Episode 75 – Valentine’s Day Live ②

“Harushita san was amazing ……”

After Harushita san’s concert was over, my mouth was unconsciously full of unspoken praise.
It was unintentionally leaking out of my mouth.

“Fufu, yes……”
“Why are you so good at it?”

If he is going to be good at something, he should be a little more confident. I don’t even want to give him a hard time if he says it while crying.
I mean, he cries too much.

On stage, Harushita san was sweating and waving to fans with a look of accomplishment on her face.

“Thank you very much!”

The audience cheered with a voice so regretful that it almost even screamed.
In fact, this was the second time this scene had occurred.
And she had just finished singing in response.

When Harushita san’s song ended, I felt an indescribable exhilaration in my heart. It was proof that I had been able to immerse myself in the live performance to such an extent.
During the song, I was waving my towel, forgetting about myself, and even though Sawamura’s towel hit me in the face several times, I didn’t care about that anymore.

“But isn’t this the end?”

The feeling of having done it all seemed to be with everyone in the audience.
There was clearly more chit-chat with the friends who had come along earlier, giving the appearance of the end of a live performance.

Frankly, wouldn’t it be a mistake to do a live show after this? That’s what I was thinking.
I thought it would be a mistake to have yet another artist play after this.

Perhaps it was because the feeling of freshness from the earlier concert had not left me, that I had forgotten who the next artist would be.
And everyone had forgotten that as well.

What changed the atmosphere was a sudden change in the venue.

bang

With a sound like a circuit breaker tripping, the lights in the venue were turned off.

It is not only the spotlights that are shining from above that are turned off.

The purple lights that had been on to reflect the aisles of the stage were all out.
People hurriedly put away their cell phones. The lights from the cell phones stood out in the darkness.
All the penlights were also turned off, and the venue was enveloped in total darkness.

“Eh what’s wrong!?”
“What is it ?”
“Malfunction?”

Various speculations turned into a bustle. No one had any idea what was going on.

“What is it, is there trouble?”
“No. ……”

But I had a hunch. This was not a malfunction, but something that had been planned.

And that’s as it should be.
Because if I think about the next artist who comes up, she won’t have a normal way to appear.

“This is probably ……”

I make a guess, then look around.

To dim the lights completely means that you don’t want to reveal your location.
Not wanting the location to be obvious means that the way you appear is different from the norm.

“So it’s not from the stage, but from ……”
“Yes, from behind you, for example.”

—————-wha?

A voice I had heard before flew in from behind me.
It was not Sawamura’s voice, nor was it Kasugai’s, of course.
The voice was a strange voice, a voice that seemed to resonate at the bottom, a voice so strange that even the smallest voice could reach the entire hall.

I turned around and saw a person standing there, her face wrapped in a oversized hoodie.

“M-Mia san!?”
“Correct.♪”

Mia san says in a bell-like voice, and at the same time takes off the hood on her head.

Then, as if bursting from a hoodie, a flash of golden light shone into my eyes.
I gasped at the sight of her hair, still shining in the dark.
Sweat trickled down my spine as I saw her eyes fixed on me.

That moment was definitely just the two of us.
She was looking at me and I was the only one looking at her.

It was such a strange feeling, as if this place was cut off from the hustle and bustle of the city. Time passed slowly, and I felt as if I was in another dimension.
It was strangely comfortable, and I enjoyed the time there, forgetting that I was at a live concert. I was enjoying myself even though I was doing nothing. I even had a feeling that it would go on forever.

But I knew that such time would not last.
The space suddenly collapsed.
The space between the two of us collapsed because the spotlight was on Mia san.

“Ah…..”

At the same time, the song began to play and Mia san disappeared onto the stage.

The hoodie she left behind as a souvenir fell on my head, either by accident or necessity.

Everyone was excited about Harushita san’s show, and everyone felt as if they were the primary participant. The audience seemed to be at their highest voltage, bringing as much heat as they participated.

In contrast, Mia san’s live performance is in stark contrast.

Probably none of the people in this venue were trying to follow Mia san or anything like that.
They were just overwhelmed.

A powerful stage performance. The dancing was top-notch, and if I may say so, the singing was top-notch.
It was so overwhelming that I could only come up with a few words like that.
Everyone was a mere “spectator,” but they were made to realize just how powerful she was.

And yet, after the show is over, I feel a sense of release, or perhaps satisfaction, more than anyone else.

Is it because knowing that Mia san is singing her heart out, we are also satisfied, or is it because we feel that we have seen something good?
Either way, it doesn’t seem like human work.

Even that Sawamura could not speak, only his mouth was agape.

“This is the world? ……”

The song was in English, so we didn’t get the full appeal of it. We don’t understand the meaning of the lyrics, so the immersion there is usually reduced.
Still, so much for the performance.

Is this who Harushita san and others are fighting today?
If so, there is too much, …… too much difference.

“Arigato! I love Japan~!”

Those last words would have been ominous for me and for all artists in Japan.
Even if she didn’t mean it that way, being in Japan, I associate it with a future where “she will take away our popularity here”, too.

“Amazing…..”

Finally, after some time, Sawamura began to speak to his satisfaction.
There were no tears there as before, but his expression had clearly changed after Mia san’s concert.

“Oh, is it over already, that it is?”
“Yeah, it felt like a moment to me, too.”
“Is it so……”

I said that there was a sense of satisfaction afterwards, but what was more than that was a sense of emptiness that it was already over.
Looking at Sawamura’s face with regretful regret, I think all the audience members must have been thinking the same thing.

“Are we going to go on to the last performance of this ……”

I wonder what Azusa, Mirei, Kotoha, Shizuku, and Harushita san are thinking in the waiting room.
In the face of this overwhelming difference in ability, will the girls still be able to give it their all?

Rin was thinking about this as she watched Mia san’s back as she left the stage.

＊

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Suzune and the others who were watching on the TV set provided were letting out a sigh.

“I knew she was amazing …… Mia san.”

Surprisingly, it was Suzune who uttered those words.

Kotoha says teasingly, as if she didn’t expect Suzune to make such a statement.

“What? So we’re not going to finish it today?”

The last song was, of course, the closing song of the concert, in which all the members sang together.
When so many members sing together, those who lack confidence and ability are likely to stand out.
This was a statement made with that in mind.

“No way”

Conversely, Suzune returned with a challenge. Her face was smiling, and yet she had an aura about her that made Kotoha take a step back.
Seeing this, Azusa shrugged her shoulders and said.

“Actually, the person who hates to lose the most out of all of us is Suzu san, isn’t she?”
“Agreed.”

Mirei and Shizuku agreed.
They had spent a certain amount of time with Suzune and understood her personality from a woman’s intuition.

“Well, I don’t intend to lose either.”

When Shizuku says it uninhibitedly, everyone here can feel the air tingling.
It seems that Suzune is not the only one who hates to lose.

“Don’t just drop out on your own like that, okay?” Kotoha said.
“I won’t let a chibi beat me,” Mirei said.
“I’m not a chibi! Shizu san, I know it’s hard for you to fight with this group,” said Azusa in a provocative tone.
“Don’t be ridiculous. There is no way I can lose to you guys,” she sneered.

And alone Suzune was concentrating.
With the superstar she sees through the TV reflected in her eyes.