Episode 325: The Second Round of Judging

「Alright!! And with that, the results of the first round of judging are safely in!!!! How’s everyone feeling!!?? Have you already decided on your fave!!???」

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Listening to the roar from the audience, a certain magical girl… I mean, Minamin, nodded with satisfaction.

Come to think of it, I ended up ignoring it earlier, but what exactly is she cosplaying as?

I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before…

「Okaaaaay!!! Now we’re moving on to the second round of judging!!!! This next part is a battle of vocal talent… to be blunt, it’s a karaoke contest!!!! We’ll be drawing lots to decide the order, so contestants, come on up to the stage!!!!!!」

At Minamin’s signal, staff members appeared from the side of the stage carrying a table and a box. Once that was set in the center of the stage, the contestants appeared from the wings as well, lining up in a long row.

How’s Sara-san doing… for now, she looks like she’s okay.

「Alright, please draw a card from the box in order~」

Starting from entry number one, they each reached into the box, and Minamin confirmed the card drawn each time.

When everyone was finished, the order displayed on the backscreen of the stage was…

「Satsukawa-senpai is still ninth!」

「Mother is third.」

「That woman is last, huh… I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.」

As a result of the drawing, Mayumi-san was third, and Sara-san remained ninth.

And for reasons I couldn’t quite grasp, the stuck-up woman was the finale, looking at Sara-san with a smug face.

By the way, Sara-san completely ignored her and had been smiling at me for a while now.

Haa… she’s just so incredibly cute.

「The singing order is exactly as shown on the screen!!!! We’ll get everything ready, so contestants, please head back to the wings for a moment!!!!」

Sara-san gave me a secret little wave before exiting to the side of the stage. For the record, Mayumi-san stopped near the wings, likely trying to do something to me… but Sara-san dragged her away.

I thought I heard a voice saying「Sara-chan, you’re so meaaaaan!」but maybe I just imagined it?

Mayumi-san really is the same as ever.

「Alright, thank you very much!!!! Now everyone in the venue, one more big round of applause!!!!!!」

Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!!!!

The second contestant finished singing, and warm applause filled the stands.

The song they’d been pouring their heart into was a recent hit… basically, for someone like me who never watches music programs, it was just「something I might have heard before?」at best.

Call me out of the loop or whatever, but I can’t help it if I’m not interested.

「I bet it’s nerve-wracking to sing in front of this many people.」

「I’d definitely never be able to do it.」

「Well… given the situation, it’s probably unavoidable if the pitch is a bit off?」

「Look at you talking all big… and yet Natsumi is actually a pretty good singer.」

「Hmph, I’ve got a bit of confidence in my karaoke skills.」

It’s true that when we went to karaoke before, Natsumi-senpai was actually quite good. Good enough to be called the best among us… she just had a vibe of being「used to singing.」

But since most of the songs were new or trendy, I couldn’t really get into the same「flow,」which was a bit of a drawback.

My singing?

We promised not to ask about that.

「I don’t really care, but it’s boring when it’s all songs I don’t know.」

「Ah… right, Hanako-san.」

Just as everyone probably guessed(?), Hanako-san is 100% an anime song person, so that makes it hard for me to sync up with her too.

If it’s a slightly older anime, I might know a little bit, but I haven’t seen any recent anime at all…

「Kazunari, we’re going to karaoke next time we have a chance.」

「So you mean I’m coming with you?」

「Whoa, hold on, you can’t leave me out of a fun conversation like that!」

「What’s this? You aren’t thinking of going to karaoke and leaving me behind, are you?」

Hearing the word karaoke, the festival-loving duo… I mean, Tachikawa-san and Natsumi-senpai, immediately changed their expressions.

They’re quick to bite.

「Yuji, you’re joining in this time too, okay?」

「…To be honest, I’m not very good at karaoke…」

「Heh… hearing that makes me want to make you join even more.」

「Ugh… please go easy on me.」

Yuji slumped his shoulders as Natsumi-senpai gave him a nasty smirk.

That guy really is… I know I’m not one to talk, but Yuji is just terrible at singing, so if you heard him for the first time, you’d probably be shocked.

「What about you, Hayato-kun?」

「If Marina-san is going, then of course I am?」

「Eh… I, well… I want to do fun things with everyone… oh, and with Hayato-kun too, of course!」

「Yeah, let’s all go together then.」

Those two were as consistent as ever.

