Chapter 82 – The Day of the Date (Evening)

After waiting under the cold weather for a while, we finally got to eat.

It was a bit pricey, but the taste of the food was fine. Not that I was a good judge though. I could cook pretty well, but I wasn't a chef or anything. I just followed the random recipes I found on the internet.

I didn't know a thing about fancy seasonings. The seasonings I knew about were the standard ones like ketchup or mustard. And I loved using instant seasoning, they were convenient to use. I doubt that this will change even when I grow up.

"How was it, Maki?"

"Everything tastes good, even the dessert… I have one complaint though…"

"What a coincidence, me too."

'One, two…' Muttered Umi as we walked away from the restaurant.

""The portion is too small.""

We said that at the same time.

"Haha! I know, right?"

"Man…"

To be fair, that was probably how a normal portion looked like. We were just a pair of gluttons.

"Hehe… Wanna eat some burgers after this?"

"Sure, with fries."

"Let's go."

And so, without catching a break, we ate our second lunch.

In the end, we were just doing what we normally did, but apparently this kind of thing was a normal occurrence.

After filling our stomach for the second time, we walked toward the city, which was painted in the orange hue of the evening sun.

It was currently 4 pm. I didn't have any problems with staying out late, but Umi had to get back home at 7 pm for dinner. So, considering the time it took to return home, we could only hang around until 6 pm or so.

That left us with two hours… Now, what should we do?

"Maki, let's go there next~"

"Mm? Ah…"

I looked toward the place Umi pointed at and saw a signboard there.

'Karaoke.'

A place where you got to hear someone's horrible singing and vice versa inside a cramped room.

"Hm…"

"C'mon, are you chickening out?"

I stopped dead in my tracks and gave her a look of refusal.

Yeah sure, with the time we had left, we could spend it there no problem and I knew that people had karaoke dates too. But, still, karaoke…

"What, you hate going to karaokes?"

"…I've never been to one…"

"Then make this your first time."

"Ehh…"

"Don't give me that response. C'mon, walk quickly, or else I'll drag you there by force."

"Ugh…"

Seeing my reaction made her even more motivated to go. She grabbed my hand and forcefully dragged me along.

"Two hours, a drink set. Also, the usual student rate, please."

It seemed like she came here frequently with Amami-san and Nitta-san. She completed the registration quickly and we went inside a small room together.

Most of the other rooms were occupied and I could hear people yelling here and there.

It felt like a zoo.

"C'mon, we only got two hours, so pick your song quickly! I'll go first and you go next, okay?"

After the waitress brought our drinks, the song that Umi picked started to play.

"~♪ "

Umi's first pick was a song by a female idol group. I heard this song being played plenty of times in a TV ad.

…This was the first time I ever heard Umi's singing voice. She sounded really good. Her pitch was solid and her voice sounded clear.

It made me think that she could be an idol if she wanted to.

The karaoke machine here had a scoring system and the score she got was 98, an almost perfect score.

"…Fuuh… It's been a while since I last sang! That felt good~ …Okay, Maki, it's your turn next!"

"Ah… wait, sorry, I haven't decided mine yet."

I was too distracted by her voice and because of that, I haven't decided on what to sing.

I spent most of my time playing video games and reading manga, but I had plenty of knowledge of music, I think. At the very least, I had a group and some songs that I liked. Sometimes, I would hum those songs if I were in a good mood.

But knowing something about music and being able to sing were totally different matters.

I hated hearing my own voice. People always gave me strange looks whenever I spoke out loud for some reason.

Because of this, it felt like my voice displeased them and I grew to hate hearing my own voice.

"Hmm… Then, I'll choose it for you. What's your favorite band?"

"Huh? It's a six person band called Dice Roll."

"Dice Roll… And your favorite song from them?"

"Fuyuzakura… Wait, are you trying to make me sing that one?"

"Mhm."

She operated the remote control quickly and soon after, the familiar tune began to echo through the room.

Both Umi and I held one microphone each.

I remembered everything about this song, the melody, the lyrics, the chorus, everything. If someone were to ask me to sing it, I could. But…

"As expected, is it embarrassing?"

"…Yeah…"

"I assume you don't want to make fun of yourself in front of me?"

"…Kinda…"

I knew that Umi wouldn't make fun of me even if I were to horribly fail at singing, but I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of her.

"I see. Well, I can't exactly force you to sing."

"Sorry, I'm so pathetic…"

"It's fine, I'll sing it."

"Eh?"

I thought she would stop the song, but she did something unexpected.

"Do you even know the song, Umi?"

"Nope, but the lyrics are on the screen, I just need to roll with it."

Then she gripped her mic and started to sing.

"Ah, it already started… A white, cold hand reached out to my back~ ♪"

Of course she couldn't sing it properly, she never heard of the song before. Her pitch was all over the places, she sounded like reciting the lyrics rather than singing it.

"Umi, you don't need to force yourself…"

"What are you on about? I'm doing my best to sing here. Take that tambourine and liven things up, quickly!"

"Eh?"

I tried to play the tambourine but it was a mess. After all, I was the only one who knew the song. My rhythm and her sounded really off.

"…Your usual… eh, wait, I'm a beat too quick… The snowflakes fall…"

But she didn't stop and she didn't show any intention to stop.

"C'mon, Maki, sing together with me! Who cares if your voice is bad or your score is low, let's just have some fun! Together!"

"Umi…"

"Rather, I want you to teach me how to sing this song. This is your favorite song isn't it? I want to sing it properly!"

Then, she took my hand and forced me to stand up.

"C'mon~"

"Fine, I'll do it…"

Her performance was bad enough, so even if I horribly mess it up it wouldn't matter.

"Then, Umi, take the tambourine. I'll do the rest."

"Oho~ Finally~"

"Seriously… I didn't sign up for this…"

Encouraged by Umi's kindness, I raised my voice to the mic for the first time in my life.