"I'll wash your clothes for you — just leave them outside the door."
"Chiose, then what am I supposed to wear?"
"Hah? What do you mean, wear? You're not wearing anything, obviously! You're not allowed to! And if you do put something on, I'll just take it right back off."
"Hah?"
"Don't you 'hah' me! Say it one more time and I'll personally give you a bath! We're way past formalities, you and me — stop pretending to be shy! Do it again and I'll rip your clothes off and leave you with no way to get home! You absolute giant dumbfish!"
"Ah… fair enough."
One week. It had been a full week since that perfectly ordinary little concert came to an end.
Taki had largely stopped going back to her own house. With the proper notifications filed, she had successfully planted herself in Chiose's apartment — eating together, sleeping together, living together.
Her parents had no objections. Neither did her sister.
They all seemed to know what Taki was thinking, though who could say whether they really did.
Taki didn't care. Right now, all she wanted was to write something better — something that could at least hold its own against the compositions Chiose had tailored specifically for her.
They had only known each other for a month, and yet they were slowly weaving themselves into each other's lives.
"I'm going to practice singing too — I will absolutely master this!"
"Yes! You absolutely will!"
"I'm going to learn how to find inspiration fast — I'll master that too!"
"Yes! You'll master that too!"
"And also!"
"What else!"
"I also need… hmm, I need a good theme. I need Chiose to help me think of one."
With anyone else — no matter how much she cherished them — Taki could never have been this open.
But Chiose was different. Chiose was special. Taki couldn't quite explain it.
She tried propping up her own chin, but no matter how she positioned her hand, she couldn't find the same gentle touch as when Chiose held it for her.
[What on earth is missing? It's the same hand, isn't it!]
"You want me to think of one?"
Setting down her copy of "The Self-Cultivation of a Guitar Master", Yoshiiro Chiose looked over at Taki — sitting bare as the day she was born against the crimson wall.
Pfft — absolutely adorable. Soft and springy.
But Taki's face was completely blank.
Was it because they'd been spending so much time together undressed? Had she just gone numb to it?
Yoshiiro Chiose pulled a blanket over herself — not that it covered much of anything.
"How about [Blank Expression]."
"Hah? What's that supposed to mean."
"How should I know — I'm just telling you: write a song that feels like a blank expression. It should have a faint sadness to it, a touch of despair, but also a flicker of distant hope. Off you go."
"..."
"Quite a challenge, right? We can pick something else if you want."
"No, this one's fine. I can do it."
Taki pulled her panda notebook out from under the bed and worked hard to recall every fragment of experience, everything she'd seen, heard, or lived through over the course of her life.
What to write, what to write…
"If nothing comes, maybe start from onomatopoeia?" Chiose had pinned up Taki's long hair, and the two of them sat on the floor letting their minds wander — like a pair of cave people regressed to the Stone Age.
"For instance? I've heard some bands find their creative spark through collisions like that."
"Like Queen's 'We Will Rock You'."
"Right! Exactly that kind of thing — so if we were going to write something, what word would we start from?"
"Use the sound of the sun blowing bubbles."
"The what?"
"The sound of the sun blowing bubbles," Chiose said, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself and stepping out onto the balcony to point at that orange star hanging in the sky as though it would never fall.
"Listen — isn't that enormous orange-yellow bubble constantly spitting out tiny corona bubbles? The sound of those bubbles popping — that's what I want to express."
"So what kind of sound would that be, exactly."
"とぅるるるとぅるるるとぅるる,"
(Doo-roo-roo-roo, doo-roo-roo-roo, doo-roo-roo.)
"Pfft—"
"Why are you laughing! That is very serious and solemn! You'd better watch out, or the sun's bubbles will carry you away and I won't come rescue you."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry — so… how am I supposed to write this part?"
"Figure it out yourself!"
Chiose yanked the curtains shut, then draped the blanket over Taki's head with great satisfaction before climbing back into bed.
"Tch…"
"Hehe — is little Taki completely obsessed with me? You've had a blanket soaked in my scent sitting on your head all this time and you still haven't taken it off — you like me that much, do you!"
"I don't — wait, hold on, hold on hold on!"
A flash of cold clarity shot through Shiina Taki's mind, and something strange began to take root.
"The first lyric I need to write is!"
She wrote:
[Hey! Why are you so obsessed with me? We've only ever met once.]
Just one line — and yet Taki clutched it like a treasure.
"Right, and add the sound from before!"
[とぅるるるとぅるるるとぅるる,]
(Doo-roo-roo-roo, doo-roo-roo-roo, doo-roo-roo,)
Hmm… a few more lines, she wrote:
[ねぇ,どうして私が好きなの,]
(Hey, why are you so in love with me?)
[一度しか会ったことがないのにね,]
(We've only ever met just once, you know.)
"Phew, I wrote something really good, I… wait. No."
Taki took a closer look and felt that it was somehow very… niche.
This kind of thing was the bread and butter of the denpa crowd — lyrics that the general public probably couldn't accept, appreciate, or get behind…
"No good, I knew it — I have to tear this out!" Taki pressed down on the left side of the notebook, and was just about to rip out the right side, when a pair of nimble, pale hands shot out and stopped her.
"Don't you dare! Let me see that! How could you unilaterally destroy your own creative work! Apologize to the draft book this instant!"
"…I'm sorry."
Now it was Chiose holding the notebook up. She switched on the light and, with considerable ceremony, stood under it to savour Taki's words.
Her pupils dilated as she read. She closed the notebook with deep satisfaction, then opened it again, reading through once, twice, three, four times — only returning it when she was completely, thoroughly satisfied.
"Honestly? I never get tired of a single line you write, but these few in particular — I have an especially soft spot for them today! Hmph, very well done, please keep up the good work!"
"Is — is that really true? But they're…"
"They're amazing, you dumbfish! Have I gone so long without calling you a dumbfish that you've lost all your confidence?! What are you, some kind of masochist!"
Yoshiiro Chiose rolled her eyes at Shiina Taki with great feeling.
Though — from where Taki was standing, it just looked like she was being adorable.
"So I'll keep writing then?"
"Write! You absolutely must! You keep writing while I pop out to buy a bass."
"What do you need that thing for?"
"To learn and explore, of course! I've been studying guitar for ages — I need a different instrument to stimulate the great Yoshiiro Chiose's mind! You wait right here, I'll be back before you know it~"
Before she left, Chiose pressed a kiss to the side of Taki's face.
「!!!!!」
"What was that for!"
Shiina Taki, pull yourself together — why are you being such a baby! What's your face going all red for!
"That's a little gift for you. Let the kiss keep you company while I'm gone."
With characteristic mischief, Chiose kissed the other cheek too — Taki had plenty of time to dodge and didn't.
And that was how things were.
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