My Tokyo Celebrity Girlfriend Is Love-Struck, What Should I Do? - Chapter 37

Song Demo

Kimura held the guitar and slowly plucked the strings based on the melody in his mind.

The clear and gentle sounds of the strings echoed in the room, accompanied by the rhythmic beats of the metronome.

The soft melody flowed from Kimura’s fingertips.

Initially, the sound of the strings was a bit stiff, but as the music played, the familiar feeling climbed back into his heart, and the awkward melody gradually became smoother.

Kimura hummed along with the melody, blending his voice with the sound of the guitar in his arms.

After a while, he stopped plucking the strings, picked up the pen on the table, and began writing on the blank paper.

Asuka, supporting her cheek with her small hand, looked at him with half-closed eyes.

She knew about Kimura’s musical abilities.

However, they hadn’t encountered each other many times before. The few times were during the campus activities at the beginning of the school year.

Kimura, who was recruited by the film department, played and sang a song on stage with a guitar.

Unfortunately, midway through, the guitar strings broke, and the performance ended abruptly.

However, the handsome face of the young man and his clear voice left a lasting impression on her.

Although…

At that time, she never imagined that the young man on stage would later become her boyfriend.

“How was the melody I just played?” Kimura put down the pen in his hand and asked.

“Huh? Are you asking me, Hayata-chan?” Asuka leaned forward, her wandering thoughts interrupted.

“Is there a third person here?” Kimura couldn’t help but smile.

“Maybe it was just you talking to yourself, Hayata-chan…” Asuka pouted.

“Yes, yes. Asuka, how was the melody just now?”

“It was pretty good,” Asuka recalled, adding, “But it didn’t have lyrics… If there were lyrics, it would probably feel even better.”

“These are the lyrics.” Kimura pushed a paper with lyrics written on it in front of Asuka.

“Huh?” Asuka looked down at the paper with words on the table.

“Left-Right Confusion?” She softly read the title of the song.

“This is the theme song for ‘Even if This Love Disappears from the World Tonight,'” Kimura explained as he stood up to open the computer and equipment in the control room of the recording studio.

“Huh?!” Asuka looked surprised at the lyrics in her hands and the young man operating the equipment nearby.

“I might have to rely on Asuka to sing it when the time comes,” Kimura said, adjusting the equipment and picking up the electric guitar next to him, connecting it to the audio cable.

“I’m singing?” Asuka stared at him with her clear eyes.

“Not now. Asuka still has time to practice… Next, I’m going to record the song. Asuka, don’t disturb me,” Kimura said, his fingers plucking the guitar strings as he began to play.

Asuka pursed her rosy lips, puffed up her cheeks, and lowered her head to study the lyrics on the paper.

The lyrics were divided into sections, and the melody of the song was also marked.

When she debuted, Asuka participated in recording a few drama songs. She could understand simple scores. Of course…

It was only limited to understanding.

If she were to delve deeply into the theoretical knowledge of music or play an instrument, that would be like stumbling in the dark.

However, in the previous song recordings, there were music teachers guiding her for a long time, and it took several repeated recordings to meet the final requirements.

Asuka sighed silently, lips pursed. She leaned forward, her body powerless on the tabletop, arms stretched forward, holding the paper.

Her gaze followed the music in her ears, trying to find the approximate location of each lyric.

After a while, the paper in her hand gradually deviated from its original position.

A pair of shining eyes peeked over the edge of the paper, looking at Kimura, who was earnestly playing the electric guitar.

The dim light in the recording studio spilled over the young man, highlighting his serious and focused expression, along with his posture plucking the guitar strings…

He looked kind of cool.

A subtle curve involuntarily appeared at the corner of her mouth.

……

Perhaps it was for teaching purposes or some other reason.

Kimura unexpectedly discovered a small screen in the recording studio, allowing control of the computer in the control room from within the recording studio.

Oh, what a surprisingly convenient feature.

Originally, he was contemplating whether to download remote control software on his phone, but now it seemed to save him a lot of trouble.

Kimura adjusted the microphone in the recording studio.

Through the glass, he could see Asuka leaning in the control room of the recording studio.

Sitting at the piano in the recording studio, Kimura then proceeded to record the piano part of the song.

Compared to the guitar, the piano part seemed less familiar.

After several intermittent repetitions, Kimura finally obtained an audio recording that he found satisfactory.

Once the instrumental part was recorded, Kimura put on headphones and played back the melody he had just recorded.

He began recording the vocals.

As the music played in his headphones, the quiet recording studio began to resonate with Kimura’s clear voice.

“Your right hand is poking my cheek

On my left hand, a lukewarm mug

Your right eyebrow droops a little

It rained a lot this morning

Just one is fine

Just one of the unscattered peonies is fine…”

……

Kimura went into the recording studio to record…

The control room fell into a dead silence, and Asuka, feeling bored, hummed the melody that Kimura had just played.

The recording of the electric guitar had also been repeated several times, so now, even without music, Asuka could hum a small part vaguely.

Traces of lyrics started to deepen in her mind.

Asuka opened her small mouth and let out a yawn.

She glanced at Kimura, who was busy in the recording studio, lifting her eyelids that were starting to feel heavy, and a sense of drowsiness overwhelmed her.

Asuka reached for the stuffed cat, Ugly Meow Maru, placed on her lap, and gently rested her chin on its puffy and furry surface.

“This makes memorizing lyrics more comfortable.”

…

A tingling sensation on her face brought Asuka back from a slightly itchy pressure. She opened her groggy eyes.

The glaring light pierced through her long eyelashes, and the girl squinted her eyes, looking like a just-awakened kitten, staring blankly.

“Asuka, it’s time to go. Get ready to leave.”

Kimura pinched Asuka’s soft and smooth cheek, smiling.

When Kimura had almost regained his composure from being busy, Asuka had already fallen asleep, using the hot water bag as a pillow.

She seemed to be asleep, yet her hand was still waving the paper with the lyrics.

If Kimura hadn’t called Asuka twice without getting a response, he might have thought from a distance that she was seriously studying the lyrics.

“Are we leaving already?”

Asuka tilted her head back, her pitch-black eyes still a misty void.

“Yeah.”

She stood up unsteadily. Asuka put on her mask, held Ugly Meow Maru, and numbly followed Kimura out of the music department building.

As they stepped outside, a brisk, cold wind greeted them.

The wind tousled Asuka’s hair around her ears, and she involuntarily shivered.

Her rebooting brain started functioning again.

The girl who had been moving closely with Kimura became lively once more.

“Is Hayata-chan done?”

“Almost… enough for a song sample.”

“Huh? Hayata-chan, you didn’t finish recording yourself?”

“Keeping it for Asuka to sing.”

“But, Hayata-chan, I don’t know how…”

“No worries, I’ll teach you.”

TL Notes:

The song mentioned, “Left-Right Confusion” or 左右盲, is by Yorushika. Would recommend giving it a listen!