The next morning.
"Ugh..."
I checked my smartphone as I was leaving. Although 'Read 3' was shown next to the speech bubble, no one had replied.
I see, so I struck out... That's actually pretty depressing...
"Kuaaa..." I let out a big yawn (having effectively slept for only two hours) and passed through the ticket gate of my local station.
There, a blonde girl holding a bass was leaning against the wall, tapping away on her smartphone.
Sako, who seemed to notice me by my presence, softly raised her face. After looking at me with a somewhat displeased expression, she spoke.
"...Good morning."
She was a bit blunt, but she said it.
As we headed toward the platform, I bowed my head.
"Uh, sorry about the day before yesterday..."
"It's not like anyone was at fault, right?"
She was acting cold.
When she enters this mode, nothing I say works on Sako. I just have to wait for her to thaw naturally.
Even so, since she seemed to have waited for me, Sako likely intended to make up as well.
As we stood side by side in silence and reached the platform, the train arrived.
The two of us frowned at the train, which was as crowded as ever.
"Why did you send the audio file on the day of practice?"
Inside the packed train, Sako spoke up irritably.
She held her bass in her left hand and placed her right hand near my chest.
"Oh, sorry..."
Is that right hand meant to be a rejection, like 'don't get any closer than this'...?
"Yesterday, when it was finished, I got caught up in the tension..."
"It wasn't yesterday; it was this morning."
"My bad..."
Sako remained surly.
"Takuto, you might have gone straight to sleep after sending it, but I was listening to it the whole time."
"Huh?"
"I'm saying I couldn't sleep because you sent something that made me want to listen to it over and over again."
"Oh...?"
Wait, is this what they call a tsundere? Could it be that she's praising me a lot...?
"I mean, we have practice today. I thought I had to memorize it by then, you idiot."
She raised the right hand she had placed on my chest slightly and gave me a light smack.
Oh, so that's what she meant...? I'm really sorry, Sakosh...
"...Why did you add a grand chorus?"
It was Sako's usual type of question where the end of the sentence doesn't go up.
"Well, uh..."
"Could it be, again..."
The gaze looking up at me became sharp.
Our eyes met for a moment, and Sako's eyes and nose were right in front of mine.
"Well, it's thanks to everyone, I guess..."
At that moment, I also turned my face upward to look at the ceiling. Man, it's really hot. Did we end up in a weak air-conditioning car...?
"Idiot."
Sako hit my shoulder once more as my eyes wandered, then she looked down with her ears turning bright red.
After that, Sako became silent. We were swayed by the train, transferred, and arrived at Shin-Koganai Station.
On the school route from Shin-Koganai to the high school, Musashino International students were walking here and there.
While waiting at the only traffic light before the school...
"Nn."
Sako held out her left hand toward me.
"Hmm?"
"Finger."
"Finger?"
My job was very simple: just repeat what Sako said with a question mark added to it.
When I looked at the finger pointed straight at me, it looked like the skin was peeling a little.
"I practiced the bass a lot, so it got hard."
"O-Oh."
On both guitar and bass, if you press down on the hard strings many times, the skin on your fingertips becomes hard. It seems that if you apply stimulation to the same spot repeatedly, it ends up like that.
While I was looking at it with an 'I see' expression, Sako used her right fingertips to poke the tips of her left fingers.
"Nn."
"Hmm?"
When I asked back, Sako poked her fingertips once more.
Eh, what? Is she telling me to try poking them?
Prompted, I timidly poked Sako's left fingertips.
"O-Oh... they really have gotten quite hard."
"See?"
Sako's 0.something millimeter smile activated.
That smile made my heart skip a beat, and at the same time, I realized what I was doing.
Wait, what am I doing touching a girl's fingers!? On the way to school!
I hope no one is watching!? As I looked around frantically...
About five meters behind us, the natural angel was standing there, looking startled and smiling awkwardly.
"Ehehe... um, sorry?"
Ichikawa said that as she stepped up to stand next to Sako, looking like she had given up.
"Why didn't you call out to us?"
Sako asked (probably).
"No, well, I thought it would be bad to disturb you, at least in the morning..."
Ichikawa said while scratching her cheek.
"Disturb? At least in the morning?"
Just as I asked, the light turned green.
Starting to walk as if my question never existed, Sako muttered.
"It's fine. Let's go together."
"...Yeah!"
