My Childhood Friends Reign on Top of the School Caste

Chapter 7

It had been a long time since I’d been to a karaoke bar. The music blaring in the background, the faint sound of someone singing from somewhere in the building, and the bustling atmosphere made up of all of these things were not my cup of tea, but I didn’t mind.

I opened the door with a bang. Our room was at the far end of the hall. It was a corner room with chairs on the right and front and a monitor on the left.

“Well, let’s start singing something for now.”

On that day, she asked me for advice. I went home and did some quick research on how to improve my singing. According to my investigation, pitch, sense of rhythm, and vocal volume are the most crucial factors. It’s obvious, but how you practice depends on how good you are at these things.

There are other things to consider in detail. If you want to improve your karaoke score, which is the basics of karaoke, you can aim for points. The higher, the better your score is, but that’s something that people who can sing to some extent should be aware of to get better, so I won’t go into that this time.

First of all, let’s find out how well Erika can sing.

“Okay. Where do you want me to start?”

“Why don’t you start with a song you like?”

“There’s nothing in particular that I like.”

“Well, maybe something that’s popular right now?”

“Hmm… I know a song that is.”

Erika chose the theme song of a popular drama. It’s a famous song that you hear everywhere these days.

“I think it’s good. It doesn’t sound that difficult.”

“Yeah, I’ll go with this one.”

Erika finished typing the song and stood by with a microphone. She said she wasn’t good at it, but the sight was picturesque. So, what is it really like?

The accompaniment began to play. Then Erika started to sing, following the lyrics on the monitor.

♪~~~

This is..

♪~~~

Hm…

♪~~~

I listened quietly till the end of her song, fearing that I would interfere by getting too excited.

“Fu… That’s about it.”

“It’s hot,” Erika said, fanning her face with her hand while reaching for her drink. She didn’t move a muscle when singing, but she must have expended a lot of energy. She had a drop of sweat on her forehead to prove it. 

“So, how was it?”

She seemed to be curious and immediately asked for my evaluation.

“If I’m honest, you’re pretty good…”

“Really?!”

It’s not a compliment. It’s just my honest impression after listening to the whole song. Of course, it’s not just my subjective opinion, as I’m tone-deaf, but the karaoke scoring function also showed “88”. I’m not really confident in my knowledge about it, but I think I can say that it’s a good score.

Putting the scoring aside, I feel that I have no problem with the fundamental pitch and rhythm. Erika said she had only heard of the songs she sang. But with this kind of score, it looks like there was more room for growth.

　I told Erika what I thought of her performance and the score. Erika seemed to be happy with the result, which exceeded her expectations.

“What was that? Aren’t you just being modest after all?”

“No, that’s not it. In fact, the girls I was with at the time said I was terrible at it.”

Erika was a little gloomy. It seems that she was worried about that time. 

“Then I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear that.”

“Also, what was the score you got that time?”

“I can’t remember exactly, but… I think it was somewhere around 70.”

That’s definitely not good.

“There may be a difference depending on the song you sing, and it may change depending on how you feel at the time. Let’s try singing a few different ones.”

♪ ——————————– ♪

“♪ ——————————– ♪

“♪ ——————————– ♪

I asked her to sing about three songs with a break in between.

The result was not bad, but they gradually got better. Perhaps Erika was getting used to singing, but her score for the third song reached [90], and she was finally at a level where she can be considered excellent.

Erika’s voice was so clear and beautiful that it was pleasant to listen to, even without the scores.

“…Really good.”

“I guess so. It seems I’m in good form today.”

“Were you really awful at it?”

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? Maybe I’ve gotten better without even knowing it.”

“Maybe that’s what it is?”

“That’s the way it is.”

I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but there’s nothing wrong with being good, so it’s probably pointless to worry about it.

“I’m just curious, is there anything different from before?” The members are different, of course.”

“About that…”

Erika tried to answer my question seriously.

“I’m feeling very relaxed today, I guess.”

At that moment, a thought came to my mind.

“You were too nervous and tense before. I don’t think it has anything to do with the song.”

No, no, no, wait a minute.

“Isn’t that the cause?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were always a good singer. But when you were in front of other people, you got nervous and couldn’t perform to your full potential. It’s your typical story.”

At this point, Erika finally understood.

“You’re right… Yes, that makes sense.”

“If you had told me that first, I would have found another way.”

“I don’t have a choice. If I don’t come with you, there’s no way I can compare or even notice.”

“That’s true,” I said, but my shoulders slumped as I thought of our fruitless effort.

“You don’t have to be so disappointed. It’s good to know the cause.”

“I’m glad you figured it out,” Erika said to me as I put my hands on my face.

“I’m not disappointed… but I don’t see the point of me coming here.”

“Why?”

“If you’re just nervous, there’s no point in practicing with me. You need to go with someone else and get used to it, or you’ll never change.”

“No, it’s not. It means a lot to me that we both came here.”

“How?”

“It’s a secret.”

She didn’t tell me the meaning until the end. After that, she said, “Since you’ve come all this way, why don’t you sing too, Etsuji?”

I didn’t want to be bothered by Erika, so I sang to the best of my ability.

She laughed at me and said, “You’re terrible at this,” but there was no sarcasm in that. She wasn’t just laughing at my poor performance, but she seems to be genuinely enjoying the time the two of us were spending.

Thanks to her, I was able to enjoy myself.

We took turns in singing. Some time passed, and our cups were empty. We  were about to refill them, but since I was the one closer to the door, I said, “I’ll get two more.”

After pouring Coke for my own, I was about to pour orange juice for Erika since it’s what she wanted. I put the glass down and was about to press the button on the soda machine when I heard, “Hey, you’re here too.”

I heard a voice behind me that I had heard only recently. I turned around this time because of what happened then.

Someone I had seen lately was standing there.

“Hello, Hayashi-kun. What a coincidence to find you here.”

[ED]”This is my first editing project, so my skills aren’t what you’d call great, but rather amateur. Still hope you’d read it tho :P”

TL Note: Well, the current development’s pretty lukewarm I must say.