Somehow, these two couples have such distinct characteristics that it’s interesting to see the contrast.

「Yeah, yeah… I just have to set it up, right? Yes, yes, I get it.」

「Nishikawa-san… let’s both do our best… in various ways.」

And finally… no point in provoking the higher powers like Nishikawa-san and Tachikawa-san.

But purely as a best friend, I can’t help but hope that someone good appears for both of them. I really feel that way from the bottom of my heart.

If everyone can be happy, there’s nothing more wonderful than that.

「Now then, sorry to keep you waiting!!! Next up is, of course, that person!!!!!! The dark horse who’s already completely messed up the pre-contest rankings!!!! It’s Mayu-saaaaaan!!!」

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

The moment Mayumi-san’s name was called, a particularly loud cheer erupted from the stands. Mayumi-san appeared immediately following Minamin’s introduction, pitter-pattering over to the stand mic and giving a polite bow to the audience.

「I wonder how Mother is at karaoke?」

「Hmm… I don’t know why, but I can’t picture her singing badly.」

I’d never heard Mayumi-san sing either, so I was definitely curious.

That said, just like Tachikawa-san said, it’s true that I couldn’t imagine a version of Mayumi-san that「sings badly.」

♪~

♪~

The song that started playing from the speakers was a famous track that even someone like me, who’s ignorant about music, could recognize just from the intro.

It was used in a lot of TV commercials for a while, so even I could sing the chorus.

However, it’s a song by a male artist, so it looks like Mayumi-san plans to change the key to sing it… I’m the kind of person who can’t sing anything unless it’s in the original key, so just that much seemed impressive to me.

「♪~ ♪~」

Huh!?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!

As Mayumi-san started singing, a massive stir immediately broke out in the audience.

Because even at this early stage, you could tell clearly just how good she was.

In a way, it was expected, but Mayumi-san is just too much!?

She really can do anything… her specs are way too high!!

「Whoa… this might be tough for Satsukawa-senpai.」

「Mother is incredible, isn’t she?」

「Ah… I’ve lost.」

「She’s even better than Natsumi.」

Everyone was equally shocked, but with her being this good, it was only natural.

Even for me, although it fit her image and was a plausible development, it was still a shock.

I wonder if Sara-san knew about this?

「♪~」

Mayumi-san sang lightheartedly and without any apparent effort, looking completely composed. Not only was her pitch perfect, but she didn’t have that unpleasant quality of「forcing the voice out!」when hitting the high notes, which was especially impressive.

I can’t put it well, but listening to her gave me a sense of「security.」

「♪~」

「♪~」

Being such a famous song, I could hear people in the crowd humming along with Mayumi-san. And every time it reached an instrumental break, a massive cheer would go up.

Mayumi-san didn’t really show a reaction to any of it, but from her expression, she looked like she was used to situations like this…

♪~

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!!!!

When Mayumi-san finished singing, a roar and applause erupted from the audience that even surpassed the first round of judging.

Whistles and calls of「Mayu-san」were coming from everywhere, literally raining down like a storm.

「Alright!!! Thank you very much!!!!!!!! Wow, that was truly amazing!!!! That vocal talent would put pros to shame, it was nothing short of masterful!!!!!!」

「Nfufu~, thank you! I’ve got a little bit of confidence in my singing~」

「No, no, that is way beyond a ‘little bit’!!!! Even Minamin was moved to tears!!! Everyone in the audience feels the same, right!!!???」

At Minamin’s question, another massive round of applause and cheers went up from the stands.

Mayumi-san smiled and bowed… and then for some reason, she gave a peace sign toward me.

No, no, that’s just going to make me stand out.

「…Hey… isn’t that Mayumi-chan?」

「…You thought so too? I was wondering during the grass whistle earlier… I’m pretty sure she was in the Miss Contest back in the day…」

「…I’ll RAIN the others. The people who were in the same class as her should be here too.」

Huh!?

Did I just hear Mayumi-san’s name…?

But even as I looked around, the wall of people was so thick that I couldn’t tell where the voices were coming from.

「It seems there are people who know Mayumi-san.」

「It’s not strange for alumni to be at a school festival. If anything, it’d be weirder if there weren’t any.」

Nishikawa-san and Hanako-san must have heard that conversation too, because they spoke to me in low voices while looking at my face. So it wasn’t just my imagination.

