Haibara's Teenage New Game+ Volume 8 (eBook)

Kazuki Amamiya (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-4294-1 (ISBN)

Infos

As Natsuki's (second) first year of high school nears its end, the impact he's had on his surroundings is becoming more apparent. His friends are making unexpected decisions as they begin to think about their futures. In his previous life, Natsuki had no idea that Nanase used to play the piano, but in this timeline she's determined to take another shot at her dream of becoming a professional pianist. Natsuki and Hikari are excited to cheer their friend on at her first competition in years, but there's something about Nanase's demeanor that makes them uneasy... Are all the changes Natsuki has caused positive ones? Or has he thrown a wrench into his friends' lives?

Textauszug

“Senpai, aren’t you going to praise me?” Yamano stared up at me with a frown.

“Congrats, Yamano,” I said.

“Heh heh! Thank you veeery much!” She whirled around exuberantly, like a small animal.

She normally conducts herself with more composure, so this is kinda unexpected. Then again, she may be mature for her age, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s only in her third year of middle school.

“That’s why I can practice for the show even more than before!” Yamano puffed up with pride.

Puff up all you want; you don’t have what you don’t have.

“In that case,” Mei said, “I have no concerns. After all, our initial goal is to perform at the music club where Hondo-san works.”

“Good point.” It feels a little too soon for us to be achieving our goal already, but it’s a great stroke of luck. Well, rather than good fortune, it’s more like the inevitability of Serika’s networking skills.

“By the way, nothing is set in stone yet, but here’s the schedule and the bands that are performing.” Serika sent a PDF to our RINE group chat.

I stopped walking, took out my phone, and opened it. Mei and Yamano peeked over my shoulder. Use your own phones! Let’s see... It’s going to be in two months. Eh, that’s to be expected. Um, and the groups are...

“Wh-What...?” I gulped reflexively.

“Huh? Aren’t these some pretty legit groups?” Yamano remarked.

There were a few fairly famous amateur bands from Gunma Prefecture listed.

“Fold, Kusabi, Maruido.” Mei named a few, trembling fearfully. “These bands are quite well-known.”

There were even some bands who would make their major debut in the future and go out into the world.

“A-And we’re going to be the opening act for them...?” Mei said.

“Th-This isn’t exactly what I was imagining. I thought for sure it’d be a bunch of chumps,” Yamano said.

Don’t call people lame-os! But they’re right—we definitely stick out like sore thumbs here. With this lineup, they’re going to sell out of tickets. “Are they sure?” I asked. “They’re really okay with us?” There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to be performing in front of a full house.

“Natsuki, you scared?” Serika taunted me as she shadowboxed.

“Yeah, of course I am. I understand we were invited because they recognize your skills, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us are at your level...and we’ve got virtually no name recognition.”

“Name recognition? We’ve got some,” she replied.

“Huh?”

“Oh, didn’t you know, senpai? Mishle went viral.” Yamano tapped on her phone and showed me a video.

It was a MeTube video that had over a hundred thousand views. The title was “Ryomei School Festival - Light Music Club Mishle.” Someone who had recorded our performance had posted it online. There were also tons of comments.

“When did this happen?” I asked. Apparently, the other three were already aware of this.

“How did you not know?” Yamano countered.

“Thanks to this, my MeTube channel grew too. Very lucky!”

I opened Serika’s channel to see that her videos had gained more views across the board. Among them all, our band’s original song had blown up the most.

“I bet the three of you have more fans than you think,” Yamano remarked.

It’s hard to believe, but based on the sheer number of comments, it must be true. “Well, even so, it’s still a fact that we can’t compare to the other bands that are playing in this festival. I’m not talking about just name recognition either, but skill too.”

Yeah... Our performance at the school festival was a miracle. There were so many factors that happened to pile up in our favor, spurring us to play beyond our actual skill level. Even if someone told me to reproduce that one more time, I don’t think I could. However, an event this big means that our performance from that time is the bare minimum level we need to be at.

“What’ll it be? If you’re against it, I can tell them no,” Serika said out of consideration for me. Despite her offer, I knew she didn’t want to let this chance get away from us.

