Yukinoshita Shizuku laughed and hurried over to the chair, sat down, and handed the hair dryer to Tsushima Kagami.
Tsushima Kagami took it, plugged it back in, switched it on, and stood behind her.
"Tony-sensei, at your service."
"Ahaha — Tony-sensei? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It sounds so funny."
Yukinoshita Shizuku swept her long hair back over the chair so Tsushima Kagami could dry it more easily, laughing as she asked.
Tsushima Kagami draped a dry towel over her shoulders, then squeezed a small amount of the hair oil he'd brought along and worked it through her mid-lengths and ends. Only then did he set the dryer to the right temperature and begin at the roots, working from the scalp up.
Ever since they'd come back to Chiba for summer break, Yukinoshita Shizuku — who had never once asked him to dry her hair before — had suddenly started dragging him over for the job at random, and had even given him a full tutorial on how to do it quickly and properly.
Honestly. This woman was getting lazier by the day.
She said she was looking after him. At this rate, he was starting to worry he'd end up looking after her instead.
He really needed to figure out a way to get her mother to come visit more often. That would sort her out.
Watching Yukinoshita Shizuku's smiling reflection in the mirror, Tsushima Kagami found himself smiling too.
"Apparently, in every barbershop, the stylist with the best technique is always named Tony."
"…Is that some kind of urban legend?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku looked at Tsushima Kagami's reflection in the mirror — his hands moving with practiced ease as he dried her hair — and laughed.
"More or less. A different kind of urban legend, I suppose."
Tsushima Kagami kept talking with her as he worked, finishing off the roots before slowly moving down through the mid-lengths and ends.
"By the way — your manga magazine is going back into serialization soon. Have you figured out what you're doing for your next novel? Kobayashi-san called you several times over summer break about it, didn't he?"
"Ah, not yet."
"I mean, Kobayashi-san did call several times, but it wasn't exactly to rush me."
"He was definitely hinting, though."
Tsushima Kagami gave a noncommittal smile.
He really hadn't made up his mind yet about which piece to tackle next.
The really famous works he wanted to save for later — if he wrote them too early, he'd run out of material, and people would start saying he'd peaked. But with The Setting Sun already under his belt, he couldn't exactly go back to knocking out casual essays like Cheese Cake — the kind of thing major authors wrote before their style had fully developed — just to collect an easy paycheck.
He needed to plan this out more carefully.
"Oh, right — how did things go this afternoon? With Ijichi Seika and the others?"
Tsushima Kagami tossed the question back to Yukinoshita Shizuku.
She smiled.
"Don't worry about it. Everyone got along really well."
"Good to hear."
Tsushima Kagami finished drying the ends, then switched the dryer off.
He picked up a comb and began working it gently through Yukinoshita Shizuku's hair.
That was when Yukinoshita Shizuku suddenly said:
"Oh, that's right!"
"Seika lent me a guitar today!"
Before Tsushima Kagami could finish combing her hair, she was already on her feet, slipping off in her house slippers toward the bedroom. A moment later she came back out hugging an acoustic guitar, dropped straight onto the sofa — startling Yukino, who had migrated from beside the mirror to the sofa during the hair-drying session and had been dozing there in a half-asleep haze, only to get jolted wide awake when Yukinoshita Shizuku plonked herself down right next to her.
"Seika taught me the scale and a few chords today, too."
As she spoke, Yukinoshita Shizuku plucked out Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si.
Then she played through a few major triads.
She looked up at Tsushima Kagami with an expression that clearly said: well? Aren't I impressive?
Tsushima Kagami gave a little round of applause.
"You picked that up fast."
Yukinoshita Shizuku had been grinning — but something must have crossed her mind, because her expression suddenly turned serious.
"Kagami."
"Why so serious all of a sudden?"
Tsushima Kagami looked at her, smiling at the sudden shift.
"What's wrong?"
"Ask me something, and you're not allowed to lie!"
"Go ahead."
Yukinoshita Shizuku asked:
"You can actually play guitar, can't you."
"Aba…"
"No lying!"
"…A little, I suppose."
Yukinoshita Shizuku nodded slowly, as if she'd expected as much.
Then she narrowed her eyes and pressed further.
"Was the background music in that tape something you played yourself?"
She'd never forgotten the BGM from that tape. She listened to a lot of music, and she had never heard that song anywhere else.
Especially that night when Tsushima Kagami had stepped in to cover on bass — that was when Yukinoshita Shizuku had felt it strongly: maybe that song was something Kagami had written and played himself.
And that afternoon, when she'd been with Ijichi Seika and the others, she'd even hummed the melody out loud — and none of them had recognized it either.
That made her even more certain… or rather, hopeful. She wanted it to be a song Tsushima Kagami had written.
Hearing her say that, Tsushima Kagami paused.
"What tape?"
"The one in the drawer at the Bunkyo Ward apartment!"
"Ah — so you've already seen it."
"I was waiting for the right moment to give it to you properly. Did you like it? Was the editing good?"
Was it good?
It's your fault I spent the entire day crying!
The memory of herself, completely wrecked and out of sorts that day, came flooding back.
"Don't change the subject!"
Faced with the serious look on Yukinoshita Shizuku's face, Tsushima Kagami had no choice but to admit it.
"I wrote it. And I played it."
He'd always known a little guitar — though not particularly well. He'd actually spent Pure Love Points to forcibly level up the skill just so he could play it for that piece.
Yukinoshita Shizuku listened, then held out the guitar to him.
