I open my eyes to the sound of trees swaying and leaves rustling around from a breeze. All I see before me is stars as far as the eye can see. Along with the stars, was the alluring Milky Way Galaxy. It was as if I was in the picture that I saw from my online group. Or maybe, this is exactly what it would look like from Eden.
"Isn't it beautiful?" a soft voice says beside me. "Just think, you were the one to make all of this happen."
I can't quite tell who's voice it is, though it does sound familiar. All of her features are shrouded in darkness so I can't make out who it is by physical features either.
I want to answer, but for some reason, I can't speak. Then I noticed three stars shining brighter than the rest, all of which are three different colors. They start moving and I lose which star was which color, but suddenly one starts to lose its brightness and fade out. I don't know why, but I start to feel extremely sad as I watch it happen. I helplessly attempt to reach out for it even though I'm well aware I can't reach it.
"You've got to let it go, Kousei... They've made their choice..." the voice says.
My thoughts suddenly trail off and I'm woken up by a voice that I can recognize at the drop of a hat.
"Hey, Kousei? Make sure to stay awake during these meetings," Jay says, nudging me to wake me up.
I slowly open my eyes to see Ai, Yume, Noeri, Jay, and Yunasa all sitting in desks in an empty classroom. We were having a meeting discussing some of the minor details about the event and how we are going to prepare for it.
"Hey, you alright buddy?" Jay asks, probably noticing me being a little out of it. "Your eyes are lookin a little red. Did you have a bad dream or somethin?"
I try to think about the dream I just had, but the only thing I can remember is someone talking to me and the sight of star fading away. Everything else was very cloudy and hazy.
I put my head back down on the desk. "I don't remember, but it was a sad one. At least that would explain the way I'm feeling right now."
"Aw, is someone a little tired from staying up the past few nights? Got a special girl on your mind?" Yume teases from across the table.
"Yeah, and luckily it wasn't you, or those dreams would've turned out to be nightmares," I jokingly answer.
Yume's mouth was left open, not expecting me to fire back from her tease. "I was just trying to cheer you up..." she sobs. "And you know they wouldn't be nightmares! They'd probably be on the complete opposite side of the spectrum and be a wet dre-"
Yunasa claps her hands to cut her off. "Alright, let's get back on topic guys. That kind of talk is not to be discussed in the presence of an innocent soul like Ai," she remarks, holding her hand out in Ai's direction.
Ai tilts her head to the side in confusion. "But I know what a wet dre-"
"Okay!" Yunasa interrupts once again. "Let's stop this topic before it goes any further."
All of us shift around in our seats to get more comfortable. Yunasa then guides our attention to a white board with a few things written down on it.
"So, as per Kousei's submission, the exact day will be undecided until it gets closer to the festival week since we can't predict the weather that far in advance. Eden can affect it in some ways, but pop up storms aren't entirely out of the question," she stated. "But the overall preparations will be fairly easy. We just need to let the residents and business owners know what day it and what time to ask them to turn off the lights."
Ai raises her hand, "But, what if the only day we can do this is the day where we have the festival night? Like the Japanese festivals with the vendors and we end it with a fireworks show."
There wasn't a response from me or Yunasa. It wasn't really something we had considered happening, but truthfully I am happy Ai brought it to our attention.
"Maybe we could just have it after the fireworks? It shouldn't be that hard to plan, since all of the business owners will be at their places already. So in theory, they could just turn off their lights after the fireworks, or even during the fireworks," Jay answered.
Yunasa nods, "Yeah, that wouldn't be a bad idea." She takes the cap off of the whiteboard marker and writes it down off to the side. "We'll use that in the case of that emergency. If it happens on any other day, everything happens during the day, so the night is still perfectly available."
"Why don't we just put the Festival Night and the Stargazing Event on the same night? I think it makes perfect sense to have them both on the same day," Noeri voices from the end of the table. "If it's just a night event, not many people may want to experience it, but if it takes place right after the fireworks, everyone will already be out and would probably be willing to hang around for it."
