Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 155, Section 30: "His and Her Story in Tokyo (3)"

The clear calls of birds echoed through Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.

Before they knew it, they had spent too much time in the Japanese garden. Masumi looked at the time on her phone and said, "It's almost closing time, let's go out."

"Ah."

Mami responded, reached out, and used her slender fingertips to pick up the dust clinging to her shoes. She then put on her high heels and took a step forward.

The two retraced their steps, passed through the Mother and Child Forest, and exited the park through the Shinjuku Gate.

"Masumi-kun, was that the call of a sekirei just now?"

"Probably, I don't know much about birds."

"Hey, that's so lame, Masumi-kun," Mami teased him. "At least you should know about Sekirei."

"Why a wagtail?" Masumi asked, puzzled.

"It's a rare opportunity for me to give Masumi-kun a science lesson."

Asami curled her lips into a smile, revealing an endearing expression that could be categorized as a smile, and gave him a flirtatious look.

"For islanders, the wagtail is a very special creature. It appeared in the Kojiki and is a bird that bestows love between men and women upon the gods."

"I see." Masumi nodded indifferently.

Seemingly dissatisfied with his indifferent reaction, Mami reached out and pinched Masumi's waist. "Masumi-kun, your reaction is a bit... Ouch, your waist—"

She suddenly made a strange sound from her throat.

What's wrong with my back?

"For a guy, this is way too thin, and there's hardly any fat on it. It's so sturdy, even thinner than mine..."

Poke.

Masumi sighed in exasperation, "Stop messing around."

Mami gave a dismissive "humph".

"Speaking of which, where is Masumi-kun taking me? He's being so mysterious."

"A place you've been to before."

"Places I've been to before?" Asami frowned in confusion. "There are so many: Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Ariake..."

"Right in Shinjuku."

"Right in Shinjuku?" Asami frowned even more deeply. "Could it be... Suga Shrine at Yotsuya Station?"

"Come with me first," Masumi said calmly.

The orange-red sunset kisses the earth, and under the tranquil night, everything in the world is dyed deep blue; it is the time for blues.

After 5 p.m., the streets of JR Shinjuku Station East Exit were bustling with people, and the glass windows of the shops stretched the shadows of the two people.

"right here."

In front of Masumi's fingertips was an ordinary LiveHouse with a sign that read "Shinjuku LOFT".

"What is this?" Unable to hide her confusion, Mami looked up at Masumi's face.

"It's the venue where I used to perform when I was in a band."

"Oh, I see."

Mami nodded without any particular meaning.

Masumi gave her another meaningful look. "Shall we go in?"

"Oh, okay."

Mami was slightly surprised, but she still nodded in agreement.

It was peak time for the audience to enter, and the two of them had to queue for a short while before they could get into the LiveHouse.

"I kept you waiting."

The bartender handed Masumi two glasses of ginger ale.

"Thank you."

This LiveHouse can accommodate more than 200 audience members, which is quite large. Masumi's band was able to apply for a less popular time slot after they gained a certain level of fame, and then gradually made this their main venue.

Before the performance started, there was a bench set up on one side of the stage, and Masumi naturally sat down there.

"As expected of Masumi-kun's home turf, he acts like he's in his own backyard."

Asami sat down next to him teasingly, nudged Masumi's shoulder, and asked, "Why did you suddenly think of bringing me here?"

"..."

Masumi moved her lips as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. Asami asked, puzzled, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Suddenly, Masumi spoke up:
"Mami, you must have been here before, right?"

The unexpected question almost made Mami's heart skip a beat. Her eyes widened, and her smooth, white throat trembled slightly as she managed to squeeze out a sound.

"Why are you saying this all of a sudden, Masumi-kun? This is my first time here."

Masumi's gaze was fixed on Asami, who avoided his eyes as if fleeing. Suddenly, a murmur of commotion arose from the crowd below the stage; the first band of the night was about to take the stage.

"I've read the comics you put in the box."

"I know this."

"Including that book you wrote during typhoon season, based on yourself and Yuukawa—"

"Pah! What prototype?!" Mami interrupted him irritably.

