‘That Moment Was A Swing To

My Heart.’

When I left Satsuki-kun and went back home, I found Uzuki lying down on the sofa watching the TV in her school uniform.

“Welcome home, sis. So, how was he?”

“What? How’s who?”

My voice rises as I remember Satsuki-kun’s face, who was with me until just a moment ago.

“It’s about the vice principal. I called you, didn’t I? You said you were headed towards the main street after school.”

“Uhh. No further developments on that case yet.”

“Oh, ok. Thanks for the hard work.”

Uzuki seemed uninterested in the topic any further and went back to watching TV.

I take the milk out of the refrigerator and pour it into a glass. I drank it all down in one gulp and reset my mixed-up mind back into a blank slate.

I had followed the vice principal to the main street after school.

But I let go of my surveillance of the vice principal in the middle of the day. It was no use, I had more important things to do other than work.

“…Uzuki. Do you know what Northern Brand is?”

I casually asked her about the CD Satsuki-kun had just bought, assuming that the trendy and active Uzuki would know about it.

“No bra? It’s a band, right? Of course I know about it.”

“No-no-no, no bra?!”

“It’s an abbreviation. Why are you so ashamed about it?”

It took me a little while to realize that it was an abbreviation for Northern Brand. I thought Uzuki was just teasing me again.

“It’s all the buzz these days, you know? Sis, were you ever interested in music?”

“I don’t care about it. It’s just small talk”

I was not familiar with any of the latest music these days, but I thought I would give it a listen if Satsuki-kun was the one who recommended it.

To begin with, I have no hobbies whatsoever. I have been only interested in my work as an agent, so when Satsuki asked me about what I liked, I couldn’t give back a response.

Does he think I’m a boring woman? Although it is true…

“Well, I thought they had a new song coming out soon?”

“It’s out today.”

I tell her what I know

“Really? What happened? Actually, why do you know so much about it in the first place? You don’t have a device in your room to listen to CDs, do you?”

Uzuki rises and looks at me with curiosity present in her eyes. I had never talked about music with Uzuki before, so it was only natural for her to be intrigued by this topic.

“It’s nothing. I told you, it was just small talk.”

“Hmmm. By the way, what happened with Satsuki-senpai? Have you made any progress with him yet?”

Uzuki leans back from the couch and gives me a bad look, as if what we just talked about was blown away.

“What progress! There’s nothing to say about that…!”

I don’t know what Uzuki would say if she knew that we were spending time together after school.

“That’s why I told you I’d support you, sis. If you leave it to your sister, you’ll graduate from high school with someone by your side. Your youth is shorter than you think, you know.”

“You have no right to say that to me.”

“I’m doing this for my sister who can’t be honest with anyone.”

“That’s why it’s none of your business! Okay, Bye!”

I flee the living room, trying not to overheat any longer.

“You’re so stubborn, big sister! I’ll support you on my own now!”

I heard Uzuki’s disturbing words, but if I let it bother me any longer, it would only make her get carried away even further. What do you mean, “support”? I decided it was best to leave her alone and went back to my room.

As I took off my uniform and changed into my loungewear, I was still feeling flustered.

After school, I felt like someone was following me, so I went for a different route than usual, but I didn’t expect it to be Satsuki-kun. I drove him to the old stadium site and interrogated him and found that the tailing was just a misunderstanding, but then we decided to go to the CD store together.

I felt guilty about throwing away my job as an agent, but I also needed to cover up my behavior.

But going out shopping alone with him after school was…

Wait. Wasn’t that a date…?

I know I said all that stuff to Uzuki just now, but isn’t this what we call ‘progress’?

Just remembering it makes my face flush hot, and I dive onto the bed.

“Mm-hmm.”

A funny laugh escapes from me because I had been trying so hard to hold back when I was with Satsuki-kun.

 “Oh, right” I searched for ‘No Bra’ on my phone, which Satsuki-kun had recommended to me.

“Kya!”

Then the screen is lined with naughty images of real women without bras, which startles me and makes me fumble my phone. What am I even searching for…!

I properly searched for “Northern Brand” and quickly found a PV of their latest song. They seemed to be a rock band, with a slim, glasses-wearing guy as the vocalist, and lyrics that seemed to be marketed towards the youth.

I listened to a few songs and tried to like them too, but I don’t usually listen to much music, so I couldn’t tell if they were good or bad. I need to listen to them a little more.

As I lay on my bed and watched No Bra’s music videos, I thought back to what happened after-school today.

It was the first time I went to a CD store, and I had a lot of fun.

When I walked in, I saw the classical music shelf and I suddenly remembered last year’s festival.

It wasn’t at the cafe stall that I first got to know about Satsuki-kun last year.

It was the morning of the festival, when Satsuki was playing the piano in the gym.

I’m sure he didn’t know I was watching him at that time.

At that moment, my heart was shaken.

 Last year’s festival.

On that day, there were presentations by clubs and volunteers in the gymnasium in the morning, and the students were basically free to do whatever they wanted to do in the meantime.

Our class was having a café in the stalls of the Piloti, and we were supposed to take turns being in charge of the store. I had the afternoon shift, so until then I was in the gym watching the presentations going about. I wasn’t bored watching the drama and calligraphy clubs perform, and I didn’t stand out much from the crowd by myself.