"I was honestly thinking the same thing after hearing what Jay said," I added. "It would be nice since everyone would still be in a festive mood."
Yunasa rests her chin on her hand, deeply thinking about what we said. "I think I would have to agree. It would be really nice after the fireworks as a way to relax after all of the prior festivities." She leans back in her chair and looks up at the ceiling. "At least, that's what I'd prefer if I wasn't into the whole stargazing event anyways."
All of look around at each other, satisfied. "Alright, let's go forward with that then," I affirmed. "There are still some other things to take care of, but I do think we should make another plan just in case holding after the fireworks isn't an option."
Everyone nods in agreement. The starting stages of the event are going very smoothly so far. The actual day of the event is still a month away, so we still have plenty of time to adjust to anything that happens.
Yunasa gets up with some paper in her hands. "I'll go run the things we discussed by the other staff members and I'll let you guys know what they say in the next meeting." She wipes the whiteboard clean and exits the room. "If I need anything specific, I'll call you, Kousei."
"Sounds good to me." I started packing up the few things I brought with me today.
As we walk out of the room, Jay calls out to me. "Hey, you got anything planned after this?"
I slow down so he could catch up to me. "I planned on walking around the shopping district to see if any place was hiring. Seeing Ai having to work got me feeling like I wasn't doing anything productive over the Summer, so I figured I might as well see if I could find one too."
Jay smirks. "Oh? Ai getting you motivated? I haven't seen you take the initiative for things very often, not including this past festival stuff, but that's good! It'll get you out of your apartment and let you socialize a little bit."
"I socialize when I need to..." I sulk. "But I do agree that I need to get out of my apartment more. When I think back to last Summer where I spent the entirety of it in my room, it made me feel pretty pathetic about myself."
As the introverted person I am, I didn't leave my room for anything besides grocery shopping or buying books from the bookstore. I am ashamed to admit how much of a homebody I am, but I feel safe at home and no one can bother me... until I met Yume.
"I'll go walking around with you if you want. Maybe seeing you actively looking for a job will motivate me to do the same," he offers as we walk and talk.
Jay and I say bye to the girls as they head off to do whatever they had planned. They seemed excited for whatever they were going to do, I'll have to ask Yume or Ai later.
As Jay and I walk around the shopping district, we see some stores that are hiring, but most of them are fast food related. I'm going to be honest, a fast food restaurant is the last place I want to work.
"Is there a place you had in mind when we started walking around?" Jay asks as we walk.
"Just not anything to do with food," I answer. "I would like somewhere more chill and relaxed."
As I say that, we walk by the bookstore I always shop at. It's a quiet place, never crowded, and a good place to chill at if someone is trying to kill time.
Jay notices me looking. "Wanna go look inside and ask if they're hiring?"
"There isn't a hiring sign though..." I say.
Jay walks up and holds the door open. "It won't hurt to ask though."
We walk inside and my nose is immediately surrounded with the relaxing and soothing scent of books. There is nothing like the smell of opening a new book off the shelf.
"Hello, are you guys looking for something?" a voice from the behind the counter calls out to us.
Jay and I walked up to her. "Yeah, my friend here is wondering if you're hiring?"
I shyly wave and she giggles. "Yeah, we actually are. Let me go call the manager."
She makes a quick phone call and shortly after, a man in a nice, business casual suit walks up. "Hey, my name is Michail and I'm the manager here. I heard you're interested in a job?" he asked while holding his hand out.
I shake his hand and nod. "Yeah, I'm just looking for something to help occupy my Summer."
He laughs, and hands me an application. "You can fill this out while I interview you. If you don't mind of course." I nod and follow him to his office.
* * *
"So... how long have you been working here?" I asked the cute girl who helped us when we walked in.
"I've been here for a little while. It's a relaxed job where I don't have to do much," she responds, making her way back to her workstation. "There really isn't a lot of people who come in here, but having more workers is nice so we can spread out the shifts."
"Yeah, I'm not sure exactly how often my friend wants to work, but this job does seem like a perfect fit for him," I say as I follow her. "Oh, I can go wait somewhere else if you don't want me talking to you. I just don't know how long the interview is gonna take and I'm not much of a book reader."