"I haven't gone so far as to draw myself and Umizuki into my doujinshi yet. I'm just using human perspective as a reference. If I had to say who my only prototype is, it would be Masumi-kun..."

She paused abruptly, her voice slightly hoarse than usual, "Wait, you've read everything inside carefully?"

"Hmm, the lyrics for the live part are from a song by my old band, right?"

"Because Masumi-kun is the male lead."

Mami's gaze wandered in mid-air, her expression uneasy.

Masumi continued, "Also, when we were in Kusatsu, I found my CDs in the closet of your room."

"Alas!"

Mami turned her face back to her.

"Masumi-kun actually ransacked my room! Didn't we agree not to touch anything?"

"I'm sorry, I just saw it by accident," Masumi said.

"However, thanks to these two things, I finally remembered."

"...What are you thinking about?"

Mami thought to herself that her current behavior was probably just asking a question she already knew the answer to.

"Three years ago, Mami, we met, didn't we? In Shinjuku."

Masumi spoke with certainty, her expression suddenly brightening.

Feeling annoyed by his serious gaze, Mami made a face and then couldn't help but sigh.

Her voice was out of her control, mixed in with her breath.

"So Masumi-kun actually saw through it."

"That's right, three years ago, right here, I met Masumi-kun back then."

Asami lowered her eyes, staring at the ground, blinking gently as if brushing away the dust that covered up past memories.

◇

Summer amidst the cicadas' calls.

This is Mami's second time visiting Tokyo, following her high school training trip.

On the third Monday of August, after a three-day otaku holy war in Ariake 3-chome, today is her last day in Tokyo. Asami plans to be a pure tourist and spend her time as she pleases.

Just like the free time on the last day of a school trip.

When I stepped out of the hotel, the sky was covered with a thick haze, looking as if it were about to burst into tears.

Mami suddenly thought of the movie "The Garden of Words" and decided to take a walk in the Shinjuku, Jingu Gaien, and Harajuku area today.

Inside the JR Yamanote Line carriage, she peered out the window, her eyes fixed on the world outside.

The clouds above the Nishi-Shinjuku building complex thinned, and sunlight pierced through the heavy, low-hanging clouds.

I remember this beam of light shining down from the clouds was called "Angel's Ladder".

Under one of the beams of light, Mami saw him for the first time.

Street performer?

An electric guitar slung over his shoulder, a yellow amplifier at his feet, both connected by an equipment cable, along with a microphone on a stand. A handwritten cardboard sign was pasted on the suitcase next to him.

"Open-air performance; please buy tickets if you're interested!"

"Band: Seven Sufferings and Eight Sufferings"

"August 19th, Shinjuku LOFT, tickets are 1500 yen each."

They attract passersby to buy tickets through street performances, August 19th... isn't that today?

The performance is tonight, but the tickets are still not sold out. Is it really okay?
Confused by these perplexing thoughts, Mami unconsciously stopped in her tracks. The boy in front of her seemed to be prepared as well, his fingers gripping the pick and gently strumming the strings twice.

The song seemed to fill the entire streets of Shinjuku—

As always, the scenery was still early at noon.

Beneath the overpass, indigo square, I lay motionless.
A single round of applause for a life as blank as a sheet of paper.
Today, I also sing praises to my emptiness.
The gentle singing voice and the poetic lyrics, as if narrated in a gentle whisper, shook Mami's eardrums, causing her to hold her breath.

The pick plays a series of eighth notes, and the bright and gentle melody of the acoustic guitar slides into the bottom layer of the music, joining the vocals.

Written to restore everything to its former state.

In the story notes with you as the protagonist
Neither the power and water outages have any impact on society or the news.
Even my life has turned into ink.
The dreams I had been imagining back then are gradually coming to an end as I've grown up.

For a fleeting moment, Mami felt as if time had stopped and sound had vanished from the world.

Writing poetry in a six-story rented room, life is a series of unbroken memories.

