It took about 3 hours to check all the files on the USB that the Maestro sent.
Among that, the time wasted trying to hold back laughter while watching the choreography videos was roughly around an hour.
But you know, it’s funny in my eyes, yet honestly, the other kids might find it bizarre. Thanks to removing the sound entirely, the creaking noises in the choreography videos weren’t too weird, but since the hologram projector also doubles as a communication device, those creaky sounds will still be heard.
…Maybe it’s a good thing that it’s not a physical object, just a hologram.
More importantly, the song the Maestro picked is… well, I’ll be honest.
This is totally cringe…
There’s no guide vocal, and looking at the attached lyrics, the cringe vibe is way stronger than I imagined. Even the choreography is included in that.
The most ridiculous part is that everything—the song, the lyrics, the choreography—every single thing is just good.
Is this really the Maestro’s work? You’re joking, right?
Despite feeling that absurdity, the end result is satisfactory. I’m confident we can succeed as long as our kids can keep up.
It seems Rion wants to build a whole new building, but since we can’t just sit and wait, I decided to buy a recently failed martial arts dojo from one of D.U.’s buildings to use as a temporary practice room.
As for syncing schedules with the other members, that’s already made some headway.
For Hina, it’s her free time after finishing student council duties, thanks to ETO.
Noa has all her time outside of basic seminar and patent review work.
As for me, apart from my T-party duties, I have most of my free time except for Sunday mass.
Neru and Asuna will have after-school and holiday slots unless they need to handle important C&C duties.
And although I played a part in causing it, the true culprit of all this, Haruna, agreed to dedicate all her after-school time to practice.
Of course, I don’t expect anyone other than the responsible Hina and Noa to stick to this perfectly… But if they can keep up, I’m willing to overlook some deviations. They’ll just have to catch up on the practice personally.
According to the plan, we’ll have to finish preparations in just three months and enter debut mode, so it’s hard to deny we’re pressed for time. The members aren’t in a training period honing their basics, and if this isn’t the chaotic Kivotos, then I might think twice about it.
Still, even for situation management, since this was my initial suggestion, I plan to put in my best effort. If I work hard enough, somehow, things will work out.
So for now, I’ll need to start working on the guide vocal before gathering everyone. Surely there’s at least one music studio in D.U. that can take bookings, right?
*
[Ooh.]
“… Is it really happening now?”
[Wonderful, my muse. We’re quite close to the concept. At this level, it shouldn’t take much refining during the recording process to create a gem. Of course, that’s if the raw stones you’ve chosen don’t turn out lackluster during the polishing process.]
“That should be enough… Ugh, recording without a break isn’t exactly a piece of cake. I thought I’d need vocal training, but is my voice that bad?”
[Bad? That’s no way to belittle it. You merely have the budding potential to bloom into a much grander and more splendid form.]
In short, the Maestro is saying something along the lines of “Why can’t this talent be used properly?” Considering I wasn’t originally a good singer, I get it.
Anyway, the guide vocal recording did take nearly half a day, but it wrapped up well. I guess we should start practicing as soon as tomorrow.
But seriously, what on earth was the Maestro doing outside to craft such cringe songs and choreography so quickly? An artist whose hobbies are suspiciously focused on subculture?
Or maybe an artist who truly excels in all fields to the extent of realizing their claimed genius?
“Maestro, I’ll schedule our first practice session for tomorrow. I’ll give everyone a heads up, but please understand if the reactions are not that great. They’re all still young.”
[The thoughts of mere earthworms are unimportant. It merely irritates me to see those without even the slightest understanding of art try to voice their opinions confidently.]
“Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow. And thanks for your help today.”
[There’s no need to express gratitude. This is merely the fulfillment of a promise. It’s not something significant enough to deserve your thanks.]
After ending the communication with the Maestro, I invited the members who will join the group to a group chat to ask if they are free tomorrow. Since I had already given them a heads up about starting practice soon, everyone responded positively.
Neru did hesitate a bit, but I believe Asuna will manage to coax her over.
It’s a full-fledged☆straight ship sailing away.
*
“Yay—! It’s been a while, Angel! How long has it been?”
The temporary practice room, which still bears traces of the martial arts dojo apart from the installed mirror on the wall, was where that overly energetic voice that seems to drain the energy of the surroundings came from as the first one to arrive began to scrounge for areas needing work.
“Ahahaha, Asuna! It’s been a while! And Neru, welcome!”
“Ugh? What’s with the friendly act—— Hey, get off me! Who gave you the right to hug?! I’ll kill you!”
“Not looking good, huh, Leader? Come on, hug hug~♪”
“Totally NOT good! Hey, are you looking to settle the score from back then?!”
