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Chapter 73: The Start of Summer Break Draws Near, and So Does the Busy Season
🕑 Added 2025-08-10 15:00:16 +0000 UTCOriginally, Aoki had planned to head to the live house with Ryo for practice.
But the atmosphere between them had been painfully awkward ever since this morning.
Not wanting to endure that tension any longer, he decided to head home after lunch instead.
Even right before he left, their conversation was unusually sparse.
It felt nothing like their usual dynamic—more like stepping back in time by two months.
Back then, Ryo barely spoke because of her personality, and Aoki, trying to avoid any unnecessary trouble, kept things minimal on his end too.
Their interactions mostly consisted of grunts like “Mm” and “Yeah.”
But this situation wasn’t quite the same as back then.
Now, it was more like: "Whoever speaks first loses."
They both clearly wanted to say something, but after what had just happened, neither dared to break the silence.
Definitely different from those days when they genuinely had nothing to say.
In the end, after enduring a silent and torturous lunch, Aoki used the excuse of "suddenly remembering something urgent" to make his escape.
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It was around 1:30 p.m. when he left Ryo’s house.
After walking back to the station and taking the train, he returned to his rented apartment by 2:00.
With no air conditioning, the room was unbearably hot—so much so that Aoki started seriously considering finding a place with AC.
Unfortunately, his finances weren’t in great shape right now...
He turned on his old electric fan and was originally planning to study for the upcoming finals, but when he reached into his backpack, he suddenly remembered the promise he’d made with Niijima Yousuke that morning.
Finish a demo track within a week.
If the quality was good enough, they’d move forward with collaboration talks.
Obviously, the sooner he finished, the better.
If they could confirm the partnership early, he and the band could start rehearsing as soon as possible.
The longer he waited, the more room there was for something to go wrong.
With that in mind...
Aoki zipped his backpack shut.
On the train ride back, he had already chosen the reward he’d earned from completing the task.
Just as he’d initially planned—since they might be performing “Fireworks” soon and the band currently lacked a keyboardist, he selected the skill [Master Keyboardist].
It was different from the [Master Guitar Techniques] skill he already had.
Aoki had browsed the point shop before and noticed that [Master Keyboardist] cost significantly more than the guitar one.
Not because of any hidden features or exclusive perks—the reason was actually pretty simple:
While “guitar technique” was a single-instrument skill, “keyboardist” was a comprehensive skill set—more like a job-class encompassing all keyboard-related instruments.
Just the [Master Keyboardist] skill alone included mastery over piano, electric keyboard, synthesizer, and other musical tech categories.
Of course, he could purchase each skill individually using points, but after doing the math, Aoki realized that buying the full package was slightly cheaper.
That said, all of this was secondary to the current issue.
In order to start composing the Fireworks demo track as soon as possible, he needed one more thing—an actual keyboard.
The song’s melody revolved around the piano, and Aoki didn’t have one.
He figured he’d probably need to use a keyboard or electric piano for future projects too, so now was as good a time as any to make the investment.
But…
Pianos were expensive.
Buying one outright would be tough on his wallet.
Still, there was a workaround.
Compared to a traditional piano, an electric one might have slightly less nuance in tone—but for practice and casual performance, those differences were negligible.
And the price?
While regular pianos could cost hundreds of thousands of yen, you could get a decent electric piano for just a few tens of thousands.
After weighing his options, Aoki decided to go to a nearby music store and pick out a reasonably priced digital piano.
Rather than return to the store he visited last time—“Neiro” over at the Station Square, he chose a more convenient shop nearby with decent reviews.
He took the train over and, based on online recommendations, settled on a digital piano priced at 84,000 yen.
Because it wasn’t something you could easily carry home, the store kindly arranged to have it delivered to Aoki’s apartment.
The already-cramped room instantly felt even more crowded.
To be honest, the digital piano would’ve been a better fit at STARRY than in Aoki’s small apartment.
But he needed to use it right away, and after how awkward things had been with Ryo at lunch, he really didn’t feel like seeing her again so soon.
So after a moment of hesitation, he made the obvious choice.
Worst case, he could always have it moved over there later.
But that could wait.
Now that he had both the [Master Keyboardist] skill and the digital piano ready, there was no more reason to delay.
As soon as the delivery staff left and he had the piano set up, Aoki opened the "Love Obstruction Simulation Game" and used it to redeem the sheet music for “Fireworks.”
A full set of sheet music memories immediately embedded themselves in his mind.
He closed his eyes for a moment, mentally flipping through the score.
Once he was sure the memory was intact, he rested his fingers on the piano keys.
Muscle memory for the digital piano was already starting to surface at his fingertips.
But instead of playing right away, he paused, pulled out his phone from his pocket, and opened the camera app.
He set it up to record.
Sure, he could just email part of the sheet music to Niijima Yousuke—but knowing Yousuke probably couldn’t read scores all that well, a short video clip would be much more effective.
With everything set up, Aoki finally touched the keys.
Since this was only a demo, he recorded just a short segment of “Fireworks.”
Once the video was done, he clipped the relevant part of the sheet music and created a simplified score to go with the clip.
All in all—between recording and scoring—it took him about forty minutes.
After one final check to make sure everything was in order, he sent both the video and the sheet music to Niijima Yousuke.
The reply came faster than he expected.
Barely ten minutes had passed when Yousuke responded:
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[Niijima Yousuke]: Whoa! That was quick! Is this demo something you recorded just for me, Aoki-sensei? I’ll check it out right now!
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It felt rude not to reply, so Aoki thought for a second, then sent back a short message:
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[Had a sudden wave of inspiration.]
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After that, however… there was nothing. No follow-up message.
Aoki waited.
And waited.
Over twenty minutes went by with radio silence. He began to wonder what was going on—until finally, a new message came in.
This time, Niijima Yousuke sounded downright shocked:
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[Niijima Yousuke]: Aoki-sensei!! Is there already a full version of this song?! No—wait, there can’t be, right? You just sent the demo not long ago...
But even this much is enough—you’re not just talented, you’re a once-in-a-generation genius!!
[Niijima Yousuke]: It’s perfect. Even just the intro—it fits the movie like it was made for it!
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Clearly, Yousuke was thrilled.
After showering Aoki with enthusiastic praise, he quickly followed up with a more formal request:
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[Niijima Yousuke]: Aoki-sensei, if you’re free next week, could we meet again to go over the contract details?
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