[Nekomimi Spin-off] Summer Embers: Making a Song: Winner Announcement~!!
Hello everyone, morning, noon, or night.
Recently, we held a call for stories based on the beautiful yet murky tanka poems by Aki Fujiie.
The project involved selecting one entry by lottery, which I would then turn into a song.
The submission period for the stories ended yesterday, August 25th, and we received 26 stories in total.
I never imagined such a wide variety of stories could be born from a single poem!!!!
It was so much fun reading them one after another.
The regulation of up to 800 characters was also brilliant.
It's an exquisitely insufficient character count. It leaves the outcome to the reader's imagination.
Aki-san, thank you for letting me be a part of this wonderful project☆
Well then, without further ado, let's get started.
The entries are numbered as follows.
1 Tomone-san
2 Hokousha-b-san
3 Mimosa-san
4 Mukumi-san
5 BRILLIANT_S-san
6 TwI-san
7 Minoxidil-san
8 Souryu Aoi-san
9 Ishika-san
10 Rishu-san
11 Noinosuke-san
12 Tsukino-san
13 Tateyama Ken-san
14 Sabrina-san
15 Naru-san
16 Hoshizuki Rizumu-san
17 Yasmin-san
18 rira-san
19 Jinn-san
20 Harunaga Mutsuki-san
21 Shimakaze Hyuga-san
22 Amanasu-san
23 Q_nine-san
24 mu-san
25 Plum-san
26 Yuzu-san
I will now proceed with the lottery.
I'll be using the same site I used before.
It'll be decided in one go...
I'm nervous...
Okay, click...
Drumroll please~.
(Drumroll sound)
Bam!!!
The story I will turn into a song is,
9 Ishika-san's "Instead of Saying See You Again"!!
Ishika-san's story comes to mind along with vivid imagery.
The feelings released at the water's edge.
It must have taken a lot of courage to confess feelings that had been held for so long.
I want to think about what kind of music would be heard in this scene, riding on the sparkling waves!!
Ishika-san, please wait a little while until the song is finished♪
Now, from here on, I would like to introduce the stories that, unfortunately, I could not write a song for this time.
All of them are stories born from Aki-san's song.
Reading stories written by different people on the same theme is truly a fun thing.
Everyone is just so different!!!
Tomone-san
"I want to kiss you"
Among the stories gathered this time, this was the No. 1 line I wanted to be told!!!
As I wrote in an article the other day, I have a soft spot for childhood friends, so I am very moved by that determination to cross the line from being just childhood friends.
Thank you for the cute story.
Hokousha-b-san
A masterpiece with beautiful, poem-like prose.
I did a little theater in my student days, and I thought this was a piece I would want a woman standing center stage under a spotlight to recite as a monologue.
Would anyone like to try doing a reading of this??
Mimosa-san
A mysterious space-time one happens upon in daily life.
You also wrote a story about meeting a mysterious boy when I was looking for songs for my Nekomimi song, didn't you.
A mysterious person appeared this time as well, and I felt a bit of a connection in the worldview.
Like a mysterious story by Kenji Miyazawa, or a scene from a Ghibli movie, I want to immerse myself in this world a little longer.
Mukumi-san
A grand summer triangle. Lives drifting apart.
Is this world made so that cunning girls win?
Being cunning is also a survival instinct, though.
And so, men also go on living without ever obtaining what is truly important to them.
Surely a day will come when you can think that, in the end, it was for the best... surely...
BRILLIANT_S
Men who carry a sticky, lingering wound in their hearts can sometimes seem attractive to women, can't they?
A world for two connected by such a precarious love...
The woman thinks, 'Let me fill your loneliness,' but I wonder if there are some abyssal rifts that can never be filled no matter what...
TwI
It seems like a fun scene from youth, but...
It's a strange story, as if they've fallen into an infinite loop they can't escape from unless they succeed, caused by a god who doesn't understand human psychology at all and can't read the room.
This is a story I'd like to tell a bit from Aki-kun's side too. Hehehe~
Minoxidil
A couple reaching the end of their third summer.
She talks about the same thing every year, lamenting the change of seasons.
In contrast, the boyfriend's feelings, which are changing in intensity little by little, make for a somewhat endearing story.
Love is turning into something deeper, isn't it...
Soryu Aoi
Taking advantage of the chaos of the fireworks to touch the hand of the person you like...
That's nice, isn't it? It makes my heart flutter.
It was a story that made me think, 'I'll do this in my next life!' ^^
Rishu
A series of words that feel like drowning, with feelings growing damply on a summer night...
