chapter02 · 026-ep23

Episode 23: Went and Sang at Full Power on Day One

After school, the six of us hit the karaoke place by the station. Me, Yano, Horiguchi, Nishino, and the two from the back row.

I finally got those two's names properly down today. Kuzumi and Matoba. Kuzumi's tall and a man of few words; Matoba's the opposite — small and never stops talking.

Karaoke on day two of high school. Even I think that's some serious momentum.

"Is two hours fine?"

"Just do the free-time plan!"

"We've got school tomorrow too!"

"So?"

We settled on three hours. I don't think either side actually won, but nobody complained, so apparently that's that.

One minute from entering the room to everyone seated. From there to the start of the battle over the Denmoku: under thirty seconds.

"Ichinose-kun, what're you singing?"

"Something normal. Dead-center normal."

"What's 'normal'?"

"Whatever's big right now."

And this was no joke — I was dead serious. Your first song at your first karaoke in high school is probably incredibly important.

I'm going to be a normal high schooler. I have to be. So the entry had to be the most famous song by the biggest band right now — something anyone in class would know. Couldn't miss with that.

So I put it in and sang it.

When I finished, nobody said anything. ...Huh, did I whiff it? It's the biggest song out there. Is my strategy dead after track one?

"Wait, what?!"

"Is he not amazing?"

"He's WAY too amazing!"

Oh. That's what this is.

Yano leaned way in.

"Ichinose-kun, what WAS that? Where'd you practice?"

"Didn't. No practice."

"Liar!"

"It's true."

Not a lie. All through middle school I just sang my favorite songs alone in my room, over and over. If that counts as practice, then sure, maybe it's practice.

"Me next!"

What Yano snatched the Denmoku to put in was a Stellarion song. The second the intro played, Nishino let out an "ah!"

"I know this one!"

"Right?! Let's sing the chorus together!"

Two girls on their feet — and Matoba had sneakily wedged in as well.

The song was bright and fast, and true to explorer idols, the lyrics had stuff like "beyond the door" and "floors yet unseen" in them. Genuinely a good song.

The three of them started doing the choreography, but nobody remembered it properly, so by the middle of verse two it had already fallen to pieces.

"No no, that part's backwards!"

"Huh, like this?"

"More like — BAM!"

"How would I know?!"

The one teaching doesn't remember it either — no wonder they can't sync up.

I stayed seated, laughing and clapping along. See that? Doing normal high schooler just fine. I'll happily spend these three hours on clapping duty.

About an hour and a half in, Kuzumi — who'd sung exactly one song all this time — silently picked up the Denmoku. This is the guy who'd been in the corner drinking oolong tea the whole time.

The input was taking forever. Still typing. Still typing. How many characters is this song title?

The instant the intro started, I set down my half-drunk juice.

I know it. I KNOW this song!

It's the OP of a late-night anime from five years back. The one where the world's laws get rewritten every time the hero unleashes his sealed power — and the intro is sixteen whole seconds long. Long. Long, but every one of those sixteen seconds is cool.

Kuzumi took the mic. The opening line is low, like a whisper — and then it leaps all at once.

"...Huh?"

"Kuzumi-kun's amazing!"

"Wait, what IS this song?"

While Yano and the others buzzed, I was gripping my fists on my knees. Hold it together. A normal high schooler does not stand up here.

Summer of second-year middle school, I listened to this song three hundred times, easy. I've transcribed the lyrics into a notebook, and I even remember borrowing the sound of its chorus when I was working out the King's self-introduction.

Into the chorus, and Kuzumi's voice soared. The lyrics go:

『The name that was sealed — unleash it here and now.』

When I came to, I was holding a mic. My self-control couldn't even make it past the first chorus, huh.

I came in from verse two, and Kuzumi glanced over for a split second, one corner of his mouth quirking up. From there, the two of us were harmonizing nonstop.

This song has a spoken line before the second chorus. The part where the hero shouts his own true name.

Kuzumi drew a breath. So had I. We shouted the line at the same instant, and our voices matched perfectly.

"Whoa, what is this?!"

"What ARE you two?!"

Yano was screaming, Nishino was howling with laughter, Horiguchi was frozen with his mouth hanging open. Matoba, for some reason, was filming it.

Hey, stop filming. No — this is no time for that. I've still got the second chorus to do.

For the final chorus Kuzumi took the top part, so I took the bottom. We never rehearsed a thing, and it still came together perfectly.

The song ended, one beat of silence — and then the room exploded.

"That was — that was SO good!"

"What WAS that just now? Did you rehearse? You totally rehearsed!"

"We didn't. First time, seriously."

"There's no way you didn't!"

Kuzumi set down the mic.

"Ichinose. So you knew this song."

"Sort of... a little?"

"...That was not how you come in on 'a little.'"

Yeah, I know. Matching even the spoken line perfectly — there's no "a little" about it.

"Ichinose-kun, you're into this stuff, huh."

Yano looked at me.

I hesitated for just a second. I know the safest play here is "nah, not really" and let it slide. But honestly? Those three minutes were the most fun I'd had all day.

"I used to be. Into it, I mean."

"And now?"

"And now..."

I stalled out — and Kuzumi threw me a lifeline.

"...Who cares. It's cool."

When this guy does talk, he really commits. For someone so quiet.

"...Yeah."

"I mean — it IS cool."

"...Right?"

"Hey, what is this — don't build a world with just the two of you in it!"

"We're not."

That day, Kuzumi and I ended up harmonizing on two more songs. Three hours went by like nothing, and we split up in front of the station.

On the ride home, pedaling, I held a little one-man debrief. I was supposed to be doing normal high schooler today — and instead, day two, I'm belting out a chuunibyou anime OP at full power. Matching even the spoken line, no less. Clapping duty, where did you go?

...No, but it was fun. Nothing to do with graduating or not graduating — just plain, simple fun.

Pedaling along, I tried it quietly out loud.

"The name that was sealed — unleash it here and now."

The moment it was out, I frantically checked front and back. Thank god for empty streets.