"You didn't really strike me as the kind of guy who likes to read," she giggles. "Here, you can sit behind the desk until there done. It shouldn't take too long."
I happily accept and sit down. "Thanks." I then noticed a paper with people's names on it. "Is this the list of employees?"
"Oh, yeah! We have a lot of part-timers, but everyone who works here is very nice. The one person that everyone gets along with the most is her," she says, pointing to a name on the paper.
"Heh, oh really? I can imagine that." I can't help but smirk.
"You know her?" she asked, noticing my smirk.
"You can say that..."
* * *
Michail leads me out of the office and we walk back to where the girl and Jay are. They seemed to be having fun, but Jay seemed to have a concerning smirk on his face.
"You guys seemed to be busy while we were gone," Michail said as we walked up.
Jay hurriedly flips the paper in front of him. "Yeah! She was giving me the rundown of the job and I was telling her that Kousei would be a perfect fit here."
I squinted my eyes at him, obviously curious about why he tried to hide what was on that paper. "That's also what we were talking about, so it looks like I'll be starting here later this week."
I wasn't entirely sure when he was going to let me start working, but because they some workers are going somewhere for the Summer, they have a few open spots that I can fill throughout the week. I don't really have to do anything except occasionally work the register and stock the books when we get some returned or ordered in. All in all, its a great job for a more introverted person like myself.
"I'll figure out who'll train you in the meantime. Thanks for applying and I'll see you back here soon," Michail says as he walks back to his office.
"Congratulations on getting the job," Jay says as he pats me on the back. "Honestly, I didn't think you would get turned down here anyways."
I look over at the girl who looks overjoyed to see a new employee. "Oh, my name's Lily by the way. It seems we'll be working together in the future so I'll look forward to that!"
I let out a sigh as we left the bookstore. I did my best to keep my cool there, but I'm still not entirely used to talking with people.
"I think you'll enjoy working there. Lily was telling me about some of her coworkers and I have a feeling you'll fit right in." Jay lead the way as we walked over to an empty bench.
I sat down next to him and gave him a glare. "So, what were you hiding on that paper?"
"You'll find out soon enough, don't worry," he teased. "It's nothing bad, I promise."
I don't trust his words entirely but I also have no reason to doubt him. Plus, even if it was something bad, how bad could it possibly be at a bookstore? I shut the worries away and pull out my phone to let Yume, Ai, and Yunasa know.
"So, you still wanna go look for any other job openings?" I asked. Though I had a feeling he wasn't interested.
Jay shook his head and instead looked over at a steak restaurant. "I'm good, but what do you say we celebrate your recent employment with some steak? I've been craving it for a while, but haven't found the time to go."
It was still a little early for dinner, but I could always just eat something small later on if I got hungry enough. "Sure, but you're paying."
"I have to pay?!" he scoffed. "You know what? Consider ourselves even with all the homework and stuff you've done for me then."
I elbow him in the ribs. "We're not even close to being even if you're using that as fodder."
We laugh as we make our way into the restaurant.
After Jay and I had our steak dinner, I went to his apartment to relax for a little bit. I only come over when he invites me over because I'm not one to invite myself over to anyone's house. If I did, I would feel like I was intruding on them or got in the way of their plans, even though they tell me they never had any.
"So, how are things going along with those three?" he asked while snacking on some chips. Comfy as could be and without a care in the world. I wish I could be as carefree as him sometimes.
"They're going good I guess? Yume is constantly coming by my room to hang out and I've been talking to Yunasa a little more because of the festival stuff going on." I lean back in his computer chair and almost fall out of it. "Oh yeah, I went on an arcade date with Ai, that was a pretty fun time."
"Seems like Ai is going to sit around anymore and looks to take the initiative," Jay said as he was getting up to grab a drink. "What is your impression of her?"
"Of Ai?" I question as he tosses me a soda from the fridge. "Well, I did get to see a side of her I wasn't expecting when we went to the arcade." When I think back on it, I can't stop myself from smiling. "It was refreshing to see her act differently than she does around school."
