CH 35

Aizawa, I had no idea you were here.

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

Aizawa, I had no idea you were here.

The recital began. The order of performance seemed to be in the order of age, with only the smallest children going on stage at the beginning of the performance. Although I was not a parent, I watched their performance with a smile on my face.

Gradually, the performance shifted to fifth- and sixth-graders and junior high school-aged children.

Come to think of it, when I was in the lower grades of elementary school, I thought the older students looked very mature.

And junior high school students looked like adults themselves.

It was a strange feeling because now they looked like children.

“Ah, that’s my friend.”

After a while, Mai next to me whispered in my ear.

Just then, a girl about junior high school age in a red dress stepped onto the stage.

She looked anxious and fidgety until she walked to the piano, but when she suddenly turned her head to look at me, she smiled reassuringly.

There’s no way she’s looking at me…

I looked next to me and saw Mai waving at me with a smile.

I see. I almost misunderstood her.

Mai’s friend played Debussy’s “Moonlight“.

Even I, who was not familiar with classical music, could recognize this piece just by listening to the introduction.

The performance was quite good.

Well, it was not something that I, as an amateur, would rate highly, but it was soothing to listen to. I would pay money for it.

When the performance was over, the audience applauded, as they did for the other children.

She must have been relieved to have finished her performance.

Mai’s friends looked relieved and went offstage.

Mai secretly waved to her, just as she had done when she came up.

After that, there were various performances for a while.

Even the uninitiated eye could see that the level of performance increased as the second half progressed.

While I was dozing off from the comfort of listening to the music, a blonde girl with dazzling blonde hair unexpectedly stepped onto the stage. My consciousness awakened at once. It was Mizutani. The audience was breathless at the sight of her dressed in a pure white dress. Of course, so did I.

“…Like a fairy.”

Mai muttered in a whispered voice, seemingly unintentionally.

Then she hurriedly checked the name on the pamphlet.

“Heh, her name is Mizutani-san. …Is she your friend, brother? She has the same last name as your friend.”

She spoke to me in a whisper. When I didn’t answer anything,

“But I see. Isn’t Brother’s friend a shaved head and a big guy, right? In comparison to that fairy, he is a stranger.”

I came to this conclusion on my own and fell silent.

I, on the other hand, was praying that I would not make eye contact with Mizutani.

Mizutani had been vague about today’s recital at the amusement park the other day.

Perhaps she didn’t want me to see too much of her now.

So, of course, I also hope that she didn’t find out that I came to see her today.

But that was not the only reason.

Even without thinking about it, I hadn’t yet let Mizutani and Mai meet.

If they met for the first time in a place like this, it would be obvious that Mai would be very noisy later on.

However, my hopes were dashed when I met Mizutani’s blue eyes.

It was just before Mizutani bowed in front of the piano.

Mizutani’s eyes widened as she looked at Mai, who had just been whispering in my ear.

She froze for a few seconds and then bowed hurriedly as if she had just remembered.

Mizutani, who had looked the best of all the performers until she came to the piano, suddenly became robotic and awkward.

Forgetting that our eyes met just a moment ago, I watched with concern.

Mizutani sat down in her chair, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

After a short pause, she opened her eyes. Her eyes were like the calm sea.

Oh, it’s going to be all right. Somehow, I was sure of that.

Mizutani puts both hands on the piano keyboard.

The piece was “Fantaisie-Impromptu”.

The moment the first note was played, the air in the hall was dominated by Mizutani.

Mai and I, and probably everyone else in the audience, were listening to the performance like never before. Perhaps because of this, Mizutani’s performance seemed to end in an instant. It was a wild yet beautiful performance as if she was desperately controlling a torrent of emotions.

Mizutani finished playing the last note.

With others, there was applause when the performer stood and bowed after the performance, but not with Mizutani.

“Bravo!”

Someone stood up and clapped as if they couldn’t wait.

It was Mai. The eyes of the rest of the audience turned to us at once. I quietly shifted my seat in the opposite direction of Mai’s so that no one would think I was her brother.

But, perhaps they were in a good mood, or perhaps they understood Mai’s feelings, and they followed her to a round of applause. After making sure everyone’s attention was off of me, I finally clapped my hands. As I clapped my hands, my eyes met Mizutani’s again as she finished bowing.

“What are you doing here? Please explain properly later.”

Mizutani’s eyes clearly said so. I’m scared.

*****

“Mizutani-san’s performance was so awesome!”

After Mizutani’s performance was over, we left the hall.

At the entrance of the civic center, Mai said in a tone of voice that had not yet cooled down from the excitement.

“A-ah, you’re right.”

I was looking around, agreeing with him.

I should not stay here for too long.

I couldn’t explain why, but I had a feeling that meeting Mizutani today would be bad for a number of reasons.

“That person can definitely become a pro! Don’t you think so, brother?”

“Yes, I think she can. But why don’t we go home earlier now? The supermarket’s special sale is about to end.”

I used a convenient way to get us out of there, but Mai was in a daze.

“Eeh~ what are you talking about? I promised to meet Honoka after this, you know? You should meet her too, brother. Honoka-chan was so grateful.”

“If so, it would be great if Mai could accept her thanks for my part. Please tell Honoka-chan for me that her performance was very good.”

“No, you say it yourself. …I mean, brother, aren’t you in a bit of a hurry? Have you ever been so obsessed with special sales?”

Mai gave me a quizzical look.

Not good. Mai was the type of person who would gladly and intensively exploit my weaknesses.

If she found out that I didn’t want to stay at this venue for a long time, she would definitely move to delay our return home.

“I’m not in a hurry. But, you know, I have to take the entrance exam for college and Mai has to take the entrance exam for high school. Mom also told me to keep expenses as low as possible.”

“The college and high school entrance exams have already been decided before. I feel like it’s a little late for that.”

“Look, it’s not easy for me to go to a national university right now.  If we also consider private schools, the tuition fee will be totally different, right?”

“But your grades were really good the other day, and I remember you bragging that you got second place.”

“…..”

I had no idea that my good performance in the mid-term exam would be a setback here.

Mai, perhaps sensing a response to my silence, continued.

“Or is it so difficult to get into a national college that being second in your grade isn’t even an option?”

“O-of course. You are underestimating a university entrance examination. It’s clearly different from high school entrance examinations.”

“Wow, you say it like that but you were so nervous that you couldn’t sleep the day before the high school entrance exam.”

“I wasn’t so nervous that I couldn’t sleep. I was just going along with you because you wanted to play Smash Bros. in the middle of the night, Mai.”

“I was just trying to relieve my brother’s nerves, you know? If you invite someone to play games the day before an exam without any reason, you’re just a bad person.”

“Even if it was to relieve my nerves, the first person to think of inviting me to a game in the middle of the night is usually the bad guy—”

“What are you two talking about?”

“Eh? Ah, no, about the day before the high school entrance exam last year…”

A familiar low-temp voice naturally mingled with the conversation.

It was so natural that I almost answered the question as usual.

I looked in the direction of the voice and was speechless.

There was Mizutani, dressed in a white dress, just as she had been on stage.

Up close, her beauty stood out. Even the air around Mizutani seemed to glow with light.

“Aizawa, I had no idea you were here.”

Mizutani smiled meaningfully.

Oh, shoot.

This was a troublesome situation.