[Novel] Strum It, Sky! Episode 9

After the summer festival ended and daily life returned to town, while summer vacation was still ongoing, Soraku and the others gathered at the practice space. The members placed their instruments on the stage and gathered to sit at the table in the break area.

“Today, I’m thinking of this more as a debriefing session than a practice. To think about how we’ll proceed from here, I think we should consider what kind of problems we are currently facing.”

When Rumi said this, the other members nodded.

“Did anyone say anything to you after that, from the people who came to watch?”

Rumi asked.

“Yeah. My parents were super happy and praised me. They said I was good and amazing.”

“Me too. They said they couldn't believe I was able to play like that, and that the other members were also very skilled and it was very good.”

“For me too, the older guys who came told me I was the best, it was great, and that it was awesome. My dad also said that even though I just joined, we were well-coordinated.”

Hearing the three of them, Rumi nodded.

“Generally, that’s what I thought. My dad told me the same thing, that I found good members. Hey, did anyone get any opinions that it wasn't good?”

Rumi looked around at everyone, and they looked at each other. Soraku remembered what Haitani from Tyvas had said, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about it here, so he stayed silent.

“Exactly. We are only being seen by people who praise us. I think among the many customers who were there, there were probably people who didn't think anything of our performance, or people who found some bad parts. But people don't go out of their way to tell that to someone they don't know well, right?”

Rumi looked around at her companions to confirm their agreement and continued.

“But then, does anyone here think we were perfect and the best performers of the day?”

“I do.”

Kotona opened her mouth while looking at the surface of the table.

“I think we were the weakest that day. I don't think the performance was bad. All the members are skilled, and everyone gave a proper one-hundred-percent performance. There were no mistakes, and Soraku’s singing was the best. And yet. And yet, I can't think that we were the absolute best.”

“I’m the same. The others were just too strong.”

Rumi heard Mugen’s words and pointed at him.

“That. That’s it. The other performers were better than us. But I wonder what was good about them. The three who performed solo, I think they all had their own worldviews and expressed them. So I kind of understand what was good about them. But for the bands, like that band from Ryugamine and the people from Kokushi, I think they were really good, but I don't really understand what was good about them and what was bad about us.”

Rumi said this, then clasped her hands together on the desk, and while staring at them, she muttered, "I feel like if I keep practicing without understanding that, I won't be able to move forward."

"Hey, what about Sawaki-san? She was watching on the day, right? If it's her, she might be able to tell us what she thinks, even if it's something harsh."

Kotona looked up and said.

"Shall we go ask her?"

Rumi stood up from her chair and said.

"Go? How? Sawaki-san lives in Higashikawa, right?"

"She runs a shop. If we go, we'll probably be able to meet her."

"I mean, how are we going to get all the way to Higashikawa?"

Rokugen said, spreading his arms.

"By bicycle. There are probably four of them. From here, we can cruise along and get there in about forty minutes."

"Cycling, huh? That might feel good."

Kotona said.

"We'll lock up here, so we can leave our instruments and big luggage behind."

Rumi left the practice room and headed toward the even larger warehouse next door. Sora and the others all followed her. A large shutter was down in front of the massive warehouse, and the inside could not be seen from the outside. Rumi opened the aluminum door next to the shutter, went inside, and turned on the lights, illuminating a giant wheel loader.

"Whoa. Amazing. Is this your family's, Rumi?"

Sora looked up at the wheel loader and raised his voice.

"Yeah. In the winter, my dad uses this to clear snow from this whole area."

"Wait, this is the one that often clears snow on the bus route, right?"

"It's pretty impressive to own one of these privately."

Rokugen also said while looking up.

I don't get it. My dad says this thing costs as much as a supercar.

I bet.

And apparently, this warehouse cost about the same amount.

Everything about this is just insane.

Kotona said, sounding impressed.

I don't know if that's why, but there are tons of bicycles here too.

In the direction Rumi pointed, a row of bikes known as cross bikes were lined up.

Aren't these the ones your dad treasures? Wouldn't it be bad to borrow them?

Kotona asked.

It's fine. The ones he treasures are over there.

When Rumi pointed to the wall, two road bikes that looked obviously meant for competition were hanging there.

Those are the serious ones, and the ones down here are for casual riding. There's no 'this one belongs to this person,' the family just rides whichever one they feel like that day. Since we're borrowing all of them, I'll just write it down here.

Saying that, Rumi wrote 'Borrowing all the bikes - Rumi' on the whiteboard hanging on the wall.

The four of them each adjusted the saddle height to fit their own physique.

If you're not used to riding these, it might be better to set the height so your feet can touch the ground completely while straddling it. People who are used to it set the height so their knees are slightly bent when pedaling, but if you do that, you have to get off the saddle to touch the ground when you stop.

I ride a cross bike at home, so I'd prefer that kind of setting.

Kotona said, adjusting the saddle height herself.

Also, if you're not used to riding these, your butt is really going to hurt at first. If you ride for forty minutes right away, your butt might be done for.

At Rumi's words, Rokugen started laughing and said, 'Please don't be done for, my butt.'