"Hmm..." Jay hummed. "Looks like you have a pretty favorable impression of her now. And here I thought Yume would be the one to take the massive lead."
"Just because I spend more time with Yume than Yunasa and Ai doesn't mean she's getting any further ahead than the rest."
"Sure, sure..." Jay muttered, rolling his eyes. He turns on his TV and hands me a controller. "Come on, let's go a few rounds."
Jay has always been a competitive gamer, especially when it came to fighting games. He lacks to slack off for a lot of things, but games are the one way to get him motivated. We've been playing games with and against each other since we became friends. As sad as it is to admit, he is a lot better than me at most games. I'm sure if I put the time and effort into them like he did, I could beat him.
He wipes his hands on his shorts. "I haven't played this since the last time we played together so I'm probably gonna be a little rusty."
"I don't think any amount of rust is gonna save me in this game," I laugh. "I don't think I've beaten you a single time on this one."
It was a basic 2D fighting game, but the move inputs were a little more complex than the average fighting game. It was very popular for all gaming fans whether they liked fighting games or not. Jay was by far the best player I've ever faced in this game, but that doesn't say a whole lot because I'm not very good at the game to begin with.
"Well, let's run some up! It's been some time since you've been over anyway." Jay sits up and leans in.
I lean forward too, focusing all my attention on the screen. "Invite me over more often then! You know I don't like inviting myself over."
"I would, but you know... Noeri's been hanging out over here recently and she's been very aggressive, so I don't want you to feel like a third wheel or be awkward when she gets in one of those moods."
The color of eyes fade and all I could hear was the mashing of buttons and the sounds from the game. Without even realizing it, the match was over.
"Kousei... what the hell was that?" Jay questioned. "I've never seen you play that way at all. And even more, I didn't land a single hit on you once!" he yelled, in complete and utter shock from what transpired.
I glare at him with cold eyes. "Maybe I'll just start coming over unannounced and accidentally ruin one of those moods..."
"Wait, are you jealous that I could possibly, not fully disclosing, but maybe getting some from Noeri?" My ears twitched in annoyance, giving him all the info he needed. "Bro! Just tell one of them you're horny and I'm sure they would be willing to reciprocate!" he abruptly shouted.
"I can control my urges!" I shouted back. "I like to take my time when it comes to that because I want it to mean something!"
"If that's the case, you have no reason to be jealous of me!"
In the end, all we did was yell back and forth at each other for the rest of the time we were gaming. It doesn't always end up like that, but sometimes it does. Nothing ever escalates past yelling and at some point, we just yell at each other about random things like which fruit goes best with pancakes. The one thing I'm surprised about is that Jay has never gotten a noise complaint. Like I said, it doesn't happen a lot, but still. Hearing two guys yelling at each other about dumb topics has got to be annoying to listen to... or not, I don't know.
Both of us were breathing deeply as we laid on the floor. We glanced at each other and just burst out into laughter.
"We really are two idiots," Jay chuckled. Rolling over trying to get himself up.
He passed me a water from his fridge and I got my belongings with me. "Thanks for having me over. It's nice to yell for no reason sometimes."
"If you ever want to do it again, let me know and I'll invite you over since you obviously can't do that yourself," he teased as we walked out the front door. "You gonna take the bus back? I'm pretty sure one runs by here in the next couple of minutes."
I hold my hand up to him. "Nah, I think a walk home sounds like the best thing to do right now."
"If you say so," he said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Have a safe walk back, and let me know when you get home."
I wave my hand in air as I walk down the walkway. Luckily he lives on the first floor, though his apartment has a differently layout than mine. His only has three stories, similar to how motels are set up. There weren't any elevators, just stairs to get from one floor to the next.
I wonder who else lives in these apartments. There are a lot of apartment complexes on the island for all its residents, so seeing other students living at the same apartment complex is still pretty rare. That only shows how rare it was that Yume and I are neighbors.