For some reason, her eyes felt hot, and the emotions surging from the depths of her body seemed to overwhelm her; her tightly clenched hands felt like they were burning.

In an instant, my heart pounded, a tsunami-like throbbing sound filled the air, and all around me was a flood of sound without a single gap.

Simply, simply looking up at the clouds

It's just another day passing by before our eyes.

In the distant past, I have looked up at the sky where flying flowers floated.
It's just like spring.
It made me unable to see you again.

As the last line of the soaring chorus finished, the first half came to an end, and before we knew it, more and more spectators had gathered around us.

Mami snapped out of her reverie, held her breath briefly, and chose to step back to avoid being swallowed up by the crowd.

Although she was pushed further away from the singing, Mami's gaze remained fixed on the boy who was playing and singing: his shoulders were heaving as he sang with all his might, completely absorbed in the performance.

Head bowed to avoid falling.
Life is a process of forcing yourself to compromise.
They say mindset determines destiny, and that life in love songs is all lies.

In the end, if no one buys it, it's all for nothing.
What does this feeling like?

It felt as if I had been sleeping from noon until the afternoon, and when I woke up I felt a strange sense of loneliness, as if I had been abandoned by the world.

But just then, someone handed him a bouquet of flowers.

Mami didn't know where her emotions came from, but she could measure their appearance and shape. The only thing she couldn't control was the extent and duration of these emotions.

The hustle and bustle of the young people in Shinjuku disappeared, and only the boy's singing echoed in her ears.

In an instant, the boy stopped playing the guitar, and the singing stopped abruptly.

"—Excuse me, open-air performances are not allowed here."

A police officer in uniform, adjusting his hat, appeared at the front of the crowd.

"terribly sorry."

The boy stood straight and apologized to the other party, "I'll leave right away." After saying that, he tidied up the scene quite quickly. It was obviously not the first time he had been caught performing in the open air like this. He then slung his instrument bag over his shoulder, dragged his suitcase, and left.

Throughout the process, Mami actually had many opportunities to step forward, but faced with passersby who blocked her way like a wall, she felt like a child in the crowd who was ashamed to express her own opinions.

After just a moment's thought, she rejected the eyes that were stirring her emotions.

Suddenly, she felt extremely tired. Even though, from a calculating point of view, nothing had changed from the beginning, Mami felt a strange sense of loss.

never mind.

Even if I were to strike up a conversation with him, what would I say to him?

Mami tried to comfort herself with this thought, but her mood was clearly working against her.

"..."

At least buy him a ticket to his live show.

Life is a continuous series of compromises, and once Mami realized this, she had already unconsciously taken a step forward.

Shinjuku, Jingu Gaien, Yoyogi, Harajuku—she searched around and around the area until her toes started to hurt, and then she found herself standing in front of the Shinjuku gate of the Imperial Palace.

The weather not only didn't rain, but became even clearer. The dark clouds dispersed, and the blue sky that came into view was exceptionally azure.

It is said that the sky color is formed by reflecting the sea color, which reminded Mami of the "indigo squared" in the lyrics of the song she just heard.

Having wandered around the neighborhood like an idiot for so long, that person must be long gone by now. Mami sighed in frustration.

She bought a ticket for 200 yen and entered Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.

Although it was a weekday, the park was still full of people leisurely passing the time: couples, local residents, and tourists with cameras in their hands.

For Asami, who had only seen this park in the movie The Garden of Words, it was an unfamiliar place.

Before high school, Mami often saw scenes in manga where the male protagonist would meet the female protagonist who was alone on the rooftop.

But when I got to high school, I found that the rooftops in reality were either locked by the school, or if people were allowed to enter, they would be overcrowded with students eating lunch and chatting in small groups.

Seeing these happy people makes me, who am all alone, feel incredibly lonely.

Mami somewhat regretted visiting the park on a sunny day.

That person probably isn't here, since he's alone just like me.

...No, he's in a band, so he's different from me.

Even when he was alone in the crowd, he still stood out from the crowd, singing highly literary lyrics as if he were firmly asserting his voice, passing through layers of people.