Still…

「Well, even if that’s the case, it shouldn’t be a problem if she’s found out. It’s not like Mayumi-san is participating with the intent to win, and my plan won’t change either.」

Now that we’ve come this far, it doesn’t matter if Mayumi-san’s true identity is revealed. There’s no way the Miss Contest will be cancelled, and in the worst case, even if Mayumi-san is disqualified, the challenge for Sara-san should still stand.

Basically, not a single thing I have to do changes.

「You’re right. A little commotion in the audience shouldn’t be an issue.」

「If it’s revealed to everyone, it might turn into a scene of a different kind.」

「Hanako-san, you’re setting a flag…」

I didn’t think it’d be an issue, but I really didn’t want anything to affect what was coming next.

So please, don’t say anything unlucky…

「Alright, thank you very much!!!!!!」

Clap clap clap clap clap clap!!!!

With that, the eighth contestant finished singing, and next was finally Sara-san’s turn.

Since Mayumi-san’s singing had been so outstanding, the contestants so far had been a bit of a letdown even if they were somewhat good, which was a bit pitiable.

Especially the person who went right after the massive hype of Mayumi-san’s song, they were probably the most pitiable of all.

「Now then, next is Satsukawa-senpai…」

「Sara’s singing… well, it’s not bad by any means.」

「The Wife’s singing has a different kind of charm, so in this situation, it might actually be good.」

Just like Hanako-san said, Sara-san’s singing has a unique quality that’s separate from being good or bad. Combined with her own atmosphere, it gives off a feeling of「heartwarmingness」or「soothingness」that’s completely different from Mayumi-san.

If that hits the audience right, then maybe… well, it’s not like she needs to win over the audience at all, but when you consider the match with Mayumi-san.

「I wonder what Satsukawa-senpai will sing?」

「I know she has a large repertoire of nursery rhymes, but surely she won’t do that here.」

「In that case…」

「That one… perhaps?」

「I suspect so.」

For Sara-san, who I didn’t even know intended to sing, the only song she’d be able to sing on the spot in this situation… was likely that one.

But luckily, among the anime songs that had been sung so far, there was only one trendy track.

「Alright, let’s keep things moving!!!!!!!! Next is the one you’ve all been waiting for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The lovely super heroine Rinka High School is proud of, who showed us an unexpected special skill in the first round!!!! Entry for Satsukawa Sara-saaaaaaan!!!!!!」

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

「SATSUKAWA-SA-A-A-AN!!!」

「GODDESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!」

「SARA-CHAA-A-A-A-AN!!!!」

With the growing roar of the audience as her BGM… Sara-san appeared, walking normally and looking completely unfazed.

She still wasn’t smiling, and she didn’t look particularly tense.

However, it’s definitely a reverse phenomenon where the more the crowd makes a noise, the more cold and expressionless Sara-san becomes.

Bow…

Standing behind the stand mic, Sara-san gave a polite bow…

And matching that timing, the intro of the song began to flow from the speakers. It wasn’t a nursery rhyme, but it was a very cute melody that children would love, unmistakably the theme song of that masterpiece anime.

Just as I expected, it was the same one Sara-san had sung at karaoke before.

The image of a leaf umbrella comes to mind…

「♪~」

She definitely wasn’t a professional-level singer, and compared to Mayumi-san who put pros to shame, the difference in vocal talent was clear.

Still, Sara-san’s singing had that「something」beyond vocal skill that made you feel calm and gentle just by listening.

I’m sure everyone else, even the idiots in the crowd, felt the same way.

「♪~」

「「「♪~」」」

In the middle of that peaceful atmosphere, a small group suddenly came running into the open space in front of the front row… for some reason, a whole bunch of children rushed in.

Jumping and bouncing around, they started singing with beaming smiles, their voices sounding almost like a chorus coloring Sara-san’s song.

Then one of them… a girl, turned around and gave me a happy smile when she saw me… wait, Mio-chan!?

「Oniii-chaaaan!!」

Mio-chan hopped through the barrier bar and lunged at me… making it look like a hug, but it was actually a missile tackle. Since I’d predicted it, I caught her with both hands and hoisted her up into a hug with my right arm, just like always.

「♪~」

「♪~」

Smiling happily at my face, Mio-chan started singing the continuation of the song in a loud voice.

Caught up in her smile, I started singing along too, and then Mio-chan gave a beaming smile and looked toward the stage.