“Whaaat?! Let’s do it! It’s our loss if we don’t!” Yamano exclaimed enthusiastically. “It’s a huge opportunity!”

Mei and I were clearly the only ones intimidated by the notion. He had his head down.

“If we’re to appear in that music fest,” Mei stated, still keeping his face down, “we’ll need to practice harder and more seriously than ever before. We need to play as well, no, even better than we did at the school festival if we don’t want to embarrass ourselves. Otherwise, it’s not even worth considering.” He offered a pragmatic assessment. “Do you think we can do that as we are now?”

No one said anything for a moment. We all understood what he was getting at very well.

“It’s not possible. Not with the way things are now,” I finally said.

Given the time that we currently practice, it only amounts to a hobby we take mildly seriously. There are other factors playing into that, such as Yamano’s entrance exams, Serika’s activity with a different band, me with all my recent troubles, and Mei getting a girlfriend. However, when all is said and done, every one of us has things we prioritize over our band.

I don’t think that’s an issue. We can’t pour our everything into this the way we did for the school festival. We want to keep it in moderation and have fun. We’re not wrong for wanting to go down that route. But if that’s our attitude, we’ll never be able to surpass our school festival concert. I can see that we’re not qualified to be even a decent opening act. Would it really be okay for a half-baked bunch like us to appear in an event this big?

We’d all fallen silent, and the mood had become gloomy, so I said, “Give me some time to think,” and we dispersed. Strangely enough, I said the same thing Nanase had the other day.

It’s difficult. The truth is that I have been treating the band as secondary lately. I spend my rainbow-colored youth with Hikari—my girlfriend—and my precious friends. That’s my first and foremost goal, and every time it’s seemed like it would fall apart, I’ve endeavored to solve the problem. This band is one way to achieve that goal.

I enjoy being in the band, of course, and I’m glad when we play well. I think breaking your back together with your friends is part of youth. But it’s not the most important thing.

How much of myself do I want to pour into this band? Since I’m playing with Serika, I need to reconsider that.

***

A few days after band practice at the studio, I did some thinking.

I could increase the amount of time I spend practicing the guitar, but that doesn’t solve the core problem. In the end, I need to make a decision. Do I want to be in that event or not? Or better put, am I going to pull out all the stops or not?

Because the band had occupied my thoughts the whole day, I hadn’t paid attention in class. Before I knew it, school was over and I was in the middle of packing up, when Nanase called out to me.

“Haibara-kun, could I borrow some of your time today?”

It just so happened that I didn’t have work or band practice, and Hikari was going shopping with some of her girlfriends today. I had been thinking about practicing after I got home.

“Sure, I don’t mind. What’s up?” I replied.

“Come with me.”

I obeyed and followed after her. She probably isn’t offering an explanation on purpose. “Where are we going?”

“The music room.”

“The music room? Are we allowed to use it without asking?”

“I already received permission.” Nanase held up a key chain with a tag that said “Music Room” on it and spun it around her pointer finger as the key dangled from the ring.

Right, that room is normally locked. It has expensive instruments like a piano in there, after all, so it makes sense... Huh? A piano? That means... “Are you going to perform?”

“That’s right. I want you to be the first to listen to me.”

Nanase inserted the key into the music room door and opened it. No one was inside. There were folding chairs and a whiteboard in the back. The grand piano was the only thing left at the front of the room. She picked up one of the folding chairs and set it up next to the piano.

“Your own special seat,” she said.

“I’m honored, but...you sure you want it to be me?” Obviously, I’m not going to complain about listening to her. But even if she plays for me, I can’t give her any advice. Wouldn’t she be better off with someone else? Like maybe Onozawa-san.

“It can be anyone, really. I simply want to play in front of somebody.”

“Sure, okay then. That makes it easier for me.” If anyone can do it, then I’m confident I can clear this low bar! I guess the important bit is that she wants to practice in an environment similar to a real concert. I can do that easy-peasy.

...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 20.6.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Haibara’s Teenage New Game+
• Illustrationen: Kazuki Amamiya
• Übersetzer: Kazuki Amamiya
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: High School • lighthearted • Light Novel • modern day • romcom • Slice of Life • time leap
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-4294-2 / 1718342942
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-4294-1 / 9781718342941