Life is a continuation of compromise.
I understood that long ago.

The value of life probably lies in how it ends.
The blue in my field of vision still lingers.

The sky I gazed at long ago, with drifting petals.

This indigo square is hard to look at directly.

That's all.
Looking out at the blue sky, you are enjoying the cool air.
It's nothing but an illusion, a mirage, swimming in the night.

The emotions described in the lyrics are clearly terrible and full of depression, but there is still an ideal for life. It's like a stain of ink; once the previous strokes have dried, the writer picks up the pen again to start the next verse.

Asami was drawn in by the singing, and an unprecedented feeling of emotion surged within her, urging her to take a step forward.

As we walked through the forest and approached the pavilion called East House, the sky was an unsettlingly deep blue.

Mami stopped in her tracks.

A boy was sitting on a bench, holding an electric guitar, his fingertips slowly moving along the strings.

It's that person who just performed in Shinjuku!

The excitement in my heart was rekindled.

Anxiety gripped her lungs. Asami swallowed hard, carefully walked toward the pavilion, and couldn't help but speak.

"that……"

Her call made the boy stop plucking the strings. His long eyelashes trembled slightly, and he slowly raised his face, subconsciously saying "sorry." Then he picked up his violin case from the bench, placed it at his feet, and made room for someone.

"Are you going to sit here and rest? Then I'll put the guitar away," the boy said.

"It's ok."

Mami replied softly, a blush rising on her cheeks.

"Hmm... then I'll turn the speakers off."

The boy lowered his head and strummed the strings with his pick.

An electric guitar without an amplifier can only produce the sound of vibrating strings, which sounds muffled, as if it's coming from behind a wall.

Having just heard that captivating timbre, Mami's ears reminded her that this was not its original timbre.

She let out a soft sigh, suddenly realizing that she hadn't actually said a single word she wanted to say, just like an electric guitar that wasn't connected to an amplifier.

"..."

"Actually, I just watched your open-air performance in Shinjuku, it was fantastic," Asami said, mustering her courage.

"Oh, I see." Faced with the sudden topic, the boy narrowed his eyes and smiled, saying, "Thank you."

Mami suddenly felt like a high school girl confessing to a boy she had a crush on. She would ponder over and over again a single sentence from him, even though the speaker himself didn't actually have any hidden meaning.

He's not the Chief Cabinet Secretary, and Asami isn't a high school girl who needs to be carefully considered every word, so all we need to do is deal with it calmly.

Having mentally prepared herself, Mami slowly said, "Could you sell me a ticket to the show?"

"Do you need to buy tickets? That would be a huge help."

A clear look of joy appeared on the boy's face. "To be honest, tonight is the official performance, but we're still a few tickets short of our target. It's really a headache."

"Ticket quotas?"

"Yes, to ensure sufficient audience numbers, LiveHouses set ticket quotas for performing bands. Any revenue exceeding these quotas is split equally between the band and the LiveHouse. If the revenue is insufficient, the band has to bear the cost themselves," he explained.

“I see.” Mami nodded, scratching her cheek with her slender fingertips. “I don’t know much about bands. I’ve only watched K-On!, which doesn’t mention these things.”

"However, I can somewhat understand that feeling. On Sunday, I set up a stall at CM to sell doujinshi, but I didn't even sell half of them," she said self-deprecatingly.

Because the printing cost of 50 copies and 100 copies wasn't much different, they couldn't help but get carried away and, unsurprisingly, failed.

The boy clearly didn't understand these things, and his expression couldn't hide his confusion, but he still listened patiently to what she was saying.

Mami snapped out of her daze, realizing she had been talking to herself, blushed, and then asked:
"Um... how many more slots are we short?"

"Five."

That's 7500 yen. Excluding the Shinkansen ticket, that should be enough.

"Then I..."

"Wait, you're not going to buy them all, are you?"

"Can't you?"

“There’s no need for that.” The boy shook his head. “I’m happy enough if you’re willing to buy a ticket to support me.”

