(Original song: "Hoshi to Boku to" by Lyn)
[Days that ended in panic and dread, stripped of any safe haven]
[We wander and linger on]
No instruments played, and not a single spotlight illuminated the face of anyone on stage.
There was only Kita’s slightly melancholic, memory-laden, a cappella whisper.
The audience sat in silence, nobody willing to break the tranquil, bittersweet beauty.
Only then did the bass join in with Kita’s next line of lyrics, accompanied by faint keyboard notes. The drumbeat acted like an engine, a simple four-beat rhythm stringing together the background instruments.
"This is... a very old-school jazz style," Tomoka said, taking the bottled water Nina handed her, taking a small sip, and murmuring thoughtfully. "I heard it at a bar last time. A few sparse notes can set the imagination running wild—let go, let go, let go—"
"Hey!" Subaru put Tomoka in a thoroughly exasperated headlock. "When I was auditing the books last time, a sum of money went missing—don't tell me you embezzled it to go drinking and fooling around!"
Chapter 123