CH 51

Hearing Hasumi’s words, Shiorin and the others let out huge sighs with relieved looks on their faces.

“T-Thank goodness~. I thought we’d made you sad, Hasumin~.”

“T-That’s not true! To be honest, I had actually prepared myself for the book to not be read at all…”

When Hasumi said this, Mihorin and Akarin took Hasumi’s hand and shook it eagerly.

“Sure, we could’ve studied with videos and stuff, but then we’d get sidetracked a lot… I think the book you gave us was just perfect!”

“When I opened the book, I got into this sort of “let’s do this!” mood, you know? And we’re talking about me here; someone who’s never been able to concentrate on anything!”

“Whenever I try to learn something on YouTube or other sites like that, I end up watching something completely different… Also, when I see other idols, I end up getting completely distracted, ahaha.”

Shiorin and the others then laughed and giggled.

“But… to be honest, I think I’d like a trainer.”

“A trainer?”

I reiterated her words, to which Mihorin nodded.

“Yes. When we rented a studio at Chaldea Music, there was a trainer who taught us how to sing and dance. Ah, but it’s not like we were always able to have the trainer teach us!”

“I really want to change our dances to something new instead of what we’ve been doing until now, you know~.”

“But, thanks to the books, we’ve been able to revisit and remaster the basics of dancing and singing. Plus, reviewing the video clips after practice has helped us to sync all our movements with each other!”

Shiorin and the others shared a bit of their worries, but they all high-fived each other afterwards as if they had regained confidence.

“Oh right! I have a session of our rehearsal recorded here, so have a look if you’d like!”

After switching on the monitor, Hasumi and I watched the video of their rehearsal.

It was a song and dance I was very familiar with.

However, right now I wasn’t watching this video for entertainment purposes.

I was watching it to see how they practiced.

As I watched the video with this in mind, I became more and more focused on the screen, losing sight of my surroundings.

“…Her voice is a bit too high, huh.” I unconsciously blurted out.

“―Eh?”

“Akarin’s voice is naturally high-pitched, which results in her singing voice also being of a similarly high pitch. Meanwhile, Shiorin and Mihorin are straining their voices to match her. As a result, your overall loudness and vocalization are in shambles.”

With a remote control in my hand, I rewinded the video clip.

I replayed the chorus section in the middle of the video and paused it.

Then I continued.

“It’s incredibly difficult to sing and dance at the same time. Your breathing grows ragged and even worse, your group’s unity and cohesiveness is more prone to breaking down. It’d be best if you kept your group’s cohesiveness together by doing things in moderation throughout the performance. Then, if you still have some energy left in you guys, you can use that during the latter half. It’s wonderful to see you all constantly working so hard, but in the end, that won’t mean anything if you all get exhausted in the process. The most memorable moments for fans are the beginning and the end of the performance, so you need to show all of them your amazing smiles at the end of the song―”

After I said all that, I suddenly came to my senses.

I looked around and saw that everyone was looking at me with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

“―or something like that… That’s just my two cents as a fan though.”

I had completely turned into some sort of cocky, high-handed vocal trainer back there. I broke out into a cold sweat.

I was an amateur when it came to idols, so I wasn’t supposed to actually be able to advise them in the first place.

And yet, as was the habit of Shion, I did something so pompous…

However, when I tried to gauge Shiorin and the others’ reactions, I noticed that all of them were looking at me with sparkles in their eyes.

“W-Wow~! To think we were complacent with that!”

“I was never aware of it, but it’s very obvious when I listen to it again. Miho and I don’t sound natural, we sound like we’re straining our voices too high!”

“The thought of considering where the fans would focus on never even crossed my mind!”

The three of them all jumped up and down in joy.

Normally, professionals wouldn’t want an amateur to say something like that to them, but…

The three of them were people of upstanding and upright personalities, as evident in the way they wholeheartedly pored through the textbooks Hasumi gave them.

They had some questionable quirks to them, but they were still brilliant students at heart.

With a good trainer, they might have a real chance at becoming top idols in the future.

“I-I see… That’s great!”

I let out a sigh of relief, feeling that I had somehow helped them.

I am more or less a singer too, so I’m sensitive to disturbances in noises.

At the very least, I’m sure that fixing this issue will help make them an even better team.

“Ritsuki, you’re really good at teaching. Not only did you point out their flaws, you also explained the issue very thoroughly…”

Hasumi sighed, a red blush forming on her cheeks as she stared at me.

“Y-Yeah, well, I’m an otaku, after all. I know a lot about my favorite idols.”

I used this excuse to cover up the fact that I was actually a singer.