“All right, who sings first?”
“I’ve already got my song lined up — me.”
“Got it. Go ahead, Kano-san.”
“Cool, thanks.”
Kano pulled the tablet and mic off the charging dock and queued her song. On the monitor came the title of the recent hit drama’s theme song, very popular with young people.
She picked up the mic, stood up, and got into it. She looked like she was having a great time. Listening to her, I was having indescribable feelings.
If Suzuno had been there, I’m sure she would have been feeling exactly the same way.
”…Yeah, you really are tone-deaf, Kano-san.”
“Oh, so Yuito would talk to his big sister like that, huh.”
“But it’s the truth.”
I gave my review when she finished. The four of us — me, my brother, Suzuno, and Kano — used to do karaoke back in the day, and her singing has not improved one iota since then.
“Kano-san, you’re this perfect mind-and-body-balanced type who’s good at academics and sports, and yet singing is the one thing you’ve never gotten any better at.”
“It’s not like getting better at singing is a life-essential skill.”
“Sure, I guess.”
Through middle school, music class meant occasions to sing — but in high school, if you pick art or calligraphy you can skip music. So Kano’s not been in a music class since middle school.
She apparently weaseled out of chorus competitions by volunteering for the piano accompaniment.
Apparently that’s why these days she only does karaoke with a small inner circle of really-close people.
“The only person who’d actually compliment your singing is probably my brother, right?”
“Yeah, Ayato is so over-the-moon about me he’d compliment me no matter how badly I sang.”
She agreed. Where I’m willing to tease her freely, my brother absolutely will not.
He desperately wants Kano to like him, so he praises her relentlessly over the tiniest things. Even her singing — he’d find some reason.
“I’ve always wondered — why don’t you go out with my brother, Kano-san? He must have confessed plenty of times by now.”
“This might sound a bit cruel to say, but personally I find Ayato pretty much zero romantic appeal.”
“Huh?!”
That last part nearly knocked me over. The guy who’s captured the imagination of every girl in the school including Suzuno — no appeal whatsoever? Did not see that coming.
“So just to be clear, I have zero intention of going out with Ayato. And that’s not going to change in the future either.”
“O-oh. Got it…”
So the probability of my brother’s love being requited is, to put it bluntly, zero. Which meant my plan of getting him and Kano together to free up Suzuno was a non-starter.
“Besides, I’ve had someone I love for a long time now, and I have no intention of dating anyone except that person.”
“Wait — you have someone you like?!”
“Yeah. I love him so much I genuinely want to become every part of him.”
Her face wore the expression of a girl in love. There was so much first-time-hearing-this Kano lore today that I was reeling.
What kind of person could the one she loved possibly be? I couldn’t begin to picture it, but they were almost certainly higher-spec than my brother.
“Enough talking — back to karaoke. Wasting time just chatting.”
“Right. I’ll sing this round, listen up.”
“Long time since I’ve heard Yuito sing. Looking forward to it.”
“I can promise you my singing is one hundred percent better than yours.”
“Oh? Yuito’s gotten bold.”
We bantered as I picked a song. After much hemming and hawing, I went with a current love song that’s been all over CMs.
I took the mic from her, stood up, and got into it. I was a bit nervous at first — long time since I’d done karaoke — but the moment I started singing the nerves blew right away.
“You always sing like you’re enjoying yourself, Yuito.”
“Because I do enjoy singing.”
“Right, my turn next…”
We kept going, eating off the food menu we ordered, having a good time — and before I knew it the two hours were up.
I’d thought two hours might be a bit long going in, but actually it had flown by.
“Satisfied. Let’s wrap karaoke.”
“Yeah, two hours was just right.”
We gathered our stuff, took the tab, and left the room.