aircannonsinc Page 222
Page 222
Looking up, I saw Saito Harutori standing at the door, holding a silver euphonium. In that sea of silver paint, there were a few dark black patches.
Chapter 183, Section 182: Friend, of course he's lying (4K)
From the moment Saito Haruki entered the bass section, a strange sense of tension filled the classroom.
What broke this atmosphere was a junior like Maki Kurosawa. From an outsider's perspective, Maki Kurosawa's euphonium was a lower-ranking replacement for Haruki Saito.
Now that Saito is back, she naturally needs to make concessions.
"Welcome back, Saito-senpai."
Kurosawa Maki stood up, her eyes flickering, as if her inner thoughts and words could not correspond.
Saito Harutori's gaze fell on her, a hint of barely concealed guilt flashing across his face:
"Kurosawa-senpai, I...: "
"Everyone in the bass section is waiting for you to come back."
Kurosawa Maki interrupted her with a laugh, her small face adorned with an embarrassed smile, saying, "It's alright, my current skills are actually still a bit lacking for an A-level editor. Kitahara-sensei's choice of me was out of necessity."
"It's so good that Saito-senpai is back; I don't have to bear so much pressure anymore."
"Kurosawa-senpai, it seems like you're not taking us seniors seriously with you," some second- or third-year euphonium players teased with a laugh.
Seeing that Kurosawa Maki's expression was somewhat wolfish, Isomoto Yuka took the initiative to speak up and protect him:
“Ability has nothing to do with grade level. What Kurosawa-senpai said is true. The quality of tukuleles is indeed uneven these days.”
"Just kidding, we don't care about these things anymore."
"Yeah, yeah, Yuka, you're so crazy!"
Even though the members who had been with the club for two or three years were all smiles, Yuka Isomoto still kept a straight face and said:
"I think it's better to say less of these kinds of things that might make people overthink..."
Saito Haruka gazed at her, feeling that Isomoto Yuka was different from her previous impression.
She became more outspoken.
Is this a change that occurred after she became the head of the vocal section?
"Yuka, may I sit here?" Saito Haruka came to her side, her voice full of feminine charm.
Yuka looked up at her, and with this close contact once again, the girl's image became vivid in her mind once more.
1
.Um.
"Thank you."
Saito Haruka pulled over a steel pipe chair and sat down next to Isomoto Yuka.
Outside the practice room, high and low notes, all sorts of sounds, mingled together, intertwined, and melted into the fading echoes of summer vacation.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," Saito Harutori said.
Yuka Isomoto noticed the silver euphonium out of the corner of her eye, and slightly loosened her thin lips, which had been pressed into a line, to say:
"It's okay, it didn't take long."
"Then let's start practicing."
"Ah."
Yuka Isomoto picked up the euphonium, hesitated for a few seconds, and then suddenly realized that she was already the leader of the bass section.
An indescribable feeling welled up inside me. It was a strange sight. With Saito Haruki in the bass section, I was actually the group leader.
As she sighed, she started the metronome on the table: click-clack, click-clack, click-clack...
The pointer swayed back and forth in her line of sight, and a rhythmic sound rang in her ears.
"One, two, three, four—"
As Yuka Isomoto gave the command, the bass instruments emitted a deep sound, and the mineral water bottle that Maki Kurosawa had placed on the chair vibrated slightly.
"Isn't something a little off...?"
As the music progressed, Saito Harutori pointed out a problem, and the other members, quite naturally, stopped playing and turned their attention to her.
"It's this sixteenth note after the glissando, it feels a bit... um... how should I put it? Is it a bit broken? It sounds like it's still carrying the preceding notes before it jumps straight into the sixteenth note?"
Kurosawa Maki nodded and said:
"Yes, Mr. Kitahara also mentioned that this is one of the more difficult sections in the lower register because there's almost nowhere for us to breathe."
Furthermore, it's difficult to coordinate the timing of each breath, so we agreed to blow out in one breath.
Saito Harutori took the sheet music down from the music stand, touched a rest with her finger, and showed it to her group members:
"I think it would be better for everyone to take a breath secretly in the second measure, otherwise it would be too difficult for everyone to blow the whole section in one breath."
