When My Younger Brother Stole My Girlfriend, I Began Living Together with My Beautiful Childhood Friend Almost As If We Were Married - Chapter 21

Episode 21: Karaoke Duets

After bowling, we decided to rent a room for karaoke.

It seems to be the time when school classes end, as students are becoming more noticeable. We were lucky to get in just in time.

As soon as we enter the room, Yuma grabs the tablet.

“Let’s start with the national anthem!”

“The choice is quite puzzling.”

Why would we start with the national anthem? There are surely other options.

But I decided to go with the flow and see how things unfold without saying anything.

As the distinctive prelude begins, Yuma takes a deep breath.

He sings surprisingly well, but instead of being impressed, I find myself stifling laughter, perhaps because it’s the national anthem.

He scored a perfect 100 points. This guy is unbelievable…

It was Misaki who suggested going to karaoke, but she seems to be not good at singing herself.

So, she hands the tablet to either me or Reina to choose the next song.

Reina takes it and casually moves her fingers, as if she already knows which song she wants.

“Found it! Hayato, let’s do a duet with this one!”

Reina’s chosen song was an ending theme from an anime used some time ago.

It’s the theme song of a story depicting the romance between science-oriented characters, which became explosively popular after a certain virtual YouTuber covered it. Many people danced to this song at the high school cultural festival, and I listened to it multiple times out of interest, so singing and dancing should be no problem.

So, without any particular reason to decline, I nod. Given it’s Reina, she can probably dance to it, too.

Without a word, we’re led to the performance platform set up in the room.

At this point, I decide to give it my all, so I swing my arms and legs while the prelude begins.

Yuma and Misaki welcome us with applause as Reina and I exchange glances.

Reina starts singing. Her voice, filled with clarity, carries the lyrics.

Soon, it’s my turn. I try to find the right pitch to match Reina’s voice while maintaining my own.

Singing and dancing simultaneously is challenging. Moreover, since this song originated from an animated character’s video on a video-sharing site, originality is required.

I decided to dance randomly, following some vague theory that rotating my body and swinging my arms would make it look somewhat decent. Dance aficionados would probably be furious hearing this.

We’re nearing the chorus. I think the choreography here is the main part of the song.

Just before the chorus, we exchange glances again, and Reina nods gently.

As the chorus begins, we touch our fingertips and repeatedly turn our hands over in front of our faces.

Despite no prior coordination, our movements synchronize perfectly. Reina understands my every move and adjusts accordingly.

With a splendid synchronization of both singing and dancing, we manage to finish the song.

We score in the high 90s. Not a bad score at all.

“Wow…”

“Did you secretly practice?”

“I didn’t.”

“Same here. I was surprised it went so well.”

Such synchronization on our first try. That’s not something you see every day.

“You guys should perform this at the school festival. There should be a performance slot, right?”

“That’s actually a good idea! Shall I apply for it?”

“That sounds fun! Hayato! What do you think!?”
Reina looks at me with sparkling eyes.

With eyes like those, I can’t refuse, can I? I haven’t been very interested in the school festival before, but yeah, let’s have some fun.

“I’ll apply once the application period opens.”

“Yay!”

She jumps at me as she says that. I’m getting used to this.

After catching my breath and sitting back down, Misaki, perhaps inspired by our performance, takes the tablet.

“Hey, Yu-kun, us too!”

“Sure. What song?”

“This one!”

The song is selected, and Misaki and Yuma take the stage.

As soon as the prelude begins, I recognize the song.

It’s an ending theme from an anime that caused a huge boom a while back. Even now, you can find discussions online about which of the two main girls is better.

It seems Reina was also watching, as she swayed her shoulders to the music.

“By the way, Reina, which one do you prefer?”

“That’s a question that could start a war. I think I prefer the second girl.”

“Oh, I’m all about the first one.”

“See, the seeds of conflict have been sown! But, actually, I might like the terrorist just as much.”

“Oh, I totally agree!”

The big brother terrorist in the show is just too cool. It’s kind of off-putting, but he’s my top pick.

As they talk, the two start singing.

I didn’t know this until now, but Yuma has quite a wide vocal range. I’d like to see his vocal cords at work.

He handles fairly high notes with ease, leaving a stronger impression than Misaki. Even though she claims she’s not good, she’s doing just fine.

Their harmony in the chorus is artistic, and a high score is expected.

Although the show portrayed the girls’ and boys’ squads as separate and sometimes adversarial, the atmosphere they create now gives the illusion that they’re joining hands.

It’s nostalgic. I should rewatch the whole series sometime.

As the song ends, the score displayed is around the mid-90s. How can they say they’re not good at singing? Even without Yuma’s support, they’d still easily score in the 90s.

Reina operates the tablet, looking for another song that we can duet on.

It seems our karaoke session is turning into a duet competition.