"There must be lyrics too."
"I want to hear you sing it to me."
"That's…"
Tsushima Kagami hesitated slightly.
Truth be told, when he'd been editing that footage, the song that had come to mind was Negai ~Ano Koro no Kimi e~ — Piecing Together Memories for You, the original piece it was based on. He'd originally planned to play and sing it as background music, but since the lyrics were essentially a love song about mourning a lost romance, it had felt a little too loaded for the context. So he'd just fingerpicked the melody as an instrumental instead, which had worked perfectly well.
He hadn't expected Yukinoshita Shizuku to bring it up like this — let alone ask him to perform it.
"You won't?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku kept her eyes fixed on him as he stood there without taking the guitar.
"I can. That part's fine."
"It's just — this song is actually about mourning a lost love."
"Hm?"
"Who did you write it for?"
At that, Yukinoshita Shizuku's eyes slowly narrowed.
"I didn't write it for anyone in particular."
"When I was putting the lyrics together, my mind just started wandering along with the melody, and that's how it ended up."
Tsushima Kagami offered up the excuse casually.
"Then hurry up and play it."
Yukinoshita Shizuku let out a quiet breath of relief, then pushed the guitar into his arms.
Tsushima Kagami settled the guitar in his lap and sat down beside Yukinoshita Shizuku, jostling Yukino back into her little corner in the process.
He gave the strings a quick strum, tuned by feel, then looked over at Yukinoshita Shizuku — all right, I'm going in.
Yukinoshita Shizuku nodded, anticipation in her eyes.
"Don't complain if I'm off-key."
"Just get on with it!"
Tsushima Kagami cleared his throat, then slowly picked out the intro.
When the intro ended, he began to sing along with the chord progression.
Those years we spent together, in love—
"Pfft — hehehehe!"
Yukinoshita Shizuku burst out laughing and cut him off.
"Are you listening or not? If not, I'm going back to drawing!"
"どうぞ." (Please, go right ahead.)
Yukinoshita Shizuku covered her mouth, still giggling, and made a gracious please continue gesture.
Tsushima Kagami picked up right where he'd left off.
Drop by drop, it pools in my mind—
Tears nearly spill into my heart—
Nothing left but loneliness and me.
Yukinoshita Shizuku gradually fell into the music, listening quietly.
Looking back, we both held out our hearts so sincerely—
Because I loved you, even after we parted, I hoped for your happiness.
The song ended. His voice and the guitar fell silent together.
Yukinoshita Shizuku let her head rest naturally against Tsushima Kagami's shoulder.
"Kagami — have you ever felt truly lonely?"
Didn't I just play a love song? How did we land on loneliness?
Did she hear 'Guitar, Loneliness and the Blue Planet' instead?
Tsushima Kagami couldn't read Yukinoshita Shizuku's inner weather at all, so he answered honestly.
"I think I'm actually a pretty cheerful person."
"That's true — you always have so many interesting people around you, Kagami."
"Sayuri, Akane-senpai, and Sonoko-senpai."
"Kinue-san, Moe-sensei, and Yan-sensei."
"Seika, Shizuka, and your two kouhai."
"And…"
"Okay, okay — stop. I give up."
"I was wrong."
Tsushima Kagami could feel the conversation heading somewhere increasingly dangerous.
Yukinoshita Shizuku was still leaning against his shoulder, tilting her head to look up at him.
"Wrong about what, exactly?"
"Everything."
Yukinoshita Shizuku gave a faint smile.
"Then promise me you'll never sing this song for anyone else, and I'll forgive you."
"I promise!"
Tsushima Kagami raised a finger, ready to swear — and then felt a sharp pinch on his arm.
"Hey — what are you pinching me for!"
Yukinoshita Shizuku tightened her grip.
"You really are something, you know that."
"Moving out on your own, and still leaving me something like that."
"Do you enjoy watching me cry that much?"
"That was thoughtless of me."
"And will you ever leave me alone again?"
"No. Never again."
"Does the promise you made to Mother back in Chiba still count? About looking after me properly?"
"It counts."
Satisfied, Yukinoshita Shizuku released her hand from his arm.
"Kagami."
"Hm?"
Tsushima Kagami turned to look at her.
A late-summer evening breeze drifted in from the balcony, setting the wind chime they'd bought and hung out there tinkling softly — the faint sound carrying its way into the living room.
The two of them looked toward the balcony together, watching the chime sway in the evening wind, then both stood and walked over, sliding the glass door open.
A gust of evening air rushed in at once, tossing both their hair together.
The sound of the wind chime became clearer, more real.
"Listen — it's the wind."
Yukinoshita Shizuku pointed to the wind chime hanging at the center of the balcony. Tied to it was the little string of bells he had bought for her at the temple fair the night before they'd returned to school — the ones she'd worn clipped at her waist as they wandered the stalls together.
Tsushima Kagami smiled and nodded. Then something seemed to occur to him, and he turned back into the living room, crouching beside the table to pull a storage box out from underneath. He took out a fountain pen and some manuscript paper.
Seeing him settle in as though he meant to write something, Yukinoshita Shizuku slid the balcony door closed again and came to stand beside him.
Outside, the wind chime went on swaying softly in the evening breeze, its sound drifting faintly through the glass.
Yukinoshita Shizuku watched as Tsushima Kagami set his pen to the manuscript paper and wrote:
Hear the Wind Sing.
____
👻🔥Read More: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: All My Employees Are Naughty Girls
Help us hit our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone