The literature club exhibits! They honestly weren’t that popular! It was kind of a wasteland! So we got a whole lot of lectures from bored club members with nothing better to do. We even got an hour-long explanation from the biology club folks over the reproductive cycle and mating rituals of the sloth! Latifah-sama seemed to listen with delight.
Of course, it was all way over my head! And Isuzu-san was standing watch, so she probably wasn’t listening at all! People started really crowding around when they caught sight of the beautiful and exotic Latifah-sama, so that was probably really stressful for Isuzu-san!
We spent a lot of time in the biology club, and I was hungry again by the end of it! Wouldn’t you be?!
“You’ve seemed overly preoccupied with eating today,” Isuzu-san said.
“I fear I would struggle to take another bite...” Latifah winced, too.
Should I endure? Yes, endure! We looked around the in-school exhibits and came to the one for class 1-1. They were holding a flea market! Class 1-1 is also my comrade and super-duper best friend Shiina-chan’s class! So we really had to stop by!
In a corner of the yard, there were all kinds of things lined up. I searched, and I found her! She was in front of a second-hand CD stall! “Shiina-chan!” I cheered.
“Wah?! Siino-ban?!” She was stunned! Stunned! It was adorable!
“We came to hang!” I told her. “Also, look at this! Make waaaay for the princess!”
“L-Latifah-sama?!” Shiina-chan stuttered. “A-Are you bore you should see here?”
“Hello there, Shiina-san,” Latifah-sama greeted her. “I have absconded from the castle, especially for today!”
“A-A-Absconded... um, Isuzu-san?” Shiina said.
“Yes?”
“You’re m-m-maring see! D-Don’t goint your pun at me!” She opened with a complaint for the still deeply cautious Isuzu-san.
“I’m sorry,” Isuzu-san apologized. “I’m quite tense today.”
“I... I see...”
“What are you selling, Shiina-san?” Latifah-sama asked, and Shiina-chan straightened up immediately.
“Ma’am! I’m s-selling used CDs. The whole class brought CDs they don’t want from home...” There were all kinds, too! Hit songs from yesteryear, enka, jazz, movie soundtracks, kids’ tunes, anisong, all kinds of things! A real motherlode!
“As long as I am here, I simply must buy something,” Latifah-sama decided. “Might I ask for your recommendation?” Latifah-sama couldn’t see the jackets, so she couldn’t really browse. Still, she asked in such an elegant way! Wonderful! Brilliant!
“Huh? Y-You want me to choose?” Shiina-san stammered.
“Certainly,” Latifah-sama told her. “If it would not be too much trouble...”
“I will! I’ll choose! Um, um... umm...!” Shiina-chan was thinking hard! Thinking hard! Thinking hard! Then, she chose! “H-How about this one?!” The CD she held out was called “Topknot Heaven TV Historical Epic Collection.”
I read the title out loud, and Latifah tilted her head. “Topknot... Heaven?” she questioned.
“Th-The title is weird, but it’s full of great songs!” Shiina-san explained. “‘Ah, Life is Sorrow’ and stuff... oh, that’s from Mito Komon. And Kogarashi Monjiro, and Zenigata Heiji, and Lone Wolf and Cub! Oh, I know! Kami-sama, too!”
“Kami-sama?” the princess questioned.
“From The Unfettered Shogun! And Oedo Untouchables and Ōoka Echizen and Three For the Kill!” Shiina-san went on enthusiastically. “I really recommend them!”
“Th-Thank you very much,” Latifah-sama said, taken aback. “I shall listen to them upon my return.”
“Oh, and also... this! The BGM album for Combat Mecha Xabungle! It has the opening and ending by Kushida Akira-sama, of course! Oh, not the two songs by MIO, those are in volume two and I don’t have that one here,” Shiina-san chatted on, warming up to her subject. “Oh, but it has the subtitle theme! It really gives you that feeling like, ‘I will risk my life to live!’ and ‘Xabungle is mine, now’ and stuff when you hear it! It’s great!”
“I-I shall take that one as well,” Latifah-sama agreed graciously. “How much will this—”
“Oh, and that’s not all! This one! A Doobie Brothers album! It’s The Captain and Me, so it has that really famous song, ‘Long Train Runnin’! Oh, oh! And this album, ‘Nature of a Sista’! It’s rap, but it’s good, and it’s performed by the lady Latifah-sama was named a—”
“Chujo-san, please calm down,” Isuzu-san said, and Shiina-chan locked up in fright.
“S-Sorry...” she whimpered.
“You have no need to apologize. I was merely overwhelmed by your passion and knowledge.” Latifah-sama smiled brightly.
“It really is amazing! I only have my own CDs! And I never have a chance to listen to them!” I chimed in. My father’d had a lot of CDs, of course, but he’d sold them all during our period of poverty, after the curse struck! He’d sold his player, too, of course! And now that our lives have gotten better, we just hook up a smartphone to wireless speakers when we want to listen to music. That’s why there are hardly any CDs at all in the Biino household!
“W-Well, I have a lot of my father’s CDs...” Shiina-chan explained weakly. “He’d buy a lot of used CDs, and he had eclectic tastes... so there’s no consistency in genre. Sorry.”
“No, I find it a wonderful hobby,” Latifah-sama denied. “I would be delighted to hear more of it later.”
“O-Okay! Well... which one will you buy, then?”
“I shall take the four recommended.”
“What?! Th-Thank you! It’s 150 yen apiece, so 600 yen!” Shiina-chan bowed stiffly, and placed the four requested CDs into the bag.
Good for you, Shiina-chan! I thought, and I called out “Good luck!” as we went on our way.