I am a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

"Shinohara-san is carsick?"

"If it's a passenger car, there might be."

"Is that so?" Hirakawa Tetsufumi nodded, then asked, "Have you prepared any motion sickness medicine? If not, the teacher has some here."

When he said the second half of the sentence, his tone became a little proud.

He was very thoughtful and even took into account things like students' motion sickness. He is indeed a careful teacher.

"Teacher Hirakawa, we don't need it for now."

"Okay, please feel free to ask if you need anything."

"Ah."

Shinohara Shiori answered, then turned her head and looked out the car window.

May 3rd is the beginning of summer among the 24 solar terms.

At this moment, summer has not yet arrived and spring has not yet faded.

The bus drove slowly along the ever-expanding road.

Outside the glass window, the street trees swayed slightly in the increasingly hot air.

Inside the glass window, the girl was staring at the reflection of a teacher, lost in thought.

The training camp is about to begin.

Forest under the blue sky

"Shinohara-san, Shinohara-san."

"……Yes."

In my ears, I heard the voice of Teacher Hirakawa, and on the glass, the reflection changed from a side profile to a front face.

"What are you looking at?"

"nothing."

He pretended to naturally withdrew his gaze from the window, and put his hand on the window sill back to his ear, smoothing the long hair beside his ear.

Shinohara Shiori turned her head away.

So, right before my eyes was the male teacher’s face and the concerned look in his eyes.

"..."

"What's wrong?" Hirakawa Tetsufumi looked at Shinohara Shiori who seemed to be in a trance, "Are you carsick?"

"No."

The girl's voice was very soft, and her tone seemed wrong.

"Really not?"

"No."

"okay."

Although it seems something is not right, it may just be some of the girl's thoughts that are not convenient to reveal, so let's not ask too much. Thinking of this, Tetsufumi Hirakawa straightened up and stood up.

"Nothing is wrong, we are already here."

Then, he turned to face the other students in the car and gave a reminder.

"Dear students, we have arrived at our destination. Please take your backpacks and musical instruments and get off the bus in an orderly manner. Don't rush."

When I came to my senses, the roar of the bus engine had dissipated in my ears, and my classmates were standing around me. My drifting thoughts returned to my body, and my classmates' conversations were no longer distant and entered my ears again.

Shinohara Shiori stood in the team, with the early May sunshine above her head. At the front of the team, Mr. Hirakawa was reading out the precautions.

"Dear students, it is now... 10:07. When we enter the hotel, please find your room according to the assigned number, put away your luggage and take a short rest."

"Gather at the hotel entrance at 10:25 and take your instruments. Then Mr. Ogasa and I will lead everyone to the concert hall next door to officially start training. Is that okay?"

"Remember, we are here to practice better, not to have fun. Please be prepared."

"Yes." The girls quickly responded happily.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa continued.

"That's all for this morning. Does anyone have any questions?"

"If not, we'll just...right, don't run around. Okay, let's go in."

Teacher Ogasa followed and said, "Everyone, follow closely."

The team started moving, a group of girls walked happily, chatting with their companions and looking at the exterior walls of the hotel and concert hall not far away.

"Senior, is this where we will be staying together?"

"Yes, this is the place where our wind band usually practices together. We came here last year."

"Is that so? How do you feel, Senior?"

"It's nice. Besides, next to it - look, over there, there's a park."

"so good."

Soon, amidst the sound of non-stop conversation, the band arrived at the hotel lobby. After disbanding, they went upstairs to find their rooms.

The students' rooms are for four people, of course due to the number of students, some groups of students are for three people in a room.

As for teachers, they have single rooms.

It didn't take long for Tetsufumi Hirakawa to find his room, which was in the corner of the second floor, right next to Teacher Ogasa.

After putting away his luggage, he and Teacher Ogasa went downstairs together and waited for the students to gather at the hotel entrance.

At half past ten, after the assembly and roll call were completed, they headed to the concert hall next to the hotel.

Compared to the small concert hall in Moritani School which had no audience stands, the concert hall here was naturally much larger, with seats for hundreds of people.

Moreover, the Moritani Wind Orchestra does not only come here for training, but sometimes they also come here to perform for free, which is also a place to increase wind instrumental experience.

After all, it is a school that has qualified for the national competition.

"Okay, everyone, be quiet."

Tetsufumi Hirakawa sat below the stage, looking up as Mr. Ogasa was trying to restore order.

"In order for everyone to get into the groove as quickly as possible, can we first have a full ensemble? As for the music, it's this time's theme song, The Forest Under the Blue Sky."