Sora and Rokugen adjusted theirs to a height where their feet could touch the ground completely, like a regular bicycle.

The four of them took their bicycles out of the warehouse, Rumi locked both warehouses, and the group set off on a cycling trip toward Higashikawa. Once they left Rumi's house, passed through the road between the fields, and reached the bus route, it was a straight shot the rest of the way. They proceeded at a pace that felt like a light cruise for the roughly ten-kilometer journey. The bicycles Rumi had lent to her friends were all entry-level cross bikes, equipped with twenty-four-speed gears—three in the front and eight in the back. This was Sora's first time riding this type of cross bike. It felt as if the rotation of the pedals was directly and efficiently linked to the bicycle's forward motion, and she felt like she could travel long distances with very little effort. The group rode in a single file, with Rumi in the lead, followed by beginners Sora and Rokugen, and Kotona bringing up the rear. Although the distance was significant, the area was flat, so it wasn't particularly difficult.

After traveling along the long, straight road for a while, Rumi, who was in the lead, slowed down and turned left into an alley. The scenery became dominated by fields, much like the area around Rumi's house, and Rumi turned right once along the way to proceed through the plains. In the distance, the Daisetsu mountains were visible. Before long, a warehouse with a barrel-vault roof, which looked familiar, came into view, and Rumi entered the premises where the warehouse stood and stopped her bicycle. Sora and the others followed suit. Next to the warehouse was a single-story building with dark exterior walls, and a sign made of various colored woods combined together hung on it. The sign read "Coffee Suzutsuki."

"This is the place."

"This is a shop that's hard to enter, isn't it?"

Kotona said.

"Just looking at it from the outside, you can tell it's a coffee shop, but you have no idea how much it costs or anything. The high school students who gather here are amazing."

"It's true, you wouldn't be able to go in if you didn't know about it."

Rumi said this and opened the heavy-looking door. The door creaked briefly as it opened, and the wind chime attached to the inside rang with a clear sound. Right inside the entrance, there was a large, well-worn coffee roaster. The shop had a large counter table in the center, with the kitchen on the right side as you faced it, and low-volume fusion-like music was playing. Sawaki, who was in the back, noticed Rumi and said, "Oh, welcome."

"Hello," they said one after another, and the group sat at the counter in the order of Rumi, Rokugen, Kotona, and Sora, starting from the back.

"You all came together. That makes me happy."

Sawaki said this as he prepared water and placed it in front of the four of them. Sora looked around the shop. Various black-and-white photos of different sizes were hung on the walls, and there were no other customers besides Sora and her friends.

"Is coffee okay? I can also make iced coffee."

"Oh, I'd like iced."

Kotona said.

"Who wants iced?"

When Rokugen asked while raising his hand, everyone raised their hands.

"Four iced coffees, please."

Sora ordered.

"Certainly," Sawaki said, bowing his head, and began to grind the beans with an electric coffee mill.

"Sawaki-san, we came today because we have a small favor to ask."

Rumi said.

A request? What is it? I'm listening.

Sawaki answered while continuing his work.

I want to hear your honest opinion. Sawaki-san, you came to watch us at the summer festival, didn't you? What did you think of our performance?

Sawaki stared at Rumi's face, then slowly looked at the faces of the other members as well.

I thought it was very skillful.

After looking at the members' faces for a long moment, Sawaki said that and paused. The sound of the pot being placed on the stove, the sound of taking the grounds out of the electric mill, and the sound of setting the filter in the dripper intertwined with the music playing softly in the shop.

I want to hear what comes after that.

Rumi said with a serious expression. Sawaki looked at her and nodded.

Your performance was very skillful. I even thought you sounded like professionals.

Sawaki said that and watched the four of them react.

It seems all four of you understand. I'm not complimenting you. You were as skillful as professionals. This is not a compliment.

Sora felt something vaguely shaped inside her clearly turn into a blade and pierce somewhere within her, and she instinctively clutched her chest.

Your performance was that of people who understand many things very well. When playing a song like this, you should do this; behind the vocals, you should do this; for the guitar solo, you should do this; behind that, you should do this; for the climax, you should do this; and where it gets quiet, you should do this. It was all like a model answer. You played like a backing band for a fledgling solo artist composed of young studio musicians.

Sora and the others were all silent, unable to say anything.

After that, the band called Kokushi Musou performed last, didn't they? That band was cool, wasn't it?

Sawaki adjusted the temperature of the boiled water and began pouring it into the dripper. The rich aroma of coffee spread throughout the area.

I didn't think Kokushi Musou was a band with particularly high technical skill. Your performance was much tighter and better. But their music was good. They had something they were trying to convey, and they painted it with their own colors. It wasn't about how the sky must be painted blue or how leaves must be painted green; they had the power to say it's okay if the sky is bright yellow, we want to show you a yellow sky. That's why their music had a strange persuasiveness. They weren't playing music based on how it should be, but on how they wanted it to be.

That's it. That's exactly it. I've figured out what the thing that was bothering me was. Thank you.

Kotona said fervently.

Sawaki lined up four glasses, added ice, and poured the finished coffee into them. The ice immediately began to melt, shifting its shape as it settled, clinking against the glass before coming to rest.