"Ticket availability should be a concern for the musicians. As audience members, we just need to consider things from their perspective, pay an equivalent amount of money and time, and enjoy the music."

“Yes… this is it…”

"Yes, in my opinion, there are things more important than ticket sales."

"Having the opportunity to stand on the stage and having an audience willing to listen to my singing makes me very satisfied."

He spoke fluently, reciting lines that sounded like they came from a classic manga, yet they sounded exceptionally sincere, not at all like he was just saying polite words.

Mami realized that her previous complicated feelings were nothing more than needless worry.

"I totally understand that feeling!"

She blurted out those words.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, then he smiled broadly, listening as Mami continued:
"Although the sales of doujinshi were very poor, the people who came to my booth would enthusiastically share their love for the work with me, which made me feel like I had found my own sense of existence."

“I didn’t have many friends growing up. I longed for someone to understand my feelings, but I couldn’t openly express them. I guess I started drawing comics because I wanted to gain recognition from others.”

After saying all that in one breath, Mami felt her face burning, so she deliberately looked away.

But she blushed, and even looking away wouldn't help.

In the gazebo of the Garden of Words, opening my heart to a complete stranger I'm meeting for the first time—am I being a little too unguarded?

"Really? Then we seem to be the same kind of people." The boy smiled upon hearing her words.

"similar?"

"That's right. After graduating from high school, I came to Beijing from my hometown with the ambition of not wanting to become ordinary and wanting to become a special person, so I chose to play in a band."

"Does forming a band make you special?" Mami asked rhetorically.

"Who knows? Before high school, I was thinking about what I should do, but at the same time I was lamenting that I had become an adult so quickly, and that I had become an adult with my head down all the time."

"In my opinion, being special is not about being eccentric; it's enough to find something that you can fully immerse yourself in."

The boy stroked his chin thoughtfully, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

"Oh, right, this is for you."

He took a CD out of the pocket attached to the instrument case.

"It's a CD that our band produced at our own expense. Thank you for liking my songs."

"Thank you." Asami, flattered, accepted the gift and asked, "How much does it cost?"

"No need, it's just something that can't be sold and is just sitting in a drawer anyway." The boy shrugged dismissively.

"But didn't you just say that as viewers, we should consider things from the viewers' perspective?"

Asami's retort was so calm and rational that it surprised even herself.

"Then it's only natural to pay for CDs, right?"

"……You're right."

The boy accepted her explanation, and Mami's somewhat embarrassed expression was reflected in his pupils. "Ah, I'm sorry," she apologized subconsciously.

"It's alright, I was just a bit too abrupt."

"Yes, let's do this."

With his eyes gently narrowed, the boy clapped his hands as if suddenly remembering something, then took out a pen from his pocket and sketched out cursive characters on the surface of the CD.

"The CD with the graffiti-damaged case, I'll sell it for...50 yen, thank you."

"There's such a way?" Mami exclaimed in disbelief.

The winding, golden handwriting, the artistically designed font, made it difficult to discern its original form. Upon seeing this, the male protagonist explained:

"Masumi, my name is Miyazawa Masumi. I am the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Shichiku Hachiku. Nice to meet you."

"...Please advise me."

Mami stammered in response, momentarily forgetting to give her name.

Masumi nodded, glancing at the time displayed on her phone, and said, "Excuse me, I should probably go now."

"We'll be the second band to perform at Shinjuku LOFT at 6 PM. Please look forward to our show."

"Ah, okay."

Seeing her slightly flustered expression, Masumi smiled quietly.

"We are a band made up of a group of lonely people, so the songs we write will never make the audience feel lonely."

These words made Mami's eyes widen and her body stiffen. After packing her things, Masumi slowly stood up from the bench.

"So, goodbye."

As I stood up, I heard the soft rustling of clothes, and the call of a sekirei came from the Japanese garden.

As Masumi turned around, Asami suddenly said this:
"found it!"

Ignoring the weak murmur, Masumi continued walking forward.

Watching his figure disappear into the distance, she said even more forcefully in her heart:
"—I've found what I like!"

(End of this chapter)