Chapter 15
On a warm summer day, the sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky above the city of Sapporo. The streets were bustling with life, occupied by a lot of young people who were enjoying their short summer break, trying to forget about school, just for a moment. But the schools weren’t empty, a lot of students spend their time on campus, doing their club activities or attending summer classes. And those who didn’t pass a certain subject could look forward to the make-up exams.
In the city, many students also spend their time in cram schools, preparing for the entrance exams, hoping it would help them to get accepted by their preferred University.
But even with those activities, it was evident that the summer holidays had an impact on everyone. Almost no one could be found without a smile on their face and even with their additional responsibilities, everyone did their best to make the most out of their holiday, hanging out with friends, going to the beach or just having fun.
That was everyone except Iyori Mikami.
Deep inside Sapporo's Main Library, with her head buried in her school books, sat Iyori next to Shuya who didn’t take his eyes off her for a second, making sure she wasn’t slacking.
“Seriously, Shuya,” said Iyori for the third time since they arrived at the library. “It’s our summer holiday.”
“I know. And it’s the perfect time for you to catch up on all the things you are still behind on from the 1st semester. Even if you passed all your exams this time, it was only just barely, and 2nd semester isn’t going to be any easier.”
“I know that,” said Iyori and pouted, unable to argue with Shuya on this matter. He didn’t pursue the subject any further and just pointed at the assignment she was working on, egging her to continue.
“You really are mean...” said Iyori in a low voice, writing down the answer to the question. “When you requested a date with me today I thought you wanted to enjoy the weather, maybe buy an ice cream or something.”
“You don’t have the time to go out and eat ice cream,” said Shuya. “Don’t you want to improve on your school work?”
“I don’t know anymore...” said Iyori and facepalmed on the table. “It doesn’t even matter, I can never beat Hanako and at home that’s what counts.”
“I thought you weren’t doing this for them, but—”
“Yeah yeah, I’m doing it for myself, I know that,” said Iyori and turned her head so she could look Shuya in the eyes. “I just don’t have it in me today. My mind won’t work like it’s supposed to. I’m not even sure what subject we're on.” Shuya looked at Iyori, watching how her soul seemed to have left her body, her eyes lacking life.
“Okay,” said Shuya then, and Iyori immediately lived up.
“Okay? You’re letting me go?” asked Iyori, unable to hide her relieved smile.
“Sure...” said Shuya, but the tone of his voice was enough to make the smile drop from Iyori’s face. “I’ll let you go for today... If!” Shuya went silent and Iyori looked at him, her heart sitting in her throat.
“If?” asked Iyori, fighting to get the word out.
“If... you tell me why you won’t go on karaoke dates.”
Iyori let out a huge sigh as she answered; “Really? We’re still on that? I thought you had forgotten about it a long time ago.”
“Nope, I’m curious by nature, so it never left my mind,” said Shuya. “So, are you gonna tell me?” Iyori looked at the clock at the back of the library, the day was still young and if she did nothing, she would spend the whole day coped up in here, bored out of her mind.
“Fine,” said Iyori and closed her book. “But, you have to buy me an ice cream first.”
“Deal!”
The park was filled with young couples and groups of friends, all of them enjoying the warm weather and a day off from school. The line in front of the ice cream truck was long, but Iyori was persistent and she didn’t care how long she had to wait.
Then, finally, with an ice cream in her hand, Iyori found herself an empty seat on a bench, just below a tree, giving a little shadow from the blinding light from the sun.
“So?” asked Shuya after a little time had passed.
“Calm down, at least let me finish my ice cream before it melts,” said Iyori annoyed. Shuya nodded his head and patiently waited until she had finished eating her ice cream. In the meantime, another seat on the bench had gotten empty and Shuya sat down next to her. Iyori fiddled with her hair while she looked into the distance and in a low voice, she said:
“I... I am really bad at singing...” Shuya looked at her in confusion, her voice barely loud enough for him to make sense of one word.
“What?” asked Shuya and Iyori let out a sigh whereafter she raised her head and stared directly into his eyes.
“I AM REALLY BAD AT SINGING!” With Iyori almost yelling out the sentence, Shuya drew back a bit and both of them noticed a few people in the park, giving them weird looks. Shuya looked at Iyori, whose cheeks were red as a beet and even more so as she saw everyone staring at her. She stayed quiet, waiting for some kind of response from Shuya, but instead, she heard a heartfelt laughter filling the air around them. Iyori’s eyes widened and her cheeks turned even redder.
“H... How can you just laugh at it like that?” stuttered Iyori, trying to sound angry, but it only made Shuya laugh even louder.
“Because, it’s hilarious,” said Shuya between his laughs. “I thought there was some dark backstory to it, and then you give me this as a reason. It just seems... too vague.”
“What do you mean it’s too vague? This really is the reason why I don’t go on karaoke dates,” said Iyori in a firm voice. “I am horrible, truly horrible at singing. I did go on karaoke dates back when I first started, but I always got a low rating afterwards. I would always get a scolding from my boss and in the end he begged me to stop accepting karaoke dates. He said if I didn’t, I would lose all my clients in the end.”
Once again, Shuya broke into laughter, but this time, Iyori didn’t just sit back and take it. Instead she gave Shuya a punch on the shoulder, making him wince in pain.
“You deserved that,” said Iyori while Shuya nursed the place she had hit him. “First you pressure me into telling you my secret, and then you do nothing but laugh at me.”
“Alright, you’re right,” said Shuya and looked somewhat apologetic. “So... shall we go to a karaoke bar?” Iyori widened her eyes.
“Excuse me, did you even listen to my story?” asked Iyori.
