Episode 72 – Makuhari Messe

Not long after that, the university went on spring break, and I was stuck at home composing music.

I’ve got seven days left until the live concert on Valentine’s Day. I had to make a general outline of the song soon, but I was still having trouble deciding on a plan.

Since it is Valentine’s Day, I think a song about love would be good, and that much has been decided. …… conversely, that is all that has been decided.
When it comes to love, is it a song about a lost love or a one-sided love, about youth or about the sordid patterns of adults? There are a variety of choices.

I used to make decisions based on my mood and what I wanted to create, but now that I am forced to create songs, such feelings have become rare.
However, only a vague desire to write songs remained smoldering.

“Hmmm, not this one either…..”

I am struggling while thinking about the melody of the song. I can’t decide whether to use a major or minor key, and I can’t decide on the direction to take.
By the way, a major key is a bright song, and a minor key is a dark song.

As my mind wracked with questions, I received a call on my cell phone shortly after noon.
Apparently, the sender is Harushita san.

[Why don’t we go down to the live venue now?]

I blinked at the unexpected suggestion.

What kind of a blast of wind is it that Harushita san would say such a thing?

First of all, Harushita san and I are not even that close.
Although she came to my house on occasion, she was not as close to me as Kotoha, Mirei, with whom I share a radio, or Azusa, who lives on the floor above my room, or even Shizuku, with whom I have talked a lot since the previous incident.

She was the most businesslike of all the women I was involved with, and while she was interesting to talk to, she was not the type of person who tried to get involved more than necessary.

When someone like that invites me out, I am tempted to imagine a deeper meaning, but probably not.
That would be something that would also be useful for the job.

“I understand.”

When I sent a reply, I received a simple e-mail saying, [Then at 2:00 at Tokyo Station]
I have to laugh a little at the fact that this kind of thing also shows her personality.

If it were Azusa, it would be something like, [I’ll be at Tokyo Station at 2:00, but I won’t accept it if you are late…… (angry face mark)]. I wonder if Azusa will be okay with such a tone, even though she will no longer be a JK soon.
that person wouldn’t have sent a similar text to the manager, would she?

I looked at my watch and saw that it was already around one o’clock.
It will take some time to get to Tokyo Station, so I need to hurry up and get ready.

I left home with only the bare necessities.

Just before 2:00 pm. Harushita san appeared at the Marunouchi South Exit ticket gate of Tokyo Station.
Just 2 o’clock would be the key point.

“Hello, Nagishiro san.”
“Ah, um, hello.”

For some reason, I am embarrassed to be greeted in a well-mannered manner, and look away as I return the greeting.
Then I look at her.

Black tights under a long khaki skirt. Her slender legs are slightly visible.
And on top is a coat and scarf. Both are in bright colors, but she wears them well. It is as expected.

The disguise was very elaborate, with round brown-rimmed sunglasses, a mask, and a knit cap. It was no exaggeration to say that her skin was almost completely uncovered.

“Well, shall we go then?”
“You’re right”

Then she walks away.

We enter the station and then descend deeper and deeper into the station, so deep that it makes no sense.

So, yes. It is our JR Keiyo Line.
Why is it really this deep? I don’t know, but maybe there is something against Chiba. The Sobu Line is no longer in Tokyo Station, apparently. I have never used it.

Harushita san, who probably doesn’t think about such trivial matters, takes the lead in going down the escalator, and I follow her.
I don’t come to Tokyo Station very often, so if I get lost, I’m done.

“But then again, Valentine’s Day Live is at Makuhari Messe, isn’t it?”

Unable to bear the silence, I ask for confirmation.
Harushita san then nodded her head and added an explanation.

“It’s been a tradition for generations. It’s been going on for a few years now.”

Valentine’s Day Live, as the name implies, was a live performance by female artists on February 14.
Incidentally, a month later, there will also be a White Day Live, this time with male artists filling the stage.

The candy companies that proposed Valentine’s Day probably never imagined it would become such a big event.
Well, for those who have never received Valentine’s Day chocolates, this is a great event.
Incidentally, there is a theory that boys who don’t get Valentine’s Day chocolates are the type of people who dot the classroom, so they don’t tend to come to these gigs.

They reach the platform thinking in vain.
The train arrived just in time, so I quickly boarded it.

It was a weekday afternoon, so it wasn’t crowded, and we were sitting two in a row in a long line of regular seats.
I really wanted to sit apart from her because it was awkward to sit next to her, but Harushita san intentionally made room for me so that I could make room for her, so I had to excuse myself next to her.

“Oh, um, speaking of which.”
“What is it?”

Harushita san listens to my incomprehensible Japanese without making any comment, and she listens back to me honestly.

“Why did you invite me to the preview? I mean, isn’t a preview a rehearsal or something right before?”

When I ask, Harushita san turns her head down and answers.

“No, well, yeah”

Although I had my doubts about her brusque reply, I waited silently and Harushita san continued.

“I proposed this match, didn’t I?”

The conversation will be about a match that was decided about three days ago.
This time, I mean the match that will take place at the Valentine’s Day concert.

Since then, the details of the match were conveyed to me, who was in a position to be at least a concerned party.

The content is the last part of the concert, i.e., all six of us together at the end singing a song I wrote.
The song is something I’m going to put on YouTube the day before, and I probably won’t have it ready until the day before, so the girls practically don’t have time to practice.

How will the girls interpret the songs and how much will they delight the audience and enliven the venue?
That is the point of contention.
If it’s simple singing ability or the ability to get the fans excited, Mia san is honestly one of the best, but she and I have known each other the shortest.
So it was decided that anyone could win depending on how they perceived the song.

