Vol 1 Chapter 44 – Monochrome【Vol 1 – Turning Point】

Another month went by, and my channel’s subscriber count passed thirty million.

Honestly, my mind is numb. Tens of thousands of new followers pouring in every day is normal now, and MalumDiva’s views climbing by the millions is just as routine. It feels like I’ve been dropped into the center of the world.

Everyone listens to my song; every second, somewhere, someone hits the MalumDiva play button.

Even so, I’m not a professional singer—I’m the vocalist for the Akiba Music Corps.

“One… two… one, two, three!”

The piano and drums strike up together.

Chasing them, the guitar and violin join in, and a beat later the trumpet answers.

On piano is Pan—HatsuBread-san; on drums, Chai-san, our resident “Indian Tea”; guitar is Oshio-san, fresh from joining RR & Classic Band; I’m on guitar too; trumpet is Betoben-san. The five of us are recording Ryu-san’s new piece, “Monochrome.”

Every note makes my heart race—this is the soundscape I get to sing in.

The music whispers to me: blow the roof off …

So I draw a huge breath…

“Faded days, vanishing feelings, a heart worn thin… I don’t need them anymore! I’ve won the strength to move forward!”

Roughly translated, that’s what it means. Latin lyrics—classical, yet unmistakably rock ’n’ roll.

I’m thrilled to sing another Ryu-san song, thrilled to give it everything. I don’t care about anything else; right now my world is only the sounds they’re playing and the emotions packed into the song.

I surrender to the torrent, singing like a scream, shredding my throat.

“I’m strong now! I don’t need any of the past! Farewell to the monochrome days! Let the torrent carry me! I sing, I sing…”

My talent is beyond doubt; I belong in this sound.

The chorus hits.

“The colored world—so vividly endless! I grabbed hold of the sun!”

You’re funny, Ryu-san—ever since you wrote this you’ve thought of me as the sun, huh? But what I grabbed was the full moon.

“I’ll light it up—this whole world—with a blinding, searing glow!!”

Ryu-san, your songs overlap my life so strangely—we must have stumbled over the same failures somewhere.

Now we’re both in the Akiba household; we must have been saved by the same person.

So I understand—really understand. I can sing your song from the depths of my heart, from the core of my soul.

Oshio-san’s guitar solo blazes, then a trumpet-and-drum duet roars before melting into the quiet of piano and violin.

Now—it’s my spotlight, my world.

“Inside, it was cold. Unending rain always fell. The lonely night, the long dark curtain—it’s gone now!”

Listen, Ryu-san, Michiru-san. I practiced so much—so I could express every scrap of this song’s empathy. I’ll make you cry with my voice—this is the me you two discovered.

“The colored scenery—spreading like the endless cosmos! That’s why I smashed the past! Erased it! So I can face forward alone! Brand! It! On this world!!”

Ah, my heart is light—like I’ve been reborn.

Ryu-san was watching the session remotely.

“F-…freakin’ hell! D-Don’t make me cry, you punks! No retakes! You nailed it in one!!!”

It reached him on the other side of the screen—my whole heart, carried by the song.

“Yesss!”

—Oshio-san.

“Honestly, holding back tears was the hardest part.”

—Pan-san.

“We’re… really playing in a band…”

Enough said.

“We did it!”

—Betoben-san.

Everyone gathered, beckoning me over.

I didn’t need to be told.

So I set my guitar down and jumped into the group.

“Thank you, everyone!”

There’s no doubt the session went well thanks to them. But one problem remains: everyone here but me is a pro. Is it really okay to release something like this as a doujin…?

Even so, our roots are a doujin circle. The standout talents from Ryu-san’s and my streams banded together to create this—it’s a bona-fide doujin circle.

“Rin-kun… Rin-kun, you’re the best!”

Michiru-san’s voice comes over the mic from the mix booth. We’ll actually mix after digitizing, but we rented a studio with a booth so she could watch the take.

“Did you see it?!”

I think my singing’s improved—somehow I feel I’ve polished myself further.

“Of course!”

“You bet!”

Their replies come back in chorus.

The session wrapped by noon, leaving us heaps of studio time. Ryu-san had been itching to call for NG takes, but I blew past his expectations, so he never could.

Since we’re in Kuratani, I’ll go on the date Michiru-san asked for before heading home—eat a mountain of sweets and have a blast. My wallet’s pretty thick these days, after all.