Aki-san's somewhat thick, syrupy song expands even further; it's a poem I'd like to turn into a painting.
Noimanosuke
During the Obon season, there's a sense that the feelings of the afterlife are projected onto this world.
They really are there.
It's possible to have your heart stolen by something that doesn't belong to this world in such a place.
This was also a beautiful story I'd like to turn into a painting.
Tsukino-san
There is a story called "Cloud Atlas," and in that tale, the events of humanity witnessed by the same soul are chronicled from the 19th century to the distant future.
Tsukino-san's story made me feel a grand flow of time and depth of love that reminds me of that.
It has a scope that is hard to believe is only 800 characters.
Tateyama Ken-san
Lighting the fireworks in a hurry, a shimmering dream city...
It is a scene like that of the Little Match Girl, but this protagonist isn't shivering from the cold, but rather something more passionate...
It was a story that felt like it jumped out of a picture book, where you could see the back of the protagonist setting off on a journey from summer to autumn.
Sabrina-san
It is a sexy and dramatic poem that compares the changes in a sparkler to the maneuvering of the heart.
There is heat even in the quiet, and it is cold yet can burn you. If you handle it poorly, it will drop right off.
Just when you think you want it, the next firework is already lit.
Naru-san
It is a surprise attack.
Everyone, have you ever been hit with a surprise kiss?
If this succeeds, it is a total turnaround. However, if you get it wrong, it is a disaster, so everyone be careful.
Reading the story made me feel relieved and warm inside.
Sasaki-kun did his best!
Hoshizuki Rizumu-san
A younger boyfriend.
That is nice~. It is my favorite. I wanted to know more about how the two of them got together☆
Kids around this age can get traumatized if they are dumped in a weird way, so I found myself reading it from a parent's perspective, thinking I have to be careful~.
I wonder how much older a woman a boy can admire??
Yasmin-san
It is a poem where the feelings that crackle in your heart seem to resonate through the sparkler.
While carrying the anxiety that he might disappear at any moment, I pictured a scene where fireflies are flying away.
rira-san
"Hanabi" is the girl's name, isn't it? It's cute.
I wonder if Hanabi and I are childhood friends... There is so much drama packed into such a short piece of writing, it really set my imagination running wild~.
Jinn-san
This is a poem with such strong intent that the word "love-hate" comes to mind.
I wrote a story about Momotaro the other day, and I felt that same kind of passion, where love is so strong it turns one into an ogre.
Mutsuki Harunaga-san
Weaving the changing form of a sparkler into the conversation between a man and a woman, the alluring scene comes vividly to mind☆
The suggestive conversation between the two is also intriguing~.
For some reason, "Amagi Goe" keeps popping into my head...
Hyuga Shimakaze-san
The Summer Triangle. I love the part where you name each star one by one.
I love the names of stars. For some reason, it makes me feel like, "We are alive!"
Sending telepathy☆ I found myself looking up at the night sky to search for the triangle.
Amanasu-san
I don't say it, but I understand. I understand, but I don't say it...
Carrying that frustration, the lives of the two intersect for a moment, and then drift apart again.
It's heartbreaking..
Q_nine-san
I was wondering why the title is "Threshing"...
It's not molting, but threshing, isn't it.
It wasn't cast off, it was stripped away.
I have become a new self, but I wonder if the stripped-off shell is just drifting away.
mu-san
I want you to teach me factorization too!!
But if the other person is too wonderful, I'm sure it won't sink in!!!
I'm imagining a scene where the other person is talking so earnestly, but the words don't enter my head at all, and I just stare at them in a daze...
Plum-san
I ran away when they told me they liked me.
It was fine as long as we were just exchanging glances, but when the daydream suddenly rushes into reality, it gets scary...
Maybe something like that happened during my adolescence too... I read it thinking it was cute.
Hehe~.
Yuzu-san
A guy with high-level facial features!!!!
It's tough when you fall for someone whose intentions—whether they're dense or calculating—are impossible to fathom.
I hate you now~ but I love you~!!!
It's a story that makes me really want to root for that kind of feeling.
Extra Edition
Ques-san
As a side story to the Nekomimi Grand Finale, this time I wasn't selected for the song-making story, but for those who haven't read it yet, I hope you enjoy the lingering memories of the Nekomimi Village Festival☆
Someone like me with a lot of curiosity appears in it.
Thank you, Ques-san☆
Also, since it's a special occasion, I wrote a story too.
I tried writing about the moment when you let out the feelings you've been keeping in your heart.
Please read it if you'd like.
That concludes the lottery announcement☆
See you again!!!