"How about we change it to the third measure? Before the glissando?"
“This won’t work; it’s too risky. The bass voices act as a support, like a skeleton. If you suddenly take a breath here, the pitch of the other voices might become off.”
The members nodded in agreement, agreeing with her point.
Yuka Isomoto enjoyed herself for a while, as the sunlight streaming in from the window traced the delicate, fair lines of Haruka Saito's legs.
She stared blankly at the gap between the girls' thighs beneath their skirts, listening to their discussion with a somewhat absent-minded expression.
Even though she is now the leader of the bass section, she is nowhere near as good at guiding other section leaders.
She would just practice, practice, and practice on her own, and when her teammates asked her, "Why do we blow it like this?" she would be speechless.
"What do you think, Yuka?" Saito Harutori suddenly asked with a smile.
Yuka Isomoto blinked, nodded, and said, "Yeah, I think it's a good idea."
She didn't feel that Saito Harukori's suggestion was stealing the spotlight from her as the section leader. As far as she was concerned, she was willing to accept anything that would benefit the club and Kitahara-sensei.
“Then let’s all try taking a breath here in the second section,” Saito Harutori said.
Let's play another ensemble. There's no significant improvement compared to before, but it's much easier than playing it all in one breath.
After the vocal practice ended, there was a break of more than an hour at noon.
"Where is Yuka going?" Saito Harutori asked.
Yuka Isomoto wrapped her hands around the wind instrument and held up the euphonium: "Back to class."
"study?"
"Yes, my grades dropped in the final exams last semester."
“So…” Saito Harutori said with a slightly guilty smile, “May I ask, Yuka, what did you fill in for your college application?”
Yuka Isomoto pursed her lips, shook her head, and gave a wry smile, saying:
"I haven't decided yet. I can't think about what major I should study or what kind of job I should do..."
Saito Haruka gently stroked the cracks in the paint with her fingertips, and chuckled softly as she said:
"Getting into Sapporo University should be quite easy for you, and you can even apply for the music education major, so Mr. Kitahara will be your senior."
The sudden appearance of Kitahara-sensei caught Isomoto Yuka off guard, leaving her momentarily speechless.
With her grades, getting into Sapporo University shouldn't be a problem, and thinking about it, being Kitahara-sensei's junior is quite a happy thing.
Who knows, after graduation, I might even become an assistant advisor at Shenxu, helping out at Professor Kitahara?
It seems... it's not entirely impossible?
Of course, all of this is predicated on the premise that Mr. Kitahara is still employed at Shin-Asahi High School.
Yuka Isomoto's vocal cords emitted an unnatural "gurgling" sound, her throat vibrated, and she said with a deep frown:
"What about you, Qingniao?"
Seemingly not expecting her to call her name, Saito Haruka instantly showed an expression as if she was enduring something.
The silence seemed to compress time many times over, and to hide her bewildered reaction, the girl clenched her outstretched hands.
"I haven't thought about it either."
What about the University of Tokyo?
"Whether or not we go to Tokyo is no longer important."
"What does it mean?"
"Because telling everyone that I want to apply to the University of Tokyo is no longer important."
Saito Haruka stroked her brown hair with one hand, a faint smile on her face, and said...
"That's no longer relevant to me; winning gold medals nationwide is the most important thing now."
Yuka Isomoto swallowed hard, then said:
"I heard that you're not coming home. Could it be... related to this?"
"Oh... Yueye told you."
Although Saito Harutori pretended to look at the sheet music, she was clearly trying to distract herself.
"It's nothing serious, Yu Xiang, you don't need to worry."
Catching a glimpse of her smiling face, Yuka Isomoto bit her lip and couldn't help but ask:
"Are you really alright? But why did you argue with Yueye?"
Although her face looks exactly the same as before, if you peel back the skin of a doll, you'll see that what's inside is completely different.
“I didn’t argue with her.”
Saito Harutori squinted slightly and said,
"It's just that we're from completely different worlds. Spending so many years with her has been exhausting for me."
Her voice carried an undeniable pressure, leaving Yuka Isomoto speechless. After a moment of silence, she finally spoke:
"But didn't you say that you, Tsukiyo, and Eri would be friends for life...?"
?