Eternal Melody

Despite it already being winter, there was an area in Tokyo with cherry blossom trees still in bloom. It was truly a mysterious place. She walked a few steps ahead of him. ‘Initially, I wanted to cling to his arm and act cute, but if I do that now, it feels I might lose.’ 

Even though they have spent so much time together since she came to Tokyo, even more after they became a couple, whenever they don’t see each other for, she ends up feeling very lonely.

So much for not getting attached to him again. When she first came here, she prepared herself to meet Yuhi again. Tokyo is a large place, but the chances of meeting were still quite high. No amount of preparation would have prepared her for their first meeting after so long.

At first, she didn’t recognize him; he had grown more mature and more handsome. But he recognized her immediately. ‘That’s probably why he tried to make a move on me.’ 

They ended up in the same school and ended up as deskmates. It was truly inevitable. 

‘You don’t have to hide it anymore, Ki. Your own color, the colour that overlaps with his. I know if it is him, he will accept you regardless.’ Sumire recalled Ru’s words when she was in the facility. He was in so much pain when he said those words, and yet he still smiled like an idiot. 

Her thoughts broke off when she heard Yuhi humming. He only hummed quietly, and yet Sumire immediately noticed that it was a melody.

“You’re unfair, too, Yuhi-san, working on songs secretly without me.”

“Unlike you, I have been doing my job.”

Sumire sighed deeply. “Well, I can’t deny those words.”

“Are you going to be okay? It isn’t easy. I know you have been doing small jobs in between since the festival in June, but not a lot.”

“Mm, well, I have been working on my stamina by going jogging in the morning and afternoon, but the fatigue will get to me, I am sure.”

“If you collapse, I will have an excuse to hold you in my arms.”

She rolled her eyes at those words. “Do you even need an excuse for that?”

“I do; my wife is picky these days.”

His wife, huh? They will get married after graduation. Some people may argue and say it is too soon. But for some reason, Sumire didn’t want to leave it for even another year or two. Moreover, Yuhi-san was supposed to go to France after graduation, but he will stay for a while because of her. Eventually, he will have to go, and she won’t be able to stop him. 

Before that happens, ‘I want to selfishly tie him down to me.’ There is no doubt that when Yuhi goes abroad, he will meet so many new people. What if he finds somebody prettier than her? Somebody who he has more in common with? 

Sumire sighed deeply at that thought. He hasn’t even left yet, and already she is having such crazy thoughts. 

“You know I cant wait to see you on stage again.” Yuhi suddenly spoke up and broke her thoughts.

“Eh?”

Yuhi chuckled. “This entire time, you focused on your admiration for me as a singer. But did it occur to you that the same went for me too?”

Sumire coughed awkwardly. “Yuhi-san, with all due respect, you only saw me sing that time when we were children.”

“Stupid, I was keeping an eye out for you on the news. It didn’t take me long to find out that you were preparing for your debut with the connections I have. You delayed it for four years, though. I wondered what the reason was.”

At that comment, Sumire paused, but she nodded. It should be okay to tell him, right?

“The truth is, Yuhi-san, I have no confidence in my own capabilities.”

“No confidence?” Yuhi repeated, puzzled. “But you-“

“Right now, I am very different. I can be very shameless and say I have an amazing voice that won’t lose out to anybody.”

The current her is brimming with confidence that the past lacked. 

“However, in the past, it wasn’t like that. I doubted my capabilities more than anything. Back when we met, I didn’t deny your words when you assumed I was somebody on the verge of debuting because the reality was it was like that. An agency already scouted me, and I was on the verge of debuting. But whenever I went on stage, I would break down. 

My mind would go blank; my breathing would become unsteady. I would hyperventilate on stage and lose consciousness. My manager and the rest of the company gradually lost hope in me. Eventually, they scouted somebody else, and that person did whatever she could to kick me out.”

Whenever she thought about it, it made her feel very bitter. 

“That person is the current entertainment Queen; the one people quote is the next Takashi Yumi.”

At that comment, Yuhi’s face color paled. “Are you talking about Hori Fuuko?”

Sumire nodded. “Right.” She paused, sensing that his tone seemed odd. “Yuhi-san, don’t tell me she was one of your past lovers?”

He immediately turned silent, and she sighed. “So the person who made me suffer a lot back then was your woman.”

“Hey, don’t make it sound so weird. It was another company arrangement.”

“You seem to fall for those a lot. I suppose I can get the details from Hino later on.”

She didn’t even have to turn around to know that he wore a defeated look on his face.

“It was because of that woman that I decided to leave the agency. The funny thing was when I was leaving; they were practically begging me to stay. That woman even had to lower her head for me. It occurred to me when I saw how desperate they were; from the start, they didn’t scout me for my abilities. What they wanted was my family prestige. As the sole survivor of the Ibuki family, as the only heir. The amount of prestige their company will receive when I debut will be a lot.”

When she first found out, it dumbfounded her. It struck her as odd why an entertainment company would be after her family prestige. But later on, she learned that while they were the number one company, they were on the verge of bankruptcy since so many artists left and breached the contract without paying.

It didn’t take her long before she found out why the artists left when she researched it. Many experienced the same thing as her. Those who rose to power decided they wouldn’t tolerate it and find another agency. Those in lower positions all decided to sacrifice their dreams rather than stay in that place.