Neru managed to wriggle free from my grasp, glaring at me as she spoke. But really, we’re here to practice…
The problem is, Neru’s reaction is so amusing; it’s tempting to tease her.
“Our little one, didn’t this big sis’s victory remain unresolved? What’s this ‘settling the score’ nonsense all of a sudden?”
“Ugh???? Did you just say everything? Let’s throw down right now. I’ll smash you!”
“Ahahaha. If you want to fight, I’ll gladly accept.”
Now that I think about it, fighting with Neru was definitely fun back then. Reminiscing about that… feels like having another round wouldn’t be too bad.
“That’s enough, back off. This is a place designated to take responsibility for mistakes. Fighting here isn’t desirable.”
Just then, Hina, the third to arrive, interjected to halt the situation. Since Neru seemed oblivious to everything around her, she glanced back and forth between us two as if she was about to start a quarrel.
“Tch. Unbelievable. It’s true that even a crab bunches up with its fellow crabs…”
“…”
“Ah, I get it! I understand, so stop looking at me like that. You two are acting like you’re looking at kids. It’s infuriating!”
Complaining, Neru plopped down onto the floor. Yet, her expression didn’t seem too troubled despite her complaints.
“Oh, everyone’s already here. Hello?”
Finally, Noa appeared, giving a small wave to greet everyone. Beside her, Haruna smiled brightly and naturally approached me, attempting to plant a kiss on my cheek.
As I subtly raised my hand to halt her, she grabbed my hand without the slightest change of expression and placed her lips on it, sending me a mischievous wink.
“Mika, if you don’t intend to stop me, why don’t you just kneel to Nagisa instead?”
“…Do you think Nagisa would accept that from Haruna?”
“I mean, she’d definitely refuse.”
“Ahahaha…”
By now, how did Haruna and Noa become such close friends? It’s rather puzzling, but understanding their background makes it somewhat clear.
After the summer festival, the culinary columns the two wrote gained immense popularity within the Millennium, and come autumn, they linked up with Kronos to officially write culinary columns.
Haruna’s beautiful reviews mixed with occasional sharp critiques and Noa’s abstract but fascinating descriptions blend perfectly within the culinary columns. Imagining them taking time separately to scout for good restaurants together definitely answers the question.
Spending a trip or two together usually strengthens friendships, but regularly hunting down eateries will only make them closer. Plus, for some reason, Noa seems to support Haruna’s love life as well.
By this point, shouldn’t I just pass the Gourmet Research Club Vice President position on to Noa instead of me?
Wait, I’m not even the Vice President to begin with, what am I even saying? My brain must have been taken over by those Gourmet Research Club members…!
“Since everyone is here, I’ll just give a brief explanation and move on. The preparation period has already been communicated, so let’s skip that… For now, there are no plans for any overnight trainings. Everyone except for Haruna is busy with their own things.”
“…Oh my. If you say it that way, even I can’t avoid being hurt.”
“Haruna, how many restaurants did you ruin last month?”
“…About three, I guess? But if you hear me out, you’ll understand, Mika.”
“Noa agreed? Huh… let’s hear it.”
“First, the ramen shop had cockroaches in the kitchen when we visited. That’s the one we went to with Noa. Secondly, the sushi specialty store had a chef who didn’t wash his hands at all…”
“…Okay, stop. I get it. I’ll acknowledge it, so can we please return to the main topic?”
“Fufu. I knew you’d understand.”
With reasoning that even Hina and I couldn’t nod off to, last month’s Haruna was found not guilty. Ignoring one, I believe she’s gradually becoming more common-sense oriented.
“Anyway, we’re starting practice today. We’ve checked our respective schedules, so I would appreciate it if everyone could stick to that. If you feel there are areas where you lack, you can practice individually in your own time, but I won’t hold it against you if you don’t.”
This point had already been discussed, but since it’s important, I mentioned it once more.
“Now, let’s listen to the song I brought.”
I operated the laptop, which had the USB inserted, to play the title track sent by the Maestro for everyone.
After about 4 minutes passed.
“…Mika, I wish you’d tell me it was all a joke right now.”
“Mika, what if we gave up on this and went to the curry shop I’ve found instead…?”
“…”
While Hina and Haruna gasped, even Noa was frozen into a statue with a slight smile on her lips.
“Wow~! This sounds fun! What about the choreography? Wait, let’s listen to another song! Is this guide vocal really sung by Angel? Amazing! What a voice!”
As Asuna buzzed with excitement, a small volcano finally erupted.
“Whaaaat!!! How are you supposed to perform this kind of stuff in front of people?!”
Ah, well, I mean, who told them to throw the first punch back then?