However, since all six of them sing in unison, it was difficult to make a judgment, so the final decision was to be made by me.
This is a lot of pressure.

It would be easier to judge if one of them was unquestionably great, but I don’t think that will be the case with these six.
They are all superstars in their respective fields.

“Then?”
“I’ve put Nagishiro san on a bit of a tight schedule, so I thought I’d help him out until the song was completed.”

It’s a little tough, nothing to sneeze at. ……
Still, I guess it is her way of taking responsibility.

“Maybe you haven’t done much with it.”
“Eh, why….?”

I’m thrilled when she guesses what I’m going through right now.

“Nozaki san, a composer, once told me, The beginning is the hardest part of composing. The beginning is the hardest part of composing.”
“Haaa, so it’s that person…..”

She’s the one who came to my house once before.
She was quite beautiful, but she was a single around 30 person who somewhat resembled Professor Omori. Perhaps all unmarried 30’s people are hungry for marriage.

“She said something like, [Surprisingly, you get inspired when you go out and stimulate yourself.] “
“I see. I see. Veteran indeed.”

Come to think of it, I felt very refreshed when I went to a public bath before for a change of pace.
I didn’t even get around to composing a song at that time because it was so far out of my mind (80% Mia san’s fault), but it doesn’t seem like the wrong direction to go in.

The simple reason why I was not able to do it myself, then, was that I was in a hurry to meet a looming deadline.
I didn’t have the idea of going out when the deadline was approaching.

“I didn’t know that. No, thank you so much.”
“No, no. You don’t have to thank me for that. ……!”

The always cool Harushita san denies it, waving her hands in the air as if seriously embarrassed.
Apparently, she doesn’t like to be thanked very much.

But for some reason, that attitude tickles my fancy.

“I really appreciate the TV and the cell phone. I really don’t know how to thank Harushita san.”
“It’s okay! It’s okay, please stop ……!”

Having discovered an unexpected side of Harushita san, we arrived at Kaihin Makuhari Station, the station we were looking for.

“Ooou”

There does not seem to be any particular event going on right now and there are no waves of people forming, but on the contrary, that was refreshing.
Kaihin Makuhari Station was very open and empty of people, and the blue sky seemed wider than usual.

“Shall we go then?”

From there, it is a surprisingly long distance to the Makuhari Messe Event Hall.
After 15 minutes of hustling and bustling walking, we arrived at the event hall.

We enter there through the entrance of the concerned parties.
The security guard looked at me suspiciously, and when Harushita san showed him her ID or something, he looked even more suspicious, then seemed convinced.
Well, I’m not Harushita san’s boyfriend, okay? It’s just a job, okay?

First, I was taken backstage.
It was daytime backstage, but it remained dark, and yet there was a sense of tension, even though there was no particular event going on.

“Harushita san, have you done it here before?”
“I think I Have. The turnout here is relatively high compared to other places, so it’s not too much.”

I think the capacity of this hall was less than 10,000 people. I see that the Budokan has a capacity of about 15,000 people, so I guess this is about the same as the Budokan.
I don’t know much about live music, but still, 10,000 people seemed like a lot by itself.

“Shall we go to the stage then?”
“What, can I even go on stage?”
“I have permission.”

It was something a little unsettling to say.
What? Are you sure I’m okay?

A different kind of tension was surging through the air, but Harushita san was moving forward at a brisk pace.
It was kind of tense, like going to a place in school where you’re told, [You can’t go there.] They won’t get mad at me, right?

Still, as we proceeded, we eventually saw the stage.

It was a spectacular view.
It is open on all sides, and yet, on the contrary, everything seems to be converging on us.

Just standing there, my legs started shaking on their own and my hands started sweating.

-Harushita san suddenly grabbed my hand from the side.

“Eh?”

It was all too natural. I can’t help but look to the side.

“What do you think of this stage?”

Harushita san, whether she knows of my confusion or not, lightly squeezes my hand.

But strangely enough, even though I was nervous about the idea of holding hands with Harushita san, it was pleasant.
Maybe it was because the hand in my right hand was smaller and less dependable than I expected. Maybe it was because it was shaking in small increments.

“Are you nervous ……?”

Return a question with a question.
Harushita san seemed nervous, at least to me.

“…… haaa. Well, I’m nervous.”

Then Harushita san looked into the distance with a bored look on her face.
Before I knew it, she had taken off her mask and sunglasses.

“I mean, perhaps you thought someone like me was used to being on stage and not nervous?”
“Yeah, well.”
“No, of course not.”

She may have been anticipating my reaction, but she returns it before I can finish.

“I can’t sleep the day before, and I get so nervous before the show that I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

If you think about it, it doesn’t seem to be directly related to the reason why you are nervous. I interpreted it as her remembering the concert and tried not to interrupt Harushita san’s conversation.

Then she tells the story

“Because there are 10,000 people, and 10,000 people will see you. Of course, if I fail, 10,000 people will witness it, and that’s why I can’t fail.”

Failure in front of 10,000 people. I couldn’t imagine what that would be like.
I couldn’t even imagine.

“But …… gradually became one with the audience. That’s what makes me feel so good.”

Harushita san tells me as she recalls. The profile of her eyes closed makes you wonder how long her eyelashes were, and it makes you wonder how out of place they were.
The corners of her mouth were slightly upturned and it looked like she was laughing or singing.

“Hey, Nagishiro san?”

Her eyes suddenly widen and she turns toward me, making me impatient.
My image was clearly reflected in her clear eyes.

Harushita san happily clasps my hand tightly and leads me to the front of the stage with it.

“Someday, that’s the kind of experience I want. Would you like to join me?”

The words were intense and conciliatory, and made me fantastically envision the two of us standing together on stage performing live.