Ichikawa-san looks so happy, she's truly an angel. Yeah, yeah, this is soothing.
By the way, I guess I'm not getting an answer to my question, huh?
"More importantly, Konuma-kun!"
"Hmm?"
"The grand chorus!"
"Ah, right. Sorry for sending it so early in the morning."
Did I make Ichikawa angry too?
When I bowed as a sign of apology, Ichikawa showed confusion.
"Eh, why are you apologizing?"
"I was so happy! I've already listened to it about 30 times just this morning! I've memorized it!"
"O-Oh..."
Wait, really? I got worried because you didn't reply on LINE...
"That is your answer, isn't it, Konuma-kun?"
She looked at me and grinned.
I felt somewhat embarrassed and quickly lowered my eyes.
"For today's practice, I'll just sing it with 'la-la-la' for now, though."
"I guess so..."
That's the thing... It was fine to add the song on a whim because I was hyped, but I wonder if Azuma will actually write proper lyrics for it...
"I wonder what kind of lyrics Yuri will write."
"I wonder..."
Ichikawa didn't seem worried about that at all. Well, if Ichikawa asks her, it'll probably be fine...
Ichikawa-san was in a good mood, humming the new grand chorus.
This kind of thing makes me really happy... Konuma is a little moved.
"Ichikawa-san, let me see your fingers."
Suddenly, Sako spoke to Ichikawa.
"Eh, my fingers?"
Saying that, Ichikawa spread both hands and held them out toward Sako.
"Hmm..."
Sako poked the fingers of Ichikawa's left hand.
"Um, what is it...?"
Ichikawa asked me over Sako's shoulder while appearing a bit ticklish.
I'll leave them alone since those two playing together is heartwarming. Plus, my question was ignored earlier.
"I think mine are harder," Sako said.
"Ah, yeah, maybe...?"
Since Ichikawa was confused, I decided to provide a supplement.
"To Sako, that face is her smug face."
I mean, look, not just the corners of her mouth, but her eyebrows are up by 0.something millimeters too, right?
"Eh? Ah, is that so?"
"I'm not doing that."
Sako frowned and denied it.
"You were."
"I wasn't."
"No, I can tell that much."
When I threw in a retort with a blank look in my eyes...
"...Then, fine, let's just say I was."
For some reason, Sako's version of a smirk activated. Huh...?
"Well, you see," Ichikawa said with a light cough.
"I think I can tell she's making a smug face now too."
Ichikawa smiled wryly, but she also looked a little happy.
As we walked like that for a while, someone slapped my shoulder from behind. *Smack!*
"Ow!"
I turned around and saw a girl with brown hair wearing a mask and carrying a bass on her back.
"Uh...?"
"Konuma, you've really done it now."
The brown-haired girl said in a familiar voice.
"If you send something like that, I can't sleep. As a result, I came here without makeup... what a total blunder..."
...I see, so this person is Azuma.
While thinking that makeup really changes a person, I also thought it wasn't a bare face she needed to be ashamed of... as I watched her.
"Don't stare. In fact, don't look at all."
She said that and turned her face away.
Finally, I was denied even looking at her...
"Sorry for sending it at dawn."
"Seriously! No, the ideas were just flowing and flowing, so it was a real struggle..."
"I-I see..."
While I was zoning out, not knowing if I was being scolded or praised...
"Yuri was happy too, wasn't she?" Ichikawa was smiling.
"O-Oh..."
At any rate, I'm glad that it seems Azuma will write the lyrics.
"When is the next practice? I'll finish writing the lyrics by then."
Azuma asked irritably.
Whoa, that's hard to answer... while I was thinking that...
"1 PM today," Sako answered expressionlessly.
"Today!?" Azuma let out a startled voice.
Sako nodded. It was as if she wanted to say, 'I also had a hard time having to learn a new part on the day of'.
"I also had a hard time having to learn a new part on the day of."
Bingo!!
I, who had successfully predicted the future in my mind, was glared at by the two of them.
"Now, now, both of you..." Ichikawa mediated.
"Fine, I get it. By 1 PM today, right?"
Azuma agreed, albeit reluctantly.
"Thanks."
When I said that...
"It's not for you; I'm doing this because I want to."
Azuma replied like that.
What is this feeling?
Using something I created as a starting point, various people are trying to make it even bigger.
A sunny Saturday morning on the way to school.
I headed to school with a feeling of excitement like never before.