The last program of the morning was a concert by the alumni, and I planned to watch this one and then head off to man the class stall.

The singer is Mayo Shiraishi, an alumna and soprano singer.

As the emcee introduced, our high school festival often has alumni as guests.

Shiraishi-senpai was already a well-known soprano singer who had won prizes in well-known competitions while attending a music college after graduating from Otomachi High School. Even I knew her just by her reputation and name.

A grand piano was set up in the center of the stage, and the piano player entered alone first. He was a boy in a uniform, which was a bit surprising to me.

Without glancing at the audience, he bowed his head and sat down on a chair. It was too dark to see his face, but I could see that he was nervous.

Shiraishi-senpai, dressed in a bright red dress, entered next. This time, she was met with loud applause.

Shiraishi-senpai bowed deeply, and as soon as she looked up, the applause stopped. Silence fell on the stage, and I couldn’t help but hold my breath.

Shiraishi-senpai said a few words to the boy at the piano, and soon the prelude began.

The sound of the piano, which sounded like a drop of water, echoed through the gymnasium like a ripple.

And soon after, Shiraishi-senpai, the star of the show, began to sing.

Her soprano voice overlapped with the piano accompaniment. The lyrics were in a foreign language and I had no idea what they meant, but I could sense their beauty in her speech.

The soft tones of the piano and the clear voice melted into my body.

The clear melody vibrates my eardrums, makes my skin milky, and the sound forms a clear picture in my head.

I gently close my eyes, and a landscape I have never seen before unfolds behind my pitch-black eyelids. There are mountains, the sky, a river, and the wind seems to be blowing softly.

This music shows me things I have never seen before.

It was the first time I had ever felt such a sensation, and it was as if something was sprouting from within my empty heart.

“It’s Donaudi’s music, isn’t it?”

After the first song, I heard two girls sitting next to me whispering in my ear.

Donaudi? I didn’t know at the time, of course, that he was the composer of this piece.

“He’s playing the piano, even though he’s a guy!”

Look at that face. He’s in his own world.

This time I heard a heartless voice from the back seat making fun of his performance. It was a terrible thing to say, even though gender has nothing to do with playing the piano.

I thought about turning around and retorting back at them, but I held my ground.

As if to rebel against the bad comments, I concentrated only on the sound of the piano. The next thing I knew, I was becoming more and more interested in the boy who was playing the piano.

Why did he decide to play the piano? Has he been doing it ever since they were little? Did he want to do it on his own? Did no one object to his wishes?

All my life I had been subconsciously comparing myself, who repeatedly worked as an agent, to that boy who played the piano. Perhaps I was simply envious of him.

As I was thinking about this in a daze, something unusual happened.

─ ─ ─ Buzz.

A low, clearly out-of-tune sound, a sound so low that even I could hear it, and then the performance had stopped.

There was a murmur from the audience who sensed something was wrong, but Shiraishi continued to sing as if nothing had happened.

The piano performance stopped again, and although I thought it was a staged event, I felt a buzz in my chest.

Shiraishi-senpai sang a cappella until the end, while the piano player remained motionless with his face down.

It seemed that the pianist had failed in his performance.

Perhaps it was Shiraishi’s ad-lib to sing the whole song as a cappella.

When the song was over, she called out to the piano player. She did not seem to blame him for his mistake, which reassured me, but then a voice came from the audience.

“Satsuki-kun! That was brilliant!”

It was probably a friend of the accompanied pianist. It was an encouraging cheer, but a chuckle escaped from the audience. The boy’s voice sounded both comforting and sarcastic.

It was then that I learned the name of the piano player, Satsuki-kun.

I was impressed and even respected Satsuki-kun, who did his best even though he was being laughed at.

Satsuki-kun performed very well in front of such a large audience. I could never do such a thing in front of so many people.

I was really moved by his performance and thought it was really cool.

Later that afternoon, I was tending to my class café when a customer came up to talk to me. I lied to him that I had been tending to the store all morning, but I didn’t expect the customer to be Satsuki-kun.

Of course, there was no way I could tell him what I thought of the performance I had just witnessed. I was too nervous to speak back to him.

This is how I met Satsuki-kun.

This encounter was just a point in our lives, it never truly became a line that grew further and further.

I think he’s cool and I respect him a lot. I was impressed by his piano performance.

I wish I could play the piano like him… there were times I thought about that too.

But that was it.

I kept this feeling inside my heart, prioritizing being an agent over anything else. I can’t prioritize what I want to do when I’m living as an agent.

After school today, I happened to find a Donaudi CD in the classical section of a CD store.

It was the piece that Satsuki-kun had played at the school festival. I remembered that it was a very gentle piece of music.

 I hope to hear Satsuki-kun play the piano again someday.

Something is changing inside of me to even be able to think of such a bright future.

Even today, I had abandoned my work and followed Satsuki-kun instead…

The agent me and the real me.

I pretended not to notice that the balance I had been protecting all this time was about to get reversed.

https://ko-fi.com/spynine01

TL: “”

ED: Spynine01