getting louder.
Ichikawa, looking troubled, wipes her tears.
“Thank you for the encore. But, I’m sorry, we——”
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!”
At that moment, I let out a loud shout.
...Ah—geez, I’m like a broken record doing this.
“Konuma-kun...?”
It was a voice I once used to push her back, but now I used it to interrupt her words.
“Takuto...!”
Sako, with her face still cast down, synchronizes with me and makes her bass roar loudly.
——I won’t let you say we’re disbanding.
“Sako-san...?”
“Amane!”
Whether I was calling for Amane or amane didn't matter anymore.
“Do you intend to go back to being ‘the polite version of myself’?”
“...!”
“Knowing when to quit, efficiency, numbers! Who cares about that stuff anymore!?”
“...But!”
“I won’t listen to any more ‘buts’!”
At my shout, Ichikawa finally looks startled.
“That means...!!”
“You don’t have to hesitate anymore about whether it’s okay to say it!”
We already knew we didn't need a reason.
What it will become in the future. The fact that we might not be able to debut anymore.
All of that is irrelevant.
If we can’t debut, we’ll just stay amateurs.
Scaling up, selling, being in demand, being useful, standing on a huge stage—none of that matters.
As long as our sound rings out in someone’s eardrums.
As long as it keeps ringing!
“This ‘Last’ isn’t the ‘Last’!”
“Ah, I see...!”
“You finally noticed, you dummy Amane!”
Sako raises her voice and curls the corners of her mouth upward.
“Sing, amane!!”
I hear Azuma’s shout from the floor.
“Turn everything upside down!!”
There was no way that Azuma, our band’s strongest lyricist, would write such resigned lyrics.
There was no way she hadn't set something up.
“Because, I’m amane’s lyricist, right?”
And finally, Ichikawa turns back to the microphone.
“Is it still...”
She shouted at the top of her lungs.
“——Is it still okay if we keep going!?”
Her voice cracked, which was rare for her, and it sounded awkward.
“““““““WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”””””””
But the boiling venue didn't care about such minor details in her words.
“Because... because! This Last didn't mean ‘the end’!”
Ichikawa’s voice was wet with tears.
A massive cheer rose from the audience. The first was Azuma’s voice.
As if responding to it, the cheers rose higher and higher.
The heat in that pitch-black space swelled to an extraordinary degree.
I had been constantly thinking of a way to escape this tunnel.
I kept thinking about where the exit was.
I searched but couldn't find it. No matter how much I walked, I couldn't see it.
But.
It was fine even if we were inside the tunnel.
There was no need to escape.
“This Last didn't mean ‘the end’!!”
Because no matter how pitch-black a place is.
If you sing, the music will ring out.
“This Last——”
Waiting for the moment Ichikawa announces it, Sako and I stop the sound with eye contact.
“——It meant ‘to continue’!!”
“One, two, three, four!”
Don’t say something as tasteless as “Are you playing the same song twice?”
Now that the ‘Last!’ (End!) has been flipped into ‘Last!’ (Continue!).
““““Ready, go!””””
The exact same sound will resonate with a completely different meaning.