Part 3
In the middle of the night, just as the date was about to change, I was alone in the living room tapping on my laptop keyboard. The sound of rain hitting the roof echoes throughout the room. Both Shinoaki and Nanako are concentrating on their work in their rooms.
I took in the laundry, dried it back in the room, grabbed my laptop, and went down to the first floor.
In the past, I used to think about the storyboards and put together plans in my room, but as the production progressed, I gradually found myself working more and more in my living room, partly because I felt called upon to check more and more things as the production progressed.
"Everyone seems to be working today..."
Strangely, the living room was quiet. Usually, there would be at least one person in here, but it was a rare occurrence.
I settle in front of the kotatsu and unfold my laptop. The document that I have placed beside me is the second story line I have considered so far.
The first work is the story of a girl who has forgotten how to sing and meets Meku.
The second work is about a girl who remembers to sing and duets with Meku.
Up to that point, it had been decided. After that, we decided on the lyrics and video content to go along with it, but they were all clichéd and lacked brilliance.
"At times like this, that reminds me of the difference in ability..."
Looking at all of the ideas, none of which are decisive, I sigh.
The sound of the rain is getting stronger. The noise drowned out all other sounds, making me feel as if I had been transported to some other space, only in the living room of this house.
Perhaps it is because I have experienced extreme time slips so many times, but I have come to have strange fantasies that moments like this, which I would have thought nothing of in the past, are actually the gateway to time travel and I just did not notice them.
"It was raining that day, too."
No way I could forget it. On top of a small hill at the back of the share house, just up the hill. It was there that I lost an irreplaceable friend.
Even though I saw him again and told him I wanted him back, I was still determined that I would never be able to act the same way again.
"--You might lose all your friends."
Sensei's words are stuck in my head and I can't get them out.
I guess that's what it means to walk the high road. We turn our closest people into corpses and use them as bridges to move onward. While enthusiastically hoisting the banner of ideals.
"Ah......"
Suddenly, I looked around and was stunned by the large space.
"I see, there's no one here anymore..."
It reminds me of the beginning of my first year.
At first, we all gathered in this living room and continued to talk about the project while discussing this and that about creation.
『So, why don't you put a line of dialogue between these scenes, so that the foreshadowing is not wasted?』
It was when we were all working together on an assignment from a scenario class.
Tsurayuki was everyone's guide and accurately pointed out the missing parts.
『Shinoaki, this part. Just adding the latter element into the conversation makes it interesting. 』
『It's true, Tsurayuki-kun is amazing~』
『Nanako, this part, the scene doesn't make any sense at all. 』
『What do you mean it doesn't make sense!"』
『Don't get mad at me. Because this would be more interesting if you put it in after this?』
『Eh? Ah... It's true. It's connected properly.』
『See? Every scene, every line, and every story has a meaning, so put it where it belongs!』
I still remember what Tsurayuki said at that time.
He said that every story contains all the necessary parts, and if they are missing, either in order or in number, they will be ruined.
I'll never forget that moment.
And respect for my best teammates who taught me that.
And express our determination to change us greatly in the future.
The roadmap for the "story" still leaves blanks along the way.
For the best creators who should be in there.
"Not yet... huh?"
I have been looking at my phone for the past few days.
I was wondering if there were any incoming calls at any point. If there is, I would call back immediately.
The other party, of course, was that guy, needless to say.
"Did you see it, Tsurayuki?"
The proposal I gave to Tsurayuki was clearly intentional. While sprinkled with many riddles, the last page contained a date for uploading the video.
He would have naturally noticed the intent, and I am sure he would have watched the video right away, on the day it was uploaded.
But there was no action from him after that. I thought he might ask me about the content, but he never did either.
"It's okay, if it's him..."
If it is Tsurayuki,
"If it is him, I'm sure he's thinking about it."
Even how to convey the boiling magma of enthusiasm, after having understood all of my intentions.
So I waited. Never make a move from myself.
This turn belongs to him.
If he does not make up his mind and move on his own, there is no point.
◇September 1◇
Midnight, around the time the date changes.
I kept staring at the screen of my laptop.
A Nico Nico Douga window was open in front of me, and there was one video there.
Team Kitayama is written in the column of the uploader.
No doubt, it was a video made by those guys.
"You want me to watch this?"
The hand holding the mouse stopped just one click away.