"Everyone get ready, Mochizuki-san, let's begin."

It can be seen that the students who had just arrived here were still a little restless, but soon, with Teacher Ogasa's shout of "Let's start", in this empty concert hall, a clear and beautiful music gradually sounded, drowning out the whispers.

A girl was sitting in the first row of the concert hall, holding a black tubular instrument that looked like a flute.

Mochizuki, the principal of the wind ensemble, plays the clarinet and is also responsible for the pitch of the entire wind ensemble.

As the girl blew the whistle, the other students also blew their instruments and tuned them.

When the tuning was finished, Teacher Ogasa took out a baton from somewhere and stood in front of the students.

"preparation--"

The light and floating voice of Mr. Ogasa sounded on the stage, and all the members of the wind band, no matter how leisurely and talkative they were at other times, became quiet and looked at Mr. Ogasa's hands.

The empty concert hall was filled with silence.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Teacher Ogasa pressed down with his baton.

The low, melodious ensemble sound slowly came to the audience.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa sat in his seat, listening to the music of the wind orchestra.

On the stage, like a stream flowing, clear and clean, the seedlings on the bank are nourished and begin to grow, upward, upward. They sprout, grow branches, and their leaves become more and more lush.

The clear springs flow and the trees grow.

Under the blue sky, tall trees appeared and formed a forest.

The lush green forest is quiet, no one has ever stepped foot in it, and the sound of silence lingers.

Then, until a certain moment, amid the sounds of wind, flowing water, and all the natural sounds, there was suddenly the singing of birds.

First it was a dot, vague, ethereal and traceless, coming from a faraway place.

Then, it got closer and closer, flew into the forest, and landed on a branch of a tree in the very center of the forest.

Then, all the sounds in my ears disappeared. All the sounds under the entire sky and in the entire forest disappeared.

Only the chirping of birds remained.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa looked at the stage. All the members stopped making any sound, but in the center, a girl was holding a trumpet and playing it to her heart's content.

The lark appeared.

The clear and high-pitched chirping sounds resounded freely and unrestrainedly, echoing over and over again in the forest.

Over and over again.

And at some point, the sounds of nature began to sound again, the sound of wind, flowing water, the sound of growing trees, and the fading chirping of birds.

Under the blue sky, the forest played together, and the sound was carried away by the wind, reaching far away places, and then dissipated in the air.

The lark flew away and the forest returned to silence.

Pure water flows through the roots of the forest, making the leaves grow more lush and the branches grow stronger, waiting for the arrival of a flying bird from the horizon at some unknown time.

The song is over.

Chapter 61 However, the future of the Moriya Wind Ensemble is not optimistic

At twelve o'clock noon, after more than an hour of practice, the wind band had its lunch break.

Just after disbanding, I walked to the door of the concert hall.

"Teacher Hirakawa."

There were footsteps behind me, and a familiar girl's voice, which was obviously Shinohara Shiori.

"It's Shinohara-san, what's wrong?"

He turned around and looked at her, paused for a moment, and waited until she came up to him before continuing walking forward.

Shinohara Shiori followed behind Hirakawa Tetsufumi on the right.

"Teacher Hirakawa, what do you think of the ensemble just now?"

"Well, I think, um..." Hirakawa Tetsufumi thought about the melody that just played in his ears and commented seriously, "It can be said to be unexpected."

"Ok?"

As I walked out of the concert hall, the midday sun shone down, and I squinted my eyes.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa explained.

"I originally thought that the sloppy practice of the wind band on a daily basis... didn't give me much hope for the level."

"But after listening to the ensemble just now, although I am not a professional judge and cannot give professional advice, according to my standards, it sounds pretty good overall. It can be said that it deserves to enter the national competition."

This is what Hirakawa Tetsufumi felt just now. In the final analysis, he really underestimated the wind orchestra. So it can be said that the feeling of surprise is based on low expectations.

Maybe next time I listen to it, if I raise my expectations, it won’t be so amazing, but it’s still great, right?

As expected of a team participating in the national competition, everyone who hears this will say so.

"Of course, Shinohara-san's solo was also fantastic."

Tetsufumi Hirakawa did not forget to praise the girl behind him.

"Thank you, Mr. Pingchuan."

Hearing the compliment, Shinohara Shiori also walked out of the concert hall. The afternoon sun shone directly down on her, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"Although Mr. Ogasa's management is very loose, there is absolutely no problem with his musical ability."

"Yeah, indeed."