Like water and oil, they would never exactly mix, but they’d been on friendly terms since they met… Probably because they were both uniquely talented.
An idea popped into my head as I watched the two of them. Nothing special, just the kind of idea the same hundred people would come up with if you asked a hundred managers.
“Hey, Ootsuka. I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Ooh. What could it be, Gakkun? Whatever you want. After all, we’re buddies!”
I mean…she and I weren’t exactly buddies, but…
…but I held back on pointing that out.
“Can you teach Shiika and our other friends how to dance?”
“Sure!”
“Of course, I’m not asking you to do it for free. We’ll do something to support your goals, too, Ootsuka, and— Wait, did you say sure?!”
“Yeah, I said sure! I’m super happy you’ve taken an interest in dance!”
“Oh… Okay… Well, that simplifies things.”
To be frank, it was a tad anticlimactic.
I hate bothersome things and love it when stuff goes smoothly, but somehow things were going too smoothly, and that was kinda… Egh.
I like playing games I can complete, but if the difficulty level is too easy, it doesn’t feel like an achievement. I like to play on medium difficulty.
“And the reason you want me to teach you how to dance is…’cause of the final exam, right?”
“Yeah. The thing is, we’re amateurs and…”
“I…can’t…dance… At this rate, the tuna will be at risk…”
“Okay, okay. Then let’s do this! I’ll teach you how to dance, and in return, you can come up with a piece of dance music for my video!”
“Huh?” Shiika stiffened, although it was a casual offer.
Ootsuka, not realizing this proposal would startle Shiika, rubbed her nose and beamed.
“I heard the song you performed for the midterm exam, you know!”
“What? You were in the audience then…?” I asked.
“Yeah! I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of performance you guys will come up with!”
The midterm exam was a month ago.
In front of pro-level judges, Shiika performed a song she’d composed herself. It was an original Seeker song: “Omnidirectional Lost Ones Catalog.”
Of course, we pretended she’d come across the song online and wanted to do a cover of it.
It was a kind of message, to open Erio Shibuya’s heart. At that time, Shibuya was competing with Shiika, although Shiika was only trying to protect Shibuya’s career as a singer. The midterm exam was a school-only event, with the goings-on not being disclosed on social media. So no one joined the dots and figured out that Shiika Ikebukuro and Seeker were in any way connected.
“I was so touched by that song! I want to dance to a song composed by you, Shi! That’s how I feel!”
“H-hold on. Don’t jump the gun here. That was a cover, okay?” I said.
“Huh? Don’t tell lies. That was Shi’s song through and through!”
“Wh-wh-what makes you say that?!”
“It’s just…obvious!”
Ootsuka wasn’t basing this on anything concrete.
But a hunch like that could be dangerous.
Natural intuition, or something like that? How terrifying, for her to be able to ignore logic and reach the correct conclusion with nothing more than instinct. Perhaps this was a special ability born from her insane aptitude for dance.
The audience who’d been watching the dance-off was listening to our conversation. If I denied it too strongly, and if Ootsuka ended up becoming more insistent about it, people might think there was some connection between Shiika and Seeker.
Probably only a few Ryouran High School students would know about a virtual singer active in the darkest depths of the internet, but even so, it was better to keep the risk low.
Without mentioning the composer of “Omnidirectional Lost Ones Catalog,” I casually shifted the focus of the conversation by acknowledging Shiika’s ability to compose original songs.
“Sorry, but I can’t allow Shiika to compose a song for you.”
“What?! Why not?!”
“Songwriting is a mentally draining process. I can’t have Shiika becoming emotionally exhausted.”
“Hmm. She’s the type to withdraw into her own world, huh.”
“…I’m surprised. You understand what that’s like?”
“Of course! There are people like that when it comes to dancing, too, you know!”
“I see…”
I was honestly quite impressed.
Shiika’s talent spurred me to do all kinds of research, so I know a little about the music world. But I know almost nothing about dance.
Though if you think about it, it’s only natural. It’s the same art field, so it’s not unusual for there to be some similarities.
“How about a compromise? We’ll have Komae compose you a song instead. How about that?”
“That’s cool! I like Nokki’s songs, too!”
“Nokki…?”
Nokki, as in Nokia, no doubt. I wasn’t aware they knew each other. But perhaps she just liked giving people nicknames. After all, she’d been calling me Gakkun since we met. Maybe it was just a thing Tatsuki Ootsuka liked to do.
Anyway, at least she was on board!
Shiika and Ootsuka were both rising stars in the school, so this conversation naturally got the audience all excited.
“Tatsuki’s going to be collaborating with Shiika?!”
“The Dance Department’s and the Music Department’s top students! That Ryouran Summer Festival stage is in the bag!”
“I’m really looking forward to it! I wonder how the video is going to turn out!”
“Shiika Ikebukuro… She seems popular these days, but what’s so good about her? Can she really stand alongside Ryuzetsuran?”
“Well, she’s pretty cute, isn’t she? In a plain kinda way, I mean.”
The students were having fun gossiping. Many of them were watching us with some envy, and Shiika cowered behind me. She was surrounded by a cacophony of colors, a bubbling pot of emotions.
Compared to how things were when she first entered the school, fewer people viewed Shiika with animosity. They saw her as a plain country girl.
These days, however, there was a lot more gossip expressing jealousy, like that her singing voice wasn’t all that amazing and that she’d gained acclaim only because of her looks. It was ridiculous. At first, no one appreciated Shiika’s appearance, but once she started getting attention, everyone focused on it.
So, out of everyone, we could trust Tatsuki Ootsuka.
Ootsuka had a high opinion of Shiika before Shiika started getting popular, and she hasn’t changed her treatment toward Shiika at all since they first met. I was looking forward to seeing what kind of influence a relationship with another rare genius might have on Shiika.