The setting Sun prompted the sky to turn orange as slightly purple. There were a few clouds in the sky, and a decent breeze was blowing the trees and bushes side to side. The Sprites still gently rising up from the ground and gently floating in the air turned the walk home into a very romantic one. All it was missing was a beautiful girl...
As I was walking, I see a girl with long hair and a bow tied to her hand.
There is only one person I know who wears a bow fashionably like that...
Her midnight purple hair blended perfectly with the orange and purple sky. She was gazing off at the ocean while the wind blew her hair off to the side. I was completely mesmerized and couldn't help but stare at the beauty in front of me.
Ai...
I noticed her clench her fist and turn to walk toward the apartment complex I just left. Her face was full of determination, as if she had fully decided on something. I want to call out to her, but it didn't seem like a good time. So, I quietly admire her, and casually walk home.
* * *
A few hours ago...
"Bye Kousei! Bye Jay!" Yume called out to them as they went to do their own thing.
Meanwhile, Yume, Noeri, and I made plans to go to a karaoke bar and have some fun! We invited Yunasa, but she was busy with university stuff, so it's just the three of us today.
"What do you think they're going to do?" I asked. The breeze was blowing a little harder than usual today, so I tied my bow around my wrist so it wouldn't go flying away.
"I don't know. Probably going to play games at the arcade like any guy does at this time," Noeri answered. "Either that or they just wanted to have some 'bro time' together."
"Hmm..." Yume hummed as she crossed her arms. "I feel like I heard them say something about looking for jobs, but I could be wrong."
"You think so? I mean, I guess it makes sense since its Summer, but they don't really have a reason to," I respond.
Noeri brushes her silver hair out of her face. "Maybe they were bored last Summer and want something to help occupy their time?"
All of us look at each other for a moment and imagine Jay and Kousei working at a face food place, taking our order.
"Yeah, definitely not happening," Noeri laughs. Yume and I both nod in agreement and chuckle as we walk down the road toward the karaoke bar.
My time here on Eden has been nothing short of amazing. It took me a little while to adjust to life here, but I'm happy with where I'm at right now. I've gotten to make new friends like Yume, Yunasa, and Noeri, but I've also gotten to find my special someone. It's crazy how hard it was to find a romantic partner back then, but now on Eden, it's so quick and easy. Technology has really come a long way.
"Do you like to sing?" Yume asked us. "Noeri, you strike me as the type to like it but not show it. Ai, you seem like the one who has an amazing voice, but no one's heard it."
"You're not far off the mark," Noeri responds, pulling out her phone and showing us her music playlist. "I do sing a lot in shower or when I'm in my room. Though I don't think I have that good of a voice."
Yume shakes her head, "Nope, you definitely have a good singing voice. I can tell from just how you talk."
"I agree, I have a feeling your voice is really good for singing." I pull out my phone and look at my playlist. "If anyone here probably has a worse voice than what people imagine, it's me."
They both immediately stop in what they're doing and look over at me emotionless.
"Nope, not a chance," they say in unison, completely monotone.
I really hope they don't have extremely high expectations from me because I don't really sing to myself at all. I don't like hearing my own voice that much unless it's in my head. For example, I like reading books, but I don't like reading aloud.
"Anyways, I by far have the most average voice out of the three of us," Yume says, snapping me back from my thoughts. "I sing a lot, especially in the shower."
"So, you don't think your voice is good or bad?" Noeri questioned.
"Yup, I'm right in the middle."
Noeri and I look at each other. "She definitely can't sing," we joke together.
We eventually arrive at the karaoke bar. A very lively place and is a pretty popular spot for couples or groups of friends. They have a food and drink ordering system where the workers will bring the stuff we order to the room. All the rooms are pretty soundproof so you can't really hear anything unless you are standing right behind the door, and even then it's very muffled.
Noeri went ahead and got us a room for a couple hours, and if we wanted to stay longer, we could always extend the time. We walk to the dark room and set our bags down.
"So, do you guys wanna order food and drinks before we start or would you rather start singing first?" Yume asked, grabbing the tablet that was laying on the couch. "We can do everything on this."