“I did, but I just can’t believe anyone could sing that poorly. I’m gonna have to listen to that with my own ears.” This time, Iyori was the one to laugh, but in a more abrupt and nervous way.
“Over my dead body,” said Iyori.
***
“Is 1 hour okay?” asked the receptionist and Shuya looked at Iyori for a reply.
“You won’t last an hour,” said Iyori and the receptionist looked at her in confusion, but Shuya quickly followed up:
“1 hour is fine.”
When they finally found themselves in the small karaoke room with dimmed light and two colas on the table, Iyori looked at Shuya.
“Am I really gonna do this?” asked Iyori and Shuya just nodded while handing her the microphone, whereafter he made himself comfortable on the sofa.
Iyori looked at the microphone for a second and gulped. She walked over to the computer and started looking through the list of songs. Her finger floated above the button for a while after she set her eyes on a song, but before she pressed it, she turned around and looked directly into Shuya’s eyes again.
“In about 30 seconds, you are going to regret this, so I just want you to remember that you were the one who pushed me to do this!” And with those words, Iyori pressed the button and music filled the room.
Iyori swayed gently from side to side and a faint smile found its way to her lips as she looked down at the floor. The dimmed light and the multicolored disco light was in huge contrast to the soft melody playing in the intro of the song.
Shuya couldn’t take his eyes off Iyori. Standing in the middle of the room with the light hitting her just perfect, she almost looked like an angel who had fallen down from heaven. It was obvious that she didn’t dress for a study date, looking at her outfit consisting of a yellow summer dress and small white pumps.
The intro was slowly reaching its end and Shuya closed his eyes, waiting for the first verse to begin.
But only a second later did he open his eyes again, a shocked expression filling his eyes as he stared at the girl standing on the floor in front of him. She might have look like an angel, but the voice coming from her was as far from that description as possible.
While her voice floated somewhere just above the right key, never truly reaching the right tone, the first high note came and Shuya felt his ears being violated when Iyori made an earnest, but intensely failed attempt of hitting the note.
The next 3 minutes felt like torture. When the song finally ended, Shuya felt like years of his life had been taken from him and when Iyori looked at his face, all she saw was pain.
“That. Was. AWFUL!” said Shuya after a few seconds, regaining his conscious.
“I warned you, didn’t I?” said Iyori and crossed her arms.
“Nothing you could’ve said, would have been able to prepare me for what I just experienced!”
“Alright alright,” said Iyori and looked down. “You don’t have to exaggerate like that.”
“I’m really not! It almost felt like torture!” said Shuya. “You could get people to expose their darkest secrets by singing to them.”
“Aren’t you a bit too harsh?”
“I’m just telling the truth.”
“Is that so? Alright then, Mr. Song-Expert. Why don’t you sing a song and show me how it’s done?” Iyori handed the microphone to Shuya and his face suddenly turned white as a sheet.
“Ah... No... No thanks,” said Shuya and pushed the microphone back to Iyori, but she just pushed it towards him again.
“Do you really think I’m letting you go that easy? After you pressured me to sing like that,” said Iyori. “No way, we’re not leaving here until I hear you sing.” Iyori glared at Shuya who was still sitting on the sofa, until he grabbed the microphone and got up.
“Fine, if you can sit down and stay quiet for 3 whole minutes,” said Shuya and Iyori happily followed his orders and sat down on the sofa with a satisfied smile on her face.
The song had barely begun before Iyori burst out laughing and it only got louder and louder, the more Shuya sang.
“Really?” said Shuya loudly in the microphone so it echoed in the whole room, the music still playing in the background.
“I’m sorry,” said Iyori, who was still laughing. “But after all your mocking, this is too hilarious. You sound awful!”
“I’m turning it off,” said Shuya and walked towards the computer.
“No! I finished my song, you have to too,” yelled Iyori.
“Yeah, but I also stayed quiet during your entire song. Besides, I don’t feel like singing anymore,” said Shuya. “I already know I sing poorly.”
“Oh come on,” said Iyori and got up from her seat. She quickly grabbed the other microphone and turned it on, whereafter she walked up next to Shuya.
“We’ll finish it together, then you won’t be the only one singing poorly.”
“What are you doing?” asked Shuya, but Iyori had already started singing, loud enough that Shuya felt his eardrums about to burst. Hoping he might be able to drown out Iyori’s voice, Shuya sang even louder than before, gathering all the air from his lungs and before they knew it, the song had turned into a contest about who could sing the loudest and the worst.
The last few tones of the song played and both of them removed the microphone from their mouth, whereafter they looked at each other, both of them heaving for breath. A moment passed where none of them spoke a word and they simply looked at each other, until the silence was interrupted by a loud, overshadowing laughter coming from both of them. They laughed louder and louder and every time the laughter was about to die out, they got eye contact and they immediately started laughing just as loud all over again. They just couldn’t get over it, never in their entire life had they heard something so horrendous.
But even still, it didn’t take more than a second, after both of them finally calmed down, before Shuya made the bold request and asked:
“Wanna go again?” And Iyori looked at him with a smile before she replied.
“You bet.”
Hello everyone!
I don't know why my stories always have a chapter where they go to a karaoke bar... I just realized it but that really is the case. I guess it's because I love signing myself, and I wish Denmark had places you could go to for karaoke, but it doesn't. So I have to get by with singing loudly when I'm driving in my car.
But what did you think of the chapter? I had a lot of fun writing it. Bonding over something you and your friend both suck at is really the best.
Please let me know what you thought of the chapter in the comments down below, and make sure to take good care of yourself and stay safe wherever you are!
Love, Annalise~