Following her gaze, of course… there was Sara-san, singing happily with a dazzling smile while looking at me and Mio-chan.

「♪~」

「♪~」

The song reached the chorus, and the children’s voices grew even louder. Since the microphones on stage were picking up the sound, a fun singing voice like a choir of Sara-san and the children flowed from the speakers.

Mio-chan sang loudly to keep up, occasionally looking at me with a happy smile.

Sara-san, the children, Mio-chan, and me.

I found myself completely lost in that happy chorus…

Suddenly I looked at the screen at the back of the stage, and there were the children singing in front of us, and Mio-chan singing while being held by me… and even me!?

Looking closely, there was a staff member with a camera on the other side of the children, apparently filming the scene.

And at the side of the stage was Mayumi-san, looking our way and singing just as happily.

Noticing I was looking, she gave me a big wave.

「♪~」

「♪~」

But such a fun time passed in the blink of an eye…

The song reached the part where the character’s name is repeated over and over, and the music gradually faded out.

When the sound vanished completely and the performance was over, a smiling Sara-san gave a bow… surely to the children.

And then…

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!!!!!!

An unbelievable roar and storm of applause erupted from the audience, and even Sara-san looked a bit surprised as she turned toward the crowd.

I looked around too, and Natsumi-senpai, Nishikawa-san… everyone was looking at me and Mio-chan with gentle eyes…

No, it wasn’t just them.

The people in suits securing our space, and even the regular guests beyond them, were all clapping while looking at us with heartwarming expressions.

Um… don’t tell me even I…

「Fufu, there’s no need to be shy, is there? You were wonderful, Takanashi-san.」

「Dad… I mean, Takanashi-kun, not bad!!」

「It was a perfect chance to show off Kazunari’s good points. Two birds with one stone.」

I know they weren’t mocking me or teasing me… I know that, but!!!

Still, looking back at my own actions calmly…

UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, THAT’S SO EMBARRASSINGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

I was being broadcasted on the screen for everyone to see, wasn’t I!!!!???

「MAAAAAN, that was another massive hype moment, wasn’t it!!!!!! The children’s appearance was such a surprise it took me off guard, but everyone in the audience was singing along, I just got so swept up in the excitement!!!! Even Minamin was singing along too, you know!!!!!!」

Just like she said, Minamin sounded excited too… her voice had a bit of a bounce to it.

That brought a round of laughter from the audience.

「No, no, no, but seriously, Satsukawa-san’s choice of song was one thing… but the Vice President in the front row pulled a sneaky little move there, didn’t he!!!!!! I never expected him to join the chorus while holding a child like that… his smile was wonderful too, that’s gonna score some serious points with the girls!!!!!!!!」

「Wait…!?」

Aaaaaagh, please, stop messing with me!!

I’m not used to this kind of thing at all!!!!

「Fukazawa-san…」

「It’s not Fukazawa, it’s Minamin!!!!!!!!! I mean, I get it!! I won’t say anything else, so stop looking at me with such dangerous eyes!!!!!!」

The moment she saw I was being made into a target for teasing, Sara-san instantly pierced Minamin with a sharp gaze.

No matter how good a mood she’s in, Sara-san will never back down when it comes to me… and honestly, it makes me happy to feel that way.

「Anyway, back to the topic!!!! Honestly, after the first round, this was another complete surprise… can I ask the reason for your song choice!?」

「The reason? To be honest, I have almost never done karaoke before, so I have no repertoire of songs to sing at a time like this. I can sing various nursery rhymes… but I love this anime too, so I remember the song well. So I suppose you could say this was the only one I had?」

「Hooo, I see, I see!! But singing various nursery rhymes, is that also for playing with children, just like the beanbags?」

「Yes, that is certainly the biggest reason.」

「Hmmmm, as expected of the No. 1 most wanted girl as a wife!!!!! Beautiful, domestic, and loves kids, that’s just too calculate… no, I’m just kidding. And please stop making that incredibly annoyed face too. I know the reason, but please don’t ever say it, okay!?」

There it was again…

I was curious when I heard the school broadcast before, but between the meaningful comments during the first round and this time too… it’s almost certain that Minamin knows about Sara-san and me.

Even if that itself isn’t a problem…

There seems to be some kind of promise between the two of them, and I just can’t help but worry about it.

I just hope it’s not some kind of promise that’s inconvenient for Sara-san…