Since then, I have read the proposal Kyouya left behind many times. Each time, I threw it away. The proposal was a series of pieces, and no matter how much I tried to imagine it, nothing was conveyed to me.
And today. The only specific element that can be said to have been written in the proposal.
September 1.
Today. It was the day marked as the upload date.
"If I watch it... will I understand something?"
There were no guarantees. The only thing it said was the date. But the only remaining elements were already here.
I hesitated. At the same time, my hopes piled up on the screen in front of me.
I gulped for breath. Then I stopped.
Whatever happens here, I'll take it.
I made up my mind and clicked the play button.
Rubble.
Darkness.
Cold air.
It was just spreading out in a spacious world.
Concrete fragments of various sizes are scattered throughout the monochrome world.
There was a girl.
With a bored look on her face, she walks through the rubble.
In her hand is a notebook. Occasionally she opens it and writes something down.
But she doesn't try to read it back.
With a sigh, she continues to walk and write again.
The girl is tired of living in a gray world.
What they eat and drink is produced by automated machines.
There are also many forms of entertainment created by ancient civilizations.
Diseases can be cured on their own.
One can live as long as one wants to live.
But the girl was already about to choose death.
Everything is here, but there is nothing I can do.
Despair is so sad that it enveloped the girl.
Collapse, self, existence, meaning, salvation.
Invisible letters are superimposed over the lyrics, which are only abstract.
I could feel my temperature rising rapidly.
I opened the proposal without thinking.
"I see ...... that's what you mean."
It was exactly as I thought.
What I thought was just a fragment is actually an element that fills in the gaps in the video.
Carefully, page by page, I flipped through the proposal. The words that had been so unintelligible to me were all linked together by watching the video. The colorful fragments spread out in my mind as a single painting.
The girl eventually meets an electronic diva.
She is the one who once gave singing to those who could not sing.
In the future where the girl, the diva is now a low technology,
Teaching her to sing, eventually she regains her own voice after losing it.
Then the girl stands up.
To the words she had written down all along.
To the feelings that had been holding her together for so long.
The diva's pure voice and her own voice on top of it.
That determination became one line,
"Now, how do you show me?"
Foreshadowing has been laid. It is a trend that will be recovered in one fell swoop.
From now on... In that part,
『If I don't sing, I can't be me』
The video ended with the display of a verse from the lyrics.
Then it was cut off as if severed by something.
"What... is this?"
It was a half-hearted, abrupt ending.
I had been pleasantly combining pieces, and then the ladder was removed and I felt like I was being left behind.
Stare at the static screen. No matter how long I wait, there is no more to come.
"What the..."
As if to point to the current moment I'm in.
The staff roll, floating soundlessly, offered no indication of what was next.
"Haha... What the hell, that guy?"
I notice that my hand holding the mouse is shaking.
I noticed.
It's about who the protagonist of this story is.
"You're a bad fellow... Is it a love letter?"
And I understood.
Who is this video for and what are you trying to get me to do?
"You want me to write, huh?"
There's only one way to see the rest of the story.
"...Let's do it."
I looked at the proposal.
I read through all the pages again.
Each time I turned a sheet, my heart raced.
Reaching the last page, I closed the proposal and closed my eyes.
I took a deep breath.
I was experiencing for the first time in my life the sensation of blood rushing to my brain.
The images rushed in as a turbulent stream at a tremendous rate. Characters, pictures, the girls' expressions, dialogues, what has happened so far and what will happen in the future, along with their outpouring of emotions, came pouring in at an unmanageable rate.
But it's something that doesn't exist in this world yet. It's only in my head.
"Let's do it!"
I started hitting the keys. I don't want to forget, I don't want to forget even if I die. I want to record all the pieces of this puzzle. I want to put them together carefully and build them together with those guys.
"I'm going to make the continuation. I'm going to write it."
I felt a constant surge of excitement in my eyes. I kept staring at the screen, not bothering to wipe it away. I tapped the keys and wrote down my ideas about the world that lay ahead.
And then I realized.
That I'm not going to stay here any longer.
"...Alright."
I stood up and took a deep breath to settle things with my dad.
Definitely, I'll figure something out. I said the words he had said so many times and laughed heartily at the fact that it didn't make me look good.
Before closing the door, I took one more look at the screen.
A staff roll floats on a pitch-black screen.
In the center of it was a small shining star symbol.
What was implied was clearly "the future."
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