"I say we get drinks now and food later. I'm hungry, but not to the point where I'd eat a lot," Noeri asserts.
I nod and we both sit down next to Yume and look at what's on the screen. Listed were a bunch of normal sodas and teas along with some mixed drinks. They got fruit flavored teas along with just juice as well.
We all choose what we want, then Yume starts scanning the song list. They have a wide variety of songs from both the Japanese and American side. I'm more into slower songs and anime songs. I read a lot, but almost everything I read has an anime-like story. As Yume is scrolling, I do see some songs I'm familiar with.
"Do any of you want to go first? We can take turns or we can just let whoever wants to sing go at it until they're satisfied." Yume looked at us with happiness.
"Is this your first time here?" I asked, genuinely curious. She does seem to know a lot about how this place works so I'm sure she's been here before.
To my surprise, "Nope! I've only ever seen it in anime and shows. Why? Do I seem like someone who has experience here?"
"Seeing as you've been the one pointing everything out, yeah it would look that way," Noeri joked.
Yume laughs and sets the tablet down. "Well, since we haven't really decided and we are still waiting for our drinks to get here, I'll get us started!"
A song pops up on the screen along with the upbeat instrumental in the background.
Oh! I recognize this song! She picked a song from an anime that finished last year. It's one that I also know and the vibe it gives is definitely fitting for Yume. The vocals from the song also seem within the realm of Yume's possible singing voice.
She starts singing and I'm immediately entranced. It was nothing like what I was thinking. I was expecting her pitch to be on the higher side, but she's singing in practically the same voice she speaks in. But somehow, she turned it into a voice that fits perfectly with singing. I looked over at Noeri to see her reaction and it was about the same as mine.
She must've had the same impression I did before she started.
When the song ended, Noeri and I gave her a round of applause. She seemed to be expecting one of us to reach for the tablet, but neither of us did.
"Are you guys still waiting for the drinks to come before you sing?" She asked innocently.
Noeri and I both look away in embarrassment, laughing quietly to ourselves.
"You can keep going if you want to..." Noeri finally mustered out. "I was kinda entranced by your voice, I'm not gonna lie..." she complimented Yume, but still averting her eyes in bashfulness.
I was anticipating a cheeky response from Yume to try and provoke Noeri into singing or even something to boost her own ego, but instead we got a much different response.
She held the mic close to her chest and looked down at the ground shyly. "Was it actually that good?"
Why is she so cute! How am I supposed to be able to compete with such an innocent and cute girl?!
"It was perfect!" Noeri answered immediately with a twinkle in her eyes. "You would for sure win over Kousei if he heard you singing."
"You really think so?!" Yume beamed.
Almost forgetting I was there, Noeri quickly looked over at me and bowed her head. "No offense to you Ai, but she does have quite the singing voice."
I shake my head timidly. "It's alright, even I was entranced no matter how much I don't want to admit it."
Yume really does have all the assets needed to win over Kousei's heart. She's got the cheeriness and energy to go along with it. I can't help but feel inferior to her no matter how much I try not to think that way. I'm the older one, I'm the one who knows him better... and yet it seems like she has jumped me in such a short amount of time...
"Well we won't know for sure until Ai herself sings!" Yume yelled and she tossed the mic into my lap. "You're up next! Show us what you got!"
"Um..." I timidly reach over and grab the tablet. I'm not confident in my singing voice at all, but I still want to show Yume that I'm not going down without a fight. I find a song that I've sung countless times and I know all the lyrics of the song by heart.
I select it and I walk up to the front. The instrumental starts playing and immediately Noeri's eyes widen. Seems like she knows it, but Yume sat there like normal, not aware of what song it is.
"I haven't heard this song in so long!" Noeri yelled as she happily clapped along to the beat.
I close my eyes and let my singing do the rest. Like I said, I knew this song like I was the one who wrote it. Everything, down to the timing, the pitch changes, everything. I sang to the best of my abilities and I kept my eyes closed for the entirety of it. I don't want to see people's reactions at the moment. I get too embarrassed and I don't have the self confidence for it.