Here you go.

Sawaki spread his hands after inserting straws into the finished iced coffees.

Since I feel like I can be honest with you all, I'll add this: your band had one overwhelmingly good quality.

All four of them looked up at Sawaki's face.

That was the singing. Sora-chan's singing was outstanding. Personally, out of all those talented performers, I was blown away by Sora-chan's singing above all else.

Sora didn't know if she was breathing properly anymore.

This is a very nice thing to hear, but it might not be such a good thing for you all right now. What I was thinking was, who writes the music and lyrics? Because if it's just the person who writes the music and lyrics and this vocalist, it seems like the rest of the band wouldn't be needed.

Sora wrote both the lyrics and the music.

Rumi said.

I had a feeling. And do you know what that leads to? It leads to the question: why not just have this vocalist on her own? And then Sora-chan debuts as a solo artist, and the other members get cut.

A heavy atmosphere hung in the air. Sora looked down. When she closed her eyes, the tears she had been holding back spilled over and wet her knees.

The band I was in when I was young, that's exactly how it ended—the vocalist was scouted, and the band broke up. But in the end, the scouted vocalist's debut work didn't sell at all, and they just faded away. Stories like this aren't rare at all; they happen everywhere.

Thank you.

Rumi thanked Sawaki and bowed her head.

Now it's clear what we need to do. Let's wipe the slate clean of everything we've done so far. I've only been thinking about getting good grades by following the model answers. I've been doing things thinking that this is the 'correct' way for this genre, both consciously and unconsciously. I'm going to stop that. I need to think about what I want to do. Instead of taking the songs Sora brings and saying, 'If it's this kind of song, it should be played like this,' I'm going to try playing them the way I would do it.

I'm exactly the same. It hits too close to home for me to argue. Like Rumi said, I'm skillful. I can make any genre sound decent enough. But if you look at the flip side, that just means everything is half-baked. There are countless people who can play as well as I can, yet I feel like I've been aiming to be someone who can just do everything passably. With the way I play now, it's true that if you called in a better studio musician to replace me, I wouldn't be needed. I know that much.

In other words, we should play the kind of sound that only we can create. We have Sora here, who is one of a kind, and we need to showcase her singing with a performance that no one else could provide. We need to make a sound that even the most skilled musicians couldn't replicate.

Alright. Let's break it all down once. Let's stop overthinking it and find our own sound.

Surrounded by the three of them as they spoke, Sora, still looking down, took a sip of her iced coffee.

"Hey."

Rumi said, wrapping her hands around her glass.

"Why don't we have a training camp?"

"A training camp?"

"Yeah. At my place. We could go to a day-trip hot spring for baths or something. We'd stay over at that practice space with camping sleeping bags and just practice."

"That sounds good. I did a training camp with the brass band back in middle school, and training camps really boost the members' sense of unity. You get to understand each other so much better."

Kotona agreed.

"It sounds fine, but wouldn't it be a bit problematic for me to stay over at a girl's house for a training camp?"

Rokugen said, sipping his iced coffee.

"It's not like it's just the two of us, so it should be fine, right? If you're worried, I'm sure Shizuku would come if we invited her."

"I don't even understand the logic of thinking we should just invite Shizuku."

Rumi and Rokugen laughed together.

Kotona put her arm around Sora's shoulder, who was still looking down.

"Hey. You realized it, didn't you, Sora?"

Sora looked up and stared at Kotona with red, swollen eyes.

"I told you once, didn't I? You don't become a genius by trying to be one; you just realize it. You realized it, didn't you? You were the genius all along, Sora."

"I don't want to be a genius. I just want to be in a band with everyone."

Sora said through tears, and Kotona smiled.

"Sora, look at everyone. None of them are the type to realize things are going wrong and just throw in the towel. Everyone here is thinking they'll turn your singing into a sound that even the most skilled musicians couldn't replicate. None of them are hesitant to tear down everything we've built so far. No one here wants to stay in a band where it wouldn't matter if they weren't there."

"Let's do this. Let's make it so that you'll say you need this band, Sora. Let's make this a band that you'll never say you don't need."

Rokugen said, giving a thumbs up.

"I came here wanting to get better. But I don't think just being good is enough. And yet, I ended up just being proficiently good. Before I knew it, I think I lost sight of what I wanted to become."

Rumi met Sora's eyes, smiled, and continued.

"You said it the other day, didn't you, Sora? At the summer festival. That we should go see the scenery that lies ahead. Let's go. Let's go much, much further. Let's go see it, all of us together."

Sora looked into Rumi's eyes and nodded.

"Sorry, but I don't think you're the only genius here, Sora."

"Obviously. We're going to show them our true power."

The three of them bumped their fists together in front of Kotona. Sora brought her right hand in and joined them.

"I really was a genius, wasn't I? A genius at meeting amazing friends."

The four of them touched their fists together and laughed.

Sora finally picked up her glass of iced coffee and put her mouth to the straw.

"Ah, that's delicious."

Sora's voice rang out loud and long, and the laughter of Sawaki and the other members enveloped the area.

<<To be continued>>

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