I slowly opened my eyes when it was over and I was very nervous about how they would react. It seems my worries were left unfounded because both of them had their mouths wide open as if they had just found out I was some undercover singer or model. Not a single word came out from their mouths.
"Um, how was I?"
"HOW WERE YOU?!" they both scream in unison. Both of them get up from their spots and run up to me. "WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO SING?!"
I tilt my head to the side, a bit confused by their reactions. "What?"
"You can't tell me you're self taught! I won't believe it! How are you not a singer right now?! I feel like I'm in the presence of an undiscovered talent!" Yume shouted as she shook me. "I didn't know you had that hidden up your sleeve! I was a little confident about my voice after what you guys said, but it's not even close!"
Noeri nodded in agreement to what Yume was saying. "I think I by far underestimated you the most, Ai. I really wasn't expecting that out of you."
"Thanks..." I responded. Even if it wasn't intentional, it felt like a backhanded compliment. I make my way back down to the couch, when both of them stop me from sitting. "What is it?"
"You aren't done singing, are you? Please sing another!" Yume begged.
I sigh and grab the tablet. "Fine, but only one more. Then it's Noeri's turn to sing."
Both of them cheered as a karaoke bar worker knocked on the door. We opened it and he happily delivered our drinks to us.
"I don't mean to come off as creepy or weird, but which one of you was the one who just sang?" he asked us. "Honestly, whoever it was, you had an amazing voice. I was going to knock earlier, but I didn't want to interrupt such a stellar performance."
Yume nudged me in the side. "You hear that? It was a 'stellar performance'," she whispered.
"Shh," I quiet her. I don't want to become the center of attention. I've never wanted that spotlight.
"Anyways, I hope you guys continue to enjoy yourselves, and if you need anything else, be sure to order it on the tablet." The man gave us a bow, and walked back down the hallway.
"What a nice fellow he was," Yume said as she sat back down on the couch, sipping at her drink. "But anyways, back to the main event!"
I take one sip of my drink and walk back to the front to sing another song.
We were there for about three hours and Yume ended up losing her voice by the end of it. All of us did our fair amount of singing, but Noeri and Yume really wanted to hear me sing more, so I'm pretty sure I sang more than they did. Noeri's voice was very cute and angelic, very fitting for her. She sang more American songs than anything, but they were all popular songs that we all knew. We even sang some songs together or as a duet. Overall, it was a really fun experience for me and I would love to come back and sing again. Either as a group, or with Kousei...
"What do you guys say about doing this again?" I bring up. "Having a girl's day like this would be pretty nice every so often. Maybe Yunasa can come with us next time."
"Yeah, just let me know what day works best for you!" Noeri happily accepted. Yume nodded, not being able to verbalize her answer due to her lost voice.
"Okay! I'll let you know when I'm available next!" I wave bye to them and head back to my apartment. Noeri lives in the same apartment as I do, but since Yume lost her voice, she didn't want to make her walk home by herself in case something happened.
I didn't check my phone much while we were in the karaoke bar, but now I see a message from a coworker of mine. I open the message and can't help but break into a smile. "Seems like we got a new coworker at the bookstore..." she didn't give me a name, but either way, I'm always excited to meet new people at the workplace. There, everyone is nice and has similar interests, so maybe I can make a new friend.
The Sun was slowly setting on the walk home. There was a line of palm trees lined up along the walkway. They gently swayed along with the gentle sea breeze. My bow gently swaying on my wrist and my hair getting blown in front of my face. That's the one thing I hate about having long hair. It gets messy too quick and it's a pain to deal with on rainy or humid days. I move my dark purple hair out of my face and stare at the open sea.
I think back to hearing Yume sing and I clench my fist. I don't usually get motivated by other people, but seeing her get as close as she is with Kousei in that short amount of time has lit a fire under me. I don't want to sit around and watch her take him away from me right before my eyes. I'm sure Yunasa feels the same way, but she's pretty limited on time due to her job, so I need to take advantage of that as much as I can.
I can settle for being his second choice for now, but once one of us gets eliminated, I won't be able to settle for that anymore...